'Bring that lanthorn closer here nanny, how am I to see if you're standing so far up on the beach.'
'Huh, child! You don't need to be sashaying down there in dem dark waters. You can't see nothing and one dem whales'll be done come up heah and swol ered you.'
'Well, I certainly can't see if you keep the lanthorn so far up on the beach. Now Sarah Livingston comes here at night and she's got three big conch shell s. I want at least six. She's always so prissy. Did you see how low her dress was in front the other night? Made that Luke Tarlton's eye bulge. If she'd took a deep breath, her ninnies would have popped out for sure.'
'Hush, child, how you talk. Yo blessed mother would have me washing yo mouth out with lye soap if she hadn't done gone on to be with ’da angels. Now get on up here.'
'Oh, nanny, ain't no whale going to come up on this beach and swal ar me. Uncle Adam said a whale hasn't got a mouth big enough to swallow a man.'
'He don't, do he! Well, you jus tell that to po' old brother Jonah, what be in the Bible. He done got swallowed by ’de whale. ’Sides, iffen a whale don't get
cha wona dem crocogators what Mr. Hindley talks about will. Now come on. You already done got foh ’o dem shell s. Dats one moh than dat nasty Sarah done got. You knows I told Lum we wouldn't be long when he fetched us over here in dat boat. You knows dat Mr. Hindley will give Lum what ’foh ’iffen we's get caught.
Lawd, I don't knows hows I let myself get talked into ’yo shenanigans. Huh! Cause I loves ya, I guess and I gave my solemn word to ’yo blessed moma foh she went onto Jesus.'
'Nanny!'
'Yes, child.'
'Are you sweet on Uncle Lum?'
'Hush, child, LAWD!! What foolishness. What was that?'
'It was some kind of explosion, nanny.'
'We ain't being attacked by ’dem Britishers is we girl?'
'No, nanny, but something blew up. What did Uncle Lum say they was unloading off that ship, nanny?
Was it gunpowder?'
'I don't know child, but we's got to hurry along now. Lum will be worried show ’nuff.'
Al was still in the predawn hours. The inlet was bathed in moonlight and like giant fireflies pieces of burning debris would flicker on the receding waters then
hiss as the tide carried it on. Then the smoke seemed to rol in with a faint offshore breeze. Gabe opened his eyes. It took a moment for them to adjust to the blackness before him. His ears were ringing. He hurt.
He was lying flat in a foul smelling mud. He could smell smoke as it came in off the water. The salt from the sea, the mud, and the smoke, al of these odors seemed to fill his nostrils and burn his lungs as he tried to breathe.
His service coat was plastered to him. The sleeves were singed and blackened. He rol ed over to his back.
God it hurt, but his breathing seem to be easier. It was only when he moved he felt the sharp pains in his ribs, probably broken. He felt the tide as it rushed past his head, some going in his ears and causing him to shake his head to clear them. He had felt numb but now his feelings must be returning. He could feel the cold with the wet and caked mud. Lying there, he went over what happened in his mind.
He was lucky to be alive. Luck. His hand went to the leather pouch tied around his neck. His luck. The ruby was still there in its pouch. He turned back over onto his stomach and even though it hurt he half-crawled, half-slithered through the mud and seaweed up toward the beach. He must have passed out because he suddenly heard voices, female voices and footsteps.
Gabe panicked, tried to crawl faster, but now not only did his ribs hurt but so did his leg. Afraid to feel but also afraid not to, Gabe reached down and found a gash in his leg. Damn, he thought again; an open wound and crawling around in this muck. If he didn't get help he'd surely lose his leg if not die.
Friends. Could they be loyalists? As soon as the idea occurred common sense told him otherwise. The voices and footsteps grew louder. Loyalist or Colonial, he needed help.
'Help!' It was hardly more than a whisper. Gabe clinched his teeth against the pain as he tried to raise himself. Impatience gripped him and with al his strength he shoved his body forward and gasped,
'Help!'
'What's that?'
'What's what!'
'Over there, nanny, look.'
'Come back heah child. I don't want you ’et up by no crocogator.'
'Oh!' Gabe let out a groan.
'It's a man, nanny; now get over here with that lanthorn.' Faith had never spoken with such firmness so nanny hurried over. Gabe lay there, the pain had once more taken his consciousness.
'Help me, nanny; let's get him up on the sand outta that mud.' As Gabe was pull ed up on the sand Faith turned to nanny, 'Go get Uncle Lum and tell him we got a hurt man. Get back here quickly now. I'll stay with him til you get back.'
Realizing that there was no point in arguing, nanny did as she was told but muttered as she went back. 'Jus like her mama, always coming up with a stray.'
'Oh…Oh!' Gabe groaned twice as he tried to sit up. Without a lanthorn to see the man's wounds, Faith did as much as she could to comfort him by tearing off a lower portion of her dress and wiping the mud and debris from his face. She then sat down on the sand and helped the man sit up by holding him. This also would help warm him. His body seemed chill ed and he was shaking.
'Who are you?' the man asked in a barely audible whisper.
'Faith, Faith Montique. Who are you?'
'Lieutenant Gabe Anthony.'
'What cha doing here?' Faith asked.
'Explosion, ship exploded,' Gabe uttered.
'What happened, what happened,' Faith asked again but Gabe had become unconscious once more.
Faith could see the lanthorn coming down the beach toward her before she could actual y see Uncle Lum and nanny. They had been the only two slaves her mama had kept when her daddy had died. Mother had turned everything over to Uncle Adam, who was her father's brother. Now her mother was gone having succumbed to pneumonia. Uncle Adam was kind but distant and Faith always felt he stared at her like he was undressing her with his eyes. He'd never said anything or touched her, but nevertheless Faith had seen him with the town's women. There was also a few times when Mr. Hindley would bring him women off one of the ships. Then after a few days they'd disappear.
This didn't count al the times Faith had also seen young slave girls being taken to his room at night. Sarah Livingston had said she had caught Uncle Adam looking down her bosom then letting his elbow touch her breast like it was an accident. So far, she hadn't been touched but she knew it was only time until something happened.
She was eighteen and had fill ed out over the past two years. Nanny would say you's a child in a woman's body'.
Getting Gabe back to the boat and loaded on board had been a chore. Uncle Lum followed the channels back going past Lady's Island into the Broad River, then on into Beaufort. Once they landed, Uncle Lum rounded up the mule he'd left hobbled and grazing.
Then he hitched up the wagon and with some difficulty got Gabe in the wagon.
'Is he heavy, Uncle Lum?' Faith asked.
Lum was huffing and puffing from the exertion caused by trying to load the unconscious man. 'He be heavy, mizzy, but he's got soggy clothes and boots. Dat don't hep none plus I'm a bit tired rowing dat boat on a tide what be going out. Come on tho, we's got to git foh Mastuh Adam starts asking questions.' Looking up, Faith could see
