No doubt some sailor had arranged it so for pilfering a bit of cargo, but I had no wish for aught but my due, and I went through and into the dark hold. It took me a time longer than I wished to find my own things, but once there I opened a bale and felt about within.
Two pistols, powder and shot. A dozen loads for each. Three cutlasses of the four I'd brought along, and a fowling piece which I charged with shot as soon as I'd come back to the light of the sail locker.
Keeping one pistol in hand, I tucked the other in my belt. My own good blade had been taken by the captain when I came aboard, but I'd see to that. In the meantime the cutlasses were excellent weapons.
No man saw me move across the dark, wet deck. No man saw me re-enter the sleeping quarters. I shook awake Sakim and Rufisco and handed each a cutlass.
'Come!' I whispered. 'This night we take a ship!'
We went out upon the deck and I pointed to a swivel gun on the bulwark. 'Charge it,' I said, 'and when given the word, choose your best target.'
Darkling was at the helm, a man for whom I'd no liking at all. As I came along the deck toward him. he saw me. 'What er you a-doin' on deck?'
'Taking a ship,' I said. 'Put your wheel over four degrees.'
'I'll do no such thing,' he said.
I aimed the fowling piece at his belt buckle.
'Have it your way,' I said. 'The next man can do it standing over your body.'
He eyed me a moment, sullen and furious, but he put the wheel over as I watched him. The wind was right, and we moved in toward the coast. I was sure there would be an action resulting, and there was. Berryman burst out upon the deck.
'What—'
'Lie down on the hatch,' I said.
He looked at me, and at the fowling piece and at the pistols in my belt. He was a thinking man and he did as suggested.
'You,' I said to Rufisco, 'take the wheel and keep her in toward the coast. Darkling,' I said, 'lie down beside Berryman. With this fowling piece I can take two as well as one, be they close together.'
All was still. Our speed was not great, but we were not far offshore. Until I had seen that dark finger of land, it had been no part of my plan to move so soon. There was on my chart a place such as that, and south of it some long, sandy islets. If I had been fortunate, if I had guessed right—for it was only a guess—those islands would be showing up.
'You're a great fool!' Berryman shouted from the deck. 'You will swing for this!'
'When I tell all I know,' I said pleasantly, 'you will all swing.'
The shore was nearing. I could smell it, and I could hear the surf upon the shore. We were moving on an oblique course but I had no intention of putting the ship aground, for to endanger the others was no part of my plan. They were rascals, no question of that, and a dirty, poisonous lot, enough to kill the fish for miles if dumped into the water.
We were moving slowly, making barely enough speed for proper handling. I went aft and pulled in the gig we had been towing astern.
My mouth was dry and I was scared, yet saw no alternative to what I intended. Darkling had started to rise when I turned the gun on him again. He slid back down and lay still.
'Nick will come,' he threatened, 'then you'll see!'
'Sakim,' I said, 'get the top off that hatch.'
They had no idea what I intended, Berryman and Darkling, and, as they were ordered off the hatch, must have been wondering hard. With a sign I motioned Rufisco to put the lashings on the wheel, then to go forward and cut loose the anchor.
With Sakim holding the fowling piece, I went down into the hatch and retrieved my merchandise. Pulling the gig close in alongside, I lowered my gear into it. Working swiftly then, we bound and gagged Berryman and Darkling, then got into the ship's stores, taking out ship's biscuit, salt meat and a side of beef the captain had in keeping for himself.
'Stand by,' I told them, 'and keep a wary eye. I shall speak to the captain.'
'What?' Rufisco stared at me. 'He sleeps with a loaded pistol by him.'
'Then he had better be quick with it,' I said, 'for I've a matter to discuss with him.'
I went along aft, down the ladder's three steps to the after cabin, and there he lay, sprawled on his bunk with an empty bottle by him and the smell of rum strong upon the air. My sword lay across the room and I walked over and took it up.
He had a pistol by him, all right, but I took it rudely from under his hand. Then I nudged him a toe.
'Come alive,' I said. 'You've to settle accounts now.'
He stirred, opened his eyes, then seeming to sense the stillness of the ship he suddenly woke up, threw back the covers and put a foot to the deck. Then he saw me, standing wide-legged to the roll of the vessel, slight though it was, with a sword in my hand and a pistol in my belt.
'You.' He started to rise and I tilted the point of the blade at him. 'Is it mutiny then?' he asked.
'Not mutiny, Captain, for I'm no sworn member of your crew, nor legally taken on. The coast lies yonder, and I am taking my freedom.'
'The savages will roast you,' he warned.
'Me, at least, not you,' I said. 'Now, Captain, there's a matter between us, a matter of money taken from me, and a matter of payment for my work as a crew member. As well as damages.'
'Damages! I'll damage you!' He lunged up, and I put my blade against his chest and pressed, just enough.
He cried out and fell back, a spot of blood on his shirt front. 'The money taken from me, Captain. I'll take the rest in goods.'
From his shirt he took my sack of money and threw it to me. Deftly I picked it from the air, hefting the weight. It felt right.
'My time is worth money, more than your ship, but I'll not take that. However,' I said, 'four hundred weight of trade goods as well as some powder and shot should do for damages.'
'Four hundred weight!' He almost screamed it. 'You're daft, man!'
'All right. Have it your own way, five hundred weight.'
Bardle stared at me hard-eyed. '
'No doubt,' I replied cheerfully. 'But you might have found trouble doing it, and you'd still have Tempany to settle with.' I smiled at him. 'You know, Bardle, you can never go back to England now.'
'What's that? What d'you mean?'
'By now, inquiries will have traced me to your ship. You will be waited for when you return.'
He did not like that. He tried to stare me down, to not believe what I had said, but he believed.
'Bah!' he sneered. 'They'll not notice you! You're nothin' but a farmer from the fens!'
The cabin held little else that I wanted. A compass, which I took, another brace of pistols, which I also placed to one side. He watched me, his eyes bulging. 'You're a bloody thief!' he shouted.
'Next time you think to knock some lad in the head, Bardle, remember this. And when I leave you, remember that Tempany is coming along behind you, and he knows your craft and you. He will be looking for you.
'The night after that on which you took me, I was to meet an Earl, Genester's cousin. He had plans in which I was concerned. Captain Tempany was also involved, as were others. Oh, you've done it this time, Bardle! You've fixed yourself nicely!'
Gathering what I needed in one hand and under that arm, I backed to the door. 'Don't try coming out, Bardle, and don't try to follow me.'
'You think Tempany will find you?' Bardle sneered. 'No man knows this coast, not even Gosnold or Newport! Once you leave this vessel you'll not be seen again.'
'Hadn't you guessed? I don't intend to be seen, not for a long time, Bardle. Not until after you've
