Raised By Wolves 1 - Brethren (12 page)

All of the available volume below deck seemed crammed with crates and barrels, so that there was only a small aisle to stand in, directly below the hatch.

“Mister Belfry, you do know we are to take on bondsman. Where are they to take passage?”

He frowned. “On deck, my Lord.”

“And that is customary?” I thought of the biting wind whistling across the box of the hatch above us and grimaced.

“Why yes, my Lord. Is that a problem, sir?” He appeared genuinely confounded.

“It is miserably cold on deck, and I would imagine it is worse at sea.”

His frown deepened. “Aye, for the first week or so, sir.” Inspiration struck him, and his earnest smile returned. “Then it warms, until all will be pleased they are on deck once we cross the Tropic. We have crossed many a time, sir, with the deck full of men, and our own crew sleeps beneath the forecastle above. We do not lose any men due to cold.

Most are dressed for it when they arrive… Unless you have contracted for convicts, sir. In which case we were not aware of it, and other provisions need be made as those men must be kept chained and it’s…”

I cut him off with a friendly shake of my head. “Nay, we will hire them here, purportedly. And I am sure you are correct as to them already being dressed appropriately for the weather. You say you do not lose any due to the cold. What, then, are men lost to on the voyage?”

“Well, my Lord, most often to fevers and poxes they bring aboard.”

He shrugged as he thought on it. “If they are sickly to begin with, sir, they do not often survive the seasickness and…” He grimaced and stammered on. “Well, sir, at the end of a voyage, if we have been becalmed about the Tropic a goodly time, or some other unfortunate, um, well... If it be a difficult voyage, the victuals and water have been known to run low, and some do not survive that. But that is a rare occurrence, my Lord; and rest assured, we will always keep aside adequate food for our passengers, especially your person, sir. You will eat as well as the Captain.”

I did not feel reassured and did not think I would rest well on it at all. I did not want to hire men, only to kill them upon a voyage, due to exposure to the weather, the spread of disease, and starvation.

“How much of this cargo is provisions?” I asked. “How much can be expected to spoil on so long a voyage? And how much is allotted per man per day?”

“My Lord, we were instructed to lay in enough victuals for threescore men. They are to receive a pint of beer, a bowl of broth or gruel, a salted herring, an apple, and two biscuits per day. Toward the end we have often run through the herring and apples. And everything will have worms and weevils.”

It sounded as if they were in prison, though I suppose prisoners received far less. They definitely did not receive a daily pint.

“There is no meat beyond herring?”

He chuckled. “Nay, my Lord; do not be alarmed, though. There is meat for yourself, sir, and the officers and paying passengers. We will load on four barrels of salted beef and pork, and we have a coop for chickens. Our cook is a fine and skilled man, sir. True, you will not eat as you do in a manor, but I believe we provide fare to rival the local inns.”

“I am sure I will be well satisfied,” I assured him. “Yet… Mister Belfry, if we were to take on twoscore men instead of three, could they not be fed more?”

“Well, aye, my Lord. But sir, Mister Steins, your agent here, said you wished to reach Jamaica with twoscore men. If you do not take on three, or as many as you can get, you may not arrive with the number you need.”

“My God, man, are you suggesting that a third of the men on this ship will die en route?”

He appeared as dismayed as I felt, but I knew it was not for the same reason. “My Lord… It has been known to happen, sir. There is little for it if there is some ailment running amongst them. And in God’s truth, sir, though far be it… Well, sir, you may find it difficult to sign on threescore men who are healthy and willing and able to work. I daresay your agent will… well, scrounge up the number you need…”

“How so?”

“The same way the Navy does it, my Lord, and many a ship that is short a crewman or two.”

“Press gangs?” I snapped, and he winced.

“Aye, sir, and well, we will take on some besides the ones you need.

We can sell their contracts in Jamaica readily enough, if you do not have need of them.”

I was truly appalled; and I remembered the boys I met on the road, and how they avoided the cities because of press gangs and disease. My righteous anger deserted me as I realized the men who would travel in what I considered so poor a fashion upon this vessel were actually better off than those boys had been. They would surely eat more.

This kind of thing was why I avoided the poor. Their wretchedness filled me with despair, and I was but an observer. I wished to aid them in some fashion, but there was so very much that need change in order to better their condition. And I was powerless to change the world, unless I gained power through my father. And to do that, I was forced to play the wolf and enslave men to build his wealth. But, by the Gods, I would not starve them or have them indentured against their will.

“Mister Belfry, that is unacceptable,” I said sternly. His face fell, and I took pity on him. He was not responsible. “I would see Mister Steins at once.”

He nodded quickly, pleased at the prospect of allowing another to deal with the mad lord.

Mister Steins proved to be an agreeable-seeming fellow, despite pinched features and beady eyes. He greeted me warmly, and was surprised at seeing me so soon upon my arrival.

“All is in order, Lord Marsdale.” He smiled. “The cargo is loaded. We have had a number of inquiries and will begin signing contracts on the morrow. If God continues to grant us pleasant weather, I will have a crier on the wharf.”

“Thank you, I am sure the matter is in excellent hands. There is one small detail…” I paused as Belfry cringed at my side. Steins was regarding a paper a clerk had handed him, and had not witnessed Belfry’s consternation. I gave Belfry a reassuring smile, as Steins returned his attention to me.

“And that would be, my Lord?”

“I have heard rumor that, on occasion, bondsmen are pressed into service and…”

Steins frowned. “If you wish to proceed in that manner, it can easily be arranged. It will expedite the process. There are more than enough wretches in this port who have proven unable to govern themselves as good Christians, and spend what little money they have on wine and women. Seven years’ labor in a new land, where they may well excel if they prove to have the proper demeanor, will surely do them a world of good.”

I considered my own thoughts about the band of boys before I let my anger flare. He was very likely correct.

“I feel you speak the truth… however…” Steins and Belfry regarded me intently; even the clerk had stopped scratching his pen across a page to watch. I braced myself for their derision. “I would rather the men be willing. It has been my experience that tasks are performed better by men who agree to do them.”

“And mine, my Lord.” Steins smiled pleasantly. “Men who are lazy here will be just as prone to it there, and most likely require you to appoint or hire more overseers, which of course will have cost implications of its own. Please be aware that the process will be somewhat slower without augmenting the roll with pressed men. And if all does not go well, as in days pass and we still lack the necessary number of men, then we may wish to revisit pressing.”

I was greatly heartened by this, and forged on. “Excellent. As to the required number of men. Am I to understand that the reason we take on many more than we may want… upon arrival, is due to assumed losses during transit?”

“Aye, my Lord. It is a regrettable part of this business.” He shrugged.

He was so very reasonable; he minded me of many a man I had seen, who could order the deaths of many without a second thought. In that, I realized this business I now engaged in was much like any other I had become party to.

I nodded agreeably while choosing my words. I finally remembered Commander Kroener, a jolly mercenary I had crossed paths with. He had held me for ransom for two weeks. The situation had not been unpleasant, as I had been treated as a guest, dining every night at his table and thus learning a great deal from him.

I smiled at Steins. “I traveled extensively prior to my recent return to England. This is one of the reasons my father and I thought I would be well-suited to this endeavor.”

This garnered interest from Steins; and he frowned slightly as he listened, paying more heed to my words, now that he knew I was not some lord’s son with little experience beyond London and my father’s estate.

“In my journeys, I was fortunate to make the acquaintance of an esteemed general. He once told me that he would take a hundred men over a thousand for a prolonged campaign, as a hundred men could move faster and more easily be provisioned. And well-fed men were able to fight better.” Kroener had other reasons for this as well, mostly involving the inherent greed of mercenaries and the division of booty, but they were not salient as of yet to this discussion.

“What are you suggesting, my Lord?” Steins asked with genuine curiosity.

“That we hire the number of men we need, healthy, able, and willing men, and we feed them better on the voyage and thus keep them all alive.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Your suggestion is sound in theory.

However, I must be honest with you. I do not know if we can recruit twoscore willing men in a fortnight, even with the incentive of land.” He paused with pursed lips.

“What incentive of land?” My father had surely not reckoned on giving anyone any land.

“My Lord, bondsmen are indentured for seven years, in exchange for their passage and room and board and other necessities during the term of their contract. On Jamaica, land is currently available to any who petition for it. Thus, we tell the men we recruit that they can become free farmers on their own land after their term is completed.”

I was pleased, but something about him indicated it was a thing offered but not guaranteed. I sighed. “But that is not truly the way of it.”

“Precisely, my Lord. Their contract of indenture contains many clauses that allow for the extension of their service.”

That, my father had mentioned. He had nearly crowed over it, as on Jamaica there would be few to side with the bondsmen and ameliorate excesses on the part of their masters – unlike England, where the peasants could occasionally find someone to sympathize with them.

“May I peruse a contract?”

“Certainly, my Lord.” He nodded at his clerk, who produced one.

“And as you are presumably aware, many a man dies who ventures to the West Indies. None are spared God’s choice in that matter.” He gave me a pointed look.

I nodded with a compressed smile. “I am aware of the risk to my person.”

“Good, my Lord. So, in short, many of the men we sign will not survive beyond their contracts, though the worthy will live. The ones who are hale and, presumably, favored by God, survive. Truly, a good God-fearing man who is willing to work hard and respect his master has little to fear from indentured servitude or the tropics.”

“I am sure you would thrive there.” I smiled.

He was taken aback by my words, and struggled for a moment to divine my intent. Finally deciding I had meant him no ill will, he nodded agreeably.

“However, my Lord,” he added, “if a man is truly good and God-fearing, he is presumably well-employed here in England, and has little reason to travel elsewhere to seek his fortune.”

I found his statement absurd, considering the recent ravages of the plague and London’s fire, much less the last forty years of chaos the Reformation and subsequent Restoration caused. There were good poor men all over England. I bit my tongue and struggled to keep the incredulity from my face.

“So you feel we will not be able to recruit men who will stand to reap the benefits of travel to a new land, because… if they were the type of man who would do well here, they would not be seeking to go elsewhere?”

“Precisely, my Lord.” He smiled. “So we will do what we are able to acquire good men, and then we will do what we must per your father’s instruction.”

I clamped my teeth firmly on the inside of my cheek. So there it was. Though he would honor my requests, he would not truly be taking orders from me on the matter. And if my requests proved an impediment to completion of the task to my father’s specifications, he would dismiss my concerns like crumbs swept from a table. I was sure I would face the same issue on Jamaica, with both the barrister and the manager my father had retained.

And so I dismissed Belfry back to his ship, and sat at a desk in Steins’ office and read through a contract. It was as dreadful as I expected. A bondsman was a virtual slave. I could do anything to them I wished, short of outright murder; and as I well knew, even that could be justified if one dined regularly with the local magistrate. I vowed to ignore most of the document and write up my own. Whether or not I could bring the Jamaican barrister and the Barbadian manager into line with my plans would be another matter.

The next day dawned cold and clear. As I walked down the wharf, I heard Steins’ promised crier telling of the fabulous life awaiting any soul adventurous enough to travel to balmy Jamaica. When I arrived at Steins’ office, there was a sign advertising our needs outside, and his clerk was setting a small table to rights just inside the door. I was heartened when two young men entered, hats in hand, before the clerk had uncorked his inkwell. They looked to be fine healthy lads, and judging from their resemblance, brothers.

“You be wantin’ men for a plantation in the West Indies, sir? And there be land in it for us at the end of the term? What be the term, sir?”

the older asked.

The clerk nodded twice. “You will be able to petition for a grant of land. The term is seven years.”

“For passage?” the younger asked with some incredulity.

“Passage to a land of opportunity is very expensive,” the clerk replied without a trace of humor. “All food, housing, clothing, and other necessities will be provided throughout your term of service.”