The Empress of India by Michael Kurland

Author:Michael Kurland [Kurland, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2010-04-01T07:00:00+00:00

Viceroy Sir George Montague, in consultation with General St. Yves and Captain Iskansen, of The Empress of India, had decided to wait until the passengers and crew were all aboard the Empress, and steam was up, before transferring the maharaja’s gold to the specially constructed vault deep inside the ship. Normally this would be done well before sailing, so as not to draw attention to the cargo, but as it seemed that attention had already been drawn, the triumvirate determined that strength and speed would have to make up for the lack of stealth.

When the last passenger was safely aboard, the gangplank was removed, and the ship’s officers conducted a walk-through of the ship looking for anything untoward or unusual, aided by such of the crew as were believed to be absolutely reliable—although how reliable any man will prove when faced with the possibility of making off with some part of two tons of gold was a question that had already kept St. Yves up for several nights. At the same time two companies of the Pandiwar Foot, a highly dependable local regiment, conducted a sweep of both banks of the Hooghly River for a couple of miles in either direction.

When all was declared normal by the sweepers on and off the ship, a phalanx of guards descended on Commissariat Jetty, a cargo door in the side of the Empress was opened, and six reinforced goods wagons emerged from Fort William and proceeded to the pier.

It took the best part of four hours to effect the transfer of the boxes of gold from the wagons to the specially prepared vault, what with the checks and rechecks and precautions-in-depth against every eventuality that the viceroy or his most misanthropic aide could imagine. Divers were sent down to examine the exterior hull of the ship. Had there been a military observation company within two days’ travel, the viceroy would have sent up a hot-air balloon.

The gold had been cast into uniform bars, each of which weighed twenty-one pounds four ounces. They were packed six to a box, the boxes being wooden frames that constricted, without concealing, the six bars. When the gold was stowed and had been checked, counted, recounted, and several bars had been selected at random, freed from their boxes, and shaved of minuscule slivers of soft gold for assay (and those bars put aside for reweighing), the consignment was signed over by Sir George, signed for by Captain Iskansen, put on the manifest by the ship’s purser, and the vault’s inner door of specially hardened steel bars was locked, and the key put into an envelope and sealed with some scarlet tape and a blob of wax, upon which was impressed the viceroy’s seal, and the envelope put into an inner pocket of the captain’s dress jacket for stowing in the small safe in his quarters, then hands were shaken all around, the cargo door was closed and sealed, and the captain headed up to the bridge to give the command to get under way.

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