Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key

SEVEN: Tortuga

IT OCCURRED TO JOHN to wonder where Mrs. Waverly had been during the battle. He assumed she had sensibly remained in her cabin, but thought he ought to go down and ask her how she did. So, as the wounded were being laid out groaning, John took a horn lamp and went below.

“Ma’am?” he said, knocking on the door. There was no answer. He wondered if she had fainted, and opened the door and shone the lantern in. There was no sign of her.

“What are you doing, Mr. James?” Her voice came from behind him. He swung around to see her approaching him from the direction of the foc’sle.

“What’re you doing?” he demanded, in his surprise. She looked pained.

“Seeing to private matters,” she said primly.

“Oh.”

“I trust the engagement is over, and Captain Reynald won?”

“Aye, he did, ma’am”

“And were many poor fellows wounded, on our side?”

“We’re fair cut up, ma’am, but the other side’s are all dead.”

“I must do my best to tend to our boys, then,” said Mrs. Waverly. She shoved past him into the cabin. He heard her rummaging in her trunk. She emerged with one of her shifts, tearing it into strips, and went up on deck. John followed her.

There was a sort of Guy Fawkes’ Night air on deck, with the smell of gunpowder strong and the loot from the Santa Ysabel piled up all untidy in the lanternlight. The wounded sat or lay here and there, while the others were eagerly opening barrels and crates to see what they’d got. Mrs. Waverly knelt at once to play the ministering angel to the hurt. John shrugged and walked forward to the plunder.

“What’d we take?”

“Commodities,” said a Frenchman named Belanger, and spat. “Maize flour. Salt. Le tissu coton, what d’you call her, calico?”

“Hell,” said John. “Well, the candlesticks and plate ought to be worth something, eh?”

“We will get a good price for all,” Captain Reynald told them. “Turn it all into gold at la belle Tortue! Madame, truly you are a saint.” He crouched beside Mrs. Waverly, who was binding up the stump of Mr. Tudeley’s ear.

“It is a lady’s duty, sir,” she said, smiling at him. Mr. Tudeley paused in his lament long enough to watch sourly as Captain Reynald kissed Mrs. Waverly’s hand, and then resumed:

“—Maimed, maimed like a common criminal, I might as well have been branded for a thief! How shall I show my face in public again?”

“Your scar shall be a badge of honor, my friend,” Captain Reynald told him, gazing into Mrs. Waverly’s eyes.

“Oh, gammon and spinach,” snapped Mr. Tudeley. “And what am I to do about my spectacles?”

“Tie them around the back of your head,” advised Sejanus, who had come through the entire fight without a scratch. He found a bit of string and bound Mr. Tudeley’s spectacles on for him, though he had to fasten them around the outside of the bandage Mrs. Waverly had bound on, the ends of which stuck up on Mr. Tudeley’s head like rabbit ears. “There! Now you can see.”

“Though I shan’t wish to look in my shaving-glass,” moaned Mr. Tudeley. “What indignity.”

“Have some rum,” said John absently, for he was rummaging in one of the boxes he’d salvaged from the Spanish captain’s cabin. It looked to have nothing much of value in it. He pulled out a comb and a bundle of letters bound with ribbon, a block of sealing wax, a sort of jointed ivory tool containing a toothpick and other personal grooming devices. There was a smaller box inside, too. John opened it and whistled. He saw a pair of earrings, gold set with dangling emeralds, and a twist of paper that when opened contained four loose pearls of varying sizes.

“Here’s something, anyway,” said John, holding out the box. Captain Reynald rose and peered into it, then dipped out the earrings.

“Adornment for a beautiful woman! Let this share go to Madame, our selfless nurse!”

“Sir!” Mrs. Waverly’s eyes gleamed as she beheld the gold and emeralds. “I couldn’t possibly accept such a generous gift!” But her hand went out for them pretty fast anyway, and closed tight on them. John, seeing that Captain Reynald hadn’t noticed the pearls, closed them up again in their paper twist and pocketed them.

There was some grumbling among the men about Mrs. Waverly getting the earrings, but Captain Reynald spoke a few more high-flown words about gallantry and beauty. In the end the wounded crawled or were carried off to the foc’sle and the unscathed lugged the plunder below, and that was that.

They made for Tortuga next day, sailing through fair weather. Only the weather was fair; there was a glum and quarrelsome mood on board the Harmony, and not just from resentment over Mrs. Waverly being given the emerald earrings. (Though it was true that one or two malicious parties accosted John in various corners, to tell him that they had positive proof he was being cuckolded by Captain Reynald. The horns being false, John still felt profound irritation at being suspected of wearing them.)

No, the main disquiet amongst the crew was generated when they began to complain of the loss of small valuables. One man missed a little pearl-handled knife, another a lucky trinket, still another a ring he had taken from a dead man. No one could point a finger at who might have done it.

And two of the crew got in a fight over what one had said about the other’s religion, and knives were drawn, and one of them lost an eye in the fight. His screams and moaning kept the whole ship awake, until his desperate mates fed him enough rum to shut him up. Captain Reynald was aghast. He lectured both the combatants next day, long and earnestly, on the need to set aside old sectarian grudges in favor of secular unanimity.

And, in addition to his other woes, Mr. Tudeley developed a toothache that nothing could ease, though his shipmates pointed out that holding a mouthful of rum would kill the pain, or at least keep him from caring about it.

And the stores of food turned out to have been miscounted, and they had to go on half rations the last few days, though Mrs. Waverly was excepted. The captain explained that a delicate female must not be expected to endure the same hardships as a seasoned corsair.

“Next thing they’ll do, they’ll start talking about how a woman’s bad luck on a ship,” said Sejanus, winding a length of fishing-line. “You’d better mind the lady, lest they put her over the side. Nothing more dangerous than a pack of scared whites.”

“Bugger off,” said John, watching grumpily as Captain Reynald demonstrated the use of an astrolabe to Mrs. Waverly. “Why’nt you go over on the Fraternity and serve alongside the other darky, if you find us so damn funny?”

“What other darky?”

“The other one,” said John. “Him that was right beside you in the thick of the fight, when we took the Santa Ysabel.”

“I didn’t see any other black men.”

John stared at him. “How’d you miss him? He was big as a house. Whacking away at the Spaniards with that bleeding great cleaver he carried.”

Sejanus shrugged. “You saw wrong. Must have been an indian, or a white man all smoked up.”

So certain he was, John supposed himself mistaken, what with all the fire and blood and confusion.

They came in sight of Tortuga that afternoon, and there were wild cheers when her green mountains could be made out. Later men crowded the rail as they cruised along her south coast, watching for the little town by the lagoon, where a river came down to the sea. The late slanting sun made all the houses look as though they were on fire.

Yet Tortuga was growing peaceful these days, not so much a place of drunken mayhem as it had once been. A thoughtful governor had imported better than a thousand whores, to turn the attention of the populace to more domestic matters. Many of the buccaneers had married and settled down now, scratching out livings on little farms up the steep-sided canyons. Some had opened taverns and shops on the waterfront.

There was no harbor to speak of, so both Harmony and Fraternity moored off the lagoon and sent men ashore in the longboats. Captain Reynald went ashore briefly and returned with one M. Delahaye, a shabby-looking little man with spectacles. He led him on a tour of the Harmony’s cargo deck to display her plunder. The two men talked affably together in French, as M. Delahaye made notes on a slate he carried with him, and at last he chalked up a figure and displayed it to Captain Reynald. Apparently Captain Reynald was pleased with the figure, for the two men embraced and went back ashore to seal their bargain with a friendly bottle of rum.

John watched wistfully from the rail, as the last of the crew prepared to go ashore.

“Reckon you’ll be glad to see our backs, eh?” said Anslow, digging him in the ribs. “You and the missus get some privacy at last!”

John smiled and nodded. “To be sure,” he said, thinking how winsomely the yellow lights of the town beckoned. There would have been good food ashore, and rum, and willing ladies to whom he’d have owed no debt but their set price.

“I don’t know but that I oughtn’t stay on board too,” said Mr. Tudeley, perched indecisive on the rail.

“No, you want to go ashore and have a hell of a good time,” said Anslow firmly, jerking his head at John and mouthing the words Honeymoon, remember? at Mr. Tudeley.

“You come on down, now,” said Sejanus, laughing as he rose to help Mr. Tudeley into the boat. “Maybe there’s a bookseller’s stall here. Maybe there’s a barber-surgeon to draw your tooth. Maybe there’s a church! You won’t know if you don’t go see.”

“I may as well,” said Mr. Tudeley, with a sigh.

They rowed ashore. John turned, wondering whether in fact he might win back Mrs. Waverly’s attention, if not her affections. He made his way down to their cabin, hefting a lantern, and found her emerging from the cabin with her arms full of bedding.

“Ah! There you are, Mr. James,” said Mrs. Waverly. “I thought I’d take the opportunity to sleep in my old cabin tonight. I have so fearfully crowded you.”

“Obliged,” said John gruffly. He felt a strong urge for a stiff drink, but the rum was locked away on the orlop deck. “I reckon I’ll sleep on deck, all the same, since there’s just me to keep watch.” He remembered Mr. Tudeley had been given some rum for his toothache, and wondered if there was any left. “Pardon me, ma’am.” He edged past her and opened Mr. Tudeley’s cabin, and thrust the lantern in.

Mr. Tudeley’s trunk was standing open, his clothes and books strewn everywhere. John grimaced at the untidiness. “Landlubber,” he muttered. He spotted the wooden tankard to one side and picked it up, but even before he opened the lid he could tell it was full. He tilted back the lid and peered in, and his mood brightened at once.

So he carried the rum up on deck, and sat there a while sipping it, looking up at the stars. He heard music coming from across the water, and sounds of raucous merriment from the little buildings with their yellow lights. It put him in a sentimental mood. He fell to thinking about Mrs. Waverly, and the way she’d wept for Tom Blackstone. He wondered whether any woman would weep for him when he should meet his end, whether he met it in battle or drowning in the green sea, or dying at a decent age in his brickyard…

He heard Henry Morgan’s voice in his head, then, telling him sharply that he was becoming self-pitying sodden drunk. “Aye, sir,” John said. He sighed, sitting upright and closing the lid of the tankard. He carried it belowdecks and set it back where he’d found it, in Mr. Tudeley’s cabin. Then he thought he’d better get his hammock, so he edged down the passage and went into his cabin.

Preparing to unfasten the hammock, he took out the roll of folded sailcloth he’d been using as a pillow and tossed it on the deck. It landed with a hard sound, a sort of rattling tinkle; several objects spilled out of it. John peered down, surprised. Then he grabbed the lantern and held it down to see better.

There was a little pearl-handled knife. There was a ring. There was a sort of doll made of a carved nutshell, with a body of ribbon scraps and rags. There were three parrot feathers bound together with gold wire. There was a piece of heathen money with a hole in it. There was a whistle carved from a bone. All hidden in his pillow…

John heard his heart beating. His mouth was dry. Stone cold sober, he turned and opened the door.

Mrs. Waverly stood there, looking at him with narrowed eyes. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the cabin.

“What’s this, then?” he demanded. “What’s this stuff doing in my gear? It was you took it, wasn’t it, and hid it in my gear?”

She looked into his eyes a long moment, her gaze unfathomable; then she turned away and lifted her arm to hide her face. “Oh, God,” she moaned, with tears choking her voice. “It has begun again. Oh, poor dear Mr. James, forgive me, please forgive me!”

John lessened his grip on her hand a bit. “What’re you talking about?”

“They’re only trifles. I meant no harm. I can’t help myself—” Her tears were coming in full flood now. “Oh—Mr. James, I must—must throw myself on your mercy!”

John evened his breath, trying to calm himself at least. “First thing we got to do is put all this back,” he said. “And it’s a good job everyone else is ashore. Come on.” He stooped and swept everything back into the pillow.

They went into the crew’s quarters, with Mrs. Waverly whimpering and sobbing the whole while. She mastered herself enough to point mutely at each particular sea-chest, as John held up first one oddment and then another, so he could stow them back where they belonged. The whole time he listened hard, fearful of hearing footsteps creaking overhead that meant some of the crew had come back early. Once or twice he nearly told Mrs. Waverly to stop her noise, but gritted his teeth and forbore, realizing that rough treatment would only make her more hysterical.

When they were finished putting everything back, John took Mrs. Waverly by the hand and led her up on deck. “Now,” he said, seating her on the helmsman’s bench. “What in thunder did you steal all that trash for?”

“I don’t know,” said Mrs. Waverly, her voice rising shrilly. “I have never known. Oh, Mr. James, please don’t tell! They were only petty, silly things, of no real value; and yet I should be so ashamed, if all those brave gentlemen thought less of me on that account.”

“They’d likely do a bit worse than think less of you,” said John. “I seen men flogged for doing what you done. You don’t go thieving from your shipmates.”

“But you’re pirates,” said Mrs. Waverly, looking genuinely confused. “You murdered everyone on that Spanish ship and stole their goods.”

“Well—yes—yes, we did. But they was Spaniards, so it don’t count.”

“And before that, Captain Reynald and his crew stole the Fyrey Pentacost, whose crew were English!”

“Well, so they done, but he’s a Frenchman. So it wasn’t exactly like common thievery, see?”

“I see,” said Mrs. Waverly, with a sniff. “Common thievery is the sticking point, then. I did think I might have found myself in the one society in which persons might be better disposed to excuse my little frailty.”

“I’m sorry to say that ain’t the case, ma’am,” said John. “Your householder’ll go and fetch a constable if he catches you stealing his goods, but your pirate won’t bother with all that. He’ll just pull out his knife and stick you a few times to make sure you don’t go doing it again. D’you catch my meaning?”

Mrs. Waverly shuddered. “I suppose.”

“And with you being a woman and all,” John paused, uncertain how to phrase it delicately. “He’s likeliest to pull something else out first, afore he goes for his knife.”

Mrs. Waverly covered her face with her hands. “Oh, great God forbid!”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“I hadn’t given offense in years,” said Mrs. Waverly. “Oh, Mr. James, pity me! I am sure it is grief and the desperation of my present circumstance that has made it break out again. My father was old gentry in Hertfordshire—well-bred but improvident, and too trusting—we lost our manor and he died untimely, and we were obliged to go live with an aunt in London, in very mean circumstances—I think it began then.

“I am sure I do not know what possessed me. I could never recall how it had happened afterwards—all manner of oddments would be found in my apron pockets, or once or twice in my stockings. Spoons, mostly. Other people’s thimbles. Hair ribbons. Nothing anyone would consider real theft, surely!

“And when I was happy and at peace, it would never happen at all. You see, do you not, Mr. James, that I am no malefactor?”

“Of course not,” agreed John, though he was remembering Bess Whidbey who’d lived in the next street but one in Hackney, who’d been arrested coming out of a shop with a packet of brass pins hid in her bosom, and when they’d gone to her room they’d found row upon row of packets of pins lined up along the cupboard shelf, never opened, and her cool as ice the whole time declaring her innocence.

“Did Tom know about what you done?”

Mrs. Waverly nodded, weeping afresh. “Such a kind man—such an understanding man. He knew that I should die of shame were I ever caught out, and he protected me. And in truth, when dear Tom was alive I was seldom troubled. Will you not have mercy on an unhappy woman’s weakness, Mr. James?” She reached out and clasped both his hands.

“Aw—” said John, and then her mouth was on his, she was grabbing his arms fit to leave finger-marks and pulling him down to her. He overbalanced and fell on one knee on the bench, which hurt considerably, but her mouth tasted of comfits and her little white teeth were raking his lip.

Except—

“Wait,” he said, coming up for air with effort. “Wait. I thought you was sweet on Reynald. I ain’t fighting no adultery duels with any Frenchman, especially when you and me ain’t really married in the first place.”

“Oh, Mr. James!” Mrs. Waverly tossed her head impatiently. “How can you imagine I should so demean myself as to dishonor Tom’s memory with a person like Captain Reynald? I but play a role, as you do. Circumstance has placed us at the mercy of these wild and vicious men; what is more prudent than to smile, and flatter them, and make myself generally agreeable to preserve myself from harm?”

“You’re not staying on in hopes of getting yourself some more earrings, then?”

“Sir!” said Mrs. Waverly, pulling away from him and sitting straight. “That insinuation is unworthy of you! One might as well ask why you have made no move to escape. We need but slip over the side, after all.”

“Well,” said John. “Where’d we go? The island is all bloody pirates. We’d only be leaving devils we know to trust ourselves with devils we don’t. And anyone agrees to take us to Leauchaud for a price is going to want to know why we’re going.”

“You’re not staying on because you find a brigand’s life suits you?”

The shot hit home. John scowled at her.

“You can argue like a lawyer when you’ve a mind, can’t you?”

“Of course I can. Consider, Mr. James: you are a man. You have at your disposal tremendous strength and courage with which to defend yourself, to say nothing of cutlasses and pistols. What have I, a weak and feeble woman, by comparison? Naught but my wit, my grace, my politesse!”

“True enough,” said John, though he remembered a girl who had wielded a cutlass and pistol well enough and feared nothing. Her kiss had burned his mouth like white rum; and the memory of that gave him a bleak feeling, and suddenly he didn’t feel like having Mrs. Waverly right there on the steersman’s bench anymore.

“You’d best go below,” he said, turning away from her and looking out at the lights of Tortuga. “I won’t tell a soul what you done. You mustn’t do it anymore, mind. Not as long as we’re aboard this craft.”

“You have my most fervent gratitude, Mr. James,” said Mrs. Waverly, rising and adjusting her garments, which had become a little disheveled in their embrace. She wished him a pleasant goodnight and went below.