Forever Young The Beginning (7 page)

***

The next day they
moved
Tico
to the
repair wharf before eating breakfast. The new mast was lying nearby
ready for the carpenters who were due to come today as well. Soon
the sail maker’s son arrived and looked at everything. The
carpenters showed up and soon the repairs were underway. Ian told
all of the crew except Lorn they could go ashore for the day, but
to check in by early evening. He needed Lorn for a translator being
as he could speak French.

That evening, the crew had returned
and one of them had a crude map of the Marseille water front area.
Ian went over it with them. He then gave three of them flasks of
scotch whiskey saying “Now lads, this ain’t for drinking. If ye get
adventurous with some French lassie this evening, be certain to
wash yourselves well with this when ye are finished. It’s a mite
hot, but you’ll be glad you did it. You can get the rot here as
well as any place else we’ve been and Lorn here can tell you more
about that than I can.” At that all laughed at Lorn’s expense as he
said red-faced “Aye! And once was enough for me!” The scuttlebutt
was that he had such a misadventure once in Liverpool. With that
they departed. Li stayed with Ian and they had a quiet supper and
an uneventful evening.

The next day, repairs were
resumed on
Tico
. A
wooden gantry with large sheaves and windlasses overhead was rolled
into place along the twin repair piers, pulled by four draft
horses.

First they pulled out the
broken stump after the carpenters had drilled out the dowels that
fastened it to the step below deck. Then the new mast was picked up
and carefully lowered into place using two men on dual windlasses.
Before noon it was stepped and the carpenters were below deck
drilling it to receive dowels. Ian stayed with
Tico
the whole day….only stopping to
eat when the carpenters did.

In late afternoon, a well-dressed man
approached the workers and began to ask questions. They pointed him
towards Ian. The man approached Ian and made an inquiry. Ian
replied in halting French that he would have to fetch a translator,
and called for Lorn to join them. It seemed the man owned a
newspaper business in Marseille, and wanted to do a story about
their adventure. Ian left Lorn to it and went back to observe the
fitting of the mast and its fittings. It was nearly ready for the
sails to be fitted tomorrow.

He and five of the crew took a dunk in
the harbor and dressed, wandering towards better looking areas that
Ian had memorized from the Harbormaster’s map. They came at last to
a sizeable place with a name that Ian couldn’t make out, and stood
outside deciding whether to go in, or walk around some
more.

Across the street and a few
doors down was a figure in a dark red hooded cape, watching them.
She observed the group of men curiously. Then it dawned on her that
these might be the group the whole town of Marseille was gossiping
about. In particular, she noticed a tall dark complexioned one.
Seeing that the others seemed to defer to him, she could hear them
speak and could even make out his voice from the voices of the
others. She had been methodically working up and down the streets
and alleyways of Marseille for three days searching for her little
brother. Watching until they went into the
Blue Oyster
, she waited a couple of
minutes, then walked across the street and went in.

Ian felt an odd prickly
sensation at the base of his skull. It was as if his hair was
standing up on his neck. He reached back to scratch and rub it to
confirm that nothing like an insect was back there. It went away as
he passed through the door to the inn. Inside, he and his friends
found a large table and each ordered a tankard of beer. The serving
wench returned with their order shortly. A heavy-set man with a
florid face accompanied her who introduced himself as Henrique
Pronovost, owner of the
Blue
Oyster
. He asked if they were the Scotsmen
who had saved the ambassador’s daughter and Lorn answered in the
affirmative. So he said that the first round was on the house and
then with a loud voice, he got everyone to quiet down for an
announcement. He told the guests who it was sitting at their table
and there was a goodly round of applause.

About that time, Ian again
got that prickly feeling on the back of his neck. Somewhat
red-faced, he stood up and waved his hand while looking around at
everyone. He noticed a beautiful woman in a dark red cloak looking
at him from near the entrance. She had honey colored hair with
golden highlights, a creamy complexion, sensual lips, and lovely
wide-set gray eyes. He stared at her a brief moment, then for not
wanting to appear to be rude, he turned around and sat down,
thinking
what a beautiful woman, and what
beautiful eyes!
Their table was then
surrounded by curious patrons wanting to know details of the whole
affair.

Ian and his friends never
had to buy one round of drinks that night, but he stopped after the
third one. Lorn did the talking for them and a comely wench had
soon seemed to attach herself to him. It wasn’t an hour before she
was sitting in his lap now and then, and he was surely enjoying it.
Ian leaned over to Rob Woolsley, oldest one there at age forty, and
told him to take Li and one other to go with Lorn if he left the
place with that woman. Ian and two others got up and said their
thanks and goodbyes to the friendly patrons. He looked about for
the girl with the gray eyes again while leaving the place, but she
was nowhere to be seen. They made their way back to the
Tico
without incident and
Ian took first watch with Tom. The night passed
uneventfully.

***

“
Weigh anchor and unfurl all
sails!” Angus commanded.
Elsie’s
Cloud
was under way. He and the crew of
Elsie had said their goodbyes that morning. Alandra’s mother had
made good on her gifts to every crewman and had presented Angus
with a fine personally engraved pistol. They had included one for
Ian too. Included in the delivery were the same gifts of shirt,
pants, and a golden doubloon for each of the rest of Elsie’s crew
in Marseille. Angus was glad that Alandra’s mother included his men
at Marseille. That would reinforce to Alandra that they were indeed
alive and help to relieve her depression. She had made a brave show
of it, coming down to see them off and hugging Angus, the officers
and Mustafa goodbye.

Alandra’s father was believed to be
still in France at the king’s court, however shortly after Elsie
sailed, another ship arrived from Marseille with a note for Captain
McCloud. Since Elsie had departed, the note was taken by courier to
the Vasquez home. It was carried quickly to Alandra who cried tears
of joy to learn that Ian was alive and well in Marseille. She was
now sure that he’d find a way to come to Barcelona when he could to
see her. She was seen by her mother to be laughing while talking to
Celita. Her mother took note of this development with more than a
little concern.

***

Four days later the sail
maker’s son arrived with new sails for both masts for
Tico
. His crew came along
in short order and they got to work.

Ian’s crew came back for supper, and
he had already started baking another fish he’d caught scarcely an
hour before. Li fussed and took over that job, and soon had several
other things cooking for them. After supper one of the crewmen said
he’d found a stone cutter, and that piqued Ian’s interest. He had
won some rough diamonds in a wrestling match while in Cape Town.
Dubious about their worth, he wanted an expert opinion so he
resolved to go there tomorrow.

That night he dreamt that he was in
mortal danger and was fighting for his life against a demon from
hell. A woman with beautiful gray eyes came to help him and he
awoke with a start but the cabin and ship was quiet. He lay there
until dawn and then went out to the end of the pier for a swim.
After breakfast he set watches for the day, then taking his rough
diamonds he walked into the city. In one of the better districts he
eventually found the stone cutter’s place where Lorn had said it
was.

He went in and in his bad French,
introduced himself to the owner, a small Jewish man of some sixty
years. The man’s face brightened and he said speaking a bit slow in
English “We’ve heard about you Monsieur, please let me get my
wife.”

After being introduced they chatted
pleasantly for a few minutes, and soon Ian was giving a sketchy
story of the pirate encounter, punctuated by ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ as Reza
took in each detail. At times Solomon stopped his examinations to
chime in with her. Ian was amused and felt genuine warmth from this
delightful couple.

“
Monsieur McCloud, these are
a mixed bag of stones. Three are good quality gemstones for center
settings. The others would make good stones for peripheral
settings. I can buy them or cut them for you, or I can even tell
you where another stonecutter is in Marseille”

Ian opted to sell them and
got a handsome price in gold. He thanked them both and made his way
back to the ship, his bag of gold added to the one already about
his neck. As he drew near to the wharf area, he again felt the warm
prickly feeling on his neck and looked about in vain. It persisted
until he reached the area of the marine salvage docks, then he
heard Tom shouting his name. He looked and Tom was running toward
him shouting “
Elsie’
s here, Ian,
Elsie
’s here!” The prickly feeling seemed to fade as Ian ran for
the dock.

As Ian looked out into the harbor,
there was Elsie at anchor, and her longboat heading their way
packed full of many of his crewmates with Angus standing in the
bow, waving. Quickly he ran to the very end of the docks with Tom
to await the longboat, and saw that they were all wearing new white
shirts and long dark blue pants.

As soon as it neared the dock Angus
threw the line to Ian who caught it and quickly fastened it. The
aft line was secured by Lorn nearly as quickly and Mustafa leapt
from the boat, throwing himself into Ian’s arms, hugging him close.
Ian got him in a bear hug, swinging him around in a circle twice,
laughing all the while, and tousling his hair. Then he sat him down
and hugged his Uncle Angus, as they slapped each other across their
backs heartily. Armando was next with a bear hug that Ian returned
laughing. Burly chief boatswain MacCarr nearly crushed the breath
from Ian’s body. There were laughs and handshakes and hugs all
around, everyone wanting to speak at once.

Ian held up both hands,
laughing “Lads, ye are balm to these eyes of mine. And who are ye
all dressed up like the Royal Scottish Navy?” That elicited a
chorus of laughter all around. All waited respectfully then for
Angus to speak. “To the
Tico
lads and we’ll see her repairs and then hear of
their voyage.”

It was a warm reunion and all were
interested in hearing the details of Ian and the other surviving
the storm. Later Ian took Angus and introduced him to the
Harbormaster who had by now heard of the famous Captain McCloud.
Off and on, Ian thought that he felt the prickly feeling at the
back of his neck during this time.

Ian turned to Angus and asked “I
almost forgot… did ye get my letter?”

“
Nah lad, I dinna get
it.”

“
What became of Alandra and
Celita?”

“
Ah, lad. They’re home safe
now. Alandra could hardly be comforted but surely she’s long since
gotten your letter.”

Angus had informed Ian that
the original owner had agreed to buy
Tico
back without the cargo. Ian
resolved to write a letter to be carried back to Alandra in
Barcelona.

They ate supper
aboard
Elsie’s Cloud.
Li was glad to get back into his own galley and made them a
meal as good as any had eaten in a year. Local pastries were served
afterwards. Many were eagerly asking about the sights to be seen.
Ian promised them that they would go to the
Blue Oyster
for ale and would see
some sights. The officers ate in the officer’s mess and the crew
ate on deck wherever they could find a place to sit. It was a happy
time.

Supper being finished, Angus
set a watch on both ships, but then deferred to Ian regarding the
watch on
Tico
. The
watches set, the group numbering thirty one, walked into the
city.

As they rounded the corner
leading to the
Blue
Oyster
, they saw a throng of people
standing out front of the inn, and could see smoke coming from the
entrance. They ran to see what could be done, and Ian got Lorn to
shout at the crowd and tell them to find water and buckets. Lorn
shouted then to help form a bucket brigade, and they did so. It
stretched to a well located some two hundred feet away. Ropes were
brought so as to be able to draw several buckets at a time. Two
watering troughs in front of the building were being emptied and
handed in a line that went through the doors. The fire was soon put
out in the kitchen thanks to the quick response of the sailors and
the others standing by.