Scales of Gold Read Online Free PDF

thousand. We’re still low on capital, aren’t we? Because, I know, you’ve got the rest all out working. But the Republic isn’t going to ease up on war taxes, and we’re near the top of the list for her loans. You know I’ve been called to the Collegio tomorrow?’
    ‘I wrote to you that they wanted a loan,’ Gregorio said.
    ‘So the Crusade is still going on?’ Nicholas said. ‘Without France or Burgundy, with the Pope at death’s door?’
    ‘You sailed past Ancona,’ said Gregorio. ‘The papal fleet’s there, and the Pope is on his way to lead it. Every town is crammed full of soldiers waiting to join him. You must have seen them in Venice today. Spanish, Flemings, Germans, Sc –’
    ‘Scots, of course,’ Nicholas said. His face, across the short, laden table was shadowed, and the scar Jordan de Ribérac had given him sank into mild hollows. ‘And if the Crusade doesn’t happen? If the Pope dies, then Venice unaided has to sweep her own doorstep. In other words, find the means to keep her colonies free of the Turks. So what will she ask for? Ten thousand? Twenty? What can we stand?’
    ‘You see what we have,’ Gregorio said. ‘What can you add to it?’
    ‘Now I’ve stupidly walked out of Cyprus? Quite a lot,’ Nicholas said. ‘Ten thousand ducats a year from Loppe’s sugar, and a quarter of that from other trading, courtesy of the new agents we’ve established in Alexandria and Damascus. You know about that. And let’s say five thousand a year from half the army under Thomas and John, although that depends on the King, and on Cairo. Unfortunately, it all rather depends on the King’s whim and Cairo, but I think we could count on two years of it.’
    ‘Half the army?’ said Gregorio. One of their successes had been a highly trained mercenary troop, born from Marian de Charetty’s travelling bodyguard.
    ‘Yes. Captain Astorre has the other half, and the doctor’s gone with him. He was going to take a job here in Venice, until he heardwho the commander-in-chief was. I thought I told you? You did get my last letter? I thought from your manner you must have.’
    ‘Yes. Yes, I did,’ Gregorio said.
    ‘Well, I didn’t mean you to forget all of it,’ Nicholas said. ‘So on top of what you expect, there’s perhaps a net fifteen thousand in prospect from me plus, of course, what I’ve brought on the ship. I got cullet. You did lease the island, and the Strozzis sent in their man?’
    ‘He’s there,’ Gregorio said. ‘In a booth near the Baroviers’. And there’s something else that will help. You asked about the ship that you lost.’
    ‘The ship I had stolen,’ Nicholas said. His face lightened. ‘The Vatachino have paid the insurance?’
    ‘In full. To the penny. For the loss of the ship and its rigging. For the loss of the contract you had with the King, and the trade it would have brought you. For the cargo it carried … Did it carry a cargo?’
    ‘I’m sure it did,’ Nicholas said. ‘And they paid it? You have all the money?’
    ‘All of it, although they tried very hard to avoid it. So they didn’t run rings round you this time. In fact, the money’s worth more than the roundship.’
    ‘It would be nice to have both,’ Nicholas said. ‘Meantime, thank God, we do have a galley. You haven’t told me where the Ciaretti is.’ He waited. ‘Goro? If she’s sunk, I’ll sink you with her.’
    ‘She’s in Ancona,’ Gregorio said. ‘Requisitioned for the Crusade. What do you think I could do to prevent it? It’s lucky you’ve got the Adorno you came with.’
    ‘Well, Great Jesus it would be, if she didn’t need a full repair and refit,’ Nicholas said. ‘She got blown up in Cyprus, and we had to patch her with oakum and horse-glue. You mean we haven’t a ship? I have to wait for the Adorno or hire one?’
    Gregorio stared at him, sobered. He said, ‘Does it matter? The Flanders galleys can take on your cargo.’
    Nicholas gazed back at him, saying