THE GUN KETCH

'And did it help you, sir?'

'Not immediately, young sir,' Peyton allowed with a rueful grin. 'That came gradual. As does wisdom. But I did take a long look at it and discovered that Heloise would allow no gallantries or importunate addresses beyond a very firm boundary, and would give the rogues who crossed that boundary the 'cut-direct' the next time she saw them. I learned to trust her. A hard lesson, I'll admit. But, once learned, I became even fonder of her than ever before.' 'Fortunately for you, though, sir,' Alan sighed, 'you had none to deal with but gentlemen… who could take a hint. You had no Finney dogging your Heloise.'

'Watch and see if your Caroline cannot put even a thick-skull Irish rogue in his place if he persists,' Peyton laughed. 'And to the galling scorn even of Bahamian society, haw haw! Trust her to handle herself, Alan. And I will give you assurance that Heloise and I will continue to chaperone and advise her, so you will have ' nought to give you worry when you sail the next time.'

I may be dense as bloody marble most of the time, Alan thought, but even I can recognize good sense when I trip over it! 'I will remember that, sir, and be damned grateful to you and your good lady for it,' Alan enthused at last, taking Boudreau's hand and pumping it warmly. 'I feared to leave her in Portsmouth without someone to count on. I'm happy to have found good friends here that we may both trust.'

'You have indeed, young sir,' Peyton smiled, 'you have. Well, all this sun has me parched. There's a bottle of ale with my name on't that'd go down nice. Damme'f I ain't a touch peckish, too. You?'

'Your servant and mine have something succulent on the boil to tempt me, I must allow, sir,' Alan said, wading ashore in a ragged set of breeches to towel off and don a patched old shirt without sleeves.

'Conch chowder. The very thing!' Peyton exclaimed. 'Lobsters thick as your arm! Let us join the ladies. I see they've come ashore like so many fair daughters of Neptune, haw haw! The lovely Heloise, the superbly handsome and lissome Caroline! The bounteous, charming Betty! Poor chick.' He sobered.

'Sir?' Alan asked as they trudged along the hard-packed sand.

'Betty's a sweet'un, near as sweet as your Caroline, d'you see. A trifle headlong in her enthusiasms, and her affections, though, to her cost. A bit too much the hearty coquette, but she has bottom,' Peyton assayed. 'If not the sense God promised a titmouse.'

'I find her a bit forward and… frippish,' Alan said. 'Not the best company for Caroline. As a constant companion, that is.'

'In point of fact, 'tis your Caroline who's been very good for Betty,' Boudreau countered. 'Family scattered hell-to-breakfast, one side Rebel, t'other Tory. Her father's over on Great Abaco, farming and timbering. She ran away with that irresponsible Rodgers and let him set her up here as his hired doxy. For lovel Had she a man who would give her a decent promise of marriage, had she some sense of security in his affection, well, she'd be happy as a kitten in the cream pot! But, he's a slender reed, is Benjamin Rodgers, so she's allowed certain young rogues and Corinthians address her and squire her about on rides, at balls and such, to fill his absences. To make him pay more attention to her when he is in port. And we both know that Rodgers' sort of rake-hell never responds to such ploys with anything other than scorn. He'd simply find another, and turf her out to fall further.'

I do know that sort of rakehell, Alan thought wryly. Damned well, do I know me of old!

'But, with Caroline, and her eminent good sense to guide her, she's mending her ways,' Peyton allowed. 'Even turned her hands now and again to gardening and household economies, though I fear she'll never be a tenth part the wonder your lady is.No, don't begrudge Caroline her friend, Alan. Heloise and I quite like her. Just wish she had a better man, one she could trust, one who'd show her the sort of real affection and attention she craves. Do you not know some other naval officers who might wish to meet an attractive young lady, Alan? That sobersided lieutenant of yours, Ballard?'

'I doubt he wishes to marry so early in his career, sir.'

'Well, if not marriage, she could be mistress to a better fellow than Commander Rodgers,' Peyton suggested. 'She could have someone decent to pine for when he's away. She has some means to keep herself, so she wouldn't be a burden on a junior officer's purse. Do give it a thought. Heloise and I would appreciate it.'

'I shall, sir.'

'Act more pleasantly disposed towards Betty, too, will you?'

'Have I not been pleasant, sir?' Alan inquired, a little irked that Peyton Boudreau, once he had gotten the slightest status as his and Caroline's Dutch uncle, was now ready to play 'avuncular' to the hilt!

Damme, you wish to adopt us, Alan thought? Play my father's replacement, you'll have to stand me an hundred guineas a year!

'I have seen some snippishness, Alan,' the older man shrugged. 'After all, she's not Calico Jack, for God's sake. Caroline dotes on her. If you trust Caroline's good sense and discernment, surely you can be accepting. Betty needs good friends worth having.'

'Aye, I suppose so, Mister Boudreau,' Alan found himself agreeing. 'I suppose I may even come to tolerate Calico Jack Fin-ney, if I follow your advice, and allow Caroline to pull him up short.'

'Well, you won't see much of him, now the trial's evidence is common knowledge,' Peyton assured him as they neared the campsite. 'Lying doggo for awhile, I'm certain, now word is out your pirate leader was Billy 'Bones' Doyle. Might be in mourning, far's I know, haw haw!'

'They were compatriots?' Alan started.

'Oh, Billy Doyle was a mate of his, long before the war. And master of one of his privateers,' Boudreau replied breezily, as if it were no matter. 'After the war, Finney sold off half his ships and got replacements more suited for trade. Paid half his men off, too. Gave Doyle title to a schooner, in gratitude, along with ten thousand pounds sterling profit! A splendid gesture. Doyle was along with Finney and Deveaux on the expedition to retake New Providence, don't y'know. He…'

'No, sir, I did not know that. It is news to me,' Lewrie said. 'And no one commented upon the connection? No one even wondered…'

'And why should they, after they parted company a year ago?' Boudreau sniffed. 'With Bahamian society riddled as it is with former pirates and privateers, former cut-throats, and merchants greedy as highwaymen, what's one more knave with a scandal?'

'Amazing,' Lewrie goggled.

'Oh, Doyle and Finney were thick as thieves at one time. Haw, haw, thick as thieves, do y'see, sir? I would suppose he dropped him once he'd wasted his money, and his chances to better himself. Quite the cock-of-the- company for awhile, was Billy Bones. But he spent it all on drink and whores, on flash clothes and gay amusements. And some disastrous investments whenever he drew a sober breath. Now I ask you, how may a man lose his last farthing in a market so brisk as the Bahamas, were he not a total fool, sir? Made a sorry, surly, besotted spectacle of himself in the end, and sailed off to God knew where to escape his creditors. For which respite the good people of Nassau thanked God, I tell you!' Boudreau related with glee. 'Just goes to prove the lower orders haven't the wherewithal to improve their lot, to emulate their betters, no matter that the opportunity to do so falls from on high like manna, and is beaconed by a burning bush, haw haw!'

'So the schooner I captured at Conch Bar wasn't a recent prize he'd taken,' Lewrie realized. 'She was the one Finney gave him.'

'Very likely, indeed. Bound to come to a bad end, that sort. Illiterate guttersnipes and mongrels! No matter how high they assay to rise, they always revert to their sorry roots when they fall upon hard times. Back to the criminal habits they learned in their stews! And to be rewarded for criminality in wartime, given stamps of approval, letters of marque, and praised for looting enemy ships! Tosh, I say, sir! What else may one expect, I ask you!'

'Or become a royal governor, like Morgan. Or Woodes Rogers,' Alan commented with a wry grin. 'They both sailed under the 'Jolly Roger,' Mister Boudreau.'

'Well, they were successful pirates,' Boudreau dismissed with a leer. 'And turned on their own kind in the end. Ah, ladies, may we join you for our repast, now you're decent, haw haw?'

Chapter 3