in many sciences.
The Philistines, he told me, were a sea people who came to the shores of what they call the Holy Land from somewhere to the west. They sailed over the seas in their high-prowed boats to attack the shores of the Levant and of Egypt, and they settled there and brought the first iron known to that coast.
Many nations had sailed far upon deep water before them, and even before the sailors of Crete and Thera, called Atlantis by some, had gone west of Africa.
The idea that the world was flat was never put forth by a seafaring man. It was a tale told to landsmen, or to merchants who might be inclined to compete for markets, for in those days the source of raw material was closely guarded.
Coming up to the inner shores of the Outer Banks, I remembered the sunken ship and the alligator, and wondered idly what had become of Jonathan Delve ... and of Bardle, too, for that matter.
The thought of Bardle was worrying. If he should appear now, with a ship, we would be helpless before his guns. Yet it was unlikely he would spend much time along these shores, and after months of absence he would not expect to see us again.
A low, sandy shore lay before us, topped with brush and some scattered groves of trees. These Outer Banks stretched along the coast for a great distance ... nearly two hundred miles, I had heard, but I suspected it was not quite so far.
We took shelter in a deeply notched bay of fair extent almost exactly opposite the tip of the mainland that extended down from the north into the smaller sound. The Bank was at that place scarcely more than a mile wide, and we had drawn our boats close in shore. We waded to the beach.
We made camp there.
For days we camped on the beach, keeping always a lookout on the farther shore, but we saw no ship. Yet it was a quiet time, enjoyed by all. With Abby I took long walks along the shore where one could see for miles. We searched the shore for whatever the tide might have washed up. Obviously, no Indian had been along for some time for we found a cask of good brandy, and the wreck of a lifeboat still containing a sail and a boat hook. We found several gold coins, the skeleton of a man, half buried in sand, many logs, ships timbers, and other debris. We found three boxes, close together on the sand, with water-soaked clothing, all of which we took back to our boat for ourselves or the Catawba.
Despite all this, for miles the beach was bare and empty.
We kept our fires low, used dry and relatively smokeless driftwood, and kept a sharp lookout at all times.
Each day brought an increase of doubt and worry. Despite the pleasure of camping, it was beginning to pall, and still no ship came.
Was our voyage downriver all for nothing? Should we wait longer? Or once more return to our fort?
Then on the twenty-fourth day, while we were gathering driftwood, I looked up and saw the ship.
She was not more than a mile offshore, and feeling her way south. I looked at her long through my glass, and Jeremy studied her as well.
'British,' he said, after a bit, 'let's give her a hail.'
'We shall,' I said, 'and then do you, Pim, O'Hara, and Magill stay from sight.
Peter and Sakim can stay with the boats, and also keep out of sight. I'll meet them with Watkins and Glasco.'
'If it is going aboard a ship there is,' Abby said, 'we shall go as well. I want Kin to see a ship, and all of us to have a bite of English food.'
'All right,' I agreed reluctantly, 'come along.'
Yet I took the time to charge two pistols and conceal them under my buckskin hunting shirt, and my knife as well. My sword and my musket were in plain sight.
The ship hove to, then dropped her hook and put a boat over the side. We waited, standing on the beach.
There were seven men in the boat. The man in command was a burly, smiling fellow with a cheerful face. 'Well! Isn't this a pretty sight! English, I'll wager, and castaways.'
'We've furs to trade,' I said. 'And we are here willingly, and do not wish to be picked up.'
'Ah? Well, of course not. But the master asks that you come aboard ... be his guests. Have a meal, and then back to the shore you shall come.' He glanced curiously up and down the empty beach. 'Although why you'd like this better than old England, I can't guess.'
He looked around. 'Furs, you say? Well, the captain's the man for that. He'll trade. Come! Supper is waiting, and the captain ordered up the best when he saw you through his glass. 'Women,' the captain said, 'it's a bit of time since we've seen the whisk of a skirt, and two such lovely wenches-women-I've never seen!''
We scrambled up the ladder and over the side, and as I came over, a hand reached out for my musket. I pulled it back, smiling. 'I will keep that,' I said.
'There's redskins ashore and there might be pirates as well.'
A huge man, as large as two of me and fat, came down the deck. 'Let it be, Joshua! Let it be! The man's a guest aboard here, and welcome to his arms if he wishes!'
He held out a huge hand. 'Wilson here! Captain Oldfast Wilson, master of the Lion, out of Portsmouth! How do you do? Your name would be?'
'Barnes,' I said, 'and this is Mrs. Barnes. We are,' I lied, 'settlers on this shore. Is this one of Raleigh's ships?'
'It is not. It is my own ship.' He glanced from me to Watkins and Glasco.
'Settlers, you say? I did not know there were any such, since Grenville's men were lost and the Raleigh settlers vanished from Roanoke.'
'Our ship was a Flemish galleon-'
There was a movement behind me, and then a man stepped around to face me. It was Emmden.
'He lies! That is Sackett! Barnabas Sackett, and it is the Queen herself who wants him!'
'Of course, it is!' Wilson was smiling smugly. 'I glimpsed you once in London, m'boy! Saw you fair! Even from the glass I was certain sure 'twas you. By all that's holy, this is a good day! A reward from the Queen herself, and-'
'Cap'n?' Joshua said. 'He said he had furs to trade.'
'Ah? Furs, is it? Well, a fair trade we'll have. Do you be telling us where the furs are now. You tell us, and you'll eat well and sleep well aboard this ship!
Otherwise, it's the blackest corner of the hold and a weight of chains for you, and certain drowning if we sink. What'll it be m'boy? Irons or the furs? Treat me right, and I'll do the same by you!'
'Well,' I said reluctantly, 'do I have your word on that? I have but six bales-'
'Six?' The greed shone in his eyes. 'Why, of course! For six bales you have my word on it, and the best of quarters for you and your lady as well. Even for the wench yonder.' He indicated Lila.
'There's no hope for it, Abby,' I said, shrugging. Then I added, 'There's a ship's boat across the island, and the bales on the shore hard by. If you send a boat, I'd be glad to show them-'
'Na, na, m'boy! I'd not be troublin' you.' He pointed a finger at Black Tom Watkins. 'We'll send that one. He'll know where they are, an' he'll lead us right to them. He will if he wants to live without fifty lashes a week until he dies.
'Do na think I'm a hard man, m'boy, but there's a world of deceit and evil about us, an' a man does have to protect himself, now doesn't he?'
He glared at Tom. 'What's your name, man?'
'Watkins, and I'll gladly show you where the furs lie If you'll let me become one of your crew or drop me in the nearest port. I've had my fill o' that,' he jerked his head toward the shore. 'Savages by night an' no drop of ale by day.
I'll show you, certain sure I will!'
'Joshua,' Wilson turned on us, 'do you take them below. Keep them together for the non, and if there's no furs, well, we'll have a bit of their hide. Hers, too.' His eyes glinted. 'No doot 'tis a pretty hide, but will show the better for some blood on it. Do you take them below.'
They had taken my musket and a hand had jerked away my sword, but there was no further search and I'd
