The Dark Secret of Josephine

by Dennis Wheatley

  Every face was turned towards the dais. Upon it João still sat enthroned, one of his long arms tightly encircling Clarissa’s waist. She lay where he had dragged her, half sprawled across his knees. Her face had flushed scarlet and, sobbing with shame, she buried it in her hands; but she could not hide her naked legs and shoulders. Lucette stood just below them, her arms akimbo, her fine head thrown back. All eyes were riveted upon the group. The tropic night was warm and still. Even the seamen who were drunk held their breath as they awaited the outcome of the quarrel. Lucette’s voice rang out. It was loud and angry, but Roger detected a nervous tremor in it.

  ‘You will sleep alone!’ she shouted. ‘Leave the little one be! I’ll not permit that you should have your pleasure of her.’

  ‘So you’re jealous, eh?’ João retorted with an ugly leer.

  ‘Nay!’ she brazenly flung back. ‘ ’Twas only your repertoire of strange blandishments that has reconciled me these past few weeks to waking each morning with your skulls-head next to mine. Now they are stale to me, and among the new men aboard there are others I have a mind to try as bedfellows. I care not for you, nor who is the first to rape her once we get ashore; but I am determined that you shall follow the rules of our fraternity.’

  ‘Well; and what are those rules?’ he cried mockingly. ‘By ancient custom it is declared that a Captain should have first pick of any captured women. After that, lots are drawn by all and a roster made by which each watch of the night some man gets his turn with one or other, till all have spliced each of them. Then comes the daily auctions for further turns; the highest bidder securing first choice and the cash going into a common kitty. What could be fairer? I stand by it, and claim nought but a Captain’s right to take this tender chicken’s maidenhead—if so be she still has one to be taken.’

  A guffaw of laughter greeted the sally with which he ended. It drowned the groan that Roger could not stifle. He could close his one good eye to the scene but not his ears, and João’s brutal words confirmed his worst fears, bearing out all that he had heard of the customs of the pirates. His bound hands were clasped behind him, and in an attempt to alleviate his agony of mind by agony of body he dug his nails into his palms with all the strength he could muster.

  A sudden rustle and heavy thump beside him caused him to open his eye. Amanda had slid from the bench on to the deck in a dead faint. Beyond the place she had occupied Georgina and Jenny sat, clinging to one another, their faces dead white, their eyes staring in horrified apprehension. But no one glanced at Amanda as she fell, for Lucette was speaking again.

  ‘You are no Captain;’ she declared, ‘only a lieutenant given the task of bringing this prize back to our rendezvous. When M. le Vicomte decided to leave the women on board he charged me with their care. ’Tis he, and he alone, who has a Captain’s rights over them, and I am answerable to him. I give not a jot what he does to you, but I’ve no mind to have him throw me to his crocodiles for having failed to protect his interests.’

  Releasing his hold on Clarissa, so that she slid half fainting to his feet, João stood up, stepped over her prostrate form and down on to the deck. Thrusting his face forward into Lucette’s he snarled:

  ‘So I’m no Captain, eh? You spawn of hell, I’ll soon teach you that I am, and one whose word is law aboard this ship.’

  She gave back a pace, but cried defiantly: ‘You besotted fool! Were you not drunk you would never have the courage to court M. le Vicomte’s anger. You have but to wait a week at most to enjoy the wench in accordance with our rules, but do so this night and he’ll have you flayed alive. Even a moron would have the sense to wait that long rather than pay such a price.’

  ‘Nay, I’ll not wait an hour,’ he bellowed. ‘M. le Vicomte may be harsh but he is just. Having made me Captain of the prize he’ll not take umbrage that I should have exercised a Captain’s right.’

  ‘You fool yourself!’ Lucette began hotly, but broke off short owing to an unexpected diversion. Unseen by Roger, who had again bowed his head in helpless misery, Georgina had risen from the bench and walked forward until she was confronting João. Her voice was low but clear as she said in French.

  ‘Perhaps I can provide a solution to this difficulty. It seems to me that Madame Lucette is right, and that should you take this girl you may pay for it with your life. But there can be no rule against your taking a woman who offers herself freely. Besides she is of tender years and untutored; so would provide you only with poor sport. Since you are so set on having a bedfellow I volunteer to take her place.’

  Her words filled Roger with mingled feelings of sickening revolt and admiration. All his life he had loved Georgina. She had meant more to him than even Athénaïs de Rochambeau or his dear Amanda, and the thought of her submitting herself to the embrace of this loathsome skull-headed creature filled him with horror. Yet he knew that she had slept with many men, some of whom she had not even cared for; so the ordeal would prove less ghastly for her than for a young virgin like Clarissa. Her bid to save the girl was but one more demonstration of her splendid courage, and on tenter-hooks between fear for her and dread for Clarissa, he listened for João de Mondego’s answer.

  Slowly the pirate surveyed Georgina from feet to head, taking in her fine figure, lovely heart-shaped face, big dark eyes and the abundant ringlets that fell about her shoulders, then he muttered:

  ‘By the Holy Blood, you’re a handsome enough piece to tempt any man. I’m mighty flattered Mam, to have made such a conquest.’

  Her eyes were unnaturally bright and her voice had a slightly hysterical note as she replied: ‘You may disabuse yourself of that belief. I offer myself only because, my husband having been killed this morning, I care not what becomes of me.

  ‘Since that is so, you’ll keep a while;’ he grinned, ‘and I’ll lose nothing by waiting my turn for you when we get ashore. But this chit here is a different kettle of fish. Do I not take her now, some other may forestall me.’

  Turning away, he seized Clarissa by the arm and dragged her to her feet.

  Lucette had been staring in amazement and with a new respect at Georgina. Now, grabbing at João’s arm as he pulled Clarissa up, she exclaimed:

  ‘Shrew me! But you must be fitted only for a mad-house. To persist in this rather than accept all that so well-endowed a woman as the Countess has to offer—and that of her free will—is nothing short of lunacy.’

  ‘Enough of your interference!’ he roared, and letting Clarissa go he swung round upon her. Next second his fist shot out. It caught Lucette squarely beneath the jaw. Her head snapped back, her body hovered for an instant, then she crashed full length upon the deck.

  For a moment he stood cursing her still form obscenely. Then, grasping Clarissa’s wrist, he cried: ‘Now, my little beauty, we’ll to your cabin and see all you have still to show under what’s left of that mermaid’s dress.’

  ‘Hi there! Not so fast,’ a deep voice boomed in English, and Bloggs shouldered his way out from among the spectators.

  Being ignorant of the language, João gave him an expressionless stare, then turned to Georgina and asked: ‘What says this fellow?’

  With new hope that Clarissa might yet be saved Georgina threw a glance of appeal at Bloggs, and cried: ‘If you can prevent this awful thing that is about to happen God will surely reward you. I implore you to speak out in that sense—even if it was not that you had in mind.’

  Instinctively touching his forelock, Bloggs replied: ‘May it please your Ladyship, one o’ my mates ‘ere, Jake Harris by name, speaks a bit o’ the Creole lingo. ‘E ‘eard the skipper wot captured we say particular to Miss Lucette as ‘ow she should ‘ave a good care of the ladies. That bein’ so, it seems to we that she’s in the right of it, an’ this skull-faced swab is actin’ contry to orders about the young missy.’

  ‘Bless you!’ exclaimed Georgina, and gave João a swift translation; adding on her own account: ‘So you’d best have a care. These men threaten to raise the whole crew in m
utiny against you.’

  ‘They would not dare,’ snapped João. ‘Do they but raise a finger and I’ll have them both strung up to the yard arms within ten minutes. Tell them that; and that the decisions of a Captain in his ship are no man’s business but his own.’

  This time it was Jake who gave Bloggs a rough translation. Having done so, he added: ‘I’ll allow ‘e’s right in that, Ephraim. Anyways ’tis not our quarrel. Do ‘e choose to have ‘is will of the wench ’e’ll not be answerable to we, but to ‘is Frenchy master.’

  Georgina’s heart sank; but Bloggs still stood his ground, and muttered aggressively: ‘Maybe; yet that’s not all. Miss Lucette did no more than ‘er plain duty. She be a foine woman an’ I’ve taken a great fancy to she. I’ll not stand by and see she handled so by any dago—be ‘e or be ‘e not captain o’ the ship. Nay, do ‘e now give ‘im fair warning, Jake. Dost ‘e bash ‘er down again, I’ll serve ‘e as I served Cap’n Cummins.’

  João’s blow had knocked Lucette out. While the altercation was proceeding she had remained sprawled motionless upon her back; but now she groaned, half raised, looked dully round and put a hand to her aching jaw. As her eyes fell on João they suddenly lit with a return of consciousness. Scrambling to her knees, she made to draw her pistol from her sash.

  The pirate had not understood a word of Bloggs’s last utterance, neither had Jake yet had time to translate his warning. On catching sight of Lucette’s movements, quite unaware of the possible results of his act, he gave her a vicious kick in the ribs which sent her over sideways. Then, turning to Pedro the Carib, who was standing nearby, he snapped:

  ‘Have that coffee-coloured bitch disarmed and thrown into the chain locker.’

  Bloggs took this new brutality as a deliberate challenge. His broad face suddenly became suffused with blood and his eyes flashed murder. Seized in the paroxysm of one of his ungovernable rages, he wrenched his cutlass from its sheath and rushed upon João.

  Instantly, pandemonium broke out among the entire ship’s company. Up to that moment the prize crew, Bloggs’s fellow mutineers, and the Porto Ricans had all been mingled together, cheerfully fraternising. Now, every man in the crowd of thirty or so cast a swift, apprehensive glance at his neighbours, sprang away to get nearer others of his own people or plant his back against some solid object; and every man of them reached for a weapon.

  For a moment it seemed certain that a most bloody affray way imminent. It was Jake who saved the situation. Raising his voice above the din of trampling feet, threats and curses, he cried in English:

  ‘Steady mates! There’s no sense in our all cutting each other’s throats. What is the mulatto woman to us, or the young missy either? Hold on, I say. Stand back, and let these two bully-boys fight the matter out between them.’

  Lucette had staggered to her feet and, knowing enough English to understand the tenor of Jake’s shouts, promptly backed him up by yelling to the Creole-speaking prate crew: Tut up your weapons. This is no quarrel with the Circe’s men! João has brought a duel upon himself. Give them the deck to have at one another. Form a ring now, and let the best man win.’

  João meanwhile lost no time in defending himself. By springing aside he evaded Bloggs’s first murderous slash. Whipping out his own cutlass he parried Bloggs’s second cut, and now they were at it hammer and tongs, the steel of their blades striking sparks from one another, as they clashed, clanged and slithered in swift give and take.

  Recognising sound sense in the shouted appeals of Jake and Lucette the polyglot crowd of seamen took their hands from their knives and pistols and drew back, forming a wide ring to give ample space for the furious combat. For a few moments they watched it with bated breath, then some of them began to shout bets upon its outcome.

  Bloggs was obviously the stronger and weightier of the two, but João was the taller by three inches and had the longer reach. He too was by far the better blade, as years of fighting had made him extremely proficient in the handling of a cutlass, whereas Bloggs was untutored in the art and could only hope to break down the other’s guard by his great stength; yet he had one advantage, for he was sober while João was three-parts drunk.

  At first they seemed so well matched that either might prove the victor, and their respective backers would give no more than evens. But as João skilfully parried cut after cut and Bloggs began to pant like a grampus, it became clear that if the pirate could tire his antagonist out he would have him at his mercy.

  Stamping, whirling, lunging and slashing, they careered round and round, the bright light of the moon making their every movement as clear to the spectators as if the fight had been taking place in daytime. Both were now gasping from their exertions and rivulets of sweat were running down their faces. As the minutes passed and Bloggs still failed to get a blow home the betting began to go against him. Soon, three, four and five to one was being offered to João.

  Roger could not see the fight, as a group of seamen blocked his view of it, and, as his ankles were still tied, he could not leave the bench; but from the beginning he had been praying with all his might that Bloggs would emerge victorious. So too had Georgina, yet her heart began to sink as she saw that Bloggs’s blows were losing some of their former strength, and that he seemed near exhaustion.

  Suddenly, it occured to her to run in and seize João’s sword arm from behind. Next moment she darted forward, but Pedro the Carib grabbed a handful of her curls and jerked her back. As she fell in a tumbled heap at his feet the pain of the wrench on her hair caused her to give a piercing scream. It was at that moment the end came with unexpected suddenness.

  João, well aware that he was carrying a load of liquor, had had the sense to keep to the centre of the deck, moving his feet only when compelled and letting Bloggs circle round him. Just as Georgina screamed Bloggs had reached the limit of his powers to continue battling without pause. Stepping back a couple of paces, he lowered his cutlass, hunched his great shoulders and drew a sobbing breath. João, his eyes glinting with ferocious triumph, sprang forward to administer the coup de grâce; but the rum had robbed him of his sense of balance. On landing he stumbled and lurched sideways. Before he could recover Bloggs brought up his cutlass in a swift horizontal stroke. It slashed the pirate to the bone through the muscle of his right arm.

  With a scream of agony João dropped his weapon and staggered back. Bloggs promptly put his foot on the blade, but made no move to go in and finish João off. Seeing that he did not intend to do so, Lucette left the dais, on the edge of which she had been standing, and walked forward to confront the wounded man.

  An evil smile played about the corners of her full mouth as she stood there gloating for a moment, then she said: ‘Well, Captain Mondego, you cannot complain that you have not been given fair play. I could have shot you in the back any time within the past ten minutes; but I observed the rules and refrained. Now I am glad of that. Custom decrees that a defeated captain is fair game for anyone who has a score to settle with him, and it will give me special pleasure to obliterate your repulsive face.’

  Stark terror showed in Joao’s eyes. Blood was gushing from the terrible wound in his arm on to the deck, and he was already weakening from its loss. Lurching to one side, he made an effort to lug his pistol from his belt with his left hand. Before he could get it out, Lucette had drawn hers from her sash and pointed it at him. There came a flash and a loud report. The bullet struck him in the mouth. His face blackened by the Powder and spurting blood he fell sprawling at her feet.

  No one in the crowd made any protest, or even showed surprise at her callous deed. They simply stood round in silence while João lay there squirming; until, with a light shrug of her shoulders, she turned to Pedro and said:

  ‘Have him flung over the side to feed the sharks.’

  The Carib had her order carried out with alacrity and it now became apparent that with João’s death she had become the dominant personality in the ship. Marching up to still panting Bloggs she publicly
embraced him, kissed him heartily on both cheeks and thanked him in a mixture of French and broken English, then she pushed the pleased but embarrassed quartermaster before her up on to the dais. When Pedro had seen João’s body overboard she beckoned him up to stand on her other side and, with an arm thrown casually round each of the men’s necks, addressed the crew:

  ‘As M. le Vicomte’s trusted representative it is within my powers to appoint a successor to João de Mondego; but I want no jealousy or discontent aboard. Therefore I will give you a choice. Here are two good men both of proved courage. To him you choose I shall expect all to give implicit obedience.’

  Pausing she turned to Jake and told him to translate what she had said into English; then, when he had done, she added: ‘Now which will you have as your temporary Captain?’

  The shouts for Bloggs and Pedro seemed about equal in number; so a count of hands had to be taken. As was to be expected the pirates were solid for Pedro and the Circe’s English mutineers for Bloggs, but the Porto Ricans were divided, and as they were closer by blood and language to the Carib most of them voted for him, so by a majority of five he was elected. Bloggs shook him by the hand, to show he harboured no ill feelings, and Lucette slapped him heartily on the back; then she announced that Bloggs would act as Lieutenant. Two minutes later the crowd began to break up. Pedro had the man at the wheel relieved and appointed look-outs for the night, while Bloggs had Roger untied and, having escorted the prisoners to their quarters, posted a guard on the entrance to the after cabins.

  For the time being their terrible ordeal was over, but they were all too played out even to discuss it. Still fearful that Marlinspike Joe or some other drunken ruffian might attempt to break in on one of the women during the night, they decided that it would be safer for them all to sleep in the big saloon; so they dragged their mattresses and a few coverings there, and lay down in a row still fully dressed.