Deadly Shoals Read Online Free PDF Page A

looking after to the first credulous customer who happened along, and smiling complacently as the Grim Reaper was sailed away by her rightful owners, leaving him a thousand dollars richer.
    Captain Stackpole scowled. “I had no reason not to believe Caleb Adams—I’ve dealt with him often, and know him well enough to take him at his word. Nope,” he said, his tone definite. “I would’ve known if he was lying.”
    â€œBut did anyone confirm that the vessel was up for sale?”
    Dead silence. Then Stackpole admitted, “Adams’s clerk didn’t know nothing about it.”
    â€œClerk?” This was the first Wiki had heard of a clerk. However, he didn’t have a chance to ask further, because they came around a bend in the path to find a man waiting on the track ahead.
    This fellow was holding a horse by the bridle, and looked as if he had been standing there for quite a while, though he had an air of being too important to be the type to be kept hanging around. He was also quite a dandy. With his pointed black beard, his wide-brimmed black hat, his embroidered boots, ruffled shirt, short jacket, and tight black trousers, he could have stepped out of old Spain.
    Stackpole muttered, “Goddamn it.” Then he said to Wiki, “Tell him that my ship is off on a cruise for whales; that I’m here on personal business, and don’t intend to do any trading. He’ll try to persuade you different, but don’t listen.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause he’s determined to charge me customs duty.”
    So this gentleman, Wiki deduced, was the collector of customs. He proved to be as courtly as he looked, once he got over his surprise that a South Seas native should speak intelligent Spanish, listening politely, though very regretfully, to the message that Wiki passed on. As he proceeded to convey in delicate phrases, His Excellency Juán José Hernández, the governor of El Carmen de Patagones, was greatly in need of money. Because General de Rosas, the tyrant of Buenos Aires, was deliberately impoverishing the people of the Río Negro, the exportation of salt and beef was very difficult, and the importation of goods impossible, and so the tax basket was empty. For lack of public funds, the government had not been paid a salary for the past eighteen months.
    Then he apologized about being obliged to ask an impertinent question, adding, “We are forced to be cautious, because of the war with the French, you understand.”
    Wiki listened, and then turned to Stackpole and said, “He wants to know what we’re up to, since we’re not conducting any business here.”
    â€œTell him we wish to arrest an American thief by the name of Caleb Adams.”
    â€œHe’ll want to know the details.”
    â€œJust tell him you’re an officer of the American law.”
    Wiki conveyed this. “Undoubtedly you have proof of your office,” the customs official remarked, with yet another apologetic smile.
    Wiki produced his letter of authority from the sheriff’s department of Portsmouth, Virginia. He had unfolded this grand document several times already during the voyage, but this was the first time it had been spread out on the back of a horse.
    The officer was marvelously impressed by the crest, the ribbons, the seal, and the flourishing signatures, even if he couldn’t comprehend the flowing English script. “But you must pay your respects to His Excellency the Governor-general before attempting any kind of investigation,” he objected, however. “He, you understand, is in charge of law and order here.”
    Wiki translated this for Stackpole, who merely jerked his head. “Tomorrow,” he said curtly, and galloped off without another word.
    *   *   *
    It was just noon when they arrived at El Carmen. Here, the river widened even further, and started to become dotted with little islets