59000. Getting close.

1 files changed, 155 insertions, 2 deletions

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@@ -2076,7 +2076,25 @@ Birdie woke up to the sound of men snoring. She lay in the dark trying to decide
 
 "Listen, things are going to happen rather fast I think, so I want you to know, there is a plan here, the less you know of it the better, but don't worry." Birdie heard the wood creak as he sat up and swung his feet to the floor. "Well, I know you're going to worry, but try not to let it eat at you too much." He same over and sat beside her for a bit with his arm around her. She leaned against his side, still half asleep. 
 
-"In a few minutes they'll see her and they'll chase her."
+He grabbed her hand and spread it open in the darkness. "Take this." He put something soft in it, leather she guessed. He closed her hand over it. Use it to tie your knife higher up on your leg, against your thigh. They won't look for it there."
+
+"Okay." She shifted her body, pulled up her nightgown, and with her hands spread the leather across her leg. She threaded the leather strap through knife holster and tied it tight. Too tight. She undid the knot and tried again. She stood up to see if it help. It did. She sat back down beside her father. "Got it."
+
+"I don't think you'll need it Birdie, but it's better have a knife and not need it..."
+
+"...than to need a knife and not have it." She finished. "You always say that."
+
+"Do I?"
+
+"Well usually it's 'gun' not 'knife', but yes you do."
+
+"Ah, well, you know it well at least."
+
+"I do."
+
+They sat in silence, listening to someone outside snoring.
+
+"In a few minutes their lookouts will see her and they'll chase her."
 
 "Who?"
 
@@ -2084,7 +2102,7 @@ Birdie woke up to the sound of men snoring. She lay in the dark trying to decide
 
 "Delos? I thought..."
 
-"We needed her hidden so she could slip out at night. If all went well, and I think it did, Tambo and Ko slipped through the marsh and out the mouth of the Combahee in the dark. But there's little in the way of wind, she's likely not out of sight. If they didn't see her earlier, they will a minute." He squeezed her tight again and then went back over to his bed and lay down. "It's going to be a long couple of days Birdie, best get some rest while you can."
+"We needed her hidden so she could slip out at night. If all went well, and I think it did, Tambo and Ko slipped through the marsh and out the mouth of the Combahee in the dark. But there's little in the way of wind, she's likely not out of sight. If they didn't see her earlier, they will in a minute." He squeezed her tight again and then went back over to his bed and lay down. "It's going to be a long couple of days Birdie, best get some rest while you can."
 
 Birdie lay back down in bed wondering what Lulu and Henri were doing on Delos. She tried to decide which was scarier, being here with all the soldiers or sailing without her Papa on board. She couldn't make up her mind, but she was glad she was the one staying behind. 
 
@@ -2246,10 +2264,145 @@ Her father leaned forward on the pommel of his saddle and looked at McPhail for
 
 Her father laughed. "Oh, I don't care about commerce at all. I like to sail, and fish, and hunt. In that order."
 
+### Lulu and Delos at Sea
+
+They were well out of the river mouth before the easter sky even hinted at sawn, but there was little wind to speed them over the horizon. They had hoped to sail east, out of sight and then cut north to find Revenge, which was likely north of Charlestown, watching the shipping routes to London and Bristol. The wind was not cooperating though. In a flat out race they could not beat the British warship. It was bigger and heavier, but it had more sails and could catch more wind. Tambo still believed they could out race it, but even he didn't want to try right now. So they were going to do what the warship could not, sail close the wind, row if they must, and use the tides and shallows to their advantage. They could lose her in the tidal marshes of the shoreline, they just had to get north of her first. That was the first race, and they had one distinct advantage: surprise. The tk warship's crew weren't on the lookout for a ship. They might know something was hidden up the river, but they did not know it was Delos or that she would slip out under the cover of night. They had a head start, the question was, how much would that help. 
+
+Tambo pushed them nearly four miles out and then turned north. They had a northwest wind at their back, but as the moved closer back to shore it would fall off. While Edisto Island faced nearly due east, most the coast line faced south and the land to the south didn't extend out as far, which meant winds from the south were blocked by the land when you got close to the island. That meant that while Delos had 13 knots of wind, and was moving at over 9 knots, the British ship closer to shore would have trouble finding southerly wind at all. Of course Delos would run into the same problem as she got closer to shore, but if all went well, they would already be far enough north of the other ship that it wouldn't ever get within cannon range.
+
+The British ship had sails out. Lulu could see them through the glass. There was something strangely thrilling about this chase. She knew they might all drone if that ship caught them, but somehow it seemed impossible that it should. That was the thrill of it, that distance between what it seemed like was going to happen and what was actually happening. 
+
+She turned the glass north toward the shoreline of tk island, the marsh country south of Charlestown. The pitch of Delos and the blurriness of her glass made it impossible to tell for sure if the trees were moving, but she didn't think they were.That was good for them. She scanned back to the warship and was startled to see how fast it had gotten underway. It seemed like it was halfway to them already. For the first time since they'd escape the marsh Lulu felt afraid. She put down her glass and glanced at Tambo who was staring through his own glass. She heard him mutter under his breath as he brought the glass down to his side. He saw that she was watching him and he smiled. "She's a fast one eh?"
+
+Lulu nodded and gulped. If Tambo was afraid then maybe it wasn't impossible that it would catch them. "Is it going to catch us."
+
+Tambo frowned. "It's going to be close. She's made good ground with the offshore breeze, just like we did. Now she's going to turn north at a slightly sharper angle and try to overtake us before we make it back in the wind shadow."
+
+"Will she catches us then?"
+
+"Not if I can help it. Now you go forward and tell Kobayashi to come back here. I want you to stay by the main in case we need you there."
+
+She knew he wanted to talk to Kobayashi without her listening. Birdie would have found some way to listen, she had some curious way of always finding a way to listen to what the grownup were saying. They called her nosey sometimes, Aunt Māra got made at her when she did it to her, but Lulu never bothered. Grownups didn't know what they were saying half the time anyway and other half the they said things they would never end up doing so what was the point in knowing them? 
+
+She went forward and sent Kobayashi to the back. She sat down with Henri to play cards. There was nothing they could do. It was all about the wind and skill of the captains in using it. She, along with every other sailor, was just along for the ride. The wind always decided who won and who lost.
+
+By midday it was not looking good. The British ship was within hailing distance. Thankfully she had no forward cannon or they would be in real trouble very soon. As it was they still had a chance, though even Tambo was sweating now. He and Kobayashi had used lines to pull the main boom in tighter, allowing them to turn sharper into the wind, which gave them a heading the British warship could not match. Unfortunately it was also pushing them further out to sea rather than closer into the coast where they wanted to be. 
+
+When the sundial her father had built just forward of the wheel read 3, Tambo gave up on the coast and pointed them as close to the wind as they could come, heading them nearly east, when they wanted to heading west. He decided, and they all agreed, that it was better to run until dark and try to cut back inland in the night, then disappear into the marshes at first light. It was working. They had gained a little ground on the British ship, but the wind would begin to die down as evening wore and her much larger sails would soon have the advantage. She was already and anticipating this, having broken off a direct chase in favor of setting herself up to tack back into the them as the wind died and Delos's speed fell off.
+
+"Her captain knows how to sail anyway." Tambo muttered. 
+
+Lulu watched the British ship cross their stern wake as it headed further out, hoping to catch the onshore wind of the evening and come swooping down on them. "What if we break now and run for the marsh? Couldn't we get into shallower water?"
+
+Kobayashi nodded. "We could, but we might be stuck there. The tides are tricky too, we need to time them right to make sure we can get in, lay low, and then get out again without being noticed."
+
+Lulu nodded. "But don't we want to find Anne and Jack?"
+
+"Yes, but first we have to lose this ship. Anne and Jack don't want us showing up with a 32 gun frigate behind us. That's no good for anyone."
+
+"Revenge could sink that thing couldn't it?"
+
+"Probably, but it might be quite a battle. And Revenge and her crew might not be well disposed toward us when it was over."
+
+Lulu considered this in silence. She was curious what Anne did in battle, but she knew that Anne mostly preferred to avoid pitched battles with warships. Edward was the only person she'd heard of who enjoyed that. Her father too perhaps. She had never seen him in battle. 
+
+Suddenly the british ship began to come about, moving toward a parallel course. "Tambo!" Lulu screamed as she watched tiny black dots come running out the length of the tk british ship. Cannons. All those black dots were cannons and they were all pointed at Delos. Pointed at her.
+
+Tambo stood beside her with the glass. He didn't say anything but she noticed his hand was shaking slightly as he held the glass. She heard him exhale and steady himself. "Are they going to fire at us?" Before she was finished speaking a screaming came across the sky, a shrieking whistling roar that stopped when something splashed into the sea about two hundred feet off their port side. Lulu screamed. 
+
+Tambo scooped her up in his arms and hugged her tight. "It is okay lulu, they are not in range yet. They are just trying to scare us."
+
+"It's working," she said as she composed herself.
+
+"No it's not."
+
+"I thought it was scary."
+
+"Of course you did, you didn't know what was happening. It's easy to be scared when you don't understand everything that's going on." He sat down on the deck beside her, cross legged. "But it won't work because we're not going to surrender without a fight."
+
+"Are we going to fight?"
+
+They watched a tiny puff of smoke and then there was another roaring sound. The splash seemed closer. "We may Lulu. But I still think we can get away." Tambo glanced up at the sun, slinking slowly down behind the islands to their west. "Once that sun is down, the advantage shifts to us, he doesn't have a pilot, non of them know these waters. We will lose them in the shallows tonight, make our way to mouth of the tk river and run out it northeasterly like any other ship headed for England. Then we're home free, use the current to head to Ocracoke. Should take two days. Another to provision and ready Queen Anne, and then we'll come get your Papa while that frigate is out at sea chasing our ghost."
+
+"And if we don't get away?"
+
+Tambo shrugged. "We get put in jail with your father and have to come up with a new plan. If I know you father, he's already working on that part."
+
+### Road to Charletown.
+
+Her father was up before dawn. He nudged Birdie's foot and moved around so their heads were together. "How's my girl?"
+
+Birdie nodded. "I'm fine. How are you?"
+
+"I am fine. I wish I knew were Delos was and what luck she had had, but I'll just have to have faith in Tambo and Kobayashi."
+
+"And Lulu," said Birdie.
+
+"And Lulu," agreed her father.
+
+Tonight we'll likely get to Charlestown, unless they decided to wait another night and show up early. Either way we'll likely be separated. I will be thrown in the jail and you'll probably be taken to someone's house."
+
+This sent a chill down Birdie's back. "I don't want to leave you."
+
+"I know, but I'd rather that than have you in jail with me. I can get myself out of jail, I don't know that I can get both of us out of jail."
+
+"How are you going to get yourself out of jail?" The news the her father wasn't worried about jail startled her. How did one get out of jail so easily.
+
+"Oh, there are several ways to do that. Gold is the easiest, but I haven't got any so I will have to use wits. Or cannons. We'll see."
+
+"Cannons. Where are you going to get cannons?"
+
+"Revenge of course. And Queen Anne perhaps."
+
+"Edward's coming? If Delos can find him."
+
+"I thought you and Edward didn't get along?"
+
+"What made you think that?" 
+
+"You argue all the time whenever we're around him."
+
+"Oh, well, we're just discussing things. Edward is very idealistic about what he's doing. I am not as much." She could see her father's teeth in the starlight as he smiled. "And we both like to hear ourselves talk so we have that in common too."
+
+"Papa?"
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"What are we going to do if no one comes?"
+
+Her father was quiet for a moment. "That's the hardest part. The waiting. We will give them six days. If nothing has happened after six days then I will get out the hard way and come find you. Wherever you are be kind to the servants, befriend any of the slaves you're around, they can help you get messages to me. And I will send messages to you as best I can. But always keep your eyes and ears open. Wherever you end up they will be in touch with McPhail and know what's happening. Always be silent. Always listen. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I love you Birdie."
+
+### Lulu and Delos into the night
+
+The sun was already below the horizon when Lulu woke up. She and Henri had laid down in the hammocks to try to make up for the sleep they'd lost last night and the sleep they'd lose tonight. Lulu didn't think she could sleep with a warship periodically firing cannons at them, but she did. She remembered her father once saying, you'd be surprised what you can get used to, but she'd not really believed him until now. She lay there a moment in the hammock just listening to the silence of the boat plunging though the sea, there was no other sound and it was easy to believe she was alone in the world. That the whole world was just this boat and there was no British warship around, no England at all, just ocean and her ship sailing in between worlds where no owned the trees and everyone was nice. Then she got up and looked around. The British ship was no closer and in little while it would be dark. 
+
+She went below to get some food for her and Henri when he woke up and found Aunt Māra and Tambo sitting in the hold sewing on a huge black piece of canvas. 
+
+She took a piece of dried fish from the rafter and a ball of rice from the stove and came over to where they were working. "What are you doing?"
+
+"Rats got into the night sail."
+
+"The night sail?"
+
+Tambo laughed. "That's what your father calls it. It's a black sail, hard to see at night. Once it's truly dark, we'll bring down the other sails and run this one on the main so we're harder to see.
+
+"I didn't know we had black sails."
+
+"We haven't used them since you were born"
+
+"Did you use them before I was born?"
+
+"Some." Tambo bent his head to his work.
+
+"Do you need help?"
 
+"I need a break," said Aunt Māra standing and stretching. "I'm due to relieve Kobayashi in a spell anyway. You take over for me." She handed her needle to Lulu and bent down to show her where she had been sewing. Lulu could see the ragged holes where rats had chewed the canvas to make themselves a nest. She hated rats.
 
+She and Tambo worked in silence. When her section was done she carefully put the needle away in the bag Aunt Māra had given her and hung it back up in its spot on the wall. She grabbed some more fish and rice for Henri and went back up topside. The air was cool now and the last hint of blue was fading from the western sky. It was Lulu's favorite time to be a sea, the darkness was overwhelming, like a huge thing rising up to swallow you, but in the good way, it was so much space, so much room, it was as if you could see forever. On calm nights when they were anchored somewhere sheltered the water turned glass and reflected the stars so well it was like floating among the stars, sailing on the great clouds in the sky. Which her father told her were clouds of stars, but she wasn't sure if he had been pulling her leg or telling the truth. 
 
+Tonight it wasn't that calm, but that was okay, somewhere out there in the darkness that ship was still coming for them. She squinted at the western horizon, but could not tell how far out they were. She came and stood by her Aunt who was taking her run at the helm. She sat down on the stool her father had anchored to the deck and Lulu climbed in her lap. 
 
+Aunt Māra would sail for four hours, then Tambo would relieve her and sail into the early morning, then Kobayashi would take over, then Aunt Māra again, and so it would go. As long as they were at sea, someone had to be on watch. If her father were here, and if they weren't being chased, Lulu would have a watch, usually in the day time, although once or twice her father had let her take the first night watch.