Birds of Prey - Smith Wilbur (версия книг TXT) 📗
Hal set a constant lookout at the high window of the cell. There was always one of the men standing on another's shoulders, clinging to the bars, to keep a watch on the castle courtyard. The lookout called down all sightings to Hal, who in turn relayed these up the stairwell to his father.
Within the first few days they were able to work out the timetable of the garrison, and to note the routine comings and goings of the Company officials, and of the free burghers who visited the castle regularly.
Hal called a description of each of these persons to the unseen leader of the slave rebellion in the Skellum's Den. Althuda knew the personal details of every person in the settlement and passed on all this accumulated knowledge, so that within the first few days Hal came to know not only the appearance but also the personality and character of each one.
He started a calendar, marking the passage of each day with a scratch on a slab of sandstone in one corner of the cell and registering the more important events beside it. He was not certain that anything was to be gained from these records, but at least it gave the men something to talk about, and fostered the illusion that he had a plan of action for their release or, failing that, for their escape.
"Governor's carriage at the staircase!" the lookout warned, and Hal jumped up from where he was sitting between Aboli and Daniel against the far wall.
"Come down, he ordered. "Let me up."
Through the bars he saw the state carriage parked at the foot of the broad staircase that led up to the Company offices and the Governor's suite. The coachman's name was Fredricus, an elderly Javanese slave who belonged to Governor Kleinhans. According to Althuda, he was no friend. For thirty years he had been Kleinhans" dog, and he could not be trusted. Althuda suspected that he was the one who had betrayed him, and had reported his return from the mountains to Major Loten. "We will probably be rid of him when Kleinhans leaves the colony. He is sure to take Fredricus back with him to Holland," Althuda told them.
There was a sudden stir as a detachment of soldiers hurried across the courtyard from the armoury and formed up at the foot of the staircase.
Xleinhans going out," Hal called, recognizing these preparations, and as he spoke the double doors swung open and a small party emerged into the sunlight and descended towards the waiting carriage.
The tall, stooped figure of Kleinhans, with his sour dyspeptic face, contrasted sharply with the lovely young woman on his arm. Hal's heart tripped as he recognized Katinka but his feelings were no longer as intense as once they had been. Instead, his eyes narrowed as he saw that the Neptune sword hung in its chased and gold-encrusted scabbard at Schreuder's side as the colonel followed Katinka down the stairs. Each time he saw Schreuder wearing it his anger was rekindled.
Fredricus climbed stiffly from his high seat, folded down the steps, opened the carriage door, then stood aside to allow the two gentlemen to hand Katinka up and settle her comfortably.
"What is happening down there?" his father called and, with a guilty start, Hal realized that he had not spoken since he had laid eyes on the woman he loved. By now, though, she had been carried out of his sight. The carriage rolled out smoothly through the castle gates, and the sentries saluted as Fredricus shook the horses into a trot across the parade.
It was a sparkling autumn day, and the constant sou'-easter of summer had dropped. Katinka sat beside Governor Kleinhans, facing forward. Cornelius Schreuder sat opposite her. She had left her husband in his office in the castle, labouring over his reports for the Seventeen, and now she felt the devil in her. She flounced out her skirts and the rustling crinolines covered the Colonel's soft leather boots.
While still chatting animatedly to Kleinhans, she reached out one slippered foot under cover of her skirts and found Schreuder's toe. She pressed it coquettishly, and felt him start. She pressed again, and felt him respond sheepishly. Then she turned from Kleinhans and addressed Schreuder directly. "Don't you agree, Colonel, that an avenue of oaks leading up to the residence would look splendid? I can imagine their thick hard trunks standing up vigorously. How beautiful that would be." She opened her violet eyes wide to give the remark signicance, and pressed his foot again.
"Indeed, Mevrouw." Schreuder's voice was husky with double meaning. "I agree with you entirely. In fact the image you paint is so vivid that you should be able to see the stem growing before your very eyes."
At this invitation she glanced down at his lap and, to her amusement, saw the effect that she was having. upon him. He is putting up a tent in his breeches for my sake!
Almost a mile beyond the forbidding pile of the castle, the Governor's residence stood at the mountain end of the Company gardens. It was a graceful building, with dark thatched roof and whitewashed walls, surrounded by wide shady verandas. Laid out in the shape of a cross, the gables at each of the four ends of the house were decorated with plaster friezes depicting the seasons. The gardens were well established, a succession of Company gardeners had lavished love and care upon them.
Even from a distance Katinka was delighted with her new home. She had dreaded being lodged in some ugly, bucolic hovel, but this far surpassed her most optimistic expectations. The entire domestic staff of the residence was drawn up on the wide front terrace to greet her.
The carriage rolled to a standstill and her two escorts hastened to help Katinka to earth. At a prearranged signal all the waiting manservants lifted their hats, and bowed so low as to sweep the ground before her with their head-gear, while the females dropped into deep curtsies. Katinka acknowledged their greeting with a cool nod, and Klein, hans introduced each of them in turn to her. Most were merely brown or yellow faces that made no impression whatsoever on her, and she glanced vaguely in their direction then passed on, hurrying through this tedious little ritual as swiftly as she could.
However, one or two caught and held her attention for more than a few moments.
"This is the head gardener." Kleinhans summoned the man with a snap of his fingers, and he stood bareheaded before her, holding over his chest the high-crowned Puritan Hat with its silver buckled band and wide brim. "He is a man of some importance in our community," Kleinhans said. "Not only is he responsible for these beautiful surroundings," he indicated the wide green lawns and splendid flower beds, "and for providing each Company ship that calls into Table Bay with fresh fruit and vegetables, but he is also the official executioner."
