by L. A. Meyer
"What makes you think you can trust this scum?"
"My dear, I have been working with this scum for years—sending poor, unsuspecting merchant ships their way when it suited me, in return for their help when I needed it. You will recall that I was operating in this area well before you got here."
When I say nothing to this, he goes on.
"Actually, I have found it much easier to work with the ugly one here. Captain Jimenez had much too many scruples for a true pirate."
I look over at Flaco. Though his head hangs, he is conscious of what is going on. And if looks could kill, El Feo would be a dead man, ten times over. Flashby, too.
"Speak Spanish, damn you both!" orders El Feo.
"As you wish, Señor," replies Flashby, in perfect Spanish. He turns to me. "The ships will be brought together and made fast. Your men will surrender their weapons, then they'll go below to your forward hatch, where they'll be made fast. Then we shall talk further about the gold."
"What gold?" I say, chin up, sticking to my story. "All the gold went on the Dolphin. You were there, you saw, you know what went on."
"I know you for a piece of filthy gutter trash, but I do not underestimate your cleverness and low cunning. The idea that you would be picking up all that treasure from the bottom of the sea and not squirreling away something for yourself is beyond belief. It doesn't fit your profile, as we say in the intelligence business." Flashy continues, smiling broadly, "Isn't it grand how the shoe is now on the other foot, as it were, Miss Faber?"
The ships come together and grappling hooks hold them tightly beam to beam. El Feo's men leap over to herd my sailors at musket point toward the hatch. "You, too, Mr. Higgins," says Flashby, waving his own pistol about, grinning and plainly enjoying this.
Jemimah appears at my side. She has seen the desperation in my eyes and she grabs my arm and hisses in my ear, "What would Brother Rabbit do if he was in this mess, girl?" She bores her gaze into my eyes and then she hurries down below. I guess the pirates don't much care what an old black woman does, 'cause they don't stop her. I do not blame her for going to hide, for this is not her fight.
El Feo jumps onto my deck, dragging Joannie with him. There is a large bruise around her left eye.
"You said you would not hurt her, bastardo," I hiss.
"She bit me," says El Feo. "It is something she will not do again." He jabs the pistol into the side of her neck. "Lower your sails. Now!"
Joannie's face betrays no emotion. Her eyes are hooded, and she has taken on a look I know well. It is the mask of the street kid who has been nabbed by the coppers—don't ever give them the satisfaction of seeing you cry, no matter how you feel inside.
I nod to Thomas and McGee. They loosen the buntlines and my sails fall to the deck. Flashby comes up next to me and blows a puff of rancid smoke in my face. "This is going to be such fun." He chuckles. He puts his hand on my tail and squeezes. "Such fun." I cannot repress a shudder of disgust.
Oh Lord, this does not look good.
"Now, as for the treasure, you will now—Yeeow! Mierda!" squeals El Feo, suddenly under attack from above.
"Let her go, goddammit! Run, Joannie! Run!"
Like a small hawk sweeping out of the sky onto its unsuspecting prey, Daniel Prescott has leaped from the crow's-nest to land squarely on top of El Feo, and he's flailing away at him with a stout marlinspike.
"Take that, you ugly bastard! Let her go!"
El Feo roars and raises his pistol and...
No! Don't shoot him! Oh Lord, no!
...and brings it down hard on the side of Danny's head. The boy crumples to the deck, blood coursing down his cheek, and he says no more.
Joannie, momentarily freed, runs not for freedom, but to Danny's side. Her hands are still tied behind her and so she can do nothing but lean over and put her lips on his brow. I know she thinks us all doomed, so that kiss will be her last free gesture. Flashby leans down and grabs her by the neck and jerks her to her feet. So much for grace in the face of horror.
"I will take your men out, one by one, put them on their knees and cut their throats right in front of you," snarls El Feo, his foul breath hot on my face. "How would you like that, eh?"
Lord, even if I tell him, he's still gonna kill us all! "And suppose we start with this one!" He points to Joannie. "Put her on her knees."
No!
El Feo's thugs use their spears and swords to push back my men. Then they take Joannie and force her to her knees before him. He grabs her hair, pulls back her head, and puts his knife to her defenseless neck.
"Are you ready to watch, puta?" Feo grins, about to draw the blade across.
All is lost ... No, wait ... Think, girl! What was it that Jemimah said...? Come on, girl—do what the rabbit would do! And I go deep in my mind and ... Yes ... Maybe it ain't over yet.
"Stop! Let her go. I'll tell you," I say, hanging my head in seeming defeat.
"That is much better," says the brute, flinging Joannie aside. "So show me. No tricks now, or the blood from her throat will spill over your feet."
I take a deep breath and then say, "It is not here. You know that. Both El Diablo Rojo and the San Cristobal have searched my poor little ship and found nothing. No, they did not. Because the treasure is buried ... buried on Cayo Hueso ... right over there."
El Feo's gaze follows my point.
"Where over there?"
"You see that red cloth?"
"sir
"There is a flat area behind the trees and then there is a lagoon. The gold is buried on the other side of it. I shall have to draw you a map. I ... I have paper in my cabin."
"Good." He grabs me by the arm and flings me toward my cabin, and we all go in—El Feo, Flashby, Joannie, and I.
"So make the map, muchacha, and let's get on with this." He pushes Joannie onto my bed and forces me into my chair behind my desk. I open it and pull out a piece of paper. My pen and ink sit up top, ready for use. I take up the pen.
There is a knock on the door, and one of El Feo's men sticks his head in.
"All of them are down below," he reports. "We have a guard on the hatch. They cannot get out."
"Good. Now put down the lifeboats and be ready," growls El Feo. "We are busy here."
I dip my pen in the inkwell and begin to draw. Both El Feo and Flashby stand over me and watch.
"Behind the red cloth you will find an opening in the mangroves. Pull in there. Then you will see an open area and the remains of an old Indian camp. Beyond that will be a large shallow lagoon. Right here."
I draw in the various shapes, the scratching of my pen loud in the silence.
"You must walk all the way around this lagoon to the other side, for the gold is buried right here." I make a big X on the page. "We marked the spot with many long pieces of driftwood laid one across the other. You cannot miss it, and you will need many strong men to remove the logs. They are quite heavy."
El Feo nods and barks out, "Hombres! To me!"
His men pop their heads back in the doorway.
"Leave two men to guard here, and four men on El Diablo. Everyone else in the lifeboats. Get shovels."
"Sí, Capitán." They leave. El Feo stands over me.
"There are captives in the hold of El Diablo as well," he says, laughing. "Ten of Flaco's loyal men. We shall have fun hanging them, one by one, when all this is done. Including Flaco. He shall be last. And then maybe you ... and her." He hooks his thumb at Joannie.
"You are an ugly man, Feo. Inside and out. You shall surely rot in Hell." I could not help saying it.
"Ha!" He laughs. "You think I care that you find me ugly? No, I do not. In fact, I like being ugly." He puts his hand in my hair and pulls my head back. "I like—no, I love—the look on the señoritas' faces when I take them. I love the disgust, I love the revulsion, I love to hear them cry."
Feo's men are soon back.
"All is ready, Comandante."
"Good. Let's go ... no ... wait." He looks at m
y bed, then he looks at me. A grin splits his ugly face. "No ... I shall stay here. I have ... business with this one. You, inglés, you will go with my men to collect the treasure. I shall stay here and collect treasure of another kind."
Flash by goes to the door. "Very well, Capitán, I shall do that. But, if you would, save a little bit for me. Either one of them will do." He looks from me to Joannie. "Don't look so downhearted, girls. After all, it is just the fortunes of war. Cheerio, all. I do hope you'll enjoy this, Jacky, I really do."
The door closes and I hear sounds of boats shoving off outside. Then silence, except for El Feo's heavy breathing.
El Feo begins to unbutton his shirt. "Get on the bed, girl."
I look to the door.
"You think to run, eh? Well, there is no place to run to. Besides, if you fight, I will do her first. Do you want that? Ah, I thought not." Joannie, wide-eyed, struggles against her bonds on the bed but to no avail. Meekly, I rise and go to the bed. El Feo whips off his filthy shirt and flings it away, being careful to replace his feathered headdress. His massive chest is covered with whorls of thick, black hair, and I can smell his stench from where I sit.
There is a knock on the door.
"What?" he asks, irritated.
Two of El Feo's men enter. "Ask her, Captain, where is the rum. We are thirsty."
He looks to me.
"I do not allow spirits aboard my ship," I say, primly, and let my eyes go furtively to my medicine cabinet. The gullible fools do not miss that look.
They laugh and triumphantly go to the chest and pull out my bottles of tincture of opium and leave. Drink deep, scum.
El Feo doesn't say anything. Instead he turns around and catches me across the face with the back of his hand. I fall back onto the bed.
I must bide for time, I must...
"Cry, puta. I will like it very much when you cry."
I know what is coming, so I sit up and put on the Lawson Peabody Look—eyes hooded, chin up, lips together, teeth apart. It helps some, but those lips do tremble and those eyes do well up with tears.
"That's more like it," he growls and places his hand on my shirt and with one powerful downward pull, rips it off. I pull out my now-exposed shiv and launch it toward his throat, but he is too quick and strong. He grasps my wrist and forces the blade from my hand.
Oh God, my last hope.
"Now, this is just the thing, Señorita," he says, picking up my blade and cutting through the waist cords of my trousers and drawers and then yanking them down and off.
"Get back, you ugly son of a bitch!" shouts Joannie, and kicks at him with her feet. He merely laughs and flings her to the floor, and then he comes back at me.
"Muy bonita. Very pretty, sí, yes, it is," he hisses, and then undoes his pants.
Oh Lord, please ... no...
El Feo rises above me and takes my knees in his hands, ready to pull them apart.
"Now cry some more, pobrecita. Oh, you will not?" Bueno. Suppose I do the little one first and make you watch? Eh, muchacha, will that make you cry? Eh?"
It will, and tears pour out of my eyes, and in a blind rage against this horror, I struggle and squirm, but I know it will avail me—or Joannie—nothing. A corner of my despairing mind hears the rattling of something ... What? ... A cage door? Then...
"Cluck?"
What?
Then ... "Cluck?" again ... and then...
"COCK-A-DOODLE-DO!"
And then El Gringo Furioso, in full fighting fig, launches himself at El Feo's feathered headdress, slashing away with spurs and beak.
Already blood is showing around Feo's cheeks and eyes, for Gringo is strong and he is fast.
"Madre de Dios!" Feo screams, clawing at the bird, but Gringo is relentless. It occurs to my half-crazed mind that Daniel, in his haste to get back to the ship after Joannie had been taken, had thrust Gringo back into the cage I kept in my cabin but had forgotten to remove his spurs. Now Joan-nie has managed to open the cage latch with her feet, releasing the bird to do what it does best.
"Eeeeyow!" screeches El Feo, but this time it is not solely because of Gringo. I sit up to see that Joannie has attached herself to Feo's calf with her teeth and is clamped on good and hard. He kicks, but she stays on.
Then the door flies open, and through my upraised knees, I expect to see Feo's men come to his aid, but I do not see that.
What I see is a large African woman holding the world's biggest frying pan over her shoulder. She booms out, "What you got on your mind to do to that little girl, you?" Then she swings the huge black skillet and brings it to the back of Feo's ugly head.
BOOOOOOOONNNGGGG!
El Feo sits straight up, his eyes crossed.
"I don't think you got nothin' on your mind now, no," asserts Jemimah as she swings again.
BOOOOOOONNNNGGGG!
The pirate's eyes roll back in his head, and he topples over and off the bed.
"Jemimah! Thank God!" exults Joannie.
Such good friends!
But no time for thanks now, and no time for clothes, either. I leap off the bed, grab my shiv from the floor, and, starkers, I head out the door.
El Feo's men are festooned about the deck, groaning and holding their heads. It is plain that after being made groggy by the opium, they have been easily dispatched by Jemimah and her skillet.
I run to the forward hatch, throw the latch, and shout down, "Come, lads! You're free! Quick now! No time to lose!"
I hear their scrambling feet on the ladder as I jump over to El Diablo. Flaco lifts his head and smiles as he sees me, knife in hand, coming to free him.
"Un ángel de cielo," he says, "clothed in the finest of garments."
"Never mind that, you," I say as I hack through his bonds. "Go now and set your men free."
"What of the others? The traitors?"
I look toward the beach from which we hear screams, and, I swear, the crunching of bones. I'd like to think that a certain one-eyed monster, the one that tried to eat Joannie and lost an eye in the process, is the one that got Flashby. The beast certainly had a right to bear a grudge against us Brits, and I hope Brother Gator took great satisfaction in the taste of that particular Englishman.
"I do not think they will be back. But still, we must be quick!"
I leap back onto the Nancy and see my men pouring out of the fore hatch.
"Secure the ship! Tie up these rascals. Help Flaco with those over there! Jim, take us farther out to sea. Davy, Tink, haul that piece of dirt out of my cabin. Higgins, to me!"
And I dive back into my cabin, chest heaving, as El Feo is being hauled out. Higgins follows me in.
"Miss. I fear you were...?"
"No. But it was a close thing."
"I am very glad you did not suffer that," says Higgins. "What shall you wear?"
I look at the remnants of my usual sailing gear lying on the deck and say, "I guess my uniform will serve. The Dolphin will be here soon and I must be presentable."
"Yes, Miss."
As Higgins goes to my chest to get my clothes, I pick up El Gringo, who has been strutting about the deck, seemingly very pleased with himself. I plant a kiss upon his cockscomb and say, "My hero," and put him back in his cage. "Much good food and many plump and comely hens are coming to you, Brother Rooster."
After I am dressed, I go back out on deck to find that I am just in time for an execution. El Feo has been brought back to his senses, enough to know that he is about to be hanged.
He stands on the deck of El Diablo Rojo with a noose around his neck, hands tied behind him, glaring about with hatred—and fear—burning in his eyes. There are four strong men at the other end of the line, ready to haul him up.
Flaco is once again in full command of his ship, and I am glad of it. Those sailors who had been drugged and clubbed have once again sworn allegiance to him and have been added back to his crew. They had stood in fear of El Feo before, when he had taken Flaco's ship, but they fear him no longer.
"Captain Faber," says Flaco. "It is your ship that took this brute down. Say the word."
I think of being merciful, but then I consider what he was going to do to Joannie, and what he did to Danny, and what he was going to do to all of us...
...and I nod.
El Feo is pulled ten feet off the deck. He twists and kicks for a long time, for his neck is thick. Then it is over.
His body is left hanging for twenty minutes or so and then is lowered and pitched over the side.
The only words spoken were mine.
"It is a shame to pollute the bottom of this beautiful sea with your carcass. I am sure you are already in Hell, El Feo, and I wish you the joy of the place."
It occurs to me later that yet another skeleton will now rest with the Santa Magdalena. How many more will there be?
Chapter 49
"So, Flaco. You will head back to Bahia Honda?" We are taking breakfast in my cabin. It is a cool and extremely lovely day, with sunlight streaming in the open windows and a gentle breeze blowing the curtains about. My torn sailor gear is being resewn, so, upon rising this morning, I donned my uniform shirt and trousers again. Actually, I suspect we shall see the Dolphin today, so I want to be dressed and ready. And, yes, I slept alone last night, though not for want of trying on Flaco's part. No, he had to be satisfied with a hug and kiss after dinner, which was a veritable feast that saw a lot of serious celebration on the part of both our crews.
"Yes, dear heart, if I must leave you, it will be to Bahia Honda I will go," he says with a sigh. "I must fill out my crew as I am short-handed right now ... due to the cunning of a certain beautiful bandida."
"With the help of several dozen large and hungry reptiles," I say with a laugh. "Here, try the orange marmalade. It is very good." I spoon a good bit of it onto my toast and pop it into my mouth. Mmmmmm ... it is good to be alive and tasting orange marmalade.
"Such a thing of beauty ... and so refined," laughs Flaco, looking at the bit of golden jelly that had worked its way out of the corner of my mouth, but which I had managed to catch with my napkin before it hit my spotless white trousers.