Pirate

The boat tipped, and I suspected from the way his cheeks showed red in the lantern light that he had been drinking. I decided not to press him. As anxious as I was, I would know soon enough.

He exchanged a few words with Mason, and we went to rig a stretcher to haul the man from the hold. Swift found a board and we descended into the darkness. He was still alive, but his skin was red and swollen, and I could tell he held heat without touching him. We rolled him onto the board and fashioned a harness to secure him to it. Swift, Syd, and I went above to raise him, while Mason stayed below to guide the stretcher. He came up easily, and I saw why as the moonlight illuminated his emaciated body.

We swung the boom overboard and started to lower him to the launch.

“Best get a man down there. Your friend Joshua doesn’t look too steady on his feet,” I said to Mason.

He descended the rope ladder to the launch and signaled that he was ready. Hand over hand, we lowered the stretcher to the deck of the waiting boat.

“We’ll come back out for you,” Mason called, as the man released the line and started to row to shore.

“Not that I don’t trust them, but something’s odd with that group on the shore, and I don’t mean to wait,” I told Syd and Swift, before pulling my shirt over my head and diving in the water.

The water was cold, but after a week without bathing, it felt good as the sweat and grime washed from my skin. I swam the distance to the beach and waded onto shore. The two figures came toward me and I knew I was right.

“Mr. Nick,” Blue said as he came toward me. Lucy rushed past him and embraced me. “Mr. Nick, bad men come to the island with uniforms. They take Red.”

“And what of Rhames?” I looked around, hoping my right-hand man would show himself.

“Mr. Rhames is in the shack, drunk,” Lucy said, and pointed to a small building.

I went toward it in a fury, wondering what had happened. “Lucy, the man they have in the small boat needs your help,” I said, as I walked into the shack.

Rhames was prone on a cot, snoring loudly. I smacked his head and waited as he slowly gathered his wits.

“What happened?” I asked.

He looked up and squinted, “Well, look at the bloody likes of you. Damn site for sore eyes.”

I knew he was still under the influence, but I needed to know what happened to Red and the treasure. “Come on. Snap out of it. Blue said there were men in uniform that took Red.”

“Bloody hell, those Navy bastards.” They came in the longboats. Old Red was drunk and didn’t get to the canoe in time.

He probably wasn’t the only drunk one, but I was glad to see Rhames all the same and left him to sleep it off.

38

I could tell from the look on Lucy’s face that the man was in a bad way. “Doesn’t look good,” I said, as I stood by her side. Sweat poured from his skin, and his face was swollen and red. She was hovering over him, washing him with what looked like the same concoction she had used on me.

“No, Mr. Nick. I think it is too late,” she said as she worked.

I walked outside and stood by Mason, who was staring at the sky. “She’s doing all she can.”

He just shrugged and continued to stare.

“I’ll be heading back to the ship. We’ll stay for the night and see what tomorrow brings.”

He acknowledged me with a nod.

I found the canoe that Rhames, Blue, and Lucy had used to escape the Navy, and paddled it back to the boat. I tied it to the line from our ship and climbed the rope ladder hung over the side.

“Might have brought a bit of rum with you,” Syd slurred, as he tapped the empty keg.

They had been drinking, but as far as I could tell were not quite drunk. “I could use a bit myself, but there are some complications.” I told them of the raid on the island, the capture of Red, and the escape of the others.

“That’s all I know for now. Rhames is passed out, and Lucy is working on the man,” I said, and rose.

“What about Red?” Swift asked about his friend.

“We won’t leave him to hang, but we need to find out if he’s in a jail cell in Key West or in the brig of the frigate. If it’s the brig, there’s nothing we can do, but he’ll be safe until they put ashore. If he’s held on land, they could swing him any time.”

“Fair enough. Then we leave for Key West?” Syd asked.

“Let me sleep on it.” I walked away. Back in my cabin, I laid out on the bunk and started to think. Although Red was a constant thorn in my side, he was part of my crew. Despite any feelings I had about him, if the Navy had not already found our treasure, he knew where it was. I did not want him to use its location as a bargaining chip to negotiate for his freedom, or let them torture it out of him. One way or another we had to rescue him.

The wind woke me late in the night, and I cursed myself for falling asleep without assigning a watch. I rubbed my eyes and swung my feet onto the deck. The boat was bobbing like a cork in a pool and the wind was whistling through the rigging. I left the cabin, climbed the stairs onto the deck, and walked toward the bow.