Читать книгу To Slight the Jacket Blue - Bronwyn Sciance - Страница 11

"A sail, a sail!"

Jane immediately shot to the window, her body slave hanging desperately to the brush still tangled in her hair. Snow-white sails bleached by the sun billowed from the harbor mouth. It would make landfall soon.

"Hurry, Susanna!" Jane cried impatiently, returning to the seat before the vanity. Edward would come up to the house as soon as he returned, of course, but she wanted to be at the docks to meet him when he stepped off the ship. And, of course, it went without saying that she wanted to look her very best.

Susanna finished brushing Jane's hair and began pulling it back into an intricate but becoming hairstyle. She was silent for a while, then said softly, "That is not him, Miss."

Jane couldn't turn for the pins, so instead she met Susanna's eyes in the mirror. "How can you be so sure, Susanna?"

"It is not his ship. I know of these things," Susanna explained. "Mr. Edward's ship was a three-master, Miss, and that ship has but two. And the Navy has only three-masters or more. It is not a Navy ship and it is not Mr. Edward."

Jane mulled this over for a moment, then sighed. "You may be right, Susanna," she said finally. "But I should be there to meet it anyway. Perhaps there's some news of him."

Susanna bowed and said no more. Jane stood and headed for the door. Just as she opened it, a messenger stood outside, looking about to knock and scared out of his wits. Jane offered the young boy a smile. "Yes, what is it?"

The slave bowed deeply. "Mr. Clarence's compliments, and will you please come downstairs?"

"I'm on my way, Daniel." Jane signaled to Susanna and headed down the stairs. As she reached the foot, she found her father standing with a man who was obviously a merchant captain and another, apparently some common sailor.

Clarence Wickham smiled at his only daughter and held out a hand. "My darling child, come down here, won't you?"

Jane took her father's hand and joined the cluster as he made the introductions. "This is James Wilson, captain of the Sarah Rose." Jane nodded; the ship, named for her long-dead mother, was the pride of her father's fleet, and the captain of such a ship must surely be a well-respected and excellent sailor to have earned that right. "And this fellow is, as I understand, a man they found swimming for shore in the Caribbean." To the captain, Clarence said, "This is my daughter Jane. Her sweetheart is in the Caribbean as well, hunting pirates."

"Commander Edward Sharpe of the HMS Danae?" asked the sailor.

Jane smiled. "Yes, you know him?"

"And few better, for I served as his lieutenant."

The smile dropped from Jane's face. "Why do you not remain with him? What has happened?"

The young lieutenant spoke haltingly. "We had turned for home with a number of prizes to our name when the lookout spotted another pirate on the horizon. We sailed closer before we realized it was Captain Bluejacket, but by then it was too late to turn back. Commander Sharpe fought as valiantly as anyone, but it was down to the last ten of us and the commander ordered us to surrender to save our lives. Captain Bluejacket offered us a choice: join his crew, or be thrown overboard."

Jane gasped. Clarence paled. "Did Edward drown?"

The lieutenant shook his head. "Only myself and one other lad chose to go overboard rather than join. He drowned within a few moments. But Bluejacket never gave Commander Sharpe a choice. Said he was to be demoted to cabin boy and kept aboard to work. He was taken to the captain's cabin, and I never saw him after that." He looked up at Jane, his eyes filling with tears. "I am sorry, Miss Wickham, truly. If I could have lain down my life for the commander's freedom, I would have. He was a good leader, and a fair one."

Jane stared at the sailor. Her father put a hand behind her to catch her if she should faint, but she clung grimly on to her awareness. In a calm, even voice, she asked the lieutenant, "And does he live now?"

"Upon my life, lady, I know not. All I can tell is that he lived when I was cast from the ship, and I heard that the rogue Bluejacket vowed he was to be kept alive."

"A pirate's word..." Clarence mumbled.

Captain Wilson spoke for the first time. "Is his bond, sir. It's an odd thing, but they have a rather rigid code of rules and honor. If this Captain Bluejacket said he was to be kept alive, he will remain so until he break some unforgivable rule. Commander Sharpe lives, sir, though for how long I can hardly say."

"Then where life exists, there hope lives also." Clarence looked at his daughter, then at the captain and the naval officer. "We will rescue Edward. This I vow." He clenched his fist, then turned to his secretary. "Post a notice. We are recruiting sailors, only the best, for a mission of mercy. Edward Sharpe must be rescued and his captor brought to justice."