Caribee

by Christopher Nicole

  'Fanciful, Wat.'

  'Oh, indeed. But it is their belief. And has been their belief for untold ages. So, once in every year, some unfortunate boy has been cast into the waters of that lake, clad from head to toe in gold. Now imagine, if you can, dear Tom, what the bottom of that lake must be like. A solid carpet of gold clad skeletons. An expanse of wealth to pay the debts of even Scotch Jim and his friends. And their friends as well.'

  ‘If this wealth can be recovered.'

  'A simple matter, I do assure you. This is a lake, not a Scottish loch. It is not deep. Indeed, on a fine day, with the sun high at noon—and on what days in that magnificent climate are there not blue skies and a hot sun?—it is said you can see the metal, gleaming twenty feet beneath the surface. Now it is probable that these people will resist the removal of their offerings, but if Cortez and a few Dons could take Mexico, are Englislunen to be stopped by a handful of naked savages?"

  If the place and the people do exist.'

  'They do, Tom. I have heard this tale corroborated by too many men, Spaniards and Dutchmen, priests and soldiers, even the coastal Indians of the Guyanas themselves. Why, this city of golden people is even named on the maps. Manaos. It is there all right, Tom.'

  Edward listened to his father knocking out his pipe on the wall of the chamber. 'But you did not find it.'

  ‘I did not get within a measurable distance of it, Tom. I will not bore you with my misfortunes. Suffice it to say that I must be the most unfortunate of human beings. No sooner had we reached the Orinoco than I was laid low with fever, of a virulence I had never known. Indeed, I thought that I would die. And surely it would have been better so. I placed Keymis in command. You remember Lawrence Keymis, Tom?'

  'Very well. You could hardly have made a better choice.'

  ‘I had forgot his impulsiveness. I sent him up the Orinoco with five ships, while I stayed and suffered with the other. He was to find Manaos, Tom. Nothing more. Tins I swear to you as Lieutenant of this Tower. But he came across a Spanish settlement, was challenged, and attacked them. Men were killed, Tom. My promise to the King was broken. When Keymis returned, I was finished.'

  'You, Wat? It seems but a slight misfortune, so to affect a character like yours.'

  'Slight? You have not asked me what sort of a lad young Walter has become?"

  ‘I had heard a rumour, which I do not believe ...'

  'He is sunk deep in the Orinoco mud, Tom.'

  The chair scraped as Tom Warner got up. 'Walter?'

  'He died with Keymis. No doubt I was more ill than I had supposed. God knows he was hardly less impulsive and hot blooded. But when I heard he was killed, I lost my head for a while, and said things I do heartily regret. And thus I lack the assistance of Lawrence as well.'

  'But you said he came back to you?"

  'And went again, when I railed at him, and took his own life. There was nothing left for me there, Tom. Whitney had already left. I followed his example and sailed home.'

  'Knowing that you would be returned here?'

  Raleigh shrugged. ‘It seemed likely. After all, there was a fight with the Spaniards. Depend upon it, Gondomar will complain. 'Tis another misfortune that his own brother was in the Spanish force on that occasion, and was killed. You'd not suppose this world small enough to admit such a coincidence. But it happened, and so Scotch James must keep me locked away for a spell. But God knows, and he must know, that I am past conspiring or antagonizing the court of Madrid. It will only be for a season.'

  Tom Warner strode the room, to and fro, pulling at his lip. 'And your wife, and other son?"

  ‘I have seen neither Lizzie nor Carew since my return to town. I was whisked down here with some speed. And to say truth, I wish a day or two to compose myself. I have spent the entire voyage home endeavouring to compose myself, and yet I find it hard. Wat was ever her favourite.'

  'Aye,' Tom said. 'Well, be sure that you have but to ask and it shall be yours. And when you wish a message conveyed to Lizzie you have but to say that too. And I will endeavour to discover what is the mood at court concerning you.'

  'You worry yourself needlessly, but as a good friend, Tom. I do not know what I should do without you. It seems to me that in these days I have too few friends.'

  'Now, that is a consideration you should bear always in mind,' Tom recommended, and turned towards the door, so sharply that Edward had no time to withdraw. 'Holloa,' he shouted. 'A spy, by God.' He ran down the corridor, whipping his sword from its scabbard.

  Raleigh came at this heels. 'From the court, you think? Villiers?'

  Edward stood his ground, but his knees trembled against each other.

  Tom put up his sword. 'No,' he said. 'Our local vagabond.'

  Raleigh stooped before the boy. 'Can this be Edward? When I left...'

  'He was a babe of seven. Now he is a boy of nine and considers himself a man. Did I not confine you to the lieutenant's quarters, boy?"

  'Yes, sir.' Edward licked his lips. 'But to see Sir Walter again ...'

  Raleigh burst into laughter. 'He flatters like any courtier.'

  'And I shall whip him like any Scotch James out for pleasure,' Tom growled.

  'Please, sir,' Edward said. To his surprise his voice was steady. ‘I did but wish to hear of the Guyanas, sir, of the Orinoco and Manaos and the man of gold, sir. I am sorry.'

  'By God,' Raleigh said. 'He has a memory. And an interest I would wish had been shown by my own. I shall intercede for him, Tom, as I am sure you shall interceed for me at court. God knows, I will be lonely here, as you have your duties to attend. Spare the boy for my company.'

  Tom frowned, glanced from Raleigh to Edward, plucking at his lip. Toull speak of your adventures. Of Guyana and the man of gold, Wat. Nothing more.'

  Raleigh flushed, and seemed about to protest, then thought better of it. ‘I shall be the most circumspect of men, Captain Warner.' But the humour was gone from his eyes.

  'Ten miles from the Guyanese shore, lad. Well, out of sight, anyway, it is that low lying, and the water turns from blue to brown. You dunk it is a heat haze, at first, for by now you are but eight degrees north of the Equator. Then you suppose it must be shoal, and your vessel doomed to be stranded. But it retains several fathoms. You'll take a pipe?'

  Edward fingered the long, thin stem. Father had never offered him a pipe. 'But what is the reason, sir?'

  'Why, 'tis mud, to be sure. You'll have no conception of the rivers, Ned. You see the Thames beyond that window? A great river, would you say?'

  'Oh, yes, sir. There is none greater in the world.'

  'There speaks your Englishman. Here, let me fill that for you.' Raleigh took the pipe, crammed the bowl with the folded leaf, turning it over and over again, yet making sure there was room for the air to pass between each fold. Edward stood at his shoulder, watching and wondering. It seemed a lot of trouble to go to for a few minutes of pleasure.

  But whatever Walter Raleigh did had to have purpose. To be alone with him was to possess purpose. This day, as usual, the door was closed, and they were isolated by the window in the huge, empty chamber. There was a tent bed in the far comer, and Tom Warner had added a desk and a chair, and a stand for some books, but that apart the room was bare. Yet Raleigh filled it, with the immensity of his personality, with the glow of his dreams.

  'But the Thames, lad, is nothing more than a stream, compared with the rivers of Guyana. The Orinoco, the Essequibo, the Demerara, the Berbice, the Courantyne, the Oyapoc, and then, farthest south of them all, the greatest of them all, so it is said, the Amazon. The word Guyana itself means Land of Many Waters.'

  'What strange names, sir.'

  tnthan names, in the main. Not the Amazon, of course. It seems that the Spaniards discovered some warlike females in those parts, or so they claim. But those rivers, lad, are upwards of several miles and more from bank to bank, sometimes lost to sight in the moniing mist. So imagine, if you can, those great waters, all rushing towards the sea in unison, ca
rrying their silt with them. 'Tis no wonder they turn the ocean itself brown.'

  ‘It must be a marvellous sight, Sir Walter.' Edward took the pipe back, and cautiously sniffed the tobacco.

  'Now you need tinder and flint. And I happen to have them here.' There was a flash of flame and a puff of smoke, rising from the folded leaf. There you are, lad, draw on that, and forget the misfortunes of this world.'

  Edward sucked smoke into his moudi, and promptly spat it out again.

  ‘It takes time. As it takes time to traverse that country. Because the brown ocean is only the first of its wonders. On the shore you'll find forests such as you can never have dreamed. Trees taller than any castle in the world, packed so close together it is often impossible to make your way between, and where there is sufficient room for a man to walk, there nature has laid an endless snare of roots and indeed ropes, spread like a trap, to catch your feet and send you sprawling. Nor is that the least. In the midst of these ropes and bushes there lurk a variety of horrendous creatures. Spiders, Edward; none of your fingernail type insects, but bigger than a man's hand. They leap, feet at a time, and when they land, they kill. And snakes. None of your puny adders. Some no larger, to be sure, but where they strike the victim is dead before a count of ten can be accomplished. Yet are these nothing compared with their larger brethren. Now these, Edward, these can measure fifty feet in length.'

  Edward was so bemused by the suggestion he swallowed smoke, and commenced to cough violently.

  Raleigh smiled. "It's a mishap you'll become accustomed to. Fifty feet, lad. You'd not get one end to end in this chamber. And diese do not bite or sting; they wrap themselves around a man and crush him to a pulp, and then swallow him alive.'

  Edward stared at him, eyes wide.

  'And there are cats, boy, bigger than anything you'll have seen, springing from tree to tree, and vicious as they come. And the waters of those rivers, why, for a man to fall into those brown depths is the same as if he were to put a loaded pistol to his ear. There are fish, no larger than my hand, truly, but with teeth like razors, and they swim in shoals of a hundred, a thousand at a time. They can strip a man to lu's skeleton in a matter of seconds. And there is another fish with a paralysing quality; but touch it and your muscles solidify, so that you drown.' He lowered his voice. 'And there are dragons, lad. Water dragons, huge beasts, thirty, forty feet and more, wearing armoured skins. You see them sometimes, swimming in the rivers, or more likely, basking on the mudbanks by the shore. Woe betide any unfortunate creature who comes within their reach.'

  'And do they breathe fire, sir?'

  Raleigh chuckled. 'Hardly, lad, as they live in the water. Perchance they have land cousins, but these I have not seen.'

  'But all these other creatures you have seen, sir?' 'Think you I would report on rumour? Yet I would not have you suppose tin's land is too dangerous for living man. To be sure, there are men there already, Indians, the sweetest and most gentle of creatures, and comely, too . . . but you are too young for that. I would tell you of the land. These forests, these animals, these fish and these dragons, are but the guarthans of its wealth. For beyond the forest, where the rivers dwindle to streams themselves, there is a paradise, Edward. The land is somewhat high, and uniformly so, except where it rises into mountain ranges. Thus the heat of the sun is a trifle mitigated. And of such a fertility as you never saw or could imagine, because there is a deal of rainfall and the earth is already soft and receptive. There is heaven indeed, and there you feel close to Heaven, Ned.' 'And there is Manaos, Sir Walter?"

  'Now look, you have allowed your pipe to go out. You must keep drawing, lad. That is the secret. Manaos? Why, no, Manaos lies beyond even the great plains and the high mountains. Now here I am forced to speak with hearsay. But if the forests are so tremendous, and the plains are so splendid, and Manaos is superior to all of that, why, boy, allow your imagination to roam, and think what Manaos must be like.'

  The boy sucked air into his nostrils. 'And shall I ever see it, Sir Walter?"

  'You can, providing you have the courage to brave the ocean and the forest, and the jealousy of your fellow men. The Spaniards claim a monopoly there, given them by the Pope. I would count myself neither a good Englishman nor a good Protestant did I accept that ruling.'

  'But the King would have peace with the Spaniards.'

  Raleigh left the window to pace the room, and the checked. We'll not discuss His Majesty. I promised your father.'

  'But, sir ...'

  'Enough, boy. You'll to your dinner.' He went to the door and opened it. And then smiled. 'But visit me again tomorrow, sweet Ned. Without your company life would be scarce bearable. And leave the pipe. Your father would not approve of such modern habits in a child.'

  This day he was disconsolate, and lay on his bed, fully dressed, watching the smoke curl from his pipe towards the ceiling. The paper lay beside him. 'Hard,' he said. ‘I am forbidden the company of my wife and son, until after my trial. Trial, bah. I have been tried before. This King carries his dissembling to extremes, to suit the papists, and he the champion of all the Protesting nations. But then, he has ever been my enemy, and through no fault of mine.'

  Edward knelt beside the bed. 'Tell me of it, sir. Of the King. Of yourself.'

  Raleigh glanced at him. ‘I promised your father, no politics and no religion.'

  'How can it be unseemly, sir, to discuss religion?'

  'There's a point. And truly, I no longer wish to change heaven and earth, I have lived too long, and seen too much. But because, unlike so many of the timeservers that hold office, I have occasionally given myself the time to think, so have I dared, from time to time to question, and to wonder, and when standing amidst the forests of Guyana I wondered most of all...' he smiled. 'You have no concept of what I am speaking?'

  'No, sir,' Edward said. ts it true that you knew the Queen, sir? Mama has said so.'

  Raleigh swung his legs off the bed. ‘I was by way of being intimate with her on occasion. To my sorrow. Oh, mistake me not, Edward. I sought her love, because the love of that queen was the only road to preferment, and I was always anxious for that. But it was hard.'

  'Was she not as beautiful and as magnificent as they say, sir? Father will hear nothing but praise of her.'

  'Your father, Edward, is a good and faithful man. On occasion, perhaps, he allows his sense of duty, his awareness of his own reliability, to cloud his judgement. Indeed, I fear this tendency grows within him, as he himself grows older. And yet, who is to say he is not right? He is at least a happier man than I. No, Edward, if you will swear not to repeat it, I will say that Good Queen Bess was not the paragon she is remembered. She was a mean and vicious and spiteful little woman, and worse than that, she was old, when I knew her. Yet vain. One had constantly to reassure her as to her beauty, and I would estimate that even as a girl she had little enough of that. Presence, aye. Willpower, aye. She could not be in a room but everyone was aware of it. And in a girl, or a young woman, this power can take a plain face and make it shine with beauty. But it cannot displace wrinkles, replace thin, ugly hair when there is none, or remove hair where there is too much.'

  'But it is said you loved her.'

  'Love is no more than a game, boy. Yet was she better than her successor.'

  'Why does everyone hate King James, Sir Walter?'

  Raleigh looked down at the boy. "They hate him, Edward, because he too is mean and vicious and spiteful, but he, poor fool, lacks in addition the presence and the power. Oh, I am prejudiced. As I have told you, he has been my enemy from the start. I would not have had it so, but Cecil hated me, and Cecil had the King's ear. Thus have I languished here for fourteen years.'

  'But he let you out, two years ago, sir. He will let you out again.'

  Raleigh sighed, his whole body seeming to swell and then sag. 'That I doubt. Had Prince Hal lived, now . . . but I think I will remain within these walls until Scotch James is buried. Then I must look to my succour from Prince Ch
arles. I know little of him, and I find it difficult to believe he can be the man his brother was. On the other hand, I find it impossible to believe he can be so small-minded as his father.'

  ‘It is treason to wish for the death of the King,' Edward whispered.

  'Why, so it is. But you'll not repeat it, Edward. And when you are grown somewhat, take the advice of an old man and seek not your fortune at court.'

  'How else may fortune be achieved, sir? My father's benefactor, the Earl of Warwick, has already promised me a page's place, whenever I am right for it'

  'And your father approves of this?'

  ‘I do not know, sir. I sometimes dunk my father approves of very little in me.'

  'You have an old head on those shoulders, Master Edward. It only lacks experience. Your father disapproves, as I know him. Even if he dare not show it. For this James is hated for another vice. All kings have vices. All men have vices, for that matter, hut in kings they are more easily gratified. So many a man has lost his wife, or at least his possession of her, for a while, to a king. The Scotch James has not even that portion of manhood. Rather than slip his hand beneath a woman's skirts he would prefer to delve in your breeches. Yours more than any, Master Ned, you are that handsome a child.'

  'Sir?'

  'You have no conception of what I am speaking. Yet you are of an age to understand. Do you never feel a fullness in there? When close to your mother? When a pretty woman bends towards you? Aye, you do; I see it in your flush. And of course you count it sinful. Who knows. Yet it is all the pleasure, and all the beauty, a man may know. You tempt me yourself.'

  'Sir'

  Raleigh's head jerked. Almost he had been speaking to himself. 'Aye. There is the small matter of my promise to your father. I tell you this, Edward, and remember well my words. Kings are but ordinary human beings, blessed with what virtues we all possess, and cursed with what vicious passions we all suffer. And when they die, Edward, like us they wither into dust, and smell most disagreeably while doing so. Only by virtue of their births, they are enabled to influence better men than themselves, to bring some down, and to elevate others high. Yet after all, there is no man who ever lived who got the better of his king. So give them a wide berth, Edward. Now put away your pipe; I hear footsteps.'