03 Billy Bacon and John Company’s Armies (Colonial Warrior #3) by Andrew Wareham

Author:Andrew Wareham [Wareham, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PublishNation
Published: 2020-06-01T20:00:00+00:00

“Can we make the promise that the Company will stay, sir? Will Madras necessarily validate our word?”

“Gold, Bacon! There is concrete evidence of gold in these hills – we are to send down a great mass of ingots. We need not, I suspect, mention our suspicion that the hoard is the result of a half century’s production from tiny streams. As far as we know, the gold comes from a mine. The Company will stay here sending out its prospectors for the next decade at least, in hope of discovering that great source of wealth. When it finally despairs of finding the mines, it will have been established for years and will not be in the way of surrendering an old station. The Company once settled in a town does not give it up. I made that promise in the absolute knowledge that I would not be forsworn, Bacon.”

Billy was mildly amused.

“I should have known better than to doubt you, sir! First patrol to go out tomorrow, sir?”

“No. Wait a few days. Let us set up the Militia first, Bacon. I am not entirely trusting of the townspeople yet, you know. The munshi is a fine gentleman, yet I cannot be sure that he is not too good to be true. What if he has it in mind to install himself as a replacement rajah? After all, he was bold enough to go out into the world as a young man in search of a fortune…”

Billy thought it unlikely.

“He has a good few years in his budget now, sir. He cannot be less than fifty with so white a beard…”

It occurred to Billy that his colonel would not see fifty again, might not be delighted at the implication that he was in his dotage.

“That may not have been my most tactful statement ever, sir…”

“It was not, Bacon – fortunately, I am able to accept that I am not the young man I once was. You are probably right, but I would still wish you to be present when we hand out the French muskets to the grasping hands of the young men of the town.”

“Might we issue the dragoon pistols to Paget’s Horse at the same time, sir? Three hundred cavalrymen might serve as an unspoken warning to the young men, a hint that they could be unwise to rise against us.”

“Good idea! Arrange it with Paget, Bacon.”

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