Part 35 (1/2)

The boats plied steadily between the two vessels, and on one of the trips Mr. Delaplaine went over to the brig on business, and also glad to escape for a little the dreaded interview which must soon come between himself and his niece.

”Now, sir,” said the merchant to the captain of the brig, ”you will make a bill against me for the provisions which are being taken to that pirate, but I hope you have reserved a sufficient store of food for your own maintenance until you reach a port, and that of myself and two women who wish to sail with you, craving most earnestly that you will land us in Jamaica or in some place convenient of access to that island.”

”Which I can do,” said the captain, ”for I am bound to Kingston; and as to subsistence, shall have plenty.”

On the brig Mr. Delaplaine found Captain Ichabod, who had come over to superintend operations, and who was now talking to the pretty girl who had seized him by the arm when he was about to slay the naval officer.

”I would talk with you, captain,” said the merchant, ”on a matter of immediate import.” And he led the pirate away from the pretty girl.

The matter to be discussed was, indeed, of deep import.

”I am loath to say it, sir,” said Mr. Delaplaine, ”when I think of the hospitality and most exceptional kindness with which you have treated me and my niece, and for which we shall feel grateful all our lives, but I think you will agree with me that it would be useless for us to pursue the search after that most reprehensible person, my brother-in-law, Bonnet. There can be no doubt, I believe, that he and Blackbeard have left the vicinity of Charles Town, and have gone, we know not where.”

”No doubt of that, bedad,” said Ichabod, knitting his brows as he spoke; ”if Blackbeard had been outside the harbour, this brig would not have been here.”

”And, therefore, sir,” continued Mr. Delaplaine, ”I have judged it to be wise, and indeed necessary, for us to part company with you, sir, and to take pa.s.sage on this brig, which, by a most fortunate chance, is bound for Kingston. My niece, I know, will be greatly disappointed by this course of events, but we have no choice but to fall in with them.”

”I don't like to agree with you,” said the captain, ”but, bedad, I am bound to do it. I am disappointed myself, sir, but I have been disappointed so often that I suppose I ought to be used to it. If I had caught up with Blackbeard I should have been all right, and after I had settled your affairs--and I know I could have done that--I think I would have joined him. But all I can do now is to hammer along at the business, take prizes in the usual way, and wait for Blackbeard to come south again, and then I'll either sell out or join him.”

”It is a great pity, sir,” said Mr. Delaplaine, ”a great pity--”

”Yes, it is,” interrupted Ichabod, ”it's a very great pity, sir, a very great pity. If I had known more about s.h.i.+ps when I bought the Restless I would have had a faster craft, and by this time I might have been a man of comfortable means. But that sloop over there, bedad, is so slow, that many a time, sir, I have seen a fat merchantman sail away from her and leave us, in spite of our guns, cursing and swearing, miles behind.

I am sorry to have you leave me, sir, and with your ladies; but, as you say, here's your chance to get home, and I don't know when I could give you another.”

Mr. Delaplaine replied courteously and gratefully, and by the next boat he went back to the Restless. Captain Ichabod, his brow still clouded by the approaching separation, walked over to Lucilla and continued his conversation with her about the island of Barbadoes, a subject of which he knew very little and she nothing.

When Kate returned to the deck she found d.i.c.kory alone, Dame Charter having gone to talk to the cook about the wonderful things which had happened, of which she knew very little and he nothing at all.

”d.i.c.kory,” said Kate, ”I want to talk to you, and that quickly. I have heard nothing of what has happened to you. How did you get possession of the letter you brought me, and what do you know of Captain Vince?”

”I can tell you nothing,” he said, without looking at her, ”until you tell me what I ought to know about Captain Vince.” And as he said this he could not help wondering in his heart that there were no signs of grief about her.

”Ought to know?” she repeated, regarding him earnestly. ”Well, you and I have been always good friends, and I will tell you.” And then she told him the story of the captain of the Badger; of his love-making and of his commission to sail upon the sea and destroy the pirate s.h.i.+p Revenge, and all on board of her.

”And now,” she said, as she concluded, ”I think it would be well for you to read this letter.” And she handed him the missive he had carried so long and with such pain. He read the bold, uneven lines, and then he turned and looked upon her, his face s.h.i.+ning like the morning sky.

”Then you have never loved him?” he gasped.

”Why should I?” said Kate.

In spite of the fact that there were a great many people on board that pirate sloop who might see him; in spite of the fact that there were people in boats plying upon the water who might notice his actions, d.i.c.kory fell upon his knees before Kate, and, seizing her hand, he pressed it to his lips.

”Why should I?” said Kate, quietly drawing her hand from him, ”for I have a devoted lover already--Master Martin Newcombe, of Barbadoes.”

d.i.c.kory, repulsed, rose to his feet, but his face did not lose its glow.

He had heard so much about Martin Newcombe that he had ceased to mind him.

”To think of it!” he cried, ”to think how I stood and watched him fight; how I admired and marvelled at his wonderful strength and skill, his fine figure, and his flas.h.i.+ng eye! How my soul went out to him, how I longed that he might kill that scoundrel Blackbeard! And all the time he was your enemy, he was my enemy, he was a viler wretch than even the b.l.o.o.d.y pirate who killed him. Oh, Kate, Kate! if I had but known.”

”Miss Kate, if you please,” said the girl. ”And it is well, d.i.c.kory, you did not know, for then you might have jumped upon him and stuck him in the back, and that would have been dishonourable.”