The Stolen Heart (31 page)

 

 

“All right, I’ll help you," Adrian said behind her in a low tone.
"I’ll find you tomorrow night at ten.”

 

 

She moved over to where Delgado was issuing orders to the men to get
underway.

 

 

“Ah, there you are. A bit nervous, are we," he laughed.

 

 

"Should I be?" she shot back.

 

 

He grinned appreciatively. "A lot of boys your age are, first time
at sea. So let’s see you in the rigging, lad.”

 

 

She complied, climbing to the top of the mast and back down again
without any hesitation in less than two minutes.

 

 

“Very good. And are you also good at cleaning? I noticed your ship
was very clean. Even the blubber room.”

 

 

“Aye, Captain, I clean good.”

 

 

“Then get started, my quarters. Down there. Galley over there for
hot water.” He pointed.

 

 

“Aye, sir.”

 

 

Oh, and boy,” Delgado said in a quiet voice.

 

 

“Aye, Captain?”

 

 

His knife flicked out, catching her on the ear and causing the blood
to flow down her neck in runnels. “You try to betray me, I'll cut
off all your soft fleshy parts one by one, and then gut you like a
fish.”

 

 

Al’s tone never changed. “Aye, Captain.”

 

 

She went to the galley and fetched the water and some cleaning
supplies from the black cook, who she guessed from his accent was an
escaped American slave.

 

 

“I’m Al.”

 

 

“Cooker.”

 

 

“Cleaning the Captain’s cabin.”

 

 

“Hot water here. And lye soap. Brushes, cloths.” He indicated with a
tilt of his head.

 

 

She heard his instructions, but she was looking at this rack of
knives, which had some gaps. Perhaps one more, a small one, might
not be missed. She would have to bide her time, though. Win Cooker's
trust, coming and going seemingly innocently enough, until the time
was right. She even wondered if she could recruit him, if he was
anxious to go home to the States.

 

 

She would have to sound him out later though, once she got the
cleaning underway.

 

 

She went out onto the deck with her supplies, and saw that the three
boatsteerers were being assigned chores. The two mates were put in
irons on the deck by the main mast, seated back to back so they
could not confer easily, or reach each other to help escape.

 

 

She went down the companionway to the captain’s cabin, and looked in
disbelief at the disarray. Expensive clothes were strewn everywhere,
empty bottles, full chamber pots.

 

 

“My last cabin boy took sick and died and no one around here was too
keep to replace him,” Delgado said behind her. “You don’t look much
stronger. But I would appreciate having a clean room again. Take
whatever clothes you like. I have.” He laughed at his small
witticism. “Hope you're not too fond of the grog.”

 

 

“No, sir. There’s plenty aboard the
Trident
, though.”

 

 

“Good. We can make a good trade with it.”

 

 

“How do you know the men won’t just help themselves? It is a pretty
big temptation.”

 

 

“We’ve just come from Arauco, our home port. The men have been well
and truly drunk out and swived. We'll be back in a few days. They
can wait until then.”

 

 

She nodded and remained silent.

 

 

“Can you read and write?”

 

 

“Aye, Captain.”

 

 

“Then what's a decent lad like you doing on a whaler?”

 

 

She shrugged. “Needed a job to support my sisters.”

 

 

“Can you keep the log?”

 

 

“Don’t know Spanish, sir.”

 

 

“Neither did my last cabin boy. He noted down the latitude and
longitude anyway, so we can track the ships we sight, and either
take them or lie in wait for them until next time. No point in
taking an empty whaler. Now a full one….” He smacked his lips
together.

 

 

She tried not to shudder at the thought of how many ships he had
taken, and men he had killed. She burned for revenge every time she
looked at his smug, hawk-like face. Why not just kill him now, when
they were alone here in the cabin together?

 

 

But they were all waiting for the prearranged signal tomorrow night.
She might be throwing her life away, and that of her baby, for no
reason. No, she would have to wait…

 

 

Delgado was speaking again. “The log book is over there, I think,
under all those things. I’ll go over it with you later. Right now, I
have to see how my other new crewmen are getting on.”

 

 

“Aye, Captain. The cabin will be cleaned until it’s spotless. Just
give me a few hours and I'll have everything ready.”

 

 

"Very good, boy. See that you do." He gave her one more long,
measuring look, as if trying to puzzle out a particularly knotty
problem, and then turned on his heel and left.

 

 

Almira finally released the breath she felt as though she had been
holding, and offered another prayer of thanks that she had got this
far.

 

 

Not only were all the
Trident
crew safe, she had just been
let into the pirate captain's inner sanctum. And while the wealth
was tempting enough, she admitted, as she looked at the silks,
satins, and jewels scattered about as if they were so much dross,
Delgado had something far more valuable to her.

 

 

Information in that log book. She just had to keep tidying the cabin
until she found it. And prayed that he was a more organized and
methodical captain than he was a housekeeper.

 

 

For if he had taken her father's ship the
Calypso
, he might
have made note of where and when. Perhaps even some of the crew
might have turned pirate and were still on board. So she would work,
watch, wait, and pray for them all. For her father, and especially
for Jared, marooned on the mainland and probably beside himself with
fright over the fate of his ship.

 

 

She squared her shoulders, and began to sort through the silks.

 

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

 

 

Almira worked diligently in the pirate captain's cabin putting it
back in order, for she was eager to find the log book, and at least
the task took her mind off what had happened to Jared, and her own
predicament.

 

 

If their attempt to take the pirate ship failed, she might never see
him again. If he had not been able to swim to shore, she might never
see him again.

 

 

She sniffed back the tears, and sorted the clothes into clean, dirty
and needing to be mended, and got more tubs from the galley to set
the clothes to soak.

 

 

She looked around furtively, but could not see a profusion of
weapons about the ship. Armed to the teeth they might be, but they
took their arms with them everywhere. There was not even a spare
pistol that she could see.

 

 

But that made no sense. Would the Captain not be concerned about
mutiny? And they could not adjust the sails with a cutlass dangling
from a sash at their waists. They were just being vigilant for now,
to make sure that they did not try anything. They would keep an eye
on the for a time longer, then they would put the weapons down. So
they had to be kept somewhere, in a central locker, where they could
be loaded, maintained….

 

 

Adrian would know. He had had a pistol and cutlass himself when he
had boarded the
Trident
. They were not the type of things a
whaleman would possess.

 

 

Eventually she located the log book, and placed it atop the small
desk in the corner. When she dared, she looked at it furtively to
try to find any mention of the
Calypso
having been taken,
where and when.

 

 

There were a couple of mentions of ships starting with C at about
the time her father was likely to have been sailing in these waters
on his way toward the Horn. She memorized the two sets of bearings,
and continued to get the cabin shipshape.

 

 

But something troubled her about the two ships. Neither sounded like
the right time to her. She would have to read further back in the
log….

 

 

She labored on until late in the evening, almost midnight, when the
Captain reappeared at last.

 

 

“It looks much better," he said, nodding appreciatively. "You’re a
good worker.”

 

 

“I try to be.”

 

 

“Tell me again why you killed your captain?” he asked in a causal
tone.

 

 

“I told you. He, he-well, he wasn’t a decent, God-fearing man. It’s
unnatural, that sort of thing. The men all hated him, especially the
old first mate.”

 

 

“What, the man above at the mast?”

 

 

She shook her head. “No, that’s Perkins. He used to be Second. No,
the old Mate. Captain and he fought. He tried to protect me from
being beaten and molested. Captain threw him over the side as we
rounded the Horn.

 

 

"Everyone knew the Captain was a dangerous man. So when I got a
chance, instead of the Captain trying to force us to fight for him
agaist you pirates, and get killed, I did him in. He was good with a
knife, but I was better.”

 

 

“Surprised you didn’t do it before.”

 

 

She shrugged one shoulder. “Never got the chance. He was a big
bugger, but I took him by surprise when he saw you lot coming.”

 

 

Al felt as though the lies were coming more and more easily to her,
but she had to be careful. She could not embellish the tale too
much, or she would get caught up one of the details and he would
know she was lying.

 

 

Delgado nodded, seemingly satisfied with her story. “Well, we need
to think about where you’re going to sleep. I wouldn’t want you
taking a knife to any of my crew.”

 

 

“It’s a warm night. I’ll sleep up on deck.”

 

 

“The cabin boy usually sleeps in the cabin. I give you my word, I am
not of the same persuasion as your old captain. Only ripe, lovely
young ladies for me.”

 

 

She hoped she wasn't blushing too much, and didn't look too worried.
“Aye, sir, I'll take your word for it. But you have no reason to
trust me either. Not when we would be sleeping in the same room as
each other. So the deck will suit fine.”

 

 

He stared at her a moment longer, then nodded. “You can sleep on the
quarterdeck then. Take a blanket and pillow from that trunk.”

 

 

“Thank you, Captain.”

 

 

“Don’t thank me yet. I still haven’t made up my mind about you. I
might just kill you yet.”

 

 

Al smiled. “But not tonight.”

 

 

He flashed a grin, showing even white teeth. “No. Not tonight.”

 

 

She took the items he had indicated, and went up on deck, wondering
how an intelligent, charming man like Delgado had ever ended up a
pirate.

 

 

She saw Adrian hovering, and whispered, “I’m up on the quarterdeck.”

 

 

“I’m on watch. I’ll speak with you soon.”

 

 

As soon as he came to see her, she asked, “Where’s the weapons
locker?”

 

 

“Back compartment of the galley, facing the mast.”

 

 

“The trouble is, if we arm ourselves, they can use the weapons
against us too. Better to just throw them all overboard. Fists work
just as well. We don’t need to kill them, we just need to overpower
them.

 

 

"How can we—"

 

 

"Captain says they were in port and so aren't going to hit the grog
too hard. Still, wwe can wait and hope. But I also have some
laudanum we can try to slip into the food, which will slow them
down. When do you eat supper?”

 

 

“The second dog watch, about eight.”

 

 

“Good. They will be pretty sleepy by the time we make our move.”

 

 

“Right, I’ll get the weapons locker. You be nice to Cooker and lace
the food,” Adrian said. “I’ll tell everyone helping us to just get
biscuit and cheese, and that will mean more for the men we want to
get out of the way.”

 

 

“Good. You’d better move on now, before they see us together.”

 

 

Sure enough, no sooner had he gone down the length of the deck than
Delgado came up onto the quarterdeck.

 

 

She could feel his shadow falling over her, but resisted the
temptation to open her eyes. She turned over onto her back and made
a convincing snoring sound similar to that which her father had
always made.

 

 

At length she heard the soft footsteps head back down the stairs,
and she breathed a sigh of relief.

 

 

She settled herself more comfortably on the hard deck, and willed
herself to sleep. She would need her rest and all of her strength
for the morrow, when they took back the
Trident
.

 

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

 

 

Al went through her duties of scrubbing, cleaning, and beginning to
help out in the galley early the next morning.

 

 

She was accustomed to getting up at eight bells, four in the
morning, and having breakfast at five bells, seventy-thirty. She
felt chilled after her night on the hard deck, and missed Jared’s
lean hard body embracing hers, sharing his warmth.