The Silver Lotus (11 page)

Lady Yee was very pleased by the news, but she could not hide how ill she looked or felt. Li-Lee finally went to Captain Hammond and informed him, against her mistress's wishes, that she feared Lady Yee was developing a high fever. The captain immediately went to his wife, and like a yearling retriever, young Billy attached himself to his captain as a personal runner. He even slept outside the cabin door so the captain could continue with ship's business or any special needs without being disturbed beyond having a note from the sailing master slipped under the cabin door.

For his part, Captain Hammond sat by his wife for the better part of three days and nights. She was unconscious most of the time, and it was a trial to ensure that she consumed as much fresh water as possible. The captain administered the standard complement of medicines called for in cases of high fever, but neither he nor Li-Lee could speak to a cause for the problem. The captain decided to employ some medicines that his wife had taught him to prepare. She always traveled with a chest of medicinal staples, such as the bark of various trees, the dried berries of numerous plants, and all manner of herbs, ointments, and tinctures. She had even added labels in English for her husband's convenience. While Billy dashed about the ship like a powder monkey under fire to retrieve whatever was needed from ship's stores or the galley, the captain, Li-Lee, and the cook Ah Chu, who was well practiced at such things, double-boiled and distilled water to brew the appropriate ingredients, then strained the mixture, let it cool, and mixed it with a dash of fresh citrus juice. Whenever opportunity allowed, they gently spooned the concoction into the patient's mouth and prayed for her relief.

There was no question that Captain Hammond feared for his wife's health, as did the rest of the ship's company. And there were moments when he thought she was slipping away and began to suffer the pangs of an insufferable remorse. If Lady Yee died, it would be his fault, and beyond that his only horizon would be interminable grief. But even during the worst of her battle there remained an unquenchable ember of strength and endurance that refused to be extinguished. He could see it in her eyes whenever she came out of her stupor. She would notice her husband seated next to her berth, smile slightly, and pat his hand to comfort him, then drift off again into a world of shadows. Sometimes, late at night, Captain Hammond could even hear Billy outside the cabin door gently weeping, then saying prayers imploring mercy and grace for Lady Yee. The captain learned to like the boy more and more for his earnest devotion to Lady Yee.

On the evening of the fourth day, Lady Yee's fever broke, and though she said she was feeling slightly better, she remained very weak. Her husband had spent every possible moment, while not on duty, sitting by her side and applying cold compresses to her head and face. He hadn't enjoyed much sleep, and in fact looked more haggard than she did. Being most solicitous of her emotional health as well, he had decided not to stress matters by mentioning the incident that had led to her injury. Husband or not, he was still captain of his ship, and he had every reason to expect his orders to be obeyed. She should have stayed strapped in her berth as he instructed. But he kenneled those criticisms in light of her condition, and determined not to mention them again.

A few days later, when she could hold her voice without stress, Lady Yee squeezed her husband's hand for reassurance and spoke as though she knew exactly what he'd been thinking. “You must not be too angry with me, Captain Hammond,” she said. “I have no excuse to offer, of course. I disobeyed your orders and put others in jeopardy as a result of my actions. But by way of explanation, I can only say
that it simply appeared that the need for my services forward overrode my better judgment in this case, and I'm truly sorry for it. And you can't fault young Starkey, for he has been my greatest help when dealing with the men's health. He's the one that cleans their wounds properly, changes their bandages, listens to their complaints without comment, feeds them, and then empties their chamber pots. He is going to make some woman a prize husband one day.”

Captain Hammond stroked Lady Yee's pale hand, and smiled in turn. “Well, no soul alive could ever fault either of you for the depth of your compassion, my dear, or your dedicated sense of duty to our men, which I'm sure is always much appreciated. But what would have happened to us all if we had lost you over the side like an old coil of tarred rope?” Hammond half laughed to himself. “As far as this crew is concerned, you're more indispensable than I am. They would have gone into deep mourning if you had so much as broken your little finger. Though I suspect they are aware already, I haven't let them know anything officially concerning the extent of your injuries, or your subsequent fever.” The captain laughed. “Principally out of fear of mass mutiny. I can only hope that you won't break the spell by showing yourself on deck just yet. It would sadden and dishearten the men to see you so bruised about the face. Your beauty is something they take great pride in, my dear, and brag about. It is part of the joss of this ship to them.”

Lady Yee ceased smiling and pinned her husband's gaze. “My dear husband, that's not quite what I meant when I said that I had inadvertently put others in jeopardy. There was also present an innocent soul that I haven't yet mentioned, but who had the most to lose from my lack of self-discipline and forethought.”

Captain Hammond looked confused for a moment, and then thought perhaps Lady Yee was pulling his leg to lighten the mood. “I do hope you are not referring to that half-mad savant Ah Chu you hired as our cook. Or your Li-Lee who swears she's born of Mongol royalty
and always demands more respect and fermented mare's milk. For the sake of heaven, where does one find ready supplies of fermented mare's milk in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?”

Lady Yee laughed slightly, and appreciated her husband's attempt to hobble the tension, but she also felt obliged to tell him the truth. “No, in point of fact I jeopardized the life of our child, little Macy.”

There was a serious interval when Captain Hammond looked as though he had just been coldcocked with a belaying pin. His eyes almost rolled up into his head, and for a few moments he was the one with serious vertigo. When he regained his power of speech, the first thing he said was tinged with incredulous emphasis. “We are going to have a child? Are you serious, my dearest girl?” The future father blinked like a toad on a hot rock. “And you have already given our little blessing a name? I suppose you already know whether it will be a boy or a girl.”

Lady Yee grinned to reflect a private insight. “Macy will be a girl, a very intelligent and talented girl. And she will help care for the son that is to come next. Trust me. A mother needs all the help she can get raising a little boy, and an older sister makes a perfect foil and proctor. Besides, Macy is a reasonable name for either a boy or a girl. But as it stands, I'll wager my finest black pearl that the first to arrive will be a girl, and what's more she will look just like you, and without doubt she will grow to become the love of your life.”

When she looked up at her husband, Lady Yee suddenly witnessed something that she never thought she would ever live to see. Though he smiled with the angelic sweetness of a child, a cascade of fat tears came streaming down the captain's face and dripped on the counterpane. Lady Yee reached up and wiped away his tears with her handkerchief. “I sincerely hope, my dearest friend,” she said with a wan sarcastic smile, “that this is not how you're going to behave every time I announce that we are going to have a child . . . At the very least you'd stand to hazard all credibility with your crew as the insensate, raw-boned Yankee
swashbuckling martinet that they have come to love and respect. And more pointedly, if you do stake a habit of wandering about the decks weeping like a lost child, the men will commit you to an institution just to save their own investments.”

The stunned future father gave forth with an embarrassed and deeply self-conscious grin. He slowly wiped away his remaining tears with his sleeve. “I'm afraid, my dear Lady Yee, you'll have to take this old martinet just the way you find him. But you should count yourself fortunate that I kept my emotions in check the day we were married. For even then I felt these same torrents of joy when you parted your veil, and I suddenly realized that I was about to be wed to the most beautiful and brilliant creature I had ever known. But now to know you are physically sound and will also present us with a child, you might be asking for a bit more self-control than even a Yankee barbarian might be expected to display.”

With this last sentiment Hammond drew his wife's hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. After a moment, he leaned forward and kissed her brow.

“Becoming your husband is possibly the only truly enlightened thing I have ever done.” Then he paused as a thought occurred to him, and a look of mild surprise brightened his expression. “I can't imagine what our crew is going to get up to when they find out. I'll be fortunate if they don't toss me to the tuna and then make you captain.”

Lady Yee smiled at the compliment. “But there is really no need for them to find out anything just yet. So far, the only people who know are you and I, and my maid.”

Captain Hammond laughed. “My dear girl, you've been at sea long enough to know that there are no such things as secrets aboard a ship. And if Li-Lee knows, then you can bet Ah Chu knows, and if he knows, then I can almost guarantee that the whole crew will know all about it by three bells tomorrow, if not sooner.”

And so it came to pass just as Captain Hammond said it would. Though no one mentioned a word within the captain's hearing, of course, the crew's conduct spoke of its knowledge. The first thing the prospective father noticed was how quiet the ship had become. Suddenly there was no shouting of orders, and the men working in the rigging signaled each other with whistles and hand gestures. Some top man who was on duty in the crow's nest even invented a way of getting the attention of the deck officer by throwing down a bolt washer tied with a long strip of red flannel and blowing a single note on a bosun's whistle while it fell to deck. Once contact was made, the man in the crow's nest indicated the bearing and distance to his sighting with hand signals. By common understanding, the crew even agreed to avoid the stern of the ship so that Lady Yee would not be bothered by their footsteps and voices overhead. They also assigned one man on each watch to tend a stout trolling line deep off the port beam in the hope of hooking a fat tuna or dolphin fish for her table. Even the ship's cook, Mr. Gill, set aside his professional bias and made sure Lady Yee's chef had the first choice of any fresh fruits and vegetables that remained on board, and in gratitude Lady Yee's cook taught Mr. Gill how to make Chinese noodles and dumplings, which the crew heartily enjoyed as an alternative to potatoes and broth-soaked hardtack.

The captain and crew were reminded daily of their recent ordeal. They were cued to the memory by the incredible amount of flotsam and debris they spied floating on the passing swells. They identified parts of ships as well as parts of houses. At one location they passed a whole tree with two dead monkeys still clinging to the broken branches. They spotted a few bloated corpses of animals and people floating amid miles of drifting debris of every description. It was like the whole world had been torn to small pieces and scattered over the ocean. Then there'd be nothing for two hundred miles or so, and then another floating field of wreckage with different hints as to its origin
would cross the bow. The lookout spotted four broken ships adrift. Two were swamped to the gunwales, one was broken clean in half with the bow and stern still sticking out of the waves, and one large ship was found completely capsized. None showed the slightest sign of survivors, but squadrons of sharks were easily spotted from the crow's nest as they patrolled the litter of ship's wreckage that floated around each broken hull. But Captain Hammond was most surprised by small islands of shattered vegetation so far from any shore. One afternoon they came across just such a patch of floating greenery. A small flock of yellow finches had taken refuge in the branches of a shattered tree drifting among the vegetation. The moment
The Silver Lotus
came close the birds deserted their temporary refuge for the more substantial safety of the ship. The men were charmed and fed them breadcrumbs, broken grain, and fresh water, and the birds rewarded their generosity by tamely taking food from their hands and perching on their shoulders and caps. Three days later, as the ship slowly approached the northwest of the Hawaiian Island chain, all the birds save one took their leave and flew off. The remaining bird seemed quite content with its present company and decided to stay, so the cook created a lovely little cage from green bamboo, and the crew presented the bird to Lady Yee as a memento of their mutual good fortune in surviving the monsoon. Because Lady Yee had always enjoyed a Chinese fondness for songbirds, she was most touched by the gift and kept the bird close by her. She named it Joss, and it soon became so tame that it spent most of its time perched on Lady Yee's shoulder.

Captain Hammond had insisted that his wife stay in bed until a proper doctor could be consulted. He worried that she might have sustained internal injuries and was unwilling to let her move about the ship until a full diagnosis could be made. However, he came to visit often through the days, and brought her every bit of news, including the fact that they had rescued a lone Dutch sailor who was found adrift in a
shattered lifeboat from one of the lost ships. He was near death when they found him and was as yet unable to talk.

Two days later the lookout reported sighting the leeward islands of the Hawaiian chain off the starboard quarter. The next evening Kauai and Molokai came close into view, and the next morning Maui and Hawaii appeared out of the mists. And by six that evening, Captain Hammond's injured crewmen were being cared for at the merchant marine infirmary in Pearl Harbor.