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largely thanks to the civil war in America. They do say that one man’s loss is another man’s gain, and Bombay has certainly profited from America’s troubles. Demand for Indian cotton has soared, with so little being exported from America at present.’
    ‘Will some of that cotton end up in your hold, Captain Steele?’ Charlotte asked.
    He nodded and smiled. ‘It certainly will. There’s plenty of demand for it in England, in the Lancashire cotton mills.’
    ‘You’ll be looking forward to the shipping canal between Port Said and Suez being completed, then,’ John remarked. ‘It’ll shorten your journey from India to England considerably.’
    ‘It will indeed,’ Richard agreed. ‘But I believe it will be another five years before the canal is completed.’ Suddenly recalling an amusing incident, he settled back in his armchair and continued, ‘I had an interesting experience in Bombay last time I was there. I was overseeing the loading of my cargo when an Indian approached me. He had a young woman with him, carrying a bowl of freshly cooked food. I knew he was trying to peddle it—the docks in Bombay are rife with peddlers trying to sell their wares. Normally I just wave them away, but the food in the girl’s bowl smelled quite appetizing so I pulled some coins out of my pocket and bought it. Then the trouble started. The girl wouldn’t hand over the bowl of food. I kept saying, “Give me the food”, and I’d point at the bowl and hold out my hands, but she just stood there with her eyes fixed on the ground, clutching the bowl to her chest, and wouldn’t part with it.’
    ‘Why didn’t you just take it from her?’ Ben asked. ‘You’d paid for it, after all.’
    ‘I did in the end,’ Richard said. ‘And I started walking towards the ship with it. But the next thing I knew the Indian had rushed in front of me to block my way, and he was shouting and pointing at the Nina and then at the girl, and getting extremely agitated. Well, in Bombay it doesn’t take much of an incident to draw a crowd, so very soon there were twenty agitated Indians gabbling at me, and none of them had a single word of English. My first mate came to see what was going on, then half a dozen of my crew joined us. I could see that the situation could easily turn into a brawl, so I sent one of my men off to find someone who could understand the language and hopefully sort out what the devil was going on. He eventually came back with an Indian who could speak English, who duly informed me that I’d purchased not just the bowl of food, but the girl as well.’
    ‘Surely not!’ Ben exclaimed.
    ‘That was my reaction, too,’ Richard said with a grin. ‘I have to admit I was partly to blame for the misunderstanding, but the problem is that when neither party can understand one word the other is saying it’s very easy to give the wrong impression. You see, when the Indian was trying to sell me the food—at least, that’s what I thought he was trying to sell me—he kept pointing to the girl and I kept smiling and nodding, thinking he was explaining to me that it was she who had cooked it. I discovered afterwards that he was telling me that she was an excellent cook and would make a very good servant. And there I was, nodding and smiling in agreement.’
    John’s face split into a wide grin. ‘How did you get out of your predicament?’
    ‘I had to buy my way out. I’ve discovered over the years that there are very few problems that money won’t resolve. It turned out to be an extremely expensive bowl of food.’
    They all laughed, except for Isobel, who didn’t appear to find the story the least bit amusing.
    ‘You’re sure the Indian peddler wasn’t trying to sell you a wife, Captain Steele?’ Charlotte asked, her eyes still sparkling with pearls of laughter.
    Richard smiled and shook his head. ‘If it had been a wife he was offering me, he would have been paying me. ’
    ‘Oh, a dowry, you mean,’ she