"And mine, sirs…" Lewrie exclaimed, sitting up straighter.
"Il Briosco," Nelson agreed. "That is to say, Lively, as in a lively tune.' But bearing the name Nostra Signora di Capraia across her stern. Of Tuscan registry. Or at least, flying a Tuscan flag when taken. Lured in by Jester flying false French colors, and playacting as escort to a convoy, which were really his prizes and tender, Captain Cockburn. I strongly hold that only the nearness of II Briosco to her captor, and her run-out battery… and the suddenness of Lewrie's revelation as a British ship, which took them all aback, prevented them from resisting. Her guns, too, were loaded but not run-out. With langridge and canister," Nelson stressed, lifting a finger, "one person, at least, did resist below, whom Lewrie suspects was a French spy, intent upon jettisoning a bag of incriminating documents. The man succeeded. Just as someone aboard II Furioso did, Commander Lewrie."
"As if it were the drill, sir?" Lewrie puzzled. "No, it hardly sounds like coincidence at all!"
"Take him, sir?" Cockburn asked.
"Shot dead, in an exchange of fire with my Marines, sir," Alan had to admit. "There's a second, though, whom my clerk thinks might be another Frenchman, traveling under a false identity. Gave us a name… Enzio Brughera… but his companion, who called himself Inconnu' in his dying breath, didn't quite empty this Brughera's chest. There was a purse of Italian coinage, and a hefty purse of French gold, too. We found some odds and ends that show at least two more Italian names."
"I have him below, in irons," Nelson said. "I intend to hold him here, until Mister Francis Drake may contact some, uhm… associates, more used to this sort of chicanery."
"And out of the hands of the civil authorities, sir," Lewrie added. "Who might feel pressed, politically or militarily, to set him free. Or look the wrong way for a minute or two."
"Quite." Nelson nodded grimly. "While your French midshipman may go ashore, once he's given his parole, and may be exchanged, along with the civilian sailors and those passengers we think are legitimate."
"Another mystifying thing, sirs," Lewrie commented, "is Captain Menzi of lI Briosco, or Our Thing-gummy-whichever-departed Leghorn two days after we arrived off Genoa Mole and set off on our blockade… yet, he knew to inquire about the presence of our ships along the Genoese Riviera, and off San Remo. Why was that?"
"That, too, is intriguing, I'll grant you," Nelson agreed with him, waving a hand toward the decanter, so Lewrie could play "Mother," and top them all up.
"Well, sir." Cockburn sniffed. "It is not as if British ships have been completely absent from these waters. They were engaged in a smuggling endeavor, after all."
"Genoese ships might know it is now considered smuggling, sir," Lewrie countered. "But how did a vessel ostensibly Tuscan come to know of it, and so quickly? That, too, smacks of chicanery, of an organized and well-informed combination."
"Latins," Nelson chuckled with a world-weary sigh and a raising of his good brow. "Gossip, and informing, is in their temperaments, I do declare-bred into their very bones and blood."
"Something larger than turning a quick profit, or any charitable motive, if you will allow me to color it so, sirs," Lewrie continued. "Both, of these ships feared the presence of the Royal Navy… not since we just did intend to stop up all coastal trade… but because they were engaged in trade with the French, sirs. Someone, perhaps a great many someones, are eager to aid their cause, beyond turning a profit. Those two agents aboard II Briosco, the similarity of the subterfuge… then, too, there is the possibility that influential or simply corrupt people actually believe in the exportation of French Republicanism and revolution. And would do anything possible, long as they may make a fortune from it, to aid the Frogs. Undermine their own governments."
"A very large supposition, Commander Lewrie," Cockburn drawled, pulling a face. "Nor one spun from whole cloth, but only a few raveled strands, as of yet."
"Well, perhaps the French may pay more than we can offer, sir," Lewrie rejoined. "All the wealth seized from Royalists, from guillotined aristocrats, the Catholic Church in France. And what they looted from their recent conquests."
"We'll leave it to the proper authorities," Nelson decided for them, raising a brow slightly as he detected the slightest hints of animus be-tween them. "We don't have all the facts, and cannot discover more from Leghorn or Tuscany. Commander Lewrie, you did recover commercial documents from Il Briosco, which lead you to suspect, at least, a financial combination?" he urged.
"Il Briosco is owned by a Leghorn joint-stock company, much like the East India Company," Lewrie said, sitting back in his chair. "Men invest as ship's husbands, or as risk-coverers such as Lloyd's, sharing the risk, and the possible profits. It's called the Compagnia di Commercia Mare di Liguria. Rather confusing, though. Neither my clerk nor I can make heads or tails of it, so far, sirs. Captain Menzi is shown as a shareholder in some papers, just a hired captain in others. The super-cargo aboard, a Signore Gallacio, admitted he's a shipowner, not a shareholder. Yet, there's an inscrutable little ledger book Mister Mountjoy turned up that shows several people, or organizations, and their share of the profits of the ship's voyage. There's a 'G-G,' which I take to stand for Guilio Gallacio. The rest are just initials, and no telling what they really mean, sir. I find it odd, though, for a Tuscan company to call itself a Ligurian sea-trading firm."
"We are in the Ligurian Sea, sir!" Cockburn snorted.
"Liguria is also the ancient Roman name for the entire coastal region, sir. North of Leghorn or Porto Especia. Were they really a Tuscan concern, sir, why did they not use their own sea, the Tyrrhennian, or the entire Mediterranean, to describe their intended trading area?"
"Another matter for Mister Drake's associates, Commander Lewrie," Nelson suggested. "After inquiries may be made in Tuscany. Should it be registered proper, the names of the major stockholders will be revealed to us. And if some of those majority owners turn out to be Genoese, or agents representing Genoese investors, then we may be able to say that it is, without a doubt, an illegal combination."
"And, most likely, such an inquiry may also reveal the names of ships to be on the lookout for," Cockburn said with a sly chuckle, a tap of his finger against his temple. "With such information, we may concentrate on the largest, best-organized, smugglers. Their capture or elimination from the trade would daunt the smaller players. Were their ships to be seized often enough, they'd throw in their hands as a poor wager."
"If it is merely financial, and not political, sir," Alan said, unwilling to concede the point, on principal certainly, because he still suspected the presence of French agents hinted at something dangerous. And hating to give the smug bastard the last word, in anything!
"I daresay, Lewrie," Cockburn allowed with a bemused expression, "that there is the possibility of the French being involved, taking full advantage of the greed, or the humane efforts of the Genoese to aid their occupied compatriots. Anything to undermine resistance in Italy. But, as I also said before… we simply do not know enough to take a leap of logic, into the speculative."