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and that, Waring. Those ships will net the three of us a very tidy profit in a prize court. As for the Americans themselves... once we've pressed enough of them to give every British ship that sails these waters a full crew, the rest can rot in Dartmoor prison for all I give a damn." His voice roughened. "I have spent too much time pretending friendship for the roughnecks as it is. When I think how I've had to suffer their company in my home... the captain of the Atropos, especially. The man's a dirt-common bastard with pretensions of grandeur."
"His pretentions are all he'll have left, once his ship's been seized and he and his men are in chains," Waring said, and the three men laughed.
Matthew felt the blood drain from his face. He clenched his fists, felt his nails cut into his flesh. But he stood his ground, telling himself that there was more to avenge than his own honor.
When there was no more to learn, he slipped away into the night.
* * *
Luck, at least, was on his side.
Almost all the American ships that sailed the Caribbean under the protection of the British Crown were lying at anchor in the Hawkins Bay harbor.
The next day, working carefully and stealthily, Matthew sent word to their captains that there would be a meeting that evening on an isolated point of land on the far side of the island. By the time the meeting ended, Matthew and the others had hatched a plan.
They would strike first, at midnight on June the eighteenth, and seize Elizabeth Island from the unwary British.
The captains all agreed that an attack on Charon's Crossing and the capture of Governor Russell would force the garrison to capitulate and would avoid a difficult and possibly prolonged and bloody battle. They agreed, as well, that Matthew was the man to lead the attack since he was most familiar with the grounds of Charon's Crossing.
He was honored, and more than willing. But he had one demand.
Before he led the assault, he would go to Charon's Crossing and lead Catherine to safety.
The other captains looked at him as if he were daft.
"She is English," said the captain of the Shenandoah. "She cannot be trusted."
He found himself hauled to his toes, with Matthew's out-thrust jaw inches from his own.
"She is my betrothed," Matthew snarled, lying only a little, for surely he and Catherine had pledged each other their hearts. "And I would trust her with my life."
"What nonsense is this?" the captain of the Enchantress said, glaring at the two men. "The English are the enemy! If we fight amongst ourselves, our cause is lost before it begins."
Matthew slowly let go of the other man's shirt.
"I tell you that I will not abandon the woman I love," he said.
"She will be safe," the captain of the Decatur insisted.
Matthew snorted with derision. "Safe? A woman, in the midst of what may well become a battle?"
"Yes," another captain called out, "she will be. We will tell our men to look out for her."
The others nodded their agreement, then turned their gaze on Matthew.
"Well?" the captain of Shenandoah asked. "Will that satisfy you? Or shall we forget this playing of soldiers and save our ships and ourselves, whilst we still have the chance?"
Matthew looked at the faces of his friends. They had agreed to risk their ships, their lives and the lives of their men for the honor of their country.
How could he argue for his own selfish ends?
He nodded and held out his hand.
"I am satisfied," he said.
The men shook hands, clapped him on the back and wished him well before rowing back to their ships.
That night, Matthew sat late in his cabin aboard the Atropos, finalizing a daring plan that no one else would know about.
