Rendezvous Read Online Free

McLoughlin. The man’s an ape. And besides, he speaks only English, and barely that. Why would he go to Mexico? He couldn’t even ask them for a cup of grog.”
    â€œPerhaps because you wouldn’t expect him to go there, my lord.”
    â€œAh, you mock me, McLoughlin. Insolence, insolence. But I’ll let it pass. I wish to enlist you against this freebooter, this traitor to the crown. He’s no ordinary deserter; he’s arguably the worst man in the Royal Navy, incorrigible, reluctant to perform his duties, given to brawling, sullen and contemptuous of his betters. I want him back. On the small chance that my search parties don’t haul him in, I’m charging Hudson’s Bay with the responsibility of catching him, putting him in irons, and sending him to London for his hanging.”
    â€œWe’ll do our best, my lord.”
    â€œOf course you will. Anything less than your best will result in a report to the Admiralty and the Colonial Office. Catch him. I’m putting a ten-pound price on his head, dead or alive. It’s to your advantage, of course. You don’t want this murderous, ruthless brute loose in your country.”
    â€œHe’s murderous?”
    â€œWhy, I imagine he’d murder a thousand if he could. We prevent it by keeping him behind iron strap when he provocates.”
    â€œBut he’s killed no man?”
    â€œWhat difference does it make? He has the penchant. He has that low brow, the mean cunning of the criminal class.”
    McLoughlin smiled. “Very well. I’ll post the award. You’ll give me a description, of course. If you don’t catch Skye, he’ll show up eventually at one of our posts. We have our ways, in HBC. I can enlist a dozen tribes, for starters. I can alert every factor at every trading post.”
    â€œThat’s not enough. I want more. I want an expedition to go after him if the navy fails.”
    McLoughlin poured some more darjeeling and arched a brow. “And who’ll pay?”
    â€œYou will, of course. It’s your duty to the Crown.”
    â€œI see,” said McLoughlin. “You’ll need to put this in writing, and I’ll send it along to George Simpson for approval. I don’t have the authority—”
    â€œTut tut, McLoughlin. Just do it.”
    â€œâ€”to spend resources that are not included in company objectives. But we’ll catch the devil if we can.”
    Commodore Sir Josiah Priestley’s response was thwarted by the appearance of McLoughlin’s clerk. “Excuse me, sirs, but Mr. Carp requests the commodore’s attention.”
    â€œAh, McLoughlin, news at last. I’ll wager they have the bugger, or at least his head. Send him in directly.”
    A smooth-cheeked youth barely in his majority stepped in, saluted smartly, and addressed the commodore. “With permission, sir—”
    â€œYes, yes, have you got the devil?”
    â€œNo, he gave us the slip. Not a trace. We penetrated several leagues upriver, as far as a native village. No luck. But one small clue, sir. The villagers lost a pirogue that night—maybe a mishap, maybe not.”
    â€œAnd you failed to follow up.”
    â€œYour pardon, sir, we looked up and down the river. It moves right along, you know.”
    â€œSo you failed, Carp. I seem to have misplaced my trust. Or perhaps I overestimated your abilities.”
    The young man, holding the juniormost officer’s rank in the Royal Navy, stood silently.
    â€œIt’s all politics, McLoughlin. These useless sons of knights and barons get preferred over men of ability. Go, my boy. Tell Lieutenant Wickham we’ll sail at dawn before we’re fighting a headwind and rowing our way out.”
    â€œVery good, sir. I—I’m sorry. It’s a huge country, sir—”
    â€œExcuses.”
    The youth fled.
    â€œSo, my crew couldn’t round up a common oaf. If the Admiralty’d