The Magnificent Showboats Read Online Free PDF Page A

your companion?”
    Ashgale turned an amused glance toward the young woman. “Because I am not acquainted with her. The tavern was full; I asked if I might share her table and this she graciously allowed.”
    The young woman rose to her feet. “You may now use the table in its entirety.” With a cool inclination of her head she crossed the room and departed the tavern.
    Zamp stared after the supple form. “What a peculiar person!”
    “‘Peculiar’?” Garth Ashgale shrugged and raised his eyebrows, as if perplexed by the quality of Zamp’s standards. “I thought her quite charming.”
    “No dispute on this account,” said Zamp. “But is she not an unusual person to find here at Lanteen? Surely she is not some glass-blower’s daughter?”
    “I was on the point of making inquiry when you arrived,” said Garth Ashgale, “and now I believe I will return to my ship. Good evening to you, Apollon Zamp.”
    The two men exchanged salutes, and Garth Ashgale departed the tavern. Zamp immediately summoned the waiter. “The lady in the black cape who sat at this table: are you acquainted with her name?”
    “No, sir. She has engaged a chamber at the Alderman’s Hostel and regularly takes her meals with us. She conducts herself with the pride of a noblewoman and pays in good iron groats; otherwise nothing is known.”
    “A rather mysterious person, in short.”
    “So much might well be said, sir.”
    Zamp sat for an hour, listening to the music and watching the glass-blowers at their loose-kneed jigs.
    Certain decisions must be made. By arriving at Lanteen he had demonstrated to Ashgale the futility of his paltry deceptions; but now: should he proceed further and attempt to earn the invitation to Mornune? To succeed would be pleasant; to fail would be correspondingly bitter — even though Zamp felt no inclination whatever to undertake the long upstream voyage to the Bottomless Lake.
    He made his decision. He would compete, but only as if in a careless half-serious manner. His principal rival would of course be Garth Ashgale, and two methods of attaining victory suggested themselves. He could strain every nerve to produce an obviously superior entertainment, or he could use equal diligence to ensure the inferiority of Garth Ashgale’s presentation. Both options must be explored from all angles.
    Zamp mused a few moments longer, then paid his score and departed the tavern. The vendors along the esplanade were now darkening their lamps and wheeling away their booths. Mist blowing down from the north obscured the water and swirled around the masthead lamps of the docked vessels. Tomorrow no doubt would see the arrival of the Two Varminies and perhaps other boats, none of which need be seriously feared. Fironzelle’s Golden Conceit, however, could not be dismissed so lightly. Garth Ashgale, for all his elegant ways and wicked duplicities, had achieved many notable successes; the fact could not be disputed.
    In deep thought Zamp returned to his ship, noting as he passed the light in the stern cabin of Fironzelle’s Golden Conceit, where Garth Ashgale no doubt sat preoccupied with his own calculations.

     
    On the following day, as Zamp had expected, Osso Santelmus arrived with his Two Varminies followed, one after the other, by the Psychopompos Revenant and the Vissel Dominator.
    Santelmus came aboard Miraldra’s Enchantment to take a glass of spirits and to exchange gossip with Zamp. “A very adequate turnout; I foresee intense competition ahead.”
    “Unquestionably,” said Zamp. “But I still lack certain elements of information. For instance: when does this event occur? How will it be conducted? Who makes the judgments?”
    “Had you received the initial announcement,” said Santelmus, “you would not have needed to ask. We are merely to present ourselves here on this day, and further information will then be forthcoming. I suppose that you have been preparing a remarkable new production?”
    “The time is