Seas of Fortune(49)

David pulled a ring off his finger, and handed it to the hunter. “For you, good work!”

He then turned to Philip. “Go with him, get the Miskito chiefs together.”

Some minutes later, there was a quick Dutch-Miskito council of war on the bank of the Rio San Juan. The Dutch, with swivel guns brought over from the ships, blocked the path downriver. The Miskitos fanned out in small groups, heading into the rainforest. They would cut off the Spanish escape route.

The ambush was completely successful. It was also completely anticlimactic. The two mestizos the Indians had spotted weren’t scouts for a Spanish expedition. They were the expedition. In a manner of speaking.

More precisely, they were stragglers from a canoe convoy that had come down the river some months earlier, at the end of the last rainy season. The two had gone hunting one day, gotten lost, and discovered, when they made it back to the river, that they had been left behind. They had built a raft and tried paddling upriver, but decided eventually that it was too difficult and headed back downstream.

The mestizos were from the town of Granada in the interior of Nicaragua. Their convoy’s cargo was their region’s annual export of cochineal, sugar, indigo, hides and silver; it had been headed for Portobello, three hundred miles to southeast. There, it would have been transferred to the great flota, which sailed in January or February to Cartagena, Havana, and finally home.

There was much moaning and wailing among the Dutch when they realized that they had missed an easily captured treasure by just a few months.

The Miskitos were disappointed, too. While the Miskitos did cultivate crops, their general attitude was that it is easier to let someone else do the farming and then rob them. In this regard, they were not very different from their English and Dutch allies.

* * *

David thought about the treasures of Granada, and its sister city, Leon. He couldn’t afford to hang around the mouth of the San Juan until next December or January, waiting for the 1635 convoy. His investors would be unhappy about the delay in the delivery of the oil, rubber and bauxite, and a wait would increase the danger that a roving Spanish squadron would spot his ships.

But . . . If the convoy left the town half a year ago, that meant that the town’s warehouses were half-full again. Right?

Could he ascend the San Juan and assault the two cities? He had started the voyage with perhaps one hundred sixty men. Some of those had been left behind in Suriname, to help the colonists; others had died, through accident or disease. If he were to be away from the ships for a month or more, he would have to leave a strong guard behind, or he could return with much loot, only to find that he had no ships to sail home in. So that meant oh, perhaps, a hundred effectives. That was the bare minimum.

But if Blauveldt joined in . . . and the Miskitos . . . he might reasonably lead two hundred men into action. That made the idea . . . quite practical.

* * *

“Captain?” Philip was anxious to report on his successes.

The captain stared into the forest, without a word.

“Captain?”

David grimaced. “I have rethought the situation. We have done enough rubber collecting. It is time to take more direct action against the Spanish.”

“The USE military uses rubber—”

“Yes, yes, it will be used by your APCs. But we Dutch need to damage the Spanish more . . . directly. The Spanish are confident they can do anything they please with our ships and colonies, because they are winning the war in Europe. We need to remind them that the Dutch are not impotent.”

“This expedition is funded by USE investors, and flies the USE and Swedish flags.”

“And carries Dutch captains and crews. Who want to see the Spanish taken down a peg. Which will make both the Swedes and the Americans happy enough.

“So this is what we will be doing. We will take canoes up the Rio San Juan, to the Lago de Nicaragua. And across it . . . to Granada and Leon.

“They are towns rich in silver and other treasures. They have never been attacked, and hence are unwalled and poorly garrisoned. I feel confident that they will pay a heavy ransom to be spared the torch.”

It was Philip’s turn to stare silently at the wilderness.

David put his hand on Philip’s shoulder. “You Americans don’t seem to have much taste for plunder, I know. When I formed the Company, I was shocked by the up-time lack of enthusiasm for privateering.” He stifled a chuckle. “Of course, the down-time investors made up for it.

“So don’t worry. I don’t need to take you with me. I have to leave a guard for the ships, and I will give you a few additional men to help you continue your rubber harvesting. The ones too old or too sick to be fit for my little excursion to Granada, of course. And you will have some of the Miskitos.”