Baroque Cycle Vol 2 - The Confusion

Steve's Confusion Page

As always my intent here is to provide a resource for people who have read the book a while ago and would like some help remembering, OR, for those reading now who'd like a little help understanding. Scene spotters below (spoilers too, so read on at your own risk.)

Pagination is from the 2004 William Morrow hardcover edition.

last modified: 28NOV10

Book 4: Bonanza, (chapter 1 of 9)

3 Barbary Coast, October 1689

A massive cannon barrage from the shore rouses Jack Shaftoe who had fallen asleep on a beach; Beard down to his stomach; hearing siren-like Turkish Music; Agha of the Janissaries arrives from Constantinople and enters Algiers (the cannon fire was a salute to his arrival); Speaking Sabir; Jack is still wrestling with the pox; The other galley slaves thought Jack was dead, and also (because of his Turkish sword) thought he was a Janissary; Moseh found Jack raving but not dead in the Janissary burial ground. • Yvgeney and Foot are still alive, as is van Hoek and many other familiar faces; Moseh explains the ten-member slave rowing teams; Moseh has a plan for wealth and freedom; The Oar Team heads for the gate into Algiers after Moseh's hatchet-throwing signal. • Women in black dart about above the stone corridors the team runs through... ("A brace of slaves wandering around lost in a heathen citadel"); Dappa the linguist tells his story [Not enough slaves in Africa to meet the high demand, asking stupid—or poignant!—questions gets you enslaved... Dappa was owned by James Stuart (James II) ]; The big Spaniard clears a path through crowd so the team can enter the Banyolar (slaves' "dorm"); Wrestling match between Yevgeny and Negro. • Oar Team Roster; Van Hoek's story ["He refuses to turn Turk, so the Captain rows alongside us..."]; Moseh's story, Moseh's bead; Jeronimo's story [Peruvian silver in Panama; Darien convent; Jeronimo's Gift (i.e. "miraculous" candor); Macho y Macho, protector of Spanish silver; Tutored by El Torbellino; Darien sacked; ...and defended by El Torbellino and Jeronimo; El Torbellino buys the farm, Jeronimo gets famous but is suffering from wounds and disease; Vera Cruz; Mexico City; Jeronimo's "gift" gets him in a spot of hot water with the Viceroy (as he describes, with miraculous candor, alas, what is to be done with the Viceroy's wife...miraculous candor turns out to be Tourette syndrome)... ; Jeronimo intercepts Spanish silver smugglers; Offends Mrs. Viceroy again; Ambushed as we entered Vera Cruz; Leveled the town; On my way back to Spain, captured and thrown in with you guys.]

Book 5: The Juncto, (chapter 1 of 8)

43 Dundalk, Ireland, 6 September 1689

Bob Shaftoe's (dictated) letter to Eliza; d'Avaux and James II sailed to Ireland; Jack's wife Mary & two sons; Sons inherited Imp of the Perverse; Mary & boys move to Dublin; James II's army squats in abandoned protestant houses; James II attacks Ulster...while he's away, Shaftoe boys loot d'Avaux's mansion.

47 The Dunkerque Residence of the Marquis and the Marquise of d'Ozoir, Ireland, 21 October 1689

Bonaventure Rossignol; Eliza lives in d'Ozoir's house and has at least one servant; History of Eliza's relationship with Rossignol (see Odalisque's penultimate chapter); Rossignol is visiting because Eliza made him jealous of Lt. Bart; Eliza liquidated her Amsterdam assets, gave the money to Eleanor and Caroline; Eliza was heading to London but was captured by Lt. Bart; Spotted by d'Avaux's spy; Retained on board after others disembark; Eliza's fortune pirated; In Bart's cabin, Eliza tells Bart of her dual ennoblements, and now Bart has a problem: "A French privateer cannot steal from a French countess..." Eliza pays Bart in a different manner; d'Avaux accuses Eliza of spying; Eliza ends up at d'Ozoir's with three servants and two marine guards; Someone sent Eliza a bundle of d'Avaux's top secret letters which she can use to deflect d'Avaux's espionage charges. Rossignol heads to the library to go through them. • Eliza spies on d'Avaux-Bart meeting with telescope; d'Avaux visits Eliza, condemns her for political espionage (bad) and being a counterfeit countess (much worse, says d'Avaux) and threatens her with loss of her title and threatens to throw her child into an orphanage. • Rossignol hides elsewhere in the d'Ozoir's house as Eliza talks to d'Avaux; He sees Lt. Bart and mentally prepares for a possible sword fight, as does Bart; They meet and after tense introductions, they shake. Rossignol awaits Eliza, Bart awaits d'Avaux; Rossignol tells Bart about Lady d'Ozoir's art, and the history of the House of Guise/Holy Catholic League and the de Crepy family [Ancient de Gexes and de Crepys were in HCL, united against Huguenots (aka French Protestants/Calvinists); de Gex descendant Francis and de Crepy descendant Marguerite begat Edouard de Gex, who currently is quite close to Madame de Maintenon; Anne-Marie de Crepy married Oyonnax; Anne-Marie's sister Charlotte is now Lady d'Ozoir; Etienne d'Arcachon (whom all involved believe impregnated Eliza) is Marquis d'Ozoir's—Charlotte's husband's—half-brother. Got all that??]

Eliza tells d'Avaux his papers have been stolen and scattered, and that she has been able to round some of them up with some success...so he better think twice about telling de Gex (and indirectly, via de Maintenon, King Louis) anything about her common lineage. • Rossignol leaves; three days later, d'Avaux returns; Eliza and son are late for his christening; Christened Jean-Jacques (after Jean Bart and "Jacques" Shaftoe); d'Ozoir talk; He sends Eliza to Lyon, to get money, for timber, on behalf of King Louis XIV.

Book 4: Bonanza, (chapter 2 of 9)

83 Throne Room of the Pasha, the Kasba, Algiers, October 1689

Moseh tells the Turkish Pasha that the viceroy's treasure galleon could be hijacked at Guadalquivir Estuary sandbar [this conversation mediated by the floor and the Pasha's slipper. No kidding. Moseh spoke to the floor, who, supposedly, spoke to the Pasha's slipper, who was evidently the only one in the room with enough station to speak directly to the Pasha.] Pasha says it's a good plan but how do we know that once we set you and your slave friends free you all won't just take off?" "Tell d'Arcachon. He could be your eyes to the north;" They all see a guy get pushed off a wall onto a large hook; Pasha says d'Arcachon had asked him about "Ali Zayback;" [Say the name fast.] Jack knows about Ali Zayback.

Book 5: The Juncto, (chapter 2 of 8)

93 Château Juvisy, 10 December 1689

Antoine Rossignal builds Juvisy, and his son Bonaventure decides to stay there; Eliza visits, explains Lyon commerce to Rossignol, and what she was doing there: ("Buying timber for d'Ozoir. The de la Vargas brothers & Jacob Gold joined me from Amsterdam.") • Lyon is run on credit, the "Depot System" • Eliza met Gerhard Mann • Eliza explains plan to Mann; Mann is IN • Tells Rossignol timber deal is done, but it was a huge pain (need a new lawyer for each French district, pirates and extortionists steal timber: NOT WORTH IT.)

106 Dunkerque Residence of the d'Ozoirs, 13 December 1689

Eliza tells d'Ozoir of the crazy timber procurement; d'Ozoir only gave her the job to confirm that it's still impossible, which it really isn't; Eliza asks about the metal fortifications; Purpose of the Campaign of the North was to get Baltic timber; Etienne wants Eliza because she reminds him of Colbert: "You belong at Versailles whether you believe it or not." Elder d'Ozoir will be "pulled up" by Eliza's presence; Eliza will write to Daniel Waterhouse about money.

112 Cap Gris-Nez, France, 15 December 1689

Carriage prepares to depart, man (Bart) tossing bundled infant up and down; carriage departs, Bart standing rather than sitting (hemorrhoids?) • Discussion of Bart's rectal issues; Eliza explains how the Army gets more money than the Navy "because Army valor is imminently more visible than Naval valor, way out on isolated ships, but you Bart are famous (for an unnamed "recent exploit"...capturing her boat?) so you can get some money for the Navy." • Arrival at Versailles; Mssr. de Mayet • Etienne camped out in Versailles stable to avoid the appearance of impropriety when Eliza (reputed mother of his bastard) arrived at his home, La Dunette • Jean-Jacques is at La Dunette • At Ponchartrain's office at Versailles [lyrical description of Ponchartrain's handling of the pen] where he documents Eliza's "donation" to Louis XIV's treasure (i.e. the money stolen by Bart's men); As Ponchartrain writes, Eliza leaks in a few different ways…makes a connection with Ponchartrain vis a vis the math of money • At La Dunette, Rossignol and Eliza are greeted by Duchess d'Archachon and Ponchartrain: they board a sleigh drawn by two albino horses; Eliza de-pantses Rossignol and, er, grabs the reins (or rein...); Duchess d'Arcachon is loyal and sincere, which makes Eliza—still poor—look like a schemer in comparison; They pass a shed where the Duchess's soap is being made; the sleigh enters Louis XIV's Grand Parc; Ponchartrain confides that he is making new louis coins to replace the existing ones at a higher rate; Rossignol has a happy ending which Ponchartrain mistakes for intellectual epiphany (but the Duchess rather doesn't); Eliza broaches the subject of the albino horses but the conversation is interrupted when Etienne rides up to announce that Louix XIV arrived at La Dunette just as the sleigh had departed. • Big soiree...during a dance Rossignol explains to Eliza about Duchess d'Arcachon's soap (some women used homemade soap to poison their husbands); Louis XIV cuts in on Rossignol to dance with Eliza, corners her about her spying for Wm. of Orange; Eliza fesses up, then admits to wanting to kill "the man who wronged me" (her abductor); Edouard de Gex tells Eliza he will raise Jean-Jacques as a jesuit; Lt. (now Capt.) Bart's heroism for rowing back across the English Channel from England [not for capturing Eliza's boat as I surmised earlier—though he did do that. -smr- ] has garnered the King's respect and money, as Eliza predicted; Eliza frets that King Louis mistakenly inferred that she wants to kill Wm. of Orange.

139 Letter from Daniel Waterhouse to Eliza, France, January-February 1690

I won’t be too much help regarding money since American money is almost worthless…people here have formed “credit clubs” and pay off accounts on the rare occasions they come into any cash; Whigs & Tories; Ravenscar (Roger Comstock) is a very powerful Whig who is using the Royal Society for financial innovation and gain; Isaac Newton was a member of Parliament until William & Mary dissolved it.

141 Letter from Eliza to Daniel, April 1690

Letter begins with discussion of NEWTON vs. LEIBNIZ [Both names fully capitalized…perhaps this is code. – smr -] I often take Jean-Jacques to the King’s vegetable gardens; I live in a secluded cottage beyond the view of both Palace Versailles and La Dunette; Duke d’Arcachon is away from La Dunette a lot, though he has been writing me personally lately, presumably for help with some huge deal down south…

144 La Dunette, Mid-July 1690

La Dunette means “poop deck” which only makes sense as the estate is on a hill overlooking Palace Versailles, but the mansion was built far enough down the hill so no one in the mansion could see down into the palace; Duke and Duchess d’Arcachon are hosting a party, the guests (including King Louis) are out on the gazebo observing great revelry over at the palace and in the surrounding gardens; commoners and nobles alike appear to be celebrating the death of William of Orange; Etienne raises several toasts to recent French military victories, and the partygoers observe a re-enactment of the Battle of Beachy Head talking place in the Grand Canal; The Duke hints to Eliza about Etienne’s pending “propositions” (Eliza feels as if she has met the Duke somewhere previously…); Eliza overhears the Earl of Upnor discussing a female slave (the duchess d’Oyannax notices Eliza overhear this.); James Stuart (James II, exiled in St.-Germain-en-Laye), plans to invade England via Qwghlm; Upnor tells of his escape from England [p151. Riding away from London with a few colleagues and several horses, Upnor, wanting to cross the Thames, encounters a commoner, mounted and armed; It is Bob Shaftoe attempting to free Abigail Frome [whom Bob presumably has not seen in five years, see Odalisque, June 1685] One of Upnor's men attacks Shaftoe who falls in the Thames and disappears (presumably dead....)] • At dinner, the imposing duchesse d'Oyannax makes conversation with Eliza (Duke d'Arcachon refuses to eat, offering a bizarre excuse about a special diet. Surely he's afraid of being poisoned...) News arrives that Wm. of Orange is very much alive. • duc d'Arcachon asks Eliza for help moving a large amount of uncoined silver ("Do not use the House of Haklheber when you obtain the Bill of Exchange in Lyon!") In the Duke's wafting cigar smoke, Eliza smells far more than death... ; Duke tells Eliza of a plan to avenge his family's honor [see King Of The Vagabonds, Spring 1685]; They discuss d'Arcachon's albino horses, and Eliza learns that d'Arcachon obtained his albino stud stallion, Pasha, eleven years ago. • Eliza goes to the stable alone and realizes that Pasha is the very horse she was traded for in the summer of 1679; Her rage builds, [evoking the blaze at Mr Sluy's house in Amsterdam, see KOV, June 1685]; The story of her abduction from Qwghlm is recapped [see KOV, Sept. 1683] as is her vow one day to find her abductor...; The Duchess d'Oyonnax, noticing Eliza's reaction to the topic of slavery—and her tears of rage—assumes Eliza wants to kill Etienne. But Eliza sets her straight: father, not son. The duchess counsels patience...

Book 4: Bonanza, (chapter 3 of 9)

165 The Gulf of Cadiz, 5 August 1690

Aboard the galleot, Jack and crew see buildings and ships of Cadiz, and their target: the viceroy's brig, loaded with silver. • The four-man "away team" prepares; Jack and the others scope out Sanlucar de Barrameda and Bonanza for landing areas. At night the four don european clothes and row out. Once ashore, Jack considers taking off on his own, but reconsiders for reasons having to do with promises he made to Eliza, and being hunted by d'Arcachon. Jeronimo follows Jack ashore to keep him honest. Jack talks to local vagabonds; the four split up; Jack passes a building and sees Hackleheber through a window; Moseh explains Hackleheber; The four meet back up in a tavern and strike a deal with a local (who agrees to signal them when the brig is in position) then return to the galleot. • Van Hoek prays...; Viceroy's brig arrives and heads up the Guadalquivir; Galleot sidles up to the brig and Mr Foot makes his crazy faux carpet pitch to the men on the Viceroy's brig who rebuff him; The galleot conspicuously turns tail and heads up river; The brig drops anchor at the Viceroy's villa; Dappa spies another ship flying Dutch colors; Galleot captain returns Jack's janissary sword which Jack immediately uses to cut loose the galleot's anchors; Bonanza vagabonds head for the Viceroy's villa (Jack told them the viceroy would give alms...); Jack and Dappa jump in the river towing a barrel loaded with gear and swim to the brig; The galleot drifts toward the brig with the galleot's men screaming about being adrift; Jack submerges to cut the brig's anchor ropes; The current pulls Jack under the brig's keel, shredding his flesh on the keel's barnacles; He manages to pull himself above the waterline. • Galleot’s stern gets entangled with the brig’s bow; Yevgeny, Gabriel and Nyazi join Jack in the water under the brig’s bow; Disentagled, the galleot rows off, then comes back and passes nose to nose, sideswiping the brig; The brig’s calls for help are drowned out by other cannon fire, the brig drifts into the gulf; Galleot fixes a massive 30’ pole—like a bayonet—to its bow; Jack and others board the brig over the bow rail; Jack gets a pistol from a defecating Spaniard; They ram the brig, the bow spear-head piercing the brig to its heart; Dappa mounts the fore-top; Jack & Goto take main-top; Jeronimo makes a “flowery oration in noble Spanish” through a “speaking trumpet,” telling the Spaniards what’s happening; Coarsairs board the brig rounding up its crew; Gold is found belowdecks; They remember the French yacht that’s still keeping an eye on them (“…d’Arcachon still has a knife to our throats…”); They haul the gold over to the galleot. Discarding thoughts of their nimble galleot and the getaway they could make with it, the Cabal rows on, adhering to The Plan. Two frigates sailed toward them from Cadiz and challenged them, but the galleot rowed on; “The day then dissolved into a long sickening panic…” [here on page 196, an unforgettable description of a day on a galley ship rowing for its life: Not everyone survived, “...the meaning of survival was not entirely clear on a day like this. Certainly they would never be the same.”] Rain falls on them as they enter the Mediterranean from the Straits of Gibraltar.

197 Off Malta, Late August1690

Nyazi tells how all males in his clan, except for him, were castrated by savages, and how his forty wives await his return; He was enslaved by Arabs, then traded to Turks, then to an Algerian Corsair captain; Vrej mentions the ostrich plumes (given to his family by Jack & Eliza back after Jack & Eliza first met… see KOV ] They pass between Sicily and Malta; Vrej still feels the he and his family owe Jack for the plumes. • Back when they were still in the western Med, the non-cabal slaves were swapped for some fresh ones, crates for the gold were brough on board, and a new drum; Accompanied by a heavily armed escort, the galleot dumps most of the oar slaves at Ras el Tib and raises the French flag. • Meteore is there waiting [mention of the family crest with slave-heads.. d’Arcachon?] [1/4] Meteore’s inspectors board galleot and make cursory inspection; Has the rais (captain of the galleot) told d’Arcachon or the Pasha about the gold? (“Perhaps he wants to help or join us?”); Meteore’s letter is in Latin; Pasha told duc everything is going according to plan: the galleot will go with the fleet to Alexandria and tell the duc then about the gold – not sooner. • d’Arcachon seeks Ali Zayback. • Rais & Dappa go ashore (Jack comes along disguised as a Janissary, as protocol dictated) and negotiate with Pierre de Jonzac for fresh slaves, selecting them from several galleys; In one galley, Jack spots Monsieur Arlanc (see KOV); Another galley is in the harbor, aboard which an oarsman appears to be signaling de Jonzac; Arlanc repays Jack for his kindness back in d’Arcachon’s stables [see KOV] and warns Jack about Dutch and/or English ships. • d’Arcachon kept the gold on the galleot because larger ships are bigger targets; Galleot evades attack; Arlanc’s galley is blown up and sinks, bow high in the air, galley slaves hanging by benches parallel to the now vertical deck; Cabal had inspected the new slaves closely before leaving Malta (a full set of lock-picks was found on a slave named Gerard); Jack locks Gerard to Arlanc’s bench and enjoins him to save himself (and Arlanc, as a by product.) • Cabal is told to go to Alexandria, but they plan for Cairo instead; Galleot avoids the “Investor’s” jacht; Rais hauls ass for Abu Quir, while the rest of the French head for Alexandria; Cruising through Turkish customs at Aby Quir, a French sloop is coming so they depart quickly; Trapped in a circular current; Vrej is despondent, recalling his father’s history with the Red Sea. • Visit to Rosetta wigmaker. • Cabal squares off with de Jonzac & his dragoons; Rais makes a show of offering up “an English gelding” to de Jonzac and d’Arcachon: “We’ll see you and your master in Cairo in three days.” • They head up the Nile, maintaining the ruse that Jack is a transported prisoner; They arrive at Giza where they stop and let Nyazi reunite with his clan; They release the galley slaves, four of which decide to work with the Cabal; Gold is off-loaded from ship to camel. • Gold/Camel caravan enters Cairo to no fanfare or surprise; this ancient city has seen it all; Cairo’s central alley, the caravanserai; the route to Mocha is discussed; as they prepare to meet d’Arcachon, Jack polls each cabal member and insists upon unflinching loyalty, and gets it (and REALLY gets it from Van Hoek!) • d’Arcachon arrives at caravanserai, Jack awaits…the duc advances…Jack is joined by Arlanc and Moseh…negotiations begin…duc presents slave cancellation documents…Jack is somehow able to press his J-sword entirely into d’Arcachon’s horse’s chest. With flourish and aplomb, Jack avenges Eliza at long last, leaving de Jonzac to tell the tale back in Paris. • The battle erupts, the stables are ablaze; Gold is loaded onto wagons; Jack is sliced in the back by a bayonet, and other hand-to-hand action; A gold cart overturns; Cabal is hemmed in by ranks of French musketeers; Yevgeny battles Janissaries by spinning a half pike…Jack tried to help…Goto administers extreme unction (then death) to a French soldier; Rais is shot in the leg; Jack sees camel traders (Nyazi’s clansmen!) fighting Janissaries on the rooftops; Jack makes a powder keg bomb; Yevgeny is shot as he ignites the keg with a well-launched flaming spear...where does he go?; On horseback, Jeronimo mounts a one-man assault, killing five or six Frenchmen before being overwhelmed; When the smoke clears, four of the initial six gold carts are still in hand, three of which actually make it aboard the riverboat; Nyazi and Moseh set up Dappa’s cannon cart; Jack helps Dappa hastily load the cannon as the rabble bears down on them; Dappa waits until all are aboard the riverboat, then fires the cannon and makes it aboard himself; van Hoek is captain once again, and makes full speed for the Med via Rosetta; Nyazi and the Nubian (one of the four galley slaves who joined the Cabal in Giza) stay behind in Egypt, the other ten sail on and reach the Red Sea.

Book 5: The Juncto, (chapter 3 of 8)

257 Eliza to Leibniz, Late September 1690

“I was in Lyon for a month, then at Rossignol’s (Juvisy) now heading to Paris; Juvisy is quiet after a killing frost; ‘Money does not flow unless people make it work, and I have become one of those people,’ What have you heard about Madame de Maintenon? She must be lonely, she and her husband are both gay; Dauphine’s apartment is New Lesbos here at Versailles, ‘By no means was duchesse d’Oyonnax ever part of this little circle of clitoristes…’ Dauphine died, Dauphin married his mistress, much drama ensued; Duke told Rossignol to look for letters from Sanlucar de Barrameda in Early August; (in passing, she mentions the brig heist) I’m now in Paris at d’Arcachon’s; had dinner with Lothar von Hackleheber…he is so like a spider! I learned of Lothar’s recent travels, he’s livid over the recent gold theft; Lothar’s spy network has served him well, he knows all about the party on Oct 14; Speaking of which, I have to end this letter to assist with preparations for the 14^th.

265 Leibniz to Eliza, Early October 1690

“Lothar’s father Egon helped me get back into my father’s library after I was locked out at age five; Lothar blames his father for the death’s of his (Lothar’s) two brothers, for knowing alchemy but not using it to save them.” • Eliza reading of the letter is interrupted as the duchesse of d’Oyonnax arrives. • In the chapel at Hotel d;Arcachon, Eliza tells Oyonnax about duc’s jacht; They trade more gossipy tidbits; d’Oyonnax doesn’t much care for Eliza, but likes d’Arcachon far less, and gives Eliza a green vial of poison, “People will talk, after it happens. It’s not whether this or that person believes you to be a murderer, or even can prove it, but whether they have the dignity necessary to level such an accusation.” [1/3] • Etienne arrives. • d’Avaux corners Eliza: he’s onto her; Etienne appears and asks Eliza either to kill him, or…his proposal is interrupted by news that d’Arcachon’s carriage is arriving; de Gex arrives next and sort of finished Etienne’s thought… Eliza bolts from the room. De Gex catches her and tells her that Rossignol has messages from Vrej. • Grand ballroom ceiling…de Gex asks if Eliza knows why it was remodeled…what happened in this room in 1865? • Rossignol notes connection between letters from Artan Esphahnian to Vrej Esphahnian, tells her how d’Arcachon pirated gold, not silver; Eliza demands to know what happened in the ballroom in 1865; Jack’s epic party crash is outlined [see QS/KoV pp568-577 for the astounding details] as is the way the Esphahnians were punished for it; Louix XIV’s carriage arrives. • Eliza suddenly needs to get rid of d’Oyonnax’s poison vial; She recalls how Lothar had seen her with Jack back in Leipzig, but it was d’Avaux that saw her with Jack in Amsterdam! All eyes on Duc’s carriage, whence de Jonzac emerges, with a locked box; Bedraggled footmen escort the emaciated de Jonzac into the ballroom; King Louis enters, sees something is terribly wrong, addresses de Gex who is attending to de Jonzac; de Jonzac delivers Jack’s message, to the horror of all present. • d’Avaux prepares to identify Eliza as being ultimately responsible for a’Arcachon’s murder, but she deftly interrupts his accusation with a public acceptance of Etienne’s implied marriage proposal; A funeral mass and a wedding are hastily called for (make that two funeral masses) as d’Avaux clams up and backs off; Upon arriving at La Dunette, Eliza discovers that Jean-Jacques has been kidnapped. (by “L” von Hacklheber)

292 Schloß Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony, December 1690

Leibniz and Fatio meet (is it a party?) and leave, discussing four brothers who were all interested in Sophie; “I want to build a knowledge engine,” Leibniz tells Fatio as they leave and walk out into the snow. “I’ve stopped writing about dynamics and am finishing work on Proto-gaea;” “Behold the Bücherrad!" [A sort of Ferris wheel for books that serves as a prototypical card-catalog]; Numerical book cataloging, using prime numbers; Leibniz had to decipher his father’s library cataloguing system; In the stable shed, Fatio peeks at Lebniz’s encoded and decoded letters from Eliza; Fatio was working with Newton but now is with Huygens, still defends Newton’s alchemy work from Leibniz’s criticism; They bicker about gold’s alchemical properties, and the mystery force between planets. • While Leibniz is still outside constructing a gravitation model with snowballs, Fatio swipes several of of Eliza’s older letters to Leibniz; Lebniz calls atoms “monads;” “You do not have a rival Fatio, but Isaac Newton does.”

309 Ireland, 1690-1691

Ireland in four jurisdictions (Connaught, Ulster, Leinster, Munster); Black Torrent Guards were stationed for two winters in Belfast, then move to Dundalk; Orange arrives in Ulster, his by a cannonball but unharmed (thus the rumors of his demise); Orange routs James Stuart; Bob resumes command in battle, still seeking Abigail; Orange enters Munster; Bob takes a bottle over the head and is nearly scalped; Bob, painfully bored, admires Connaught from across the Shannon; Bob had recruited protestants; Tom and Oliver follow Bob to his brooding tree, Bob gives them sword fighting lessons. • Oliver’s grandfather Good drives the Ferbanes from their Leinster farm. The Ferbanes had got it from the Crackingtons in the Rebellion of 1641, and the Crackingtons return to claim it from Good, who rejects their claim; After Charles II ascends, Goods take off for Massachusetts for religious freedom and the Crackingtons return to the Leinster farm; When the Catholics come back into power, the Crackingtons make for Dublin. Enroute they run into trouble and by chance are helped by some Goods. And this is how land is “owned” in Ireland, unlike in England where land ownership is clear. • Bob got a letter from Eliza; St Ruth is the new French Commanding Officer, Upnor is a Lt. General. • Huegenots are excited about St Ruth; Bloody Battle of Athlone; Bob worries that Athlone won’t surrender, in which case he might have to kill his own nephews (Jack’s sons) if they’re in the town. • Bob’s unit moves toward Galway and encounters St Ruth’s army which hasn’t retreated at all; Jacobite (supporting James Stuart) and Williamite (supporting Orange) lines for on either side of the bog at Aughrim; Bob and Capt. Barnes get testy; Jacobites (French) are covering the causeway that runs through the bog; Bob’s unit is to advance down that causeway road. • Irish are kicking much ass early in the battle; Several protestant attacks across the bog fail, then they charge the causeway; Bob takes a round in the upper chest (St Ruth is using buttons for ammo?) Inexplicably, St Ruth does not counter-attack; Wrong-sized ammo dooms St Ruth. • Bob grabs a fresh horse and follows three riders away from the battle, one of which turned out to be Upnor; Bob’s blade gets stuck in enemy flagpole; Upnor euthanizes his horse instead of shooting Bob; While swordfighting, Upnor taunts Bob with lewd comments about Abigail; Upnor is quick, but Teague arrives to help Bob, finishing off the finest swordsman in England by bludgeoning him with a big stick.

344 A Hay-rick, St.-Malo, France, 9 April 1692

Pillow talk between Bob and Eliza; Eliza has had a second child (Lucien); Bob is spying for Marlboro; In Leipzig Lothar calls Jean-Jacques “Johann, now aged three; Eliza curses Lothar, not for the kidnapping but for treating Jean-Jacques so well that the boy would be miserable if Eliza got him back, but she says “Soon I shall act, and if I do it right, he won’t understand what has happened…”

350 Chateau d’Arcachon, St-Malo, France, 11 April 1692

Ponchartrain is now the Sec. of State for the Navy; Eliza runs her chateau salons; Her social obligations increase as the fleet arrives; “England has no money, so an invader has nothing to spend after conquering her;” English pennies are minted then vanish [see Quicksilver…]On Ponchartrain’s yacht, Eliza speculates about silver; d’Erquy fixates on money owed him by Louis XIV (ie Ponchartrain;) Eliza wonders: how to mint English coin, then get it into French hands;” Eliza’s complicated financial plan baffles her tablemates so she stages a skit to illustrate. [This skit is a huge favor NTS does for the reader. Thick as I am though when it comes to anything financial, I'm still too foggy on it to attempt an elucidation here! smr]

366 Eliza to Lothar von Hacklheber, 12 April 1692

Eliza reassures Lothar she’ll get his gold back; Rossignol is trying to decode Esphahnian letters; Eliza sums up her plan to get silver to England.

370 Eliza to King William III of England, 12 April 1692

Majesty, you must tell Louis XIV his invasion is doomed!

371 Eliza to Monsieur le Chevalier d’Erquy, 13 April 1692

Here are the terms of the transaction…

374 Café Esphahnian, Rue de l’Orangerie, Versailles, 26 April 1692

Samuel Bernard and Eliza meet at Christopher Esphanian’s café and agree that they both “do not belong” with “these people “we are monstrous deviations, fell portents of undesired change;” we undermine the country with our finances; Bernard advises against Lyon, but Eliza talks him into it; Bernard asks Eliza about India company, Elizxa agrees to tell him someday; Bernard leaves, Rossignol enters, jealous of Bernard. Eliza sets him at ease by recounting the beginnings of their affair [see Odalisque, p905?] Rossignol has read her mail and says she’s playing dangerous games, manipulating armies and markets; She responds ‘You think I’m diving back into the sea of international intrigue, but in truth I’m only now finding a way above it.’

384 Daniel Waterhouse to Eliza, 19 April 1692

‘You asked about the mint. Don’t ask me, ask Ravenscar.’

384 Roger Comstock, Marquis of Ravenscar, to Eliza, 20 April 1692

Boilerplate flattery; Neale the former furniture steward is in charge of the mint (James II is losing his mind); Neale prefers the system to be rigged in his favor; PS If your plan is to mint coins to pay French and Irish invaders, nice try. If the invasion shows even a HINT of success I’ll pay the invaders personally [this PS related in FAR more vivid language, of course!]

388 Leibniz to Eliza, 21 April 1692

‘I had to endure Lothar at a dinner given by Sophie; He predicted France would be humiliated, having gotten his info from certain wealthy persons who had been “brought to heel.”

391 Eliza to Samuel de la Vega, 5 May 1692

‘Tell me if the Hacklehebers move any silver in Amsterdam.’

393 Eliza to the Marquis of Ravenscar, 15 May 1692

‘Get silver in May, but be discreet!

394 Eliza to Samuel Bernard, 18 May 1692

‘Use me as an intermediary so we don’t expose our agents.’

395 Samuel Bernard to Eliza, 23 May 1692

‘Here are five bills of exchange endorsed to you, they expire at the end of the month; Lothar wanted all in one big bill; Don’t present them in London until the invasion is successful, and don’t forget about the different calendars!’

398 Cabin of Météore, off Cherbourg, France, 2 June 1692

Eliza is aboard; French navy is kicking butt, Tourville’s and Russell’s flag ships are battling one another directly; The French didn’t lose a single ship (Eliza’s plan right on schedule.) Then the wind dies, much fog sets in, and the standoff gets boring, and time starts running out as the days wear on; On the last morning of the month the fog lifts and Eliza signals someone in town that the plan can proceed; Ascot visits Eliza, a bit early. • Tourville’s ship burns, men abandon ship; Météore is boarded by the English; Eliza’s cabin is broken into and a maidservant is defenestrated; the invader has a prosthetic arm in the shape of a three-part flail; Another maidservant is thrown out, Eliza bails out too, followed by Brigitte and Mr. Flail-arm; Eliza’s hired ship (Arbalete) sails to the rescue; [1/2] Bob Shaftoe is aboard; Only Eliza boards the rescue ship, dumbfounding her servants who get to row ashore with a one-armed man! • Anglo-Dutch go after a few French ships; Tourville is cornered on the east coast of Cotentin peninsula; Eliza ponders James Stuart’s litany of loss. • Bob may return to England: ‘Serving in Paris has brought me no nearer to Paris (Abigail)’ he wants to rejoin the Black Torrent Guards and asks Eliza to put in a good word with Marlboro.

412 London, 4 June (N.S.) / 25 May (O.S.), 1692

Eliza is back in London, welcomed by Ravenscar; Eliza wants to go to the Exchange, Ravenscar insists it’s beneath her duchesshood; Eliza tells him about Bob, wants to visit him in the Tower of London; Ravenscar mentions his surfeit of silver, Eliza says forget the Tower visit, take me Hacklehebers! Ravenscar gets anxious as Eliza’s meeting inside Hackleheber’s takes well over an hour; They haul out eleven crates of silver pennies; Eliza tells Ravenscar not to sell his silver just yet… Eliza sends a cabby after someone who just darted from Hackleheber’s: ‘Probably going to fetch the rest of the silver…;’ Now they go to the Tower.

420 Gresham’s College, 10/20 June 1692

Eliza hustles to Gresham’s but they make her wait; Newton, Eliza and Fatio sit to talk; Newton summarizes his alchemy, Leibniz, gravitation and optics; Window spectrum, and other science discussions, after which Newton abruptly asks about the gold Jack stole; ‘It was King Solomon’s gold’ with different alchemical properties from regular gold; Fatio and Newton fear Jack will, being unable to appreciate the “special” gold, “con-fuse” it with regular gold to make coins; This thought sends Newton into spasm. • Eliza goes to the House of Golden Mercury; Jean Bart hijacked silver enroute from Amsterdam; One of the many lawyers present hints that they’re on to her; Eliza is going after the House of Hackleheber – beats Lothar to the punch; With the House of Hackleheber teetering on the brink of insolvency Eliza brokers a deal that will save its reputation; Hackleheber’s lawyers balk at the deal, but Eliza threatens to tell all within earshot of their precarious situation. They cave. • Eliza tells Bob she didn’t let Lothar off the hook; Bob insists on getting Abigail back on his own [rejecting a seemingly simple solution offered by Eliza]; Eliza tells Bob she miscarried, and sends him about his business.

Book 4: Bonanza, (chapter 4 of 9)

437 Ahmadabad, The Mogul Empire, September 1693

Jack reports for duty in a fly-infested hospital run by Swapaks, where he strips down and is hog-tied and lowered into a pit so that sick or injured blood-drinking creatures may feed on his blood; Jack talks to Surendranath (former galley slave with Jack) as he feeds the centipedes, ticks, etc; Surendranath and Jack discuss the gold that was stolen from them; After his shift, Jack absent-mindedly kills a mosquito on his neck, enraging the Swapaks, and forcing himself and Padraig to beat a hasty retreat from the hospital; They release many sick creatures on their way out; A pair of soldiers on horseback intervene and want to talk to Jack, who scatters their horses with tiger poop; Surendranath is carried off on a palanquin. • Jack and Padraig find work begging in the Ahmadabad caravanserai; Jack announces they have another job, just as a bloody ox bone falls from the sky. • They head west out of town with Surendranath. • Roadside camp southwest of Ahmadabad – Jack tells Surendranath of IQ test (Vrej & Arlanc are probably soldiers around here since they showed that they knew how to load and fire a musket; The Terror of the Idolators, the Dispenser of Mayhem, the Shatterer of Worlds, the Bringer of Thunder; They see roadside weavers as they head toward Diu; Jack asks about the nature of –stan as they head south to Diu; the Galleot had been beset by two ships, one looked Balochi but actually was Sangano pirates; The the galleot AND the Sangano pirates were then jumped by Malabar women pirates! They encounter a river and a fort; Jack predicts if they set out of Delhi they will die, they must wait for other caravans to try and fail first. • Beggar’s row at fort/town; European beggar (Foote) daring himself to eat a raw kidney; Jack yanks him out of the market. • While bushwhacking on the way south to Diu Surendranath’s hired Hindoo disperses bandits by threatening to slit his own throat; In the Diu suburbs they find van Hoek brewing beer.

462 The Surat-Broach Road, Hindoostan, A month later (October 1693)

Cabal members are nursing serious burns and other wounds. • Jack has plans for camel shit and human piss; Building a huge cauldron for piss; Boiling off the piss; Big funnel…extracting phosphorus, decanting it into bottles. It gets away from them, exploding spectacularly. So they were run out of town and escaped to sea in a boat. • On the road to Narmada; Jack notes different curved swords; They land at port of Surat and head north; some of the mercenaries bolt; Maratha attack; Night battle at the Oxbow; Phosphorus ghosts ride on!

Book 5: The Juncto, (chapter 4 of 8)

483 Mrs Bligh’s Coffee-house, London, September 1693

Four years after Daniel was "cut for the stone" [bladder stone removed; see final page of Odalisque], he meets Roger Comstock at coffee house; Daniel complains about London economy based on credit, wants to go to America; Roger has a way for Daniel to go, in service to England; What is Juncto? Daniel muses on recoinage; “You want a scientist running the mint.” Roger wants Newton to do it, Daniel objects; Mr White bites Ellis’s ear off; Roger poniards White’s hand to the wall. • Daniel ponders his bladder stone, cowardice, and his own fears, goes looking for Newton. • Visiting Cambridge, Daniel gives Dominic Masham Leibniz’s book and letter for Isaac Newton. • Daniel meets the Juncto at Apthorp's; Daniel asks Marlboro about Isaac running the mint... • Daniel makes sure Ravenscar is sure about Isaac. • Halley shows Daniel actuarial tables. • Locke tells Daniel that Isaac is sick. • Daniel and Pepys share a jolly piss break and notice that Isaac seems to be going mad; Daniel arrives at Oates, Fatio is in the library, Isaac is in a weird way; Daniel confronts Isaac re alchemy with unification - alchemy will take it all down (sailor's depth line analogy); Daniel comes right out and tells Fatio 'You're holding Isaac back,' then mentions the mint job; Isaac seems to come to his senses and forcefully puts Fatio in his place; Spurned Fatio leaves; Isaac goes into some sort of paranoid spasm.

510 Bonaventure Rossignol to Eliza, March 1694

France is impoverished!

511 Eliza to Rossignol, March 1694

Adelaide (born Jan 1693); Lucien died; Juncto establishing new system; I'm going to Leipzig.

514 Eliza to Ponchartrain, March 1694

Eliza offers to sell loans to Ponchartrain.

516 Rossignol to Eliza, April 1694

Tells Eliza about Vrej; Rossignol and Ponchartrain forge a bogus reply to Vrej from his family in Paris; All correspondence between Vrej & his brothers has been filtered by de Gex; Cabal opened the Surat – Delhi road; Vrej is staying in India

521 Pretzsch, Saxony, April 1694

Sophie takes Eleanor and Caroline in; Eleanor marries Elector Johann Georg IV, moves to Dresden; Eliza meets Eleanor and Caroline at river dock.

525 Ponchartrain to Eliza, April 1694

To which charities do I donate when the money starts rolling in?

526 Eliza to Ponchartrain, May 1694

Money won't roll in until "obligations" are assigned to fruitful sources: Talk to Bart, privateers thrive as the rest of France despairs.

527 The Dower-house of Pretzsch, April and May 1694

Eliza, sick in bed, gets the long version of why Eleanor lives away from Johann; [Johann Georg is very stupid, as is his mistress von Roohlitz; Marries Eleanor anyway, spurns her, wants to marry von Roohlitz while still married to Eleanor; Tried to kill Eleanor, failed, so Eleanor left] • Johann Georg got word that Eliza was visiting Eleanor, so is himself coming. • Eliza gives Johann Georg and von Roohlitz a sex lesson...and gets herself impregnated. • Eliza has smallpox; Eleanor judges Eliza for intentionally infecting Johann Georg, Eliza calls bullshit.

534 Jean Bart to Eliza, May 1694

Lothar and Ponchartrain are hitting Jean Bart up for his privateering spoils, Jean Bart asks what he should do.

537 Leipzig, May 1694

In the carriage, from Pretzsch to Leipzig, Eliza advises little Caroline to be proactive in life's affairs; Eliza's smallpox on the wane, but leaves her pocked and smaller; Johann Georg and von Roohlitz succumb to pox. • Arrival at Leipzig, it seems so mall to Eliza compared to her memory of it [re KoV/QS p413]; Eliza and Caroline and crew visit Leibniz in a church; Trade has ceased in Leipzig [2/3] Eliza spots Flail-arm (from p405) as she arrives at House of Golden Mercury [re KoV/QS p 426] Jean Jacque appears, playing Indian, in courtyard; Lothar reads to Jean Jacques (he calls him Johann), who falls asleep; Eliza and Lothar square off re Jean Jacques/Johann: Lothar tells Eliza: "You won, I'm destroyed. All I have left is little Johann and my love for him. I will not give him up." (Insight into Enoch Root's longevity, p549) • Turns out that Flail-arm is Yevgeny, who attacks Lothar—on Jack's behalf—but is blocked by little Johann's arrow; Eliza says if you want to do something for Jack, go after de Gex; Yevgeny nearly destroys the bank removing the harpoon head from one of the bank's walls.

554 Eliza to Jean Bart, May 1694

Eliza tells Jean Bart to send his "privateerings" to Lothar in Dieppe. • Eliza seals letter & gives it to a rider.

Book 4: Bonanza, (chapter 5 of 9)

559 Southern Fringes of the Mogul Empire, Late 1696

A river is created, one bucketful at a time; Jack S: "We will inspect our potato." Potato R.I.P.; Enoch Root sampled saltpeter, wants to talk to Jack; Jack was awarded his kingdom (such as it is) for his victory at the Oxbow battle (p479) • Jimmy & Danny kick the shit out of Jack who is somehow able to subdue them. Jack explains his long quest. • Jack explains why he's tactically losing a few battles ('if I appear too dangerous they'd send assassins for me'); Teak wood is bug proof. • Villagers cut up teak logs. • Enoch and Carnaya in river; Magnets. • Peg Makers v. Plank Whittlers • Wood sculpture of multi-armed lady laying on beach (giant ship being built) [another reference to Enoch's longevity p577] Jack wants to borrow cannons from Enoch; Not borrowing, "entering into a relationship." • Caravan of Persians; Teacups, teakwood, bamboo; Armenians and Persians making steel; Steel eggs given clay shells; Wootz; Reticulated wootz. • Malabar queen has gold.

586 Malabar, Late 1696 and Early 1697

Travelling to Malabar; Exchange at city limits; Arrival in Malabar; Jack caught in crossfire; Blunt tipped arrows; Entering the queen's palace; They see Dappa's sword outside the queen's chamber; Arlanc and Moseh are in another apartment studying the ship; Goto tending a desert garden, draws on palm leaves; Jack and Enoch consider Goto's Japanese sword; Gabriel Goto's Story: My family have been samurai; Two clans: low-landers and mountain folk (my people) Baron's mint their own coin; Portuguese Jesuits bring guns; Goto's low-land cousins ally with Tokugawa, who wipe out Jesuits and Toyotomi in only forty years; Goto's father is a ronin who smuggled goods to Japan and Christians to Manila, and married a young Japanese woman; Grew up in Manila; Learned Malabar language; Met the Pope; Was captured by Corsairs and pressed into gallery slavery [Malabar Queen Kottakkal emerges – Dappa had been translating Goto's story for her—Queen's physical appearance; Queen tells why she allowed the Cabal to live, bids Enoch follow her as she strolls out] Gabriel tells Jack about monetary issues in Japan and Manila; Mitsui family founded a bank (all are still following the striding Queen) Edo [today known as Tokyo] has a million people now; Out on the Queens balcony; Don't ask the Queen where she got that mast; Russians will come from the north so Gabriel's samurai will move north to mine cooper; Japanese will get wootz from India; Gabriel groks the father-son bond after viewing the Sistine Chapel ceiling. • Masts pulled through town and celebrated; Jimmy & Danny Shaftoe work the Queen over; Jack gets a ride to Dalicot. • Unfinished, mastless ship arrives at Malabar from Dalicot; Van Hoek inspects the three masts, discovered coins embedded in bottom of mast. • While preparing to bring masts out, Jack ponders his ill-fated tryst with the Queen, who'd not been aware of his deformity; Queen flings neck rings to cut masts loose in river, challenges Jack to brave croc-infested waters to save them [3/4] Jack seems surprised to be the de facto leader of the Cabal [Really? After demanding they each swear loyalty to him back on page 232??] but with the Imp of the Perverse nowhere in sight Jack cannot dive in; Grabs chickens and rope to battle crocs; Climbs about the floating mast-raft & drift toward the Queen; Monster croc is battled by Jack & sons. • Jack wants to name the boat Eliza, Enoch talks him out of it...names it Minerva. (see Quicksilver)

Book 5: The Juncto, (chapter 5 of 8)

621 The Thames, February 1696

Roger Comstock and Daniel on ferry boat across Thames, discussing attempts on King William III's life; Mention of Charles White the ear-biter [whom we met back on p490]; England's continued financial crises; Daniel going to Massachusetts; Royal society declining; Isaac starts at the mint in May; Roger tells Daniel a jacht awaits at the Tower Wharf. • It's the Météore, Roger & Daniel inspect it. • William was going to give Météore to a queen, but she died, so he gave it to Eliza as a peace offering to the French; Daniel spies two Tories spying on the Météore from atop Salt Tower, spies back at them out a bathroom window. One is Charles White [bit Ellis's ear off back on p490] the other is some friend with gleaming ivory dentures.

630 Dunkirk, March 1696

Harbor is jammed but Jean Bart makes room for the Météore; Eliza and JJ/J board; Daniel sees that Eliza has matured since last he saw her; Eliza tells Daniel what happened to Father de Gex...In the Versailles gardens, Yevgeny harpooned him in the thigh, he caught an infection and died; Perhaps de Gex was killed in response to the assassination attempt on Wm III? Daniel tells Eliza he saw Upnor/Anglesey's brother Count Sheerness with Smith up on Salt Tower...when Upnor died, Sheerness inherited Abigail (tells Eliza of his pact with Bob Shaftoe); Daniel shows off Whig (Bank of England) and Tory (Land Bank) notes...the Tories are ascendant so their money is worth more at the moment; Eliza explains derivatives to Daniel.

637 An Abandoned Church in France, March 1696

De Gex awakens in a coffin, tells d'Oyonnax everything about Jack, Eliza, the Juncto, Rossignol, etc. De Gex wants everyone to think he's dead; D'Oyonnax sets de Gex up with a new identity (Edmund de Ath, a Jansenist) but patently refuses to tell him how she brought him back to life.

642 Winter Quarters of the King's Own Black Torrent Guards Near Namur, March 1696

Col. Barnes has a letter for Bob Shaftoe from Eliza; Jimmy & Danny are AWOL; Barnes: "The war's over, Jimmy & Danny were smart enough to anticipate this." Eliza says Abigail is nearby; Barnes: "Shaftoe! What better training exercise for the Black Torrent Guards than to get you a wife!"

646 The Track to Pretzsch, April 1696

Eleanor is gravely ill; Daniel and Leibniz will escort Caroline to Berlin and are heading to Pretzsch to get her; Nobles aren't really into scientists. • Three carriages heading to see Sophie Charlotte; Young Caroline peppers Daniel with questions (his Massachusetts work, money, alchemy, and especially monad theory v. atomic theory); the nature of gravitation; Daniel tells of his Logic Mill.

657 A House Overlooking the Meuse Valley, April 1696

Barnes chats with Sheerness's head of security at the main gate (Black Torrent Guards have taken Sheerness's house) tells him that they will be taking the Englishwoman. • Bob breaks into the attic where the maids are hiding, asks for Abigail, and she passes out. [Who wouldn't after eleven years? Captured at age 16 in 1665 and sold by Jeffries to Upnor (Quicksilver p700); Bob tried, in 1670, to recapture her but was confronted by Upnor at the bridge, back on p151.] • Recapping Bob & Abigail's intermittent history; A proposal, hastily made and hastily accepted. • Quick wedding on the lawn, everyone's crying tears of joy; Barnes dismissed the Black Torrent Guards into the countryside; Bob & Abigail, riding one of Sheerness's white horses, follow Barnes west.

665 Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover, August 1697

Electress Sophie struts atop a long table wearing a ball gown, swinging a rapier at a bat that has gotten in, and demanding that Leibniz tell her about her daughter Sophie Charlotte; Leibniz outlines Eliza's children, interests and location for Sophie; Sophie wants to meet Eliza; They compare Bernoulli & Fatio's calculus notation to Newton's. ("The same Fatio that rescued Wm. of Orange?" "The same.") [Odalisque, Dec. 1687; QS p750] They discuss "symbology," (sorry, could not resist)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG_OezlTZ1A

and a decimal Library Card Catalog system' Sophie kills the bat as her son Georg Ludwig enters with news that Tsar Peter the Great and Sophie Charlotte have arrived; Leibniz can't get his bat-gut-smeared rapier scabbarded quickly enough and Peter's guards draw on him; Peter stays his guards, and recognizing Leibniz as the one who gave Sophie Charlotte the mammoth's molar. Peter appears ready to help Leibniz financially.

Book 4: Bonanza, (chapter 6 of 9)

679 Japan, May 1700

Minerva drops anchor with all cannons run out; Gabriel Goto is home at last; Jack isn't even halfway; To Jack's surprise, it appears there are no demons or phantoms in Japan, just piers, boats and people like everywhere else; Jack explains the naming of Eliza Peak on Queena-Kootah; Dappa warns of the danger of dropping anchor in Japan illegally [They're on some western shore of Honshu, perhaps near Niigata.] Three Japanese in ornate kimonos approach the Minerva in a longboat; Minerva's crew experiences cold for the first time; Goto prepares to leave Minerva, presents kitana to Jack; Jack proclaims: "We are a cabal no longer; What began at the banyolar in Algiers [p24] has dissolved here." Van Hoek gives wootz eggs to samurai; Enoch disembarks to test the Japanese mercury; Many goods are transferred between Minerva and the Japanese; Enoch spots the reinforcing harbor wave frequency as a trap; offers an elegant solution. • Mercury flasks are topped off; The Japanese realize their trap failed and attack Minerva, who deftly repels the attack. Dutch ship draws alongside Minerva; Enoch prepares to disembark for good by telling Jack about the gold at the Solomon Islands, and why everyone is pissed at Jack for stealing the Bonanza gold. [Another reference to Enoch's longevity.] • Mariners can discern latitude but not longitude; Typhoon near Formosa blows Minerva southeast; She later heads west to pass north of the Philippines, then south to Corregidor; At Cavite castle, Moseh, Surendranath, Jimmy and Danny row out to Minerva; Jack considers Manila; Minerva creeps past a Cavite shipyard, where a monstrous ship is being built; Jimmy and Danny tell Jack how Moseh made a deal with the Spaniards; Van Hoek assembles all Minerva's hands on deck, tells some "I'll see some of you in a month, some of you never again;" As a storm brews and St. Elmo's Fire appears, van Hoek points to the shipyard and tells of the huge ship's mission: as the Manila Galleon she'll make the incredibly lucrative but lengthy and treacherous Manila-Acapulco run.

Book 5: The Juncto, (chapter 6 of 8)

707 Berlin, January 1700

Leibniz, in Berlin, writes to Daniel in Massachusetts; I'm president of Berlin Academy; (update on the Newton Calculus debate) Eliza is a stately duchess now and I don't hear from her as much; She's still quite opposed to slavery; The prince of Bavaria died, Roman Emperor's son Charles will be King of Spain...and Louis XIV wants Spain in the worst way; Berlin was absorbed by Prussia, so I now work for Tsar Peter; (Details of Leibniz's Logic Mill) Peter is fearsome, but a huge supporter of science.

Book 4: Bonanza, (chapter 7 of 9)

715 The Pacific Ocean, Late 1700 and Early 1701

Three-day layover in Marian(a) Islands; Manila Galleon is a heavy ship, turned south, the east through the Philippines; Minerva waits two weeks after Galleon sets sail then heads north then east around Luzon, then south and waits for Padraig to signal that Galleon has finally cleared the Philippines. When he signals, Minerva heads due east for 1500 miles...it's important that Minerva and the Galleon are never seen together; Minerva trails the Galleon north, looking for the easterly trade winds, encounters severe weather, is quite "taken a-back" amid mountainous waves; Minerva fights the storm for two days straight, exhausting the crew; Minerva wanders east for most of October, and the crew begins seeing mirages of the Galleon, and she seems to have weathered the weather in fine shape...though it's not long before a fire breaks out. Minerva's crew wants to go help, but van Hoek knows better: "We wait for the magazine;" And they do, and sift through the wreckage afterward. • Arlanc talks to Edmond de Ath [p640] the sole survivor of the Galleon disaster; de Ath impresses Minerva's officers with his religious diplomacy; Dappa finally asks de Ath about the disaster and de Ath tells the tale; Galleon's captain had told of his ship's conspiracy with the Minerva for Acapulco profit-sharing; Elizabeth de Obregon also survived. • As Arlanc & Jack cop a squat, Arlanc tells Jack doesn't trust de Ath, and explains about de Ath's & Obregon's Solomon Islands voyage; • Arlanc dies, Minerva drops anchor in San Francisco bay. • Minerva crew "eats up California"; Jack overhears Obregon & de Ath; At dinner, Moseh and Obregon discuss his trips to the Solomon Islands. • Minerva departs SF Bay; Vrej reminds others of his worldwide Armenian network; Jack, Moseh, Vrej & Dappa each decide what he'll do when they reach Acapulco (Moseh, Jack & Jack's sons are staying on land, Vrej & Dappa continuing on the Minerva) • Minerva loops around Three Marys islands and stops over in Navidad; Obregon & de Ath meet often and alone; Minerva crew tries to fool Obregon & de Ath about the Quicksilver on board; Obregon & de Ath's letters to mainland authorities will dictate how Minerva's officers will be received in Acapulco; Spain has a new King; Castellan of Acapulco sends boat out to Minerva fro Obregon & de Ath; Minerva continues down the coast to Port Marques. • Moseh meets up with some refuse slaves from Jamaica who, along with zillions of others, came to Acapulco in anticipation of the Manila Galleon's arrival; van Hoek refuses to get cozy at Port Marques, waiting for Mexico City's response to Obregon & de Ath; Jack's too old to party, but can fake it to get info (Jimmy & Danny don't need to fake it); The Viceroy wants the mercury, but only a Catholic can bring it to him: de Ath gets the job.

Book 5: The Juncto, (chapter 7 of 8)

749 Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin, July 1701

At Caroline's 18^th birthday party, Leibniz's present is revealed in the library: an Enormous wire globe, into which Caroline promptly climbs; Leibniz's overarching fear; Austrian Jesuit von Mixnit initiates a philosophical/religious debate with Caroline; Caroline wonders where she'll end up, with George in England or Frederick in Prussia.

Book 4: Bonanza, (chapter 8 of 9)

759 Mexico City, New Spain, Sukkoth 1701 [Sunday October 16 – Sunday October 23, 1701]

(Inquisition got Moseh, Jack & de Ath, but not Danny & Jimmy) Jack & Moseh eat dinner with prison warden and wife; Jack's gold & ivory dentures are lost; Salamon Ruiz takes a wife; After dinner walk...how many times around the town square? Jack hears de Ath being tortured. • Moseh & Jack "press" de Ath about what the Inquisitors want; "Obregon was in shock for a long time, when she came around, I was the first one she saw; she ratted me out;" de Ath urges Jack & Moseh not to crack under torture: "Madrid is already partially enlightened, Mexico is run from Madrid, Fonseca won't push us too hard here. • In the prison courtyard Jack puts his ear to the ground and hears coins being minted outside the walls; An auto da fé is scheduled for two months from now; Jack & de Ath's torture is detailed, but Moseh gets off light since he has money.

772 Mexico City, December 1701

Everyone turns out for an auto da fé, it's an all day event; Jack, Moseh & de Ath are wearing rd-X dunce hats but they have the mercury and thus control currency flow; Jack spots Jimmy, Danny, Tomba, and Obregon in the crowd (de Ath seems to be trying to communicate with Obregon); The six (Jack, Moseh, Tomba, Jimmy, Danny & de Ath) skip town; Moseh notes the new century of Enlightenment. • The six ride north, through and around villages and towns; Jimmy & Danny have been working the quicksilver market while dad was in prison; Moseh announces his intention to cash out so he can lead a band of "crypto-Jews" north into New Mexico. • de Ath will head to New Vera Cruz [see p38] and await the arrival of the Minerva. • The remaining four leave Zacatecas to fetch the cache of quicksilver—and van Hoek's books—from Cabo Corrientes an return to Zacatecas; Jack receives a letter he can't read, stashes it in with van Hoek's books; Disparate caches are leapfrogged in the general direction of Vera Cruz. • When Minerva reaches Vera Cruz, Jack, Danny, Jimmy & Tomba reunite with van Hoek, Vrej & Dappa; They want to leave shortly after a Spanish Treasure fleet heads to Spain so pirates won't mess with Minerva. • Silver pigs and mercury ar corralled from caches and loaded aboard the Minerva. • They read the letter a month after departing Vera Cruz...it was from Eliza! She has heard of Jack's travels and travails, and wants the Minerva to pick up a Mr. James Hh in Londonderry who can pilot the Minerva through Qwghlm's treacherous rocks, so they can visit her at Qwghlm Castle. Van Hoek suggests London, so a sort of vote is taken and Qwghlm wins, but van Hoek doesn't like it.

Henceforth the two novels' storylines are no longer merely interleaved....

788 Qwghlm, August 1702

Mr. Hh runs the Minerva aground at Qwghlm and the French Navy surrounds them – a complete setup; Van Hoek self-mutilates again [p233]; Dappa goes after Vrej, who draws on Dappa then jumps overboard; Jimmy and Danny are raring to fight, but Jack stays them: "This is not to be another Cairo." • Jack is imprisoned in Qwghlm castle; Minerva is unloaded; De Ath is de Gex of course, and he tells jack that the original letter was from Obregon, de Ath/Gex wrote and planted the fake, with crucial aid from Vrej; Obregon's letter tells what actually happened on the Manila Galleon. • As the Minerva is part-owned by Electress Sophie, the ship and crew are spared by the French; Jack asks de Gex about his acting in the Mexico City prison; de Gex asks Jack about the gold he stole from the Viceroy at Cadiz/Bonanza/Barrameda: "Queen Kottakkal stole it from us at Malabar." Jack and de Gex watch the Minerva close-haul and get out of dodge. How can she be so fast with all those barnacles, and how so stable with no cargo? Why, her hull is plated with a certain heavy, barnacle-proof metal, of course. • Eliza arrives on the Météore; Jack is strapped to a portcullis gridiron and positioned behind mirrors in Eliza's bedchamber; Etienne confronts Jack, telling him how Vrej was duped into thinking Jack had betrayed his family, so Vrej would help de Ath/Gex trap the Minerva; In the bedchamber Etienne slaps Eliza around and essentially rapes her while smirking at Jack through the mirrors; That this behavior was, for Eliza, routine to the point of near-boredom, made the scene not especially torturous for Jack as Etienne had clearly intended; After a month of imprisonment, Jack is taken to LeHavre.

Book 5: The Juncto, (chapter 8 of 8)

805 Hotel Arcachon, October 1702

Jack revisits Arcachon Ballroom, this time alone, with King Louis XIV; Louis wants Jack to work with de Gex to crush the English mint; Vrej, Eliza and Etienne enter; Louix tells Vrej and Jack to let bygones be bygones and shake, and they do, but Vrej has something, literally, up his sleeve, and suddenly avenges his family before Louis's eyes, then turns the gun on himself. • That Jack might be less distracted on his new monetary mission for France, Louis makes Eliza swear to avoid Jack permanently; Louis to Jack: "Now take your time, do it right, and Eliza and her kids will be well taken care of."

Book 4: Bonanza, (chapter 9 of 9)

813 En Route From Paris To London, October 1702

Jack rides a specially chartered brig to London—first time he's been home in...decades?—the brig which turns up the Thames and cruises right over his boyhood stomping grounds [KoV p1] spends hours creeping through river traffic and finally drops anchor right in front of Traitor's Gate; Jack sees a white-haired man atop the tower: "The game has begun Mr Newton, and may the best man win!"

28NOV10
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