“Let’s hope I have reason to be,” Octavian said with an arch of his brow. “All I have with me are documents.”
“What sort of documents?” the leader asked.
“Plans for a new battleship. Touch those and that is treason. You’ll be betraying your own countrymen as well as the English.”
“I have no interest in documents. Do ye have any gold on ye?”
Octavian held his arms out wide. “No, just weapons that I hope you will allow me to keep. I have no intention of using them on you. I have some medals, but I will kill you if you take those. They were hard fought for and earned in battle.”
“Ye’re not to tell us what we can and canno’ take,” a young man growled as he dismounted and approached. By his resemblance to their leader, Octavian judged the man was his son or other close male relative, a younger brother perhaps.
The leader stopped the lad with a stern warning. “Angus, we do no’ take his medals. Ye’d understand if ye’d ever fought in a war, ye young whelp.” He turned back to Octavian. “I was in the Scots Greys.”
Octavian nodded. “A fine regiment.”
“The finest,” the man said with a look of pride. “What’s yer name, Captain?”
“Octavian Thorne.”
“Thorne? Captain of the Dover Mist?” a man called out from amid the group. “Aw, me eyesight is wretched. Forgive me, Captain. I dinna recognize ye.”
“Jamie Armstrong, is that you?” Octavian was never happier to see one of his petty officers, the very one he had insisted on promoting over the pampered son of a powerful English lord. In the end, both men had received their promotions because not even the Admiralty wanted to tangle with the Earl of Oxbridge, a royal favorite. His useless son was given a senior rank he did not deserve and Octavian thought up ways to keep him out of contact with the crew who despised the young lord for his vindictive and heartless ways.
Not that Octavian was soft by any means.
In truth, he was quite demanding of his men.
But he had never raised a fist to them or ever ordered any of them lashed for petty offenses. His father had never raised a hand to any of his sons, and this was how Octavian treated his crew. They obeyed him out of respect, not because he threatened to beat them.
“Aye, Captain. I’m honored ye remembered me,” Jamie called back, his voice obviously filled with pride.
“I wouldn’t ever forget one of my ablest officers. How are you faring on dry land?”
“Not all that well, Captain,” he said with a laugh as he dismounted and limped toward him. “As ye see, we’ve had to turn to reiving to make it through this season’s failed crops. Our sheep got sick and many of them had to be put down, so we dinna have much wool to sell. We’re hoping next season will be better.”
“Sorry to hear it.”
The young man their leader had called Angus now emitted a scornful laugh. “Are ye truly sorry, Captain? I doubt ye give a fig about us, even though ye have our Jamie believing yer lies.”
The leader frowned at Angus again. “Shut up, lad. Ye know not what ye are talking about. All right, Captain. We’ll let ye pass. But would ye have any coins to spare for us?”
“I’m traveling to Greenock with just enough to get me there and back to London. I cannot stop you if you are of a mind to take it. But I hope you will accept this proposal…since I already have banking arrangements set up from my prior visits to Greenock, upon my arrival there I will purchase twenty prime wool sheep for you. Is that enough to replenish your stock?”
The leader held out his hand to Octavian. “Fair enough, Captain. You have a deal. Never let it be said Samuel Armstrong is not a man of his word.”
Angus cursed. “Are ye daft, Father? He’s going to ride off and never think about us again. He’ll have a good laugh with his friends, recounting what fools we were to believe him.”
Jamie gave the lad a cuff to his head. “Captain Thorne gave us his word. I’d trust him sooner than I’d trust you, ye insolent pup. Good to see ye again, Captain.”
Octavian shook Jamie’s grimy hand. “I’ll be at the Greenock shipyards for several weeks. Would you be willing to work there if I found you a job?”
“Around ships? Aye, Captain. I would. My family needs the money and I would be grateful for it.”
Octavian nodded. “Where can I reach you if I have obtained employment for you?”
Angus growled. “Ye’re going to give away our location now?”
Jamie cuffed him again. “He has to be told in order to deliver the sheep to us. Aye, I’ll be telling him where we live. The man is honorable. He’ll no’ betray us to the authorities.”
