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window. ‘You, there, sentry! Damn you, where are you? After him!’He flung one gaitered leg across the sill and tumbled over on to the verandah. ‘Shoot, you bloody fool, there’s a traitor escaping!’
    They heard the sentry’s blasphemous exclamation and then a babble of shouts and orders with the sergeant’s bellowings providing the central theme. A shot rang out, and then another before the sergeant succeeded in organising the pursuit. Rogers and Dickey stood listening as the noise of that hopeless search grew fainter, and they were still waiting when the sergeant returned and reported that the fugitive was nowhere to be found.
    Rogers wasted no time on recriminations. He ordered a general alarm and at his dictation Dickey penned a note to the commander of the Fort to set a company on the hunt. Rogers signed it and handed it to the perspiring sergeant before dismissing him. Then he sat back in his chair.
    â€˜So far, very well,’ he observed.
    But Master Dickey, who had a gift for essentials, was pondering an uncomfortable detail which had been at the back of his mind for the past half hour – a detail which, it seemed to him, should have been causing the Governor much concern. He cleared his throat.
    â€˜Ye’ll pardon me, sir,’ he began, ‘if I find a fault – or what seems tae me tae be a fault – in this scheme of yours.’
    Rogers looked up. ‘Tell me.’
    Dickey nodded towards the window. ‘This pirate, Rackham, is only lending himself tae your plan for one thing: tae get a pardon and marry. What’ll happen when all’s done and he finds oot the truth aboot – aboot Mistress Sampson?’
    Rogers frowned, then shrugged. ‘Why, what should happen? He can do nothing: he will stand in a very tight place, to be sure, for if one breath of what has passed hereever reaches his associates Master Rackham’s time will be up. Oh, granted he will conceive himself cheated, but he can attempt nothing against me, for he will know that I have only to drop a word and he’ll be a dead man. So he must stew in his anger, I’m afraid.’
    Master Dickey pursed his lips. ‘You would be a bad enemy.’
    â€˜I’ve known worse. And his hands will be tied. No, I do not think we should fret over Calico Jack. He will have his pardon, which is more than he deserves.’
    Master Dickey frowned and sighed in turn. ‘I’ll be happy to see it by and done wi’,’ he confessed.
    â€˜You shall,’ Rogers promised him. ‘We hold the cards, from the ace down, and among them is the knave. A Calico Jack.’

3. SEA TRAP
    The Lady of Holland enjoyed the doubtful distinction of being the least noisome drinking-shop on the waterfront. Rackham had chosen it because the proprietor was trustworthy – his confidence having been obtained by substantial payment backed by coldly delivered threats – and because it was convenient to the cove where the boat was hidden. Furthermore, the approach of any search party would be heralded by swift warnings running through the alleys like tremors through a web.
    He strode through the lanes with elation mounting in his thoughts. He was nearer now to his ambition than he had been at any time in the past two years, and even the knowledge that a hazardous and highly dangerous twenty-four hours lay ahead could not depress him. He had set out for the Governor’s house that night with only a vague hope, but now the way seemed clear at last, and barring accidents he could count himself a free and pardoned man. He had no doubt that the Governor’s scheme would succeed – he knew something of men and Rogers had impressed him as one who did not permit his plans to go awry.
    And then – Kate Sampson: the thought of her could send a thrilling urgency through Rackham’s veins. It had been a long time: two years, two ugly, hard years in which he had given her up and