Pirate

Although we had been vigilant, the smoke from the fires in the village was invisible, and the Indians were capable of more stealth than we gave them credit. We had rounded a bend and spotted a group of men moving from the bushes with bows drawn. Before we could react, the air was full of arrows, and we took cover in the hollowed-out cypress of our boats, holding our coats over our heads to stave off the arrows. Fortunately, although their aim was good, the distance prevented the arrows from striking with much velocity.

As the arrows flew, I started to take in our surroundings in the waning sunlight. The minutes passed, and the shadows grew longer. The smoke visible to our right and upriver marked the location of the village. I pulled the map from its oilcloth holder and tried to ascertain our position relative to the Indian camp. The village was shown on the southern bank of the river just before it emptied into the lake. We were taking fire from a small band of fighters on the opposite side of the river from the village. I turned away from the attackers and suspected their ploy.

“They aim to pin us down here, and my guess is they will attack from behind us as soon as the sun sets.” I looked inland, trying to judge where they would come from and how to defend ourselves. “Least they don’t have firearms,” I said.

Rhames shot me a look, “Don’t be so sure. They may be holding them in reserve. That’s what I would do. They know from this distance they would be ineffective. Bastards just want to pin us down.”

I saw no way out. “We have to take a chance and get back on the river before they attack,” I called out.

“Aye, no choice there,” Rhames backed me up.

As yet we had offered no defense, but we would need to use the pistol and rifle to cover our exit. I planned it in my head and got an idea from the thick moss hanging from the cypress trees. “Help me with this,” I asked Rory, who was almost entirely inside one of the hulls, the fear of being recaptured by the Indians clear in her eyes.

She was frozen in place, so I tapped Red on the shoulder, and he followed me as I crawled to the nearest tree. The moss hung to within a few feet of the dirt, and I was able to reach up and pull a large clump of it without revealing myself. Branches swayed as I did, but the aim of the archers remained on the cluster of boats. I kneeled in the dirt and started wrapping myself in the dense and fibrous moss, starting at my head and winding it around my neck and then my body. Red reached out to touch me and, as I hoped, the material appeared to be thick enough to repel an arrow, at least from the distance they were shooting.

We both gathered armloads of moss and returned to the group, who surrounded us with scared and questioning faces. “As soon as the sun dips behind those trees we need to move out. They’ll come from the land behind us as soon as it gets dark. Use the moss like this.” I showed my technique. “With any luck we’ll blend into the river.”

Heads nodded, and two other men helped collect enough moss to cover both ourselves and the boats. If we were quiet in the dim light I hoped we would be invisible to the attackers. The deep shadows cast from the moss-covered trees gave the illusion of twilight, and the quantity of arrows dwindled to several a minute as we wrapped ourselves from the waist up. I knew the land-based attack would likely come soon, and we braved the intermittent arrows to right the boats, drape moss over their sides and load the chests and supplies. Minutes later we were ready.

I had been so involved in preparing the boats that I failed to notice the arrows had stopped, a sure sign the attack was imminent. “Into the boats,” I called out and waded into the water, pushing the first boat in front of me. I didn’t wait for the others. They knew the urgency of the situation, and I soon heard the men behind me.

Just as my pole hit the sandy bottom and the boat moved into the channel, I heard activity on the shore and a woman scream. I looked back, and in the fading light could see Rory standing ankle deep in the water, surrounded by Indians. I cursed myself for not keeping an eye on her, but there was nothing we could do, as arrows rained down on us from the shore as they led her inland.

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