Grantville Gazette Volume 42 by Paula Goodlett & Eric Flint

Author:Paula Goodlett & Eric Flint [Goodlett, Paula & Flint, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781618248640
Publisher: 1632, Inc.
Published: 2012-07-01T21:50:52+00:00

May 1634, Granville, France

Henri Beaubriand-Lévesque was lounging comfortably in his favorite chair in front of the fire, a globe of finest brandy warming in his hands. Putting his nose over the rim of the glass he inhaled gently, savoring the bouquet. Then he swirled the amber liquid in the glass and took a sip, letting the brandy pass gently over his tongue. "This is the life . . . " Suddenly a hand grabbed the glass from his grasp. He looked up to see his wife's Uncle George gulping down his drink. "George!" he cried, outraged at the desecration of fine brandy.

George Payn lowered the glass and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "I needed that."

Henri felt a terrible foreboding. "You brought him back," he said, burying his head in his hands.

George refilled the glass and slumped in the chair opposite Henri. "Take the lad to sea in the Unicorn you said. Make a man of the lad, you said. Stretch him, you said. Well I damned near did stretch the little monster, from the highest yardarm."

"What did he do?" Henri asked tentatively.

"What did he do? What didn't he do, you mean. I could write a book, but the worst was when he started trying to advise me—that's right, me, a man with nigh-on forty years experience at sea—on proper naval tactics."

Henri hadn't actually reacted to the idea that Peter might try to give George advice, he had after all lived with the boy for three months earlier in the year, but he was curious. "Where would he have learned anything about naval tactics?"

George nodded grimly. "That's exactly what I asked the lad, and do you know what he said? From books. Some of those books you brought back from Grantville, in Thuringia, about some up-timer named Hornblower."

Henri choked back a laugh. He'd read those books himself and quite enjoyed them. "Was the advice any good?"

"Was the advice any good?" George glared at Henri. "Is that all you can say?"

"It's a perfectly reasonable question, George. Was the advice Peter gave you any good?"

"That's not the point, Henri. He shouldn't have been trying to give me advice in front of the men. I've got my reputation to maintain."

Henri poured himself a new glass of brandy and smiled back at George. He wasn't even trying to conceal his amusement now. "So what did you do?"

"What could I do? I rephrased everything he'd suggested and put it to the men as my own suggestion."

Henri openly laughed. "And how did Peter react to that?"

"He was none too happy, but I gave him the choice, accept it, or he was going to spend the rest of the voyage cleaning the heads."

Henri sighed. He'd dearly have loved to have seen that encounter, and seen Peter cleaning the heads. It was, as he understood it from his limited knowledge of things nautical, a wet, dangerous, dirty and smelly job—in other words, the perfect task to assign to Peter Payn. "How did he get on with the crew?"

"The crew!" George snorted and took a large sip of brandy.

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