diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'lbh.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | lbh.txt | 670 |
1 files changed, 348 insertions, 322 deletions
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ The sail snapped like a whipped wet towel. That meant the wind was light. If the Birdie smiled in her hammock. She stretched, lifting her arm out to feel the air. It was still cool, though wet and heavy. The sodden heat would come even earlier today, as it had every day for the last week. They would make camp the next day, maybe the day after, Birdie reasoned. She pulled her head up out of the hammock to scan the deck. -Delos was 62 feet from her bow sprite to aft rail where Birdie's hammock was tied. She was a gaff rigged Jamaican sloop. Built of strong cedar, sweet smelling. There were two masts, one just fore of midship and another in the cockpit at the rear, where the other end of her hammock was tied. Her father was vague about her origins, or at least how Delos came to be his. As Birdie understood it, she was built in a place called Jamaica, sailed all the way to the coast of a place called France where she ran aground. Her cargo was offloaded and she was abandoned to the waves. That was not Poseidon's plan though. The tides had pulled her back out to sea. And her father, who happened to be on watch on another ship had spied her in the night. Sensing his chance, he'd woken two companions, sailed alongside her and the three trimmed the sails of their vessel, pointed her in the opposite direction and jumped ship for the new one. +Wanderer was 62 feet from her bow sprite to aft rail where Birdie's hammock was tied. She was a gaff rigged Jamaican sloop. Built of strong cedar, sweet smelling. There were two masts, one just fore of midship and another in the cockpit at the rear, where the other end of her hammock was tied. Her father was vague about her origins, or at least how Wanderer came to be his. As Birdie understood it, she was built in a place called Jamaica, sailed all the way to the coast of a place called France where she ran aground. Her cargo was offloaded and she was abandoned to the waves. That was not Poseidon's plan though. The tides had pulled her back out to sea. And her father, who happened to be on watch on another ship had spied her in the night. Sensing his chance, he'd woken two companions, sailed alongside her and the three trimmed the sails of their vessel, pointed her in the opposite direction and jumped ship for the new one. One of those companions, Tamba, was walking toward Birdie. Tamba was a tall, powerfully built man who had sailed most of the way around the world with her father. They had sailed together long enough that neither of them seemed to remember a time when they did not sail together. Tamba was her second father, though she never called him Papa. She hopped out of the hammock, her feet landing on the smooth oak planking of the deck with a light thud. @@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ She could see her brother's unruly mop of hair sticking out the side of the hamm "Papa?" -He nodded to her and then turned back around to watch the sun rise. Birdie ran aft, ducking under booms, and hopping over the coiled lines and small barrels stacked along the gunwales, a name she did not understand since there were no guns on Delos. Well, none on the gunwale anyway. Below deck, in the stern, were two small cannon loaded with forks and knives designed to shred an enemy's sails. "Delos is small," Tamba once told her. "We would be blown to bits by a cannon, but we're fast, we can outrun them all. We have just enough fire power to convince any other small, fast ships not to chase us. That's all we need." +He nodded to her and then turned back around to watch the sun rise. Birdie ran aft, ducking under booms, and hopping over the coiled lines and small barrels stacked along the gunwales, a name she did not understand since there were no guns on Wanderer. Well, none on the gunwale anyway. Below deck, in the stern, were two small cannon loaded with forks and knives designed to shred an enemy's sails. "Wanderer is small," Tamba once told her. "We would be blown to bits by a cannon, but we're fast, we can outrun them all. We have just enough fire power to convince any other small, fast ships not to chase us. That's all we need." She ducked into the small doorway that covered the ladder leading below decks. Keeping her hands on the rails -- always keep one hand on the boat was her father's mantra -- she flung herself down with a single leap, bypassing the wooden ladder completely. It was much darker below, it took her eyes a moment to adjust. She could see the glow of the stove and Kobayashi's form bent over, stirring a pot. He never looked up at her thud. He kicked a clay pot by his feet so that it slid slightly toward her. She grabbed a basket hanging from the rafters and scooped rice out of the pot and into it. @@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ She managed the basket of food with one hand, careful to keep the other on the l She lurched and stumbled her way to stern where everyone was waiting for the rice and dried fish. She'd be happy to eat some fresh meat again. She hoped Papa and Tamba would go hunting as soon as they made land. She hoped this year she'd be able to hunt too. Her father had promised her last year that this year she could hunt. But for now she'd settle for something besides fish. -They'd run out of Pemmican two weeks before when they were held up in the outer islands by a late season storm. They'd spent the better part of two days beached, living almost entirely below deck, huddled out of the wind and rain, wishing for sunshine. When they finally floated Delos again after the storm had passed, a few days of rough seas seemed like nothing. Anything was better than being wet and cold and chewing sand in the ceaseless wind. +They'd run out of Pemmican two weeks before when they were held up in the outer islands by a late season storm. They'd spent the better part of two days beached, living almost entirely below deck, huddled out of the wind and rain, wishing for sunshine. When they finally floated Wanderer again after the storm had passed, a few days of rough seas seemed like nothing. Anything was better than being wet and cold and chewing sand in the ceaseless wind. The remains of that wind had born them south quickly though. They'd hugged the shoreline, out of the strong northward current that ran further offshore. They saw sails only twice and both times the ships were too far over the horizon to see more than a top sail. They were big her father said. @@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ Tamba grunted. "Easier for you to say." The rumors from early in the summer, up in the north, were that the British were planning to retake the Bahamaian port of Nassau soon. Once abandoned as useless, pirates had found a use for Nassau and for two seasons running they had openly controlled, administered, governed, and otherwise run the port of Nassau. The entire western coast of the Atlantic talked of nothing but pirates. Birdie and her family had overhead plenty during their summer stay on Block Island, a small, nearly bare island off the coast of the colony of Rhode Island. It had no good harbor, little land worth farming, and almost no one went there, making it a popular destination for ships with cargoes that could not sail into Boston proper and expect a warm welcome. -Delos was not a pirate vessel, and did not sail with pirate vessels, but it, and Birdie along with it, definitely knew and spent time with ships and crews that were often called pirate by those that spread rumors up and down the Atlantic coast of the colony. Rumors were always saying the British are coming, her father said, and the British never actually came, or came to the wrong place, or not enough of them came. Birdie had lost track of what it was the British did and didn't do. They were about as real as the black and white birds that couldn't fly that Kobayashi swore he had seen on a trip around Cape Horn. +Wanderer was not a pirate vessel, and did not sail with pirate vessels, but it, and Birdie along with it, definitely knew and spent time with ships and crews that were often called pirate by those that spread rumors up and down the Atlantic coast of the colony. Rumors were always saying the British are coming, her father said, and the British never actually came, or came to the wrong place, or not enough of them came. Birdie had lost track of what it was the British did and didn't do. They were about as real as the black and white birds that couldn't fly that Kobayashi swore he had seen on a trip around Cape Horn. "You don't think they'll come at all, or you don't think they take Nassau." Tamba's voice was low, as if he didn't want Birdie and her sibling to here this part of the discussion. @@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ Neither of the other men said anything. The silence stretch out until Henry came Birdie had been two and a half years old, when Henry was born. She had only a few fuzzy memories of Henry's mother. Dark hair leaning over her. The sunset in a window behind her. They had lived for a time on shore. Near the Thames. Her father worked on ships. A woman watched Birdie and her sister during the day. Sometimes her father would hire on a ship and be gone for several weeks. The last of these trips was nearly two months. Birdie remembered sitting under the table with Lulu, both of them crying, while the woman who watched them spoke to a harbor master about storms and her father's ship going down. -Two night later, there had been a tap at the window and there he was. Birdie had picked Henry up out of his crib and they had all disappeared into the London night. The next day they were aboard Delos and well out of the Thames, bound for the Colonies. +Two night later, there had been a tap at the window and there he was. Birdie had picked Henry up out of his crib and they had all disappeared into the London night. The next day they were aboard Wanderer and well out of the Thames, bound for the Colonies. Neither she nor Lulu had any memories of their own mother, save the stories she had heard her father tell, memories she inherited and clung too sometimes when she felt the tightness in her chest grow too much to bear. @@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ Birdie ran astern to tell her father what they had seen, but he was already stan "I thought so, but I wasn't sure." -"Must've 'ad some weather this summer." Her father hopped down. "Hope we're done with that," she heard him mutter to himself. He pointed to the wheel. "Bring us out a wee bit." Birdie turned the wheel a quarter to port and Delos' nose edged out toward the open ocean, carving a wide berth around the bank. +"Must've 'ad some weather this summer." Her father hopped down. "Hope we're done with that," she heard him mutter to himself. He pointed to the wheel. "Bring us out a wee bit." Birdie turned the wheel a quarter to port and Wanderer' nose edged out toward the open ocean, carving a wide berth around the bank. Orange-headed gannets and brown pelicans dove at the outer edge of the bank, their sleek wings pulled back until they looked like harpoon tips thrown from some unseen ship sailing in the sky. They sliced through the air and hit the surface of the sea with such a quiet, tiny splash, transformed in an instant from bird to fish. When they surfaced the Gannets always with a fish in their beak. @@ -149,17 +149,17 @@ Birdie pulled in the porgy, which was big enough to feed them all in a stew. Lul "Coming about," Her father yelled. Birdie instinctively ducked as the booms creaked and groaned and lines whirled and the ship pitched from starboard to port and pointed her nose at a sharp angle to shore. -Delos was a lateen rigged Caraval with two masts and two triangular sails. She was light, fast and maneuverable. She had a short keel that made it possible to bring her nearly a mile up the Edisto river if they needed. Their winter home was nowhere near that far up river. They made their camp on the island, a mere quarter mile from the Atlantic shore. Delos would be kept further up in the marsh though, protected from storms by a massive stand of lobblolly pine that sheltered the marsh. +Wanderer was a lateen rigged Caraval with two masts and two triangular sails. She was light, fast and maneuverable. She had a short keel that made it possible to bring her nearly a mile up the Edisto river if they needed. Their winter home was nowhere near that far up river. They made their camp on the island, a mere quarter mile from the Atlantic shore. Wanderer would be kept further up in the marsh though, protected from storms by a massive stand of lobblolly pine that sheltered the marsh. The worst part of winter camp was arriving. Every year they had to beat upwind, while also fighting the current of the river and constantly sounding to watch for shallows in the muddy brown river mouth. Even now, still a quarter mile off shore, Kobayashi and Tamba were hauling up the sounding lines while her father shortened the traveler so they could beat closer to the wind. All Birdie wanted was to get ashore and see Aunt Māra and her cousins. She went below and stowed her fishing gear. She and Lulu climbed to the crows nest on the main mast and began watching for light patches of water that meant shallows. -Their father tacked Delos back and forth up and down the windward side of the island for most of the day, waiting for the tide to begin streaming in, since this would give them the added momentum they needed to make it into the river mouth where, for a time, it was too narrow to tack. +Their father tacked Wanderer back and forth up and down the windward side of the island for most of the day, waiting for the tide to begin streaming in, since this would give them the added momentum they needed to make it into the river mouth where, for a time, it was too narrow to tack. Last year they had to paddle in using two oars that her father had carved from great thin pine trees. It has taken two days of waiting for the wind to die and another half day of paddling. This year the gods smiled on them. The wind shifted to the north enough that they could take right into the mouth of the river where they dropped the main sail and landed just as the sun was disappearing in the tangled trees that was now their western horizon. -Everyone on the island had seen them come in, but they were still too deep in the marsh to make it to camp before dark. They made the last meal of the season on the ship with Birdie's fish and hatched plans to get Delos unloaded the next morning. Birdie, Lulu, and Henry fell asleep making plans for what they would do when they saw their cousins the next day. +Everyone on the island had seen them come in, but they were still too deep in the marsh to make it to camp before dark. They made the last meal of the season on the ship with Birdie's fish and hatched plans to get Wanderer unloaded the next morning. Birdie, Lulu, and Henry fell asleep making plans for what they would do when they saw their cousins the next day. ## Chapter 2: Off The Sea @@ -171,27 +171,27 @@ Her skin was brown from long days in the sun. She was thin, but strong. Her body She sat on a low rising dune a hundred yards from the shoreline. The eastern sky was pink and rapidly turning orange. She knew her father would already be awake back at the boat. Lulu hadn't wanted to sleep in the marsh. She preferred the seaside. Near where their camp would be, where she would sleep all winter. She didn't mind the hammocks of the boat, but there was something about the sand that made Lulu sleep easier. It conformed to you, it hugged you. Like floating in the sea, but firmer. -She wrapped the sheet, which had once been Delos's foresail, around her shoulders and walked down the beach toward the wreck of Arkhangelsk. The Arkhangelsk was the second best thing about winter camp, after her cousins and the other children of the island. The Arkhangelsk was her ship. Well, *their* ship. The island's ship really, but Lulu thought of it as her ship. Delos might be her home, but Arkhangelsk was *her* ship. +She wrapped the sheet, which had once been Wanderer's foresail, around her shoulders and walked down the beach toward the wreck of Arkhangelsk. The Arkhangelsk was the second best thing about winter camp, after her cousins and the other children of the island. The Arkhangelsk was her ship. Well, *their* ship. The island's ship really, but Lulu thought of it as her ship. Wanderer might be her home, but Arkhangelsk was *her* ship. Arkhangelsk was a 42-foot Bermuda sloop that had been taken by the *Whydah* and put ashore with a small crew to careen and re-tar the hull. Unfortunately for the *Ave Marie*, as she was known at the time, her hull was too worm eaten and leaky to be repaired. Even a coat of the quality tar that Lulu's family was known for making wasn't going to save the *Ave Marie*. This had been the subject of some dispute between her father and the would-be captain of the Ave Marie, but in the end, the boat was abandoned on the beach. Two years ago a huge storm that Lulu had fortunately not experienced personally had washed the Ave Marie up and into the dunes. Her main mast was destroyed, but the rest of her, somehow, remained mostly in tact. The next year another storm had brought a huge tidal surge that swamped the dunes, lifting *Arkhangelsk*, as Lulu and Bridie had by then renamed her, and spinning her around, pointing the bow to the sea in the process. Most of her stern had been torn off that time but as she settled back into the shifting dunes, the top deck leveled out and she wasn't hard to climb. -Lulu stood atop a dune studying her now. She still listed a little to port, but not much more than last year, and not so much that you couldn't race around the upper deck just like you could on Delos, but you could race around Arkhangelsk as much as you wanted and no one would give you a job to keep you busy like they would on Delos. Well, Captain Birdie might try, but just let her. Lulu always ignored Captain Birdie's orders anyway. +Lulu stood atop a dune studying her now. She still listed a little to port, but not much more than last year, and not so much that you couldn't race around the upper deck just like you could on Wanderer, but you could race around Arkhangelsk as much as you wanted and no one would give you a job to keep you busy like they would on Wanderer. Well, Captain Birdie might try, but just let her. Lulu always ignored Captain Birdie's orders anyway. Lulu walked around the Arkhangelsk, comparing her memory of it to the way it looked now. If there had been a storm over the summer it didn't seem to have affected the wreck at all. She stuffed her sheet in the hold so it wouldn't blow away and climbed up to the top deck. The wood was dry and brittle but so far it had not broken up as much as she would have expected. She and Birdie had begged their father to tar it, that it might last but he refused, the tar was too valuable. She watched the sun rise over the sea from the deck. The wind was already blowing strongly offshore. White peaks churned in the wind tossed sea, blending white and green and murky brown waters into the kind of messy chop no one wanted to sail. It looked like the winter sea. It was technically still summer, but clearly the sea was already thinking of winter. She was glad they'd made it in last night. If they were trying this morning they'd have never made it. -She sighed and went to retrieved her sheet. Delos was waiting. She already knew she'd be yelled at for not helping out. She was always being yelled at for not cleaning up, not helping load, not helping unload, not helping keep the ship ship shape. She hated those words. Ship shape. It sounded stupid. Who wanted something ship shape? And why was swabbing even a thing? Normal people mopped. Why did sailors have to swab? Even the word made it sound harder. And it was, it was like mopping while standing on the back of a horse. The thought of horses made her want to get back. Her father had promised her he would teach her to ride this year. She jumped off the bow into the soft sand and began walking back toward the marsh where Delos waited to be unloaded. +She sighed and went to retrieved her sheet. Wanderer was waiting. She already knew she'd be yelled at for not helping out. She was always being yelled at for not cleaning up, not helping load, not helping unload, not helping keep the ship ship shape. She hated those words. Ship shape. It sounded stupid. Who wanted something ship shape? And why was swabbing even a thing? Normal people mopped. Why did sailors have to swab? Even the word made it sound harder. And it was, it was like mopping while standing on the back of a horse. The thought of horses made her want to get back. Her father had promised her he would teach her to ride this year. She jumped off the bow into the soft sand and began walking back toward the marsh where Wanderer waited to be unloaded. --- On the way she walked over the dunes into the area that would become her home for the winter and took stock of it. The fire pit would need to be dug out again, the bamboo frame of the little hut that would be their winter home was nowhere to be seen, but she assumed her father or Tamba knew where it was buried. Or would claim too. There were already two barrels plopped unceremoniously in the middle of what would eventually be camp. Not very ship shape she thought as she started down the trail to the marsh. -When she got to Delos everyone was already up and unloading barrels. There was no breakfast in sight and her stomach was growling. "Lulu, good of you to join us again" Her father smiled, but his tone of voice told her she was late. Papa did not suffer anyone not pulling their weight. She looked around. Henry and Birdie were bringing things up from the hold and stacking them as best they could with the deck listing hard to starboard. Delos was aground now that the tide was out. +When she got to Wanderer everyone was already up and unloading barrels. There was no breakfast in sight and her stomach was growling. "Lulu, good of you to join us again" Her father smiled, but his tone of voice told her she was late. Papa did not suffer anyone not pulling their weight. She looked around. Henry and Birdie were bringing things up from the hold and stacking them as best they could with the deck listing hard to starboard. Wanderer was aground now that the tide was out. -Her father and Tamba were alongside Delos, looking over the pirogue, which had been stored for months now in the hold. They seemed satisfied with it and set it in the muddy water next to Delos. The pirogue was small, narrow boat, like a canoe but with a sail. It could comfortably hold three people and load of cargo. It could hold more if you didn't mind being uncomfortable. It was what they used to fish the bank, get upriver to the trading post, and get back and forth between shore and any ships anchored offshore. For reasons no one could remember it was named Maggie. +Her father and Tamba were alongside Wanderer, looking over the pirogue, which had been stored for months now in the hold. They seemed satisfied with it and set it in the muddy water next to Wanderer. The pirogue was small, narrow boat, like a canoe but with a sail. It could comfortably hold three people and load of cargo. It could hold more if you didn't mind being uncomfortable. It was what they used to fish the bank, get upriver to the trading post, and get back and forth between shore and any ships anchored offshore. For reasons no one could remember it was named Delos. She was about to ask her father were Aunt Māra and her cousins were when she felt herself grabbed from behind and swept off the ground into her Aunt Māra's arms. She was squeezed tight against a warm soft chest. "Lulu. I've missed you so much." Aunt Māra kissed her cheeks before she put her down and spun her around. Lulu wrapped her arms around her. "Māra, I missed you." @@ -209,11 +209,11 @@ She looked at him like he had two heads. "Of course." She could see the way he w Henry and Owen saved her from further awkwardness by zooming by at top speed, chasing each other with wooden swords. "Hi Lu!" screamed Owen as he dodged around her and dove into the oak shrubs after Henry, who hadn't even acknowledged her existence. -Francis took the opportunity to go back to where he and Birdie were helping unload stores from the ship. Lulu watched him go, feeling that sinking feeling she got every autumn when her brother and sister abandoned her. They didn't mean to. They didn't really, especially Birdie, who always went out of her way to make sure everyone was included in everything. Still, Birdie and Francis were like a little team. And Owen in Henry were another little team. Lulu did not have a team. There was just Lulu. In some ways she liked this. It left her free to do the things she wanted without anyone interfering. She could spent her time with Aunt Māra, or go exploring the rivers and marshes in Maggie. She loved sailing the muddy, reedy shallows. She love to drift along under the big oaks that stretched out over the river. She loved to beach the little boat and use the vines hanging down from the oak branches to swing out over the river and drop midstream, into delicious cool pools of black water. Sometimes she would spend the afternoon hunting plants in the thickets. Other days she raided birds nests of their eggs. Maybe she reasoned, she had the biggest team of all. Maybe the whole island was her team. This thought made her smile. +Francis took the opportunity to go back to where he and Birdie were helping unload stores from the ship. Lulu watched him go, feeling that sinking feeling she got every autumn when her brother and sister abandoned her. They didn't mean to. They didn't really, especially Birdie, who always went out of her way to make sure everyone was included in everything. Still, Birdie and Francis were like a little team. And Owen in Henry were another little team. Lulu did not have a team. There was just Lulu. In some ways she liked this. It left her free to do the things she wanted without anyone interfering. She could spent her time with Aunt Māra, or go exploring the rivers and marshes in Delos. She loved sailing the muddy, reedy shallows. She love to drift along under the big oaks that stretched out over the river. She loved to beach the little boat and use the vines hanging down from the oak branches to swing out over the river and drop midstream, into delicious cool pools of black water. Sometimes she would spend the afternoon hunting plants in the thickets. Other days she raided birds nests of their eggs. Maybe she reasoned, she had the biggest team of all. Maybe the whole island was her team. This thought made her smile. Lulu went back up onto the ship to help gather up the cooking pots, taking extra care with Kobayashi's precious rice steaming baskets. Kobayashi was Japanese and while he would eat the rice that was grown in the Carolinas because he wasn't about to starve to death, whenever he could he bought rice from ships returning from Asia. He never boiled it, he shook his head at the way the Africans and Lulu's family boiled their rice. Instead he boiled water and put the rice in a woven basket over the boiling water and let the steam cook it. It took longer, but even Tamba admitted it was the best rice he'd ever had. Lulu would never tell Kobayashi, but she liked the Carolina rice better. It was mushier, nuttier. It became part of the fish stews in ways that Kobayashi's rice never did. Although she liked his better when they were eating dried fish or Pemmican at sea. Maybe, she thought as she walked down the path to camp, she liked both kinds of rice. Maybe there wasn't a best rice, maybe there was the best rice for each thing. That was what Papa always said, there is no best, best for this, best for that, best for now, but no best always. -All morning Lulu helped haul food and gear out of Delos and down the trail to the cluster of dunes at the south eastern tip of the island. Here, alongside the mouth of the southern Edisto river they used a sheltered area of dunes to make camp. It had been their winter home for three years now, ever since the northern end of the island shifted and the water turned too salty to even cook with. Her cousins continued to make their camp at the north end of the island. +All morning Lulu helped haul food and gear out of Wanderer and down the trail to the cluster of dunes at the south eastern tip of the island. Here, alongside the mouth of the southern Edisto river they used a sheltered area of dunes to make camp. It had been their winter home for three years now, ever since the northern end of the island shifted and the water turned too salty to even cook with. Her cousins continued to make their camp at the north end of the island. Kobayashi, Tamba and her father set about constructing their camp, which consisted of little more than a thatched hut, built to a design the native people, most of whom were now gone, had showed them. It was, as all great shelters are, ingeniously simple. First they set up a pole structure made half of oak timbers, which gave it strength, and half of pine timbers, which were bent to give it shape. The structure was then covered with thatching made of reeds. Her father and Tamba had the basic structure done by mid afternoon. For the time being they draped an old, but freshly tarred, sail over the top to stop the rain. In the next few weeks everyone would chip in to make the thatching, which would slowly take the place of the sail cloth. Eventually it would cover the entire hut, down to the sand, except for one spot toward the rear, which her father called the back door. No one ever used it, but you could, if you lay down and wormed or rolled your way under the last layer of thatch, slip outside. @@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ Her father arranged the tripod and tested its balance with a kettle full of wate Lulu sat now and watched as Papa lit a fire. He said a prayer thanking Hestia, goddess of the hearth, and threw some Frankincense resin on the flames. The sweet, light scent of Frankincense filled the air in the dunes. It smelled like home to Lulu. -The long afternoon shadows began to race their way across the clearing they'd be calling home for the next six to eight months. Lulu turned and looked west. A little back from camp there was a line of oak trees that then gave way to the marsh where Delos would be anchored for the season. In the shade of those oaks they would soon construct great kilns that would be used to make the tar that brought them to the island in the first place. Across the flat reedy world of marsh was another line of oaks and then a no man's land of cypress swamp and brackish water that slowly, as you moved south, resolved itself into the southern fork of the Edistow River. Beyond that were the great pine forests of the low country where they would dig stumps and then haul them by barge and horse out here to the beach where they would burn them, slowly extracting the sap and then boiling it down into a sticky resin that sealed wood against the sea. +The long afternoon shadows began to race their way across the clearing they'd be calling home for the next six to eight months. Lulu turned and looked west. A little back from camp there was a line of oak trees that then gave way to the marsh where Wanderer would be anchored for the season. In the shade of those oaks they would soon construct great kilns that would be used to make the tar that brought them to the island in the first place. Across the flat reedy world of marsh was another line of oaks and then a no man's land of cypress swamp and brackish water that slowly, as you moved south, resolved itself into the southern fork of the Edistow River. Beyond that were the great pine forests of the low country where they would dig stumps and then haul them by barge and horse out here to the beach where they would burn them, slowly extracting the sap and then boiling it down into a sticky resin that sealed wood against the sea. They ate dinner as the sun set through the trees behind their half-finished hut. Lulu went down to the shore and rinsed her abalone bowl. The air had a hint of chill at the edge of it. The sea was cold on her feet. When she came back her father and Kobayashi were laying oak logs on the coals that had cooked dinner. It wasn't long before the fire was roaring and light filled the circle of dune. Lulu sat on a log of gray driftwood and watched her Uncle Cole play the fiddle while Birdie and her father danced in circles. Henry and Owen sat on a log next to her Aunt Māra and directly across the fire. Lulu smiled. She like winter camp, she liked her family. She knew enough of the world to know they were different. Perhaps even odd to most people. But she didn't care. She was glad they had a place to live their lives the way they wanted to, a place they could fish, a place they could weather storms. @@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ Drawing as much as she did required Birdie to make her own ink. She did it the w She still had two of the three brushes she'd bought last year in Charlestown using the money she'd managed to make by drying fish with Lulu and Francis. They fished and dried all through the first Autumn moon and managed to preserve enough of their catch that they were able to trade in Charlestown. They spent some of their money on enough peppermint sticks for everyone back at camp, and then they split the leftover money evenly between them. Lulu bought a doll, Birdie bought horsehair paint brushes, and Francis bought a small compass which Birdie did not have the heart to tell him, was not very accurate. -One of the brushes she'd lost somewhere on the voyage north to summer camp on the cape. She thought she had packed them carefully away after she'd struggled to paint the ship's rigging one day. The next day when she went to get them out there were only two. She'd searched the entire hold, everyone had pitched in, but they never found it. Delos claimed that brush as her own. Luckily it was her least favorite brush anyway. Still, she had already built a new rack to dry fish on again. As soon as their camp was set up, the hut thatching finished, she was planning to get out to the bank to start fishing. She was going to get more brushes, and this time they weren't going to get lost, she was going to sleep with them if she had to. +One of the brushes she'd lost somewhere on the voyage north to summer camp on the cape. She thought she had packed them carefully away after she'd struggled to paint the ship's rigging one day. The next day when she went to get them out there were only two. She'd searched the entire hold, everyone had pitched in, but they never found it. Wanderer claimed that brush as her own. Luckily it was her least favorite brush anyway. Still, she had already built a new rack to dry fish on again. As soon as their camp was set up, the hut thatching finished, she was planning to get out to the bank to start fishing. She was going to get more brushes, and this time they weren't going to get lost, she was going to sleep with them if she had to. "Birdie?" Aunt Māra was looking at her with a curled smile. "Your mind moves much faster than your hands." @@ -577,7 +577,7 @@ Birdie stood up and started down the dune toward shore. It took Francis the better part of an hour to get the boat down the beach to their camp. While she loved her cousins, they were not sailors. The did not come with Birdie and her family to Summer camp in the north. The left the island, but only went as far as Charlestown where they lived on Sullivan's Island. Birdie's Uncle Cole helped run a distillery, spending his days tending the vast vats of boiling sugar, turning it slowly to rum. -No one in Delos's crew drank rum. Her father didn't forbid it exactly, he simply did not associate with people who drank alcohol. "When you drink or eat something you do not just drink the liquid or eat the flesh of the thing, you consume its spirit as well," he told her one day when she asked why he never drank rum. +No one in Wanderer's crew drank rum. Her father didn't forbid it exactly, he simply did not associate with people who drank alcohol. "When you drink or eat something you do not just drink the liquid or eat the flesh of the thing, you consume its spirit as well," he told her one day when she asked why he never drank rum. "Different things have different spirits Birdie." He dipped a ladle of water and drank it. "The spirit in the rum, it is not a good spirit. To me it seems like not a good spirit anyway. Many people, it takes them and makes them do as it wishes, sends them nowhere but in search of more of itself. Your uncle for instance, it drives him to work all summer making it. Other people it just visits and then leaves with no problems, it all depends." He shrugged and swatted at a mosquito on his shoulder. "Some days it visited me and left, but some days it visited me and wanted to stay even after I no longer wanted it, so I decided one day not to let it in me any more." @@ -627,18 +627,18 @@ Birdie bit her lip, Henry had wanted to go, but she'd spent all morning with him He seemed to sense the hesitation in her voice and sighed. "Owen probably talked him into going turkey hunting." Owen and Francis had somehow managed to kill a turkey with their homemade bow and arrows and Henry was obsessed with doing the same. Francis was probably right she decided. Lulu had gone up the river with Tamba. There was no one else around except her father and Aunt Māra back in camp. She smiled. "Alright, you push us out." -Francis went to bow and pushed the boat while Birdie pulled on the stern. They dragged her into the water and spun her around. Birdie jumped in as Francis continued to push from the stern. Birdie grabbed the foresail line and sat down on the port gunwale. The little boat was a lateen rig, like Delos, but with a single mast, a fore and back stay holding the sail, and a cleated line that could be loosed and tightened to draw in the sail and come closer to the wind. Birdie unwrapped Francis's poorly cleated line and let the sail out to catch the wind. Francis was up to his waist now in the water. Birdie leaned out to look past the sail and saw nothing but water. "Get in," she shouted. +Francis went to bow and pushed the boat while Birdie pulled on the stern. They dragged her into the water and spun her around. Birdie jumped in as Francis continued to push from the stern. Birdie grabbed the foresail line and sat down on the port gunwale. The little boat was a lateen rig, like Wanderer, but with a single mast, a fore and back stay holding the sail, and a cleated line that could be loosed and tightened to draw in the sail and come closer to the wind. Birdie unwrapped Francis's poorly cleated line and let the sail out to catch the wind. Francis was up to his waist now in the water. Birdie leaned out to look past the sail and saw nothing but water. "Get in," she shouted. Francis heaved himself up over the side of the boat and rolled down into the bottom, Birdie drew the line in and turned the tiller to put them at an angle up the face of the first wave. Near the top a gust of wind finally hit the sail and the little boat leaped forward, sending them over the wave and rushing out, toward the next. Two more waves and they were beyond the break. Birdie watched the dark shape of a shark cruise slowly under the boat and then the bottom dropped away and there was nothing but dark, blue-green water. She pointed the boat as northerly as she could without luffing the sail. When she was happy she wrapped the line around the wooden cleat, looped it back under itself and sat back, letting her body relax for the first time since she'd hopped in. -She glanced at Francis, he was leaning over the side, dragging his hand in the water. Birdie pulled her handline out of her pocket and baited the hook, she dropped it gently into the water, letting the speed of the boat cutting through the waves carry it back away from her. She pointed the little boat toward the outer eastern edge of the bank. When they'd sailed by last month on their way in she'd noticed that there appeared to be an upwelling not too far out past the bank and it was near the updraft of cold water where she'd landed her two catches that day. She wanted to do it again, although she wasn't sure she could. Her father had helped her reel it in on Delos. But Delos was a bigger boat and much of the trouble was getting the fish out of the water and up the side of the boat without it breaking the line or getting away. The skiff was only twenty feet long and worst case, she could always tie off the line and sail for shore to get it in. Although that would be very tempting to the sharks. +She glanced at Francis, he was leaning over the side, dragging his hand in the water. Birdie pulled her handline out of her pocket and baited the hook, she dropped it gently into the water, letting the speed of the boat cutting through the waves carry it back away from her. She pointed the little boat toward the outer eastern edge of the bank. When they'd sailed by last month on their way in she'd noticed that there appeared to be an upwelling not too far out past the bank and it was near the updraft of cold water where she'd landed her two catches that day. She wanted to do it again, although she wasn't sure she could. Her father had helped her reel it in on Wanderer. But Wanderer was a bigger boat and much of the trouble was getting the fish out of the water and up the side of the boat without it breaking the line or getting away. The skiff was only twenty feet long and worst case, she could always tie off the line and sail for shore to get it in. Although that would be very tempting to the sharks. As they eased further away from the shore she saw Francis glance back at her more frequently. She could tell he didn't like to go this far out. At least not in the smaller boat. It was a calm day though, the wind was light, it was the best sailing day she could remember since they'd arrived, especially for a vessel this size, light and springy as she was. Birdie could feel her dancing across the water, almost giddy to be moving it seemed to her. Boats have character. -This one liked the zip and zig and zag, she like the lean too, which Birdie fought by leaning out over the water to counterbalance the wind. A flat boat is a fast boat her father always said. Tipping was more fun though. If you knew your boat well enough to know where she like to be, what was too far, what was not far enough. You had to spend time with a boat to get a sense of her, and then you had to spend time on the water to get a sense of different conditions and how she would handle each of them. Birdie had been sailing the twenty foot sloop her father had built and named Maggie for three seasons now, and in every weather short of a gale. While her father had given Maggie to his wife's sister and her British husband, Uncle Cole, Birdie still thought of her as *her* boat. Only Birdie ever took her more than 100 meters offshore. Only Birdie pushed her, though Birdie did not think of it that way. She thought of it the way Lulu thought of horses. She just gave the boat its lead and let it go where it naturally wanted to go. A good boat you could trust like that and Maggie was a good boat. +This one liked the zip and zig and zag, she like the lean too, which Birdie fought by leaning out over the water to counterbalance the wind. A flat boat is a fast boat her father always said. Tipping was more fun though. If you knew your boat well enough to know where she like to be, what was too far, what was not far enough. You had to spend time with a boat to get a sense of her, and then you had to spend time on the water to get a sense of different conditions and how she would handle each of them. Birdie had been sailing the twenty foot sloop her father had built and named Delos for three seasons now, and in every weather short of a gale. While her father had given Delos to his wife's sister and her British husband, Uncle Cole, Birdie still thought of her as *her* boat. Only Birdie ever took her more than 100 meters offshore. Only Birdie pushed her, though Birdie did not think of it that way. She thought of it the way Lulu thought of horses. She just gave the boat its lead and let it go where it naturally wanted to go. A good boat you could trust like that and Delos was a good boat. They crossed into a different channel of wind and suddenly the water around them went dark. They were still within sight of the shore, an easy swim to the bank even, but here was where the ocean began in Birdie's mind. That deep blue that speaks of depth, real depth. That was the open sea. That was the point at which land, even if you could see it, became irrelevant to your life. You were out here, in the deep blue beyond. Free. -Birdie closed her eyes and listened, taking in everything, the wind wisping strands of hair in her face, the surge and tilt of Maggie as she road gently up the now large swells, the churning froth of water foaming at her bow as she broke the crest and headed down toward the next trough. The mast creaked, the canvas seemed to gently sigh as the wind lulled slightly in the trough and the she felt Maggie surge up again, catch that wind and fairly leap forward... +Birdie closed her eyes and listened, taking in everything, the wind wisping strands of hair in her face, the surge and tilt of Delos as she road gently up the now large swells, the churning froth of water foaming at her bow as she broke the crest and headed down toward the next trough. The mast creaked, the canvas seemed to gently sigh as the wind lulled slightly in the trough and the she felt Delos surge up again, catch that wind and fairly leap forward... "Birdie!" @@ -648,9 +648,9 @@ Her eyes popped open, startled. "What?" She looked around. Maybe? They were definitely too far from shore to have any hope of swimming in if something went wrong. They might make the bank. But what did it matter really? They could just keep sailing out here forever... she smiled at Francis. "Sorry, we'll jibe round." -She rarely got to jibe in the bigger boat since jibing with three sails was a rather violent maneuver. When Delos jibed two booms came swinging across the deck at high speeds, which put tremendous force on the rigging and the boom itself. Delos had broken her boom two years ago during an unintentional jibe that happened when her uncle fell asleep at the helm. This was why her cousins and their family no longer sailed north with Birdie's family. Birdie did not understand why her father, who was normally quick to forgive, even if his temper was sometimes easily ignited, refused to forgive this incident, but she did know it had made it so no one else was in a hurry to jibe on purpose either. +She rarely got to jibe in the bigger boat since jibing with three sails was a rather violent maneuver. When Wanderer jibed two booms came swinging across the deck at high speeds, which put tremendous force on the rigging and the boom itself. Wanderer had broken her boom two years ago during an unintentional jibe that happened when her uncle fell asleep at the helm. This was why her cousins and their family no longer sailed north with Birdie's family. Birdie did not understand why her father, who was normally quick to forgive, even if his temper was sometimes easily ignited, refused to forgive this incident, but she did know it had made it so no one else was in a hurry to jibe on purpose either. -Since the wind never left the sails when jibing there was a lot of power in it, and with anything involving a lot of power, a lot care needed to be taken. The safer thing to do would have been to point the bow through the wind, which let the sail luff and slowed the boat, making for a gentler turn. But Birdie did not want to slow in this swell. Maggie handled it well when she was moving, but slowed down she would bob like a cork in these waves and that idea did not sound like fun to Birdie. So she brought her stern around through the wind and waited, feeling for that moment when the boom would swing over, it was like that moment when you swing on a vine high up in to the air and you can feel yourself slowing slowing slowing but never stopping, instead you're suddenly moving the other way. And with a sudden snap of the boom, which Birdie slowed by tightening the line that held it, Maggie came around and started her broad reach back to the shoreline. +Since the wind never left the sails when jibing there was a lot of power in it, and with anything involving a lot of power, a lot care needed to be taken. The safer thing to do would have been to point the bow through the wind, which let the sail luff and slowed the boat, making for a gentler turn. But Birdie did not want to slow in this swell. Delos handled it well when she was moving, but slowed down she would bob like a cork in these waves and that idea did not sound like fun to Birdie. So she brought her stern around through the wind and waited, feeling for that moment when the boom would swing over, it was like that moment when you swing on a vine high up in to the air and you can feel yourself slowing slowing slowing but never stopping, instead you're suddenly moving the other way. And with a sudden snap of the boom, which Birdie slowed by tightening the line that held it, Delos came around and started her broad reach back to the shoreline. They'd come far enough out past the back end of the bank that Birdie was able to head right back to it and beach the ship on the small spit of sand that stood above the water. @@ -660,9 +660,9 @@ If you had looked out from the shore you would have seen two children standing o It was warm, but not hot. The wind and water together kept them cool in spite of the afternoon sun and sweltering humidity. Birdie took off her skirt, then her shirt, and dove naked into the water, dragging the net behind her with her foot. She slipped under and tried to kick like a mermaid, legs locked together. She surfaced well beyond the bow of the boat, treading water. "Come on Francis! It's so lovely. Oh, it's perfect really." She dove under as he took off his shirt and dove in. Under water everything was silent save the occasional squeaks and pops of shrimp running in the sand somewhere below her. A school of dark, silver-sided fish she did not recognize through the blur of salt water was swimming just beyond where she could touch. She came up for air. -"I see a school out here. Quick, Francis, tie the net to the stern and we'll drag it out behind us, then circle back. She threw up the anchor and scrambled into the bow. Francis pushed them off the sand and they slipped silently, slowly through the water, Birdie could see the school better from above, she directed him to turn the boat to port, then starboard, and then, when she could tell the net was fully extended she grabbed the boom and pushed it back, against the wind to stop them dead in the water. They slowed, and then stopped. Francis pointed them into the wind and they both leaned over as watched and the net slowly sank down, startling the fish as it touched them, they darted and shimmered in confusion. "Bring it round." Francis laid the tiller over and Maggie slowly turned, catching a breath, then another, and with a snap the sail filled and the boat leapt forward, back toward the bank. Birdie scrambled to the stern and looked back to see nearly the whole school of fish caught in the net. She let out a whoop. And looked at Francis. She was so excited she jumped up and hugged him. +"I see a school out here. Quick, Francis, tie the net to the stern and we'll drag it out behind us, then circle back. She threw up the anchor and scrambled into the bow. Francis pushed them off the sand and they slipped silently, slowly through the water, Birdie could see the school better from above, she directed him to turn the boat to port, then starboard, and then, when she could tell the net was fully extended she grabbed the boom and pushed it back, against the wind to stop them dead in the water. They slowed, and then stopped. Francis pointed them into the wind and they both leaned over as watched and the net slowly sank down, startling the fish as it touched them, they darted and shimmered in confusion. "Bring it round." Francis laid the tiller over and Delos slowly turned, catching a breath, then another, and with a snap the sail filled and the boat leapt forward, back toward the bank. Birdie scrambled to the stern and looked back to see nearly the whole school of fish caught in the net. She let out a whoop. And looked at Francis. She was so excited she jumped up and hugged him. -They landed and pulled the net in, there were easily hundreds of fish. They could not even haul it all the way up out of the water. They waded out to inspect it, Birdie knew there was no way they could get their entire catch to shore in Maggie, she would have sunk under the weight. Birdie looked at the writhing mass of fish trying to decide how they could divide it up, let some go without losing them all. That was when she noticed a strange line sticking out of the water. It was a slight thing, thin and gray. She had never seen anything quite like it, which was why it took her so long to realize it was a dorsal fin and it was coming straight for Francis faster than Birdie had ever seen a fin move. +They landed and pulled the net in, there were easily hundreds of fish. They could not even haul it all the way up out of the water. They waded out to inspect it, Birdie knew there was no way they could get their entire catch to shore in Delos, she would have sunk under the weight. Birdie looked at the writhing mass of fish trying to decide how they could divide it up, let some go without losing them all. That was when she noticed a strange line sticking out of the water. It was a slight thing, thin and gray. She had never seen anything quite like it, which was why it took her so long to realize it was a dorsal fin and it was coming straight for Francis faster than Birdie had ever seen a fin move. "Francis! Get out! Now!" Birdie dropped the net and ran for the bank. Francis was right behind her, but as Birdie scrambled up on the dry sand she realized the fin was curved, not straight. She started to laugh. At first Francis thought she had played a trick on him, but then teeth closed around his leg and he screamed. @@ -672,7 +672,7 @@ They sat panting on the sand, watching the fin trace circles around the boat. "Let me see your leg." Birdie went to the boat and pulled on her skirt again, and pulled her knife from her belt. She cut back his pant leg and surveyed the wounds, there were five punctures, none more than a quarter inch across, and none very deep. But there was still plenty of blood and it looked like it would hurt. Birdie felt a wave a fear come over her and she wanted to run away from the blood and the torn flesh and the pain it must have been causing, but she quickly set that aside and went to work. She cut off Francis's pant leg to the knee, and then cut it into strips. She helped him down the water's edge—which was getting closer as the tide came up—and washed out the wounds with salt water. Then she wetted a few of the strips of torn pantleg and wrapped them gently around his leg. She tied two strips together and wrapped that one over the others, gently tying it to help hold everything in place. -"That's the best I can do. When we get in Tamba will know something to put on it so it won't get infected." She glanced over that Maggie. "Let's get you in the boat." +"That's the best I can do. When we get in Tamba will know something to put on it so it won't get infected." She glanced over that Delos. "Let's get you in the boat." "No, let's deal with the fish first." @@ -698,13 +698,13 @@ Birdie considered it. It was a lot of fish. "Are you sure you're okay?" Birdie tried as best she could to keep the net closed while Francis pulled it into the boat. It took them a good twenty minutes to get it into the boat, but in the end they saved well over half their catch. The ride back into shore was shared with dozens of flopping fish, and once, Birdie thought she saw a dolphin streak by. -After she had helped Francis limp back to their camp, and her father and Tamba had organized a trip upriver to see a medicine man who lived near the Waccamaw trading post. Birdie came back out the beach to sail Maggie back to her home at her cousin's camp around the north end of the island. She pushed off, but the wind was blowing off shore, forcing her farther out than she wanted. She ended up right back at the bank. She took it as a sign. There was only a small spit of sand still above water, wet sand, but she ran aground on it and climbed out. She looked around for a fin, but saw nothing. A turtle swam by in the shallow water. Birdie sat down on the sand and lay back in the sun, feeling its warmth against the cool of her skin. She felt the chill of the wind as it dried the salty drops of water running down her arm. +After she had helped Francis limp back to their camp, and her father and Tamba had organized a trip upriver to see a medicine man who lived near the Waccamaw trading post. Birdie came back out the beach to sail Delos back to her home at her cousin's camp around the north end of the island. She pushed off, but the wind was blowing off shore, forcing her farther out than she wanted. She ended up right back at the bank. She took it as a sign. There was only a small spit of sand still above water, wet sand, but she ran aground on it and climbed out. She looked around for a fin, but saw nothing. A turtle swam by in the shallow water. Birdie sat down on the sand and lay back in the sun, feeling its warmth against the cool of her skin. She felt the chill of the wind as it dried the salty drops of water running down her arm. She lay back on the sand and closed her eyes, and she immediately felt something strange happening in her body, or to the world around her, she couldn't tell. At first she thought perhaps it was the lingering pitch and roll of the boat, which stayed with you even after you got out. But then the whole world seemed to undulate, like a ripple passing through it. She felt as if she were floating in the water, but she was laying on solid sand. Then it came so suddenly it was terrifying. Something immense and unfathomable washed over her, a presence that stretched through her, encompassing her and everything she had ever known or done in an instant. She was afraid to open her eyes. A voice, no, that was the wrong word, something thought words for her, inside her. She could not understand them, a jumble of words falling in her mind so fast that she could not catch them, could not find the meaning of them, not even the order. She felt as if something massive and uncontrollably wild had seized her up in its arms and was taking her on some wild, frightening, but exhilarating dance. She became afraid again and forced herself to breathed slowly in and then slowly out. As she did this is was like the thing gave up and set her down again. She felt it slipping away. She blurted out, "No! Wait!" She wanted it to stay, it was just too much, too sudden, she wanted to say, give me a minute, but it was already gone, slipping away, the world settled, she opened her eyes and there was the sea, looking as it always did. -She stared out the flat horizon where the sky bled into the blue of the sea. Come back. But nothing happened. She got up, she pushed off and climbed in Maggie. She raised the sail and turned the boat toward the river. +She stared out the flat horizon where the sky bled into the blue of the sea. Come back. But nothing happened. She got up, she pushed off and climbed in Delos. She raised the sail and turned the boat toward the river. ## Chapter 6: Fire @@ -726,11 +726,11 @@ The forest was a clutter of shadow and light. Lulu sat down on a log and watched She settled on a youngish oak that had a huge low limb she could get on, and then make her way up it to the trunk where another branch allowed her to pull herself up. Above that was another branch, and another, and another. She kept at this for a while, ignoring the scrapes from rough bark, and trying not to pay attention to how high up she was. It took her a good ten minutes but she managed to get high enough up that she was afraid, and could no longer drive the fear from her mind and continue. -She made herself step up to the next branch, the last that seemed like it would support her. She sat down on it, and wrapped her other arm around the trunk and looked out over the forest canopy. She was higher than Delos's main mast. She knew because she'd been hoisted up it several times to fix things. The mast was 35 feet. She guessed she was 50 feet up. High enough to see out over the tops of the trees anyway. She watched two squirrels who'd scolded her the whole way up retreat through the thin branches to the next tree over where they took up their scolding again until Lulu threw a nearby acorn at them and they took off for good. +She made herself step up to the next branch, the last that seemed like it would support her. She sat down on it, and wrapped her other arm around the trunk and looked out over the forest canopy. She was higher than Wanderer's main mast. She knew because she'd been hoisted up it several times to fix things. The mast was 35 feet. She guessed she was 50 feet up. High enough to see out over the tops of the trees anyway. She watched two squirrels who'd scolded her the whole way up retreat through the thin branches to the next tree over where they took up their scolding again until Lulu threw a nearby acorn at them and they took off for good. She watched an eagle circle the marsh, slowly, lazily, hardly ever beating its wings, just riding the air like a boat in the water. Lulu wished she could fly. That would be even better than sailing, to glide on the air, up and down with the thermals and drafts rather than be stuck on the ground, moving side to side across the water. Although that was fun too. She twisted her head to try to see if she could see the beach from up here, but there was another tree in the way. Just then the breeze kicked up again and Lulu felt the whole tree sway. -She wondered what it would be like to be up here in a storm, to ride the winds. She closed her eyes to enjoy the music of the leaves tinkling around her, mixing with the percussive clatter of palm fronds drifting up from somewhere below her. The tree smelled of a tonic of warm, wet wood, not unlike Delos after many days at sea, but here it mixed with traces of scents coming off the marsh, and farther off, from the sea. A briny mix of salt coming in undulating currents across the marsh to wave the leaves of her tree. +She wondered what it would be like to be up here in a storm, to ride the winds. She closed her eyes to enjoy the music of the leaves tinkling around her, mixing with the percussive clatter of palm fronds drifting up from somewhere below her. The tree smelled of a tonic of warm, wet wood, not unlike Wanderer after many days at sea, but here it mixed with traces of scents coming off the marsh, and farther off, from the sea. A briny mix of salt coming in undulating currents across the marsh to wave the leaves of her tree. Birdie and her father loved the sea in a way that Lulu understood, but did not. She loved the wind. The wind is everything. The wind is everything it has ever touched. You could almost always smell the land from the sea. Whenever they were coming down the coast, any time the wind blew offshore Lulu could tell how far away land was by how strong the scent of flowers. She assumed the opposite was true as well, that if she ever went far enough away from the sea, she would know just how far she had gone by how faded its tangled smell of salt and seaweed and damp wood and rotting kelp had become. It suddenly occurred to Lulu that she had never been far enough from the sea not to smell it. She knew the smell of land more as a stranger scenting exotic perfumes on the wind and reading them than she did of walking on it and losing herself on it. She resolved to one day walk inland far enough that she no longer smelled the sea and smell perhaps what other tales the wind had to tell as it passed over all those mountains and valleys and forests and deserts that lay between here and the infinite Lulu would walk toward. She sat swaying in her tree, planning grand expeditions to chase the sun around the world. She would cross the deserts, she would walk with lions, she would climb the mountains and stand on the peaks with her snowy leopard companion, and then she would say her goodbyes and journey deep into the jungle with her jaguar guide to see the lost cities of gold. Then she would say goodbye to her jaguar and walk again to the sea where she would build a boat and return home. This she would do. @@ -846,13 +846,15 @@ This time, after they all fell silent, Henry looked up from a drawing he had mad ## Chapter 7: Sarah -The kiln fires burned for nearly a full cycle of the moon. The children tended the fires, Tamba, Kobayashi, and Papa tended the tar. There was still time to play, time to fish, time to climb trees, wade through the marsh in search of bird eggs, and time to sit around the fire at night listening to stories. Birdie and Lulu fished the bank whenever they could. There was a barrel half full of dried fish carefully stowed in Delos' hold to trade when they went to Charlestown. +The kiln fires burned for nearly a full cycle of the moon. The children tended the fires, Tamba, Kobayashi, and Papa tended the tar. There was still time to play, time to fish, time to climb trees, wade through the marsh in search of bird eggs, and time to sit around the fire at night listening to stories. Birdie and Lulu fished the bank whenever they could. There was a barrel half full of dried fish carefully stowed in Wanderer' hold to trade when they went to Charlestown. Still, that month, the month the tribes around them called Last moon of the Turtles, nearly everything revolved around the fires, around the kilns, around the tar. The fires never went out, the slow trickles of sap never stopped trickling out the bottom of the kilns, filling the barrels even while they slept. Just like on overnight passages they kept watch through the night, emptying the buckets into barrels by torchlight at all hours of the night. Even when they were out on the bank fishing, there was a thin wisp of smoke drifting out of the trees at the southern end of the island to remind them what was waiting when they got home. It was that smoke that drew the ship to them and forever changed the course of all their lives. -Birdie was the first to see it. She'd been on the north end of the island, helping Aunt Māra weave new reed baskets when she saw a patch of white on the horizon. She and her Aunt watched the ship work her way down the coast. Long before she'd come close enough to really study Birdie had decided her captain wasn't to be trusted. The sails were not trimmed like they should have been and her course wasn't nearly what it should have been. The closer she got the more Birdie began to wonder if maybe the captain wasn't bad so much as unwilling to get more than swimming distance offshore. She wasn't much of a ship. She wasn't far from joining the Arkhangelsk. Birdie could tell she'd once been a Bermuda sloop with a long bowsprit. Narrower than the Arkhangelsk, and smaller than Delos, she was missing her bowsprit entirely and her sails were torn. Her real trouble though looked to be that she'd been made of oak, rather than the Jamaican cedar used for Delos. Oak was a strong wood, but it did not last like cedar. It needed to be tarred more regularly, the worms, actually snails, though they looked like worms, that ate at ship's loved oak and this vessel showed it. She was riding low in the water and Birdie could tell she was probably taking on water faster than her crew was able to keep it out. That made her a good business proposition. Birdie and Aunt Māra build up their fire and then Birdie cut green fronds of sago palm to put on the top, sending thick white smoke billowing in to the air. +Birdie was the first to see it. She'd been on the north end of the island, helping Aunt Māra weave new reed baskets when she saw a patch of white on the horizon. She and her Aunt watched the ship work her way down the coast. Long before she'd come close enough to really study Birdie had decided her captain wasn't to be trusted. The sails were not trimmed like they should have been and her course wasn't nearly what it should have been. The closer she got the more Birdie began to wonder if maybe the captain wasn't bad so much as unwilling to get more than swimming distance offshore. She wasn't much of a ship. She wasn't far from joining the Arkhangelsk. Birdie could tell she'd once been a Bermuda sloop with a long bowsprit. Narrower than the Arkhangelsk, and smaller than Wanderer, she was missing her bowsprit entirely and her sails were torn. Her real trouble though looked to be that she'd been made of oak, rather than the Jamaican cedar used for Wanderer. Oak was a strong wood, but it did not last like cedar. It needed to be tarred more regularly to stop the worms from eating the wood. The worms, fortunately, were not a gross as they sounded. They were really more like snails, though they moved like worms. They ate every ship, but they really loved oak and this vessel showed it. She was riding low in the water and Birdie could tell she was probably taking on water faster than her crew was able to keep it out. That made her a good business proposition. Really, in the end the worms, Birdie thought, not for the first time, were what made tar necessary and therefore made her life possible. No worms, no tar. No tar, no reason to be on Edisto. + +Birdie and Aunt Māra build up their fire and then Birdie cut green fronds of sago palm to put on the top, sending thick white smoke billowing in to the air. At the same time Birdie ran to the other end of the island to fetch her father. By the time they returned the ship was nearly at the mouth of the river. Her father waded out on the point and waved his arms down the beach. Though they could not make out anyone on the deck, the little boat pointed off shore and began to head out around the bank. Birdie and her father walked slowly down the beach, keeping pace with her as she made her way south to the safer anchorage of the southern river, just beyond where Birdie's camp lay, waiting with it's fresh tar. @@ -970,7 +972,7 @@ Sarah smiled. "And that's what you do? You help them careen and tar?" The girls nodded. -Their father returned saying Tamba had taken the ship into the marsh, to help them anchor it just offshore from Delos. They were going to careen and tar them together beginning the next day. Eliza May turned out to have a crew of six, including Sarah. Her father sent Birdie down to the end of the island to fetch her Aunt and Uncle and cousins. Between the two camps, plus some salt pork from Eliza Maj, they were able to put together a stew that Birdie seasoned with wild onions she'd gathered the day before. She and Lulu had spent the morning hunting the marsh for eggs, which they boiled to go along with stew. Aunt Māra made bread the way the Waccamaw did, laying the dough right on on the coals and then breaking the hard crust into half moon shapes into which they poured the stew before setting the whole thing in their abalone bowls to cool. The result was a bready, gooey, stewy mess that was Birdie's favorite meal, after turtle. +Their father returned saying Tamba had taken the ship into the marsh, to help them anchor it just offshore from Wanderer. They were going to careen and tar them together beginning the next day. Eliza May turned out to have a crew of six, including Sarah. Her father sent Birdie down to the end of the island to fetch her Aunt and Uncle and cousins. Between the two camps, plus some salt pork from Eliza Maj, they were able to put together a stew that Birdie seasoned with wild onions she'd gathered the day before. She and Lulu had spent the morning hunting the marsh for eggs, which they boiled to go along with stew. Aunt Māra made bread the way the Waccamaw did, laying the dough right on on the coals and then breaking the hard crust into half moon shapes into which they poured the stew before setting the whole thing in their abalone bowls to cool. The result was a bready, gooey, stewy mess that was Birdie's favorite meal, after turtle. It was beginning to get cool in the evenings and her father had been lighting the big fire again some nights. Though it wasn't cold enough to gather around it he lit it tonight and Uncle Cole brought out his fiddle and the men from Eliza May brought their instruments and there was playing and dancing well into the night. Birdie danced with her father, with Sarah, with Tamba, and finally was too tired to dance anymore and sat and watched the men from Eliza May, pass the rum between them. They offered it to her father, who glanced up at their commotion to see the jug being offered. Birdie watched as he stood. Her father looked at the men and smiled. "Normally I don't drink. But I do appreciate the offer and I want you to feel welcome here, I have no complaint with any man that drinks, so long as he controls himself within the bounds of reason." The other men listened, glanced among themselves and slowly nodded. "Sounds good," said one. @@ -1004,39 +1006,41 @@ The sat in silence for a while until Lulu and Henry climbed sleepily up the dune Lulu stood in the shade of the oaks, watching the thick hemp cords that held the Eliza May over on it's side. Her job was to inspect the ropes and the tree that held them, looking for any signs of weakness or fraying or rubbing. If any of these ropes slipped or broke loose it would put more strain on the remaining ropes and if they went, the ship would role back upright, crushing anyone who was working under it. It was pleasant work, watching things, though she couldn't help but feel tense and nervous since it was more than likely her father working under the boat. He always took the most dangerous jobs himself. If anything slipped she would scream and run which would be signal for anyone in the way of the rolling ship to run for their lives. Lulu was well known for her ability to out shriek anyone, which was why her father had given her the job. -She kept an eye, and an ear, on the ropes, but she also couldn't help keep an eye on Sarah, who had donned sailor's canvas pants, a cotton shirt and a bandanna to hold her red hair back and who was helping Tambo tend the fire and stir the great iron kettle as they heated some of the tar. The tar did not have to be re-heated to apply, but it went on easier, and more importantly penetrated deeper into the wood when it was, not hot, but warm. So Sarah stood, look like a man but for her hair, working the stove. Lulu had never seen a woman like her who was both beautiful when she wanted to be, but who could also, Lulu had realized the previous night around the fire, turn into as rough toughed a sailor as any who had ever graced their shore. She was in fact two things it seemed to Lulu: a sailor and a woman, which, as she and Birdie had discussed quietly that morning, sitting on the dune eating dried fish as the sun rose, exactly what she wanted to be: a sailor and a woman. +Lulu kept an eye, and an ear, on the ropes, but she also couldn't help but keep an eye on Sarah. Sarah had donned sailor's canvas pants and a cotton work shirt just like the men. She used a bandanna to hold her red hair back. She was helping Tamba tend the fire and stir the great iron kettle as they heated some of the tar. The tar did not have to be re-heated to apply, but it went on easier, and more importantly penetrated deeper into the wood when it was warm. So Sarah stood, looking like a man but for her hair, working the tar. Lulu had never seen a woman like her. A woman who was both beautiful when she wanted to be, but also, Lulu had realized the previous night around the fire, able to turn into as rough tongued a sailor as any who had ever graced their shore. She was in fact two things it seemed to Lulu: a sailor and a woman. She and Birdie had discussed it quietly that morning, sitting on the dune eating dried fish as the sun rose. Sarah was exactly what Lulu wanted to be: a sailor and a woman. -She thought about what her father would have said if she'd told him this. He probably would have smiled and said, you can do whatever you want to do, but it was one thing to say that when you were Nicholas, it was another to do it when you were Lulu, who spent most of her time feeling small, curious, and unsure of the right thing to do. She told stories, she invented elaborate stories primarily to keep anyone from thinking too much about her, to get them involved is some world she could control rather than looking to her, or at her, in this one, which she knew well enough she could not control at all. +She thought about what her father would have said if she'd told him this. He probably would have smiled and said, you can do whatever you want to do. But it was one thing to say that when you were Nicholas, it was another thing to actually do it when you were Lulu, who spent most of her time feeling small, curious, and unsure of the right thing to do. She knew everyone liked her stories. But she knew she invented elaborate stories primarily to keep anyone from thinking too much about her, to get them involved in some world she could control rather than looking to her, or at her, in this one, which she knew well enough she could not control at all. -Then there was Sarah. She seemed very much in control of this world right here, right now. Lulu watched and she dipped a wooden bucket in the great kettle of tar, the muscles in her arms tout and ropy as knotted lines, she lugged it around the bow, out of view. Lulu desperately wanted to ask her if she really was in control, if she really did know what she was going and would she show Lulu how to do this, how to know where you belonged in the world. Instead she remained in the shadows, watching as Sarah worked alongside the men. +Then there was Sarah. She seemed very much in control of this world right here, right now. Lulu watched as Sarah dipped a wooden bucket in the great kettle of tar, the muscles in her arms tout and ropy as knotted lines. Then she lugged it around the bow, out of view. Lulu desperately wanted to ask her if she really was in control, if she really did know what she was doing, and would she show Lulu how to do this, how to know where you belonged in the world. Instead she remained in the shadows, watching as Sarah worked alongside the men. -- -Lulu was relieved of rope watching duty after the hull was tarred and worked moved to the deck.The day was long, the tarring continued long after dark, everyone working by torches staked in the sand around the boat. They ate in shifts, dried fish, leftover pork. Lulu and Henry sat to the side, chewing strips of dried fish, watching the shadows of the men working streak across the sand. They looked a little like they were dancing as they moved back and forth among the torches, dragging the sopping rags of tar across the wood. +Lulu was relieved of rope watching duty after the hull was tarred and worked moved to the deck. The day was long, the tarring continued long after dark, everyone working by torches staked in the sand around the boat. They ate in shifts, dried fish, leftover pork. Lulu and Henry sat to the side, chewing strips of dried fish, watching the shadows of the men working streak across the sand. They looked a little like they were dancing as they moved back and forth among the torches, dragging the sopping rags of tar across the wood. + +Finally they were too tired. The men in the crew of Eliza May sat down around the fire, passing a bottle of rum between them, telling quiet stories of peaceful shores they'd seen, other ships they'd careened. Lulu and Birdie sat down at the top of the dune, their backs to the fire, and watched their father walking down to the shore to swim. Sarah came up and sat down beside them. None of them spoke. -Finally they were too tired. The men in the crew of Eliza May sat down around the fire, passing a bottle of rum between them, telling quiet stories of peaceful shores they'd seen, other ships they'd careened. Lulu and Birdie sat down at the top of the dune, their backs to the fire, and watched their father walking down to the shore to swim. Sarah came up and sat down behind them. None of them spoke. They sat in a line, watching the moonlight rippling on the quietly lapping waves. There was no swell, no wind, the sea was calm as a lake. Clouds near the horizon caught the bluish glow of the moonlight and scattered it among themselves until it faded the blackness and the bottom of the clouds merged with the blackness of the night sea. +They sat in a line, watching the moonlight rippling on the quietly lapping waves. There was no swell, no wind, the sea was calm as a lake. Clouds near the horizon caught the bluish glow of moonlight and scattered it among themselves until it faded into blackness and the bottom of the clouds merged with the darkness of the night sea. -Their father who had been standing at the shore, back to them, lifted his arms and pulled off his shirt, and dropped his pants and ran into the water. +Their father who had been standing at the shore, with his back to them, lifted his arms and pulled off his shirt. Then he dropped his pants and ran into the water. "Oh goodness," said Sarah watching momentarily, but then quickly turning away, toward Lulu. "Does he always swim naked?" -Lulu and Birdie exchanged a look. "How else would you swim?" Lulu asked, wondering, for the first time if maybe Sarah didn't know everything. She looked at her in the moonlight and realized she her face was flushed. Lulu felt embarrassed for her and quickly looked away, back toward her father who was a tiny head bobbing among the crumbling white foam of the small waves. It was then that Lulu noticed the light swirling around her father as he swam back to shore. He wrapped himself in a quilt and came walking up the beach. "Great night for a swim girls, phosphorescence everywhere." He nodded to Sarah, but she continue to look away. +Lulu and Birdie exchanged a look. "How else would you swim?" Lulu asked, wondering, for the first time if maybe Sarah didn't know everything. She looked at her in the moonlight and realized her face was flushed. Lulu felt embarrassed for her and quickly looked away, back toward her father who was a tiny head bobbing among the crumbling white foam of the small waves. It was then that Lulu noticed the light swirling around her father as he swam back to shore. He wrapped himself in a quilt and came walking up the beach. "Great night for a swim girls, phosphorescence everywhere." He nodded to Sarah, but she continue to look away. -Lulu jumped up and Birdie was right behind her. Sarah might dress like a man, and do a sailor's job, but Lulu and Birdie knew some things too, and nightswimming was one of them. Night swimming is best on a quiet night, though the girls and the brother had been known to swim in wilder weather as well. Calm nights were best for phosphorescence though. Her father claimed the eerie blue light that seemed bubble up around you like tiny glowing stars caught in the sea were actually tiny animals. This was one of the things he'd learned sailing with a man from London the year before they'd come to the Carolinas, but Lulu wasn't sure she believed it. +Lulu jumped up and Birdie was right behind her. Sarah might dress like a man, and do a sailor's job, but Lulu and Birdie knew some things too, and nightswimming was one of them. Night swimming is best on a quiet night, though the girls and their brother had been known to swim in wilder weather as well. Calm nights were best for phosphorescence though. Her father claimed the eerie blue light bubbling up around you like tiny glowing stars caught in the sea were actually tiny animals. He'd learned this sailing with a man from London the year before they'd come to the Carolinas, but Lulu wasn't sure she believed it. Her father told just as many stories as she did. When Lulu stopped at the shoreline she was surprised to find not just Birdie with her, but Sarah as well. Lulu smiled encouragingly at her as she began to pulled off her clothes, but she could sense that it would be best if she went ahead into the sea. She knew some adults didn't like nakedness. This confused her, but she respected it, and, after leaving her pants and shirt on the sand out of the reach of the waves, she ran with Birdie into the water. -The stopped knee deep in the water and looked down to see the bubbles coming off their legs. Bubbles that glowed like tiny blue coals floating up to the surface of the water as she moved. She heard a gasp and looked behind her. Sarah stood naked in the water, her head bent down, transfixed by the blue glow. "I have never..." she did not finish the though. Instead she began walking farther out. The girls could see a blue ripple of light following behind her like a wake as she moved through the water. She stopped when the water was up to her stomach and turned around toward them. "This is unbelievable," she said, "what is it?" +They stopped knee deep in the water and looked down to see the bubbles coming off their legs. Bubbles that glowed like tiny blue coals floating up to the surface of the water as she moved. She heard a gasp and looked behind her. Sarah stood naked in the water, her head bent down, transfixed by the blue glow. "I have never..." she did not finish the thought. Instead she began walking farther out. The girls could see a blue ripple of light following behind her like a wake as she moved through the water. She stopped when the water was up to her stomach and turned around toward them. "This is unbelievable," she said, "what is it?" -Lulu shrugged. Depends who you ask. Tambo and Papa say it's tiny animals. They sailed with some Englishman who caught some and showed them under a glass. Kobayashi says it's the spirits of the sea playing." +Lulu shrugged. "It depends who you ask. Tambo and Papa say it's tiny animals. They sailed with a naturalist who caught some and showed them under a glass. Kobayashi says it's the spirits of the sea playing." "What do you think it is?" -"It's really beautiful, that's what it is." Lulu smiled. She enjoyed knowing something Sarah did not, it made her like Sarah more, she felt equal, also in possession of mysteries. Different, but equal. "Watch this," she said, and doves into the water kicking her legs together like a mermaid's tail. It left a haunting wake of ghostly pale blue water behind her. She surfaced near Sarah. +"It's really beautiful, that's what it is." Lulu smiled. She enjoyed knowing something Sarah did not, it made her like Sarah more. She felt equal, also in possession of mysteries. Different, but equal. "Watch this," she said, and dove into the water kicking her legs together like a mermaid's tail. It left a haunting wake of ghostly pale blue water behind her. She surfaced near Sarah. The three of them took turns swirling around to stir up the bubbles of glowing phosphorescence. Birdie was the best swimmer, unafraid of the deeper water where Lulu well knew sharks also swam. She watched her sister streak round, swimming in circles like pods of dolphins did to herd fish, only Birdie stirred up a column of blue light that rose up to the surface where it spread out like spilled blue milk. -"You sister is quite a swimmer," Sarah said as they watched her circle. Lulu was proud of Birdie, she was quite a swimmer. It wasn't that long ago that Lulu would have been jealous, but she knew she was a better tree climber so it didn't bother her any more. She like that her sister was a good swimmer. +"Your sister is quite a swimmer," Sarah said as they watched her circle. Lulu was proud of Birdie, she was quite a swimmer. It wasn't that long ago that Lulu would have been jealous, but she knew she was a better tree climber so it didn't bother her any more. She like that her sister was a good swimmer. Lulu shivered and turned back toward shore. "I think I am going to go get warm by the fire." @@ -1048,7 +1052,7 @@ Birdie pouted but said nothing. "I think it's time for me to go in too Birdie," said Sarah. -Birdie gave in and they all waded in together, swirling up the last lingering trails of blue light as they went. They dressed quickly, shivering more in the night air than they had in the water, and ran up the beach to the fire. Most of the men were passed out around the fire when they got back. Tamba and Kobayashi were nowhere to be seen. Only their father was still up, lying on his side by the fire, head propped up on his arm, quietly smoking his pipe, the sweet smell of tobacco and sett gum bark drifting up from the bowl. +Birdie gave in and they all waded in together, swirling up the last lingering trails of blue light as they went. They dressed quickly, shivering more in the night air than they had in the water, and ran up the beach to the fire. Most of the men were passed out around the fire when they got back. Tamba and Kobayashi were nowhere to be seen. Only their father was still up, lying on his side by the fire, head propped up on his arm, quietly smoking his pipe, the sweet smell of tobacco and sweet gum bark drifting up from the bowl. "How was it?" He asked. @@ -1096,7 +1100,7 @@ Sarah stared into the fire. The hiss of burning wood filled the silence. "That h Lulu and Birdie exchanged a look. *It will* they were both thinking. -"I understand what you're asking me girls. You're asking who is in charge and the answer is no one." She sat back so she could see both of them, they instinctive scooted closer. "Why do you need a captain?" +"I understand what you're asking me girls. You're asking who is in charge and the answer is no one." She sat back so she could see both of them, they instinctively scooted closer. "Why do you need a captain?" Birdie did not hesitate. "So one person can make decisions when there is no time to make them by committee." @@ -1106,13 +1110,15 @@ Lulu said nothing, but she realized suddenly that Sarah did not know everything. Birdie was not so quiet. "You can't run a ship through a storm by committee. Every sailor knows that." -It was Sarah's turn to be quiet. She turned her head toward Birdie and Lulu could only see her read hair, glowing even redder in the firelight. She understood in an instant why they had no captain. No one wanted to step up. No one wanted to be responsible. Why would anyone want to lead? It was much easier to sit back and let someone else make the decisions for you. The problem was that if everyone did that, then there was no one to make those decisions. +It was Sarah's turn to be quiet. She turned her head toward Birdie and Lulu could only see her red hair, glowing even redder in the firelight. She understood in an instant why they had no captain. No one wanted to step up. No one wanted to be responsible. Why would anyone want to lead? It was much easier to sit back and let someone else make the decisions for you. The problem was that if everyone did that, then there was no one to make those decisions. "I suppose we will need a captain at some point." "You will," Birdie nodded. "And you need to pick one before you need one." -And, though Lulu, you need to pick one who knows where to go. It was something she and her father had talked about once. She asked why he sometimes was not the captain of Delos, why he let Tamba and Kobayashi lead. All he would say is that different times called for different people. She'd asked Tamba who'd told her the secret was to know, "not to think, understand, but to know. To listen to your heart Lu, to reason with your mind and to understand the world and its winds with your eyes, your ears, your nose, the sense that tickles your spine when you know, this is the way, this is the wind, this is the line across the water, this is where I am supposed to go. And when you know that, when you feel that, open the canvas, catch every bit of that wind you can without any bit of fear in your heart and nothing can stop you." +And, thought Lulu, you need to pick one who knows where to go. It was something she and her father had talked about once. She asked why he sometimes was not the captain of Wanderer, why he let Tamba and Kobayashi lead. All he would say is that different times called for different people. + +As she often did when her father wouldn't tell her what she wanted to know, she'd asked Tamba. They'd been in Wanderer' bow, using the reefed foresail as hammock, watching the sunset. At first Tamba said nothing, just kept staring out at the sea. Then, in Tamba fashion he had launched into one of his quiet rants, as Lulu thought of them. "You have to know where you are going Lulu, when you don't, you may have to follow others for a time. Some of them may go where you're going, and that may help. Some of them won't, that'll set you back. But in the end you have to find your own way. The secret is you can't think your way out of it, you have to feel it, you have to know deep down. To listen to your heart Lu, to reason with your mind and to understand the world and its winds with your eyes, your ears, your nose, and the sense that tickles your spine when you know, this is the way, this is the wind, this is the line across the water, this is where I am supposed to go. And when you know that, when you feel that, open the canvas, catch every bit of that wind you can without any bit of fear in your heart and nothing can stop you." Sarah sat back and looked at them for moment, studying their faces. "How old are you girls again?" @@ -1128,67 +1134,69 @@ Lulu and Birdie's eye met for a flash, but neither of them said anything. "My name is not Sarah. My name is Ann." -Lulu considered this. It wasn't much of a secret. She'd figured out years ago that hardly anyone who passed through their camp used the name their parents had given them. What Sarah, or Ann, was really revealing was how little time she'd spent at sea, and for this Lulu was grateful. This information was far more valuable than a name, and Lulu loved her for it far more than she did for the trust she was showing in telling them her name. On impulse, before she could stop herself, she threw her arms around Ann's neck and hugged her. +Lulu considered this. It wasn't much of a secret. She'd figured out years ago that hardly anyone who passed through their camp used the name their parents had given them. Even Lulu and Birdie didn't use their real names. What Sarah, or Ann, was really revealing was how little time she'd spent at sea, and for this Lulu was grateful. This information was far more valuable than a name, and Lulu loved her for it far more than she did for the trust she was showing in telling them her name. On impulse, before she could stop herself, she threw her arms around Ann's neck and hugged her. ## Chapter 9: Trading Upriver -Two days later Birdie sat at the edge of the river, watching Eliza May thread her way through the shallows, out to sea. Her father was on board to help. Maggie was tied to a stern line so he could sail back once he'd guided them out of the river mouth and into the open ocean. Lulu could see her father, but she was watching Ann. Ann lying down on the bowsprite with a lead line in the water, taking soundings. All Birdie could see of her was her red hair near the tip in the bowsprite, but that was exactly how she wanted to remember her, clutching the bowsprite, leading the way out to sea. +Two days later Birdie sat at the edge of the river, watching the Eliza May thread her way through the shallows, out to sea. Her father was on board to help. Delos was tied to a stern line so he could sail back once he'd guided them out of the river mouth and into the open ocean. Birdie could see her father, but she was watching Ann. Ann was lying down on the bowsprite with a lead line in the water, taking soundings. All Birdie could really see of her was her red hair near the tip in the bowsprite, but that was exactly how she wanted to remember her, clutching the bowsprite, leading the way out to sea. -Earlier that morning as they'd help load the last bunch of dried, salted fish the crew of the Eliza May had purchased from Birdie, Ann had pulled Lulu and Birdie aside and told them that she intended to make Nassau before the year was out and that she would be working hard to get a ship, and that if she did, they were to be part of her crew. Birdie liked this idea, though she knew there was next to no chance it would actually happen. Still, what stuck in her mind more than that was her offhand suggestion, "See if you can convince your father to go south this summer, not north." Birdie had never thought of trying to influence their destination. It wasn't that she couldn't she realized, after thinking on it, it was that she'd never had a reason to go any particular direction so she was happy to go wherever others wanted. Now though, maybe she did have a direction she wanted to go. +Earlier that morning as they'd help load the last bunch of dried, salted fish the crew of the Eliza May had purchased from Birdie, Ann had pulled Lulu and Birdie aside and told them that she intended to make Nassau before the year was out and that she would be working hard to get a ship, and that if she did, they were to be part of her crew. Birdie liked this idea, though she knew there was next to no chance it would actually happen. Still, what stuck in her mind more than that was her offhand suggestion, "See if you can convince your father to go south this summer, not north." Birdie had never thought of trying to influence their destination. It wasn't that she couldn't. They were after all a crew, destinations were agreed upon, not handed down. But Birdie had never had a reason to go any particular direction so she was happy to go wherever others wanted. Now though, maybe she did have a direction she wanted to go. -Birdie watched until she could not longer see any people, and noticed that Maggie was being pulled in closer to the Eliza May. Soon her father would be back. Soon it would be back to work making tar. Birdie had an escape plan. She'd managed to unload one bundle of dried fish to the crew of the Eliza May in exchange for several copper kettles. Now she wanted to take those upriver and see if she could trade some of the Waccamaw families for some kind of blue dye she could make into ink. She'd seen them with blue painted on their faces and knew they must have some, though whether or not she could trade for any of it she did not know. Still Tamba was an excellent trader and she was hoping she could convince him to go with her. They needed vegetables , he'd have to make a trip upriver soon anyway. +Birdie watched until she could no longer see any people, and noticed that Delos was being pulled in closer to the Eliza May. Soon her father would be back. Soon it would be back to work making tar. Birdie had an escape plan. She'd managed to unload one bundle of dried fish to the crew of the Eliza May in exchange for several copper kettles. Now she wanted to take those upriver and see if she could trade some of the Waccamaw families for some kind of blue dye she could make into ink. She'd seen them with blue painted on their faces and knew they must have some, though whether or not she could trade for any of it she did not know. Still Tamba was an excellent trader and she was hoping she could convince him to go with her. They needed vegetables. They'd have to make a trip upriver soon anyway. Few people lived as close to the sea as Birdie's family. There was too much salt in the river to drink, too much salt in the air to grow crops. People came out in the warmer months when Bridie's family went north, but when it cooled, and big schools of fish moved further offshore, most people headed back up the rivers, further from the sea, where the land was better for growing, the water better for drinking. -Birdie and her sister dug the marshes for sedge grass roots, and gathered a root the Waccamaw people called potato. The island also had plenty of Muscadines, blackberries, and raspberries, which they all gathered when they ripened. But they relied on trade with people upcountry to provide a variety of vegetables, corn and squash, tomatoes, okra, and rice. They brought dried fish, fishing line and French guns to trade, most of that was traded from passing ships that paid for tar in whatever was in their holds. +Birdie and her sister dug the marshes for sedge grass roots, and gathered a root the Waccamaw people called potato. The island also had plenty of Muscadines, blackberries, and raspberries, which they all gathered when they ripened. But they relied on trade with people upcountry to provide a variety of vegetables, corn and squash, tomatoes, okra, and rice. They brought dried fish, fishing line and French guns to trade. Most of the things Birdie's family had to trade upriver was traded from passing ships, which paid for tar in whatever was in their holds. And everyone always traded news. The river carried stories from far up in the mountains down to the coast and the river boatmen carried stories from the coast back up into the mountains. Birdie had never been more than a few miles inland, but Tamba had once trekked far up into Iroquois territory with copper pots and French rifles to trade for seeds and high quality corn from the foothills, fatter and plumper than the red corn that grew in the coastal plain. -To her surprise, Tamba thought going upriver to trade was an excellent idea and agreed to take Lulu and Birdie as soon as their father returned with Maggie. He grumbled a bit about losing his best helpers, but then his eye fell on Henry who happened to walk through camp. "Come here my boy, I have a task for you..." +To her surprise, Tamba thought going upriver to trade was an excellent idea and agreed to take Lulu and Birdie as soon as their father returned with Delos. -Lule and Birdie leaped in the boat with Tamba and unfurled the sail and pushed off before their father changed his mind. There was a decent cross wind that had them tacking slightly up through the marsh, until the waterway narrowed down to something more like a river. There was a big island at the entrance this year, which Tamba called a good omen, when the river splits further inland it means the waters have been low, floods are unlikely. +Their father grumbled a bit about losing his best helpers, but then his eye fell on Henry who happened to walk through camp. "Come here my boy, I have a task for you..." -The marsh was what separated Birdie's family from the world. It was the province of muskrats and minnows, snails climbing reeds with the tide, herons stalking fish. Humans rarely lingered. But as you worked your way up the rivers, the shores became more crowded. At first were the small huts of some of the few remaining natives who fished the rivers, hunted the bottoms and marshlands, and mostly kept to the themselves. Or tried. Parties of slave traders from Charlestown had begun raiding these small villages the previous year, capturing men to work the plantations further up the river. Usually the men came by sea, and Birdie's father had twice sailed upriver ahead of the slave traders, warning the villagers. Most of them had moved south by now, though between the British in Charlestown, the Iroquois inland to the west, the sea to the east, and the Spanish to the south, they were running out of places to hide. Birdie didn't understand why the people in Charlestown couldn't work their own farms. She'd asked her father but he'd only laughed and said the British believed work was something other people did for them. +Lulu and Birdie leaped in the boat with Tamba and unfurled the sail and pushed off before their father changed his mind. There was a decent cross wind that had them tacking slightly up through the marsh, until the waterway narrowed down to something more like a river. There was a big island at the entrance this year, which Tamba called a good omen, when the river splits further inland it means the waters have been low, floods are unlikely. + +The marsh was what separated Birdie's family from the world. It was the province of muskrats and minnows, snails climbing reeds with the tide, herons stalking fish. Humans rarely lingered. But as you worked your way up the rivers, the shores became more crowded. At first were the small huts of some of the few remaining natives who fished the rivers, hunted the bottoms and marshlands, and mostly kept to themselves. Or tried. Parties of slave traders from Charlestown had begun raiding these small villages the previous year, capturing men to work the plantations further up the river. Usually the men came by sea, and Birdie's father had twice sailed upriver ahead of the slave traders, warning the villagers. Most of them had moved south by now, though between the British in Charlestown, the Iroquois inland to the west, the sea to the east, and the Spanish to the south, they were running out of places to hide. Birdie didn't understand why the people in Charlestown couldn't work their own farms. She'd asked her father but he'd only laughed and said the British believed work was something other people did for them. She'd also asked him what would happen to the Waccamaw and the Winyah and Sewee and the others. He'd stopped smiling then and looked very tired, "they will be like us Birdie, they will run as long as they can, and then..." He gestured at the air, "who knows." Birdie remembered this exchange chiefly because it startled her. She had never thought of herself as running. So far as she could tell she had never run from anything, but it made her sad to think that other people had to run. -As Tamba tacked back across the river, the first cluster of now-abandoned huts came into a view. They were a stout structures, made of pine logs and thatched with palmetto fronds, like her own home, but these were bigger, made of larger logs, and raised off the ground to keep it dry even when the river flooded. These were built to last, hers was temporary. +As Tamba tacked back across the river, the first cluster of now-abandoned huts came into a view. They were stout structures, made of pine logs and thatched with palmetto fronds, like her own home. But these were bigger homes, made of larger logs, and raised off the ground to keep them dry even when the river flooded. These homes were built to last, Birdie's was temporary. -There should have been cooking fires burning, the smell of drying fish, smoke, and hides, naked children playing in the river, swimming out to their boat, laughing and splashing. Now there was only a stillness and silence that left Birdie shivering even in the hot sun in the middle of the river. She glanced at Lulu, who was watching the shore, not saying anything. She wondered what Ann would say. She knew Ann was running. Who was Ann running from? Birdie hadn't asked, wouldn't have asked even now. When the British were around, everyone seemed to running from someone. +There should have been cooking fires burning, the smell of drying fish, smoke, and hides, naked children playing in the river, swimming out to their boat, laughing and splashing. Now there was only a stillness and silence that left Birdie shivering even in the hot sun in the middle of the river. She glanced at Lulu, who was watching the shore, not saying anything. She wondered what Ann would say. She knew Ann was running. Who was Ann running from? Birdie hadn't asked, wouldn't have asked even now. When the British were around, everyone seemed to be running from someone. The sail lufted and they all went back to paddling. Lulu continued staring back at the remains of the village even as it faded from view. "Do you think those families are working on the plantations?" -Birdie shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe the escaped." +Birdie shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe they escaped." "Papa told me they've been raiding again, they're shipping them off to the islands now." -Birdie nodded, she'd heard this story as well. Tamba seemed shaken by it. She knew it was the same thing they'd done to his people in Africa. Then to see it here too. Like to was following him. For the thousandth time she wondered why someone didn't stop the British. But no one ever did. Birdie had long ago decided she was going to stop them. She didn't know how, she didn't know if she could, but she was going to try. Someone had to, why not her? +Birdie nodded, she'd heard this story as well. Tamba seemed shaken by it. She knew it was the same thing they'd done to his people in Africa. Then to see it here too. Like they were following him. For the thousandth time she wondered why someone didn't stop the British. But no one ever did. Birdie had long ago decided she was going to stop them. She didn't know how, she didn't know if she could, but she was going to try. Someone had to, why not her? The river narrowed and finally they saw signs of life, small farms of indentured servants who'd paid off their debts, escaped slaves, a few former pirates who'd had the sense to take what they had and get out. Their farms were meager, but they usually had vegetables to trade for salted fish and other things Birdie and her family had easy access to that they did not. -Tamba hollered to an African man fishing from the bank. He pointed Maggie over to him. The two exchanged words in a language Birdie did not recognize and Tamba did not translate. He merely nodded goodbye and pointed the bow back toward the middle the river. The wind caught the sail and Birdie was able to stop paddling for long enough to ask Tamba what the man had said. +Tamba hollered to an African man fishing from the bank. He pointed Delos over to him. The two exchanged words in a language Birdie did not recognize and Tamba did not translate. He merely nodded goodbye and pointed the bow back toward the middle of the river. The wind caught the sail and Birdie was able to stop paddling for long enough to ask Tamba what the man had said. -"He said the slavers from Charlestown came again. He hid in the swamp, but they took half the Sewee in the village up the south fork." Tamba glanced up the river. Birdie said nothing. Her chest felt hot, like she couldn't breath. She thought of the children she knew had been in that village, some her age. She'd traded dried salt for gum from a woman in that village. She tried to imagine her now, bent on some field, overseer's whip stinging her back. It made her chest burn with anger. She said as much to Tamba +"He said the slavers from Charlestown came again. He hid in the swamp, but they took half the Sewee in the village up the south fork." Tamba glanced up the river. Birdie said nothing. Her chest felt hot, like she couldn't breath. She thought of the children she knew had been in that village, some her age. She'd traded dried salt for gum from a woman in that village. She tried to imagine her now, bent on some field, overseer's whip stinging her back. It made her chest burn with anger. She said as much to Tamba. -"There are always slaves, Birdie" Tamba said. "The people farther inland, they take slaves too sometimes. My people, before we were taken slaves, we took people as slaves. Your ancestors took slaves." He shifted his weight and the boat rocked. "The tragedy is not to a be a slave, the tragedy is to be a slave to the British, a people without mercy or compassion. It is one thing to be taken by a people who see you as a defeated equal. It is another to end up with someone who sees you as a dog. The British. The French. They are the only people I have ever encountered who see anyone that way." He rummaged in his bag and pulled out a stick of dried fish. "Kobayashi says the Chinese are that way toward his people, but I cannot say." +"There are always slaves, Birdie" Tamba said. "The people farther inland, they take slaves too sometimes. My people, before we were taken slaves, we took people as slaves. Your ancestors took slaves." He shifted his weight and the boat rocked. "The tragedy is not to a be a slave, the tragedy is to be a slave to the British, a people without mercy or compassion. It is one thing to be taken by a people who see you as a defeated equal. It is another to end up with someone who sees you as a dog. The British. The French. The Spanish. The Dutch. These are the only people I have ever encountered who see anyone that way." He rummaged in his bag and pulled out a stick of dried fish. "Kobayashi says the Chinese are that way toward his people, but I cannot say." They on sailed in silence. -Eventually they came to the Waccamaw village where Tamba was hoping to trade. Smoke rose from cooking fires just back from the river. A woman washing clothes in the river eyed them and seemed prepared to run, but she did not move. Tamba spoke to her in French and she nodded back at the village and said something in return. Birdie thought she heard the word British, she was sure she heard Charlestown. "They were here too? She asked and she and Lulu held to boat and Tamba looped a line of the gnarled oak root protruding from the bank. +Eventually they came to the Waccamaw village where Tamba was hoping to trade. Smoke rose from cooking fires just back from the river. A woman washing clothes in the river eyed them and seemed prepared to run, but she did not move. Tamba spoke to her in French and she nodded back at the village and said something in return. Birdie thought she heard the word British, she was sure she heard Charlestown. "They were here too? She asked. -Tamba nodded, but did not say anything. He grabbed his gun out of the boat and they headed up into the village. +Tamba nodded, but did not say anything. He ran the boat aground a few yards upriver from the woman. Birdie climbed out. Lulu held the boat while Tamba looped a line of the gnarled oak root protruding from the bank. He grabbed his gun out of the boat and they headed up into the village. -segue to tamba: +The village was nearly empty. A few fires burned, but there were no children playing, no one singing, no life. "Half the people are still in the bush, hiding from the slavers." -"Are they still out here?" Birdie had not considered that the men from Charlestown might still be out looking for slaves. She felt a chill pass through her. What if they came for Tamba? For her? For Lulu? It might feel like it was a lifetime away, but Charlestown wasn't that far. Once the marsh country was behind you the river actually became broader, there was less floodplain for it run out over so more of it stayed together and it became wider and deeper. People called it the Stono river and it cut a arcing path around St John's island and eventually the narrow mouth of Wappoo Creek opened up, and took you through the last stretch of land, into the Ashley River right on the back porch of Charlestown. Paddling it would take at least three days, though with the sail on Maggie her father had managed to do it in just over a day and half. With a boat full of oars the slavers could do it in a day easily. +"Are they still out here?" Birdie had not considered that the men from Charlestown might still be out looking for slaves. She felt a chill pass through her. What if they came for Tamba? For her? For Lulu? It might feel like it was a lifetime away, but Charlestown wasn't that far. Once the marsh country was behind you the river actually became broader, there was less floodplain for it run out over so more of it stayed together and it became wider and deeper. People called it the Stono river and it cut a arcing path around St John's island and eventually the narrow mouth of Wappoo Creek opened up, and took you through the last stretch of land, into the Ashley River right on the back porch of Charlestown. Paddling it would take at least three days, though with the sail on Delos her father had managed to do it in just over a day and half. With a boat full of oars the slavers could do it in a day easily. Tamba shrugged. "You girls have your knives yes?" Birdie nodded. She saw Lulu instinctively touch the knife at her waist. Tamba nodded. "And you know how to fire a gun. If you need to, take one off me and use it." Without waiting for them to answer he turned around and walked toward the village. -It was not the happy place it had a been just a few weeks before. The people regarded them warily from the shadows of their huts. The head man came out and greeted Tamba, shaking his hand and clasping him on his back. He nodded to the girls and brought them all into the shade of an oak. A woman brought them tea. Tamba and the chief spoke half in French, half in Waccamaw, a kind if pidgin that Birdie could not follow, though she recognized the words for slaves and she thought the world for south. She thought perhaps the man was saying that the whole village was getting ready to move south. She knew others had done the same. The land south of Savannah was largely uninhabited until you came to the first Spanish settlements in Florida, but there were rumors the Spanish were pushing north, seeking to expand their territory. Still, rumors were less worrying than the actual attacks happening here. +It was not the happy place it had a been just a few weeks before. The people regarded them warily from the shadows of their huts. The head man came out and greeted Tamba, shaking his hand and clasping his back. He nodded to the girls and brought them all into the shade of an oak. A woman brought them tea. Tamba and the chief spoke half in French, half in Waccamaw, a kind if pidgin that Birdie could not follow, though she recognized the words for slaves and she thought the world for south. She thought perhaps the man was saying that the whole village was getting ready to move south. She knew others had done the same. The land south of Savannah was largely uninhabited until you came to the first Spanish settlements in Florida, but there were rumors the Spanish were pushing north, seeking to expand their territory. Still, rumors were less worrying than the actual attacks happening here. They finished their tea. Two women came over to look at their dried fish and wares. They listened to Tamba explain Birdie's desire for blue dye. One of the woman smiled at her, the other just stared at her for a long time, looking away whenever Birdie tried to meet her eyes. Eventually she nodded and walked off. She returned to their shaded spot under the tree with a small dried bladder, which she handed to Birdie, motioning with her hands that she should untie it. Birdie did, careful not to spill any, and looked inside. It was a dark inky color. She could not tell for sure if it was blue though. Lulu saved her by pulling a brush and piece of paper out of her bag. @@ -1202,7 +1210,7 @@ Birdie's eyes must of widened, because he laughed. "Do not be so surprised. Your Birdie felt her face flush. She really wished her father had never done that. But she smiled at the chief's joke and promised she would tell her father as much. -Back on the river they sailed in silence. The wind rose and died with the turns of the river, but the current carried them enough that they did not have to paddle much. Birdie was lost in thought. Partly she was planning how to use her blue, but partly she was wondering what they would do with everyone leaving. Would they have to go to Charlestown to trade? Charlestown wasn't a good market for her dried fish. There were large fishing boats to supplied far more than she ever could. And she did not like it, it was full of loud shouting people who didn't seem to her to do anything but rush about and shout things. She much preferred drinking tea with the Waccamaw chief. She would miss the trips upriver. After that village there was nothing but scattered farms, or ont he other fork, toward Charlestown, huge plantations full of slaves working the fields. +Back on the river they sailed in silence. The wind rose and died with the turns of the river, but the current carried them enough that they did not have to paddle much. Birdie was lost in thought. Partly she was planning how to use her blue, but partly she was wondering what they would do with everyone leaving. Would they have to go to Charlestown to trade? Charlestown wasn't a good market for her dried fish. There were large fishing boats that supplied far more than she ever could. And she did not like it, it was full of loud shouting people who didn't seem to her to do anything but rush about and shout things. She much preferred drinking tea with the Waccamaw chief. She would miss the trips upriver. After that village there was nothing but scattered farms, or on the other fork, toward Charlestown, huge plantations full of slaves working the fields. Tamba broke her train of thought with a simple question: "Do you feel that?" @@ -1218,7 +1226,7 @@ Lulu and Birdie looked at each other. Cooler air meant a relief from the heat of Tamba continued to stare off at the eastern horizon. "I do not know," he said finally. -## Chapter 10: Campfire Talk +--- The cool continued the next day. After dinner that night her father pulled out his fiddle and Tamba joined in with some driftwood rasps he'd been working on. The fiddle and percussion dueled and danced with each other in Birdie's head, first her father leading then Tamba stepping to the front, stomping with his foot to add bass to his scratch and clack percussion. @@ -1230,7 +1238,9 @@ She drifted in and out of sleep still until she heard her uncle say with convict "What about your wife and children?" -"I've built a boat." Birdie's eyes sprung open, he has? +"I've built a boat." + +Birdie's eyes sprung open, he has? "I want to sail up to Charlestown, trade the furs I've been stockpiling and then use that money to get some supplies and take the boat north." @@ -1266,7 +1276,7 @@ Her father said nothing. "You don't deny it?" -"No. I don't deny that there are people I know on the cape who sail boat and don't always do what the king wants. You have that much right." +"No. I don't deny that there are people I know on the cape who sail boats and don't always do what the king wants. You have that much right." Birdie thought of summer camp. It was much like their winter camp, though there were hardly any trees near the coast. No pines anyway. She spent her time fishing. Her father often worked on ships and did other jobs around town. She loved summer camp, but there was no one to play with and the idea that Francis and Owen might come to it nearly made her jump up and cry out, yes, yes please come. @@ -1284,9 +1294,21 @@ Birdie risked a peek through the veil of eyelashes. She could see her father, he "The British are coming." -"The British are already here." +"You said they weren't coming. Besides, the British are already here." + +"True. But I was wrong. More of them are coming. Many more. They're headed for Nassau. They need to bring it in line or they'll lose it forever." + +"How do you know?" + +"The woman on Eliza May, Sarah, she told me." + +"Why should we believe her?" -"True. But more of them are coming. Many more. They're headed for Nassau. They need to bring it in line or they'll lose it forever. But you know where they will come first to provision. Charlestown. We'll need to be gone before that." +"You don't have to Cole, but I do. Her father is one of the people that convinced them to come." + +"I thought you said Nassau?" + +"Tthey will come first to provision in Charlestown. I want to be gone before that." "You're just going to leave? You can't just leave." @@ -1322,7 +1344,7 @@ The British. Coming to Charlestown. She watched shooting stars and started to co ## Chapter 11: Storm -It was late in the afternoon when she felt it. Lulu sat straight up in the hull of the Arkhangelsk and hit her head on a cross spar. Ow, she exclaimed and quickly followed it with, Birdie, do you smell that? +It was late in the afternoon when she felt it. Lulu sat straight up in the hull of the Arkhangelsk and hit her head on a cross spar. "Ow," she exclaimed followed quickly by, "Birdie, do you smell that?" "What?" Birdie paused and sniffed. "What?" @@ -1332,23 +1354,23 @@ Birdie sniffed again, she put her nose to a crack and sniffed deeply. "What are you doing sister?" asked Henry. -"Lu says the wind smell different." +"Lulu says the wind smell different." Henry too sniffed. He cocked his head to the side and studied Birdie or a minute, then turned and studied Lulu. He shrugged. "I think it smells like the sea." "Yes," said Lulu, "but it smells like more like the sea." -Henry stared. "What did you say?" +Henry stared at her like she had two heads. "What did you say?" -While her brother and sister did not notice it, at nearly the same moment that Lulu had hit her head, her father had also jerked upright out of a sound sleep in a hammock slug between to pieces of driftwood. "Tamba!" He shout leaping out of the hammock. "Storm." +While her brother and sister did not notice it, at nearly the same moment that Lulu had hit her head, her father had also jerked upright out of a sound sleep in a hammock slug between two oak trees. "Tamba!" He shout, leaping out of the hammock. "Storm." -Tamba came slowly out of the hut, wiping the fish guts off his hand with a rag. He looked up at the sky. He frowned. +Tamba came slowly out of the hut, wiping fish guts off his hand with a rag. He looked up at the sky. He frowned. Papa stopped to sniff again when Lulu came around the corner at full speed and skidded to a halt in front of him. "Papa! the air smells different, I think there's a storm coming." He smiled at her and turned to Tamba. "See?" -Tamba grunted. "I see. I see you have raised them like you. Like wolves." He smiled and then it disappeared. "We need to stop Mr Cole, he was taking Maggie to Charlestown today. +Tamba grunted. "I see you have raised them like you. Like wolves." He smiled and then it disappeared. "We need to stop Mr Cole, he was taking Delos to Charlestown today. Her father glanced out at sea. "I'm sure he'll stay." @@ -1358,15 +1380,15 @@ Her father sighed. "Birdie, Lulu, run down to Aunt Māra's camp and make sure th Birdie glanced at Lulu and together they dashed out of camp. -"And hurry back, we'll be moving to Delos." Her father's voice trailed off as they left the dunes and ducked into the forest, following the well-worn footpath that led down the island to their cousin's camp. That was how Lulu though of it. Her father always called it Aunt Māra's camp. No one called it Uncle Cole's camp, though really he was the one who lorded over it. To tell the truth, thought Lulu, I would have much rather been helping to secure our camp. She slowed a little as the oaks thickened and the ground became treacherously crowded with acorns that hurt even her calloused feet. +"And hurry back. As soon as we load up, we'll be moving Wanderer." Her father's voice trailed off as they left the dunes and ducked into the forest, following the well-worn footpath that led down the island to their cousin's camp. That was how Lulu though of it. Her father always called it Aunt Māra's camp. No one called it Uncle Cole's camp, though really he was the one who lorded over it. To tell the truth, thought Lulu, I would have much rather been helping to pack and secure our camp. She slowed a little as the oaks thickened and the ground became treacherously crowded with acorns that hurt even her calloused feet. "Come on Lu, hurry up," Birdie called. "I want to tell them so we can get back and help Papa pack everything up." -"Let's just go back, they won't leave. The wind is coming up." +"Let's just go back, they won't leave. The wind is coming up. They're scared of the ocean anyway." -"They're not Alban Lu. They don't know. We have to tell them." +"They won't know, Lulu. They don't know what we know. They can't just sniff the wind. Even I can't just sniff the wind apparently. We have to tell them." -"Aunt Māra is mother's sister, she's Alban." +"Aunt Māra is mother's sister, she'll know." Birdie shrugged. "Maybe, but we still have to tell them, Papa told us to." @@ -1378,15 +1400,15 @@ Birdie felt her heart sink. "How long ago?" Māra glanced at the sky. "Left after lunch." -Lulu and Birdie shared a look. On a good day, with a favorable wind and tide coming in, a good boat could make Charlestown in eight hours. Maggie was a good boat, and the approaching storm would make the wind favorable, until it made it more than favorable. Still, Lulu had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. A helpless feeling, like the world was careening against her will, she was being pulled by lines she could feel all around her, but she could not make out which way they were pulling her. She watched Birdie start to cry. She could think of nothing to say. "Bee," she said finally, "Let's run up to the point and see if we can see the sail. Then we'll get back to help Papa." +Lulu and Birdie shared a look. On a good day, with favorable wind and tide, in a good boat, you could make Charlestown in eight hours. Delos was a good boat, and the approaching storm would make the wind favorable. Until it made it more than favorable. Still, Lulu had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. A helpless feeling, like the world was turning against her will. Like she was being pulled by lines she could feel all around her, but she could not make out which way they were pulling her. She watched Birdie start to cry. She could think of nothing to say. "Bee," she said finally, "Let's run up to the point and see if we can see the sail. Then we'll get back to help Papa." -Birdie nodded and they left their Aunt to grab her things and head for their camp where they promised to meet her later. The trail from camp to the marsh was hard going at this end of the island, loose sand you could not run in, sharp shells and sticker plants everywhere. It took them longer than either had planned to get up the river where the sand bar at low tide was high enough that they could wade across to the next island and out on the point. Already the wind had begun to pick up. Lulu could feel the pressure dropping. Her ears popped. This was going to be big one.Birdie was crying again. "Come on," said Lulu. "We have to get back." +Birdie nodded and they left their Aunt to grab her things and head for their camp where they promised to meet her later. The trail from camp to the seashore was hard going at this end of the island, loose sand you could not run in, sharp shells and sticker plants everywhere. It took them longer than either had planned to get to the mouth of the river where the sand bar at low tide was high enough that they could wade across to the next island and out on the point. Already the wind had begun to pick up. Lulu could feel the pressure dropping. Her ears popped. This was going to be big one. There was a small sail visible, not too far offshore, but to far to hail. Birdie jumped up and down and waved her arms. She started to cry again. Lulu considered lighting a fire, but she wasn't sure having them turn around was the best idea. They looked close the river mouth. If they made it up into the marsh they'd be better off than being caught out on the ocean, trying to come back. She said as much to Birdie. But Birdie kept jumping and waving until she was too tired to jump anymore. "Come on," said Lulu finally. "We have to get back." By the time they got back Papa and Henry were on their second sled drag from camp to the boat. Papa pulled, Henry ran behind grabbing anything that fell off. Lulu dashed into the hut and grabbed her bag, which held her notebook, quills, and ink, the only things in the world she cared about. She slung her bag over her shoulder as she waited for Birdie to grab her paints and things. They set off after her father and Henry, who were already well down the trail. At the boat Tamba was already raising the sails while Aunt Māra hurried up and down out of the hold, hauling dried fish and water in small barrels. -They would sail Delos up river, threading the marshes as quickly as they could, to the mouth of the river, there, on the far side of the first island, which divided the channel, they could careen her against a grove of swamp cypress. They would lash her to the trees as best they could and ride it out there. It was not a new plan. They had gone so far as to careen her once two years ago, but the storm had never materialized. Wherever it went, it had spared Edisto. Lulu could feel in her bones that this storm was not going away. It was coming here. Now. Tonight. +They would sail Wanderer up river, threading the marshes as quickly as they could, to the mouth of the river, there, on the far side of the first island, which divided the channel, they could careen her against a grove of swamp cypress. They would lash her to the trees as best they could and ride it out there. It was not a new plan. They had gone so far as to careen her once two years ago, but the storm had never materialized. Wherever it went, it had spared Edisto. Lulu could feel in her bones that this storm was not going away. It was coming here. Now. Tonight. -The tide was raising Delos, her father and Tamba used lines and a bent pine on the hammock next to it to winch it into deeper water. It took the better part of an hour, but she was soon floating. They used the Pirogue to load the last couple barrels of tar, which Kobayashi and her father were still manuevering into the hold as Tamba raised the sail to get a enough speed to fight the river current. +The tide was raising Wanderer, her father and Tamba used lines and a bent pine on the hammock next to it to winch it into deeper water. It took the better part of an hour, but she was soon floating. They used the Pirogue to load the last couple barrels of tar, which Kobayashi and her father were still manuevering into the hold as Tamba raised the sail to get a enough speed to fight the river current. High clouds had been blowing in all afternoon, but wasn't until the sun began to set that they could see the line of the storm off in the east. It was so dark it looked like night blowing across the sea. Her father climbed the mizzen mast with his spyglass and studied the horizon. When he came down Lulu noticed something she had never seen in his eyes before, fear. It chilled her. She shivered and put her arms around him. He knelt down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. "It's going to be okay Lu. I promise." @@ -1410,7 +1432,7 @@ He blinked at her as if this were the silliest question he had ever heard. "Beca The darkness of the storm blotted out the remainder of the day. Lulu was wishing she could be wherever the sun was setting. Some place happy and bright. She heard Tamba yell from the bow and both she and Birdie rushed up to see what was the matter. -Threading it's way out of cluster of cypress trees was a small dugout with six people in it. At the stern was man, probably about her father's age Lulu guessed. In the bow was a woman, perhaps about the same age, his wife she assumed. Between them, in the line were two girls and a young boy about Henry's age. The older of the two girls held a baby in her arms. The man was calling out to Tamba in a language Lulu did not know well, but recognized as Waccamaw. She had traded enough with the Waccamaw that Lulu had learned to recognize words that seemed like they meant please and thank you and hello. Lulu heard the man say the word she thought meant thank you. Tamba spoke fluent Waccamaw and spoke for some moments as the dugout moved alongside Delos. +Threading it's way out of cluster of cypress trees was a small dugout with six people in it. At the stern was man, probably about her father's age Lulu guessed. In the bow was a woman, perhaps about the same age, his wife she assumed. Between them, in the line were two girls and a young boy about Henry's age. The older of the two girls held a baby in her arms. The man was calling out to Tamba in a language Lulu did not know well, but recognized as Waccamaw. She had traded enough with the Waccamaw that Lulu had learned to recognize words that seemed like they meant please and thank you and hello. Lulu heard the man say the word she thought meant thank you. Tamba spoke fluent Waccamaw and spoke for some moments as the dugout moved alongside Wanderer. He turned to Birdie. "Go tell your father that we're going to give this family a ride and they're going to show us another, better island. We can careen on the leeward side." @@ -1430,7 +1452,7 @@ He studied her for a moment. "Lulu, go get a line and some rigging out of the ho She snapped to attention and smiled. "Yes sir!' -She took off for the hold. It was dark below, even the faint light of the evening was no help down here. She worked by feel to get several lines, but she could not find the rigging Tamba wanted. She ran back with the lines so Delos could at least tow the canoe along without the poor man having to paddle to keep up. Then she ran back into the hold and felt around where the rigging ought to have been but could not find it. She was about to give up and grab a couple of lines to tie a ladder when she tripped and fell and landed on the unmistakably painful lumps of tightly knotted hemp lines. The rigging. She dashed back up and with Tamba's help, secured the rigging to the gunwale and lowered the ladder-like rope over the side so the family could climb aboard. +She took off for the hold. It was dark below, even the faint light of the evening was no help down here. She worked by feel to get several lines, but she could not find the rigging Tamba wanted. She ran back with the lines so Wanderer could at least tow the canoe along without the poor man having to paddle to keep up. Then she ran back into the hold and felt around where the rigging ought to have been but could not find it. She was about to give up and grab a couple of lines to tie a ladder when she tripped and fell and landed on the unmistakably painful lumps of tightly knotted hemp lines. The rigging. She dashed back up and with Tamba's help, secured the rigging to the gunwale and lowered the ladder-like rope over the side so the family could climb aboard. It took several tries, but they eventually managed to get everyone on board. Tamba took the man to the cockpit to pilot the ship. Kobayashi came forward with a lantern they hung off the bowsprit to provide some modicum of light as the sun ceased to be of any help. @@ -1442,13 +1464,13 @@ Kobayashi smiled at her, "I was lighting the lattern over by the stove, waiting He shrugged. "You never looked." -A flash lit up the sky and the first rumble of thunder drifted toward them. Tamba came running foward and he and Kobayashi dropped sounding lines and yelled out depths. The number came ever smaller, then sudden bigger as they entered the main channel of the river. Lulu helped her sister reef the sail and together with the current this slowed them considerably and they swung alongside a low flat island. Tamba jumped for shore and pulled them in and around the back. In the fading light Lulu could see it was only maybe ten feet above the river at it's tallest. A thick stand of oaks and pines stood in the middle of the island. It was there that she and her Aunt took two tarps and plently of line to try to construct a shelter of some kind. Kobayashi and her father dragged the lifeboat off Delos, flipped it over, and propped it between two trees. Lulu and Aunt Māra drapped a tarp over the upturned hull and began tying the tarp down to the base of the trees around them. +A flash lit up the sky and the first rumble of thunder drifted toward them. Tamba came running foward and he and Kobayashi dropped sounding lines and yelled out depths. The number came ever smaller, then sudden bigger as they entered the main channel of the river. Lulu helped her sister reef the sail and together with the current this slowed them considerably and they swung alongside a low flat island. Tamba jumped for shore and pulled them in and around the back. In the fading light Lulu could see it was only maybe ten feet above the river at it's tallest. A thick stand of oaks and pines stood in the middle of the island. It was there that she and her Aunt took two tarps and plently of line to try to construct a shelter of some kind. Kobayashi and her father dragged the lifeboat off Wanderer, flipped it over, and propped it between two trees. Lulu and Aunt Māra drapped a tarp over the upturned hull and began tying the tarp down to the base of the trees around them. Her father shone the lattern on their work. "That should hold for a while anyway." The Waccamaw man split a piece of young sapling wood from along the river and began to carve notches in it. He came over and fit the notches into the line and began to twist it, drawing the line tighter. -"Clever." Lulu said. Her father nodded as well, smiling at the man who smiled back. Lulu offered the children some strips of dried fish she'd retrieved from Delos. They took them shyly, nodding their thanks but returning to sit with their mother. +"Clever." Lulu said. Her father nodded as well, smiling at the man who smiled back. Lulu offered the children some strips of dried fish she'd retrieved from Wanderer. They took them shyly, nodding their thanks but returning to sit with their mother. The storm came slow, it seems to pace back and forth somewhere just offshore. Lulu wondered what was happening at their camp. It seemed not so much angry, as... Lulu wasn't sure. She and Birdie were talking about it when Kobayashi interrupted them. "The sea is never angry. What we see as anger is just the sea god reshaping the shore. It takes tremendous force to reshape the shore. Think what effort it would take to move this island ten feet to the left yeah? Storms are the only tool the sea has to move entire islands. It reshapes things with wind. It blows hard because it has much work to do and wants to do it in little time. There are two faces to the world, one is so slow and patient, it's tough to see it work, you see? @@ -1470,11 +1492,11 @@ And then it opened up like something terrible that Lulu had never dreamed was po Lulu knew if she went outside the wind would blow her away. She knew it would actually move her across the ground with more power and she had to resist it. It would shape her, it would put her wherever it wanted, she knew it and yet a part of her still longed to duck out under the canvas and feel it, feel her own helplessness in the face of the storm, measure herself against this great rearranging force, to feel as physically insignificant as she sometimes felt in her head. It was so big thing. She was so small a thing in the face of it. But she was sure she could outwit it somehow, could dodge it, could survive it using only what she had about her. It was a feeling at once of power and fear mingled together. -Then suddenly, when it seemed it could get no worse, it stopped. And eerie quiet calm descended upon them. The wind dropped to nothing more than a windy day at the beach. Her father, Tamba, and Kobayashi were out in an instant, the Waccamaw man said something to his family and went out with them. They secured the lines on the tarp, the lines on the boat. They moved branches and debris that was washing ashore of the little island. They stacked logs up against the hull of the lifeboat the hold it down, they retied the lines on Delos. They hunted for anything that the second round might be able to hurl at them, and they moved and cleared it all as best they could. +Then suddenly, when it seemed it could get no worse, it stopped. And eerie quiet calm descended upon them. The wind dropped to nothing more than a windy day at the beach. Her father, Tamba, and Kobayashi were out in an instant, the Waccamaw man said something to his family and went out with them. They secured the lines on the tarp, the lines on the boat. They moved branches and debris that was washing ashore of the little island. They stacked logs up against the hull of the lifeboat the hold it down, they retied the lines on Wanderer. They hunted for anything that the second round might be able to hurl at them, and they moved and cleared it all as best they could. Lulu and Birdie crawled out from under the tarp and looked around. The wind was steady, a stiff onshore breeze, but with gusts that would rip through suddenly, ferociously, a little reminder from the storm that it was not done yet. -The men were joking and laughing as they came back from securing Delos. Tamba and the Waccamaw man were carrying a barrel of water. Everyone came out and drank in the darkness and calm. Lulu wasn't sure, but she thought it was probably past midnight by now. +The men were joking and laughing as they came back from securing Wanderer. Tamba and the Waccamaw man were carrying a barrel of water. Everyone came out and drank in the darkness and calm. Lulu wasn't sure, but she thought it was probably past midnight by now. "How much longer will it last Papa?" She could see the whites of his eyes gleam in a flash of lightning. @@ -1546,25 +1568,25 @@ Lulu felt herself start to cry. She hugged her sister and began to cry on her sh ## Chapter 12: Sails -It was after breakfast, the first truly cold morning of the year. It would be plenty warm by midday, but it was cold now in the mornings. Her father had come in from his morning swim and for the first time sat by the fire, hands spread over the flames to warm himself. Birdie had been stirring leftover stew in the kettle, which she'd hung herself over the fire. She was the first up, after her father. She scooped out a bowl bowl stew and sat down on a stump to eat. The more she ate the hungrier she felt and before long she went back for another bowl. "That's my girl," said her father, ladling another bowl for her. +It was after breakfast, the first truly cold morning of the year. Her father had come in from his morning swim and for the first time sat by the fire, hands spread over the flames to warm himself. Birdie had been stirring leftover stew in the kettle, which she'd hung herself over the fire. She was the first up, after her father. She scooped out a bowl stew and sat down on a stump to eat. The more she ate the hungrier she felt and before long she went back for another bowl. "That's my girl," said her father, ladling another bowl for her. -Birdie tried to smile but she didn't feel it. She hadn't felt it. It had been a week since the storm and there had been no sign or word of her uncle or cousins. Twice her father and Kobayashi had sailed the river to Charlestown and back, trying the marshes and tributaries, looking for any sign of her cousins or the boat, but had found nothing. Her father still said that they had likely been driven into the marshes and probably had to walk out, but Birdie could tell he believed that story less every day. +Birdie tried to smile but she didn't feel it. It had been a week since the storm and there had been no sign or word of her uncle or cousins. Twice her father and Kobayashi had sailed the river to Charlestown and back, trying the marshes and tributaries, looking for any sign of her cousins or the boat, but had found nothing. Her father still said that they had likely been driven into the marshes and probably had to walk out, but Birdie could tell he believed that story less every day. -Aunt Māra rarely came to their camp anymore. She wandered the north end of the island like a ghost, staring out over the marsh. She seemed in a daze. She did not talk to anyone and Birdie had not seen her eat for days. Every now and then her father would convince her to eat something, but it was never much and afterward she would wander back to her camp and sit on the top of the dune, as if waiting. +Aunt Māra rarely came to their camp anymore. She wandered the north end of the island like a ghost, staring out over the marsh. She seemed in a daze. She did not talk to anyone and Birdie had not seen her eat for days. Every now and then her father would convince her to eat something, but it was never much and afterward she would wander back to her camp and sit on the top of the dune, waiting. -Birdie had taken to following her, making sure she was okay by watching from a distance. She wasn't sure if Aunt Māra knew she was there or not and she didn't really care, she just knew that she could not bear the thought of anything happening to her and so she appointed herself to look after her. It helped to have something to do too, it took her mind off the ache that sat at the middle of her, a vast blackness of loss and sorrow she did not want to touch, but knew would not go away. She kept it at bay, and was able to avoid Aunt Māra's state by focusing herself on caring for her Aunt. She brought her food, put her to bed at night the way she had once tucked Birdie in, walking back to her own camp along the shore in the dark, using the moonlight and the Arkhangelsk's mast to navigate her way through the dunes. She came to love these moonlit walks and she thought perhaps she understood why her Aunt wandered and stared, not just loss, though there was that, but also just to see something so vast so incomprehensibly huge and unfathomable made everything else feel less real, less important, less like a weight pushing in on you. +Birdie had taken to following her, making sure she was okay by watching from a distance. She wasn't sure if Aunt Māra knew she was there or not and she didn't really care. She knew that she could not bear the thought of anything happening to her too, and so she appointed herself to look after her. It helped to have something to do too. It took her mind off the ache that sat at the middle of her, a vast blackness of loss and sorrow she did not want to touch, but knew would not go away. She kept it at bay, and was able to avoid Aunt Māra's state by focusing herself on caring for her Aunt. She brought her food, put her to bed at night the way she had once tucked Birdie in, walking back to her own camp along the shore in the dark, using the moonlight and the Arkhangelsk's mast to navigate her way through the dunes. She came to love these moonlit walks and she thought perhaps she understood why her Aunt wandered and stared. It was not just the ache of loss, though there was that, but also the moon and the sea seemed to smile. Things so vast, so incomprehensibly huge and unfathomable made everything else feel less real, less important, less like a weight pushing in on you. -Aunt Māra probably saw the sail before anyone else that morning, but she didn't tell them. It was Birdie who saw it first at their camp. She and Lulu had walked together down to the shore to wash their bowls in the surf. +--- -Birdie stopped at the shore. Lulu knelt and let the rushing water of the wave fill her bowl and pull the bit of fish at the bottom back out the sea. Birdie watched but she made no move to wash her own bowl. She stared out at the sea where she thought she saw something white on the horizon, something that might be a topsail coming into view. +Aunt Māra probably saw the sail before anyone else that morning, but she didn't tell them. In camp it was Birdie who saw it first. She and Lulu had walked together down to the shore to wash their bowls in the surf. Birdie stopped at the shore. Lulu knelt and let the rushing water of the wave fill her bowl and pull the bit of fish at the bottom back out the sea. Birdie watched but she made no move to wash her own bowl. She stared out at the sea where she thought she saw something white on the horizon, something that might be a topsail coming into view. "Lu, what is that?" -Lulu stood up, she was shorter than Birdie by half a head, but she saw it too. "Sail?" +Lulu stood up. "A sail?" They looked at each other and smiled. Birdie quickly washed her bowl and they turned and ran back up to camp. Laughing and shouting "sail." Her father turned and squinted out at the sea. He hmmmed and went inside the hut, returning with the spyglass. He trained it on the speck still wavering at the horizon. -"Topsail, moving north." He handed Birdie the glass and she climbed up the nearest dune to get a better look. Northeast was no good, that meant it was headed away from them, but that made no sense, they should have spotted it earlier if it was coming out of Charlestown. They'd have seen sails well and clear when she rounded cape and turned to the north, headed for London or Northampton. The only boats that ever headed northeast without coming out of Charlestown were... she glanced over at her father. He was watching her, she could see him smile, she watched him watch her figure it out. It was a coasting ship that had drifted too close and, probably unbeknownst to its captain and crew, had been spotted. Word would spread north. Not from their camp, her father never passed on sea gossip as he called it, it was one of the reasons raiders came to their shore in peace, but this one obviously wasn't. She walked back over to her father and passed the glass to Lulu. +"Topsail, moving north by northeast." He handed Birdie the glass and she climbed up the nearest dune to get a better look. Northeast was no good, that meant it was headed away from them, but that made no sense, they should have spotted it earlier if it was coming out of Charlestown. They'd have seen sails well and clear when she rounded cape and turned to the north, headed for London or Northampton. The only boats that ever headed northeast without coming out of Charlestown were... she glanced over at her father. He was watching her, she could see him smile, she watched him watch her figure it out. It was a coasting ship that had drifted too close and, probably unbeknownst to its captain and crew, had been spotted. Word would spread north. Not from their camp, her father never passed on sea gossip as he called it, it was one of the reasons raiders came to their shore in peace, but this one obviously wasn't. She walked back over to her father and passed the glass to Lulu. "Doesn't look like they're headed this way." @@ -1592,13 +1614,13 @@ They ran through the woods to the edge of the marsh where they kept the pirogue. Tamba was lying in the shady grass beside the river with a young Waccamaw woman that Birdie did not recognize. He watched them approach, but did not get up until Birdie said, "sail." Tamba nodded and threw a piece of grass he'd been picking apart into the river. Birdie watched it bob in the water as ripples from the pirogue pushed it out from the shore. She looked up to see Tamba kissing the woman. She looked away quickly again. Tamba turned around, put his tripoint hat on, gathered up his rifle and sword, glanced at the sky, and without a word stepped onto the boat. Lulu pushed them off. Tamba sat in the middle of the boat and let Birdie sail them down river. None of them spoke for a long time. It wasn't until they were almost back to camp that Tamba asked Lulu if she knew the name of the ship. -Kobayashi told them when they landed. He was unloading extra cooking pots from Delos. +Kobayashi told them when they landed. He was unloading extra cooking pots from Wanderer. "Whydah." Tamba smiled. "Ah, Captain Sam. It is always good to see Sam." -Lulu and Birdie shared an excited look. Their favorite sailor often sailed with Captain Sam. Although they liked Captain Sam as well. But no one told stories like Jack. No one was as comical and somehow earnestly serious and understand as Jack. +Lulu and Birdie shared an excited look. Their favorite sailor often sailed with Captain Sam. Although they liked Captain Sam as well. But no one told stories like Jack. No one was as comical and somehow earnestly serious as Jack. "Ko," said Birdie. "Does Whydah have the same quartermaster?" @@ -1606,7 +1628,7 @@ Kobayashi smiled. "I believe she does." --- -Sam Bellamy was the nicest captain to ever call on their camp. He was tall, strong, and rode the launch in the next morning like a true captain, one foot on the gunwale, holding the bowline, in command. He was dressed in his trademark black pants, red sash and worn, but still very stylishly cut, black jacket. In the sash were four duelling pistols that never left his person. At his side hung a French style rapier that we was reportedly very deft at wielding. He leaped just as the launch hit the sand and cleared the last bit of surf and foam to land on the sand, crouched down like a cat. Captain Black Sam had arrived. +Sam Bellamy was the nicest captain to ever call on their camp. He was tall, strong, and rode the launch in the next morning like a true captain, one foot on the gunwale, holding the bowline, in command. He was dressed in his trademark black pants, red sash and worn, but still very stylishly cut, black jacket. In the sash were four duelling pistols that never left his person. At his side hung a French style rapier that he was reportedly very deft at wielding. He leaped just as the launch hit the sand and cleared the last bit of surf and foam to land on the sand, crouched down like a cat. Captain Black Sam had arrived. Lulu stood with her brother and sister and father watching the men run the launch boat up on shore and secure her anchor in the sand. Captain Sam left them to their business, marching up the shore without a backward glance. He stopped in front of them with a smile. And bowed to her father. "Captain Nicholas, we humbling ask that we might anchor here at your island." He straightened back up. Her father laughed and stepped forward, embracing Bellamy. "Good to see you Sam." @@ -1616,7 +1638,7 @@ He crouched down in front of the kids and smiled. "Birdie, how you've grown my d Bellamy knelt down and glanced out at his ship, the Whydah. "The quartermaster is indeed somewhere on the ship. He is attending to some needs of the crew, but I do believe he will be ashore later. We plan to careen." He straightened up and turned to her father. "That is, Captain, if you have any tar to spare us." -Her father laughed. "I do believe that's why were out here." +Her father smiled. "I do believe that's why were out here." "Likewise." @@ -1630,7 +1652,7 @@ Bellamy signed. "You were close?" Birdie nodded. "My cousin sir." -"It's a tough thing to take as a captain, Birdie. You, you are still captain, yes?" Birdie nodded and fought to keep the tears out of her eyes. +"It's a tough thing to take as a captain, Birdie. You are still captain, yes?" Birdie nodded and fought to keep the tears out of her eyes. "I lost a first mate to a storm. Whole ship full of men in fact, whom I'd been drinking with not three days before." Bellamy stared down at the sand, seemed lost in thought for a moment. "I wish I could tell you something that would make it easier. But the truth is, it's never gotten any easier for me." @@ -1640,17 +1662,17 @@ Captain Sam put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Birdie." "Thank you sir," was all she could manage. -Bellamy struggle to his feet and dusted off the sand. He clapped a hand on her father's shoulder. "I know you don't drink captain, but I may have to tonight. Now tell me about the storm. We saw it, but it went well north of us at the time." +Bellamy struggled to his feet and dusted off the sand. He clapped a hand on her father's shoulder. "I know you don't drink captain, but I may have to tonight. Now tell me about the storm. We saw it, but it went well north of us at the time." Her father nodded, and started to walk down the path toward the camp, Bellamy followed, leaving Birdie, Lulu, and Henry standing on the beach, staring at the Arkhangelsk. -"I wish it had been washed away." Birdie said it before she'd really thought about it, and then she realized she meant it. It would never been the same. She would never be able to play on the ship without thinking of Francis. She realized then that she didn't want to play on it anymore. She wondered if she really wanted to play. She wanted to... she wanted something and she didn't know what it was. She wanted Francis back. She wanted Owen back. She would even take her uncle Cole back. She just wanted things to be how they had been. She wanted her aunt to be like she was, she wanted to play on the boat, she wanted.... +"I wish it had been washed away." Birdie said it before she'd really thought about it, and then she realized she meant it. It would never been the same. She would never be able to play on the ship without thinking of Francis. She realized then that she didn't want to play on it anymore. She wondered if she really wanted to play. She wanted to... she wanted something and she didn't know what it was. She wanted Francis back. She wanted Owen back. She would even take her uncle Cole back. She wanted things to be how they had been. She wanted her aunt to be like she was, she wanted to play on the boat, she wanted.... -But as she stood there in silence, wanting, she knew it would never be. Nothing would ever be the same. A thing came, a storm happened, it reshaped the land, it reshaped her. It had made her into something else and nothing would ever be the same. Her father had always told them, nothing remains the same, everything is always different, everything is always changing. He said it so often it was a kind of mantra they made fun of behind his back, not because they didn't believe him, but because they didn't realize, they didn't know. It was one thing to hear and understand a thing, it was another to live it and now, only now, did Birdie understand what her father was saying. Only now did she, for the first time, have some inkling of what it must have felt like for him to lose her mother. For her mother she felt nothing. There was an absence she knew, but it was not loss, she had never known her mother, she had never really lost her, she had just never been there. Only now did she understood what loss felt like. And she understood that she did not understand the loss her father must have felt when her mother died. +But as she stood there in silence, wanting, she knew it would never be. Nothing would ever be the same. A thing came, a storm happened. It reshaped the land. It reshaped her. It had made her into something else and nothing would ever be the same. Her father always told them, nothing remains the same, everything is always changing. He said it so often it was a kind of mantra they made fun of behind his back, not because they didn't believe him, but because they didn't realize, they didn't know. It was one thing to hear and understand a thing. It was another to live it and now, only now, did Birdie understand what her father was saying. Only now did she have some inkling of what it must have felt like for him to lose her mother. For her mother she felt nothing. There was an absence, but it was not loss, she had never known her mother. She had never really lost her, her mother had just never been there. Only now did she understood what loss felt like. And she understood that she did not understand the loss her father must have felt when her mother died. -Birdie glanced up and saw a second boat coming in, slowly rowing in against the tide. A figure in a wide brimmed hat was standing up in the front, he also had one foot on the gunwale, holding the bowline as if were reins on an unseen porpoise. It was too far to make out the figure's face, but Bridie knew who it was just by the way he stood. No one stood the way Calico Jack stood. He had a perfectly balanced poise that suggested no matter where you might put him, he would be utterly at ease and soon in charge. +Birdie glanced up and saw a second boat coming in, slowly rowing in against the tide. A figure in a wide brimmed hat was standing up in the front, he also had one foot on the gunwale, holding the bowline as if were reins on an unseen porpoise. It was too far to make out the figure's face, but Birdie knew who it was by the way he stood. No one stood the way Calico Jack stood. He had a perfectly balanced poise that suggested no matter where you might put him, he would be utterly at ease and soon in charge. -Her father had come walking back down and stood beside Birdie now, watching the boat come him. He shook his head. "That man knows how to make an entrance. He'll be a hell of captain one day." +Her father had come walking back down and stood beside Birdie now, watching the boat come in. He shook his head. "That man knows how to make an entrance. He'll be a hell of captain one day." Birdie didn't say anything, but she smiled thinking about it. Captain Jack. Jack was too silly to be captain. The boat caught a reasonably large wave and pitched forward, sliding down the face of it which then broke and soaked the men in the stern. Birdie could see him smiling now, scanning the beach. He walked straight toward Lulu and Birdie. @@ -1662,11 +1684,11 @@ Birdie nodded, but could not bring herself to speak. Jack spun his head around t "Good. Good." A wide smile came over Jack's face. He put her arms around Birdie and then Lulu, and then waved a hand to draw Henry in too. "Nicholas, you know I am here to steal your children." -Jack straighted up and adjusted his hat. "We need to careen. *Whydah* has worms, our canvas is frayed, and lines are shredded. She's a sad sight when you get out there." +Jack straighted up and adjusted his hat. "Actually, we need to careen. *Whydah* has worms, our canvas is frayed, and lines are shredded. She's a sad sight when you get out there." Her father nodded. "We'll bring her in at high tide then. Send some of your men out hunting with Tamba, let's see if they can't get a couple boar, we'll cook them overnight, have a feast tomorrow." -"You know Nicholas, that I and my crew will drink if we do that." +"You know Nicholas that I and my crew will drink if we do that." "Good for you John. I don't care if you drink all the rum on the island, so long as you're not aboard my ship." @@ -1696,8 +1718,6 @@ She found herself wondering what Francis would have thought of Calico Jack, he w More than the captain, the quartermaster ran a ship. The captain decided where to go, what course to set, but the quartermaster represented the men, and was first over the rail in a fight. They'd captured a Spanish Galleon the previous year off the coast of Port Royal Jamaica, which Birdie knew had taken skill, perhaps some luck, but skill and daring certainly. It was hard to imagine the man now sitting in the sand in his fancy coat, swigging rum from a jug and throwing shells as seagulls leading a ship full of men into battle with a ship twice, maybe three times the size of Whydah, with three decks of 24 pound canons sticking out the side of it. Birdie had never seen a galleon. None of them had, not even her father, though he'd at least seen the British equivalent. If the rumors were to be believed British warships would be here soon enough. Birdie shivered. She wondered what Ratham would do when the British came for him. Probably get drunk she decided. -She watched as Ratham walked away from the Revenge, over to where Bellamy sat and flopped down beside him, taking a swig from the jug of rum. - "You know what would be fun?" Henry's voice broke the silence and interrupted Birdie's train of thought. "We should try to sneak up on Captain Jack and steal his rum." Birdie smiled. "Okay," she said. @@ -1718,13 +1738,13 @@ He turned and walked back toward the beach. "Take the man you call uncle teach, Henry avoided Ratham for several days, heading off into the woods in search of boar, while Birdie helped clean up and organize their camp each morning. A full ship's company could make an impressive mess of their camp. Lulu helped out, but Birdie always went beyond cleaning into organizing, leaving Lulu to her own devices. -She headed out of camp, along the edge of the marsh, looking for nests she could raid. She hadn't gone far when she heard a hissing whisper, "sister." She looked around, but did not see Henry anywhere. "Sister!" This time it was louder, and she stared hard into the undergrowth until she noticed a pair of eye's starting at her out of the dark shadows and tangled branches. She walked toward him. +She headed out of camp, along the edge of the marsh, looking for nests she could raid. She hadn't gone far when she heard a hissing whisper, "sister." She looked around, but did not see Henry anywhere. "Sister!" This time it was louder, and she stared hard into the undergrowth until she noticed a pair of eyes staring at her out of the dark shadows and tangled branches. She walked toward him. "What are you doing in there?" "I am hunting. Or I was until you came along and scared everything away." He glared at her. -"How was I supposed to know?" She picked her way through the tangle of branches closer to where Henry sat on an old log. Eventually she made her way to him and sat down. She looked out, there was a clear line of fire to the game trail she'd been walking. It was a clever blind she realized. She was impressed. She had always assumed that Owen was the hunter, that Henry was just tagging along, but now she wondered. Maybe Henry was the one who could hunt. "Have you had luck here?" +"How was I supposed to know?" She picked her way through the tangle of branches closer to where Henry sat on an old log. Eventually she made her way to him and sat down. She looked out, there was a clear line of fire to the game trail she'd been walking. It was a clever blind. She was impressed. She had always assumed that Owen was the hunter, that Henry was just tagging along, but now she wondered. Maybe Henry was the one who could hunt. "Have you had luck here?" Henry glanced at her. "No. Not yet. But I will. Boar use this trail to get from the wallow to the oak grove over there," he gestured toward the trees Lulu had been headed for when he stopped her. @@ -1740,21 +1760,21 @@ Henry stared at her. "Why should I care how much a boar weighs? I will get Papa "Oh, I see. That's why I am back here. The undergrowth will protect me." -Lulu looked more closely at the tangle of dry sticks. "I'm not sure about that" +Lulu looked more closely at the tangle of dry sticks. "I'm not sure about that." "Then I'll climb a tree." -"Good plan." She chuckled at the thought of Henry treed by a boar, but she stopped when he hit her shoulder, "hey" she brought herself up short when she saw the boar. It was a huge male, followed by a female. They rooted along the edge of the trail, digging at something. She was transfixed. They were not more than 6 knots away. She wasn't even thinking of Henry and his bow until the distinctive twang of the string snapped her back. The arrow hit it in the neck, there was a squeal and it charged into the undergrowth on the opposite side of the trail. Time seemed to slow down. Lulu's heart was beating incredible fast, but she felt like she was moving in water, her actions where slow and sloppy. Her body seemed to move without her telling it what to do. Before she knew what she'd done she and Henry were six feet up sitting on the low limb of an oak tree. The boar was nowhere to be seen. +"Good plan." She chuckled at the thought of Henry treed by a boar, but she stopped when he hit her shoulder, "hey" she brought herself up short when she saw the boar. It was a huge male, followed by a female. They rooted along the edge of the trail, digging at something. She was transfixed. They were not more than 6 knots away. She wasn't even thinking of Henry and his bow until the distinctive twang of the string snapped her back. The arrow hit it in the neck, there was a squeal and it charged into the undergrowth on the opposite side of the trail. Time seemed to slow down. Lulu's heart was beating incredibly fast, but she felt like she was moving in water, her actions where slow and sloppy. Her body seemed to move without her telling it what to do. Before she knew what she'd done she and Henry were six feet up sitting on the low limb of an oak tree. The boar was nowhere to be seen. -"Did you see that? I hit it! I got it. Yes." +"Did you see that? I hit it! I got it. Yes!" -Lulu threw her arms around him. "That was amazing." They sat in the tree straining to see or hear something, but the woods around them where silent. Even the insects seemed to be waiting to see what happened to the boar. Would it come charging back? Was it angrily biding its time, waiting for them to come down so it could launch it's counter attack? +Lulu threw her arms around him. "That was amazing." They sat in the tree straining to see or hear something, but the woods around them were silent. Even the insects seemed to be waiting to see what happened to the boar. Would it come charging back? Was it angrily biding its time, waiting for them to come down so it could launch it's counter attack? "Where do you think it is?" Henry climbed up another branch and then came back down. "I can't see in there. I think we should get down and look. I think I killed it." Lulu considered this and decided they should wait longer and listen. They sat in silence. After a few minutes a cricket struck up again. Then a cicada. Soon the usual symphony of the forest was back, rasping and singing its way through the afternoon. A squirrel chattered at them from the next tree over and Lulu decided that Henry was right, the boar was either dead or gone, but either way, it was time to get down. -They climbed out on a limb away from the tangle of undergrowth that served as the blinded and dropped down to the forest floor. They waited, crouched, ready to climb back up if need be. But there was nothing. They walked the trail to where the boar had been rooting. There was a bright red stain spread over the leaves. Henry started to follow the tracks. "Wait," she whispered, but he was already gone, following the blood stains through a tiny tunnel of undergrowth. Lulu had to crouch down and crawl in the thickets section, pushing through blindly until she came out in a little clearing where Henry already stood, staring at the largest boar Lulu had ever seen. A single arrow stuck out of its neck. It was very dead. +They climbed out on a limb away from the tangle of undergrowth that served as the blind and dropped down to the forest floor. They waited, crouched, ready to climb back up if need be. But there was nothing. They walked the trail to where the boar had been rooting. There was a bright red stain spread over the leaves. Henry started to follow the tracks. "Wait," she whispered, but he was already gone, following the blood stains through a tiny tunnel of undergrowth. Lulu had to crouch down and crawl in the thickets, pushing through blindly until she came out in a little clearing where Henry already stood, staring at the largest boar Lulu had ever seen. A single arrow stuck out of its neck. It was very dead. --- @@ -1764,7 +1784,7 @@ The sailors piled wood high on the fire that night until the bed of coals was si Lulu stood off to the side with Henry, watching as they laid the pig across the coals. The singed smell of burnt fur filled the air and everyone stepped away. One sailor stayed behind to bury the pig in sand. -Then they built the fire back up, and the fiddles came out. The firelight lit the circle of dunes a rich orange glow like a dying sun still trying to light a world. There was singing and dancing and drums that turned more and more to bawdy sea shanties, and half sung tales of balmy seas, fair winds, and prize ships filled with nothing but rum and pieces of eight. After they tried of dancing around the fire, the crew put away the fiddles and settled into storytelling. Lulu began to fall asleep until she heard someone whisper for Black Sam to tell the ghost ship story. Ghost ship? She was awake. +Then they built the fire back up, and the fiddles came out. The firelight lit the circle of dunes a rich orange glow like a dying sun still trying to light a world. There was singing and dancing and drums that turned more and more to bawdy sea shanties, and half sung tales of balmy seas, fair winds, and prize ships filled with nothing but rum and pieces of eight. After they tired of dancing around the fire, the crew put away the fiddles and settled into storytelling. Lulu began to fall asleep until she heard someone whisper for Black Sam to tell the ghost ship story. Ghost ship? She was awake. After some cajoling Bellamy stood up and straightened his hat, rested his hand on his sword theatrically and began. @@ -1786,13 +1806,13 @@ The crew was smiling now at the memory. "And then we see the sails again." -Birdie noticed the smiles fade from the crew's faces. One man crossed himself the way the Spanish do. Sam continued. +Lulu noticed the smiles fade from the crew's faces. One man crossed himself the way the Spanish do. Sam continued. "This is our luck, we're out of the doldrums and there's a prize in front of us. It doesn't get much better than that. We slowly run her down. She's not well sailed. Jack takes a point of intercept that's about half a day out. We figure we'll have her before nightfall. Now of course we can see her. And it seems strange but there's no one on the deck. We figure they seen our black and are hiding. Wouldn't be the first time. Though usually there's still someone at the helm. We can't be sure, but Jack says come here Sam. So I go up to the poop where's he's got the glass and have a look. It's a strange thing, the deck is well laden, there's stuff lashed everywhere, she looks smartly rigged. She's not very well trimmed for someone trying to outrun a pirate, but hey, not everyone can sail." There was laughter from the crew. -"Still, you ever get a feeling? A chill down your back? Like something just isn't right and you don't know what it is? I had that feeling. I took the glass and went up in the rigging of the main mast. We used to have a barrel up there, so I went and stood in it for a while studying a ship. I can't put my finger on it but something is off. I told Jack when I came back down that I had a bad feeling." He glanced at Jack. He was breaking bits of a twig and throwing them in the fire. +"Still, you ever get a feeling? A chill down your back? Like something just isn't right and you don't know what it is? I had that feeling. I took the glass and went up in the rigging of the main mast. We used to have a barrel up there, so I went and stood in it for a while studying the ship. I can't put my finger on it but something is off. I told Jack when I came back down that I had a bad feeling." He glanced at Jack. He was breaking bits of a twig and throwing them in the fire. "I told him it didn't feel right to me. He asked me if I wanted to fall off. But that would be crazy, a heavily laden ship you're having no trouble overtaking? Who falls off that? I said no, take her. I put the men to the guns, just to be safe. It's right before sundown when we finally get within shooting distance. Jack gets the horn and shouts out, tells them to turn into the wind, we're going to board, all the usual stuff. No one answers. No one is on deck. We figure they're terrified, hiding below deck. So we pull along side, grappling hooks go over, we turn her into the wind and board. The men are up the masts, lowering sails to slow us all down. Jack and I and Alex have a look around. There's no one. It's so quiet it's unnerving. The crew is starting to feel it too." @@ -1850,23 +1870,23 @@ Lulu didn't know what to say. She thought a thousand thoughts, but none of them ## Chapter 14: Careen -Sam and Jack and the crew spent two weeks on the beach. The crew helped her father frame out a new Maggie. It still needed a mast, but they'd floated it and rowed it up the river. It was a slightly modified design her father believed would sail faster. Jack stood on shore watching Sam and her father trying to surf it in from its maiden voyage. "You know Birdie, three years ago I started sailing in something not much bigger than that thing. I sailed into a Nassau two winters ago in a canoe. A canoe Birdie. It was a fine canoe. But look at that Birdie. He pointed down the beach at Whydah, which was nearly upright, waiting for the tide to lift her enough to slide back out into deeper water, her hull sealed, her rigging the next thing to be worked on. +Sam and Jack and the crew spent two weeks on the beach. The crew helped her father frame out a new Delos. It still needed a mast, but they'd floated it and rowed it up the river. It was a slightly modified design her father believed would sail faster. Jack stood on shore watching Sam and her father trying to surf it in from its maiden voyage. "You know Birdie, three years ago I started sailing in something not much bigger than that thing. I sailed into a Nassau two winters ago in a canoe. A canoe Birdie. It was a fine canoe. But look at that Birdie. He pointed down the beach at Whydah, which was nearly upright, waiting for the tide to lift her enough to slide back out into deeper water, her hull sealed, her rigging the next thing to be worked on. -"That my girl, is a warship. We captured that vessel without firing a single shot. We simply paddled up. There was no wind that day, so we were padding our canoe. We rowed up and they were so afraid of us they gave up. I never thought I would see a day like this, when people like me, Sam, your father. When people like us would have our own ships." He took a large swig of rum from the small barrel in the sand. +"That my girl, is a warship. We captured that vessel without firing a single shot. We simply paddled up. There was no wind that day, so we were paddling our canoe. We rowed up and they were so afraid of us they gave up. I never thought I would see a day like this, when people like me, Sam, your father... when people like us would have our own ships." He took a large swig of rum from the small barrel in the sand. "Sure, I dreamed of things like that, and maybe I even secretly thought maybe... maybe one day the sea would grant us a real ship, maybe I did think that was possible." He wiped his lips. "But good lord, look at that thing! It's a warship. People like us rule the sea right now. We have warships. This was not supposed to happen Birdie." -He stared out at the sea in silence for a moment. "Somewhere, someone is very, very unhappy right now." He smiled. She smiled back at him. "Someone somewhere is plotting their revenge. And they will probably get it, but for now.... for now the seas is ours, Birdie." +He stared out at the sea in silence for a moment. "Somewhere, someone is very, very unhappy right now." He smiled. She smiled back at him. "Someone somewhere is plotting their revenge. And they will probably get it, but for now.... for now the sea is ours Birdie." --- -Birdie went with Tamba and Kobayashi to work the rigging on Whydah. The ship was huge, so much larger than Delos as to make her home feel like a little toy. Whydah was a warship Ratham kept saying, and Birdie thought he was just bragging until she got out there next to it in the rowboat and realized what he meant. It was big, a truly massive, hulking, heavy-looking piece of wood and sail. It had a presence you could not ignore. +Birdie went with Tamba to work the rigging on Whydah. The ship was huge, so much larger than Wanderer as to make her home feel like a little toy. Whydah was a warship Ratham kept saying, and Birdie thought he was just bragging until she got out there next to it in the rowboat and realized what he meant. It was big, a truly massive, hulking, heavy-looking piece of wood and sail. It had a presence you could not ignore. -She climbed up the rigging with Tamba behind her. They got to work tarring the standing rigging, some of which the men were still retying and splicing. The smell of pine and tar and salt water mixed in the offshore breeze with it's scent of salt marsh and river mouths and maybe, if she really focused, the hint of campfire smoke. But she didn't focus, she focused on holding onto the rigging because she was higher than she had ever been before and, unlike her sister, she did not much like heights. She kept one arm looped tightly around the hemp line as she painted the tar onto the row of line above it. +She climbed up the rigging with Tamba behind her. They got to work tarring the standing rigging, some of which the men were still retying and splicing. The smell of pine and tar and salt water mixed in the offshore breeze with its scent of salt marsh and river mouths and maybe, if she really focused, the hint of campfire smoke. But she didn't focus, she focused on holding onto the rigging because she was higher than she had ever been before and, unlike her sister, she did not much like heights. She kept one arm looped tightly around the hemp line as she painted the tar onto the row of line above it. She was halfway down the mizzen mast rigging when she happened to stare out at sea at just the right moment so that she saw something white move. At first she thought it was a sea gull, or a skimmer dipping its beak down to snag some unseen fish, but then she realized it was not a bird, it was too far away, to indistinct to be a bird. It was a sail. Without really thinking about it, because it was what she always did when she spotted a sail, it was what any sailor would do if they saw a sail, she yelled "sail". -She felt every eye on the ship glance up at her, find her line of sight and follow it out to sea. Tamba was in the rigging across from hers and he slowly turned around to look. She watched as it dipped below the horizon before he had turned. She gulped, what if no one believed her? She glanced down. Jack was standing below her, one leg on the rail, glass to his eye. She watched as he brought the glass down and glanced up at her, "Flag? Bearing?" +She felt every eye on the ship glance up at her, find her line of sight and follow it out to sea. Tamba was in the rigging across from her and he slowly turned around to look. She watched as it dipped below the horizon before he had turned. She gulped, what if no one believed her? She glanced down. Jack was standing below her, one leg on the rail, glass to his eye. She watched as he brought the glass down and glanced up at her, "Flag? Bearing?" She shook her head. He nodded. He called out someone's name and handed them the glass. Birdie watched as the sailor climbed the main mast rigging up to the barrel and began scanning the horizon. He was at least 20 feet higher than her, surely he would see it. She watched as he silently shook his head to Jack. Tamba turned back around and looked at her. "You sure?" he asked quietly. @@ -1884,11 +1904,13 @@ Birdie felt her heart sink. She glanced around the ship, everyone who'd shared t Birdie glanced up at Tamba. He nodded toward the deck and they both began descending, brushes in their mouths, the bitter taste of piney tar on their tongues. Captain Sam was racing up the main mast rigging and Birdie couldn't help wondering why he hadn't done that when *she* had yelled sail. Was it her? Or would he have ignore the first sighting no matter who had made it? Was the sailor in the barrel some eagle-eyed trusted salt? Was that why Sam seemed to believe him and not her? She had a dozen reason why he didn't act on her sighting by the time she reached the deck, but the truth was she was hurt. She didn't like it when people doubted her. Especially a whole ship full of people she liked and wanted to like her. -Jack came up from below deck carrying two hachets. Two more were strapped to his waist. Birdie had never seen him dressed for battle, she was startled by how different he looked. His eyes seemed more alive, they had an intensity Birdie had never seen in them before. "Birdie," he cried. "I want to bring you with us," Birdie's heart skipped a beat, but before she could react Jack went on, "but your father would kill me." +Jack came up from below deck carrying two hatchets. Two more were strapped to his waist. Birdie had never seen him dressed for battle. She was startled by how different he looked. His eyes seemed more alive, they had an intensity Birdie had never seen in them before. "Birdie," he cried. "I want to bring you with us," Birdie's heart skipped a beat, but before she could react Jack went on, "but your father would kill me." + +He turned to a sailor near the rail. "Make read their pirogue. Birdie, you help Tamba get the bung in that barrel and then get overboard to the boat, we're raising anchor." -He turned to a sailor who was preparing to help hoist a sail. "Make read their pirogue. Birdie, you help Tamba get the bung in that barrel and then get overboard to the boat, we're raising anchor." +Bellamy might be the captain, but the ship came to life when the quartermaster came on deck. Men scurried up the rigging and began dropping the sails. Others were already winching the great wooden wheel that raised the anchor. Birdie had spent most of her life at sea, been on many a ready ship, but she had never seen a crew come together in the kind of concerted effort that the crew of Whydah displayed now. It was like an octopus waking up, first a few suckers twitched, then whole tentacles began to move, then suddenly it's off, gone in a flash. -Bellamy might be the captain, but the ship came to life when the quartermaster came on deck. Men scurried up the rigging and began dropping the sails. Others were already winching the great wooden wheel that raised the anchor. Birdie had spent most of her life at sea, been on many a ready ship, but she had never seen a crew come together in the kind of concerted effort that the crew of Whydah displayed now. It was like an organism waking up. An octopus moving first a few suckers, then whole tentacles, then sudden it's off, gone in a flash. She and Tamba hammered in the bung and fairly slid down the side of the rigging into the pirogue. Two sailors hoisted up the rigging behind them and Whydah began to move away from them before they had even settled into their seats. The offshore wind sent her surging out to sea and she and Tamba watched her go as they set about raising their own sail and tacking back toward shore. +She and Tamba hammered in the bung and fairly slid down the side of Whydah into the pirogue. Two sailors hoisted up the netting behind them and Whydah began to move away from them before they had even settled into their seats. The offshore wind sent her surging out to sea and she and Tamba watched her go as they set about raising their own sail and tacking back toward shore. And just like that, Whydah was gone, back to what she did best, chasing sails over the horizon. @@ -1898,35 +1920,35 @@ It was a quarter turn of the moon before the Whydah returned, with the prize shi It was early morning, Lulu was still half asleep but a voice was yelling. "Someone bring me the glass." Lulu turned to find this voice. Her father was standing on top of the dune looking out at the sunrise, yelling down at her and Birdie still asleep by the fire. -Lulu jumped out of her covers and dashed into a hut to grab the glass out of her father's sea chest, which lay opposite the door. She turned around and almost barreled right through Kobayashi, who laughed. "What is this big panic?" +Lulu jumped out of her covers and dashed into the hut to grab the glass out of her father's sea chest, which lay opposite the door. She turned around and almost barreled right through Kobayashi, who laughed. "What is this big panic?" -"Father wants the glass." She darted out the door with the glass clutched tight in her hand and looped up the dune to where her father, Birdie and Henry were standing. They were all shielding their eyes, watching the thin line of horizon where two ships were sailing, nearly directly toward them. Her father held out his hand without ever looking down. Lulu handed the glass to him. +"Father wants the glass." She darted out the door with the glass clutched tight in her hand and loped up the dune to where her father, Birdie and Henry were now standing. They were all shielding their eyes, watching the thin line of horizon where two ships were sailing, nearly directly toward them. Her father held out his hand without ever looking down. Lulu handed him the glass. -"Revenge. And her prize I imagine." His voice trailed off to a whisper. "Why are they coming here?" +"Whydah. And her prize I imagine." His voice trailed off to a whisper. "Why are they coming here?" -Lulu knew he was talking to himself, but she enjoyed answering his inner monologues when he spoke them out loud. Who talks aloud and doesn't expect others to answer? "Maybe her prize needs to careen." +Lulu knew he was talking to himself, but she enjoyed answering his inner monologues when he spoke them out loud. Who talks aloud and doesn't expect others to answer? "Maybe her prize needs to careen. It's happened before." She glanced down the beach toward the Arkhangelsk. Her father took the glass from his eye and stared down at her. He cocked his head to the side as if considering her, but she knew he was really considering some silent thought in his head. "That could be Lu. That could be." -He turned around and walked back toward camp. "We may need meat," he said to no one in particular. "I am going to sail the Pirogue out to them and see what's afoot. I'll have them fire a cannon if they're coming ashore." Lulu watched from dune as he headed down the trail toward the marsh to collect the pirogue. She considered running after him, but she knew what he'd say *it's too dangerous*. It was always too dangerous. She grumbled to herself as she walked back toward camp to see Tamba and Kobayashi packing their rifles. "You should take Henry." They glanced at her, then at each other. Tamba shrugged. Kobayashi looked at her, go get him. +He turned around and walked back toward camp. "We may need meat," he said to no one in particular. "I am going to sail the pirogue out to them and see what's afoot. I'll have them fire a cannon if they're coming ashore." Lulu watched from the dune as he headed down the trail toward the marsh to collect the pirogue. She considered running after him, but she knew what he'd say *it's too dangerous*. It was always too dangerous. She grumbled to herself as she walked back toward camp to see Tamba and Kobayashi packing their rifles. "You should take Henry." They glanced at her, then at each other. Tamba shrugged. Kobayashi looked at her, go get him. -Lulu bolted back up the dune. Henry was already on the far side, walking the shore with Birdie. She yelled. They turned. But she knew they could not hear her. She gestured for them to come, and then she began running toward them. They met in the middle and Lulu had to bend over, panting hard before she could get it out even in gasps. "Henry... hunt... Tamba... Kobayashi..." Birdie put is together before Henry, and shouted. "Tamba and Kobayashi said Henry can go hunting?" +Lulu bolted back up the dune. Henry was already on the far side, walking the shore with Birdie. She yelled. They turned. But she knew they could not hear her. She gestured for them to come, and then she began running toward them. They met in the middle and Lulu had to bend over, panting hard before she could get it out even in gasps. "Henry... hunt... Tamba... Kobayashi..." Birdie put it together before Henry, and shouted. "Tamba and Kobayashi said Henry can go hunting?" -Lulu nodded and sat down in the sand. Henry did not ask for details. he was off and running the miute Birdie had opened her mouth. The girls sat in the sand, catching their breath. Birdie stood up. "Look, papa." +Lulu nodded and sat down in the sand. Henry did not ask for details. He was off and running the minute Birdie had opened her mouth. The girls sat in the sand, catching their breath. Birdie stood up. "Look, Papa." -There was the Pirogue, barreling out of the river mouth, sail smartly trimmed. They could see their father's back as the boat road the offshore breeze through the surf at the mouth of the river, where the currents were slippery and strange and Lulu hated the way the boat moved, it moved unnaturally. Unlike a boat ever moved anywhere else. It was the only thing she hated about sailing, crossing the mouth of a good size river. +There was the pirogue, barreling out of the river mouth, sail smartly trimmed. They could see their father's back as the boat road the offshore breeze through the surf at the mouth of the river. He was sliding through the swirling mix of river and ocean currents, a spot Lulu hated sailing. The slippery and strange mix of waters moved the boat in unnatural ways. It was the only thing she hated about sailing, crossing the mouth of a good size river. Her father slid right through it without seeming to notice. Soon after he was forced to tack and the sail swung over, blocking him from view. She was sure he could see them on the shore still though. The pirogue was a sneaky little boat. Or at least Delos had been. She assumed the Delos II was as well, she had yet to be in it. -Her father slide right through it seemingly without noticing it. Soon after he was force to tack and the sail swung over blocking him from view, though she was sure he could see them on the shore. The pirogue was a sneaky little boat. Or at least Maggie had been. She assumed the new Maggie was as well, she had yet to be in it. +She felt a wave of panic pass through her chest at the thought of Delos. She and Birdie had not spoken of it since the days after the storm when they were still looking for it. She missed the boys. She missed Aunt Māra. Aunt Māra might still be on the island, but the part of her that Lulu loved to be around was gone. She was like a ghost wandering the island, never really there, never really anywhere. -She felt a wave of panic pass through her chest at the thought of Maggie. She and Birdie had not spoken of it since the days after the storm when they were still looking for it. She missed the boys. She missed Aunt Māra. Aunt Māra might still be on the island, but the part of her that Lulu loved to be around was gone. She was like a ghost wandering the island, never really there, never really anywhere. - -They watched as the pirogue and the man of war closed the gap between them. The merchant hung back. If she was in need of tar, no one seemed in a hurry to bring her in. Lulu shivered in the wind. She and Birdie took turns throwing shells at seagull feather sticking up in the sand, trying to see who could get the closest, but not hit it. Birdie was winning. +They watched as the pirogue and the man of war closed the gap between them. The merchant hung back. If she was in need of tar, no one seemed in a hurry to bring her in. Lulu shivered in the wind. She and Birdie took turns throwing shells at a seagull feather sticking up in the sand, trying to see who could get the closest, but not hit it. Birdie was winning. They lost interest in the game as the two boats drew together. "I wish we had a glass," said Birdie. -"I wish we were in the boat with Papa," said Lulu. Though she too wished they at least had a glass. Technically Tamba had a glass and he probably would have let them use it if they'd asked, but she had not thought of it. Her only thought was to get Henry headed back to camp so he could go hunting. Without Owen around Henry had no one to hunt with. He'd had no one to share the glory of his boar with. Because while it was fun to be paraded around on shoulders, she knew the one he really wanted to know about it was Owen. He never spoke of Owen, or of hunting, but she knew he missed them both. She saw it in the way he sat quiet sometimes, staring at nothing. It was little bit like what Aunt Māra did, but it didn't last as long. Still it lasted long enough that Lulu had noticed it, and as soon as she noticed it she'd made a point to look for ways she could help him. This was the first thing she'd been able to do. It made her feel good to think of him off hunting, though she did wish that she'd thought to ask Tamba for his glass because it was impossible to tell what was happening offshore. Her father's boat was in irons, probably being towed by a line to Revenge, since she had not slacked sail, though she did appear to be coming about. The pirogue's sail flutter like a flag alongside. +"I wish we were in the boat with Papa," said Lulu. Though she too wished they at least had a glass. Technically Tamba had a glass and he probably would have let them use it if they'd asked, but she had not thought of it. Her only thought had been to get Henry headed back to camp so he could go hunting. Without Owen around Henry had no one to hunt with. He'd had no one to share the glory of his boar with. While it was probably fun to be paraded around on sailors' shoulders, she knew the one he really wanted to know about it was Owen. He rarely spoke of Owen, or of hunting, but she knew he missed them both. She saw it in the way he sat quiet sometimes, staring at nothing. It was a little bit like what Aunt Māra did, but it didn't last as long. Still it lasted long enough that Lulu had noticed it, and as soon as she noticed it she'd made a point to look for ways she could help him. This was the first thing she'd been able to do. It made her feel good to think of him off hunting, though she did wish that she'd thought to ask Tamba for his glass because it was impossible to tell what was happening offshore. + +Her father's boat was in irons, probably being towed by a line to Whydah, since she had not slacked sail, though she did appear to be coming about. The pirogue's sail flutter like a flag alongside. -And then they watched as the Pirogue heeled slightly, caught the wind and pulled away from Revenge. The big ship began to turn away, abreast the wind, Lulu saw the anchor fall from the bow and guessed Revenge was going to spend the night just off the mouth of the river. +And then they watched as the Pirogue heeled slightly, caught the wind and pulled away from Whydah. The big ship began to turn away, abreast the wind, Lulu saw the anchor fall from the bow and guessed Whydah was going to spend the night just off the mouth of the river. Her father came back up the river, the tide and wind in his favor such that he sailed all the way up into the marsh without even tacking. Lulu watched him from the dune, and once she realized he might be able to do it, she darted off through camp and down to the edge of the marsh to watch. She was standing out on the huge fallen oak that served at their dock when he glided up and tossed the stern line to her. @@ -1938,15 +1960,15 @@ He smiled. "I got lucky." "I know kiddo. I almost tacked just so you could be the first ones to do it. But then," he laughed, "then I couldn't believe *I* might be able to do it, so I had to do it." He looked down sheepishly. -"It's okay papa, I'm glad you did it." +"It's okay Papa, I'm glad you did it." -"Thanks Lu. I'm glad I have to you to back me up, because if I were listening to me, I would not believe me. Sam and Jack sure aren't going to believe me." +"Thanks Lu. I'm glad I have you to back me up, because if I were listening to me, I would not believe me. Sam and Jack sure aren't going to believe me." "Are they coming?" -Her father frowned. "Yes, but only for the night. A party of hunters is going to try the south island for boar and deer. They're provisioning to go back down to Nassau. +Her father frowned. "Yes, but only for the night. A party of hunters is going to try the south island for boar and deer. They're provisioning to go North to Block Island. Although it sounds like Jack may be jumping ship. -"Is that his prize ship anchoring out there?" +"Is that the prize ship anchoring out there?" Her father frowned again. "Yes. We'll talk about that tonight. Where's your brother." @@ -1962,21 +1984,21 @@ Her father stopped coiling the line for a moment and looked at her, then looked "We are. Time to provision." -"Wait, are we leaving? But I thought we were staying through Christmas?" +"Wait, are we leaving? But I thought we were staying through Solstice?" -"We may. But we need a few things either way. Might as well get them. Sam is paying us a share to this prize. Your sister sighted it, he believes she deserves it." +"We may. But we need a few things either way. Might as well get them. Sam is paying us a share of this prize. Your sister sighted it, he believes she deserves it." "What? She gets a share? Like a real buccaneer?" "She does if she wants. But she needs to understand everything that means before she takes her share." -"What do you mean, what does it mean?" +"What do you mean? What does it mean?" -"It means she's a buccaneer, her name goes in the ship's log. That means anyone who ever gets hold of that ships log knows she's a buccaneer." +"It means she's a buccaneer, her name goes in the ship's log. That means anyone who ever gets hold of that ship's log knows she's a buccaneer." "Is that bad?" -Her father sighed. "It really depends who gets hold of the ships log, but I think it's not good either way, and I'd rather she did not do it." +Her father sighed. "It really depends who gets hold of the ship's log, but I think it's not good either way, and I'd rather she did not do it." "Why?" @@ -1984,7 +2006,7 @@ He sighed again and climbed out of the Pirogue onto the log next to her. "It's hard to say really. I don't know what's right Lulu. On one hand, there's that man out there in that other ship, he's losing everything on his ship. Captain Bellamy will take it, and the ship, and sell it for himself. That man gets nothing. Sam is stealing everything from him. That seems wrong. Yet. Most of the things Sam is stealing were made by slaves or stolen from the people who lived on this land before the Spanish came. People I think of as Alban, though they may speak a different language. So that man who just had everything stolen, stole everything he had in the first place. Is it okay to steal from the person who stole? Or is it just more stealing? I don't know. I can argue it both ways and in the end I'd rather just sail and fish and hunt and not worry about anything else. But we need new sails, we need lines, we'll need flour and salt and other things. We could make most of those things, but it would take us a long time, and apparently, there is a man coming who wants us off his island." -"Wait, what? His island? How is this island is?" +"Wait, what? His island? How is this island his?" "It was granted to him by the King of England." @@ -1994,19 +2016,21 @@ He sighed again and climbed out of the Pirogue onto the log next to her. --- -It was somber around the fire that night. Only Jack ended up coming ashore. The grownups spent much time smoking in silence. Thinking. +It was somber around the fire that night. Only Jack ended up coming ashore. Captain Sam was accounting the captured cargo. The grownups spent much time smoking in silence. Thinking. -"This McPhail." It was Tamba who broke the silence. "Does he plan to settle here? On the island I mean? Like those plantations down south of here on that gooseneck island in Georgia?" +"This McPhall." It was Tamba who broke the silence. "Does he plan to settle here? On the island I mean? Like those plantations down south of here on that gooseneck island in Georgia?" -"Oh, I doubt that." Ratham chuckled. "He sounds more like the type to call Charlestown home, send a man out here every now and then to make sure riffraff like us aren't overrunning the place. No, I don't think he'll say, but I think he'll make sure you don't either. I here Virginia is very nice these days. Certainly a good bit of water to disappear into. Excellent fishing. Could be just your kind of place to winter. Bit cold though I suppose." +"Oh, I doubt that." Ratham chuckled. "The way that merchant captain described him he sounds more like the type to call Charlestown home. I imagine he'll get himself a nice house in town and send a man out here every now and then to make sure riffraff like us aren't overrunning the place. No, I don't think he'll stay, but I think he'll make sure you don't either." Ratham dragged on his pipe. "I hear Virginia is very nice these days. Certainly a good bit of water to disappear into. Excellent fishing. Could be just your kind of place to winter. Bit cold though I suppose." -"Not enough jack pine, too far north for them, there'd be no point to wintering there, we couldn't make tar. Same reason we sail right past Okracok" +"Not enough jack pine, too far north for them, there'd be no point to wintering there, we couldn't make tar. Same reason we sail right past Okracoke" Silence returned. More smoking. Lulu was bored and starting to doze. This time it Ratham who broke the silence. "You ever met that fellow, Dampier?" -"The one's always writing?" Ratham nodded and her father sighed. "Once, yes, in London." +"The one's always writing?" + +Ratham nodded and her father sighed. "Once, yes, in London." "You don't sound impressed." @@ -2034,7 +2058,7 @@ Jack shrugged. "His higher bred morals were unable to deal with the reality he f Lulu glanced at her father, he was staring into the fire lost in thought. She wondered what the south seas were like. She'd heard stories, Kobayashi had sailed the far side of them from his home in Japan, down though endless chains of islands, all covered in coconuts and mangos and surrounded by treacherous coral reefs, to a town named Batavia, where he'd somehow met up with her father, though both were rather vague on the details. -"You want to sail Revenge around the south seas eh Jack?" Her father smiled. "I'd go with you in Delos if you did. That'd be a fine adventure. Wouldn't miss it for the world." +"You want to sail Whydah around the south seas eh Jack?" Her father smiled. "I'd go with you in Wanderer if you did. That'd be a fine adventure. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Ratham laughed. "No, I like my Nassau. I like my clothes and my wine and my food, my Spanish Galleons. I'm a simple man, Nicholas, I don't want adventure, I want more rum" @@ -2044,29 +2068,29 @@ Ratham laughed. "No, I like my Nassau. I like my clothes and my wine and my food "Where's your sense of adventure Jack?" -"You're not seriously going to run all the way to the south seas because some lord from London comes along claiming you're stealing his trees? That'd be mad." +"I told you. Rum. Besides, you don't strike me as the type to pull up stakes just because because some lord from London comes along claiming you're stealing his trees." -Her father sighed. "This island is a wonderful place to make camp for the winter, but there are dozen of places to do that within a day's sail of here, and thousands more another day's sail beyond that. You can call it running if you want to, but that's not how I see it." Her father propped himself up on one elbow. "My people come from the high country, we got there following the water, just looking for a place we could exist undisturbed. But we kept having to go higher. So some of us turned around and went the other way, followed the water back to it's source. If we leave here it will just be more following the water, flowing on. Water never stops Jack. That river over there," her father gestured toward the Edisto river, "would you say it's running away from something? Or is it running toward something? I say it's doing neither. Is it just doing the thing it was given to do, to journey through the world as best it can, follow its course out into the sea, and keep going on wherever the currents take it. The lowlanders, they think the rivers stop at the shore. You and I know that's not true. That water never stops flowing, nothing on this earth ever stops moving. Why would I? It's unnatural to stay in one place too long. Besides," her father smiled a broad, bright smile of the sort Lulu rarely saw him smile, "where's the adventure in sitting around some island all day?" +Her father sighed. "In principle no. Still, this island is a wonderful place to make camp for the winter, but there are dozen of places to do that within a day's sail of here, and thousands more another day's sail beyond that. You can call it running if you want to, but that's not how I see it." Her father propped himself up on one elbow. "My people come from the high country, we got there following the water, just looking for a place we could exist undisturbed. But we kept having to go higher. So some of us turned around and went the other way, followed the water back to it's source. If we leave here it will just be more following the water, flowing on. Water never stops Jack. That river over there," her father gestured toward the Edisto river, "would you say it's running away from something? Or is it running toward something? I say it's doing neither. Is it just doing the thing it was given to do, to journey through the world as best it can, follow its course out into the sea, and keep going on wherever the currents take it. The lowlanders, they think the rivers stop at the shore. You and I know that's not true. That water never stops flowing, nothing on this earth ever stops moving. Why would I? It's unnatural to stay in one place too long. Besides," her father smiled a broad, bright smile of the sort Lulu rarely saw him smile, "where's the adventure in sitting around some island all day?" Jack nodded and pushed his hat back a little, smiling. "Well, when you put it like that..." He raised his mug to her father and then took a drink. -## Birdie Joins Whydah +## Chapter 16: Birdie Joins Whydah Birdie lay awake late into the night, watching Orion's belt move across the sky, wondering about the hunter. Did he like it up there? Was it small consolation? Did he miss hunting? Did that great son of Poseidon miss Artemis? Are you happy up there Birdie whispered to Orion. I think I should have liked to keep hunting if it were me she answered for him. Never trust a jealous god, not even Apollo. None of the stories swirling in her head had an answer for her real question though. Should she claim her share of the Whydah's prize? Ratham had offered two shares. One for sighting, and one for being part of the crew, even if it were only for that morning. Every member of the crew was entitled to a share. With her second, for sighting, she would get over 150 pieces of eight. -That was more money than Birdie had ever seen in her life. More than she had ever heard of anyone seeing or have. It was more than her father had. It was enough to outfit them for years to come. It was enough that they would not have to worry about money again for quite some time. At least that was what Ratham had told her. But she knew her father was against it. She knew he didn't want her name in the ship's log in case that log ever fell into British hands. If it did her name would be there, marking her a pirate, pure and simple. If captured she would be hung like any other pirate. +That was more money than Birdie had ever seen in her life. More than she had ever heard of anyone seeing or having. It was more than her father had. It was enough to outfit them for years to come. It was enough that they would not have to worry about money again for quite some time. At least that was what Ratham had told her. But she knew her father was against it. She knew he didn't want her name in the ship's log in case that log ever fell into British hands. If it did her name would be there, marking her a pirate, pure and simple. If captured she would be hung like any other pirate. This was not a fate Birdie enjoyed thinking about. She had seen men hanging dead from the gallows in Charlestown, crows picking at their rotten flesh. She did not want to be up there on the gallows. But the idea that her family would be safer, could afford to find somewhere new to live, could maybe even find a home away from... the British. Hadn't her father said the British treated everyone badly? Did it matter then if she was official a pirate? Was being thrown in prison for living on someone else's island so much better than just being hung? Maybe Kobayashi was right, at least being hung it was all over quickly, there was no sitting around in prison. It was hard for Birdie to imagine a worse fate than being locked in a dark prison cell. Just thinking of it now made her wonder if she might not prefer the gallows, crows and all. -The fire was nothing but coals. No one had banked them. Birdie got up and used a small log to move the coals to the side of the fire, piling them against the rocks to protect them from the wind, where they would last through the night and help them get the fire going again in the morning. She sighed and sat down beside the warmth of the coals. She shivered. It was getting colder. It was getting to only time of year she did not like, real winter, the two moons where it was cold enough that she had to wear pants and a coat all the time. It was the time they made their last batches of tar and the heat of the kilns finally became welcome. She wondered though, with the Whydah having used half their tar if they would have to keep making it longer than last year. There wasn't much left if they were going to tar Delos too before they left for northern shores in March. +The fire was nothing but coals. No one had banked them. Birdie got up and used a small log to move the coals to the side of the fire, piling them against the rocks to protect them from the wind, where they would last through the night and help them get the fire going again in the morning. She sighed and sat down beside the warmth of the coals. She shivered. It was getting colder. It was getting to only time of year she did not like, real winter, the two moons where it was cold enough that she had to wear pants and a coat all the time. It was the time they made their last batches of tar and the heat of the kilns finally became welcome. She wondered though, with the Whydah having used half their tar if they would have to keep making it longer than last year. There wasn't much left if they were going to tar Wanderer too before they left for northern shores in March. She could change all that if she claimed the prize. She could make it so they no longer had to make tar. *I like making tar* her father had said, but in her head Birdie had been thinking, then you can still make it, you just won't *have* to make it. She half wanted to take the money just to see if her father would really keep making tar or if that was just something he said so that she wouldn't feel obligated to put her name in the log for the sake of their family. But the truth was she realized, she did feel obligated, and as soon as she realized that there was no doubt in her mind what she had to do. She fell asleep watching Orion run down toward the sea. You never stop hunting, you just move to new hunting grounds. --- -She woke up before dawn and went down to the shoreline to swim. She stripped off her clothes and steeled herself for a moment before running headlong into the sea and diving under the first wave she could before she lost her nerve. The cold was a shock so sharp it felt like fire. Her skin tingled. She broke the surface and gasped involuntarily. She stood for a moment letting the shock wear off before she strode back in, gathered up her clothes and walked back to camp in the twilight. She was shaking involuntarily by the time she got the fire going. It seemed ages before the warmth began to creep back into her, but it did finally. She was dressed again and feeling refreshed by the time Kobayashi came out to stir up the fire. He smiled and nodded at her. "Up early on your big day." +She woke up before dawn and went down to the shoreline to swim. She stripped off her clothes and steeled herself for a moment before running headlong into the sea and diving under the first wave she could before she lost her nerve. The cold was a shock so sharp it felt like fire. Her skin tingled. She broke the surface and gasped involuntarily. She stood for a moment letting the shock wear off before she strode back in, gathered up her clothes and walked back to camp in the twilight. She was shaking all over by the time she got the fire going. It seemed ages before the warmth began to creep back into her. She was dressed again and feeling refreshed by the time Kobayashi came out to stir up the fire. He smiled and nodded at her. "Up early on your big day." She nodded and took the pot of water he passed over and set it on the coals. @@ -2084,7 +2108,7 @@ A bright smile spread over Kobayashi's face. "Good for you," he said in a whispe Kobayashi paused for a moment. His eyes held hers and then he looked away. "If you were dying, walking down the street dying of hunger, and you saw a loaf a bread in a window and you took it and you ate it and so you did not die, would that be wrong?" -Birdie considered this, but before she had answer Kobayashi went on. "Who decided that some people get to have all the things and other people can have none? Are these people wrong?" He coughed as a wisp of blew in their faces. "There are many questions that are difficult to answer, I think that there is no way to answer them. My people have a word for this, actually we have several words, but I will teach you one, Karuma. Your people say Karma. Karuma is an account of the things you have done. We must all answer for our Karuma. But I do not think we will answer to anything that cares about what was on a ship or not on a ship. I think that we will answer for how we treated the people we met, the animals we encountered, the winds, and the seas. Are you mistreating the man who owned this boat you are dividing up? I ask myself this every time I join a crew in search of prizes and I have to answer yes. I am okay with this. I am willing to account for this action and take what may come." Kobayashi shrugged. "A man or woman must eat, I believe the laws of Karuma account for this." +Birdie considered this, but before she could answer Kobayashi went on. "Who decided that some people get to have all the things and other people can have none? Are these people wrong?" He coughed as a wisp of smoke blew in their faces. "There are many questions that are difficult to answer, I think that there is no way to answer them. My people have a word for this, actually we have several words, but I will teach you one, Karuma. Your people say Karma. Karuma is an account of the things you have done. We must all answer for our Karuma. But I do not think we will answer to anything that cares about what was on a ship or not on a ship. I think that we will answer for how we treated the people we met, the animals we encountered, the winds, and the seas. Are you mistreating the man who owned this boat you are dividing up? I ask myself this every time I join a crew in search of prizes and I have to answer yes. I am okay with this. I am willing to account for this action and take what may come." Kobayashi shrugged. "A man or woman must eat, I believe the laws of Karuma account for this." He ladled boiling water out of the pot into his cup, watching the tea leaves swirl. "I believe also that Karuma knows what is in your heart. If you act with love, without greed, without hatred, without fear... if you act as you know you should, I believe Karuma accounts for this when it comes the bear upon you." @@ -2094,21 +2118,21 @@ When her father came back from his swim she told him. To her surprise he did not It was nearly lunch time when the men who'd spent the previous day and night hunting upriver came rowing back. Their launch with so full of boar and deer it road dangerously low in the water. Ratham, undeterred, climbed in and the crew headed back the Whydah to prepare for Birdie's induction. -That evening, Birdie and the crew of Delos sailed Maggie out to Whydah and climbed up the rigging to the deck. The crew of Whydah, including the cabin boy, who was not much older than Birdie, was waiting. They lined both side of the deck. In the middle of the ship, near the wheel, stood Ratham and Bellamy. Bellamy had the ships log, where he'd recorded Birdie's name. She'd never seen her name before, but her father assured her it was correct. She put an X beside it and Bellamy blew on it to dry before ceremoniously slamming the book shut. "Welcome to the crew of Whydah!" he cried. A roar went up from the men around the ship and Bellamy bent down to speak softer in her ear. "However briefly you may serve with us Birdie, it is an honor to have you." +That evening, Birdie and the crew of Wanderer sailed Delos out to Whydah and climbed up the rigging to the deck. The crew of Whydah, including the cabin boy, who was not much older than Birdie, was waiting. They lined both side of the deck. In the middle of the ship, near the wheel, stood Ratham and Bellamy. Bellamy had the ships log, where he'd recorded Birdie's name. She'd never seen her name before, but her father assured her it was correct. She put an X beside it and Bellamy blew on it to dry before ceremoniously slamming the book shut. "Welcome to the crew of Whydah!" he cried. A roar went up from the men around the ship and Bellamy bent down to speak softer in her ear. "However briefly you may serve with us Birdie, it is an honor to have you." "Thank you sir," she whispered back in his ear. Jack blew in a conk shell and the low groaning sound silenced the crew. Jack stepped forward and spun around to make sure he had everyone's attention. "The oath here is simple. To be a member of this crew, and to therefore receive your share in spoils, you must agree to the articles of this ship." Ratham unrolled the paper Birdie had put an X on and showed it to the crew. He began to read the paper, which quickly delved into details of sailing Whydah which Birdie would never need to know, given that she was sailing with Whydah tonight only, something she would reflect on with some relief in the years to come. Two things stuck with her though from Jack's reading, one was the promise not to draw blood, or "take away the life of any man given Quarter," and above all else, to remain loyal and "assist your brethren in danger, on pain of death." -In the end much food was eaten, much drink was drunk and a small sea chest with 140 pieces of eight in it was presented to Birdie, though carried by Tamba and her father since it proved very heavy indeed. She sat with in balanced on her knees as the very crowded Maggie made for shore in the moonlight, the weight of it was somehow reassuringly real, unlike the vague weight that lay on her mind. Whatever may come, she was a member of Whydah's crew now. +In the end much food was eaten, much drink was drunk and a small sea chest with 140 pieces of eight in it was presented to Birdie, though carried by Tamba and her father since it proved very heavy indeed. She sat with in balanced on her knees as the very crowded Delos made for shore in the moonlight, the weight of it was somehow reassuringly real, unlike the vague weight that lay on her mind. Whatever may come, she was a member of Whydah's crew now. -## Chapter 16: The British +## Chapter 17: The British Two weeks later Lulu woke from a dream where she was gliding over the water, slow and smooth like a pelican, alone, her wing tips skimming the waves and watching the schools the fish dart from her shadow. And then she was in her usual body, lying on a calico quilt on the sand. She sat up and stretched and shook Birdie, who swatted at her. "Come on, Birdie, lets play what we were playing last night." Birdie sat up groggy, rubbing her eyes gently as they had all learned to do in a world where you never knew when there might by a grain of sand on your hand. "What game again?" -"Remember?" Lulu held up the braided sweetgrass doll she'd slept with. Lulu like to curl in a ball under the blankets, no matter how hot it might be, and tuck her doll, no matter how scratchy or hard it might be, up against her chest. Her mother said she was a born cuddler. +"Remember?" Lulu held up the braided sweetgrass doll she'd slept with. Lulu like to curl in a ball under the blankets, no matter how hot it might be, and tuck her doll, no matter how scratchy or hard it might be, up against her chest. Her aunt said she was a born cuddler. "Oh right," Birdie turned away and scanned the sand. Birdie had a habit of flinging her dolls away from her just before she fell asleep. She was not a doll cuddler like Lulu. @@ -2118,31 +2142,31 @@ She lowered herself slowly down, not wanting to be spotted. She scuttled over to "What?" Birdie snapped awake. They gathered up their quilts and dolls and ran for camp. Their father was up, drinking some of the coffee Jack had given him. She wanted to scream, but she did not. She forced herself to speaking clearly and slowly. "There's a ship. Soldiers are rowing in." She watched her father's face. It flickered for just an instance, but otherwise he looked at her as if she had just told him about a shell she found on the beach. He took a sip of coffee. He swallowed. -"Well, I expect that'll be this McPhail character Jack spoke of. Hmm, a boat full of soldiers." Her father stared at the coffee as if it were tea leaves and might have some hint of the future, but there was nothing in it but murky blackness. "Lu, get Henry and go with Kobayashi and Tamba. Ready Delos to sail. Birdie, I want you to stay with me." +"Well, I expect that'll be this McPhall character Jack spoke of. Hmm, a boat full of soldiers." Her father stared at the coffee as if it were tea leaves and might have some hint of the future, but there was nothing in it but murky blackness. "Lu, get Henry and go with Kobayashi and Tamba. Ready Wanderer to sail. Birdie, I want you to stay with me." Lulu balked. She did not want her sister to stay. She started to protest. She glanced at Birdie and could tell she did not want to stay either. "Papa why? I want Birdie to come with us." "Lulu," he hissed, "do as I say, and go." -She ducked into the tent. Tamba and Kobayashi had a of sail cloth bag into which they were shoving their guns and swords. Maybe she had yelled a little thought Lulu. She helped them gather all the shot and powder in the hut. Lulu picked up the coppers and the iron skillet her father loved. Henry helped with a bag of shot. The four of them headed down the trail to the marsh, Lulu tried to think where the tide was. She thought about the boat coming in, she tried to see it in her memory, where was the surf line, she thought it was high, that would mean there would be enough water to easily float Delos. +She ducked into the tent. Tamba and Kobayashi had a sail cloth bag into which they were shoving their guns and swords. Maybe she had yelled a little thought Lulu. She helped them gather all the shot and powder in the hut. Lulu picked up the coppers and the iron skillet her father loved. Henry helped with a bag of shot. The four of them headed down the trail to the marsh, Lulu tried to think where the tide was. She thought about the boat coming in, she tried to see it in her memory, where was the surf line. she thought it was high, that would mean there would be enough water to easily float Wanderer. -They stored the goods they could carry on the ship. Lulu set about readying her to sail, while Tamba and Kobayashi made a second trip to secure more of their belongings, dragging a sled full of blankets, skins and furs, the cooking tripod, and her father's precious water pot for making tea. They used tackle to hoist the entire sled on board. Lulu scurried around stowing things she could, securing with lines the things she could find no place for, while Tamba and Kobayashi winched Delos down the pine logs one which she rested, deeper into the water. +They stored the goods they could carry on the ship. Lulu set about readying her to sail, while Tamba and Kobayashi made a second trip to secure more of their belongings, dragging a sled full of blankets, skins and furs, the cooking tripod, and her father's precious water pot for making tea. They used tackle to hoist the entire sled on board. Lulu scurried around stowing things she could, securing with lines the things she could find no place for, while Tamba and Kobayashi winched Wanderer down the pine logs on which she rested, deeper into the water. -Lulu's heart was racing. She kept glancing back over at the darkness of the forest, half expecting to see the flash of redcoats and bayonet knives, but it was silent and dark. Whatever was happening back at camp, the soldiers did not seem to know about Delos. Lulu's heart pinched and her throat went dry when she thought too long about her sister and her father, surely by now prisoners of the soldiers, of McPhail. She tried to keep herself busy, but the truth was, once everything was stowed there was nothing for Henry and her to do. +Lulu's heart was racing. She kept glancing back over at the darkness of the forest, half expecting to see the flash of redcoats and bayonet knives, but it was silent and dark. Whatever was happening back at camp, the soldiers did not seem to know about Wanderer. Lulu's heart pinched and her throat went dry when she thought too long about her sister and her father, surely by now prisoners of the soldiers, of McPhall. She tried to keep herself busy, but the truth was, once everything was stowed there was nothing for Henry and her to do. -There was a light splashing sound when Delos came off the logs and into the water. Kobayashi waded through the stinking mud and climbed up a rope ladder Lulu hung over the side for him. She helped him rinse his pants from a barrel of salt water that was always on deck. She had never seen Kobayashi anything other than cheerful, but for the first time he seemed very serious, almost somber. He did not smile at her at he usually did, he simply nodded and went aft to find Tamba. +There was a light splashing sound when Wanderer came off the logs and into the water. Kobayashi waded through the stinking mud and climbed up a rope ladder Lulu hung over the side for him. She helped him rinse his pants from a barrel of salt water that was always on deck. She had never seen Kobayashi anything other than cheerful, but for the first time he seemed very serious, almost somber. He did not smile at her at he usually did, he simply nodded and went aft to find Tamba. -Delos cleared the shadows of the oaks along the shore and the bright morning sun hit the deck. It look had all the appearance of a beautiful day, though for the crew of Delos there was no time to appreciate it. +Wanderer cleared the shadows of the oaks along the shore and the bright morning sun hit the deck. It had all the appearance of a beautiful day, though for the crew of Wanderer there was no time to appreciate it. -## Birdie with her father +## Chapter 18: Birdie with her father "Do you know why I kept you behind?" Her father sat still drinking coffee, but she saw him glance frequently at the dunes behind her. Birdie shook her head. She felt like she was going to explode. She understood now what Jack had said once about battle. *Fear is different than being scared. Fear is feeling like you want to jump out of your skin and leave your body behind*. -Her father smiled. "I don't know what this man McPhail is like, but it's been my experience that most men are less likely to murder a man in front of his own children." +Her father smiled. "I don't know what this man McPhall is like, but it's been my experience that most men are less likely to murder a man in front of his own children." -Birdie felt herself floating up out of her body at these words. Her father was going to be murdered. He had gambled his life and her on a silly idea he formed somewhere along the way and she was about to pay for it by watching him die. +Birdie felt herself floating up out of her body at these words. Her father was going to be murdered. He had gambled his life and hers on a silly idea he formed somewhere along the way and she was about to pay for it by watching him die. A shadow drifted down the dune, extending past her. It had a stick poking out the side of it. She knew there was a man behind her with a sword. Or a gun, she could not tell as the shadow was mangled in a clump of grass growing next to her, but either way, this was it. Her head felt heavy, her mouth went dry and she thought she was going to fall over. She forced herself to blink, to steady herself. *The way to master fear,* Jack had said, *is not to ignore it, it's to feel it, to acknowledge it, and then chose to focus on something else instead, focus on what you know you need to do at that moment, focus on something you have trained to do. Like fighting back.* @@ -2152,15 +2176,15 @@ She stood and looked behind her for the first time. The sun was low on the horiz --- -McPhail hadn't even come ashore with the landing party. Captain Vickry, the man whose shadow had first come sliding down the dune behind her, had to send for McPhail. When he arrived he seemed not particularly interested in either her or her father. No one bothered to chain them, no one said they were under arrest. No one did anything, though Birdie could feel, she knew, that they could not leave. +McPhall hadn't even come ashore with the landing party. Captain Vickry, the man whose shadow had first come sliding down the dune behind her, had to send for McPhall. When he arrived he seemed not particularly interested in either her or her father. No one bothered to chain them, no one said they were under arrest. No one did anything, though Birdie could feel, she knew, that they could not leave. -She spent most of the day trying to figure out what Lulu and the rest of her family were doing. She knew Delos was not in the marsh because the soldiers had gone down to the marsh to look around and come back and reported that there was nothing there. And yet it wasn't hard to tell that clearly it was not just her father and Aunt Māra, whom the soldiers rounded up from the other end of the island, and her living here. The three of them sat around the cold ashes of the fire, her father and Aunt Māra sometimes whispering back and forth. Their voices were too low for Birdie to hear, but she could tell that her Aunt was mad at her father about something. Possibly about everything. +She spent most of the day trying to figure out what Lulu and the rest of her family were doing. She knew Wanderer was not in the marsh because the soldiers had gone down to the marsh to look around and come back and reported that there was nothing there. And yet it wasn't hard to tell that clearly it was not just her father and Aunt Māra, whom the soldiers rounded up from the other end of the island, and her living here. The three of them sat around the cold ashes of the fire, her father and Aunt Māra sometimes whispering back and forth. Their voices were too low for Birdie to hear, but she could tell that her Aunt was mad at her father about something. Possibly about everything. -For once Birdie was half glad that Francis was not here to see them. She felt helpless. She did not like this feeling. She didn't not want to admit she was helpless so she plotted ways she could escape. *Focus on something you have trained to do*. Birdie wished she had trained to do something. They didn't drill much when they were on shore. She knew everything to do on the ship, that would have been like breathing. They'd never had been caught in the first places, but even if they had, no one would take their ship, she felt quite sure of that. +For once Birdie was half glad that Francis was not here to see them. She felt helpless. She did not like this feeling. She didn't not want to admit she was helpless so she plotted ways she could escape. *Focus on something you have trained to do*. Birdie wished she had trained to do something. They didn't drill much when they were on shore. She knew everything to do on the ship, that would have been like breathing. They'd never had been caught in the first place, but even if they had, no one would take their ship, she felt quite sure of that. -But on land they never bothered. They had two rendezvous points, depending on which way trouble came from. She assumed Delos and crew were at the river point, tied up in the clearing her father had made, up a channel in the cypress swamp. Not a perfect place to hide because there was no way to come bursting out of it, but a place very few people would ever think to look for a boat. It was a good place to lay low and wait for darkness. It was nearly a new moon, Delos would have a good dark night in which to come out of hiding and slip out into the ocean and go find help of some kind. +But on land they never bothered to drill. They had two rendezvous points, depending on which way trouble came from. She assumed Wanderer and crew were at the river point, tied up in the clearing her father had made, up a channel in the cypress swamp. Not a perfect place to hide because there was no way to come bursting out of it, but a place very few people would ever think to look for a boat. It was a good place to lay low and wait for darkness. It was nearly a new moon, Wanderer would have a good dark night in which to come out of hiding and slip out into the ocean and go find help of some kind. -"Get up," said a soldier. Birdie did not look up at him, instead she studied his boots, trying to memorize them. I will know you by your boots. "Captain McPhail wants to see you." The soldier kick at her feet, startling her. +"Get up," said a soldier. Birdie did not look up at him, instead she studied his boots, trying to memorize them. I will know you by your boots. "Captain McPhall wants to see you." The soldier kick at her feet, startling her. "Me?" @@ -2172,23 +2196,23 @@ Her father stood up. "I will go, leave her out of this." "All of you." He said, this time in a much more sinister voice that Birdie did not like. -She followed her father and aunt through the dunes and down the beach where McPhail, Birdie assumed it was McPhail, sat at small table reading through some papers. "Ah, the legendary captain of this pirate outfit." +She followed her father and aunt through the dunes and down the beach where McPhall, Birdie assumed it was McPhall, sat at small table reading through some papers. "Ah, the legendary captain of this pirate outfit." Birdie glanced at her father. Legendary? How did anyone from England ever know who they were? "I did not know we had met" said her father. -"We have not. I am James McPhail," Captain McPhail extend his hand and her father shook it. "And you are on my island." +"We have not. I am James McPhall," Captain McPhall extend his hand and her father shook it. "And you are on my island." "Your island?" -McPhail smiled. It was not an unpleasant smile. In fact Birdie did not think McPhail was a particularly unpleasant person. But that made her nervous because her father always said it was the nice snakes you had to watch out for. The coiled snake hissing and ready to strike is easy to dodge, the one that gets you is the one you never saw coming. Did she see McPhail coming? Did she need to? She could not decide. +McPhall smiled. It was not an unpleasant smile. In fact Birdie did not think McPhall was a particularly unpleasant person. But that made her nervous because her father always said it was the nice snakes you had to watch out for. The coiled snake hissing and ready to strike is easy to dodge, the one that gets you is the one you never saw coming. Did she see McPhall coming? Did she need to? She could not decide. -"Yes, this piece of paper makes this land my island. If you look here," McPhail held out the parchment to her father, "that is the king's signature." +"Yes, this piece of paper makes this land my island. If you look here," McPhall held out the parchment to her father, "that is the king's signature." -Her father never even glanced at it. "I am not English, so whether that is your king's signature or not," he smiled in nearly exactly the way McPhail had, slightly unpleasantly, but with that unpleasantness under a thin veneer of pleasantry, "I could not say, but either way... It was not your island until you arrived and took it." +Her father never even glanced at it. "I am not English, so whether that is your king's signature or not," he smiled in nearly exactly the way McPhall had, slightly unpleasantly, but with that unpleasantness under a thin veneer of pleasantry, "I could not say, but either way... It was not your island until you arrived and took it." -McPhail glanced around, out at the ship anchored offshore. "Well, as long as you recognize that it is mine now we're making progress. But I had rather hoped you were a reasonable man." +McPhall glanced around, out at the ship anchored offshore. "Well, as long as you recognize that it is mine now we're making progress. But I had rather hoped you were a reasonable man." Her father said nothing. @@ -2196,9 +2220,9 @@ Her father said nothing. "I expect you feed them to the dogs." -McPhail smiled again, this time genuinely, his whole face lit up, "why yes, that's exactly what I do." +McPhall smiled again, this time genuinely, his whole face lit up, "why yes, that's exactly what I do." -For the first time McPhail glanced over at Birdie. She had drawn herself up to aunt's side as her father and McPhail talked, putting her left arm and hip into Aunt Māra's dress so that she could reach down and keep her hand on her knife. "this must be your wife and daughter." +For the first time McPhall glanced over at Birdie. She had drawn herself up to aunt's side as her father and McPhall talked, putting her left arm and hip into Aunt Māra's dress so that she could reach down and keep her hand on her knife. "this must be your wife and daughter." Birdie said nothing. Her father nodded. @@ -2210,27 +2234,27 @@ Birdie's heart leaped into her throat. Her father just shrugged. "Do what you ne "You won't." -McPhail scowled. "You do think you're very clever don't you? I don't think your crew are likely to get far with my warship sitting here do you?" +McPhall scowled. "You do think you're very clever don't you? I don't think your crew are likely to get far with my warship sitting here do you?" "Is that yours? A minute ago it was your majesty's." -This time McPhail smiled cruelly. "Do you see a king anywhere around us?" +This time McPhall smiled cruelly. "Do you see a king anywhere around us?" "No I don't" "Well that's because I am his majesty's emissary. He did not deem it necessary to come all this way on this piddly little errand, he entrusted me to do it for him." -"Did he? Well, let me ask you something Mr. McPhail, do you see a king around here?" +"Did he? Well, let me ask you something Mr. McPhall, do you see a king around here?" -McPhail frowned. "I think we already established that. Have you been drinking? +McPhall frowned. "I think we already established that. Have you been drinking? "Do you see an army around here?" -Birdie noticed McPhail almost imperceptibly flinch, "I do. I see an infantry company that's about to take you to Charlestown to be tried for trespass on the King's land." +Birdie noticed McPhall almost imperceptibly flinch, "I do. I see an infantry company that's about to take you to Charlestown to be tried for trespass on the King's land." -Her father ignored the last statement, but he glanced around looking at the soldiers. "I see an infantry company of 14 men, and one warship of 32 guns. And if I were you McPhail." Her father paused and stared directly into McPhail's eyes. "If I were you, that would make me very nervous." +Her father ignored the last statement, but he glanced around looking at the soldiers. "I see an infantry company of 14 men, and one warship of 32 guns. And if I were you McPhall." Her father paused and stared directly into McPhall's eyes. "If I were you, that would make me very nervous." -Her father turned and began to walk back toward camp. Birdie glanced briefly at McPhail whose mouth was gaping open and shut like a fish out of water, and then she darted off after her father, her aunt running right behind her. They caught up and the three of them walked together through the dunes. +Her father turned and began to walk back toward camp. Birdie glanced briefly at McPhall whose mouth was gaping open and shut like a fish out of water, and then she darted off after her father, her aunt running right behind her. They caught up and the three of them walked together through the dunes. "Birdie stays with me. Māra, the boat will try to get out tonight, I want you on it." @@ -2240,47 +2264,47 @@ Her father smiled. "Me probably, not you. His ego won't let him chain women in f "You have much more confidence in your ability to read people than I do." -Her father said nothing. They heard McPhail yell something. Birdie started to turn, but her father caught her arm. "Forward Birdie, no looking back. You don't react. The minute you react they're in charge. Always keep them reacting to you. Even when it seems crazy." He smiled at her. The three of them stopped in the shelter of the dunes, out of sight of both the beach and the soldiers back in camp. "It's okay Birdie. We're going to be fine. You and I are going to Charlestown. Most likely by wagon. We may be separated, but don't worry, don't react. Trust that I will come get you. No matter what happens, I will come for you." +Her father said nothing. They heard McPhall yell something. Birdie started to turn, but her father caught her arm. "Forward Birdie, no looking back. You don't react. The minute you react they're in charge. Always keep them reacting to you. Even when it seems crazy." He smiled at her. The three of them stopped in the shelter of the dunes, out of sight of both the beach and the soldiers back in camp. "It's okay Birdie. We're going to be fine. You and I are going to Charlestown. Most likely by wagon. We may be separated, but don't worry, don't react. Trust that I will come get you. No matter what happens, I will come for you." Birdie said nothing. There was a hard lump in her throat and she felt scared. Not fear, not the electric aliveness of fear, but scared. She nodded because she did not trust herself to speak without crying. She heard the clinking of metal, the sound of soldiers running. "They're going to chain me up Birdie. Remember. Everything is going to be okay. You have to believe that." -A soldier crested the hill point a rifle at them. Her father raised his hands over his head and stepped away from Māra and Birdie. "Easy soldier, it's me you want, don't point that at them." +A soldier crested the hill pointing a rifle at them. Her father raised his hands over his head and stepped away from Māra and Birdie. "Easy soldier, it's me you want, don't point that at them." The soldier said nothing, but he swung the rifle clear of Birdie and Māra while keeping it trained on her father. Two more soldiers came over the dunes. One of them carried irons. They placed the manacles around her father's wrists. They turned him around and pushed him forward, toward the camp. Birdie and Māra followed and the soldier with the gun brought up the rear. --- -The sound of iron clanging woke Birdie. Every time her father rolled over, the chains on his wrists clanged together with a terrible clanging sound. She stretched her back and reached her arm out for Māra and felt nothing. Her heart started, but she was careful not to react. She continued her stretch and rolled over again. How had aunt Māra slipped out so quietly that she had not heard her? Birdie tried to imagine her sliding out the back of the hut. Her father had made a trapdoor in the wall that allowed anyone sleeping against it to slip out very quietly. He and Tamba had taken turns practicing slipping out of it quietly, but so far as Birdie knew, Aunt Māra had never practiced. Apparently she did not need to Birdie thought. Once outside you rolled a short distance in sand and there was a small shrub you could use for cover while you stood up and steeled yourself. Then it was just a matter of slipping quietly down the path and out of camp. Once Aunt Māra, or any of the rest of them, were in the woods the soldiers didn't stand a chance. This was what her father had always told them anyway, get to the woods and move quietly. Most people cannot move as quietly as we can and so we can avoid them. The more Birdie thought about it the more she thought maybe they had drilled on shore. All those games she'd played with her brother and sister, trying to slip past Papa and Tamba while they hid behind trees. Practicing stalking game, moving quietly. All that was a kind of training maybe. +The sound of iron clanging woke Birdie. Every time her father rolled over, the chains on his wrists clanged together with a terrible metallic sound. She stretched her back and reached her arm out for Māra and felt nothing. Her heart started, but she was careful not to react. She continued her stretch and rolled over again. How had aunt Māra slipped out so quietly that she had not heard her? Birdie tried to imagine her sliding out the back of the hut. Her father had made a trapdoor in the wall that allowed anyone sleeping against it to slip out very quietly. He and Tamba had taken turns practicing slipping out of it quietly, but so far as Birdie knew, Aunt Māra had never practiced. Apparently she did not need to Birdie thought. Once outside you rolled a short distance in the sand and there was a small shrub you could use for cover while you stood up and steeled yourself. Then it was just a matter of slipping quietly down the path and out of camp. Once Aunt Māra, or any of the rest of them, were in the woods the soldiers didn't stand a chance. This was what her father had always told them anyway, get to the woods and move quietly. Most people cannot move as quietly as we can and so we can avoid them. The more Birdie thought about it the more she thought maybe they had drilled on shore. All those games she'd played with her brother and sister, trying to slip past Papa and Tamba while they hid behind trees. Practicing stalking game, moving quietly. All that was a kind of training maybe. Birdie wasn't sure what their plan was, she had not paid much attention to the half whispers and gestures that her Aunt and her father shared the afternoon after they put him in irons. She had been too struck by the fact that her Aunt seemed once more her Aunt. She was not a wandering ghost pacing the island. She did not seem numb and unable to see you, she looked at you again, and while Birdie was still afraid, this was one good thing she had found in an afternoon that she had mainly spent trying to think of good things. Every time she looked over and saw the iron manacles on her father's arms she had trouble thinking of good things. The whole world seemed wrong. Her sister and brother and the rest of her family were hiding somewhere in a swamp, trapped up the river by a 32 gun British warship and her father was in chains and he had warned her that they would be separated and none of this made Birdie feel anything but bad and scared and afraid and she wished she had a mother to hug her and tell her everything was going to be alright even if it wasn't. -Even now somewhere out in that blackness her people were trying to slip out of that river mouth, past the warship and off to find help. At least she hoped that was the plan. All she'd really heard was what McPhail had said, that the ship would likely make a run for it tonight and to have to watch doubled. But Birdie knew that the mouth of the river to the south of Edisto was not the only way out of the marsh. So long as Delos could get downstream to the marsh undetected she could turn south, ride the high tide through the marsh to the south and come out much farther south, well out of cannon range. They would still see her though, there were no black sails on Delos, but her father had always said she was the fastest ship on the sea, so, as long as they could make it to the see, Birdie was confident they would get away. +Even now somewhere out in that blackness her people were trying to slip out of that river mouth, past the warship and off to find help. At least she hoped that was the plan. All she'd really heard was what McPhall had said, that the ship would likely make a run for it tonight and to have to watch doubled. But Birdie knew that the mouth of the river to the south of Edisto was not the only way out of the marsh. So long as Wanderer could get downstream to the marsh undetected she could turn south, ride the high tide through the marsh to the south and come out much farther south, well out of cannon range. They would still see her though, there were no black sails on Wanderer, but her father had always said she was the fastest ship on the sea, so, as long as they could make it to the sea, Birdie was confident they would get away. Aunt Māra getting away was the beginning of that plan and that had worked. So far so good. Birdie rolled over toward the wall of grass siding. She wished she could slip out the hidden door and disappear. But she could not leave her father. -## Lulu on Delos escape +## Chapter 19: Lulu on Wanderer escape -It all happened so fast that Lulu never had a chance to feel anything. She and Henry were off down the trail headed for Delos before it really even hit her that Birdie was not with them. It wasn't until she was helping Kobayashi wash off the mud that it hit her, where was Birdie? It was like something in the center of her had switched off, a vast open space created where there had been none. She wasn't positive, but she was pretty sure she and Birdie had never been apart for more than a few hours. Even then, Birdie was out fishing, or Lulu was down the river at the traders, they were both here. And now they were not. +It all happened so fast that Lulu never had a chance to feel anything. She and Henry were off down the trail headed for Wanderer before it really even hit her that Birdie was not with them. It wasn't until she was helping Kobayashi wash off the mud that it hit her, where was Birdie? It was like something in the center of her had switched off, a vast open space created where there had been none. She wasn't positive, but she was pretty sure she and Birdie had never been apart for more than a few hours. Even then, Birdie was out fishing, or Lulu was down the river at the traders, they were both here. And now they were not. Lulu headed to the bow to watch for sand bars, submerged trees, anything that might snag them. "Not this time Lulu," said Tamba from behind the wheel. "We need you at the helm. Henry," he turned to Henry who sat by the wheel, picking at a splinter. "We need you in the bow. You know the drill? Call out anything you see, even if you're not sure." -Henry nodded in excitement and darted up to the bow. Kobayashi and Tamba went below to row. Delos had room for four oars. Or four guns, Lulu reflected, which suddenly seemed like maybe they might have their uses. She wondered if her father was changing his mind about cannon on the ship. Probably not. Four guns wouldn't do much good against the ship-of-line sitting outside the river mouth, presumably waiting for them. +Henry nodded in excitement and darted up to the bow. Kobayashi and Tamba went below to row. Wanderer had room for four oars. Or four guns, Lulu reflected, which suddenly seemed like maybe they might have their uses. She wondered if her father was changing his mind about cannon on the ship. Probably not. Four guns wouldn't do much good against the ship-of-line sitting outside the river mouth, presumably waiting for them. -She brought Delos out into the wide channel of current. She felt the boat slip and shudder at the current of the river met the current of the incoming tide. She could feel the oars lifting her, driving her against the current. Still, they were slow. What would they have done if the tide wasn't in their favor? Could Tamba and Kobayashi really row Delos up stream? It felt like they were having trouble as it was. Lulu glanced at the sun and thought for the minute. The tide would shift soon, she guessed the crest would be another hour. Then it would run out and the marsh would be impassible for Delos for the better part of eight hours. They would trapped somewhere up river until well after nightfall and then they would have the ride the river into the oncoming tide and either row, or, if they got lucky perhaps an offshore breeze could push them through the southern marsh and out the Edisto river mouth to the sea. That way the warship would miss them. Once they were at sea, nothing could catch Delos. She knew that. Or at least she believed the adults who told her that. Kobayashi swore by it. Only an outrigger could catch this boat he'd told her once. She hadn't known what an outrigger was, but he'd explained how the doubled thin hulls paired with a sail and some of the best sailors in the world made the outrigger the fastest, and possibly the best, boat on the sea. Lulu desperately wanted to sail an outrigger. +She brought Wanderer out into the wide channel of current. She felt the boat slip and shudder at the current of the river met the current of the incoming tide. She could feel the oars lifting her, driving her against the current. Still, they were slow. What would they have done if the tide wasn't in their favor? Could Tamba and Kobayashi really row Wanderer up stream? It felt like they were having trouble as it was. Lulu glanced at the sun and thought for the minute. The tide would shift soon, she guessed the crest would be another hour. Then it would run out and the marsh would be impassible for Wanderer for the better part of eight hours. They would trapped somewhere up river until well after nightfall and then they would have the ride the river into the oncoming tide and either row, or, if they got lucky perhaps an offshore breeze could push them through the southern marsh and out the Edisto river mouth to the sea. That way the warship would miss them. Once they were at sea, nothing could catch Wanderer. She knew that. Or at least she believed the adults who told her that. Kobayashi swore by it. Only an outrigger could catch this boat he'd told her once. She hadn't known what an outrigger was, but he'd explained how the doubled thin hulls paired with a sail and some of the best sailors in the world made the outrigger the fastest, and possibly the best, boat on the sea. Lulu desperately wanted to sail an outrigger. "Hard port!" -"Coming port!" She spun the wheel and Delos swung to port. Lulu ran to the gunwale and watched as the limbs of a tree slipped by, like two bony fingers reaching out of the river, trying to catch them. +"Coming port!" She spun the wheel and Wanderer swung to port. Lulu ran to the gunwale and watched as the limbs of a tree slipped by, like two bony fingers reaching out of the river, trying to catch them. -She turned Delos back into the middle of the river and squinted at the trees in the distance. They seemed so far away. Delos felt so exposed out here. She wanted to turn around and look, but she could not. Were there soldiers there on the shore watching them slide upriver? Had they captured her father and Birdie? She could not bring herself to turn around and look. It was better to wonder than to know that that had happened. There was nothing she could do anyway. She tried to force thoughts of her father and Birdie from her mind. Focus on what you have to do. Take note of what's going on, because bad things may happen, but you can't react to them now. Never react, always act. Her father's words in her head. She tried. But somehow Birdie kept creeping back into her mind and she felt afraid. She shivered and tried to focus on the river, on the wind, the current, Henry's voice, but he sat silent in the bow. She wondered if he felt the great emptiness inside her that she felt. Is it different when you're a twin she wondered, or did everyone feel this way? +She turned Wanderer back into the middle of the river and squinted at the trees in the distance. They seemed so far away. Wanderer felt so exposed out here. She wanted to turn around and look, but she could not. Were there soldiers there on the shore watching them slide upriver? Had they captured her father and Birdie? She could not bring herself to turn around and look. It was better to wonder than to know that that had happened. There was nothing she could do anyway. She tried to force thoughts of her father and Birdie from her mind. Focus on what you have to do. Take note of what's going on, because bad things may happen, but you can't react to them now. Never react, always act. Her father's words in her head. She tried. But somehow Birdie kept creeping back into her mind and she felt afraid. She shivered and tried to focus on the river, on the wind, the current, Henry's voice, but he sat silent in the bow. She wondered if he felt the great emptiness inside her that she felt. Is it different when you're a twin she wondered, or did everyone feel this way? -Finally, after what seemed like hours, Delos drew near the trees that marked the inland border of the marsh. Then they slipped into the wider current of the river. Here the current was slower, the water deeper. Another hour brought them to the stand of flooded Cypress they'd prepared years ago in case they need to hide Delos. She brought the boat alongside the edge of the largest of the trees and Tamba and Kobayashi, exhausted from rowing, but running on that same adrenaline and fear that Lulu had used to pilot Delos, managed to secure Delos. They lowered the dingy over the side with a block and some tackle. Using a bow line, Tamba rowed the small boat further into the thicket of trees and then, wrapped the line around a large cypress, ran it back through the tackle, and slowly winched Delos into the tree grove. An hour later you could have been paddling up river within twenty yards of Delos and not seen her. Lulu knew this because she took the dingy and paddled twenty yards out to fish for dinner and she had trouble finding her way back to Delos with her three catfish. +Finally, after what seemed like hours, Wanderer drew near the trees that marked the inland border of the marsh. Then they slipped into the wider current of the river. Here the current was slower, the water deeper. Another hour brought them to the stand of flooded Cypress they'd prepared years ago in case they need to hide Wanderer. She brought the boat alongside the edge of the largest of the trees and Tamba and Kobayashi, exhausted from rowing, but running on that same adrenaline and fear that Lulu had used to pilot Wanderer, managed to secure Wanderer. They lowered the dingy over the side with a block and some tackle. Using a bow line, Tamba rowed the small boat further into the thicket of trees and then, wrapped the line around a large cypress, ran it back through the tackle, and slowly winched Wanderer into the tree grove. An hour later you could have been paddling up river within twenty yards of Wanderer and not seen her. Lulu knew this because she took the dingy and paddled twenty yards out to fish for dinner and she had trouble finding her way back to Wanderer with her three catfish. -Kobayashi cooked the catfish below deck, waiting until the sun had set and mist coming up off the river would mask any smoke that might drift up. They ate in silence, Tamba at the bow until Lulu had finished and she came up to relieve him. It was like standing watch, but not fun and exhilarating like that was. This was scary and nerve wracking and Lulu desperately wished she could close her eyes and everything would just go back to normal, that this was all a dream should wake from, still on the beach between her sister and brother, no ship on the horizon. But it was out there, the ship that is, somewhere out there. The question they all wanted answered was whether or not it was out there looking for them. +Kobayashi cooked the catfish below deck, waiting until the sun had set and mist coming up off the river would mask any smoke that might drift up. They ate in silence, Tamba at the bow until Lulu had finished and she came up to relieve him. It was like standing watch, but not fun and exhilarating like that was. This was scary and nerve wracking and Lulu desperately wished she could close her eyes and everything would just go back to normal, that this was all a dream she could wake from, still on the beach between her sister and brother, no ship on the horizon. But it was out there, the ship that is, somewhere out there. The question they all wanted answered was whether or not it was out there looking for them. They gave Lulu and Henry first watch. Tamba and Kobayashi hung their hammocks topside and slept, or tried, Lulu wasn't sure how anyone could possibly sleep right now. They rested anyway. She and Henry sat on the windlass, staring out at the darkness. @@ -2320,9 +2344,9 @@ Lulu watched the water in front of them shimmering black in the starlit night. O The darkness felt like a black quilt wrapped around them, a cover beneath which they could disappear into safety. She still didn't know why they were running, but if that was what they were to do, then do it already, she thought. But she said nothing to Tamba and Kobayashi who had relieved her just as her eyelids were starting to droop. -Henry had long since fallen asleep with his head in her lap. Kobayashi carried him back to the stern and placed him in his hammock. Lulu wanted to stay up but her eyelids were so heavy it hurt to keep them up. She didn't remember giving in, but she jolted awake again when she felt Delos move. She tried to gauge how long she had been a sleep, but she couldn't see the moon for the trees and wasn't sure where it had been when she fell asleep anyway. +Henry had long since fallen asleep with his head in her lap. Kobayashi carried him back to the stern and placed him in his hammock. Lulu wanted to stay up but her eyelids were so heavy it hurt to keep them up. She didn't remember giving in, but she jolted awake again when she felt Wanderer move. She tried to gauge how long she had been a sleep, but she couldn't see the moon for the trees and wasn't sure where it had been when she fell asleep anyway. -She rolled out of her hammock with a thud and saw Tamba was at the helm, Kobayashi in the bow, winching them forward with the lines, pulling Delos out of the trees. With a start she noticed a third figure on deck and ran over to her, "Aunt Māra, how did you get here?" +She rolled out of her hammock with a thud and saw Tamba was at the helm, Kobayashi in the bow, winching them forward with the lines, pulling Wanderer out of the trees. With a start she noticed a third figure on deck and ran over to her, "Aunt Māra, how did you get here?" "I slipped out of camp after everyone was asleep. I brought the pirogue." @@ -2344,11 +2368,11 @@ Lulu shivered. "I miss her." "I know you do." She stood up again. "We'll get them back. Don't worry. You head up in the bow and help Kobayashi. It's going to be hard going in this darkness, we need all the eyes we have up there on the water. I'll go check on Henry." -Lulu went up to the bow and helped Kobayashi pull in the last of the lines. Delos was free of the trees and began to drift into the current. She kept an eye out and Kobayashi went up to raise their main sheet. It would make them easier to see, but they wouldn't get far without it. There wasn't much wind, but between what wind there was and the current of the river and tide heading out, they should be able to make their way along the backside of Edisto island, into the southern fork of the Edisto, using its current to get themselves out to sea. If it didn't work there were always the oars. +Lulu went up to the bow and helped Kobayashi pull in the last of the lines. Wanderer was free of the trees and began to drift into the current. She kept an eye out and Kobayashi went up to raise their main sheet. It would make them easier to see, but they wouldn't get far without it. There wasn't much wind, but between what wind there was and the current of the river and tide heading out, they should be able to make their way along the backside of Edisto island, into the southern fork of the Edisto, using its current to get themselves out to sea. If it didn't work there were always the oars. -Henry woke up when they moved out of the river current and into the slower water of the marsh. It felt like Delos was running aground as she moved into the slow mushy waters. Henry came and sat beside her in the bow, staring into the black water, looking for anything that might cause problems, dead trees, reeds indicating shallow water. It was all but impossible to see though. They moved through without hitting anything by Tamba's skill as a pilot and the grace of the gods, who must have wanted them at sea, not stuck in a marsh reasoned Lulu. +Henry woke up when they moved out of the river current and into the slower water of the marsh. It felt like Wanderer was running aground as she moved into the slow mushy waters. Henry came and sat beside her in the bow, staring into the black water, looking for anything that might cause problems, dead trees, reeds indicating shallow water. It was all but impossible to see though. They moved through without hitting anything by Tamba's skill as a pilot and the grace of the gods, who must have wanted them at sea, not stuck in a marsh reasoned Lulu. -When they hit the current of the river again on the far side of the marsh Delos's bow swung toward the sea like a horse when you drop the reins. The ship knew where she belonged, knew where she wanted to be. Tamba gave her her head and she took them rushing out the mouth of the river and into the sea. +When they hit the current of the river again on the far side of the marsh Wanderer's bow swung toward the sea like a horse when you drop the reins. The ship knew where she belonged, knew where she wanted to be. Tamba gave her her head and she took them rushing out the mouth of the river and into the sea. Far to the north, somewhere up in the darkness of the shore, which didn't glitter and shimmer in the night like the sea did, was where her father and sister slept, prisoners. At least she hoped they slept. Birdie was probably asleep. Her father might be. Sometimes he would stay up for days, sailing them through a storm. Other times he would sleep soundly through a squall, seemingly without even being aware it had come and gone. He always seemed to know which times it was worth staying awake for and which times he could sleep though. Lulu wondered what sort of time this was. @@ -2366,11 +2390,11 @@ Birdie woke up to the sound of men snoring. She lay in the dark trying to decide "Yes." -"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 came over and sat beside her for a bit with his arm around her. She leaned against his side, still half asleep. +"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 came over and sat down beside her with his arm around her. She leaned against his side, still half asleep. 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." +"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 held. 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..." @@ -2390,17 +2414,17 @@ They sat in silence, listening to someone outside snoring. "Who?" -"Delos." +"Wanderer." -"Delos? I thought..." +"Wanderer? I thought..." -"We needed her hidden so she could slip out at night. If all went well, and I think it did, Tamba 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." +"We needed her hidden so she could slip out at night. If all went well, and I think it did, Tamba and Kobayashi slipped through the marsh and out the mouth of the Edisto 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 Henry 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. +Birdie lay back down in bed wondering what Lulu and Henry were doing on Wanderer. 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. She was just beginning to doze off again when a loud angry voice barked through the door. "Get out here." -She sat up. It was light outside and she could see clearly in the hut now. She was surprised to realize it was just her and her father. Whomever had been snoring had been doing it from further away than she realized. She hopped down and pulled on her sailcloth pants, spreading her dress down over them. Her father motioned her back to bed and he went outside. +She sat up. It was light outside now and she could see clearly in the hut. She was surprised to realize it was just her and her father. Whomever had been snoring had been doing it from further away than she realized. She hopped down and pulled on her sailcloth pants, spreading her dress down over them. Her father motioned her back to bed and he went outside. "That your ship I presume?" The angry voice said. @@ -2410,11 +2434,11 @@ She sat up. It was light outside and she could see clearly in the hut now. She w "Sounds like a find trip. Do you mind if I make some coffee before we go?" -McPhail grunted. "You have coffee? Make me some. All they have on that ship is tea, not even good tea. Dried moldy tea. Brew a pot of coffee, I miss coffee." +McPhall grunted. "You have coffee? Make me some. All they have on that ship is tea, not even good tea. Dried moldy tea. Brew a pot of coffee, I miss coffee." -"I traded a bag last year from a ship up on the cape. They're crazy for it in boston apparently. I had never had it..." +"I traded a bag last year from a ship up on the cape. They're crazy for it in Boston apparently. I had never had it..." -Birdie watched from the doorway as her father clattered the coppers and made a big show of getting water. If McPhail had been angry before, he didn't seem it now. She came slowly out carrying the wooden coffee grinding box her father had also got in the trade. She sat down beside the fire and began to grind the beans. McPhail nodded to her, but said nothing. +Birdie watched from the doorway as her father clattered the coppers and made a big show of getting water. If McPhall had been angry before, he didn't seem it now. She came slowly out carrying the wooden coffee grinding box her father had also got in the trade. She sat down beside the fire and began to grind the beans. McPhall nodded to her, but said nothing. When the box was full of grounds she gave it to her father and he dumped it in the pot and set it on the coals. @@ -2430,13 +2454,13 @@ When the box was full of grounds she gave it to her father and he dumped it in t Her father smiled. "Every time I drive it something I wasn't expecting happens. Last time a Carolina Panther tried to hitch a ride on one of our horses." Papa glanced at Birdie. "I shot it before I even realized what I was doing. That was a fun trip wasn't it Birdie?" -Birdie nodded. The truth was she'd never heard that story. She'd only been to Charlestown by road once, two years ago, and she couldn't remember anything about it, except that by the time she got there she felt like her bones had been rattled right out of her body and that she'd collapse as soon as she stood up again. She had spent most of their time in Charlestown dreading the return trip, but then her father had run into some sailors he knew in town and they brought them and all their goods back down to Edisto in a very clearly Spanish bark only a little bigger than Delos. +Birdie nodded. The truth was she'd never heard that story. She'd only been to Charlestown by road once, two years ago, and she couldn't remember anything about it, except that by the time she got there she felt like her bones had been rattled right out of her body and that she'd collapse as soon as she stood up again. She had spent most of their time in Charlestown dreading the return trip, but then her father had run into some sailors he knew in town and they brought them and all their goods back down to Edisto in a very clearly Spanish bark only a little bigger than Wanderer. -"Panther eh? had not heard of those." McPhail rubbed the stubble on his jaw. "There a lot of those?" +"Panther eh? Had not heard of those." McPhall rubbed the stubble on his jaw. "There a lot of those?" Her father glanced up from the fire where he was stirring the boiling coffee. "I'm not sure, I've never tried counting them. But I've seen a few. One is more than enough." -McPhail said nothing. Her father handed him a cup of coffee and he sat down to sip it. "God that's good," he said. "I haven't had a decent cup of coffee since Temple Bar three months ago." +McPhall said nothing. Her father handed him a cup of coffee and he sat down to sip it. "God that's good," he said. "I haven't had a decent cup of coffee since Temple Bar three months ago." "I always preferred Turk's Head in the Palace Yard" @@ -2452,23 +2476,23 @@ McPhail said nothing. Her father handed him a cup of coffee and he sat down to s "I prefer..." His voice trailed off and he took a sip of coffee. "less people." -McPhail laughed. "You prefer somewhere you can take what you want without paying for it." +McPhall laughed. "You prefer somewhere you can take what you want without paying for it." Her father smiled. "No. I just don't like cities." "Well I do. Cities are civilization. Cities are the whole point of everything we do. You're out here poaching my trees, for what? For tar, to put on ships, that are bringing things to cities. No cities, no poached profits for you." -Her father grunted. "I'm not making tar for the money Mr McPhail." +Her father grunted. "I'm not making tar for the money Mr McPhall." "Then what are you making it for?" "I make it for the ships." -"Do you?" McPhail glanced at Birdie, shaking his head. "Your father is a real piece of work young lady, did you know that? I make it for the ships." He stood and tossed the dregs of the coffee in the fire. "Do you make the coffee for the cup?" +"Do you?" McPhall glanced at Birdie, shaking his head. "Your father is a real piece of work young lady, did you know that? I make it for the ships." He stood and tossed the dregs of the coffee in the fire. "Do you make the coffee for the cup?" -Her father smiled at her. "No, I made the cup for the coffee." +Her father smiled at him. "No, I made the cup for the coffee." -McPhail climbed to the top of a dune. "Want to see your ship for the last time?" He called down. +McPhall climbed to the top of a dune. "Want to see your ship for the last time?" He called down. Birdie glanced at her father, he winked at her. No was all he said. @@ -2486,15 +2510,17 @@ Her father glanced at her and she nodded. She'd have rather been on a horse with Birdie, at that moment, could not have cared less what happened to the low country, she just wanted to run away from all of it. Instead she watched the way the oak leaves shimmered and danced in the wind and morning sunlight. -It was nearing midday by the time they made it to the farm. It was the biggest house between Edisto and Charlestown, and owned by a man who had little tolerance for the British or anyone else who wanted to tell him what to do. He made it plain that he did not want to give any horses to McPhail or the soldiers. But McPhail kept upping the price until finally the man could not refuse. +--- + +It was nearing midday by the time they made it to the farm. It was the biggest house between Edisto and Charlestown, and owned by a man who had little tolerance for the British or anyone else who wanted to tell him what to do. He made it plain that he did not want to give any horses to McPhall or the soldiers. But McPhall kept upping the price until finally the man could not refuse. -He gave them the worst of his herd and a sad little wagon that looked to Birdie like it would fall apart long before they reached Charlestown, but she climbed in the bed anyway, preferring it to sitting next to McPhail on the riding board. Anderson, who owned the farm, gave her father the best horse, which could plainly outrun the rest of them. McPhail said nothing, but Birdie could tell that he saw all these slights, and knew them for what they were. She felt bad for him for a minute, everyone was against him and what had he done to them? But then she reminded herself that he was arresting her father, and she decided however people treated him, that was a reflection of what he did in the world. You shall reap what you sew was what Aunt Māra always said, which sounded good if you believed you were a good person, but how did you know? Aunt Māra said "well, you see what you reap. Does the world treat you kindly?" +He gave them the worst of his herd and a sad little wagon that looked to Birdie like it would fall apart long before they reached Charlestown, but she climbed in the bed anyway, preferring it to sitting next to McPhall on the riding board. Anderson, who owned the farm, gave her father the best horse, which could plainly outrun the rest of them. McPhall said nothing, but Birdie could tell that he saw all these slights, and knew them for what they were. She felt bad for him for a minute, everyone was against him and what had he done to them? But then she reminded herself that he was arresting her father, and she decided however people treated him, that was a reflection of what he did in the world. You shall reap what you sow was what Aunt Māra always said, which sounded good if you believed you were a good person, but how did you know? Aunt Māra said "well, you see what you reap. Does the world treat you kindly?" Birdie used two scraps of burlap sack left in the wagon to fashion a pillow and lay down on her back to stare up at the sky and think. There was nothing better for thinking than the limitless view of the blue sky. The wagon lurched and shuddered across some dried mud ruts and onto the road. Birdie sat up and held on to the side until they found a grooves of the road. It would be soft until they got out of the marshlands, then the road would turn hardpack, horrible and jarring. Birdie lay back to enjoy the sky while she could. Was it true what Aunt Māra said, you reap what you sow? It sounded nice and it seemed like something that might be true because it was so simple. Everyone knew if you put corn in the ground, corn came up. No one ever put corn in the ground and ended up with squash, or beans. But was life the same way? Birdie was suspicious of things grownups said that were hard for her to test. How did anyone know that you reaped what you sowed? What did her father sow to reap being arrested? -He lived, she lived, on an island, and burned stumps to make tar for ships. They harmed no one. Or did they? She knew Sam and Jack and Uncle Edward robbed ships. She knew they captured the ships, took their cargo and sold it for their own profit. And she knew Sam, Jack, Edward and others used that money to pay her family to careen their ships and for the barrels of tar they needed. Did that make what her father did wrong too? Was it too closely associated with that theft? What about the people in Charlestown who sold flour that ended up on the Whydah? Or salt pork? Or anything else? Were they too pirates in some way? Responsible for what anyone they sold their goods too did once they had their goods? Was what Sam and Jack did wrong anyway? Hadn't the Spanish Galleons stole the gold from the people that lived on the main? Did that make what Sam and Jack did okay? Or did it make them further guilty? More blood on the money as her father always said about Spanish gold and silver. He refused to touch it, called it cursed, and said it would ruin the men that took it and kept it for themselves. He said it would sit in their storehouses and rot them from the inside, eat away at the souls of those whose livelihoods were built on it, and all those who came after them. It would fester like a lesion on the soul of the nation until the nation collapsed and disappeared and the gold returned to the earth from which it came. But then her father was prone to saying things like that. Birdie wasn't so sure. It seemed to her that the merchants got rather rich and didn't seem to rotting much. She'd said this to him once and he'd said, "you're not thinking long enough Birdie." +He lived, she lived, on an island, and burned stumps to make tar for ships. They harmed no one. Or did they? She knew Sam and Jack and Uncle Edward robbed ships. She knew they captured the ships, took their cargo, and sold it for their own profit. And she knew Sam, Jack, Edward and others used that money to pay her family to careen their ships and for the barrels of tar they needed. Did that make what her father did wrong too? Was it too closely associated with that theft? What about the people in Charlestown who sold flour that ended up on the Whydah? Or salt pork? Or anything else? Were they too pirates in some way? Responsible for what anyone they sold their goods too did once they had their goods? Was what Sam and Jack did wrong anyway? Hadn't the Spanish Galleons stole the gold from the people that lived on the main? Did that make what Sam and Jack did okay? Or did it make them further guilty? More blood on the money as her father always said about Spanish gold and silver. He refused to touch it, called it cursed, and said it would ruin the men that took it and kept it for themselves. He said it would sit in their storehouses and rot them from the inside, eat away at the souls of those whose livelihoods were built on it, and all those who came after them. It would fester like a lesion on the soul of the nation until the nation collapsed and disappeared and the gold returned to the earth from which it came. But then her father was prone to saying things like that. Birdie wasn't so sure. It seemed to her that the merchants got rather rich and didn't seem to rotting much. She'd said this to him once and he'd said, "you're not thinking long enough Birdie." For a long time she'd thought he meant she had not thought about it for long enough, but then one day when she'd mentioned it to Lulu and Henry, Henry, who had sat very quiet while she and Lulu talked about the morality of the pirates they were pretending to be, had said Birdie, he means you're not thinking long enough in time. She'd asked him what he meant and he just shrugged, "Papa always thinks about things way in the future. He wasn't saying they'll rot right now, he means the weight they have brought on themselves will be there forever. Or until the get rid of it." @@ -2522,19 +2548,19 @@ Henry smiled. "Because it's fun." "No, I mean in the game." -They had gone on with the game but Birdie had lost some of her enthusiasm for playing pirates after talking with Henry. What was the point of being a pirate if all you were doing was bringing some vague future ruin on yourself and your family? Anne had seemed to want to do it just because it was fun. In fact almost none of the stories she'd ever heard sailors tell had much to do with gold. She had plenty of stories of attacking ships and even scary stories of boarding ships, but she had no stories about whatever was on those ships. Either they thought that was something Birdie wasn't interested in or they thought it was something Birdie shouldn't be interested in or they just didn't think about it. Was it wrong to robs someone if you just took what they had and gave it to someone else? +They had gone on with the game but Birdie had lost some of her enthusiasm for playing pirates after talking with Henry. What was the point of being a pirate if all you were doing was bringing some vague future ruin on yourself and your family? Ann had seemed to want to do it just because it was fun. In fact almost none of the stories she'd ever heard sailors tell had much to do with gold. She had plenty of stories of attacking ships and even scary stories of boarding ships, but she had no stories about whatever was on those ships. Either they thought that was something Birdie wasn't interested in or they thought it was something Birdie shouldn't be interested in or they just didn't think about it. Was it wrong to robs someone if you just took what they had and gave it to someone else? Birdie also wondered why grownups were so concerned with gold and silver and money in the first place. So far as she could tell all you really needed was a little land to have a place to camp, some place to hunt, someplace to cook. Why did you need more than food and place to sleep anyway? Well, some things were nice. Some thing you need. She needed her knife, and her fishing net. And the gun her father was always promising her, but never actually getting her. And her horsehair brush, she loved her horsehair brush. And her ragdoll Jane. And her notebook. But that was it. All that fit in her sea chest. There was no need for anything else. -Her reverie was interrupted when a dark cloud of pigeons filled the sky. The soldiers began shooting them down and tossing their bloody caresses in the wagon. "You know how to clean a pigeon young lady?" asked McPhail. Birdie shook her head. McPhail glanced at her father. "She can clean a hog if your men want to hunt something edible." +Her reverie was interrupted when a dark cloud of pigeons filled the sky. The soldiers began shooting them down and tossing their bloody caresses in the wagon. "You know how to clean a pigeon young lady?" asked McPhall. Birdie shook her head. McPhall glanced at her father. "She can clean a hog if your men want to hunt something edible." -McPhail chuckled, but the British soldiers crowded around her father menacingly. "We'll burn the feathers off tonight then. I am anxious to sample the local options." +McPhall chuckled, but the British soldiers crowded around her father menacingly. "We'll burn the feathers off tonight then. I am anxious to sample the local options." "I can see about getting a boar," her father offered. -McPhail waved his hand, "too much work. We'll eat the birds and tomorrow evening I will dine with the governor in Charlestown while you enjoy moldy bread in jail." +McPhall waved his hand, "too much work. We'll eat the birds and tomorrow evening I will dine with the governor in Charlestown while you enjoy moldy bread in jail." -Her father leaned forward on the pommel of his saddle and looked at McPhail for a moment before he spoke. "You didn't stop in Charlestown before you came down here I presume." +Her father leaned forward on the pommel of his saddle and looked at McPhall for a moment before he spoke. "You didn't stop in Charlestown before you came down here I presume." "I did not. Why?" @@ -2542,7 +2568,7 @@ Her father leaned forward on the pommel of his saddle and looked at McPhail for "Why is that? He's a good man by all accounts I have received." -"Oh I don't know much about him as man, he may be a good man, he may not, but a good number of the people he depends upon to keep his city functioning may not particularly enjoy having a British warship in their harbor. It can be bad for some business." +"Oh I don't know much about him as man, he may be a good man, he may not, but a good number of the people he depends upon to keep his city functioning may not particularly enjoy having a British warship in their harbor. It can be bad for some businesses." "Are you implying that the city of Charlestown is some kind of den of pirates like Nassau?" @@ -2556,15 +2582,15 @@ 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 +## Lulu and Wanderer at Sea -They were well out of the river mouth before the eastern sky even hinted at dawn, but there was little wind to speed them over the horizon. They road the current and hoped for more wind. The plan was to sail east, out of sight, and then cut north to find Whydah, 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. Tamba still believed they could out run 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 had to raise anchor, set the sails, and get moving. The ship might know something was hidden up the river, but the British did not know that they would slip out under the cover of night. They had a head start, the question was, how much would that help? +They were well out of the river mouth before the eastern sky even hinted at dawn, but there was little wind to speed them over the horizon. They road the current and hoped for more wind. The plan was to sail east, out of sight, and then cut north to Okracoke. 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. Tamba still believed they could out run 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 British warship's crew had to raise anchor, set the sails, and get moving. The ship might know something was hidden up the river, but the British did not know that they would slip out under the cover of night. They had a head start, the question was, how much would that help? -Tamba pushed them nearly four miles out and then turned north. They had a northwest wind at their back, but as they moved closer back to shore it would fall off. While Edisto Island faced nearly due east, most the coast line above it 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 6 knots, the British ship closer to shore would have trouble finding southerly wind at all. 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. +Tamba pushed them nearly four miles out and then turned north. They had a northwest wind at their back, but as they moved closer back to shore it would fall off. While Edisto Island faced nearly due east, most the coast line above it 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 Wanderer had 13 knots of wind, and was moving at over 6 knots, the British ship closer to shore would have trouble finding southerly wind at all. Wanderer 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 die 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 St James 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 Tamba 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?" +She turned the glass north toward the shoreline of St James island, the marsh country south of Charlestown. The pitch of Wanderer 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 Tamba 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 Tamba was afraid then maybe it wasn't impossible that it would catch them. "Is it going to catch us?" @@ -2580,7 +2606,7 @@ She went forward and sent Kobayashi aft. She sat down with Henry to play cards. 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 Tamba 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, Tamba 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 head 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. +When the sundial her father had built just forward of the wheel read 3, Tamba 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 head 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 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 Wanderer's speed fell off. "Her captain knows how to sail anyway." Tamba muttered. @@ -2588,17 +2614,17 @@ Lulu watched the British ship cross their stern wake as it headed further out, h 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 Sam and Jack?" +Lulu nodded. "But don't we want to Okracoke?" -"Yes, but first we have to lose this ship. Sam and Jack don't want us showing up with a 32 gun frigate behind us. That's no good for anyone." +"Yes, but first we have to lose this ship. No one wants us showing up with a 32-gun frigate behind us. That's no good for anyone." -"The Whydah could sink that thing couldn't it?" +"Revenge could sink that thing couldn't it?" -"Probably, but it might be quite a battle. And Whydah and her crew might not be well disposed toward us when it was over." +"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 Jack did in battle, but she knew that Jack 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. "Tamba!" Lulu screamed as she watched tiny black dots come running out the length of the British ship. Cannons. All those black dots were cannons and they were all pointed at Delos. Pointed at her. +Suddenly the British ship began to come about, moving toward a parallel course. "Tamba!" Lulu screamed as she watched tiny black dots come running out the length of the British ship. Cannons. All those black dots were cannons and they were all pointed at Wanderer. Pointed at her. Tamba 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. @@ -2614,19 +2640,19 @@ Tamba scooped her up in his arms and hugged her tight. "It is okay Lulu, they ar "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." Tamba 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, none of them know these waters. We will lose them in the shallows tonight, make our way to mouth of the Ashley 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." +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." Tamba 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, none of them know these waters. We will lose them in the shallows tonight, make our way to mouth of the Ashley 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 Revenge, 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?" Tamba 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. +## Road to Charlestown. 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's had, but I'll just have to have faith in Tamba and Kobayashi." +"I am fine. I wish I knew were Wanderer was and what luck she's had, but I'll just have to have faith in Tamba and Kobayashi." "And Lulu and Henry," said Birdie. @@ -2648,7 +2674,7 @@ This sent a chill down Birdie's back. "I don't want to leave you." "Edward's coming?" -"If Delos can find him." +"If Wanderer can find him." "I thought you and Edward didn't get along?" @@ -2664,9 +2690,9 @@ This sent a chill down Birdie's back. "I don't want to leave you." "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." +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 McPhall 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 +## Lulu and Wanderer into the night The sun was already below the horizon when Lulu woke up. She and Henry 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 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 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. @@ -2716,7 +2742,7 @@ Lulu chewed on the fish and consider this. "Maybe Whydah is at Ocracoke?" There was no way to know until you came right up on it. Ocracoke was a small barrier island off the coast of Carolina with several very protected anchorages. It was favorite of Thatch and Bellamy. It offered three things all sailors loved, protection from storms, fresh water, and game. It was also nearly impossible to sneak up on it. They watched Thatch's lookouts come toward them from the headland long before they rounded the bend and actually saw his ships. If they'd been flying colors they'd have no doubt been engaged, but they flew a solid blue flag with a small white trident in the upper left corner. It was another of her father's symbols which he was vague about. "It's the color of the sea he'd said once, and that's our only master. -Tamba hailed the men in the long boat with the bullhorn, letting them know they sought Thatch. The men came alongside and tied off to Delos. They both clamored aboard and glanced around briefly before Tamba brought them to the wheel to pilot her in to the shallows where they could anchor. +Tamba hailed the men in the long boat with the bullhorn, letting them know they sought Thatch. The men came alongside and tied off to Wanderer. They both clamored aboard and glanced around briefly before Tamba brought them to the wheel to pilot her in to the shallows where they could anchor. They were both missing teeth and dirtier than Lulu had ever seen anyone be. Even the men of Whydah, while rough, were not a rough as these men. Lulu involuntarily shrunk from them. One of the men grinned at her. "Don't often see young ones on a ship out here, good for you girl. And don't worry, I won't bite." @@ -2724,15 +2750,15 @@ Lulu was embarrassed that she'd tried to back away from them and nodded quickly Lulu was pretty sure they *could* do it, but then that was the point right? Not admitting that they couldn't sail the shallows, but admitting that they could not get to Blackbeard without a pilot. No one could. That was *his* point. -They Anchored Delos close enough to Queen Anne's Revenge that they could have had a conversation with Thatch from the deck, but he was ashore according to the men who piloted them in. They left quickly, heading back the headland where they apparently lived, and presumably, kept watch over the anchorage. +They Anchored Wanderer close enough to Queen Anne's Revenge that they could have had a conversation with Thatch from the deck, but he was ashore according to the men who piloted them in. They left quickly, heading back the headland where they apparently lived, and presumably, kept watch over the anchorage. -Tamba, Lulu, and Henry climbed down into Delos's longboat and Tamba rowed them ashore. A sizable portion of Queen Anne's crew leaned over the railings, watching them in silence as they paddled by. +Tamba, Lulu, and Henry climbed down into Wanderer's longboat and Tamba rowed them ashore. A sizable portion of Queen Anne's crew leaned over the railings, watching them in silence as they paddled by. Here there was no surf to negotiate. The protected lagoon allowed them to row straight in and beach the boat. As they pulled her up above the high tide mark, Lulu glanced up the beach and saw two men walking toward them. One was stocky man of medium build that Lulu did not recognize. The other was a tall man with a massive black beard that stretched half way to his waist. He had long curly hair and sparkling, wild eyes. He reminded her of her father. -"Tamba! I thought I recognized that flag." He embraced Tamba, they clapped each other on the back. "How are you? Still sailing with Nicholas I see. That's still Delos eh?" +"Tamba! I thought I recognized that flag." He embraced Tamba, they clapped each other on the back. "How are you? Still sailing with Nicholas I see. That's still Wanderer eh?" -"Edward." Tamba inclined his head in way Lulu had never seen him do before, it was not quite a bow, but it was more than she'd ever seen him do for anyone else. "I am in fact still sailing with Nicholas and that is Delos, holding fast." +"Edward." Tamba inclined his head in way Lulu had never seen him do before, it was not quite a bow, but it was more than she'd ever seen him do for anyone else. "I am in fact still sailing with Nicholas and that is Wanderer, holding fast." Thatch nodded, stroking his beard. "Still making the tar then?" @@ -2748,7 +2774,7 @@ She nodded. "And you must be Henry. Ready to be a cabin boy yet Henry? Mine has just left, I could use a new cabin boy." -Henry glanced uncertainly at Lulu. She spoke up. "He already is sir, on Delos." +Henry glanced uncertainly at Lulu. She spoke up. "He already is sir, on Wanderer." "Ah, shame. Well," Thatch stood up. "Come, let's walk to my new home. I have property now. Here. I own it. Thatch laughed. "So, what brings you to my island Tamba? Not that you aren't welcome to visit, but Nicholas does not appear to be here, and only two of his children are, which suggests... mystery." Thatch's eyes sparkled in a way that made Lulu shiver slightly. @@ -2808,11 +2834,11 @@ Tamba smiled. "Probably." The road into Charlestown became too rough to lie down in the back of the wagon. Birdie braced herself against that side, her legs stretched across the width and bed and pressed firmly against the other side to keep her from sliding around as the wagon lurched and shuddered over the deep, dry ruts of the road. -She tried to ignore McPhail, but he kept asking her questions and she knew it was impolite to not answer them, and she wanted him to like her since her fate, and her father's fate, was as least partly in his hands. Until Revenge showed up anyway. Please hurry Lulu, she sent the thought out into the universe in hopes that her sister or her brother would hear her, please hurry. +She tried to ignore McPhall, but he kept asking her questions and she knew it was impolite to not answer them, and she wanted him to like her since her fate, and her father's fate, was as least partly in his hands. Until Revenge showed up anyway. Please hurry Lulu, she sent the thought out into the universe in hopes that her sister or her brother would hear her, please hurry. -Then McPhail's voice brought her back to the world of the wagon and road. +Then McPhall's voice brought her back to the world of the wagon and road. -"Don't know that I'll be doing this much" she heard McPhail mutter as they maneuvered through a particularly jarring set of ruts. +"Don't know that I'll be doing this much" she heard McPhall mutter as they maneuvered through a particularly jarring set of ruts. "If you don't like the road, and aren't going to come to the island, why do we have to leave?" @@ -2822,11 +2848,11 @@ Then McPhail's voice brought her back to the world of the wagon and road. "No, I never said you had to leave the island, I said you've been stealing my trees and need to pay for them." -This was news to Birdie, but she did not let McPhail know it. Perhaps this was why her father didn't seem overly concerned. If all they were going to do was throw him in jail until he could pay these debts then that wasn't quite so worrying. Edward could certainly buy her father out if all else failed. +This was news to Birdie, but she did not let McPhall know it. Perhaps this was why her father didn't seem overly concerned. If all they were going to do was throw him in jail until he could pay these debts then that wasn't quite so worrying. Edward could certainly buy her father out if all else failed. "But we haven't been stealing your trees. We didn't know they were your trees." She frowned. "I don't even know that they were your trees when we cut them, if we did cut them." She was quite proud of herself for adding the last bit, never admit to anything her father always told her. -"I've owned them for longer than you've been alive my dear," said McPhail. +"I've owned them for longer than you've been alive my dear," said McPhall. "How come you own them?" @@ -2854,7 +2880,7 @@ She thought this over a for minute. "But how did the king come to own them?" This was what she'd been waiting for him to say. "If that's not wrong then why is wrong when someone overwhelms one of your ships and takes it from you?" -"Woah!" He jerked the reins tight, and the horses nearly reared as the wagon came lurching to a stop. He said nothing, but turned and stared at her for a long time. She felt his eyes memorizing her features the way she had studied the pictures her book. Then he turned around again, shook the reins, and resumed their journey. McPhail stared off into space and ignored her the remainder of the way into Charlestown. This was what some grownups did when they lost an argument, they pretended as if the whole thing had never happened. +"Woah!" He jerked the reins tight, and the horses nearly reared as the wagon came lurching to a stop. He said nothing, but turned and stared at her for a long time. She felt his eyes memorizing her features the way she had studied the pictures her book. Then he turned around again, shook the reins, and resumed their journey. McPhall stared off into space and ignored her the remainder of the way into Charlestown. This was what some grownups did when they lost an argument, they pretended as if the whole thing had never happened. --- @@ -2866,7 +2892,7 @@ Charlestown proper was a small walled city with some 3,000 residents. Most recen Aside from the road Birdie was on, which led out to Edisto, Charlestown was entirely isolated, a city stranded on a narrow spit of muddy sand in the middle of a marsh. The only communication it had with the rest of the world was through the sea. To the north was North Carolina, largely in control of Blackbeard, Sam Bellamy, and various other pirate bands. To the south was hostile Spanish Florida. Charlestown had no one to turn to in the event of attack, it was essentially a West Indian slave island stranded on the coast of English America. -Worse for Charlestown, the entrance from the sea was blocked by a long sandbar that necessitated a pilot and was rather simple to attack. All you really had to do was sail up and point your cannon at the narrow channel, everything in the harbor was trapped. Birdie climbed down from the wagon and stretched her legs as the ferry brought them across the river into the city proper. She scanned the marsh for sails. There was one headed out to sea, but there was no sign of a blockade. As they rattled down the dusty streets toward the jailhouse though she saw the HMS Victory. If it was sitting here in the harbor, odds were it had never caught Delos. That meant her father's plan was unfolding as it should and everything was going to be okay. She glanced over at her father, he was watching her, he knew that she had noticed. The corner of his mouth smiled ever so slightly and he nodded to her before turning back to watch the street in front of him. +Worse for Charlestown, the entrance from the sea was blocked by a long sandbar that necessitated a pilot and was rather simple to attack. All you really had to do was sail up and point your cannon at the narrow channel, everything in the harbor was trapped. Birdie climbed down from the wagon and stretched her legs as the ferry brought them across the river into the city proper. She scanned the marsh for sails. There was one headed out to sea, but there was no sign of a blockade. As they rattled down the dusty streets toward the jailhouse though she saw the HMS Victory. If it was sitting here in the harbor, odds were it had never caught Wanderer. That meant her father's plan was unfolding as it should and everything was going to be okay. She glanced over at her father, he was watching her, he knew that she had noticed. The corner of his mouth smiled ever so slightly and he nodded to her before turning back to watch the street in front of him. The entire town turned out to watch the soldiers ride in, and especially to see who was riding in the middle of them, clearly a prisoner. Charlestown was a divided city. The majority of its residents were African slaves. After that the small percentage of business men fell into two groups, those that made their money off the backs of the slaves, and those that made their money off the people who stole the first group's cargos. There were in essence, those who would benefit from the presence of the British, and those who would not. The one you had to watch out for her father had told here, were the men who made money both ways. They were the dangerous ones not to be trusted. @@ -2874,7 +2900,7 @@ Bridie watched the faces watching her from doorways. She saw a mixture of expres ## Lulu and Henry at sea. -Thatch's crew convened that evening. There was a bonfire on the beach and some nearby farmer brought over corn and a two deer they had hunted. Lulu's mouth watered as the meat cooked. She and the rest of Delos crew had lived on nothing but dried fish for days. Not that they hadn't lived on worse at times in the past, but it was enough to have Lulu and Henry drooling as they stared intently at the meat slowly cooking over the coals. +Thatch's crew convened that evening. There was a bonfire on the beach and some nearby farmer brought over corn and a two deer they had hunted. Lulu's mouth watered as the meat cooked. She and the rest of Wanderer crew had lived on nothing but dried fish for days. Not that they hadn't lived on worse at times in the past, but it was enough to have Lulu and Henry drooling as they stared intently at the meat slowly cooking over the coals. "Good Lord Tamba, what do you feed these children?" Edward smiled as he sat down next to them. "But that does look good doesn't it?" @@ -2904,20 +2930,20 @@ After they'd walked out of earshot Lulu turned to Tamba. "Do you think they will Tamba chewed for a minute, looking over at the crew. Finally he said, "I think this is mostly a formality. I don't think any crew anywhere on this coast would pass up a chance to do what we're asking them to do. Some might not bother to get your father out, but Edward will." -Edward was smiling when he walked back, most of the crew followed. "Let's go get us a new flagship," he yelled raising his mug. The men cheered and cask of rum was opened. Much to Lulu and Henry's disappointment, Tamba and Aunt Māra dragged them away from the festivities quite early. They returned to Delos to ready her for the journey south the next morning. Delos would lead, Revenge and her two consorts would follow. +Edward was smiling when he walked back, most of the crew followed. "Let's go get us a new flagship," he yelled raising his mug. The men cheered and cask of rum was opened. Much to Lulu and Henry's disappointment, Tamba and Aunt Māra dragged them away from the festivities quite early. They returned to Wanderer to ready her for the journey south the next morning. Wanderer would lead, Revenge and her two consorts would follow. --- -The next day Delos sailed out of the cove at Ocracoke, followed closely by Revenge, and the sloops Adventure and Rosa, the latter two being prize ships that Thatch and crew had decided to keep for the time being, since a show of force, rather than speed was called for on this occasion. The winds and current were against them coming out to the east of the island, but as they rounded the point and moved into the ocean, the wind blew west southwest and Delos could bear almost directly for Charlestown. Revenge and the other ships, being square rigged, could not sail quite a close to the wind, and had to tack. After consulting with Thatch, Tamba agreed that Delos would sail to the mouth of the river and wait, staying out of sight as much as possible, posing as a fishing vessel should they be spotted. Tamba believed they would make Charlestown before the sun set, but it would likely be a long night of sailing either way since they'd probably have to tack back and forth all night. Unless they got their early enough to find a place they could set an anchor before the light disappeared. Tamba and Kobayashi set the sails and gave Lulu a heading before they went below to get some rest, leaving Lulu on watch. She knew that Aunt Māra was to keep an eye on her, but she also knew Aunt Māra was no sailor and that Tamba was trusting her to keep the ship on course and the sails smartly trimmed. +The next day Wanderer sailed out of the cove at Ocracoke, followed closely by Revenge, and the sloops Adventure and Rosa, the latter two being prize ships that Thatch and crew had decided to keep for the time being, since a show of force, rather than speed was called for on this occasion. The winds and current were against them coming out to the east of the island, but as they rounded the point and moved into the ocean, the wind blew west southwest and Wanderer could bear almost directly for Charlestown. Revenge and the other ships, being square rigged, could not sail quite a close to the wind, and had to tack. After consulting with Thatch, Tamba agreed that Wanderer would sail to the mouth of the river and wait, staying out of sight as much as possible, posing as a fishing vessel should they be spotted. Tamba believed they would make Charlestown before the sun set, but it would likely be a long night of sailing either way since they'd probably have to tack back and forth all night. Unless they got their early enough to find a place they could set an anchor before the light disappeared. Tamba and Kobayashi set the sails and gave Lulu a heading before they went below to get some rest, leaving Lulu on watch. She knew that Aunt Māra was to keep an eye on her, but she also knew Aunt Māra was no sailor and that Tamba was trusting her to keep the ship on course and the sails smartly trimmed. Henry sat on the desk beside her playing with two corn husk dolls who alternated between brutal close quarters sword fighting, and scampering runs around and between his legs and body. Sitting on the deck, below the reach of most of the wind it was warm in the sunshine. Lulu could almost pretend it was spring and they were headed north to fish, to spend the summers on the warm beaches of Rhode Island. But whenever she stood up to check her heading against the landmarks on the coast, or compare the maze of inlets, creeks, and estuaries on the map to the seemingly unbroken coastline in front of her, a cold blast of Atlantic winter wind reminded her it wasn't spring, and she wasn't sailing for fun. The wind held throughout the morning, Lulu only had to go aloft once and adjust the sails. She'd let Henry take helm while she climbed up the mast. Surprisingly, he hadn't done anything to her or played at it. He simply stood holding the wheel, too small to really navigate, but perfectly capable of making sure the wheel didn't turn as the waves rolled past them. The seas were picking up as the day went on. If they timed the tides wrong they were going to half a rough time heading up river and getting in the inlet. The navigating narrow, shallow channels when the ocean waves were meeting the river current and ebbing tide was never fun, but on these shores she knew it had been the ruin of many a ship. Hardly anyone went to St. Augustine, the only other town on this stretch of coast, because the inlet there was so treacherous. Ships had been known to wait weeks for favorable winds and currents to allow them entrance to the river. "And after all that you get there and it's a bunch of Spanish hovels and miserable people," her father quipped. -Charlestown was not nearly so bad, as a town or a inlet, though it could get rough from time to time and today was shaping up to be one of those times. The wind that had brought them south at over six knots all morning had kicked up a considerable southerly swell that was now moving fast enough that it rolled Delos as it moved by. They were running almost directly down wind now. Delos rose up as the waves moved beneath her and then she slid and wobbled slightly side to side, like a squiggling piece of soap sliding across the top of the ocean. +Charlestown was not nearly so bad, as a town or a inlet, though it could get rough from time to time and today was shaping up to be one of those times. The wind that had brought them south at over six knots all morning had kicked up a considerable southerly swell that was now moving fast enough that it rolled Wanderer as it moved by. They were running almost directly down wind now. Wanderer rose up as the waves moved beneath her and then she slid and wobbled slightly side to side, like a squiggling piece of soap sliding across the top of the ocean. -The good part was that the rough seas meant that, more than likely, the pilot boats and crews out on the island near the inlet would be laid up indoors, and unlikely to head into town to alert HMS Victory to their presence. The plan was for Delos to anchor near those pilot boats tonight if possible and stop them from going anywhere tomorrow when Revenge and the other ships showed up. +The good part was that the rough seas meant that, more than likely, the pilot boats and crews out on the island near the inlet would be laid up indoors, and unlikely to head into town to alert HMS Victory to their presence. The plan was for Wanderer to anchor near those pilot boats tonight if possible and stop them from going anywhere tomorrow when Revenge and the other ships showed up. Tamba took over the helm when the sun reached it's high point for the day. Which wasn't very high. Lulu wasn't exactly sure what day it was, but she new the Solstice was close. She wondered if they'd be able to celebrate this year with their bonfire pig roast. It had been that very fire two years ago that had first brought Captain Thatch to their shores. He'd been headed for Nassau when he'd spied a huge fire on Edisto and decided to investigate. @@ -2927,15 +2953,15 @@ They made the inlet well before dark, but the channel was too rough to approach. --- -It was still dark when she woke. Aunt Māra shook her awake so she could help Kobayashi and Tamba into Delos's long boat. They both had swords strapped to their waists, pistols on straps across their chest, and rifles in their hands. Kobayashi had darkened his face with charcoal and both were wearing black. They looked frightening. Lulu was glad she wasn't waking up to men like this bursting into her house. +It was still dark when she woke. Aunt Māra shook her awake so she could help Kobayashi and Tamba into Wanderer's long boat. They both had swords strapped to their waists, pistols on straps across their chest, and rifles in their hands. Kobayashi had darkened his face with charcoal and both were wearing black. They looked frightening. Lulu was glad she wasn't waking up to men like this bursting into her house. She watched them row off into the darkness and then she went below to start the stove and make some warm breakfast. She struck a match and lit a bit of parafin, which she pushed in the small door of the stove. She began to feed tiny splinters, and curled wood shaving into the flame, letting the fire build slowly until coals began to form. Once she had enough heat she put in larger twigs until she had a good fire going. Enough of a fire to heat water for porridge. She put a copper on the stove and filled it with water from the fresh water barrels. Then she measured out several handfuls of oats and put the sheet of tin that served as the lid over the pot. -She sat down on the stool Kobayashi kept by the stove and opened the door to the fire chamber to warm her hands. She fed in a few more sticks and waited for the water to boil. She watched the orange glow within the stove and wondered what Birdie was doing at the moment. Probably sleeping. If she was luckily. What was her father doing? Probably also sleeping. She glanced aft to where Delos's guns would be if she had any guns. There was a faint glow around the hatch door which meant the sun was rising. That meant her father probably wasn't sleeping. Neither was Birdie. It also meant Tamba and Kobayashi should have captured the pilot boats by now. Soon the dreaded pirate Blackbeard's flagship would appear on Charlestown's eastern horizon and with any luck that would strike enough fear in the hearts of its citizens that they would release her father and sister, and then... and then what? For the first time it hit Lulu that they would not be going back to Edisto. That, even assuming everything in the next few hours went according to plan and they made their escape, nothing would ever be the same again. They might escape his clutches, but McPhail still owned the island. Still claimed the trees. Still had the soldiers to drive them right off it again. Wherever they went after this, for the first time Lulu began to understand, nothing would be the same, +She sat down on the stool Kobayashi kept by the stove and opened the door to the fire chamber to warm her hands. She fed in a few more sticks and waited for the water to boil. She watched the orange glow within the stove and wondered what Birdie was doing at the moment. Probably sleeping. If she was luckily. What was her father doing? Probably also sleeping. She glanced aft to where Wanderer's guns would be if she had any guns. There was a faint glow around the hatch door which meant the sun was rising. That meant her father probably wasn't sleeping. Neither was Birdie. It also meant Tamba and Kobayashi should have captured the pilot boats by now. Soon the dreaded pirate Blackbeard's flagship would appear on Charlestown's eastern horizon and with any luck that would strike enough fear in the hearts of its citizens that they would release her father and sister, and then... and then what? For the first time it hit Lulu that they would not be going back to Edisto. That, even assuming everything in the next few hours went according to plan and they made their escape, nothing would ever be the same again. They might escape his clutches, but McPhall still owned the island. Still claimed the trees. Still had the soldiers to drive them right off it again. Wherever they went after this, for the first time Lulu began to understand, nothing would be the same, ## Father in Jail, Birdie to some charlestown family. -The wagon stopped in front of the jailhouse. It was tiny and a little bit forlorn. It seemed better suited to some higher duty, like a storehouse, or perhaps a shop. Birdie almost felt sorry for it. McPhail climbed down from the wagon and went inside without so much as a glance at Birdie. Her father sidestepped his horse closer to the wagon. +The wagon stopped in front of the jailhouse. It was tiny and a little bit forlorn. It seemed better suited to some higher duty, like a storehouse, or perhaps a shop. Birdie almost felt sorry for it. McPhall climbed down from the wagon and went inside without so much as a glance at Birdie. Her father sidestepped his horse closer to the wagon. "What did you say to him?" @@ -2943,7 +2969,7 @@ Birdie cocked her head. "What do you mean?" "I saw you two talking, and then I noticed that you stopped. I assumed it was something you said." -Birdie smiled. She told her father about the conversation with McPhail. He chuckled. "Watch yourself Bridie. Don't make enemies you if you don't have to." +Birdie smiled. She told her father about the conversation with McPhall. He chuckled. "Watch yourself Bridie. Don't make enemies you if you don't have to." She looked down. She'd felt good about her verbal attack until her father said that. He would have said the same she was quite sure. @@ -2959,13 +2985,13 @@ She nodded. "Where am I going?" "I want to stay with you." -Her father was about to say something when the door to the jailhouse swung open and McPhail stepped out. He closed the door and stepped back into the street to confer for a moment with the captain of the soldiers. Then he walked back over the wagon. "Mr Nicholas. You may step down and go inside of your own accord. Or my men can help you." +Her father was about to say something when the door to the jailhouse swung open and McPhall stepped out. He closed the door and stepped back into the street to confer for a moment with the captain of the soldiers. Then he walked back over the wagon. "Mr Nicholas. You may step down and go inside of your own accord. Or my men can help you." "What is the charge?" "Theft of property. You trial will begin on Monday." -"Monday?" Her father let out a low whistle. "You don't waste any time do you Mr McPhail?" Her father shook his head and muttered something to himself as he climbed down from the horse. He came around in front of it and whispered something in it's ear. The horse bent down and her father scratched between it's ears. "Where are you taking my daughter?" He asked. +"Monday?" Her father let out a low whistle. "You don't waste any time do you Mr McPhall?" Her father shook his head and muttered something to himself as he climbed down from the horse. He came around in front of it and whispered something in it's ear. The horse bent down and her father scratched between it's ears. "Where are you taking my daughter?" He asked. "Nowhere. She'll be in there with you." @@ -2995,7 +3021,7 @@ Her father turned away and walked over to the window to look out. There was no f "What's going to happen Papa?" -He sighed. "I don't know. But I hope it involves us being turned loose and being able to get back to Delos." +He sighed. "I don't know. But I hope it involves us being turned loose and being able to get back to Wanderer." "Then what? Can we go back to Edisto?" @@ -3003,7 +3029,7 @@ He put his arm around her and pulled her into his lap. "No, I don't think we can "But it's not fair. How can someone else just wave some piece of a paper and take away our home?" -He picked up a piece of straw and twirled it between his thumb and forefinger. "It's not the piece of a paper Birdie, it's the men with guns. Paper means nothing. Kings and Queen's mean nothing. It's whether or not you have the force of will to bend the world the way you want it to bend. McPhail has that will and he brought with him the force to see it through. We could fight, we might even win. In fact I know we would win, we're about to take away his force, probably, their ship at least, but do you want to fight for that island? Or would we be happier finding a new island that no one wants?" +He picked up a piece of straw and twirled it between his thumb and forefinger. "It's not the piece of a paper Birdie, it's the men with guns. Paper means nothing. Kings and Queen's mean nothing. It's whether or not you have the force of will to bend the world the way you want it to bend. McPhall has that will and he brought with him the force to see it through. We could fight, we might even win. In fact I know we would win, we're about to take away his force, probably, their ship at least, but do you want to fight for that island? Or would we be happier finding a new island that no one wants?" "What do we do when someone comes claiming that island?" @@ -3027,7 +3053,7 @@ Her father said nothing, but he flicked away the straw. "Perhaps, but we aren't It was Birdie's turn to be quiet. That wasn't the answer she'd expected. -"They will just keep coming Birdie. If not McPhail then McPhail Jr., McPhail III. They will never stop coming. Not for centuries, not until the wave of them breaks over this entire continent and beyond. That's why we aren't going to fight. Can you fight the tide?" +"They will just keep coming Birdie. If not McPhall then McPhall Jr., McPhall III. They will never stop coming. Not for centuries, not until the wave of them breaks over this entire continent and beyond. That's why we aren't going to fight. Can you fight the tide?" "No." @@ -3051,7 +3077,7 @@ Her father smiled at her. "I don't know, where do you want to go?" The sun was just past its peak when Revenge appeared on the horizon. Tamba and Kobayashi had come back hours before with one of the pilot boats and six men under guard. They were below decks now, tied up. Lulu had given them fish and water. They were sullen and did not eat. She had felt sorry for them when she went below to get them water as Kobayashi had asked her, but by the time she came back up on deck she decided they were a rude lot and she didn't really care what became of them. It was strange how you could swing from sympathy to antipathy just by looking deeply in someone's eyes. -Revenge anchored a short distance back from Delos and launched two long boats that came over to Delos. Edward and his men came aboard and grilled the pilots about the best way into the harbor. In the end one of the boats took four of the men back to Revenge, while Edward forced the other two into the second boat with him. As the sun set the crew began to row upriver toward HMS Victory which, according to the pilots, had a small watch. Tamba went with them. Kobayashi remained on Delos to bring her into the Harbor once the long boats returned. +Revenge anchored a short distance back from Wanderer and launched two long boats that came over to Wanderer. Edward and his men came aboard and grilled the pilots about the best way into the harbor. In the end one of the boats took four of the men back to Revenge, while Edward forced the other two into the second boat with him. As the sun set the crew began to row upriver toward HMS Victory which, according to the pilots, had a small watch. Tamba went with them. Kobayashi remained on Wanderer to bring her into the Harbor once the long boats returned. Edward sat on the deck brading punks into his beard and tying more to strands of his long hair. He caught Lulu watching him from where she sat, perched on the rail. "Makes me look scarier." @@ -3073,7 +3099,7 @@ Later Thatch was the first one in the long boat. He stood in the bow, one foot o The sun was already setting as the long boat headed up the river toward Charlestown. By the time they were out of sight the darkness of night had fallen and the only thing left to do was wait. -Lulu paced the aft deck. Henry fell asleep in Aunt Māra's lap. Kobayashi sat on the bowsprite with the glass and periodically scanned the horizon. Eventually Lulu too grew tired and laid down on the deck, wrapping a quilt around her. She was just dozing, slipping between darkness and dream when the distant sound of a canon jolted her upright. A moment later Revenge fired a single answer. Then the other two ships. Kobayashi had the anchor free before Lulu could get the sails up. Delos slowly followed Revenge between the sandbars. The three ships rode the tide and a light wind through the narrows and up the river into Charlestown harbor, one sloop stayed behind to make sure reinforcements didn't arrive by sea. +Lulu paced the aft deck. Henry fell asleep in Aunt Māra's lap. Kobayashi sat on the bowsprite with the glass and periodically scanned the horizon. Eventually Lulu too grew tired and laid down on the deck, wrapping a quilt around her. She was just dozing, slipping between darkness and dream when the distant sound of a canon jolted her upright. A moment later Revenge fired a single answer. Then the other two ships. Kobayashi had the anchor free before Lulu could get the sails up. Wanderer slowly followed Revenge between the sandbars. The three ships rode the tide and a light wind through the narrows and up the river into Charlestown harbor, one sloop stayed behind to make sure reinforcements didn't arrive by sea. --- @@ -3095,9 +3121,9 @@ Her father yawned. "It certainly sounded like something Edward would do. No reas She stretched her legs which were stiff from sleeping on the hard ground. "Not that bad actually. I didn't feel any rats?" -"I didn't either," said her father. "And I didn't sleep much." He stood up and stretched. He walked over the windows and looked outside. "Fair winds, onshore. And I see Delos in the harbor." +"I didn't either," said her father. "And I didn't sleep much." He stood up and stretched. He walked over the windows and looked outside. "Fair winds, onshore. And I see Wanderer in the harbor." -Birdie leaped up and rushed to the window. Her father lifted her up so she could see. There was Delos, at anchor a stone's throw from HMS Victory, which she saw was not flying the same black flag that flapped from Revenge and a sloop. Delos was the only ship in the cluster anchored near the harbor entrance that wasn't flying the black. She squinted and tried to see if Lulu and Henry were on the deck of Delos, but she could not see that far. "What do we do now?" +Birdie leaped up and rushed to the window. Her father lifted her up so she could see. There was Wanderer, at anchor a stone's throw from HMS Victory, which she saw was not flying the same black flag that flapped from Revenge and a sloop. Wanderer was the only ship in the cluster anchored near the harbor entrance that wasn't flying the black. She squinted and tried to see if Lulu and Henry were on the deck of Wanderer, but she could not see that far. "What do we do now?" "The same thing we've been doing. We wait. It's like sailing Birdie, lots of waiting broken up by the occasional moments of sheer terror." He set her back down on the ground. @@ -3113,23 +3139,23 @@ The sound of hooves pounding along the dry streets broke her thoughts and remind "I mean he has control of this city right now. He could fire twenty-cannon broadsides into this city all morning until it was nothing but ruins. And every smart person in this city understands that and most of them will give him damn near anything he wants to get him to not do that. I am curious what it is that he'll ask for, assuming he does ask for more than us." -Birdie considered this. What would she ask for in Charlestown? Some paper and ink would be nice. A new doll for Lilah and her. Maybe some sail cloth for Delos. Peppermint sticks for every child. "What would you ask for Papa?" +Birdie considered this. What would she ask for in Charlestown? Some paper and ink would be nice. A new doll for Lilah and her. Maybe some sail cloth for Wanderer. Peppermint sticks for every child. "What would you ask for Papa?" Her father laughed. "I wouldn't ask for anything, I'd just leave." He looked outside again. "What would you ask for Birdie?" -"I'd ask for new sails for Delos. And peppermint sticks for every child." +"I'd ask for new sails for Wanderer. And peppermint sticks for every child." "Every child? That's kind of you Birdie." Her father stepped back from the windows and quickly sat down beside her. "Lay in my lap. It looks like Edward asked for us at least." -There was a rattling of keys and the heavy oak door they had walked through less than twenty-four hours earlier swung open and two men entered. One was the sheriff, the other was McPhail. +There was a rattling of keys and the heavy oak door they had walked through less than twenty-four hours earlier swung open and two men entered. One was the sheriff, the other was McPhall. "Well, Mr Nicholas, it seems you have some friends who have come for you. Pirate friends." "I don't know what you mean?" -McPhail snorted. "Don't worry, you'll walk out of here today, but this is no longer about fine money. You're a pirate now. You'll hang like one some day." +McPhall snorted. "Don't worry, you'll walk out of here today, but this is no longer about fine money. You're a pirate now. You'll hang like one some day." "Is there some charge to filed here? Am I accused of piracy?" @@ -3139,7 +3165,7 @@ Her father looked to the Sheriff who shook his head. "No sir. You are being rele The sun was well up in the sky when they stepped out onto the street. A wagon was waiting. In the back of it was a chest and very frightened looking man sitting on top of it." Her father glanced at the sheriff. "What's this?" -"Something else your friends asked for," answered McPhail. +"Something else your friends asked for," answered McPhall. Her father looked again at the man in the wagon, who seemed to shrink back as everyone stared at him. Her father shrugged and lifted Birdie into the wagon. He sat on the rear and driver shook the reins and they lurched off down the street toward the wharf. @@ -3161,13 +3187,13 @@ The wagon turned up Meeting Street, headed for the shoreline. Near the end the r "Way to make an entrance" muttered one of the sailors who was rowing them back toward Revenge. -## Back together on Delos. +## Back together on Wanderer. -The long boat hadn't even touched Delos when Birdie leaped off and onto Delos' hanging webbing. She felt her father and Tamba climbing up behind her, but she raced on up and over the gunwale in such a hurry she spilled over the top right into Lulu and Henry and all three of them sprawled in a heap on the deck. Birdie quickly gathered them up and they all squeezed each other until the could not breath and burst out laughing and rolled apart. +The long boat hadn't even touched Wanderer when Birdie leaped off and onto Wanderer' hanging webbing. She felt her father and Tamba climbing up behind her, but she raced on up and over the gunwale in such a hurry she spilled over the top right into Lulu and Henry and all three of them sprawled in a heap on the deck. Birdie quickly gathered them up and they all squeezed each other until the could not breath and burst out laughing and rolled apart. -Birdie rolled over and kissed the smooth oak boards of Delos' deck. "Thank gods." She looked at Lulu and Henry and it felt a little like someone was punching her in the gut, an unaccountable welling started in her gut, moved up her chest and began to slowly leak out her eyes in silent tears. Lulu rolled over toward her and they lay side by side, hands squeezed together, tears rolling down their cheeks as they stared up at the mast and the sun beyond it. +Birdie rolled over and kissed the smooth oak boards of Wanderer' deck. "Thank gods." She looked at Lulu and Henry and it felt a little like someone was punching her in the gut, an unaccountable welling started in her gut, moved up her chest and began to slowly leak out her eyes in silent tears. Lulu rolled over toward her and they lay side by side, hands squeezed together, tears rolling down their cheeks as they stared up at the mast and the sun beyond it. -And then the sun disappeared and Lulu and Henry were yanked away from her as her father caught them both up in his arms. Birdie wiped her eyes and stood up. The first thing she noticed was how ruined the deck looked. Delos was in rough shape. No one had scrubbed her since they slipped off in the night. +And then the sun disappeared and Lulu and Henry were yanked away from her as her father caught them both up in his arms. Birdie wiped her eyes and stood up. The first thing she noticed was how ruined the deck looked. Wanderer was in rough shape. No one had scrubbed her since they slipped off in the night. She glanced at her father. She was surprised to see the streak of tears down his cheeks, disappearing into his beard. It was only then she realized that just because he acted like everything was going to be fine, didn't mean the world was going to do as he wanted. To act was one thing, to bring the act to the end you wanted was quite another. But here they were, now it was time to go. "Let's raise anchor," she said. @@ -3301,19 +3327,19 @@ Her father smiled. "We'll hunt up some pigs for you. And then we'll burn the pla --- -It was after dark by the time they made it back to Delos. Lulu and Henry fell asleep in their hammocks but Bridie couldn't sleep. She sat on the gunwale, dangling her legs over the side of the ship the way her father told her never to do, but she didn't care, they were at anchor. She watched as Charlestown slowly lit up, its lanterns flickering to life as someone went around lighting them. She thought of earlier when Aunt Māra had stood to the side crying. She wanted to say something to her, to make her feel better, but she knew there was nothing to be said. Her family would never come climbing back up over the gunwale. There were no reunions in her future, just eternal reminders of what had been and would never be. Birdie nearly jumped out of her skin when Aunt Māra appeared at the rail beside her. Neither of them said anything, but she took Birdies had and held it as they watched the lights being lit. Birdie squeezed her hand. +It was after dark by the time they made it back to Wanderer. Lulu and Henry fell asleep in their hammocks but Bridie couldn't sleep. She sat on the gunwale, dangling her legs over the side of the ship the way her father told her never to do, but she didn't care, they were at anchor. She watched as Charlestown slowly lit up, its lanterns flickering to life as someone went around lighting them. She thought of earlier when Aunt Māra had stood to the side crying. She wanted to say something to her, to make her feel better, but she knew there was nothing to be said. Her family would never come climbing back up over the gunwale. There were no reunions in her future, just eternal reminders of what had been and would never be. Birdie nearly jumped out of her skin when Aunt Māra appeared at the rail beside her. Neither of them said anything, but she took Birdies had and held it as they watched the lights being lit. Birdie squeezed her hand. After a while she turned toward Birdie. "I will miss you Birdie." -Birdie did not say anything, but she understood at once. Aunt Māra was never going to be at home with them. She could not. They would always be a reminder of what she had lost. She needed to go away. Birdie understood. Whatever lay down her path, it was not Delos, not her family, not the sea. +Birdie did not say anything, but she understood at once. Aunt Māra was never going to be at home with them. She could not. They would always be a reminder of what she had lost. She needed to go away. Birdie understood. Whatever lay down her path, it was not Wanderer, not her family, not the sea. -The color had faded out of the night. She heard the oars of a long boat dipping quietly in the water as it made its way toward Delos. +The color had faded out of the night. She heard the oars of a long boat dipping quietly in the water as it made its way toward Wanderer. "Does my father know?" -Māra nodded. Birdie could see she was biting her lip. She slipped her hand out of Birdie's and went over to the hammocks where Lulu and Henry had already fallen asleep. She bent to kiss each of them, and then lifted some canvas that had been piled against the mizzen mast and pulled out a small trunk that contained what things she'd had on Delos. +Māra nodded. Birdie could see she was biting her lip. She slipped her hand out of Birdie's and went over to the hammocks where Lulu and Henry had already fallen asleep. She bent to kiss each of them, and then lifted some canvas that had been piled against the mizzen mast and pulled out a small trunk that contained what things she'd had on Wanderer. -Birdie lowered the webbing and two men climbed up it and aboard Delos. They gathered up the trunk, tied a line to it and gently lowered it down into the long boat. Aunt Māra caught her up in her arms and squeezed her tight. "Forgive me Birdie, but I just..." She never finished. She set Birdie down and quickly climbed down into the boat. The two men went down after her and boat pushed off, headed for shore. Birdie raised the webbing back up and stashed it in its place against the gunwale. +Birdie lowered the webbing and two men climbed up it and aboard Wanderer. They gathered up the trunk, tied a line to it and gently lowered it down into the long boat. Aunt Māra caught her up in her arms and squeezed her tight. "Forgive me Birdie, but I just..." She never finished. She set Birdie down and quickly climbed down into the boat. The two men went down after her and boat pushed off, headed for shore. Birdie raised the webbing back up and stashed it in its place against the gunwale. She watch the boat disappear into the night. @@ -3335,9 +3361,9 @@ Her father put his arm around her. "My plan is to go back down to Edisto and gat "Nassau?" Her father frowned. "I'm not sure Nassau is a good place for us. We're not pirates Birdie." -"McPhail thinks we are." +"McPhall thinks we are." -Her father grunted and rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "That's true, but McPhail isn't the British Empire. We're Alban, we're sea people, not pirates." +Her father grunted and rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "That's true, but McPhall isn't the British Empire. We're Alban, we're sea people, not pirates." "Maybe it's time the Alban brought some order to Nassau then." @@ -3349,7 +3375,7 @@ Camp looked just as they had left it. Birdie ran ahead of her father and Edward' Now it was time to turn their camp upside down. While Tamba and Henry, along with two of the better hunters among Queen Anne's crew headed off to the interior of the island in search of boar and deer, Kobayashi and her father fashioned sleds from spars they yanked out of the roof of the hut. Birdie and Lulu gathered up their belonging and piled them next to the sleds. There wasn't much to gather, it took longer to build the sleds than it did to make the piles next to them. -It made Birdie a little sad to see the hut begin to sag where her father removed poles for the sled. They'd never taken it down before. It always needed work when they returned, and new thatching, but they had never destroyed it before. It was always there. Now her father planned to burn it. "Let McPhail build his own damn huts," he'd muttered. +It made Birdie a little sad to see the hut begin to sag where her father removed poles for the sled. They'd never taken it down before. It always needed work when they returned, and new thatching, but they had never destroyed it before. It was always there. Now her father planned to burn it. "Let McPhall build his own damn huts," he'd muttered. Edward laughed. "That'll show him Nicholas" @@ -3357,7 +3383,7 @@ Her father looked up and then laughed. "Well, it'll give us plenty of dried wood Edward smiled. "That I can get behind, Nicholas." -Birdie didn't really want to burn what the hut. It wasn't home, but she liked it. More importantly, she liked knowing it was out there, waiting for her to return. Of all the places they made camp, Edisto Island was her favorite. She was having a hard time letting go of it. She sat on top a dune while her father and Kobayashi dragged the family's belonging on the sleds, through the dunes and down the beach to where Delos's long boat waited. +Birdie didn't really want to burn what the hut. It wasn't home, but she liked it. More importantly, she liked knowing it was out there, waiting for her to return. Of all the places they made camp, Edisto Island was her favorite. She was having a hard time letting go of it. She sat on top a dune while her father and Kobayashi dragged the family's belonging on the sleds, through the dunes and down the beach to where Wanderer's long boat waited. She thought of Aunt Māra. She thought of Francis and Owen. She thought of the hut behind her, destined to go up in flames. Everything ends. Everything that ever begins has to end. The only question is always, how long will it last? Edisto lasted three years. The longest anything in her life had lasted until now. She wasn't there always, but it was always there. And now it wouldn't be. It made her chest feel tight. @@ -3389,7 +3415,7 @@ Lulu nodded. "Yeah, it could be nice to be in a town for a while. Do you think t Lulu stood on a sand dune, watching men from Revenge and Queen Anne's Revenge drag the remains of their hut, along with a few more logs for good measure, down to the beach. Lulu followed the last of them down to the beach where keroseen soaked rags were already being lit. The fire would have been too hot in the sheltered area of the dunes, but on the beach it was perfect. Next to the bonfire they built a smaller cooking fire, which, when it had burned down to coals, was laid with an entire boar and a deer, spoils of the hunting party that had spent the morning scouring the north end of the island. Tamba had killed a boar as well, which he was busy butchering. Tomorrow at sea they would dry it on racks. It would give them a nice break from fish on their long sail to... Lulu wasn't sure where. They had voted earlier and unanimously decided to head... south. -Beyond that, they did not know. *Exploring we will go, exploring we will go,* her father had been walking around singing this song he had made up all evening. He always got strangely whimsical and light when they were setting out for somewhere. He'd been that way ever since he'd finished loading Delos and anchored her just inside the Revenges. Maggie was on the beach, just above the high tide line. They were leaving. That much was indisputable. Where they would go, and how Lulu felt about it all remains more mysterious to her. +Beyond that, they did not know. *Exploring we will go, exploring we will go,* her father had been walking around singing this song he had made up all evening. He always got strangely whimsical and light when they were setting out for somewhere. He'd been that way ever since he'd finished loading Wanderer and anchored her just inside the Revenges. Delos was on the beach, just above the high tide line. They were leaving. That much was indisputable. Where they would go, and how Lulu felt about it all remains more mysterious to her. Lulu, Birdie, and Henry watched as the flames devoured their former home. The crew of the Revenges sang shanties, and fiddlers played while everyone else ate and drank. But for Lulu, and she sensed for Birdie and Henry as well, the celebration felt strange. She was glad her father and Birdie were safe, she was glad they had escaped from the British, but she wasn't all that glad to be leaving the island. She did not feel the lightness her father did. Or, she did, but she felt other things too. Deeper things that she could not place, could not see the full shape of, just dim outlines, like shadows dancing in her mind, black weights clouding her lightness of being. @@ -3401,11 +3427,11 @@ Lulu wrapped her arms around her legs and glanced down the beach. Bodies littere :TODO: need something to connect here -Most of the next day was spent loading the ships. Her father and Tamba helped the crews take the tar on board, while Kobayashi and the children readied Delos to sail. None of them got underway until the sun the was nearly gone behind the great oaks of Edisto. +Most of the next day was spent loading the ships. Her father and Tamba helped the crews take the tar on board, while Kobayashi and the children readied Wanderer to sail. None of them got underway until the sun the was nearly gone behind the great oaks of Edisto. -Lulu leaned against the gunwale watching Queen Anne's Revenge slowly sailing into the darkening eastern sky. The ship looked black, even the sails. A booming came across the water, one then another, the usual salute. Edward's crew had decided to head north in search of shipping traffic bound out of Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay, Boston. Lulu knew how Edward hated Boston ships. Soon everyone else would know too. Lulu watched the ships disappear into the darkness of night and water as Delos moved south. +Lulu leaned against the gunwale watching Queen Anne's Revenge slowly sailing into the darkening eastern sky. The ship looked black, even the sails. A booming came across the water, one then another, the usual salute. Edward's crew had decided to head north in search of shipping traffic bound out of Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay, Boston. Lulu knew how Edward hated Boston ships. Soon everyone else would know too. Lulu watched the ships disappear into the darkness of night and water as Wanderer moved south. -There were favorable winds, and a following swell. It was shaping up to be a nice night. Lulu still couldn't convince her father to let her take a night watch, but he hadn't told her to go to bed either. She got the paper Edward had stolen her, and went below. She lit a candle and went to the back of the hold, and opened the rear canon hatch. She looked down at Delos's wake as it cut through the sea. There was no phosphorescence, but the moonlight made the wake of bubbles that they left behind glow like a pathway through the night. +There were favorable winds, and a following swell. It was shaping up to be a nice night. Lulu still couldn't convince her father to let her take a night watch, but he hadn't told her to go to bed either. She got the paper Edward had stolen her, and went below. She lit a candle and went to the back of the hold, and opened the rear canon hatch. She looked down at Wanderer's wake as it cut through the sea. There was no phosphorescence, but the moonlight made the wake of bubbles that they left behind glow like a pathway through the night. She turned back to paper and slowly, carefully began to write. *The scent of the world crept into her hammock*... Lulu began to write faster as she went on, the words seem to tumble out of her and until she found herself telling a story to herself, about herself, but somehow also not herself. A record of the kind she would like to read. She wrote until her hand began to hurt, stopping only to glance out the hatch and study the path of where she'd been. When she couldn't write anymore she gathered up the sheets of paper and tucked them carefully, along with the quill and bottle of ink, into her sea chest and latched it tightly. She blew out the candle and when topside. @@ -3423,6 +3449,6 @@ The moon overwhelmed the milky way, but she could still see Polaris and the grea **Southerly swell**: a swell moving from south to north **Southerly wind**: a wind blowing from the south to the north **Northerly wind**: a wind blowing from the north to the south. -**Lateen rigged**: One of the earliest triangular sail designs, this rig allows Delos to sail much closer to the wind (35 degrees to the wind with a skilled captain) than a square rigged ship of the line, which could only manage something like 50. +**Lateen rigged**: One of the earliest triangular sail designs, this rig allows Wanderer to sail much closer to the wind (35 degrees to the wind with a skilled captain) than a square rigged ship of the line, which could only manage something like 50. **Caravel**: The ship that, for better or worse, brought Europe to the rest of the world. The Portuguese developed the Caravel off a fishing boat design in roughly 1451. It proved so successful that it dominated the spice trade for nearly 100 years, though it had a good bit of competition from the Carrack, which was square rigged in the fore and main, but still Lateen rigged on the Mizzen. The Carrack was somewhat stabler in heavy seas and could carry larger loads. **Hekas, hekas! Este bebeloi!**: The exorcism that opened the Eleusinian Mysteries, this phrase drives away anything not spiritual. It is said to mean "far, far be removed the profane." |