hopefully, closing the newspaper.
‘Not now, Nicholas,’ Kydd said absently, looking for his leather dispatch case. He found it and tested its lock with his fob key. ‘I have to, er, keep Mr Popham abreast o’ things, I find.’
Renzi’s eyebrows lifted at the sight of the dispatch case, normally used for the transfer of confidential materials, but he refrained from comment.
‘Right. To the first. How do we proceed from here?’ Popham said briskly, pulling out papers and looking encouragingly at Kydd. ‘I’ve questioned our American friend at some length and have discovered that for us things are looking better and better. It seems that not only are there few and poor military but their equipment and fortifications are in dolorous order. I’m content that what we are possessed of here will be sufficient to achieve the goal.’
He passed across some lists. ‘I don’t have to remind you, I consider this discussion and materials in perfect confidence between us. Surprise is everything.’
‘Of course.’
‘No one shall know until we have our full dispositions in the matter.’
‘You have my word.’
‘Not even that secretary chap of yours – what’s his name again?’
Kydd paused. ‘It’s Renzi. You’ve never really taken to him, have you, Dasher?’
‘Well, no,’ Popham said, straightening his cuff. ‘A little too much of the dark side about him. As one might say, he’s the air of a fox, too cunning by half. I’m actually intrigued as to why you have the fellow about you all the time.’
‘We’ve known each other for years. I’d trust him with my life,’ Kydd said steadily.
‘Quite. But not with planning confidences.’
‘As you wish,’ Kydd said, ‘but if I might make just one observation, Dasher?’
‘Fire away.’
‘Shall it be you who commands the expedition? Your experience in the military line is . . .’
‘It will be in the character of a joint venture, naval and military, as was the case with Cape Town.’
‘You’re not expecting General Baird to leave his governorship here to take command of a South American army?’
‘Sir David? No, not at all. But I have a special mission for you, my friend, the honour of co-opting our future general-in-command.’
‘I – I don’t understand you.’
‘You’re in the right of it. I’m a military tyro, no acquaintance to speak of in the planning of an army action. We’ve need of a field officer to advise, to render assistance in the promoting of the operation and so forth. It would appear . . . self-aggrandising if it were I who approached the man. It were better that you broach the possibilities, don’t you think?’
‘Very well. Whom do you have in mind?’
‘There’s only one I’d feel has both reason and desire for the position.’
‘Beresford?’
‘Just so. An ambitious brigadier general, twice thwarted of glory in Cape Town – at Saldanha and with Janssens’s hasty surrender – and destined to rot unless he can find himself some other adventure.’
Tall and commanding, Beresford’s figure was always prominent in social events at the castle. He still basked in the reputation he had won in a forced march across the desert with Baird from the Red Sea to the Nile, which had resulted in the defeat of the French Army abandoned by Napoleon. And in which the unknown sloop commander, Kydd, had played his small part.
Was this sufficient grounds to strike up an acquaintance with the general, become comradely enough to impart confidences of such giddy import? He felt a jet of nervousness at the thought, for social manoeuvring did not come easily to him. ‘I’ll, um, see what I can do,’ he said cautiously.
‘No need to make an immediate approach,’ Popham said pleasantly, ‘as the initial objective has first to succeed.’
‘Being?’
‘I think it proper that my captains should be made acquainted with what we plan at the outset. We carry them with us, and our approach to Sir David will be that much
‘Not now, Nicholas,’ Kydd said absently, looking for his leather dispatch case. He found it and tested its lock with his fob key. ‘I have to, er, keep Mr Popham abreast o’ things, I find.’
Renzi’s eyebrows lifted at the sight of the dispatch case, normally used for the transfer of confidential materials, but he refrained from comment.
‘Right. To the first. How do we proceed from here?’ Popham said briskly, pulling out papers and looking encouragingly at Kydd. ‘I’ve questioned our American friend at some length and have discovered that for us things are looking better and better. It seems that not only are there few and poor military but their equipment and fortifications are in dolorous order. I’m content that what we are possessed of here will be sufficient to achieve the goal.’
He passed across some lists. ‘I don’t have to remind you, I consider this discussion and materials in perfect confidence between us. Surprise is everything.’
‘Of course.’
‘No one shall know until we have our full dispositions in the matter.’
‘You have my word.’
‘Not even that secretary chap of yours – what’s his name again?’
Kydd paused. ‘It’s Renzi. You’ve never really taken to him, have you, Dasher?’
‘Well, no,’ Popham said, straightening his cuff. ‘A little too much of the dark side about him. As one might say, he’s the air of a fox, too cunning by half. I’m actually intrigued as to why you have the fellow about you all the time.’
‘We’ve known each other for years. I’d trust him with my life,’ Kydd said steadily.
‘Quite. But not with planning confidences.’
‘As you wish,’ Kydd said, ‘but if I might make just one observation, Dasher?’
‘Fire away.’
‘Shall it be you who commands the expedition? Your experience in the military line is . . .’
‘It will be in the character of a joint venture, naval and military, as was the case with Cape Town.’
‘You’re not expecting General Baird to leave his governorship here to take command of a South American army?’
‘Sir David? No, not at all. But I have a special mission for you, my friend, the honour of co-opting our future general-in-command.’
‘I – I don’t understand you.’
‘You’re in the right of it. I’m a military tyro, no acquaintance to speak of in the planning of an army action. We’ve need of a field officer to advise, to render assistance in the promoting of the operation and so forth. It would appear . . . self-aggrandising if it were I who approached the man. It were better that you broach the possibilities, don’t you think?’
‘Very well. Whom do you have in mind?’
‘There’s only one I’d feel has both reason and desire for the position.’
‘Beresford?’
‘Just so. An ambitious brigadier general, twice thwarted of glory in Cape Town – at Saldanha and with Janssens’s hasty surrender – and destined to rot unless he can find himself some other adventure.’
Tall and commanding, Beresford’s figure was always prominent in social events at the castle. He still basked in the reputation he had won in a forced march across the desert with Baird from the Red Sea to the Nile, which had resulted in the defeat of the French Army abandoned by Napoleon. And in which the unknown sloop commander, Kydd, had played his small part.
Was this sufficient grounds to strike up an acquaintance with the general, become comradely enough to impart confidences of such giddy import? He felt a jet of nervousness at the thought, for social manoeuvring did not come easily to him. ‘I’ll, um, see what I can do,’ he said cautiously.
‘No need to make an immediate approach,’ Popham said pleasantly, ‘as the initial objective has first to succeed.’
‘Being?’
‘I think it proper that my captains should be made acquainted with what we plan at the outset. We carry them with us, and our approach to Sir David will be that much
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