Mutiny(109)

Utterly confused, mind a-swim, Kydd had to be helped to the door. It opened, and there were Hulme, Fearon and the others looking up at him. 'P-pardoned,' he said hoarsely, and the manacles were struck off.





Chapter 11





‘For pity’s sake tell me!’ Kydd pleaded. Snuggled deep into Kitty's bed he was still feeling woozy after a deep sleep and the draught she had slipped into his negus.

She fussed at his coverings and replied, with a sigh, 'I've told ye before, m' dear, not until Mr Renzi comes. I promised him he'll be th' one t' tell you.' Lowering her voice she added wistfully, 'You are s' lucky, Tom, t' have such a friend as will do this f'r you.'

As consciousness returned, the past galloped back to crowd his thoughts, bringing with it all the desperate feelings of the last few weeks. He had to know why he had been spared, if only to be sure that he wouldn't in some way find himself back there again.

He dressed and looked out of the gunport window at the ships at anchor in Sheerness and further away, still where they had fled after escaping the mutineer fleet. The sight of them brought back dark memories that tugged at his sanity — but for now

Cockburnhe let the enfolding warmth of Kitty's caring soothe his soul.

Kydd sat in the armchair staring at the miniature of Ned Malkin, the simple patriotic Toby jugs and souvenirs of far voyaging, and let his thoughts drift.

A knock at the door shattered his reverie. Renzi entered diffidently, his hat in his hands. 'My dear fellow.'

'Nicholas.' Kydd was unsure how to treat a friend he'd last seen when on a riotous procession and who apparently had contrived to spare him the gallows.

'I pray I find you in good health?'

'With Kitty t' care f'r me, how can I not be?'

Renzi found another chair, and sat delicately on it. 'I'm wondering if you might be up to a little—'

'Why am I pardoned?' Kydd demanded hotly.

'Shall we—'

'I need t' know now, damn you, Nicholas. I have t' think, sort it out.'



They climbed silently up the hill to Minster and from the top looked out across grey, wanly sparkling sea and dreary saltmarsh. Kydd sought out the Sandwich, the largest black ship in the Medway, nearly lost among scores of other craft. Then his eyes focused on the desolate scatter of dockyard buildings at the end of the island and, next to it, the huddle of hulks that was Kitty's home.

They sat down on a grassy ridge. Kydd was first to speak. "Then tell me, Nicholas.'

Renzi plucked a grass stem. 'I remember, years ago it was, in a place very far from here.' Kydd waited impatiently. 'The Great South Sea it was, on an island to which I was, er, particularly fond,' Renzi continued, 'and there you had the gall to thwack me on the calabash, so to speak, rendering it impossible for me to continue there. And, might I remind you, you have never once since begged pardon for the presumption.'

'God preserve me! Nicholas, be damned t' the history, this is m' life we're about.' Kydd snorted, then added, 'Aye, I do remember, but I recollects as well, while we're discussin' it, that if I hadn't you'd be cannibal scran b' now.'

'My point precisely.' Renzi smiled back, waiting. Kydd kept his silence.

'We each of us have our principles, some dearly held, some of which are of the loftiest motivation, some mere rank superstition. I rather believe that in both our cases principles were informed by the purest of motives, but were not necessarily grounded in strict practicality. My position is that I have merely redressed the balance, perhaps achieved a measure of revenge.'

'Nicholas, I have to know! What did ye do, tell me, that th' court thinks to pardon me so quick, like?'

'Oh, nothing but the judicious exercise of family patronage, the shameful deployment of interest among the highest on your behalf. Do you know, I met Grenville, the Foreign Minister, in Hatchard's the other day? Delightful fellow, much attached to Grecian odes.'

'Spare me y' politics, Nicholas,' Kydd threw at him. 'Do y' really mean t' sit there 'n' tell me it's by corruption that I'm delivered?'

'It was my decision to use any power within my reach to preserve for the service a high-principled and gifted seaman. I do apologise if I offended,' Renzi said, with the utmost politeness. 'And, of course, the deed is now in the past, all done,' he added. 'No prospect of winding back the clock.'

Kydd's eyes burned. He raised a fist. 'God damn ye for a bloody dog, Renzi. I have t' live with this now.'

'Just so.'

'I was in insurrection agin my king an' country.'

'This is true. You have also been given the chance to atone — I'd hazard your loyalty to the sea service from now on will be a caution to us all.'

'You cold-blooded bastard! There are men I know over there in chokey waitin' t' be led out t' the fore yardarm, an' all you can do—'

'Mr Kydd! At some point you will put all this behind you, and step out to your future. It may be a week, a year or even half your remaining days, but it will come. The rational thing is to accept it, and make it earlier, rather than filling your days with regrets. Which will it be for you?'