by Janie Brians
AUGUST 28, 1588:
Has it really been eight whole months since my last entry? It is surprising to me how the hours and days, weeks and months pass by more quickly now that Genny is with us. She told us she thinks that today she is fourteen years old. She is growing into a beautiful young woman. Linus and I keep her with us as much as possible now. The men are beginning to notice her more and more. I dread to think what will happen to her if we do not get her away from this ship before her next birthday.
NOVEMBER 3, 1588:
The British are in pursuit of us! It is a naval vessel. I do not know which to hope for more, that they will overtake us or that they will not! For Genny's sake, I must pray that they will succeed! Only then will she be returned to her native land.
NOVEMBER 7, 1588:
They nearly had us, but it was not to be this time. A storm blew in and raged all around us. Both this ship and the British vessel put all efforts into survival. We were tossed as if toy boats by angry, watery hands. We were blown by the fury of Neptune.
DECEMBER 1, 1588:
It has been a month since that fearsome storm. Although this vessel weathered it better than did the British ship, it has taken this last month to repair the damage. Linus and I were put to work on the deck even though we were but two miles from shore, off the island of Jamaica. There were several times that we could have attempted an escape, but with Genny locked away in the little room, neither of us was willing to try it. We go with her or not at all. We will never leave her to the mercy of these savages!
MARCH 6, 1589:
Linus is falling in love with Genny, I am sure of it. Although he has not confessed it to me yet, I know my brother. In can see it in the way he speaks to her, the tenderness he has for her. I cannot blame him. She is truly beautiful and has kept a sweet disposition despite the atrocities that have been forced upon her. That she loves us both is everyday apparent. That she will return Linus' amour, I cannot say. She depends upon him as she does me. I am not enough acquainted with the outward evidences of a young woman in love to know with surety her true feelings for him. My only fear now is that one of the men, or worse yet, the captain will attempt to take her for himself. The horror will begin again. We must get away before that happens.
MARCH 20, 1589:
I am relieved for a time. The tension amongst some of the men was becoming palpable. Even the innocence and naiveté of Genny could not keep her from realizing what they were desiring. The fear has returned to her eyes. Linus and I have assured her time and again that we will protect her, but she is intelligent enough to realize that we are very limited if confronted by that savage mob. To help allay her fears, we speak often of our plans for escape with her. Fortunately for awhile at least, the men will be less aggressive. We are anchored off the coast of Havana. The majority of the men have gone ashore, undoubtedly to satisfy their carnal desires. The only persons left on board besides we three are two men who, by the sounds coming from above deck, are both near to a drunken stupor. If only there was a way to break out of this prison! But the thick wooden door is heavily bolted with latches and locks of impenetrable iron. However, still we do not give up hope. As Linus never fails to remind Genny, we will somehow, someday get away from these blackguards!
JUNE 29, 1589:
Again this ship is being pursued! This time, however, their dreaded enemies the British, are yet unseen to them. We have overheard the men speaking amongst themselves. They are saying that it has been rumored that Queen Elizabeth has sent out several naval vessels to hunt down the Balcazar. The men speak wildly of conquering the British, but we can see the fear sometimes in their eyes. It is now known, even in this remote part of the world, about the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the British in the English Channel a year hence. Britain's fleet is fast becoming the ruler of the seas.
DECEMBER 31, 1589:
For six months this wily captain has managed to elude his predators, but now it may be that the tables are finally turned. A British warship has been sighted only moments ago! They are in pursuit! Thank God in heaven! It has come at just the most propitious moment! Poor, sweet Genevieve was just a moment ago dragged away from us. The captain wants her. But praise be to God, at the very minute that the door was locked separating Linus and I from our dear Genny, the shout was given warning of the fast approaching vessel! All is chaos on deck! We can hear it! We hear the captain shouting orders to the men. He has finally been caught off guard! But what has happened to Genny?! Linus is going mad in his fear for her!
A cannon has just hit this ship!
JANUARY 6, 1600:
I cannot believe the events of the last few days! To be so close to freedom and yet now, so far away. It is not to be bourne! Once again, Linus and I can only sit across from each other and stare into emptiness. Our one, our only consolation is that Genny has been rescued.
The ensuing melee, once the British overtook our ship, made it impossible for either Linus or I to reach her. Finally when the battle was won, Linus and I were taken away along with a few of the pirates who had survived. Linus saw Genny being lifted onto the British ship. He called to her. She seemed to try to tell the sailors about us, but they would not listen. She fought with them in her effort to convince them, but was unsuccessful. Before she disappeared, we heard her cry, "I will not forget you! I will come back for you!" and then she was gone. We both miss her desperately, but we realize that she is our only hope now. We have spoken to the man who oversees this horrible place. We have pleaded, begged, and even tried bribing him with a promise of the jewels we hid away after we experienced that first shipwreck. He does not believe us. What is worse, he has told us what I can only hope is a most horrible lie! Our mother executed?! It simply cannot be true! I will not believe it.
The men from the ship mock us still, calling us 'los gemelos reales.' It gives them a perverse pleasure to see us, who have been nothing more than slaves for the past four years, imprisoned along with them and charged with the crime of piracy also. To them it is a joke. To us it is completely ludicrous! Oh dear, sweet Genny, do not forsake us, please! Mother! Dearest mother! You cannot be gone from this world! Escape...we simply must escape! We can live this way no longer! God help us!
FEBRUARY 1, 1600:
Linus...my own dear brother Linus. He is gone. It cannot be true! Oh, that I might have been the one instead of you, my beloved brother! I cannot bare this. How could they shoot you down like an animal!! Oh, Linus, you have left me alone...what shall I do now?
FEBRUARY 7, 1600:
I am lost, I have no one. Father, mother and now brother, have all been taken from me. I cannot live. Genny, sweet Genevieve. God in his heaven will watch over you. Almighty God, please forgive me...I cannot live...
That was the final entry in the diary. Although this had all taken place three-hundred years ago, it was with a kind of sadness that Anne reached for the Whitley volume. There, dated January 31, 1600 was the entry recording the death of ´Lino-pirate from the Balcazar.’ February 8, 1600 -'died by suicide-Eduardo-pirate from the Balcazar.' Next to it was a comment from Whitley: "Was it purely coincidence that he killed himself exactly three years to the day of the execution of Mary Stuart, whom he'd always claimed was his mother?"
Jason and Anne sat quietly for the next few moments, letting the unhappy story sink in.
"What a tragedy," Anne said with a sigh.
"Right out of Shakespeare...! wonder what ever happened to the girl Genevieve." Just then the phone rang loudly, bringing then back to the present.
"Hello," Anne answered.
"Hi, Annie. How's it going? Aren't you finished yet? It's nearly eight-o'clock," Lizzie said on the other end of the line.
"Wow. I hadn't realized the time. Actually we just this minute finished."
"So, was it a happy ending?"
"From who's point of view? the boy or ours?"
"Both, I guess."
"Those poor kids never had a chance. They never got out of Fort Charlotte. Linu
s was killed while trying to escape and a few days later Edwin killed himself. Nice huh."
"Good grief! What a miserable life."
"I'll say. Anyway, I guess it looks like you and I have some treasure hunting to do when we get home."
"Sounds like it. Wouldn't it just be incredible if there really is something left there after all this time?"
"Well, we'll get to find out soon enough. So, what did uncle tell you to do about you problem?"
"Would you believe I've been trying to get him all day and haven't been able to. No telling where he is."
"So, what are you going to do?"
"Well, that's part of the reason I'm calling. I've decided that before I leave this island, I want to try to talk with Chris. I was thinking that, if you wouldn't mind, I could pick you up and we could run over to the Dean house and ask Chris's uncle if he's seen him. I'd like to have it out with him."
"Think that's wise?"
"I'm tired of guessing. I want to know the truth."
"Knowing that might not be too good for our health, Lizzie."
"If you don't come I'll go by myself," Lizzie said determinedly.
"No. Don't do that. I'll go with you. "
"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes." Lizzie rang off.
"Leaving me again?" Jason asked with a rueful smile.
"Lizzie wants to visit an old friend," was all Anne told him, "and she wants me to go with her."
Lizzie showed up fifteen minutes later and Anne left Jason with the job of straightening up the room and organizing the translation of the diary. On the way to Chris' uncle's house Anne related the whole story of Edwin and Linus as it unfolded in Edwin's diary. "It's so sad and yet it's pretty exciting at the same time. Think about it. Even if we don't find anything else, we still have the medallion that Edwin himself put on that cave three-hundred years ago!" Anne finished.
"Won't Uncle be surprised. I can't wait to see his face when we tell him," Lizzie said. "When we get back to Mom and Dad's tonight, we have to tell them the whole story too. They're just as excited about it as we are. I won't be surprised if they want to come home with us tomorrow and help us look," she smiled.
The girls pulled up in front of the Dean house. There were no street lights on Black Coral Road, and when they turned the car off they were in darkness on the lonely road. The house sat about a quarter of a mile off the road on the crest of a hill. Lizzie reached into the glove compartment for the flashlight. There was no driveway to the house, only a dirt path. Chris' uncle did not own a car and the house was more like a wooden hut. They could see lights on inside, so they knew someone was home. They got out of the car and headed up the hill on the tiny dirt path. Lizards scurried for safety under the large sea-grape bushes that lined both sided of the path. The sand was still warm from the hot afternoon sun, and the tiny creatures liked to lay on it. The girls' presence sent them running.
Lizzie knocked on the door and hollered in to Chris' uncle.
"Elijah, hello. It's Lizzie and Anne Jones."
They could hear movement inside and then a few moments later Elijah came to the door and opened it.
"Well, hello der young ladies! It's been a month o' Sundays since I seen you last! Come in, come in!" he moved aside for them to enter. They shook hands and, after exchanging a few pleasantries, Lizzie asked him about Chris.
"Child," Elijah said with a hint of exasperation, "I wonder if’n da Lord hisself know where dat boy done gone ta!
"Then you haven't seen him?" Anne asked.
"Naw, not for a few days now."
The girls were disappointed. Elijah had no reason to lie, unless Chris had told him not to not tell anyone he was around. They thanked him and said their good-byes.
"Come back when ya can stay longer. Be careful, do ya hear? It's pretty dark goin' down dat pat."
"We will, Elijah. I have my flashlight," Lizzie said, as they stepped off the front porch and back into the darkness.
He was right. It was black as pitch beyond the range of the porch light. No moon shone this night. It was hidden behind clouds. Lizzie turned the flashlight on and the two girls headed back to their car. Halfway down, where they were hidden from both the house behind them and the road ahead of them, they heard a scuffling sound that they knew was more than a lizard scurrying by.
"Did you hear that?" Lizzie whispered and stopped walking. "Yeah. I don't like this, Lizzie. We're surrounded by these darn bushes here. Can't see the house or the road."
They heard the sound again. It was definitely the sound of footsteps. Someone was coming toward them.
"Okay! Who's out there!?" Anne asked with more courage than she really felt. No one answered.
Again they heard the sound. Someone was to their left about ten yards away, from the sound of it. Anne looked at Lizzie. They were just about to make a run for it when suddenly a man burst out of the bushes and stood right in their path. Lizzie raised the flashlight to shine right in his eyes. It was Chris. Anne wasn't sure whether she felt relieved or even more frightened.
"What are you two doing here!?" he asked in a hurried whisper, looking at someone or something beyond them as he spoke. "Where's Liam?" Lizzie asked. "Never mind him. He's... he's in Scotland."
"Don't lie to me, Chris. We know he's here. I talked to Maddy and she told me you both came back here together..."
"Shh!" he interrupted her, "Listen... listen to me very carefully. Don't go snooping around. This thing is way over your heads." he whispered. Just then they heard movement somewhere behind them. Anne grabbed the flashlight and pointed it toward the sound. Although the bushes hid the person so that he was unrecognizable to them, something he had on, possibly a watch, reflected the beam of light.
"I know you're there! " Lizzie shouted at Liam. "I love you but I can't let you get away with this!"
At that, Chris grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "Shut up!" he whispered angrily. "You've got to get out of here now! He may love you, but he loves himself more. He always has. Don't push him! Now, get out of here or you'll both be sorry!" With that he grabbed both girls by the wrist and pulled them the rest of the way down the path to their car.
When both girls were inside the car, he said, "Go home!" Lizzie started the car and they pulled away with a loud screech of the tires. Anne looked back but Chris had already disappeared into the darkness of the bush. They drove down the dark road in silence. In shock.
Had Chris been trying to warn them or threaten them? Was he really afraid of Liam as he had seemed to be? Or had it been an act to scare them off? "It's like he's another person," Lizzie spoke aloud. "Chris?"
"No, Liam. I could never have imagined him being a person that someone like Chris would be afraid of. "
"If he really is afraid of him," Anne said skeptically.
"What do you mean?"
"Just that it could've been an act. Chris could just be trying to frighten us into staying away and keeping our mouths shut."
Lizzie thought about that, "Well, if that's the case, I have never been afraid of Chris Dean before and I'm not about to start being afraid now. Before we leave tomorrow, I'm making a call to the police. Even if I do it anonymously, I'm going to tip them off about those two and hopefully they'll be put behind bars soon." Her determined expression told Anne she meant it.
"Now what's this idiot trying to prove?" Lizzie said as she looked into the rearview mirror. "Pass, if you want to fella," she said to the car that had come up behind them.
This road was deserted most times and so people had a tendency to exceed the speed limit and sail down it. Sometimes it was even used by teen-agers for their drag races with one another. Lizzie was not driving too slowly, but if this driver wanted to pass there was plenty of room for it on the right side. No one was coming toward them. To their left, however, was a drop of about a hundred feet down to the beach below. A young person had been killed recently when he lost control of his car during a race and had plunged over the edge and hit the sand below. The
car had burst into flames immediately upon impact.
"He's awfully close to your back bumper. Why doesn't he just pass us, for goodness sake?" Anne said as she watched the car behind them.
"Probably drunk," Lizzie said. Just at that moment the car behind bumped into them.
"What in the world!?" Lizzie yelled and accelerated her speed. The driver behind did the same. Then suddenly it pulled out and came up alongside them. It was a large black Cadillac with darkly tinted windows that made it impossible to see the driver inside. Next thing they knew, the Cadillac slammed into the side of their car. Lizzie swerved, nearly running off the road and over the edge, but she got control just in time.
"He's trying to kill us!" Anne shouted.
"No kidding!" Lizzie replied. "Hold on!" and she slammed on the brakes. The big car sped on while Lizzie quickly turned their small car around in one quick move on the road. She headed back the way they had come.
"I'll take the road south, see if we can lose him. His car is big, but this one is better for making quick maneuvers."
Anne turned to look behind them. No light followed. Once again they were the only ones on the road. Lizzie drove quickly to the center of town. At the first traffic light at a busy intersection, they both sat in stunned silence waiting for the green light.
"Could you see who was driving?" Lizzie asked.
"No. The windows were too dark. I couldn't even tell if it was a man or a woman."
"I'm sure it was a man," Lizzie said softly.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ANNE AND LIZZIE sat in the DC-9 watching the trees and buildings below them grow smaller and smaller as the jet carried them into the evening sunset. In a minute or two they were flying over open ocean and heading north for Grand Bahama. Anne relaxed in her seat and, with eyes closed, went over everything that had happened since their near-fatal encounter the night before on Black Coral Road. She was glad to be heading for home, even though it had meant saying good-bye to her folks and Jason.