The Stolen Heart (15 page)

 

 

"Port, sir? When we're so close to being able to make a run for the
Horn?"

 

 

“If my guess is correct, those two men picked up malaria from their
last trip, and those other two men who have been poorly the past
couple of days that you've complained about have been swived to
death. We'll need replacement crew as soon as possible to get
underway again if we’re going to catch the
Dolphin
. And
especially if we're going to attempt the Horn. We'll need every able
body we can, and as always, a lot of luck.”

 

 

“Yes, sir. Who do you want me to replace?”

 

 

“We will be setting down the four sick men and Mate.”

 

 

Second sounded appalled. “Mate, sir?”

 

 

Jared nodded firmly. “I am making you up, Perkins. My boatsteerer
Wright can become Second. See if you can find someone decent to
replace him. But if you can’t, Bob is a big burly lad. You can get
him to train with the boatsteerers, and of course Wright will still
be on board to help and can always do double duty in the boat. He
knows how to watch the line as well as I do by now.”

 

 

“Yes, sir, thank you, sir. But if I might suggest, sir, putting down
Al if the boy is ill too? The priests will-”

 

 

"Jared shook his head. “No, Al needs to find his brother, and he
does not have the clap or malaria. It's sun stroke, I know that now
for certain after what you just told me about him being up there not
just for an hour or so, but the whole day without a chance of
respite. Cook will look after him, and he’ll settle in a lot better
once he is not being persecuted.”

 

 

Yes, sir, but if I might make just one more suggestion?”

 

 

“Aye”

 

 

“Don’t see Mate when you’re still so furious. Give yourself time to
cool down. I've never seen you this angry before, and we've known
each other for some time.”

 

 

Jared took a deep breath, and admitted, "Yes, I'm angry. Tom died
needlessly, because of Mate's refusal to believe Al saw lightning
the night of the huge storm."

 

 

"Oh my, sir, are you sure?"

 

 

"Aye. And you took him out on the boat for a turn, and he was badly
injured."

 

 

"Aye," Perkins said. "And I'm sorry for it. I had no idea—"

 

 

"You did have. It's the life we lead. It can be a damned dangerous
one at times."

 

 

Perkins nodded.

 

 

"I'm not blaming you, Second. You were doing what you thought was
right, giving him a chance, the kind of experience he would need if
he was to have a career as a whaleman."

 

 

"Exactly, sir," the brown haired man said, nodding again.

 

 

Jared paced up and down in front of the wheel for a moment as Second
continued to man the helm. At length he said, “No, the reason I'm so
angry runs so deep because ever since I got made up to Captain, I
have never lost a man due to another’s brutality. I thought I had
left that horror behind when I was a greenhand myself.

 

 

"I have a younger brother, you know, Morgan, getting ready to go
into service now with Dare. I know he’s in good hands there. If Mate
were ever made up to Captain, I would never want Morgan to serve
with him, that’s for certain. Nor any other young man I cared about.
So that being the case, I can't allow him to remain as Mate on my
ship, and I can never give him any reference which would permit him
to become captain unless there was a clear sign that he had mended
his ways."

 

 

"I understand, sir, but surely you might be the best man to teach
him—"

 

 

Jared shook his head. "I've tried. He hates me because I got made up
and he didn't."

 

 

"He didn't pass the exams."

 

 

"No, exactly. But then, neither have you, yet. So if you're going to
be Mate, Perkins, you'd better start seeing me about lessons."

 

 

"Yes, sir, thank you, sir. I've been really remiss, I know. Truth to
tell, I've been a bit embarrassed to ask. I mean, I'm happy enough
with my lot, and not the brightest of men. But then I look at
someone like young Al, coming along so fast, and it makes me think
I'd like to try again."

 

 

"Good. His father was a captain himself, you know, so it's no
disgrace. So as I said, Mate's not following orders, and negligence,
not to mention outright cruelty, are ample reasons to remove Mate
from his position, and put him down at the next port. Where are we
now?”

 

 

Perkins gave Jared his calculation of the latitude and longitude.
“Montevideo, if you want to head back. But once we round the Horn,
Arauco is our nearest decent port for men and provisions, and after
that Valparaiso, just a bit further up the coast.”

 

 

Jared sighed. "I'm not so sure I want to round the Horn six crew
down."

 

 

"At the same time, the weather is as good as it's ever going to get.

 

 

Jared thought for a time, and then nodded. “Very well, it's worth
the risk. We'll chance a clear run now while the weather holds fair,
and we can always turn back if anything changes. I want to catch the
Dolphin
and get Al's brother off that hell ship. We may have
to trade another man or two of our own, but by then the worst will
be behind us.

 

 

Then we shall go to Valparaiso, and see if we can find out anything
about the missing
Calypso
there too. We’ll find some decent
replacement crew there, with any luck, and maybe even another whale
boat or two. Then can press on.”

 

 

“Very good sir, I shall see all of your orders are carried out to
the letter,” Perkins said formally.

 

 

"Practicing for Mate already?"

 

 

"Yes, sir. I won't let you down again, I promise."

 

 

Jared clapped him on the shoulder. "I've found it's also very
important to not let yourself down in life. What happened to Al
makes us both feel that we did just that. But there's also
forgiveness, and redemption, and not making the same mistake again.
So let me bide my time, as you say, til I simmer down, and then I'll
talk to Mate."

 

 

"Thank you, sir."

 

 

"Thank you, Perkins. Carry on."

 

 

Jared went around the ship to see how the trying out had progressed
while he had been nursing Al. He was satisfied with the barrel
count, and decided even if they sighted any whales, they would press
on.

 

 

He was eager to get to port as soon as possible now, but that still
meant either backtracking to Montevideo, or heading on around the
Horn.

 

 

He knew it was a risk; sometimes ships got hung up for weeks in the
violent channel between the Antarctic Continent and South America.

 

 

But no, they would have to press on, and hope the weather held fair
and they could make it around the Horn even when they were down six
crewmen.

 

 

Al was counting on him to find the
Dolphin
and news of the
Calypso
.
He had let her down badly. He would never forgive himself if he did
so again.

 

 

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

 

 

Jared took Second’s advice and did not seek out Mate at once to
confront him about his cruel treatment of Al, and the fact that he
had decided he would replace him as Mate. He knew he would only bury
his fist in his face if he so much as looked at him.

 

 

He calmed himself by walking up and down the deck a few times,
noticing that under Mate, the deck was not looking as clean and
ship-shape as he would have liked. He also knew for a fact that the
trying had not gone as smoothly as he would have wished, for he
heard the men complaining that Mate's favorites in his boat crew got
let off, and so they had had to do most of the work themselves.
Being so shorthanded, a lot of blubber had rotted and gone to waste
as a result.

 

 

Jared was seriously displeased, but it only added to his ammunition
in getting rid of the troublesome officer. He was captain, true, but
he had a responsibility to make a profitable voyage. It was also a
matter of pride that there were few captains who had the stature of
he and his cousin Jared.

 

 

Their friendly rivalry had spurred him on to greater and greater
achievements, and his wife’s cousin Roland Chase was now climbing
the ladder to success in the whaling world. He would soon be giving
him a run for his money. He would be even more proud if his young
brother Morgan, now sixteen, became half the man Dare was.

 

 

But Dare had always had strong principles, and an iron backbone. He
loved whaling and the thrill of the chase. He also had strong
feelings about how a man should live his life and run his ship.

 

 

Perhaps it was about time he stopped worrying about living up to his
cousin in terms of the numbers of barrels of oil or pounds of
whalebone, and started trying to live up to his personal example as
well. A decent ship for decent men.
And women….

 

 

He bit back a sarcastic self-reproach. No, the girl had not turned
his head, addled his wits. If anything, he had begun to see clearly
for the first time ever, or at least more clearly than he had for a
long time, ever since the vision of hundreds of thousands of dollars
of whale oil had dazzled him.

 

 

But as Dare had told him when he’d discussed his plans for his new
ship, “You can’t take it with you. And I want to give my children a
greater legacy than simply money at my death.”

 

 

Still, they were there on the high seas for the whales. It was what
he did, what he was good at, thanks to his own father, his uncle,
and his cousin Dare.

 

 

Theirs was a proud tradition, one he had to live up to. But not if
it meant the death of an innocent. He became almost physically ill
at the recollection of Al hanging helplessly in the rigging.

 

 

He finished his round of the deck quickly, and returned to his
cabin, suddenly eager to see Al once more.

 

 

“How is she?” he asked Cook.

 

 

“Not too bad. Peaceful.”

 

 

“It’s not an illness. It’s heat stroke. She was up in the rings for
almost eight hours thanks to Mate.”

 

 

"That bastard."

 

 

"Aye, you'll get no argument from me there."

 

 

Cook asked, “Have we done the right things for her?”

 

 

“So far as I know. Now we just have to wait.” He sat down on the
opposite side of the bed and tested her forehead. She was still
warm, but not shuddering or delirious.

 

 

“How did you find out what happened?”

 

 

“Second told me. He or someone else should have come to me to tell
me that she had been in the rigging eight hours.”

 

 

“I didn't know—"

 

 

"I know," he said, patting him on the shoulder. "Your outrage does
you credit."

 

 

"Eight hours, in that scorching sun! Why, it’s too savage for words.
If I had known, I would have come to you and complained. But it
explains the blisters on her neck and arms, and her collapse.”

 

 

“If you had told me, you'd have shown more sense than Second,
because he did nothing, fearing Mate.”

 

 

“It is a crying shame.”

 

 

“Well, the ill men are going to be out off at the next port, and
Mate with them. I’ll get some new crewmen, and things will settle
down.”

 

 

Cook looked aghast. “But you know what will happen to Al if you just
dump her!”

 

 

Jared shook his head. “No, no, you mistake me. The other two men
have malaria, and those other crewmen who have been slacking and
acting oddly recently are both clapped up. I’ll be getting rid of
those five.

 

 

"But Al is staying, at least for a while longer." He stroked back
the hair from her brow. "However, if she is going to stay, I think
we will need to make some new living arrangements. Have the
carpenter come see me, so I can make a couple of improvements to
these cabins.”

 

 

“Oh, um, yes, sir.” He grinned, and went to get Chip.

 

 

Under the pretext of expanding the cabin, Jared had the carpenter
make more private arrangements for himself and Al.
Almira
.
A
woman.
He still shook his head every time he thought about it.

 

 

Since the tub could not be moved easily in the cabin, the walls
would have to be.

 

 

He drew a sketch that would form a separate bathroom between the two
cabins, with a door leading from each of the new rooms into it.

 

 

Jared’s new room was the left-hand corner of the large main cabin,
with a door leading into it as well, making a comfortable suite of
rooms. He would sleep on the transom sofa, and had the mate
construct a second bunk perpendicular to it, so that no matter what
way the ship was rolling, he would get a good night’s sleep. It
would not be the same large open space any longer to entertain the
crew each night they were not busy with rendering whale oil, but it
would still be big enough.

 

 

“I’ll get on it straight away, Captain, just as soon as I finish
repairing the last stove-in boat.”

 

 

“Fine, no hurry,” he said, and showed him out.