The Stolen Heart (28 page)

 

 

He shook his head and gave a smug grin. “I proclaimed a holiday,
with two men on watch, and told them they can resume duty on Monday
morning. We don’t have to get out of this bed until then, if you
don’t choose.”

 

 

“Barring a storm, of course.”

 

 

He nodded. “Of course. But the elements would not be so unkind as to
interrupt this special time together.”

 

 

He smiled down at her, but then his expression changed, and he
kissed her hard.

 

 

When he lifted his lips, he said, “I almost lost you, my dear. I’m
never, ever going to make that mistake again.”

 

 

“Sometimes it can’t be helped. Accidents at sea-”

 

 

He silenced her with another kiss, and threw one leg over her hips,
leaving her in little doubt of his desires.

 

 

“Don’t say it, don’t even think it. Think only of me, like this with
you forever.”

 

 

She smiled up at him. “I will try. I would do anything for you, you
know that. I love you more than life itself, Jared. I always have,
from the moment I crashed into your chest at the wharf.”

 

 

She was working up the nerve to tell him her news, but he was doing
the most delicious things to her breasts and thighs. She clasped his
head to her and gave in to the delightful sensations only he could
bring.

 

 

There would be plenty of time to tell him about the baby now that he
was not planning to send her home once they reached Valparaiso….

 

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

 

 

At noon Almira dragged herself off the bed, her limbs trembling like
a newborn colt’s. She had begun to wonder if her excessive ardor
could harm the child, for she had been like a woman driven,
desperate to have Jared for her own over and over again.

 

 

But now even she was tired, and almost unable to stand after the
thrill of their last encounter. A warm bath and some soft cotton
against her enervated skin, and she was sure she would sleep.

 

 

She looked out of the porthole as the tub filled, and saw a small
brig off in the distance. Normally it would not have troubled her.
There were certainly enough merchant ships around, especially now
that they were so near the coast. They had hailed several in the
past few days, but they had all sped past, fast clippers on their
way to the Horn.

 

 

But something about this ship bothered her. Almira frowned,
recalling the strange dreams she had had when she had been ill.

 

 

She also remembered all her father had told her, and a story she had
heard whilst on board the
Peru
, a rumor about pirates
plying the waters and using Arauco as their base of operations.

 

 

They flew the
jolie rouge,
the red flag, and were more
than happy to prey upon whalers, since they carried only a small
crew, and their cargoes were so valuable.

 

 

The pirate ships often carried fifty to seventy men, and their ships
were lightning fast compared to a slow, heavily laden whaler.

 

 

Especially one with only a single decent mast…

 

 

She jumped into the tub, scrubbed herself off, and quickly donned
her clothes.

 

 

Then she went to the weapons chest, and took out a knife and pistol
and some powder and shot. She had only half a plan in her mind, but
one thing she knew from all of the stories that she had heard about
these pirates: they never let the captain live.

 

 

She stuck one of the knives in her waistband, and then wrapped up
the other weapons, and the remnants of the biscuit and cheese they
had dined on last evening. She found Jared's purse and made a
water-proof parcel out of some oilcloth, and then looked out the
porthole again.

 

 

She threw in a spare shirt and some cloth, a tinderbox, and Jared's
small compass and watch. Then she tied it all securely, and went to
rouse her beloved.

 

 

She kissed him awake, stroking his hair back from his forehead
lovingly. “Jared, my love, there’s a sail out there. The ship is a
small brig, flying a red flag. I fear that we have pirates.”

 

 

He smiled at her for a moment, thinking she was joking, but at the
serious expression on her face, he sat up. “
What
?”

 

 

“Pirates. Hurry, you must get dressed and go up on deck.”

 

 

He went over to the porthole, and looked out. Perkins was evidently
trying to evade them judging from the sudden change in course that
had him rapidly backing up three steps, but they were still gaining
fast.

 

 

“Lord bless us, that’s the
jolie rouge
all right.”

 

 

He leapt into the tub, scrubbed himself for a minute with a cloth,
rinsed off, and snatched the towel she held out for him.

 

 

He give himself about six licks of it to dry himself off, then
yanked on his trousers and grabbed his shirt.

 

 

He ran out of the cabin, donning the flapping white garment as he
went, leaving Al to follow along behind with the parcel she had made
up for him. She thought about grabbing his boots, but they might
only weigh him down…

 

 

“All hands! All hands!” he shouted.

 

 

Perkins was at the helm, and she immediately offered to relieve him
so he could speak to Jared. She headed the boat into shore, which
blindsided the pirates for a moment, since they were convinced they
would head directly out to sea to make a run for it. They had tacked
and set their sails for the open ocean, and now had to beat back
across the wind.

 

 

The
Trident
had the more favorable winds, and as Jared and
Perkins argued about what to do for the best, she brought in the
ship as close as she dared to the ragged coastline.

 

 

“We can’t outrun them, and we can’t lose them,” Jared said, yanking
out his charts and pointing to their position.

 

 

“There are a couple of islets here, and that’s about it. At this
point we’re less than a day away from Callao, but we would never be
able to hold them off for that long. It's broad daylight. Unless a
storm comes up, we have no chance. We’re just going to have to
prepare to be boarded.”

 

 

Perkins looked horrified. “But Captain, you know what they’ll do to
us if they board…”

 

 

“I know. But there's still time to get some of you into a boat, and
to safety,” Jared said, with a long look at Almira. He couldn’t
leave his ship, but he had to save her.

 

 

She had known as soon as she had seen the
jolie rouge
that
he would try to
get her and some of the greenhands off the
ship in an effort to save them.

 

 

It was of course extremely noble of him, but he was the one in real
danger, not her. So long as she could keep her identity concealed,
she would be fine.

 

 

Almira was tempted to go with him, but she had come out here to find
her father. As she saw the brig bearing down on the
Trident
, she knew for certain that this was what had happened to the
Calypso
. Her father had had a rich cargo heading back towards Nantucket,
and had been captured and possibly even killed by the maritime
desperadoes on his way back home.

 

 

The coasts of South America had been lawless ever since the English
privateers under Drake and Hawkins had first begun to prey upon
Spanish shipping at the end of the sixteenth century.

 

 

In the past twenty or so years, ever since the various Spanish
colonies had begun to seek their freedom from their mother country,
the area had become more and more dangerous. If the Spanish
government did not confiscate the ships, the so-called new
governments did.

 

 

Soldiers and sailors from both sides had also taken to the high seas
for plunder. If they got hold of Jared, they would execute him and
take his cargo.

 

 

She could not bear to lose him. He was her lover, friend, the father
of her child, the man who completed her in every way. Jared had
become almost her whole world, him and this ship.

 

 

Though he would probably hate her forever, she had to try to get him
to safety. And then she would have to try to come up with a plan to
save the
Trident
without getting them all killed.

 

 

He told the men to begin to muster all of the weapons they could
find, and to ready one of the whaleboats.

 

 

“Come help me, Al,” he instructed.

 

 

"She steeled herself for his arguments, and what she had to do. She
knew full well he was going to command her to get into the boat and
leave him. She simply couldn't let him stay. And she knew she
couldn't go with him either. Not while there was still a hope of
find out what had happened to her father.

 

 

As soon as they went aft, he began, “My dear, I would have you safe.
I want you to get into the boat.”

 

 

“No, you don’t understand. It’s
you
who have to get into it,
darling.” She edged closer to the railing.

 

 

He stared at her as if she were mad. “Don’t be silly. I’m the
captain. You’re a woman, and if they find out-”

 

 

She gripped his arm so hard she saw him wince. “Listen to me, Jared,
just listen! You’re the captain. The pirates will want the crew’s
loyalty. The only way to get that is for them to kill you! Please. I
have the compass reading. I’ll come back for you, I give you my
word. But you have to save yourself, you have to live. Go now!”

 

 

He had followed her to the edge of the deck just as she had hoped.
“I am
not
leaving you, Almira. I love-”

 

 

She took a deep breath and pushed as hard as she could, sending him
flying over the railing.

 

 

He hit the water with a loud splash, and she waited with her heart
in her mouth until his head cleared the surface once more.

 

 

She finished tying the rope around the oilskin containing his
provisions and compass, and then leaned over the rail.

 

 

“Jared! Jared!” She threw the parcel and rope down to him. “We'll be
back. Make a shelter just in from the beach, and we’ll be back for
you no matter what. I love you!”

 

 

“I'm never going to forgive you for this, Almira. If you and I ever
live through this, damn it, I'm going to wring your bloody neck!”

 

 

“Stop paddling there and swearing!” she called. “Swim! I love you!”

 

 

"Damn it, Almira! Those pirates are going to--"

 

 

But his dire predictions wafted away on the wind, and she had
already run back to the wheel and taken over the helm from Perkins.
She swung the whaler toward the open sea once more.

 

 

Then she grabbed her knife, and bracing herself, stabbed it into her
left forearm, deeply enough to make the wound look convincing. She
also scored a mark along her chest, and another one on the back of
her left hand, and one on her right.

 

 

She smeared the knife with the blood right up to the hilt, and then
ran up to Perkins and Cook, who were standing near the galley
gathering all the knives and cutting in tools into a pile.

 

 

“Whatever I say, play along.”

 

 

“What the hell happened to you?” Cook demanded.

 

 

“Jared is safe, but I had to make it look convincing. He's swimming
to shore. Whatever you do, don’t say a word to the pirates that he's
still alive and I helped him escape.

 

 

"Now we have to try to save our necks. They’ll never let us live if
we put up a fight. And we won’t live unless we can get them to take
us to a port. We need to get the ship back from them and rescue
Jared.

 

 

"You know the helm settings too, Perkins. Pass them along to every
member of the crew. He's going to build a shelter and wait inland.
No matter what happens, one of us has to go back for him, do you
understand?”

 

 

"Aye," Perkins said, nodding, though he was staring at Al as though
he had never seen him before.

 

 

“We can outrun them,” Cook said hopefully.

 

 

She shook her head, knowing that plan would mean capture sooner or
later.

 

 

“We're carrying oil and bone, and with the way we're built, we've
never exactly been fast. We're missing the tops of two masts and
lumbering like an overburdened elephant. No, they're going to catch
us no matter what, unless we're lucky enough to find a fog bank to
cover us, or can hold them off long enough for night to fall.”

 

 

“There are some mountainous islands further up the coast according
to the charts. We can try to hide-” Perkins began to suggest.

 

 

“It's a possibility, but I doubt it. They’ve seen us, and will just
keep looking. Still, we need to get away from here now, so they
don’t wonder why we sailed so close to shore.”

 

 

“We should have lowered a boat with the captain and some of the men
in it,” Perkins sighed.

 

 

“There wasn’t time. They would have seen it and might have gone
after them if they thought they had something worth taking. The
captain is a strong swimmer. I know he'll be fine.”

 

 

She shot the men a warning look as a few other men now came up to
discuss their options.