He beamed. “Shipshape and wagon tough, sir!”
I laughed. “That’s a good one.” I went into my cabin, shut the door, and sat down on my bunk. It was hot, still, and quiet as the ship rolled over the waves, and my eyelids grew heavy. I lay back, stared at the waving lamp hanging from the ceiling, and tried to focus on my case. That was usually helpful, but now it simply made me too frustrated to sleep. There was absolutely nothing I could do to speed the process along, and if we didn’t find something or someone soon, I might slaughter my beginner’s class just to keep from going mad.
Or worse, I might keep giving people advice.
Chapter Seventeen
Seaton gave us a heading based on the Vile Howl ’s logbook, and we followed it. I mean, I guess we did. We sighted no land, the sea looked the same, and I could never navigate by the stars the way sailors could. It appeared, by the sun, that we headed southwest. It certainly got no cooler.
Clift kept two men posted atop the foremast crosstrees at all times. No one was going to slip up on the Red Cow. I wondered if perhaps we were overlooking the obvious reason for our villain’s actions, whoever he was: maybe clearing the sea of traffic was the point. But again, we were brought back to the why. What good is a pirate without ships to attack? The more I thought about it, the more I was certain some crucial bit of information eluded us. As it stood, the puzzle made no sense at all.
When I discussed it with Jane, she was just as perplexed. “You clear things, usually, to make sure you have room for something else. Troops clear a road so an army can travel. But goddamn, the ocean’s already mostly empty.”
“So is it just someone showing off? ‘Look how powerful I am’?”
“Fuck, Eddie, I don’t know. But I tell you, I’m about ready to bury a blade in somebody, and if we don’t find some bad guys soon, I can’t promise it won’t be one of the good guys.”
I knew what she meant. Even the daily sword practice did little to help my impatience.
One night over dinner, Suhonen-who had been admitted to the captain’s table, his huge size making us all feel like kids sitting in the corner while the grown-ups ate in the main hall- demonstrated his innate knack for logical thinking, something he’d previously kept to himself. “The one constant thing they’ve taken is the ship’s medicine chest, right? Maybe someone’s sick.”
“Maybe, but they’ve taken an awful lot of medicine, more than enough for a ship’s crew,” Jane said.
“What if the sick people aren’t on the ship?” he said.
“That’s an idea,” I said. “How well settled is this part of the world?”
“Pretty much every place that can be occupied, is,” Jane said. “There are a lot of small uninhabited islands, but even those are well known and used to replenish supplies. Not a lot of surprises left in this part of the ocean.”
“Only takes one,” Suhonen pointed out.
And there was only one needle in the proverbial haystack, an analogy that grew more apt with each passing day. We thought we were in the right area, but that was as specific as we could get, and now it was a matter of persis tence and luck. Only one of those things was under our control.
Finally, just after sunrise, on a day as fine and clear as any, one of the lookouts yelled down, “Ship to port!”
Clift gave orders that Seaton repeated. Men scurried up the shrouds and rushed to the ropes on deck. Jane and I pushed our way through the crowd of unoccupied crew at the bow rail.
We waited for additional information. I’d never heard the Cow so silent during the day. Finally the lookout said, “No pennant, no sails. No sign of life!”
“Another one,” Greaves said. “Another ghost.”
“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Clift snapped, “especially not where the crew can hear.”
“Aye, sir. My indiscretion.”
“Bring us alongside, Mr. Seaton. You know the drill.”
Sails were adjusted, ropes were pulled and tied, and the Red Cow turned to port, heading directly toward the oncoming vessel. Mr. Dancer’s gun crew readied themselves, and the rest of the men made sure they were armed with swords, axes, and cutlasses. A few of the men, too nervous to just stand around and watch, went through the exercises I’d been teaching; I only hoped they’d remember them in the thick of battle. Could that be what happened to all the other ships, even the Vile Howl — their crews panicked? But what could rattle a bunch of ex-pirates so badly? These were men who knew all the tricks of both sides.
As we closed in on this new vessel, we quickly saw it was not just “another one.” For one thing, this ship bore no name or other form of identification. Her hull was worn and faded, and all the deck fixings were stained with rust and corrosion. She was bigger than the Red Cow, with three masts to our two. Yet she sat perfectly upright, her empty masts swaying only slightly in the breeze that drove us.
“Where are her sails?” Jane asked softly.
“Is that important?”
“Yeah. I mean, she had to get out here somehow. Her sails aren’t furled, they’re gone. No rigging at all, just masts and spars. Somebody took down all the canvas deliberately.”
“Why?”
“So she’d stay put, I imagine. She must be anchored.” She shook her head. “What the hell is she?”
“Beats me,” Clift answered. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s just a generic ship. She hasn’t been fitted out for any particular purpose. She’s not a warship, nor a cargo vessel, nor designed to carry passengers.”
“Then what’s keeping her upright?” one of the sailors inquired. No one answered.
“She must be anchored,” Jane repeated.
“This water’s far too deep for anchorage,” Seaton said.
“Then why the hell isn’t she moving?” Jane said.
“Belay that order to come alongside, Mr. Seaton,” Clift said. “Keep us at a distance.”
“Aye, sir,” Seaton said, then shouted to the crew. We slowed and turned to starboard, then back to port until we were parallel to the strange ship but with fifty yards of water between us.
“You ever hunt geese, Mr. LaCrosse?” Suhonen said, so quietly only I heard.
“When I was a kid,” I said.
“Then you’ll know what this ship reminds me of.” He paused. “A decoy.”
His insight sent cold chills through me. But if he was right, where were the hunters? The sea was empty in all directions; where could they have put their blind? Unless, of course, they waited out of sight in the ghost ship’s belly.
“We’re putting off the inevitable,” Jane said. “We have to go over there.”
“Someone on the Vile may have thought the same thing,” Clift said.
“You don’t know that this ship has anything to do with the Vile, ” Jane said.
“No, I don’t. But I do know we found it by backtracking the Vile, and that’s a big honking coincidence. I’m not in a hurry to lose my crew the way those other vessels did.”
“Then Jane and I will go,” I said. “We’re not part of the crew.”
“Why are you so eager?” Clift asked.
“Because he hates mysteries,” Jane said with a grin.
“Shut up,” I said, annoyed.
She grinned wider. “Am I right?”
“You’ll take one of the boats,” Clift said. “I don’t want to get the ship any closer.”
“Are you scared?” Jane teased.
“I’m properly cautious.” To me, he asked, “Do you want Suhonen?”
I looked up at the big man. He nodded.
“And a couple more,” Clift said. He scanned the men on deck and said, “Kaven and Veasley, you’re volunteering.”
Veasely said, “Do I have to, Cap’n? I had my stars read, and they say I shouldn’t take on any special work
