TITLE: Grantville Gazette.Volume XVIII (ring of fire)

by Eric Flint

  Which meant that perhaps, just perhaps, there was no need for the foursome to separate.

  ***

  Commander Jan van der Goes of the Zeeland Chamber of the Dutch West India Company cleared his throat. "Mevroux Maria Vorst, permit me to introduce Henrique Pereira da Costa, formerly of Belem do Para, the intrepid discoverer of a river route between the Amazon and the Essequibo."

  Henrique bowed.

  "Senior da Costa, I introduce to you Mevroux Maria Vorst. She is the daughter of a physician, and sister of the curator of the Leiden Botanical Gardens. She has received training in natural philosophy at Grantville, the town of the future that you have surely heard of by now. She is attached to the new Swedish colony to our east, Gustavus." She curtseyed.

  "And her companion, Captain Heyndrick de Liefde, is of a good merchant family in Hoorn, and has been to the Caribees, Zwaanandael, Virginia and New Netherlands." Zwaanandael was the ill-fated Dutch colony in Delaware. "His cousin, David Pieterszoon de Vries," founded Gustavus, and Captain de Liefde has given us the great pleasure of transporting Mevroux Vorst to our company."

  "Yours must have been quite a dangerous journey, Senor da Costa," Maria murmured. In the meantime, she was trying to visualize the up-time maps, and guess at its length. Twelve hundred miles? Sixteen hundred?

  "Indeed it was, my lady. Giant crocodiles. Poisonous snakes. Deadly rapids. A thousand times, I thought myself at death's door, and took solace in the thought that I would be taken into Heaven. And then I made it here. And now I must wonder whether I died after all, and have come to Heaven, for surely you are an angel."

  Heyndrick rolled his eyes.

  Maria smiled at Henrique. "Surely it is too warm here to be Heaven."

  Heyndrick saw the smile. "I am surprised that you speak so blithely of Heaven, Herr da Costa. The guards told me that you are a Marrano, a secret Jew, wanted by the Inquisition for heresy." Having been baptized, however insincerely, Henrique could not avow Judaism without being considered a heretic.

  "I am a heretic only in the eyes of the Catholic Church, not in the eyes of the Lord," Henrique retorted. "And I daresay that the Catholics would consider you, too, to be a heretic, Captain." Heyndrick was indeed Protestant.

  Commander van der Goes winced slightly. "Tell me more about your colony, Mevrouw Vorst."

  "We have both a sawmill and a glassworks, the first on the Wild Coast, I believe. So we have manufactures which we can sell here and to other colonies. We have shipped home a kind of clay called bauxite. We have planted, as cash crops, cotton, tobacco, and the dye tree orlean. And we are collecting the sap of a strange tree which I doubt you would have heard of, since, until the coming of the up-timers, the only Europeans who knew of it were a few Spanish, and they had no use for it."

  "Oh, what tree is that?"

  "It is called the rubber tree, the up-timers know much about it. Its sap hardens into a material which is waterproof, and is elastic, an-"

  "I know what rubber is!" Henrique interjected. " That is what I was collecting, in Brazil!"

  Maria spilled her drink. "In Brazil? How did you learn of it? Have you shipped any to Europe? Who is buying it? I would have heard if, before I left, someone was selling Brazilian rubber in Grantville. And that's the only market for it."

  "Dear lady, I suspect that my family knows about it the same way you do, we have some connection who has studied the books of Grantville. In 1632 I was given a map, and a description of the tree. We started tapping the trees in the summer of 1633, and the first shipment went out soon thereafter, on one of the sugar ships out of Bahia. When rubber first reached Lisbon, I know not." He was too polite to mention that, beside storms, the likeliest reason for the rubber not reaching Lisbon was interception by privateers. Dutch, French or English.

  "And I don't know what my family would have done with the rubber. It might have been some time before they sent samples to business associates outside of Portugal or Spain, and in these troubled times it could have taken many weeks to reach Grantville. It is somewhere near Magdeburg, is that right?"

  "Hmm… we left Hamburg in December 1633. That would explain why we heard nothing about it. Is Belem still shipping rubber to Portugal, you think?"

  "It is hard to say. Mauricio and I were the only Europeans involved in the tapping operation. We are both here now. The same.. . incident… which led me to leave Belem, would also have had unpleasant repercussions for my family. I hope they were warned, and fled in time. The Inquisition seizes the properties of heretics. It is possible that they will read the private papers, decide that rubber trees are worth exploiting, and send an agent to Belem to take over the business. More likely, they will decide it is too much trouble, or tainted by its association with Grantville, and the Indian seringueiros I recruited will just return to hunting and fishing."

  ***

  "We will have to ask Henrique and his friends to join us at Gustavus," said Maria.

  Heyndrick snorted. "I think that would be a mistake, Maria. Henrique's allegiance is to Portugal, and, so long as Philip rules Portugal, the Portuguese are our enemies."

  "But now that they know he is Jewish, he cannot return to Portugal. He must find a new home. He was born and bred in the New World. What would he do in Europe?"

  "I still think he would be a bad influence. His whole life has been a lie. We can expect him to have imbibed deceit with his mother's milk."

  "Heyndrick… I do believe you're jealous."

  Heyndrick took a deep breath. "I have no claim on you… other than one of friendship… and affection." He didn't dare say more, not yet. She was of substantially higher rank than him, although not hopelessly so.

  "I have already married once and have been a widow for several years. I have become accustomed to making my own decisions. And the good women of Grantville have taught me that I need be in no rush to remarry.

  "Which isn't to say that I don't like you…"

  "Now then. Back to business. And Henrique, flowery compliments and all, is strictly business. He has run a rubber tapping operation. We could use him to do so for us, up at Marshall's Creek, and at the same time keep a closer eye on Captain Marshall and his men."

  Heyndrick nodded slowly. The thought occurred to him that if Henrique were in residence at Marshall's Creek, then Maria wouldn't have to travel there so frequently. And he would be mostly out of Maria's sight and hence out of Maria's mind. Or so Heyndrick hoped.

  But suddenly he realized that Maria was still speaking. "And if he was able to cross over a thousand miles of rainforest, he must have impressive survival skills… and no doubt an impressive knowledge of the plants and animals. Some of that knowledge will doubtless be relevant here in the Guianas, too. In fact, I have a question or two to put to him right away."

  "Greenheart?"

  "Greenheart."

  ***

  "Senor Henrique, I am looking for trees with a particular wood, called 'greenheart,' because it is of a dark green color. It grows"-she stopped to consult her notes-"seventy to one hundred thirty feet high, and three feet or more in diameter. It is very strong and heavy, heavier than water. And I think I found some lumber cut from it, in a ship's hull, but of that I am not sure. Here is a sample piece."

  Henrique examined Maria's mystery futtock. "It was used in a ship? And it is strong, but too heavy to float? Perhaps it is like the 'stone tree,' itauba, which we have on the Amazon. Coqui had a dugout canoe made from that tree. It is good for running rapids, but if the canoe fills with water, it sinks."

  Mauricio coughed. "I don't suppose you have any idea what the native word is for this 'greenheart' of yours?"

  "Actually, I do. At least if the encyclopedias in Grantville are right. They said that it was called 'bibiru' or 'bebeeru' in one language. And 'sipiri' in another. But I don't know which language."

  "Bibiru," Henrique muttered. "Sounds like a word from the language of the Indians who live just north of the Amazon delta. They call themselves Aroo-waks, I think. Are th
ere Aroo-waks, here? 'Bibi' is 'mother,' I think. Or maybe it's just 'woman.' But I don't recognize 'bibiru.' Do you, Mauricio?"

  Mauricio shook his head. "Not 'sipiri,' either. Do the 'encyclopedias' say what the Indians use the tree for?"

  Maria wiped sweat from her brow. Guiana was warm even in December. "Not clearly. But the wood is used in the construction of ships and docks, and the bark to make some sort of febrifuge. Probably tastes vile."

  "Isn't that something that the physicians insist on?" asked Mauricio. "Don't they figure that the worse a medicine tastes, the better it is?"

  Henrique laughed. "Presumably on the theory that the patient will get better so he doesn't have to keep drinking the medicine."

  Mauricio shifted his weight. "Excuse me, Henrique, I have to go," said Mauricio. Kasiri is waiting for me."

  Henrique waved him off. "And if the lovely and learned Maria is through questioning me, I have some business with the commander." Maria inclined her head, and he and Mauricio both took their leave of her.

  "I wonder if Lolly knows any nice Jewish girls I can match him up with?" Maria pondered.

  ***

  The local tribe was called the Lokono, which of course just meant "the people" or something like that. Henrique, Mauricio, Kasiri and Coqui introduced Maria to their Lokono Arawak friends, and helped her with her inquiry. They knew the tree, or at least they knew of some tree they called "bibeera," which sounded close enough. At least, the tree was tall enough, and its wood didn't float. Some young Lokono women led her up the hilly banks of the Essequibo river, and pointed out several "bibeera" trees to her. They had the growing pattern common to many rainforest canopy trees; that is, branching only near the summit. Maria judged these specimens to be a good eighty feet tall.

  The Lokono showed her how to remove the cinnamon-brown bark; it had to be beaten before it could be peeled off. The yellowish infusion they made from the bark tasted just as horrible as Maria had expected. It made up for this by smelling nasty, too.

  Two of the sailors had come with Maria, and, on her instructions, cut down a few of the trees, trimmed them to logs of manageable size, and skidded them back to the Eikhoorn. Back in Gustavus, the carpenter would test them out and, if they were as good as the encyclopedias said, they would send the supply ship on to the Essequibo, with orders to pick up a cargo to take back to Europe for sale. Assuming that Maria and Heyndrick didn't find a greenheart stand closer to their own colony.

  Henrique, Mauricio and Kasiri decided to go swimming; this stretch of the Essequibo was pleasantly free of piranha, electric eels, and crocodilians. Coqui watched Maria and the Locono women for a while, then grabbed his bow and headed to the river.

  In the meantime, Maria noticed that the larger of the trees were surrounded by nuts the size of apples. She decided that it might be advantageous to collect these, and plant them near Gustavus. If the greenheart trees were useful, it would be better if they didn't have to go each year to Essquibo to harvest them.

  As she put the nuts in her basket, the Lokono women started giggling. She tried to figure out why, but her linguistic skills weren't up to the task. One woman did pat her own tummy. Maria took this to mean that the nuts were good to eat, but the Lokono didn't seem interested in sharing Maria's haul.

  Maria returned to the fort, basket in hand, and got out her sketchbook. It wasn't until sundown that Henrique and company came back.

  "What is it that the Indian women find so funny about me being interested in the nuts of the greenheart?"

  "Mevrouw Vorst, it will be an honor and a pleasure for me to find out," said Henrique, bowing. He and Mauricio went off in search of their Lokono friends, with Coqui and Kasiri trailing behind.

  Curiously, at the dinner table, Henrique wasn't quick to share his findings. Maria managed to contain her impatience until they were all done eating. "Well, Henrique, what did you find out?"

  Henrique looked at Mauricio. Mauricio looked at the ceiling.

  Henrique also seemed to have trouble looking straight at Maria. "Mevrouw Vorst. Umm. They use the nuts to, um, keep from having babies."

  ***

  Coqui wasn't thinking about babies, but he was devoting some thought to the related subject of women.

  He had decided to join Henrique, Mauricio and Kasiri on their little trip because he wanted to find a mate. And none of the girls of his own village appealed to him particularly.

  As they made their way down the Rupununi, they had passed through the lands of the Wapishana and the Macushi. Unfortunately, they had done so at the time that the upper Rupununi was in flood, creating a great lake that bridged it to the rivers of the Amazon. While that made travel relatively easy, it meant that it was hard to fish, and the Indians of the region spent that season mostly in the uplands, where they could hunt land game.

  The bottom line was that he hadn't met any eligible females en route. As to the women of the Lokono Arawaks, they fell into three categories. The pretty available, ones, who had struck up relationships with the Dutchmen at the fort. The pretty, unwilling, ones who had prudently moved deeper into the forest, where they could avoid unwanted advances. And the old women who insisted on flirting with him at every opportunity.

  Logically, then, he should go deeper into the forest, but he was reluctant to trust his sister Kasiri to the highly dubious wilderness skills of her new boyfriend, Mauricio. It was too bad that she hadn't picked Henrique, who was actually competent. For a European.

  This Maria said that there were Indian women near her colony. He would have to investigate.

  Paramaribo (Gustavus)

  Short Dry Season (February-March, 1635)

  The black schooner rounded the sandy spit which marked the eastern edge of the entrance to the Suriname River. As it continued westward, it came into view of the recently constructed Fort Lincoln, which lay on the broad vee of land between the mouth of the Comowine River, and the main channel of the Suriname River. Gustavus itself lay on some distance further up the Suriname, on the west bank, where the ground was less prone to flooding.

  Fort Lincoln, at this point, was more bark than bite. Most of its "cannon" were actually artfully blackened logs. However, there was just enough real ordnance to fool an enemy ship which merely wanted to test the defenses. For all it knew, if the fort didn't fire all its guns, perhaps it was just conserving ammunition.

  Captain Dirck Adrienszoon, the original skipper of the Eikhoorn, and acting fort commander, lowered his spyglass.

  "Slaver," he said.

  "How can you tell?" asked Heinrich Bender. He was a member of the colonial militia.

  "From the smell. Just wait for the wind to blow this way again. Want a look-see?" Dirck handed the spyglass to Heinrich.

  Heinrich adjusted the focus; he was near-sighted. "You think they're here to sell slaves?"

  "That's one possibility."

  "Hey, that's a Spanish flag they're flying. That means we should shoot at them, doesn't it? Since the Netherlands, the SOTF and Sweden are all at war with Spain."

  "The international law on the subject is a bit complicated. The Spanish supply slaves to all the Caribbean plantations, and so they probably have papers granting them immunity from privateers and warships of any country. At least, those which buy slaves, like the Dutch, the English, and the French. I am not so sure if the SoTF and Sweden will honor the papers."

  On Dirck's command, Fort Lincoln fired a signal shot, warning the visitor to keep its distance, and alerting the settlement upstream that company had come knocking. The schooner prudently anchored several miles away, in two fathoms of water. Soon thereafter, it lowered a longboat.

  Dirck walked out to the beach to meet them; he didn't want the Spaniards getting a closer look at his guns.

  The longboat crew was led by the first officer of the Triton. Their ship, an eighty tonner carrying two hundred slaves, had left El Mina several months ago. It had misjudged its position, gotten caught in the doldrums and run out of water. Crew and cargo alike w
ere in desperate straits.

  "And so, Senior, we beg of you that as a good Christian, you tell us where we may find drinkable water, that we may refill our casks and be on our way. We are willing to pay, of course, for the privilege. And naturally, if you wish to buy any of our merchandise, we can give you a special price."

  Dirck told him that he would have to get permission from the governor of the colony, at the main settlement. Dieter promised that he relay the Spanish requests at once, but warned that the Spanish must stay where they were until a decision was reached.

  ***

  Carsten Claus, the acting governor of Gustavus, and a CoC activist, was in favor of attacking the ship and freeing the slaves. Maria agreed, and Heyndrick, though less enthusiastic, admitted that their up-time support would evaporate if they did anything else.

  But it wasn't as though Carsten had a company of Marines he could order into battle. What he had instead was the crew of the Eikhoorn, some sailors, from other ships of David's flotilla, who had been left behind nine months earlier to recuperate from illness or injury, and the settlers themselves. Some of these had served in village militias, and a smaller number were ex-mercenaries, but it was hardly a professional force. Carsten decided that he would have to persuade the colonists to take action. So he called a meeting of the town council.

  "What's the problem?" asked Denys Zager. "Make them pay through the nose for the privilege, and send them on their way. It's all profit and no risk."

  "If you are worried about risk, why did you come to the New World?' complained Michael Krueger. "You're Dutch, aren't you? Here you have a heaven-sent opportunity to combine patriotism with profit. Capture the ship, and then sail it to a neutral port-St. Kitt's perhaps-to ransom off the crew and sell the slaves."

  "Do you remember our journey here?" said Bender. " How, as we passed the Canaries, we feared that every ship on the horizon was a Turkish slaver? If it be wrong for them to make you a slave, though you be their enemy, how can it be right for you to take as a slave an African who has done you no harm? Who has not consented to serve you? Can that be Christian?"