The captain of that lugger
Was such a useless bugger
He wasn't fit to shovel shit
From one deck to another
Chanted the crew at the capstan as they raised anchor, the dirty shanty being particularly appropriate to their captains passing remarks concerning Plant, after the boy was safely put ashore.
He knew that the venal chairman of the Traders and Merchants Guild would impound his vessel as an asset of the Hilton Company if he returned to the Citadel and so he intended to sail down river out into the estuary and thence to the open sea to keep his ship and its crew safe from such predatory acts as expected.
It had taken Plant three decades to cheat, bribe, connive his way to his current preeminence during which process of acquisition he'd transformed the port authority and the Guild of Merchants and Traders into a subservient cabal he used to make himself rich and powerful at their expense.
The Hilton Company had been in existence for three generations and seeing what Plant was doing, would have none of it but nevertheless complied with the rules, regulations, fees, duties and tariffs whilst apparently managing to stay wealthy and somehow largely independent of Plants machinations.
Great grandfather Hilton had seen the opportunities that promised to richly reward the intelligent entrepreneur and laid his plans carefully and discreetly using facilities far from the Citadel to build his trading fleet of fast shallow draught vessels which could smuggle with impunity yet be used to acquire sufficient trade goods to satisfy Guild reqirements.
These were collected by the single approved vessel of the type that the port authority demanded all traders use, which could only be obtained from the shipyard monopoly, another of Plants schemes. Most traders tried to acquire a small fleet of such ships to make larger profit margins yet somehow the Hilton Company prospered with its solitary vessel.
It was this irritating anomaly that had first drawn Plants attention and excited his curiousity because it should not have been possible for one family to do so well whilst apparently paying their dues. Yet despite his best efforts to infiltrate the company, question and threaten its employees, nothing could be learnt to their detriment.
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