– such leaps! it is a dangerous corner, by the red rock: I had to run myself five minutes later, and I quite lost the track of my babirussa, a huge babirussa.’
‘A severe pang, I am sure; but I hope it was mitigated a little by the reflection that swine’s flesh is forbidden to Mahometans.’
‘So is wine,’ said Wan Da, smiling, ‘but there are days when the Merciful, the Compassionate, is even more merciful and compassionate than others. No, in fact we kill them because they plough up the fields at night and because we use their tusks.’
The wine was real enough, however, a full-bodied perfectly drinkable red whose origin Stephen could not make out. Con. ceivably Macao? And although it was served not in glass but
silver he was reasonably sure that several of the Malays as well as Wan Da were drinking it. The Sultan certainly was. His cup-bearer Abdul, a youth like a gazelle, made no pretence of hiding the dark red stream he poured.
So were the French. While Wan Da was giving a circumstantial account of his pursuit of a honey-bear, Stephen examined the faces opposite him. The sea-officers appeared to match the English reasonably well, and their captain had something of Linois’
look, capable, efficient, determined, and cheerful. Duplessis was not a man to send to a hot climate, not a man to send abroad at all; and his official counsellors were not unlike Fox’s. Wray had fallen to pieces since Stephen last saw him: flaccid, barely recognizable: the shock of recognition was still strong on him, and it was unlikely that he could sit out the meal – a greenish pallor increasing with every draught of wine. Ledward on the other hand, now that he had recovered his assurance, looked and sounded a formidable adversary, a man of quite unusual powers. Stephen watched him empty his goblet and hold it over his right shoulder to be refilled; and as he made this gesture he glanced towards the throne with a very slight but significant change of expression – a private look. Stephen’s eye darted to the left and just caught Abdul’s answering smile.
For some time Stephen could not believe that his first impression was not a mistake; but although from this point on Ledward was perfectly discreet, Abdul, behind the
Sultan, was not; and the impression grew to a moral certainty. The possible consequences so filled his mind that he lost the thread of Wan Da’s narrative until it ended
‘So Tia Udin killed the hear, and the bear killed Tia Udin, ha, ha, ha!’
‘Jack,’ he said, as they walked along the rim of the crater to a point where they could hail the ship, ‘did you reflect upon Ganymede at all?’
‘Yes,’ said Jack. ‘1 was up with him all last night, and should be this night were it not for the Sultan’s visit tomorrow. Such an endearing little pale golden body as he peeps out – he is
easily my favourite. But I shall still have him almost all night, once the Sultan is done with.’
‘Shall you, though?’ said Stephen, looking at his friend’s pleased, well-fed face, rather more florid than usual from the Sultan’s wine; and after a pause, ‘Brother, can we be talking of the same thing?’
‘I should hope so,’ said Jack, smiling. ‘Jupiter is in opposition, you know. Nobody could have missed his splendour.’
‘No, indeed: a very glorious sight. And Ganymede is connected with him, I collect?’
‘Of course he is – the prettiest of the satellites. What a fellow you are, Stephen.’
‘How well named. But I meant another Ganymede, the Sultan’s cup-bearer. Did you notice him?’
‘Well, yes, I did. I said to myself, Why, damn my eyes, there is a girl. But then I remembered that there would be no girls at a feast like that, so I returned to my excellent haunch of venison, no bigger than a hare’s, but uncommon well-tasting. Why do you call him Ganymede?’
‘Ganymede was Jupiter’s cup-bearer; and I believe their connexion, their relations, their friendship, would now be frowned upon. But I use the name loosely, as it is so often used: I mean no reflexion upon the Sultan.’
Chapter 7
Forgive me for bursting in on you at this time of day,’ said Stephen, ‘but I am in sad need of the Malay for mercury sublimate, strontium nitride and antimony.’
‘Pedok and datang for the first and last,’ said van Buren, ‘but I am afraid strontium is not yet known in these parts. Has it any therapeutic value?’
‘None that I know of. Fireworks are what I have in mind, and it gives a noble red.’
‘As for that, there are no less than three Chinese cracker makers on the other side of the river, and they have the whole spectrum at their command. Lao Tung is said to be the best. I would come with you, but as I said in my note I am away at noon, and I must finish this creature before I go.’
‘Of course. Lao Tung: many thanks indeed. We are to receive the Sultan this evening, on the occasion of Princess Sophia’s birthday, and it occurred to me that a brilliant royal salute in her honour would not only give pleasure but would emphasize the mission’s loyalty as opposed to Ledward’s open treason and make an evident contrast between on the one hand a set of men who deserted first their king and then their republic
and who now support a vile usurper and on the other a set who have consistently supported the hereditary principle, which must surely appeal to a ruler by divine right. Fox agrees. By the way, am I right in supposing that His Highness is a paederast?’
‘Oh yes. Did I not mention it? Perhaps I never thought of anything so obvious: such things are as usual here as they were in Athens. The present favourite is one Abdul – I have rarely seen a man so besotted.’
‘He is a pretty youth, sure. But that to one side: I had a most satisfactory meeting with the Pondicherry clerk in the night.’
‘Duplessis’
Pondicherry
clerk?’
‘Just so: Lesueur is his name. Wu Han’s young man, to whom he is deeply in debt, brought him in the darkness, and we soon came to an agreement. He has an importing and exporting house in Pondicherry, where his family still lives, and in exchange for our good word with the Company, our protection for the future and a certain amount of present money he undertook to give me what information he could. He sent these this morning.
They are the rough draught of Duplessis’ official journal, which Lesueur writes out fair.’
Van Buren put down his scalpel, wiped his hands and took the sheaf of paper. He read intently, and after a page or two he said, ‘I see that our contact is looked upon as purely scientific.’
‘Yes. Fox wanted to come and see you to talk about the Buddhist temple at Kumai, but I pointed out that a visit by the envoy might compromise the position. Aubrey too was anxious to be introduced . . . which reminds me, I have an appointment with him for twenty minutes after nine o’clock,’ said Stephen, looking at his watch. ‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph, it is quarter to ten. He is a raging lion if he is kept waiting even as little as half an hour. I wish you both a very good journey – God bless. I will show you the papers again – forgive me. Oh dear, oh dear.’
Jack, with the purser, the purser’s steward, Killick and Bonden were at Liu Liang’s at Stephen’s recommendation, laying in stores for the Diane’s reception that evening, served by Liu Liang himself. They had waited for Stephen eleven minutes at the landing-place and had then made their way to Liu Liang’s by a route that led them through the hog-market, escorted by a cloud of ribald children, and they greeted him with a reserved severity, pursed lips and significant looks at their watches, or in default of watches, at a Chinese clepsydra by the dried medicinal serpents. Liu Liang, however, was as welcoming as could be, and once the stores were laid in, he sent an assistant to show the way to the firework-maker.
Jack and Stephen made the journey by themselves, Mr Blyth and the others returning to the ship. They crossed the bridge and followed the guide up a street leading away from the river, shops on one side, and open drains with many small black nimble pigs in the middle, the long wall of the French envoy’s compound on the other; and a hundred yards ahead they saw Wray and Ledward walking arm in arm. As soon as he saw them Wray let go; he darted across the street, leaping the gutter and hurrying blindly into a clothes shop. Ledward walked on, his face set and tense. Stephen glanced at Jack: no apparent awareness, only a remote gravity. Ledward deviated slightly from his course, giving the wall, and they passed.