life anywhere.
Night was coming on and I liked not the look of the shore.
'Captain?' Pike said. 'We've a man aboard knows this island.'
I lowered my glass, incredulously. 'Aye, we call him Blue, for there's an odd color to his skin. He was fishing off the Banks and was blown away for several days ahead of a storm. He once landed here for water ... there's springs on the other side.'
'Have him up. I would speak with him.'
Still no sign of life or movement. Was she a dead ship, then? Or some trick of the eye and no ship at all? Or were we watched from beneath the pines, yonder?
Blue was a lean, long-armed man with a face scarred by powder or some such thing, giving it a blue cast. 'I know her,' he said, 'and there's a fair anchorage beyond the island, good holding ground if the weather be good. More than one ship has watered there.'
It was growing dark, but through the glass which I handed him he could barely make out the masts. 'I've a feeling about her,' he said, taking the glass from his eye, 'and I'd be hard put to say the why of it, but I am certain sure she is Flemish. My eyes are better than most and I seem to see a heart-shaped dead-eye in her rig-and the Flemish do like them so.'
Under his guidance, and with careful use of the lead, we worked our way about the end of the island, with no lights showing.
In a small cove Blue knew, we dropped our anchor and lowered a boat. With a dozen men, I led a reconaissance.
Up the low, sandy shore, over the sandhills and along the edge of the trees.
Walking quietly was not an easy thing, for there was much debris-fallen limbs, broken twigs, and leaves. Yet we managed it, and slowly, warily, we made our way through the trees.
Blue caught my arm, pointing.
Not one ship, but two! Closer to the shore was a Flemish galleon, a fine craft of a type they'd been building no more than ten or a dozen years, beautifully ornamented along her gundeck. Obviously her masts had been stepped to avoid any sudden escape, but her way out of the inlet was blocked by the other ship, of which we could make out very little in the darkness.
An awning had been spread and several men were seated under it, drinking. At least, three were drinking and the fourth sat opposite them, his hands tied behind him. Further along the beach another fire had been lighted and we heard shouting and laughter from there, drunken laughter, it seemed.
'A fine place!' One of the men was saying. 'A dozen times I've used it, and a dozen good ships looted and their loot taken aboard our own craft at our leisure.'
He pointed a finger at the bound man. 'Come now! We know there's gold aboard, and the gold we will have, or we'll take your hide off, an inch at a time.'
He was a big man, by the look of him, although he was seated on a cask. He had a dark, saturnine look about him, with a taunting, evil face, and his companions looked no better. I glanced toward the beach to see how many men were there ... a dozen? More ... many more.
At least thirty, and there might be fifty. How many were left aboard? And was there anybody on the captured vessel?
Abruptly, I turned and led the way back out of the brush. 'Blue, keep an eye on that ship.' I pointed to the captured vessel. 'Let no one see you, but keep an eye on them. If there's any move, come to me at once.'
On the shore we got into the boat, and in a matter of minutes I was sitting in the aftercabin of the fluyt with Pike and Handsel.
'You will stay with the fluyt,' I told Handsel. 'At the first light, bring her off the mouth of their cove, and have her ready for action. Can you do it with a dozen men?'
'With this craft I can. The Dutch build their ships to be worked by few hands.'
'Bring her around at daylight, then, and train your guns on the pirate ship, but do not fire unless fired upon.'
Turning to Pike, I said, 'You take a dozen men and seize the ship. Go around by boat ... 'tis all in darkness yonder by their ship. Slip aboard and take over.
When you have her, run up a white flag or any bit of white cloth on the fo'm'st.'
'And you?'
'We'll go the way we went before, meet Blue, and take the master of the ship and his prisoners. Be wary now, I want to lose no men, but if you move with swiftness and silence you'll have them. Most of the crew is ashore and drunk.'
Pike turned to leave. 'Pike?' He stopped. 'I trust in your judgment. If at any point you think the job cannot be done, return to the fluyt. You'll get no argument from me.'
All was dark and still when we next came through the pines. The fires still flickered on the beach, but few men stirred. Most were already in a drunken sleep.
Under the awning the three men sat, still baiting the captured captain. 'You have until daybreak. Think it over,' the pirate was saying, 'or else we'll skin you alive.'
Softly I came to the edge of the pines. The wind had swept clear the sand upon that side, and it was but a dozen steps to the side of the awning. A moment I hesitated there, drawing my sword from its scabbard. Blue moved off to my right, drawing his cutlass. Three other men were with us, and we moved in closely.
'Skin you!' the dark man repeated drunkenly. 'We'll skin you alive! There's gold. I know there is gold.'
'There is no gold,' the prisoner replied calmly. He had a fine look of contempt for them. 'I am a merchant venturer. We have cloth for trading with the Indians, and we hope to obtain furs. We have some knives, some tools. We are none of us wealthy men.'
I had walked quietly forward. 'I believe you, my friend, and I shall be content with your cargo. You may keep your vessel and your hide.'
'Wha-what?' One of the men came to his feet, the others just stared. But their captain did not move. His back to me, he simply spoke quietly.
'Whoever you are, you had best leave. The ship is mine, the cargo is mine, and this man's skin is mine.'
'Yes?' I touched the back of his neck with my sword point, denting the skin.
'Yes,' he repeated, and he moved not a hair. 'And your skin, too, if you do not put that sword aside. You see,' he said calmly, 'I know who you are, I know what ship you had, I know what you plan to do ... and you are now my prisoner. Though it is possible,' he added, 'that we might reach an agreement, Barnabas Sackett.
We just might.'
For once I knew not what to say, nor which way to move. A quick glance toward the pirate ship ... no white flag.
A glance back toward the opening of the cove, and my vessel was not there, either.
Blue was with me, but where were the others?
'Taking over a pirate ship,' the captain continued, 'is never as simple as it seems. You see, your man Handsel used to sail with me. He knew I used this island, knew what ship you had seen, and saw a chance to become master of a vessel serving under me. When you came ashore the first time, he sent a message to me, and since then we have been simply waiting. Surrender. Surrender now, or die.'
'You have nerve, my friend, but nerve is not enough when I have a sword. If one wrong move is made, I'll lean on this blade. Will you but feel the needle point?
It is razor sharp. One move, and no matter what happens after, your spinal cord is severed.'
He held very still, but he laughed softly. 'So what do you do now?' he asked.
'Kill me, and you die next. If you do not kill me, my men will surround you and take you. What will you do now?'
With my left hand I drew a pistol from my waistband. Was Blue with me or against me? I gambled that I had judged him right.
'Blue, keep them covered with your pistol and shoot the first one who twitches.
And cut loose the unfortunate captain.'
Chapter 12
