“Keep it on you, in case we all need to make a quick escape.”
Roo laughed. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. Any minute I expect we’ll see what we’ve all been waiting for, and when that happens . . .“ He grinned. He held out his hand, palm up, then suddenly closed it, saying, “We have them!”
A few minutes later a waiter appeared with two prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 371
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notes. Masterson opened the first one and said,
“Amested’s agreed and he’s in for ten thousand. He is just about popping to know what we’re doing, gentlemen.”
Crowley walked over and sat down. “What’s that?
Amested’s?”
“Yes, he’s in,” said Masterson.
“What’s the other note?” asked Roo.
Masterson opened it and read it, then grinned.
“Here it is.”
“What does it say?” demanded Crowley impatiently.
“A syndicate is offering us thirty thousand bushels at two silver for three bushels secured by a ten percent option.”
Roo slammed his hand on the table. “It’s them. It has to be. The greedy bastards couldn’t resist.
They’re ours.”
Masterson did some calculations. “Not quite.” He sat back, blowing out his breath, his cheeks puffing out. “We don’t have enough gold.”
Roo groaned. “How short are we?”
Masterson calculated. “We could use that ten thousand gold pieces you have coming from Salador.”
“Is that enough?”
“Almost,” said Masterson. “But we’d still be two thousand gold short.”
Roo groaned. “I need to get out of here.” He stood up. “I’ll think of something.”
He left his companions and walked down the stairs through the heart of the coffee house. He stepped outside and found the streets relatively uncrowded. Catching sight of the house where he prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 372
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had hidden the silk that launched his career, he crossed the street, avoiding puddles. It had rained hard the night before, which was partially responsible for the light traffic in the city.
Reaching the porch of the abandoned house, Roo saw that no one had replaced the broken hasp on the lock he had forced. Whoever owned the place had merely stuck the screws back into the stripped-out holes as if the sight of the lock on the door would keep the curious out. As there was nothing inside worth stealing, thought Roo as he pushed open the door, it was probably a safe bet.
He wandered through the house, again finding some sense of place there. He hadn’t said anything to Karli, but when he was rich he intended to buy this house. Having quarters close to Barret’s was appealing to him, for he had already decided that while the freight company would be the heart of his business empire, it would be only one of many ventures he would embark on.
Trading at Barret’s was like nothing he had ever encountered before; it was gambling on a scale undreamed of by any soldier losing his pay in an ale-house. It was intoxicating, and Roo was drunk with possibilities.
He sat there a long time, listening to the rain when it came, and the sounds of the city, as the light faded and the day trailed off. When at last he decided he needed to return, it was near sundown.
He left the house and crossed the street to find Dash waiting for him. Dash said, “Luis says the first load of wheat has shown up. One of the villages outside of Land’s End harvested early.”
Roo swore. “Do we have room for it in our ware-
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house?”
“Barely, if we push everything else outside into the yard and street.”
Roo said, “This could turn ugly. We don’t have the gold to rent storage at the docks and there’s no ship in from the Free Cities.”
“There is,” said Dash.
“What?” asked Roo.
“We’ve got word of a Free Cities trader docking at noon. I’ve been looking for you for hours to tell you.”
Roo’s eyes widened and he said, “Then come with me!” He hurried to the docks on font, breaking out into a trot when traffic opened, and Dash kept up with him. As they reached the docks, Roo said,
“Where’s the ship?”
Dash said, “Out at anchor. There.” He pointed.
Roo said, “The master must be at customs. Come on.”
They hurried to the customs shed and found a busy clerk going over documents, while two very impatient men waited nearby. Roo said over the counter, “Has the master of the Free Cities ship been in?”
The clerk looked up and said, “What?”
One of the two waiting men said, “Aye, he has, and he’s still waiting for that stone-headed clerk to sign off on his paperwork so he can turn his cargo over to his buyer,” and he pointed to the man next to him.
Roo said, “I have cargo for the Free Cities, if you’re unbooked.”
The Captain said, “Sorry, lad, but I am booked. I have letters of credit and authorizations to secure prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 374
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cargo. My employer was most emphatic about this.”
He lowered his voice.
“If it’s a tiny bit of cargo, I might be able to squeeze it in, but otherwise I’m instructed to fill my ship with grain and hurry back as fast as possible.”
Roo grinned. “Grain?”
“Aye, lad. Wheat. I’m to purchase high-quality wheat at a fair market price, then leave as quickly as possible.” He glowered at the clerk. “Which is why I’d like this business done as soon as possible so I can let my lads go ashore. They’ve been at sea three weeks, and we’ll be here but a day or two.”
“Who have you contacted for your wheat?” asked Roo.
“No one yet, though I fail to see how that is any business of yours.”
Rupert stood and said, “Captain, I forgot my manners. I am very sorry. May I be allowed to introduce myself and my companion.” He turned to Dash and said, “This is my associate, Dashel Jameson, grandson to the Duke of Krondor.” He put his hand on his chest as the Captain and his buyer both rose at the mention of the Duke. “And I am Rupert Avery, of the Krondor Grain Traders Association.” Almost unable to contain himself, he said, “How much grain do you need?”
“Enough to fill a ship, Mr. Avery.”
Roo turned to Dash. “Is what arrived today enough to fill his ship?”
Dash said, “I think so.”
Roo said, “Good. To price: what do you offer?”
The Captain said, “You have the wheat here, in Krondor?”
“Yes, I can have it at the docks at first light.”
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The Captain got a calculating look on his face.
Roo knew what he was thinking: if he could grab the wheat before word got around about the shortage, he might make enough of a profit for the ship’s owner to make it worth having his crew forgo any shore leave. At last he said, “I’m prepared to offer two silver pieces of common weight”—the agreed-upon size of the coins used to trade between the Free Cities— “for three bushels of wheat at dockside tomorrow.”
Roo said, “I’ll take a silver per bushel.”
“Three silvers per four bushels,” said the Captain.
Roo said, “I’ll take a silver and a copper per bushel.”
“Wait a minute!” exploded the Captain. “You just set a price of a silver per. Now you raise it?”
“Yes,” said Roo, “and in a minute it will be a silver and two coppers.” Then he leaned forward and said very quietly, “Locusts.”
The Captain’s face flushed and he looked as if someone had just lit a fire in his trousers, but after glaring at Roo a lo
ng moment, he stuck out his hand and said, “Done! A silver and copper per bushel at dockside at first light.”
Roo turned and put his hand on Dash’s shoulder and steered him out of the customs house. “It’s going to work,” he said when they had cleared the street.
The next morning the wagons paraded to the docks, unloading the grain onto barges that carried it out to the ship. The Captain and Roo both stood by comparing tallies, while stevedores hauled the large sacks of grain off the wagons and carried them down the gangplanks to the barges.
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By midday the tally was done and the two men compared figures. Roo knew the Captain was intentionally counting light and showed six less bushels than Roo. For slightly more than a half-piece in gold, Roo thought he’d let the Captain have his little triumph. “I’ll accept your figure, Captain.”
The Captain motioned to his mate, who produced a chest, out of which the Captain counted sacks of gold. He let Roo inspect the contents of each bag, and when the transaction was done, Roo handed the contents to Duncan, who stood nearby with a chest that would be taken to the countinghouse where Roo now had his accounts established.
As they led the now empty wagons from the dock, Roo rode next to Duncan on the lead wagon.
He felt an elation unlike anything he had known in his life. “It’s going to work,” he said to no one.
“What?” asked Duncan.
Roo couldn’t contain himself any longer. He laughed long and hard, then whooped. He said, “I’m going to be a very wealthy man, cousin.”
“How very nice for you,” said Duncan dryly. Roo didn’t notice his cousin’s lack of enthusiasm.
The floor of the coffee house was in chaos.
Grown men screamed at one another and several fights had to be broken up by waiters. McKeller could be heard saying, “Gentlemen, gentlemen, please, remember yourselves!” several times.
Roo had one man hurl himself across a table at him, and his battle training served him well as the man found only air where Roo had stood a moment before. The man knocked himself nearly senseless when he struck his chin on a chair.
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Taking the steps two at a time, Roo found a pair of waiters protecting the upper floor from those not authorized to mount the steps. Not that the upstairs was much quieter than down below, but at least there was no brawling. Grown men seemed on the verge of breaking down in tears or screaming in frustration.
Roo pushed past two angry men to find several more at tableside, confronting an equally angry-looking Masterson.
“I don’t care what you say,” screamed Masterson at a pair of men who leaned over the table, their hands pressing hard into the wood. “You signed the note, you provide the wheat, or pay the market price.
You have three days!”
One of the men looked enraged, but the other looked ready to beg. “I can’t. Please. I’ll have to sell everything I’ve ever acquired. I’ll be penniless.”
Masterson’s temper seemed on the verge of getting the best of him. “You should have thought of that before you sold me wheat you didn’t have title to!”
Roo took him by the arm and over his shoulder said, “Excuse me, gentlemen, we’ll be back in a moment.”
“What?” asked Jerome, still angry.
Roo tried to keep a straight face and, failing, turned his back to the others around the table so they wouldn’t see him grinning. “How much?”
Masterson said, “They owe us two hundred thousand bushels of wheat, and they don’t own any!”
Then he suddenly realized whom he was talking to, and started to snicker. Covering his face with the back of his hand, he feigned coughing. “I don’t care much for Meany over there, and his cousin Meaks prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 378
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isn’t much better. Thought I’d let them sweat a bit.”
“Are they involved with Jacoby?” asked Roo, keeping his voice down.
“No,” answered Jerome. “Not as far as I can tell.
I did what you requested and ferreted out every syndicate or association that I thought had Jacoby participation, and they’re not among them.”
Roo said, “I’ve been thinking. We can’t ruin every investor in Krondor, else we’ll have no one to do business with. What do these two do?”
Masterson suddenly grinned. “Meany has a lovely little mill he manages badly, and Meaks a bakeshop that does a tidy business not far from here.
Mostly they speculate, and only on a modest scale.”
He whispered. “Someone must have put the word out there was going to be a bloodletting. I’ve got notes here from people two or three times over, far more than they’re worth if they default.”
Roo nodded. “Well, if we take Krondor Grain Traders and turn it into a permanent syndicate, it wouldn’t hurt our position in future to have a few businesses we own to constantly generate gold.
Would you like to own a share in a bakery and mill?”
Masterson rubbed his chin. “Not a bad notion.
You and I with Crowley and Hume need to sit and discuss this. We can bully out those other partners who came late, but Brandon Crowley and Stanley Hume were with us from the start.”
“Agreed,” said Roo. He turned and went back to the table. “Mr. Meany?” he asked.
The angrier of the two men said, “Yes?”
“As I understand it, you don’t have the wheat you contracted to deliver to us at the agreed-upon price?”
“You know I don’t!” shouted Meany. “Someone prince.qxd 9/4/02 10:38 AM Page 379
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went out and bought up every grain from here to Great Kesh! I’ve word from every grain buyer in the Principality there is no wheat for sale anywhere!
How can we meet these contracts if we can’t buy grain?”
Roo said, “An unfortunate circumstance to find yourself in.”
The other man, Meaks, said, “Please. If we’re forced to account on the due date, we’ll be ruined. I have a family!”
Roo pretended to think upon it, then said, “We’ll consider taking your note.”
No sooner were those words out of his mouth than Meaks was saying, “Oh, thank you, sir!” His relief brought him to the edge of tears.
Meany said, “You will?”
“At a reasonable rate of interest, and we may require property as . . .” Roo glanced at Masterson and whispered, “What’s the word?”
Masterson said, “Collateral.”
“. . . collateral. Prepare a list of your holdings and return here on the due date, and we’ll work something out. Can’t have your family out on the streets now, can we?” said Roo pointedly to Meaks.
The two men left and Roo began dealing with the men who were coming in before the due date to plead for more time because there was no grain to buy. He noticed the notes Masterson had set aside for him to peruse, and made a mental list of the names on them. Not one of those men came to see him.
At the end of the day, Roo and his three partners, along with Sebastian Lender, sat down. Roo said,
“Gentlemen, I propose we form a standing company.”
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Crowley said, “Say on.”
“We have, according to Jerome, managed to achieve the single most stunning manipulation of any market in the Western Realm in the history of Barret’s.”
Lender said, “I think that is a safe assessment.”
Jerome said, “Well, none of us would have expected it to turn out the way it had.”
Roo said, “My point is that we’ve done as well as we did because you gentlemen were steadfast. Lesser men would have broken and run.”
Crowley looked un
convinced, but Hume appeared pleased at the remark.
“I was a soldier for two terrible years,” said Roo,
“and I understand the incalculable benefit of having men at your back you can trust.” He looked from face to face. “I trust you four men.”
Crowley looked genuinely moved at that.
Roo said, “I propose we keep our newfound wealth pooled, and form a new company, one as diverse and widespread as any seen before.” In his mind he knew he was proposing the formation, overnight, of a company to rival Jacob Estherbrook’s far-flung holdings.
Crowley said, “And you will preside over that company?” There was a note of suspicion in his voice.
“No,” said Roo. “I’m still new at this, and while I think I have a knack for this sort of business, I also know that we got lucky.” He started to laugh. “I doubt anyone will sell a grain contract in the Kingdom for a long time without having purchased the grain in advance.”
The others laughed in return.
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“No,” said Roo, “I was thinking you should preside, Brandon.” It was the first time he had used Crowley’s first name.
“Me?” asked Crowley, obviously surprised.
“Well,” said Roo, turning to Jerome, “Mr.
Masterson and I have, shall we say, less than pristine histories.” Masterson laughed at that. “And while I respect Mr. Hume, it seems to me you’re the senior member here. Your age and experience would serve us well. I propose that you preside, and Mr. Hume could act as the company’s second officer. I will be content to be but one of four partners. I will conduct a fair bit of business on my own, outside the company. Running Avery and Sons will take some of my time. And I expect we’ll all have undertakings we will wish to pursue outside the company. But we’re about to be confronted with many, many men who will not be able to meet the notes they sold us.” He outlined his discussion with Masterson and his offer to Meaks and Meany. “We could end up with shared interests in dozens of businesses scattered around the Bitter Sea. For that reason, gentlemen,” he said to them all, “I propose that this day we found the Bitter Sea Trading and Holding Company.”