His Spoilt Lady (17 page)

They stood
still, holding one another and listening to the dreadful sounds
coming from above them, the awful screams and shouting, the sudden
and shocking pounding of the ship’s guns. Then it dawned on them:
they could hear guns from another ship.

“We are under
attack.” John stated heavily. Linnett’s eyes widened in shock, and
she had to bite her lip to stop them trembling, she was so afraid.
“Who would want to attack us John? Is it the French? The one you
spoke of to my father? Why would they attack an English ship? We
are not at war with the French at present, perhaps they haven’t
heard that the war is at an end,” Linnett babbled with fear.

John hugged her
briefly and set her aside. He spoke rapidly over his shoulder as he
strode to the chests, lifting the lids and rummaging inside,
scattering the clothes as he hunted frantically within. “Probably
they are French, I cannot tell as yet. Their privateers are still
attacking merchant vessels, as are the English privateers. We must
hide as much of our valuables on our persons as we can, Linnett.
Find your jewellery and put as many of the good pieces as you can
into your underclothes, wedge them in tightly. I have a money belt
here for the coin. Quickly, Linnett!” John snapped, sorry to sound
so harsh but wishing to rouse his wife from her innate terror.

Linnett wrung
her hands in a panic. “Linnett!” John’s voice finally penetrated
her frozen brain, and she went over to her chest, pulling out her
jewellery cask and lifted the lid. Linnett only selected the finest
pieces, the emeralds and pearls and a diamond ring with matching
bracelet and ear bobs.

John turned to
her and took out of her hands a chain and locket.

“No my dear, we
have to leave the rest; otherwise, when the pirates search they
will know we have taken all the best pieces and search us.”

Linnett put the
rest back in the casket. “You think they will board us then?” she
whispered trying to be calm.

“Undoubtedly.
I’m afraid our guns will be no match for theirs. Now put on another
layer of clothing, but try to conceal the fact that you are wearing
two sets of clothes.”

So saying, John
begun to pull on more clothes over his present outfit. Linnett did
as she was bid, thankfully, thought John, without question for
once. Finally, John stepped back and looked Linnett over
critically.

“Mmm, your neck
looks a bit strange.” He reached out and undid her dress buttons at
the neck; he then turned the collar of the dress up so that the
first dress was hidden. John re-buttoned her up and looked her
over. “No one would know, I think… you are still trim even with two
sets of clothing on. Now for your warm cloak.”

The ship tipped
suddenly starboard and Linnett stumbled, but John caught her and
held her fast. “They are boarding us; that is why the ship has
dipped. They have grappling irons and have placed boarding planks
from across their ship to ours,” John explained.

Linnett pulled
herself from his arms and ran over to lock their cabin door and
then returned to him, her eyes wide with fear. “Oh God, John...what
are we to do?”

John sighed and
then shrugged, resigned. “We wait. There is nothing more that we
can do.”

Linnett dropped
into a chair and gripped its arms. “Will they kill us do you
think?” she asked tremulously.

John looked at
his beautiful young wife. Her fate could be worse than death. He
knew for a fact that young women caught by French pirates were
often shared amongst the crew, but he had no wish to terrify her
further. “I am sure that they will not harm us.” John spoke with a
confidence he did not feel. If he had to, he knew he would kill her
rather than see her suffer; he fingered the small pistol hidden in
his coat pocket. Linnett relaxed slightly, believing and trusting
her husband.

The noise above
was harrowing. Linnett covered her ears then jumped, startled by a
particularly loud bang. The two of them stood there silent and
tense waiting for what seemed an eternity. They listened to the
dreadful sound of battle and the death cries of men, the
ear-splitting shriek of tearing wood as the guns found their mark.
All they could do was wait for the appalling noise to cease.
Neither of them spoke of the friends they had made who were now
fighting for their very lives. Each prayed quietly for safe
deliverance. The sounds above started to sound less frenetic and
the pounding of the guns ceased. There were a few isolated screams
and the sound of running feet overhead.

The minutes
passed and when finally there came a pounding on the cabin door,
they both started with shock. They stood side by side facing the
door, and John placed his arm protectively about his trembling
wife, knowing how little protection he would actually be able to
afford her. The door suddenly crashed inwards, and two men,
bare-chested and smeared with blood, pushed their way inside the
cabin. Linnett screamed and turned her face into her husband’s
shoulder. It was only a second of comfort before she felt herself
wrenched apart from John by rough hands that dug into the tender
flesh of her upper arms as the pirates manhandled them both up onto
the deck.

The scene that
met their eyes was one of almost total devastation. The broken and
blood-stained bodies of seamen were everywhere, their mutilated
remains lying where they had fallen, hideous wounds and unseeing
eyes staring blindly. Even in her worst nightmare, Linnett could
not imagine such horror. Her eyes were drawn to a small group of
figures hanging in a line from the main mast, swaying gently in the
sea breeze. A slow dawning realisation of what she was looking at
suddenly hit Linnett, and she spun quickly doubling over as she was
violently sick. When she was finished, the pirate holding her
punched her hard in the small of her back, disgust written all over
his face, and the sudden shock of the impact knocked Linnett to her
knees. Through a haze of pain, she heard two shouts, one she
distinguished as John’s cut-off in mid-yell; the other she
recognised as Patsy’s.

Gentle hands
smoothed back her hair and helped her to rise, and she turned
towards the person. “Patsy? Is it you? Oh thank God, I thought you
dead... John! John! What have they done to him?” Linnett twisted
round to look for her husband. John lay slumped on the deck and he
wasn’t moving. “Oh God, they have killed him! John! John!”

Linnett dropped
to her knees at her husband’s side and placed her hand over his
heart; to her relief, she could feel the steady beat. Stroking his
hair back, Linnett bent her head and pressed her lips to his
temple. She realised that she was shivering, trembling as if she
suffered a fever, and her teeth chattered uncontrollably. Linnett’s
senses had slowed, and she was finding it hard to gather her wits.
Patsy, who stood beside her, spun around and yelled at someone
close by. “Ere! You promised me these two wouldn’t be ‘urt an ‘ere
they are, all bashed about!”

“Merde, cherie,
zees is war! What I said was I would not ‘ave ‘em kil’t.’ A large
pirate stepped into Linnett’s vision and she tried to focus on him
but found it hard to stop the dizziness that threatened to overcome
her. She saw he wore a red and white sailor’s cap, which flopped
jauntily to one side, and like the other pirates, he wore no shirt,
and his arms and chest were covered in tattoos. He had on blue
breeches and dirty, stripped red and white stockings.

“Patsy?”
Linnett croaked. “I don’t understand... do you know this,
this...man?”

The pirate gave
a coarse shout of laughter. “Ah, oui! Ze madamoiselle knows me
verra well! Do you not, ma petite choux!”

“Stop it,
Henri!” Patsy said and turned to Linnett, a pleading look on her
face. She reached down to where Linnet crouched over John and took
hold of Linnett’s hand. “It was after I fell into the sea, missus,
I met Henri below deck. I was crying, and he was so kind to me.
Well, we fell in love, we did. Don’t be mad at me,
missus...Linnett. I didn’t want no one to be hurt... look he
promised me you... Mr. Foster and Mr. Duncan could go free. Them’s
plan was all set up anyways so there was nuffing I could do to stop
it.”

Linnett jerked
her hand away from Patsy’s. “You helped him? You knew he was aboard
this ship?” Linnett was incredulous; Patsy flushed and hung her
head.

The pirate
strode forward and put his arm around her, then he spoke to
Linnett. “Ma femme! Of course elle would not betray me! Elle sait I
would cut her preety throat if she did zuch a zing! Mais I will
keep ma word; you are to go free!”

Linnett stared
into the heavily lidded, dark brown eyes and unshaven face. A livid
scar ran down one cheek. “It was you in the luggage hold.” She said
it as a statement for she knew his answer.”

“Mais oui, of
course, madam. also I had zee pleasure, non, zee
verry
great
pleasure to watch your lovely self and your ‘usband, in zee moon
light one night being so very romantic, eh!”

Linnett looked
at him with horror. “You were spying on us?” The pirate gave a
lascivious laugh, revealing a few missing teeth as he did so. “Oui,
madam, certainement! I compliment you, vous ete tres belle,
madam!”

He continued to
chuckle, while Linnett closed her eyes briefly, hoping she would
not swoon.

“What are you
going to do with us?” she asked at last in a low voice.

The pirate,
Henri, looked serious now. “I keep ma word, petite. Vous et votre
marie...can go!” and so saying he turned and raised his arm,
signalling to two of his men.

Then, another
pirate ran forward talking in French to his leader, holding
Linnett’s jewellery casket. The man opened it and showed the
contents to Henri, and the large pirate scooped out the valuables
and handed them all to Patsy. The girl stood there, her hands
cupped, holding more wealth than she had ever seen in her life
before, her mouth hanging open like a fish.

Linnett was
livid.

“How dare you!
Those belong to me, you nasty little thief!”

The French
Pirate’s heavy brows lowered, and he snarled at Linnett.

“Merde! You are
verra lucky, madam, zat your jewels are all zat we take, you
understand ma meaning I am sure! Ferme la bouche!”

He gave a
typically Gaelic gesture and turned away. Linnett had to know what
had happened to Duncan. “Where is Duncan? Have you seen him?” Patsy
lowered her eyes as she replied, “Yes’m. I’m real sorry, missus,
but he were killed in the fight, a clean wound straight through his
chest. I was with ‘im when he went.”

Linnett pressed
her hand to her mouth and bit hard to stop herself from screaming.
No please, not Duncan! Sweet, fresh-faced Duncan, with his wife and
baby daughters in Plymouth. What would they do now without him?

The two
ruffians who had fetched them up from the cabin had come over and
were now dragging John, still unconscious, over to the port side of
the ship, a side that was relatively undamaged. They tied a rope
around his body.

“What are they
doing?” Linnett asked Patsy in a whisper, her heart beating
jarringly in her chest and her mouth filled with fear.

Patsy followed
Linnett, who ran to John’s side and pulled at his arm, trying in
vain to get him away from the two pirates. Patsy caught up with
Linnett and glanced nervously at her. “Well them’s got to lower Mr.
Foster ‘cos he’s not awake.”

Linnett frowned
in puzzlement, asking, “Lower him where?”

Patsy shuffled
uncomfortably. “In ‘ter the boat,” she said.

“But you told
me we would be safe!” Linnett shrieked in a voice of pure rage.

Patsy paled and
stumbled back and away from Linnett, shouting, “I saved yer life!
If Henri ‘ad his way, you and yer ‘usband would be dead right
now!”

Linnett lunged
forward with her arm raised to slap Patsy’s face but a vice-like
grip on her raised arm prevented her from following through with
her action. Her arm was twisted behind her back, and she was
marched to the side of the ship, where John was already being
lowered. Linnett turned her head and spat at the pirate gripping
her arms, while screaming at Patsy, “You traitorous bitch, I should
have left you to drown!” Then to her fury and shame, Linnett burst
into noisy, gasping sobs of misery and rage, the horror and fear of
what was happening completely overwhelming her.

She then found
herself flung over the shoulder of the foul-smelling pirate, who
made his way over the ship’s side and began a fearful and sickening
descent to a small rowing boat tied to the side of the ship. From
her upside down position, Linnett could see John’s body slumped in
the bottom of the boat, where he had been slung by the pirates.
When the pirate carrying Linnett was at the bottom of the rope
ladder, he swivelled his shoulder and dropped her down to join
John.

“Land is zat
a’way,” he said, jerking his head away from the ship. He gave
Linnett a leering grin from under a greasy blond fringe and shinned
back up the rope ladder onto the ship.

Patsy’s voice
floated down to her. “There is a flagon of water in the boat. Land
is about twelve miles port out, so they tells me. I am sorry, I
really am. You was real kind to me. Farewell, missus!”

Linnett slumped
in the boat, wondering what she should do next. She looked down at
John, who appeared to be sleeping but Linnett knew that the blow to
his head could mean he was unconscious anyway, and it was very
serious. Linnett tore off some of her second petticoat and dipped
it into the sea, and then she lifted her husband’s head gently onto
her lap and tenderly mopped the wound. John groaned, but when she
said his name, there was no other response, so she held him, the
cool wet cloth laid across his forehead.

The boat had
been bumping gently at the side of the ship but was now beginning
to float away from the ship’s side. Linnett noticed the oars on the
floor of the boat; she would have to move John off her lap if she
wanted to use them. Perhaps she should try to move the little boat
away from the ship just in case the pirates changed their minds
about killing them. A vision of Captain Pettigrew and the ship’s
officers hanging from the masts sprung into her mind. She hastily
suppressed these images; she must not think about the things she
had seen on the ship, not yet. Linnett knew that she had to stay
calm and think, that their lives were in her hands. If she moved
the boat away, they might blow them out of the water with cannon
fire. Linnett was terrified about which decision she should make.
She glanced up the wooden sides of the ship and saw that nobody was
looking down at them. Most of the guns were now on the other side
of the ship since that was where most of the fighting took place.
Linnett reasoned and chewed her lip indecisively, finally deciding
that she would row; they had to get away from that ship of death.
At least if they were to die, they would be alone together on high
seas with only God and the fish for company.