Dennis Wheatley - The Rape Of Venice

Hastings was succeeded by Lord Cornwallis, another honourable and intelligent Governor, who was also a fine soldier. He did much to strengthen and improve upon Hastings' wise measures for the administration of the British controlled territories; but, like his predecessor, he was not left to do so in peace. Hyder Ali's son, Tipoo Sahib, launched his warrior hordes from Mysore, first against his neighbours to the north, then against Travancore, a small state in the south-​west which was in alliance with Britain. Cornwallis came to the rescue, Tipoo Sahib was defeated and compelled to surrender a great part of his territories.

In 1793 Cornwallis was succeeded by Sir John Shore, an able civilian who had been in the Company's service for a quarter of a century. Wars were still going on in the north and west. An Afghan adventurer seized the throne in Delhi, the Maratha Princes were fighting among themselves, and the Maharaja of Sindhia was involved in a long conflict with the Rajputs. But Sir John Shore was a man of peace and, as British territory was not actually threatened, he refused to allow himself to be drawn into any of these struggles.

That was still the situation in July 1796, so the company aboard the Minerva had every reason to hope that when they landed in Calcutta they would not be met with the news of any fresh alarms and excursions.

Clarissa played well the part assigned to her by Roger. Although like everyone else, she knew the main trend that events in India had taken, she lost no suitable opportunity when they met at meals of asking questions about Clive and Hastings, its more recent wars, Calcutta and Madras, its Princes and peoples, religions, jungles, animals and flowers.

Her principal informant was Mr. Sidney Winters. He was a big, paunchy man just on the right side of fifty. Most of his life had been spent in India and he was the senior partner of a Calcutta firm which, under the Company's licence, had grown and prospered with the years. His hair was grey, his face florid, and he carried his large stomach on two absurdly short legs but he had a pleasant disposition and, while not an educated man in the same sense as Sir Curtis Beaumont or Mr. Cruishank, there was nothing about India that he did not know. He delighted in drawing on this bottomless fund of knowledge for Clarissa and, as she was genuinely interested, at times she even made him come and sit with her up on deck, to the annoyance of the little group of beaux who constantly pursued her.

Of these, the Honourable Gerald Keeble had a big advantage, as he also sat at the Commander's table; but Clarissa was inclined to prefer Robert Mclvor, a young Scot who by patronage of Dundas was being sent out to fill an administrative post because he had more brains and Mr. Fenton, of the 61st Foot-​because he had a readier sense of humour. A heavy featured Captain of Dragoons and a wiry little Lt-​Colonel from the Ordnance Department made up her regular court, but a number of others were generally hovering in the offing.

With regard to Roger himself, she also played her part well almost too well he was inclined to think as the voyage progressed. It was one thing that she should never permit her glance to linger on him with any hint of more than a niece's affection, but another that she hardly spoke to him unless he first addressed her. It was not that she was deliberately rude to him, but she was so fully occupied talking to other men; and his situation made it impossible for him to appear a competitor for her interest or company.

As a means of keeping his mind off her, he determined to learn Persian. That was then the diplomatic language of India and spoken at all its Courts; so, even during the brief stay he contemplated, he thought it might come in useful if he visited any of them. Warren Hastings, himself a fine Persian scholar, had initiated and encouraged the study, by Servants of the Company, of languages used in India; so Roger had no difficulty in finding among those aboard the Minerva one who could speak Persian fluently. He was a middle-​aged man named James Griffin and under his tuition Roger, having a flair for languages, was soon making good progress.

As far as the weather was concerned, they were remarkably fortunate. After they had been at sea a week, they met with one bad patch which, for a few days, caused them a certain amount of discomfort and resulted in a sharp decline in the variety of the dishes served at dinner; but it was not anything approaching a tempest, and Roger succeeded in stalling off his dreaded seasickness. After calling at Madeira, they picked up the South-​West Trades, to be wafted by them right across the Atlantic and over the Equator till they sighted Cape St. Roque, the westernmost point of Brazil.

When they crossed the Line, several sailors disguised as King Neptune and his Court clambered up over the ship's side and the usual ceremonies, followed by much rough horseplay, were performed. As similar rites were customary in ships sailing to the West Indies on crossing the Tropic of Cancer, Roger had already 'met' Neptune; so he was not expected either to participate or to exercise his privilege as a first-​class passenger of paying a forfeit to be excused a ducking. All the same, he made the Sea King a handsome present, and was given, a front row seat to watch the fun.

As was almost always the case with East India convoys, when they reached the neighbourhood of Cape St. Roque they lay for some days almost completely becalmed. It was intolerably hot; so much so that the pitch became soft in the caulking of the upper decks and their planks so roasting that even the sailors, with their hardened feet, could not bear to walk about them for any length of time without shoes. Normally, the crew and the troops slept in hammocks, slung head to tail, and so close together that they resembled sardines in a tin; so, even at the best of times, their quarters were terribly overcrowded. Now, the greater part of them slept near naked on deck and the passengers, in their stifling cabins, envied them.

As long as the Minerva was becalmed, her boats were kept lowered, tow ropes were attached to all of them and relays of the crew laboured at their oars, dragging the heavy ship a mile or so an hour while her sails hung slack but still set to catch the faintest puff of breeze. For ten days, with the sweat running from them at every movement, the passengers and crew endured this inferno; then at last the South-​East Trades picked up the ship and life aboard once more became liveable.

Cape Town was their next scheduled port of call, but again, by custom dictated by the prevailing winds, the convoy did not head straight for it. Instead, it let the Trades carry it in a great sweep far to the south of the tip of Africa and some way round the corner, until it reached the 'roaring forties'; only then did it turn north-​west in the direction of the port.

It was now early September and so on the verge of spring in the Southern Hemisphere. This saved them from the winter gales they might otherwise have encountered; although the climate had become chilly compared with that to which for so many weeks they had been accustomed. But it was still warm enough to spend long hours sitting about the deck, and the competition for a place near Clarissa showed no signs of lessening.

Lady Beaumont had long proclaimed her to be the 'dearest girl' and she certainly gave no trouble to her chaperone by being discovered with chosen admirers on deck after lights out at night, or being found in other such compromising situations. For that Roger had little doubt about the reason, and now and then he felt a cynical satisfaction in the knowledge that he had only to say the word for her to brush aside all her beaux and come running to his arms.

Yet that was a poor compensation for the fact that, except at table, he hardly had a word with her. Her face, now tanned by the sun and framed in her pale gold hair, which had grown again, was more than ever lovely to look at, and he knew her to be an intelligent and charming companion. Through the long weeks of his automatic exclusion from her playtime circle, he had gradually developed a sub-​conscious jealousy of the men she favoured with her smiles, and he even envied old Sydney Winters the tete-​a-​tetes she still accorded him now and then to natter to her about India.