For the first time since he left Linda that morning Wake felt good about something and he smiled.
“Fault him? No, if he wants to forgo the pleasures of Key West and the hospital, then we’ll just have to take him along, Bosun. I just hope he doesn’t regret his decision too soon.”
“Well, Captain, I thought that you, who was also a guest at that establishment last year with your wound an’ all, would understand his need to escape their clutches. Sometimes the sawbones do more harm than good.”
“Aye on that, Rork. Pass along my compliments and tell White he is welcome back by me. Now, let’s shape a course for the Cedar Keys so we can help the army one more time get to where they are going.”
“Aye aye, sir. Due north it will be, once we’re out o’ the channel.”
Wake nodded his assent and stared astern at Key West. Rork relayed the orders to Faber, the petty officer of the deck, and returned to stand at the rail next to his friend.
“She’ll be fine, Captain. She’s a strong-minded woman who will do jus’ fine. If they’ve used the brains God gave ’em, then most likely the good lady’ll be voted the head o’ the islanders by the time we see her next.”
“I hope you’re right, Rork. I can’t stand to leave her like this. I feel like a cad who’s fleeing adversity on a cheap excuse.”
“You’re doin’ your duty as a naval officer, Captain. There’s plenty that have done so, an’ plenty that will. Grief an’ glory are the lot o’ an officer.”
Realizing that some humor was needed to break the maudlin conversation, Rork turned the subject to himself. “Now, I’m a thinkin’ it’s time for some o’ that glory. Without any attendin’ gunfire, to be sure, but a wee bit o’ glory an’ some prize money for me pockets. Then me an’ the girls o’ the Anchor Inn will be happy!”
It did the trick, for Wake laughed and looked at his friend with mock surprise.
“The girls of the Anchor? As in many? Why, Rork, what happened to that one girl of the Anchor Inn? The one and only silent Louisa?”
Rork knew he had succeeded and responded in kind.
“Well now, Captain, that lass is a fine one, to be sure. A bit quiet, but she has her moments when she’s louder than a banshee. You jus’ ne’er witnessed ’em, bein’ an officer an’ all. Gets finer as the evenin’ goes along. But she’s a workin’ girl an’ me best friend only when she hears me pockets ajinglin’ with what it takes to make her happy. Ol’ Sean Rork is too old an’ been in too many ports to get confounded on that issue!
“Besides, there’s a few other girls that would fancy the chance to be happy with me on an evenin’ ashore. I may be only an Irish peasant, but even I know it would be very impolite to deny them that pleasure, Captain, an’ I am anything but impolite in the area of pleasure, sir. A petty officer’s duty, so to speak, sir.”
Wake smiled and shook his head at the image of Rork as a peasant in Ireland.
“Well said, my friend, but a peasant you’re not. And I’ll do my very best, subject to the whims of the soldiers we’ll be with, to get you some real glory and the money that goes with it, so you can bring those poor lonely Key West girls some pleasure. One must do his duty, of course.”
“Quite right. Thank you, sir.”
“It does make me glad to see you’re not getting too soft on the subject though. A firm mind will be always needed to keep all your women organized and under command.”
“Command, Captain, as you’re only too well aware, is a lonely burden, be it a ship or a port full o’ girls. ’Tis only for the stout-hearted lads like us.”
Faber, standing a few feet away, smiled as he listened to the bandying between the captain and the bosun. He, like many in the crew, attended the wedding and was happy that someone had found happiness in the ordeal they were all going through. But they were all worried for Wake and the revenge that might come his, and thus their, direction.
The egos and jealousies of officers were mysteries to most of the sailors. Faber, like most of the “saints,” as the crew of the St. James called themselves, knew that Wake had alienated several of the regular veteran naval officers in the squadron with his unorthodox actions. The sailors knew that the regular officers resented him, a mere upstart volunteer officer commanding a schooner and producing tangible results in a backwater area of the war. There were other officers who simply did the minimum of what was expected and nothing further. The men in those crews had no respect for that type of officer.
The fact that Wake had married a Rebel girl was just another reason some of the career officers would hate him and aim to curtail his success. So Faber decided it was good to hear the light-hearted banter between the captain and the bosun and to know that all was back to normal on the St. James, whatever they were bound for.
***
The weather was unusual for the summer months, with three days of westerly winds bringing small gales and rains and no visibility for celestial sights. Dead reckoning their way up the Gulf of Mexico for three days on a broad port reach, they reached what they hoped would be the latitude of the Cedar Keys at twenty-nine degrees north of the equator. The schooner bore off before the wind, which was now from the southwest,
