The Captain's Lady Page 40

  Peach wiped his tears. “I’m all right. I don’t want to leave her. I want to be here in case she…” He could not finish and his body shuddered with sobs he held back.

  “She won’t die, you know.” Cloud’s fingers gripped the boy’s shoulders tightly. “She won’t.” He said the words so firmly he found himself believing them. “Let’s go. I have something to tell you. It’s the reason I know she won’t give up.”

  Peach nodded and followed Cloud out of the cabin. He stole one last look at Peters working diligently at sewing Alexis’s wound; then he shut the door. When they reached the deck, their pale faces unwittingly confirmed the crewmen’s worst thoughts.

  Cloud spoke to ease their fears. “She’s still alive,” he told them. “Peters is stitching her now. Mr. Jordan, can I talk to you?” When Jordan joined him Cloud asked Peach to wait for him on the far side of the deck.

  “How is she really?” asked Jordan when they were alone.

  “It’s not good. Peters says she’s lost a lot of blood. She should have told you she was hurt.”

  Jordan sighed. “She would never have gone below during the battle. Redland suspected she was injured and was told to keep quiet. I can only guess why she waited so long. The last thing she did was make me promise that we would still go after Travers. She wanted to be certain that would be taken care of before she—before she went below.”

  “Jesus. ” All color drained from Cloud’s face as he listened to Jordan. Would Alexis not fight as hard if she thought her men would carry out her vow?

  Jordan was about to comment on the unspoken thought when a voice above them arrested their attention.

  “It’s the Raleigh!” Randall called down. “She’s heading for us! Off the starboard bow!”

  “Damn! What next?” Jordan muttered as he raced for the starboard rail.

  He lifted the scope and examined the ship, still a small blur in the distance. He did not doubt the authority of the voice above him. Randall not only had an uncanny ability for recognizing the enemy, he was also the only man ever to guess Alex Danty was a woman before the unveiling. Jordan passed the instrument to Cloud.

  “Randall’s right,” said Cloud.

  “We’ll have to fight.” Jordan grimaced.

  “No.” Cloud’s objection burst forth before he realized he had no right to voice one. “I’m sorry, Mr. Jordan. But we can’t fight. The ship can stand it and if we repeated our earlier strategy we might even win, but the captain won’t be able to survive the shock of a battle. We’ve got to find another way. Outrun her if we have to.”

  “That frigate? This ship has suffered some damage. We’re not at top speed. We’re still fast but—”

  “But nothing. Something can be done.”

  “I can’t.”

  “I can.”

  Jordan laughed admiringly. “A ship has never been so easily taken over before! Men! Follow Captain Cloud’s orders! He says we can avoid a battle and by God, I think he’s right!”

  There were no objections to the sudden change in command. Cloud threw a grateful look at Jordan. “See to Alex. Stay with her until we’re safe.”

  “You’ll need someone to relay orders,” he objected.

  “I’ll use Peach,” replied Cloud. “Go to her. And Mr. Jordan, if she comes around, take back your promise.” He smiled. “And tell her I love her.”

  “Tell her yourself. She’ll be around to listen.”

  Cloud nodded and took his place at the wheel. He called to Peach. “Station yourself partway down the deck. Listen to every order I give and repeat it at the top of your lungs. Can you do that?”

  “Aye, Captain,” he answered. He started forward but paused in midstride. He turned back to Cloud. “I didn’t mean what I said before. About it being your fault.”

  “Yes, you did. You didn’t say anything I wasn’t thinking. It’s not important now.”

  Peach had no reply. He went to his station and braced himself against the rail as the ship turned sharply under Cloud’s skilled hands.

  When the ship lurched Jordan found himself flung against the wall in the companionway. He could hear Peters cursing inside Alexis’s cabin and he hurried along to ease the man’s anger.

  “What the hell’s going on up there?” Peters demanded after Jordan entered.

  “It’s the Raleigh. She’s coming after us,” he explained. He examined Alexis, who for all appearances, might have only been sleeping. “How is she?”

  “Weak. Did Tanner tell you I don’t think she’ll make it?”

  “He told me. Is there anything I can do?”

  “Tell me what you’re doing down here if there’s a ship on our heels.”

  “Starboard bow,” Jordan corrected him. “I wanted to fight.”

  “God! That would surely kill her.”

  “That’s what Tanner said. He’s in charge at the moment. He’s going to try to outrun them.”

  “A frigate?” Peters asked in amazement. “After the damage we’ve suffered?”

  “A bloody frigate. And he’s not concerned about the damage.”

  The ship tilted again and Peters reached out to secure Alexis before she rolled on her side. “Damn! She can’t take much more of this either. The slightest movement pulls at the stitches.”

  Jordan looked down at Alexis’s side and saw a tiny circle of red widen on the sheet covering her. Peters threw the sheet aside and staunched the droplets forcing their way through the tiny stitches.

  “Find some sheets and rip them in long strips,” he told Jordan, who was watching helplessly. “We’ll have to strap her to the bed. She can’t take this tossing.” His eyes lifted toward the noise overhead. “I hope he knows what he’s doing.”

  Jordan began tearing the sheets. “There’s no one aboard with more to lose if he doesn’t.”

  Peters nodded. “Peach was pretty rough on him. Blamed him for Captain Danty’s injuries.”

  “Peach could not have been one tenth as rough on him as he is on himself.”

  “I know. That’s why I sent them both out of here.”

  Jordan handed Peters several strips of sheet and together they wound them around Alexis and the bed until Peters was satisfied she would not be tossed with the ship. Peters covered her again and for the first time since he had entered the cabin he moved away from her side. He glanced around the floor, found the bottle of brandy that had rolled away, and helped himself to its contents.

  “Here.” He gave the bottle to Jordan. “Drink up. It dulls the pain.” He took the unused portion of the sheet and ripped it into smaller sections. These he dipped in water and used to wipe Alexis’s face free of perspiration and grime from the battle.

  “Does she have a fever?” asked Jordan.

  “Not yet. If she makes it through the night she’ll have to battle one later. I don’t think for one minute she’ll get through this without infection. Look on the table. That’s what I dug out of her. I can’t even be sure I have it all.”

  Jordan walked to the table and examined the splinters. The largest was three inches long and almost an inch wide. There were two others almost as long and many smaller, equally lethal slivers. He grimaced.

  “She would have been better off getting a dagger wound. It wouldn’t have done half the damage. At least it wouldn’t have left part of itself in her.” He replaced the cloth on her forehead with a fresh one. “For God’s sake, Jordan, have a seat. There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done sitting.” His gruffness had the effect of pushing Jordan into a chair. “That’s better. Now tell me what Tanner’s doing up there.”

  “I told you. He’s going to outrun them.”

  Peters smiled. “Told you he could do it, huh?”

  “I don’t doubt it.”

  “Neither do I, Mr. Jordan.” The ship heaved again but Peters observed with satisfaction that Alexis remained still. “Just hold on, Captain,” he murmured. “He says he can do it.”

  An hour passed. Then another. Alexis clung tenaci
ously to life. Jordan and Peters took turns bathing her face and checking her wound. Above her Cloud was using every skill he had to keep the Raleigh from gaining ground. After the first hour he had known there was little chance he could outrun the British vessel. His goal now was to maintain the distance separating them until dark, when he would attempt to lose them. He glanced at the sun. Almost noon. There was a curse and a prayer in his softly uttered sigh as he swung the wheel. His grip alternated between a stranglehold that threatened to break the spokes with its unrelenting pressure and a caress that urged the Dark Lady into difficult maneuvers with its unrelenting coaxing.

  Jordan observed this peculiar command of Cloud’s while on one of his visits topside to review their situation.

  “Well?” Peters demanded when he returned.

  “Tanner says the best he can do until dark is keep the ship at a safe distance.”

  “Is he doing it?”

  “Yes.”

  “They why do you look as if the British are going to beat down the door any minute?”

  “Because he’s the only thing between us and the British. How long can he push himself that way? Christ! You should see him up there! He looks as if he could kill the entire Royal Fleet with his bare hands or break down in tears and never know the difference. How long can he keep that up?”

  “Cloud?” It was only a whisper but it riveted both men to the source.

  “There’s your answer, Mr. Jordan. He’ll go as long as she can.” To Alexis he replied softly, “He’s not here, Captain. Soon.”

  Alexis shook her head. Her eyes opened slowly and her gaze alternated between the two men, seeing neither.

  “She doesn’t know who we are,” muttered Jordan.

  “That would be asking for quite a lot.” Peters lifted the bottle of brandy to her lips and managed to pour a few drops in her mouth before she passed out. “She needs rest and for that we’ll have to trust Tanner.”

  The hours until sunset passed with agonizing slowness. On deck there were occasions when the men believed the Raleigh had abandoned its pursuit only to discover minutes later this was not the case at all. Each disappointment was met with a succinct epithet and a renewed effort to see that it was their last. In Alexis’s cabin the time was spent in much the same manner. Peters and Jordan took turns at her side, seeing to her comfort. There were no lucid moments for their captain and when she became tormented by pain Peters administered drops of laudanum. When she slept peacefully the two men silently berated themselves for not being able to do more.

  Several factors were involved in Cloud’s decision to change his strategy. The night was plagued by a sliver of new moon and lack of cloud cover, providing the Raleigh with sufficient light to track the Dark Lady. Hope of breaking free of their ghostly shadow gone, Cloud was forced to consider alternatives. Alexis’s worsening condition throughout the night not only made the selection of a new course imperative, it helped determine the destination.

  It was not yet midnight when Cloud informed Jordan of his plan. He had not slept for forty hours but tension was keeping him alert.

  “I’ve decided to take Dark Lady to Roadtown,” he said. “Alex will make a better recovery there.” He would not admit aloud there was any possibility but that she would recover. “Engaging the Raleigh is still out of the question. It would be like putting a pistol to the captain’s head. I’ve thought of a way we might be able to stop the Raleigh without firing a shot.”

  Jordan had listened attentively, but now he was skeptical of Cloud’s last statement. “Without a shot?”

  “That’s right. I was thinking of Horse Shoe.”

  Jordan’s eyes widened. “Use the reef, you mean? Damn! That’s a good thought.”

  Cloud smiled wryly. “I’m glad you think so. I’ve already committed us to the new coordinates. We could arrive there in three days if the weather holds. Roadtown is only a couple of hours beyond. Once we have taken care of the Raleigh it will be safe to see Captain Danty to her home.”

  Later that night Cloud was able to leave his post for a brief visit with Alexis and a few hours of sleep on the floor by her bed.

  “Is there nothing else I can do?” he asked Peters before he left.

  “Nothing. I can bathe her fever and ease her pain with laudanum. Beyond that there is nothing.”

  Cloud stared at Alexis while he held her hand and squeezed it gently. He thought his heart would stop beating when he felt the pressure of her touch respond reassuringly. The conviction that he had not imagined her response was what he needed to keep on going when the weather changed shortly before sunrise.

  At first the slackening sails were hardly noticeable and only minor adjustments were necessary before they billowed fully in the wind. But as the hours wore on the wind tapered to a soft breeze and it was as if the anchor had been suddenly dropped. In a matter of minutes, the breeze had disappeared and the Dark Lady drifted listlessly on still water.

  There was no way of knowing how long the calm would last. It was not unheard of for a ship to be trapped in one for weeks. That the Raleigh was experiencing the same conditions did little for the Dark Lady’s morale. The Raleigh had more men, and in a calm, men with muscle are the wind.

  Cloud ordered men into a longboat which was then lowered over the side. Grasping the oars, the men rowed to the bow of the ship and attached a tow line. Wilkes, Brandon, Ned, Allison, and the others making up this first shift grabbed the oars again and heaving, grunting, and sweating, began the almost impossible task of pulling the Dark Lady.

  Through his glass Cloud saw the Raleigh was up to the challenge. Two of their boats were being used to tow the frigate and more men were waiting to replace those who dropped.

  While the crew in the boat put forth their best effort, one shift of men was allowed to rest while a third shift filled buckets with sea water and painstakingly carried them up the rigging to wet the sails. The heavier material now caught even a suspicion of a breeze.

  The calm lasted two days. During this time strong men dropped to the deck from exhaustion while the Raleigh came dangerously close, and Alexis’s reassuring gesture to Cloud was never repeated.

  Several hundred miles to the north, in a newly constructed town with muddy streets and cheap boardinghouses, an event was about to take place that would change the static nature of the present.

  In Washington the morning paper carried a brief account of the battle to free Charleston’s harbor, and now, on a tray carrying the President’s lunch, there was one letter among many which held special significance.

  “Get me Senator Howe!” was the outraged response to the letter’s content.

  And it was as if that bellow filled Dark Lady’s sails.

  The calm was over.

  Cloud recalled the longboat and where they thought they had no energy, no hope, they found reserves of both.

  That night Cloud stayed with Alexis while Jordan maintained the margin of safety Cloud had achieved for the ship.

  Alexis had also been released from the effects of the calm. Now she stirred restlessly, shivering, trembling, and then growing still only to grow hot. When her breathing became labored he held her hand and stroked her forehead. When she cried out from pain he sparingly administered laudanum. He talked to her most of the night in low and gentle tones. He talked of his childhood, his first girl. He described his home, his parents, Emma, the streets of Boston. He told her about the wharfs, his first voyage, Landis, Harry Young, and the others. He told her things that would have made her laugh if she had been awake and he told her things that would have made her clutch his head to her breast if he had been in her arms. At times he hardly knew what he was saying, only that some part of her had to hear and realize it was his voice. It was only when he felt the warming rays of the sun at his back that he fully realized she had survived the night.

  Cloud slept then. When he woke it was late afternoon and he had to accept Peter’s explanation that he needed his sleep more than they had needed him until n
ow. Jordan had held their advantage admirably and they were within hours of Horse Shoe reef.

  The reef was a bed of razor-sharp coral stretching in a perilous arc for thirteen miles. Located some twenty miles from Tortola, between the tips of Virgin Gorda and Anegada Island, it was a treacherous welcome for vessels entering the Caribbean from the Atlantic, its unique shape creating currents that were often swift and unpredictable. Like a tropical iceberg, Horse Shoe reef only rose above the water in a few places while the great bulk of its mass lay hidden, a series of hills and valleys ten fathoms deep in areas. Even in clear weather the reef was visible only to those who knew the meaning of the pale water surrounding it. Others, not familiar with the formation, had to depend on excellent navigation charts. Only in recent years had the reef been included on maps, and three hundred ships and many more men were mute testimony to this negligence.

  It was Cloud’s intention to make this natural obstruction do the work of cannon and hot shot. He planned to skirt the reef, draw near, then retreat, always keeping the Raleigh at a distance that would make firing her guns a useless exercise, but allowing her close enough to tantalize and seduce her into making a deadly error of judgment. The strategy was risky, the outcome uncertain.

  “She’s following us, Captain! Just like you said she would!” Peach stared at the man beside him admiringly.

  “Hard to starboard!” Cloud ordered as he felt the ship being pulled by a dangerous current. When Dark Lady had shaken off the water’s clutch he glanced over his shoulder at the Raleigh. “Now we’ll see if they follow. If they don’t know the exact location of the reef, then they’ve learned there is some danger waiting for them.”

  But the Raleigh did not slacken her pace, having pursued too long and hard to retreat now. When she reached the point where the current had tugged at the Dark Lady, nothing at all rocked the frigate.