The Captain, having only myself and Lieutenant Beasley as officers, decided to let the three keep their warrants. I think he was wise.
So that is how you did it. You got the three most respected sailors on the ship to subscribe to your scheme, and the rest of the crew followed along. That, and appealing to a sailor's natural greed for prizes. A remarkable achievement, Jacky, even for you and your cunning ways, I must say.
And, of course, the younger midshipmen would have fallen immediately under your spell—they are afraid of me, as the new Senior Midshipman, but they still will get on their hind legs and bristle at me if a word is spoken against your name.
Which brings me back to the matter of Mister Cock Robin.
The moment the Captain left the deck on other business, Raeburne and I did not lose a moment in expressing our mutual loathing for each other. We came up nose to nose and I cursed him to hell for defiling you with his touch, and he said he did a good deal more than touch you, and I roared out that I was going to kill him where he stood. And we drew our swords and were well into it, each intending to do nothing less than kill the other and to hell with the consequences, when the Captain came upon us and ordered us to stop or, by God, he'd hang us both.
Captain Trumbull, seeing how things stood between us and desiring to make an impression on the crew, directed a bo'sun's chair to be rigged up to a boom on the port side of the ship. He ordered Mr. Raeburne stripped down and placed in it, securely tied. He has him swung outboard and then asks me if I would do the honors.
With pleasure, I say with clenched teeth.
"Down!" I order, and down, Jacky, down goes your dear midshipman to disappear under the icy water. And I'm thinking, with no small degree of satisfaction, "That'll cool your ardor, Mister Cocksure Lusty Bastard Raeburne." I count to six and yell, "Up!"
He comes out of the water with his hair plastered over his face but with his eyes staring right at me. "You're a poor excuse for a man, Fletcher, leaving..."
"Down!" I yell, and down he goes again. I wait longer this time before shouting, "Up!"
"...her to fend for herself alone in this world!" The water streams off him and he is turning a shade of blue that gives me a grim sort of pleasure.
"Down!" The nerve of the son of a bitch! Count often for you this time. I wait the count often. A slow count often. "Up!"
He takes a great gulp of air and finds my eyes again and smiles a knowing, insinuating smile. "I was that close to having her, Fletcher, closer than you've ever been, closer than you ever will..."
"Down!" Damn you to hell! You'll stay down there forever, you miserable...
"Up," says the Captain, ending the game. "We don't want to actually drown him, Mr. Fletcher. I'm sure he is quite chastened and will not again challenge your authority as Senior Midshipman."
Raeburne comes up out of the water and is pulled over on the deck and his bonds are loosed and his body sprawls across the deck, seawater spewing out of his nose and mouth. Unbidden, Midshipmen Wheeler and Barrows collect him and haul him down to the berth. As they go, they fix me with looks of the purest hatred. I do not care. They can all go to Hell.
I stood on the deck for a long while and I felt my fury slowly fade. I began to think more clearly, and the more I thought, the more I was ashamed of my actions, or inactions, both then and in the past.
Raeburne was right. I am a poor excuse for a man. I should have gone back and gotten you as I said I would. I cannot blame the Service—when the Dolphin was broken up, I could have postponed being reassigned to another ship and gone back and gotten you. I had enough money. I could have done it. But I didn't. I thought it would be best for both of us if I were to assume my new post—and now I have lost the thing dearest to me in the world. Now I have nothing.
I went to my new cabin and got a bottle of brandy I had brought with me when I came aboard this ship and I went down into the midshipmen's berth. Mr. Raeburne was seated shivering in a chair, wrapped in a blanket, with Wheeler and Barrows and Piggott about him plying him with hot coffee. All turned and looked daggers at me.
"You three. Out," I said. They didn't move. "Do not worry. I have come to apologize to Mr. Raeburne for my conduct," and I bowed to Raeburne when I said that.
The three boys looked to him and he nodded and they left. I placed the bottle on the table and looked about for glasses.
"In that cabinet," he said, still looking wary. I got the glasses and put them on the table and then sat down across from him. I poured a good portion of the liquor in each.
"Come, have some brandy with me. It will warm you." hie didn't move. "I do beg your pardon for my behavior. It was inexcusable. You were right in all your accusations. Now have a drink." I raised my glass to him and then knocked it back.
He reached for his glass and lifted it.
"She is gone and we two have to get along," I said as he drank it down.
One-third of the way through the bottle, I tell him fondly about our days on the Dolphin. Halfway through it, he tells me everything of the events of that night when Captain Scroggs called you, dear Jacky, to his cabin. Everything ... in both your own cabin and that of the fiend ... Poor girl, to be faced with such a horror—although I am no longer in your heart and have no right to an opinion as to your virtue, I do see the wisdom of your actions of that evening and rejoice in the fact that you emerged unscathed. Three-quarters of the way through the bottle, I draw out an account of Robin's heroic actions in your defense, and, when we find the bottom, we are as brothers.
Today I sit here with quill poised above this paper and think: What would you and I be doing now, right now, if we had gone off together in Kingston that time and not gone back on the Dolphin? Probably raising crops of sugarcane and little fat babies.
Idle thoughts. Worthless, idle thoughts ... I wonder even if you will get this letter...
Jaimy
Chapter 26
That night, after I had knocked on the door of Liam Delaney's cottage and was reluctantly admitted, I said, "My name is Jacky Faber and—"
The woman who had let me in crossed her arms and looked at me standing there dripping on her floor. "I have heard Liam speak of you," she said with deep suspicion in her voice. "Mairead, go get your father." A girl of about fourteen, maybe fifteen, with curly hair the same shade of deep red as her mother's, looked me over with open astonishment and then whirled and left the room.
The room had a hard-packed earth floor, with a large, rough table in the center, exposed roof beams low overhead, and a fireplace on the other wall. It also had in it a number of children, ranging in age from about five to twelve, both boys and girls, all with big eyes and all trained on me. I could see from their clothing and the scant portions of potatoes set out for the little ones that things were not going well for them.
I dropped the saddlebags on the floor, pulled back my hood, and wiped off the drop of water that was hanging on the end of my nose. I was neither invited to take off my cloak nor to sit down, so I just stood there.
"Liam is just in from the fields. He is cleaning up. I am his wife. My name is Moira," she finally said.
I took the sides of my cloak and I dipped down into a deep curtsy. "I am very honored to meet you, Missus Delaney," I said, and as I came back up, Liam came into the room. Oh, Liam...
I had not expected to choke up upon seeing him, but I did. Tears poured out as I cried out, "Father" to the man who had looked out for me back on the Dolphin, he who was my sea dad, he who taught me the ways of a sailor, who took care of me when I had been beaten senseless, and, finally and most important, he was the one who pumped air back into my chest and started me breathing again after I had been hanged. "Oh, Liam," I cried as I stretched out my arms.
"Jacky! Is it really you?" he asked as he wrapped me in the bear hug of his embrace and I put my head on his shoulder and wept there for a moment. "You could not be more welcome! Here, here, take off your cloak! Moira! Set a place for her!"
The girl Mairead had come back into the room with her father and a young lad of about sixteen years, he having the same red hair as hers.
I stepped back from Liam and unfastened my cloak and took it off and handed it to Moira, who didn't look much like she enjoyed taking it, nor was she overjoyed at setting a place for me.
Then hearing a gasp from both Moira and Mairead, I looked down at myself.
In my excitement at seeing Liam again, I had forgotten all about my pistols. They were held, as usual, in the leather belts that cross over the chest of my blue and gold lieutenant's jacket.
Ooops...
"I'm sorry, but I was coming alone and I didn't know what to expect...," I said by way of explanation for the guns. I didn't know how to explain away the fact that I was wearing boots and trousers, which are now quite speckled with mud, so I didn't try. The boy looked just as astounded as his sister.
I came right out with it. "Liam. I've got license to be a privateer. I have a fine ship and I want you to be Captain of her!"
Before any could reply, I reached down and picked up the saddlebags. "I hope you don't mind that I brought some food and drink along. Perhaps we could speak of this over something to eat. Maybe some sweets for the children?"
I began bringing the things out of the bags—fresh loaves of bread, butter, cheeses, sausages, a roast beef, cakes, puddings, sweets, and several bottles of the finest wine. The wonder on their faces over my words about the ship was replaced by wonder over the food. When Higgins was putting this feast together I told him not to spare the expense for I wanted to make it as grand as possible because I wanted my mission to succeed.
It did.
The last thing I pulled out of the basket was a small leather bag that clinked when I tossed it on the table in front of Liam. "An advance on your pay as commander of the Emerald, Captain Delaney."
I think that's what really did it for Liam. The name, that is, more than the gold.
It was decided that Liam would be Master and I would be Owner. He would have all the authority of a Captain, his word being law in matters of discipline, operation, and safety of the ship, while I would direct where the ship went and what it did. I told them of my time on the Wolverine and the easy pickings to be got by nailing those smugglers that had gotten through the blockade—Money, Liam, real money! And it's patriotic to boot! We'll be doing our bit by disrupting the enemy's shipping, upsetting his commerce, like. This chance won't come again! That blockade won't be there forever! Moira wrung her hands and protested, but it did no good—The potato crop is failing, Moira. My brother John has no land and he can farm this place and bring in what he can from it.
Liam will pick the crew but the seamen would have to know that I would be aboard and am an eccentric—pants and swords and all—and then Liam's son, whose name is Padraic, spoke up and begged to be part of the crew, and this got Moira really wailing, and I say, It ain't like they'll be going off for years, Missus, we'd be back every few months or so. And an angry Mairead pipes up with Well, if he's goin', why can't I? It doesn't take much to see that the girl is sick to death of changing dirty nappies and is sick of waiting around to be married off so she can have a batch of babies of her own and so can change even more dirty diapers. She was told to hush and to leave the room. She ran off in a huff, but was soon back.