“John!” Bess stood at the window of their room. “Look at this!”
Smith was at the table, poring over a column of figures. “I’m trying to see if we can buy that Deal lugger,” he said. “Cyclopes Gathering would be a useful addition to our business. We’ll get a proportion of the prize sale, of course, but we have to pay the crew and maintenance as well.”
Cyclopes Gathering“Never mind that now,” Bess interrupted him. “A whole troop of mounted men just rode past. I’m sure the Ramsleys were with them.”
“Damn them! I’ve nothing planned.” Smith joined Bess at the window, quill in hand and with fresh ink spots on his cuff.
“The Ramsleys have,” Bess said. “I heard whispers in the taproom while you were out at sea.”
Smith tapped the feather of his quill on the windowsill. “I wish you had told me.
