The French Admiral

'Then lie to him,' Alan said bluntly. 'If he doesn't know where he is, then you may tell him you're already in Charleston, ready to go home, or going to Charleston to see his sons, who are already there. You must go there now and again.'

'Only once in our lives,' she confessed. 'Wilmington is the biggest town we've seen, except for that. But he always did love going. I could try. Oh, thank you, Mister Lewrie, you're inspiring.'

'Sneaky, but inspiring.' He grinned.

'The Lord shall forgive us a small lie, in a good cause,' she said with a firmness he was glad to see.

'You go work on him, and I shall have my men gather up your belongings and get them into your wagon. Which one is yours?'

'We have none,' she said. 'We had to sell the wagon and the carriage and all the horses just to pay for lodging and food once our coin ran out. No one extends credit, and everything is dear.'

'No problem.' Alan grinned. 'Cony?'

'Aye, sir?'

'Go out and hire us a wagon. Handle the drays yourself and we'll save tuppence or two. Hold on, how much is to go?'

Alan saw all the heavy furniture, the beds and the chairs, the tables and paintings, the carpets on the floor, even if they were far past the times when Axminster or Wilton would have claimed them as their work. Caroline must not have been able to pack up much, he surmised.

'The mattresses and pillows, the crates that Mammy and I have already packed, and the trunks.'

'The rest?' Alan wondered.

'It came with the lodgings, or was found from other unfortunates such as we for a few pence,' Caroline said, trying to put a brave face on it. 'I have one large trunk for the last of our clothes, and one for all the quilts and such still hanging. The rest is packed.'

'One 'orse dray, sir,' Cony said, looking at the meager pile of possessions that represented three generations of work and life.

'Go get one then,' Alan told him grimly.

Caroline ducked through a quilt barrier to her parents' bedroom and began to speak to her father. Alan could hear her telling him that he was there to take them to Charleston to see Gov and Burge, see all the sights and buy new horses and a slave or two, some 'fancies.'

The old man was having little of it, however, and insisted that there were good reasons to stay where they were, snug in their own beds at home on their own lands. Alan didn't want to hear all of that, so he got busy ordering the hands to shift everything out to the front of the lodging house, letting Mammy point out what was to go and what was to stay while she had herself a short weep between loads.

They finally got the room picked clean of all the Chiswick belongings, and the landlord came in to see that nothing of his would be going.

'They owe fer the last two days, sir,' he said, leaning on the doorjamb as though he would not move until he got his money.

'How much?' Alan asked.

'A crown,' the man said, smiling hopefully.

'Bugger me!' Alan gawped. 'I wouldn't pay that much to sleep in St. James' Place!'

'They ain't leavin' 'til I get my money,' the man blustered.

Alan crooked a finger at one of his hands, a fo'c's'le man named Fields, who easily stood taller than Alan and weighed fifteen stone, the sort who could seize a headsail sheet and almost walk away with it himself in a full gale.

'Now, sir,' Alan crooned softly, dragging the little man into the hallway. 'There's a lot of furniture been added to this room to make it livable, some of it rather good and bought for a penny on the pound, unless I miss my guess. Why don't you take that in trade? If you do, then I won't have to have Fields here tear off your legs and cram 'em up your fundament.'

'You wouldn't dare, sir!'

'Take him out back and dismember him, Fields.'

'Aye, sir,' Fields said, lumbering within reach. 'Hain't never tried ta rip a man's legs h'off afore. Might be a treat.'

'Alright, go, just go!' the landlord cried, ducking out of range.

Finally, Mr. Chiswick was bundled up into winter clothing and was carried out to the dray, protesting all the while that he could walk, and his wife stumbled alongside him while two seamen linked arms to make a chair for his frail body. Caroline came out of the house in a dark red velvet traveling cloak with the hood up over her fair hair, and a muff over her hands, and the sailors winked and leered at Lewrie, thinking him quite the fellow to have become friends with such a pretty girl.

'Do we have everything?' Alan asked, getting back into his watch coat and going to her side on the porch.

'Aye, I made a last check.' She sighed, finally looking weak and helpless for a change, instead of so rigid and self-controlled. They made their way down to the boat, loaded all the possessions into it, and rowed out to the small schooner which Caroline had booked for passage. But the master bluntly informed them that he was full up, since they had not paid to reserve their space and others had come aboard since.

They had to pick their way through the anchored shipping, searching for a ship that would take them.

'Like Joseph and Mary looking for lodging,' Caroline said, trying to smile and regard it as an adventure.

'I'm cold,' Mr. Chiswick complained.

'We'll find the right boat soon, Daddy,' she told him.

They tried a brigantine, a ship lying near Desperate, but once more they were rebuffed. A passenger came to the rail and gave the Chiswicks a hearty hello, but had no joy for them.

'Mister Henry, sir, surely our few belongings would take no room at all,' Caroline bargained, and Alan could see that though she was trying to stay friendly, her teeth were set on edge with frustration. 'We could sleep four to a pallet in the corner of a cabin, or hang our quilts for privacy.'

'But my dear girl, that would crowd my family so, and the others aboard this poor ship,' Henry shouted back smarmily. He was a richly dressed man, and his wife looked as fashionable as a London belle on her way to a ball. Alan was sure they had as much room as a post-captain.

'They's a tiny bit o' room, young miss,' the master called down. 'But I'm overloaded now, an' the risk o' takin' more weight… if there be the four o' ya an' all that dunnage, I couldn't do it fer less'n twenty pounds.'

Caroline considered this, though Alan was sure it was most of their money. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, a strange smile still on her features.

'The hell you shall,' Alan said. 'Cox'n, get a way on her and steer for Desperate.'

'Aye, aye, sir!' the man replied. 'Give way tagither!'

Minutes later he clambered to the deck through the entry port, sought out an audience with Commander Treghues and explained the situation, stressing that no one would show a decent, God-fearing family the slightest Christian charity. He knew how Treghues thought by then.

'They have no money for passage?' Treghues asked.

'They do, sir, but so little that the tariff would break them, and all they have is what their sons sent them from New York. Mr. Sewallis Chiswick was a prominent Loyalist, helped to outfit local military units, and they'd hang him sure as fate if he doesn't get away,' Alan said.

'And how pretty is the girl, Mister Lewrie?' Treghues asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

'Sir?' Alan gaped. Damme, he's having a good day, I didn't know he was that sharp anymore, Alan thought.

'I know you, Mister Lewrie,' Treghues warned, still smiling that lazy, superior smile. 'Since Yorktown you seem a changed person, for the better, I might add, but as Horace tells us, men may change their latitudes but not their character, or something like that. I'll not ensconce an innocent and impressionable young girl aboard to liven your social life.'

'If you would but see them, sir. They wouldn't take up much room, they have so little left of their possessions. They could do quite well in the chart space, all four of them. They'd sleep in hammocks if that was all