“Yes, Ezra, I left three bars of gold in a little underwater cave off Key West just in case I might need them some day. Looks like that day has come, so I shall go down and get it. There’s a little brass-bound chest down there as well, which I believe is filled with coins and jewels.”
“Who knows about this?”
“Only Joannie Nichols. I stashed the stuff with her floating by my side. I have told her to pack her swimming stuff, and she is ecstatic, of course, but she does know how to keep her mouth shut.”
“But what of . . .”
“I will only be taking those of my crew who were in on the original plot. Davy and Tink, of course, and Joannie. I’d take Higgins, too, but he is not here, worse luck, as I miss him so. They all knew of the details. Jemimah figured everything out, so she’s coming, too. Jim Tanner and Daniel Prescott were not privy to everything, except to the fact they were well rewarded when we got back. John Thomas and Finn McGee were delighted with their sudden good fortune, which they, of course, blew away in no time, in true sailor-ashore fashion. And there’s you, too, dear Ezra, who will have to handle the disposition of what will soon be coming into the coffers of Faber Shipping Worldwide.”
“Hmmm . . . well, that can be arranged. Do be careful, Miss.”
“I will be careful, Ezra. Just a simple run to New Orleans, drop off the girls, cruise down to Key West, harvest some sponges for cover, pick up the remaining treasure, back to New Orleans to pick up the new crop of girls, and then back to good old Boston. What could be simpler?”
“In regard to you, Miss Faber, ‘simple’ is a word I seldom use.”
“Oh, don’t worry, Ezra, everything will be fine, a simple little cruise down the coast, not bothering anybody.”
In a minute we’ll haul in the gangway and be off and—
There is a clatter of hooves on the wharf and I look over to see . . . Clarissa?
It is indeed she, mounted on her horse, Jupiter, clad in an elegant red riding habit, and looking not at all happy.
“Clarissa!” I call. “Whatever is the matter?”
“Daddy is being just horrid about the marriage thing and I will not have it! He has sent men after me! They mean to take me back to our plantation! You must hide me!” She leaps off the horse and tosses the reins to Annie, who catches them and stands there astounded.
I go to the rail. “Why don’t you go stay with Lissette?”
“That is the first place they would look,” she says, steaming.
“How about the school? Mistress would protect you.”
“Not from my father, she wouldn’t.”
“Hmm . . . Well, you could stay in my digs at the Pig and Whistle, but . . . Boston is a small city and it wouldn’t take long for them to find you.”
“Damn, damn, damn, and damn!” she shouts, a small but undeniably elegant bundle of inchoate rage.
Hmmm . . . I’m thinking to myself, as the evil wells up in me, my old tormentor standing before me in need of my help . . . There is another possibility, sweet sister of my soul . . .
“We are leaving for New Orleans within the next few minutes and you are welcome to go with us . . . if you have the fare as a passenger. The cost is one hundred dollars, round trip.”
“I don’t have any money!” she snarls, looking back over her shoulder. I, too, hear the unmistakable sound of approaching horsemen.
“You should learn to carry some with you, dear, as it sometimes comes in handy when dealing with the common folk,” I say, smiling wickedly. “However, you could sign on as crew, and even be paid for your labor as you escape your pursuers.”
“How so?” she asks, mystified.
“You could come aboard as Second Cook’s Helper, under Mrs. Jemimah Moses. Five dollars a week, room and board. What do you say?”
I cross my arms and wait for her reply.
She gazes up at me with a look of pure hatred, but then says, “All right, but I will get you for this.”
“Very well, Seaman Recruit Howe, you may come aboard,” I say grandly. “First Cook’s Helper Ordinary Seaman Joannie Nichols here will show you to your berth and acquaint you with your duties.”
Clarissa storms up the gangway to be greeted by a grinning Joannie.
“This way, milady,” says Joannie, doing a mock curtsy and leading the way below.
I go back to my usual station on the quarterdeck and call out, “Bring in the gangway, throw off all lines, and set sail for the South!”
There is a cheer from my crew, but not, I suspect, from Clarissa.
Oh, I exult, this is going to be a fine, fine cruise!
PART II
Chapter 10
We slip down the East Coast of the United States, and so far it is an easy voyage—the weather is mild and we have a fair breeze behind us. Everything is calm . . . except for Clarissa Worthington Howe . . . of the Virginia Howes.
“I will not peel potatoes!” she announces when we are not far out and preparations are being made for the noon meal. “Least of all for a nigra cook! The very idea!”
We are out on the main deck, nose to nose.
“Oh, yes, you will, Clarissa,” I snarl. “Everyone works when we are underway. If a sailor will not work, he is put off. If you will not work, I will put you off, as well.”
She looks over the rail at the water rushing by and says, a bit nervously, “You wouldn’t dare . . .”
“Make you walk the plank? No, my dear, though the thought of your well-born blond head sinking beneath the waves is an image most charming to my mind right now,” I say, grinning through my bared teeth. “But, no. What I will do is go into the next port and have you rowed in and put ashore. I will give you enough money for overland passage back to Virginia or Boston, or wherever else you want to go. As the Captain of this ship, by the Law of the Sea, I am the absolute ruler of this vessel and all on it. If I were to give the order, Seaman Thomas here would bind you to that mast there, bare your back, and give you an even dozen of the cat-o’-nine-tails’ loving touch! Is that not true, John Thomas?”
“That’s right, Cap’n,” answers the grinning sailor, hugely enjoying this little exchange, as are the rest of the people on the deck—my crew and many of Mrs. Bodeen’s girls who are out taking the fresh sea air. “And the claws of the Cat are sharp, believe you me. I have her stripes on me back to prove it. You want me to lash her up now, Skipper?”
Much hoots and laughter are heard all about on that. Clarissa stands there steaming and saying nothing, plainly remembering the whipping I took tied bare-back to the mast of the Bloodhound. She merely drills me with her furious gaze. Strange, I think, standing there, facing her down, how those cold blue eyes can sometimes look so hot.
“But I would never do that to you, Clarissa, my dear Sister, for I do love and admire you, in some sort of twisted way,” I say, thrusting a bundle of clothes to her. “Here. Take these and put them on. You will find this gear much more comfortable than that riding habit you are wearing. Things will get more and more warm as we head south.”
She glares at me, ignoring the bundle. It is my old Powder Monkey outfit from my days as a convict on the Lorelei Lee—blousy white cotton top above, loose white trousers below. I believe it will serve her well here.
“Give it up, Sister, and you shall find it to your benefit. Yes, we work hard here on the Nancy B., but we also have fun. Lots of fun. Keep that in mind. Now go below and tend to your duties, as we attend to ours.”
She glares, she fumes, she smokes, she burns, but she does finally snatch the clothes from my hand and go below to change and, yes, to peel potatoes.
Later, when I go down into the mess deck to see how things are going with the cargo, where some are seasick and in their bunks, but most are all right, I spy Jemimah cooking at her stove, and seated around her are Daniel, Joannie, and Clarissa Worthington Howe, all heads down and peeling away, while Jemimah’s deep voice is intoning . . . and by’n’by, Brother Fox comes by the pond lookin’ for somethin’ to eat, him bein’ powerful hungry, when he sees Brother Bullfrog sittin’ on a lily pad . . .
Ah, yes, it is so good to be back at sea and on the Nancy B.
Chapter 11
James Emerson Fletcher
State Street
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
June 20, 1809
Charles Chen
House of Chen
Rangoon, Burma
Honorable Chen,
I am pleased to report that I have arrived in Boston, and, as instructed, am making inquiries into proper quarters for setting up your trading company, HOC Oriental Shipping.
I know you will be as pleased as I was to learn that our mutual friend Jacky Faber has recently arrived on these shores, in apparently good health and spirits. My joy at learning this was tempered somewhat by the news that she had recently departed on a voyage to deliver passengers of a particular nature to New Orleans in Louisiana, USA. However, I was cheered by the fact that it is not an especially long journey and she will be back in several weeks.
I find that she has been throwing money around at an amazing rate, spending like the sailor she is. Faber Shipping Worldwide has recently acquired the Pig and Whistle Publick House & Inn, new corporate offices on State Street, and the Emerald Playhouse, a large theater that was formerly a barn. I begin to strongly suspect that some of the charges against her for misappropriation of the King’s gold might not be totally false. Oh well, we have both suffered enough to make up for any lapses in her judgment.
I attempted to rent a room at the Pig and Whistle so as to be there when she returned, but was disappointed to find that . . . “All the rooms are let, Sir, sorry . . . but there is one down at Faber Shipping headquarters on State Street, very nice, very comfortable, with a good view of the harbor. Only two dollars a night, dinners here at the Pig included. Oh, good, Sir. Ravi here will show you to your quarters.”
I recognized Maudie the barkeep from my visit here before, when the girls of the Lawson Peabody were kidnapped and headed for a life of slavery in North Africa. She did not recognize me in my disguise, hunchbacked with eye patch and hooded cloak, leaning on a stick, but the little boy Ravi gazed at me with a certain penetrating interest, his big black eyes looking me over, top to bottom. I had met him very briefly on the Lorelei Lee back there off Australia, so he should not remember me, but still, he is a very bright little lad, so I do not know . . . He ushered me into my new billet with great politeness . . . “We have great hopes you will enjoy your stay, Sahib. Clean linen and much good food at the Piggy and Whistle, you bet. Anything you need, you come see Ravi and he fix.”
I found out from Ravi that Jacky has established an art studio across the hall from me. That shall prove interesting in the future, as she was always good at that sort of thing and I am most curious as to what she has come up with lately.
Tomorrow I shall seek out a lawyer to set up your corporation. I would like to engage Ezra Pickering, as I know him to be a fine man, but I fear there would be a conflict of interests there, as he is the Clerk of Faber Shipping Worldwide. I have heard that Malcolm Mudgeon enjoys a good reputation, and I shall seek him out.