Читать онлайн «Betrayal»

Julian Stockwin

Betrayal

(Tom Kydd – 13)

‘The repossession of Buenos Aires has been stained with such deliberate acts of treachery and perfidy as are not to be instanced in the annals of history’

Commodore Sir Home Riggs Popham,

HMS Diadem, Rio de la Plata, 1806

Dramatis Personae

(* Indicates fictitious character)

*Thomas Kydd, captain of L’Aurore

*Nicholas Renzi, his friend and confidential secretary

L’Aurore, ship’s company

*Gilbey, first lieutenant

*Curzon, second lieutenant

*Bowden, third lieutenant

*Clinton, lieutenant of marines

*Owen, purser

*Oakley, boatswain

*Kendall, sailing master

*Searle, boy volunteer

*Dodd, marine sergeant

*Poulden, coxswain

*Stirk, gunner’s mate

*Collas, carpenter’s mate

*Legge, carpenter

*Doud, seaman

*Pearse, master’s mate

*Cumby, boatswain’s mate

*Wong, seaman

*Saxton, signal master’s mate

*Tysoe, Kydd’s valet

*Calloway, midshipman

Officers, other ships

Commodore Home Popham

Lieutenant Davies, Diadem

Captain Downman, Diadem

Captain Byng, Belliqueux

Captain Honyman, Leda

Captain Donnelly, Narcissus

Captain Audley, Ocean

Lieutenant Godwin, Encounter

*Lieutenant Garrick, Dolores

*Lieutenant Selby, Staunch

*Acting Lieutenant Hellard, Stalwart

Army

Captain Arbuthnot

Erskine, aide

General Lord Beresford

Major General Sir David Baird

Colonel Pack

Others

*Beekman, midshipman

*Bolt, petty officer

*Dougal, master’s mate, Stalwart

*Ribeiro, Portuguese trader

*Geens, pest control

*Cuthbert Richardson, cocoa planter

*Ditler, ivory trader

*Scholes, passenger

Captain Waine, Elizabeth

*Hardiman, Justina

*Maycock, supercargo, Justina

Jed Russell, a. k. a. Crujido, senior pilot for the viceroyalty

Lord Grenville, prime minister

Charles Sidmouth, Lord Privy Seal

Charles Fox, foreign secretary

Viscount Howick, first lord of the Admiralty

Patton, governor of St Helena

Buenos Aires

His Excellency the Governor of Truxillo

The Virrey Diputado Quintana, deputy viceroy

*Don Baltasar, Hidalgo de Terrada, paramount leader of patriots

*Manuel Bustamente, patriot deputy

Martin Miguel de Guemes, cadet-lieutenant in Spanish Army

*Barreda, Popham’s envoy

*Rodriquez Corazon, merchant and host at Kydd’s billet

*Dona Rafaela Callejo, lover of Vicente Serrano

Rafael de Sobramonte, viceroy over the viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata

Martin de Alzaga, wealthy merchant

Don Santiago Liniers, military leader

Colonel General Pueyrredon, commander of the gauchos

*Charcas, Hidalgo de Sarmiento, lieutenant and emissary of Pueyrredon

*Manuel Galvis, peon

*Vicente Serrano, artist and exiled student

Chapter 1

In the dilapidated office Mr Owen looked up from his reckoning. ‘Bananas at eighty reis the quintal seems a little excessive, Mr Ribeiro,’ he said slowly, mopping his brow. The humidity was formidable, the dull heat like a suffocating blanket, but the purser of a frigate of His Majesty’s Navy had his standards and he sweltered in coat and breeches.

Shrugging, the fat Portuguese trader leaned back in his chair.

‘You think? I sell you green ones, not go rot, best in Mozambique. ’

Tugging at his clammy neckcloth and dismissively eyeing the hand of half-ripe fruit brought for his inspection, Owen looked pained. ‘My captain wishes only to serve his worthy crew with a mort of sweetness in their diet, but if the price is beyond my allowance . . . ’