by Gene Wolfe
"Oh, si!" She gave Ignacio a warm smile. "He is very like you, though more old. A good man."
She had lifted a load from my shoulders, and I could not have stopped myself from smiling if I had tried. I asked Ignacio what he was doing now.
"Little enough, Chris. I left my ship when it got here, wanting to stay awhile. Since then I've had a few odd jobs. If you're thinking of hiring me, I'll work cheap."
I named a salary, about twice what a sailor usually earns and the same as what we were paying Mahu.
"Fine, if I can do the work. What is it?"
"Looking after Novia while I'm gone. The midwife we've lined up says another six weeks, and I'm hoping to be back before then. But meanwhile I'd like to be certain there's somebody with her who has a good level head and a Spanish background-most of all, someone who'll have her best interest at heart."
"And the baby's," he said.
So that was how we worked it. Novia got most of the gold left in my money belt. She would pay Ignacio and Mahu, and could fire either or both of them if she thought that was the best thing to do. I bought a fine little sloop that I could manage alone, stocked it with supplies, and put out.
I hit the storm on the fifth day out, and lasted in it maybe five hours tops. Probably it was not even that long. My guess is that it was a hurricane, although it was early in the season for them.
I stayed afloat by holding on to a ringbolt I had mounted on my beautiful little sloop so I could rig a jib on her. It had stayed attached to the biggest piece of wreckage, and after a while I was able to climb up on it. I was about dead when some Mexican fishermen took me on board.
They had a little radio so they could listen to the weather forecasts, and that was when I knew when I was. I AM WRITING this on the plane to Miami. I will have a three-hour layover there, then catch a plane for Havana. I plan to mail this to you before I go. I know you will not believe it, but I cannot help that.
There will not be time enough for me to write about all the things that happened to me after that, and I would not want to anyway. I worked on Mexican boats awhile, then crossed into the U.S., which was pretty easy. This happened and that happened, and twice I was nearly sent to jail. I got into the seminary by explaining that I had grown up in Cuba. With the communists in power, they could not look for records there. They made sure I was not in the FBI's files and took me.
Now I am a priest. Let me repeat that: NOW I am a priest. But when the monastery is reopened, I will not tell them. I will come in as a lay brother, able to read and write because all Cubans can, and able to speak a little English because I worked in a hotel. Pious in the good sense, and willing to turn my hand to any kind of work.
Soon a young I, called Christopher, will come as a student. We will work together sometimes, tending the pigs and the other livestock, planting cucumbers and harvesting okra and peppers. I will stay close to him, and when he drifts back, I will drift back with him.
When he needs someone in Veracruz, I will be there. I will look after Sabina and our child as if they were my own-because they will be.
As the years pass, she will come to know the truth. You may say I will violate my vow of chastity then, but you will be wrong if you do. God will not hold me to a vow I have not yet taken. I know Him, and He is just. No just judge holds a man to a vow to be made in the future.
The maps I carried aboard the sloop have been lost forever, but I studied them a thousand times and recall every detail. When the time is ripe, Sabina and I will claim Capt. Burt's treasure.
Then she and I, and our child, will sail around the world. Today, as you sit reading this, we have been dead three hundred years.
We are the people of your past.
Glossary
All persons of importance in the text are listed here, with many lesser persons. Persons and places are limited to those not apt to be familiar to the average reader. It is assumed that such a reader will have little difficulty with "Shakespeare" and "South America." A few technical terms, etc., are included as well.
ACADIA A French colony in eastern Canada.
AGATHA, SAINT An early Christian martyr.
ALVAREZ Captain Ojeda's lieutenant.
ANTILLES The island chain separating the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean.
ANTONIO A Portuguese sailing master turned pirate.
AQUINAS, SAINT THOMAS A great medieval theologian.
ARNOLD, MARY ANNE A woman who posed for years as a male seaman. This sort of thing happened much more often than is credible. Deborah Samson became a private in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Dressed as men, Rachel and Grace Martin were American partisans in the same war. Other examples might be given.
AZUKA The slave mistress of the captain of the Duquesa de Corruna.
BARBARA, SAINT The patroness of gunners.
BENSON, BEN An English sailor in the prize crew put on the Duquesa de Corruna.
BERNADETTE, SAINT A visionary to whom the Virgin appeared repeatedly in 1858.
BIG CAYEMITE An island off the north coast of the Tiburon Peninsula.
BIG NED A slave freed to reinforce the crew of the New Ark.
BLACKBEARD Real name Edward Teach. His death in 1718 may be said to have ended the great age of piracy.
BONNEY, ANNE A woman seduced by Calico Jack Rackam who joined his crew. She is believed to have borne his child in prison; neither its fate nor hers is known to history.
BOUCHER Under the narrator, second mate of the Castillo Blanco.
BOUTON Under the narrator, first mate of the Castillo Blanco.
BOWEN, JOHN A trustworthy merchant of Port Royal.
BRENDAN, SAINT A patron of sailors. He is said to have reached the New World.
BRETAGNE Lesage's ship.
BULL, BILL An alcoholic pirate.
BURT, CAPTAIN BRAM (ABRAHAM) The commodore of a pirate flotilla.
CALLAO A seaport of Peru, near Lima.
CAMPECHE, GULF OF The southern arm of the Gulf of Mexico, bounded on the east by Yucatan.
CANAL DU SUD The passage between Ile de la Gonave and the Tiburon Peninsula.
CARACAS The capital of Venezuela.
CARTERET, SIR GEORGE The proprietor of New Jersey.
CASTILLO BLANCO Don Jose de Santiago's ship.
CATHARINE, SAINT A Christian martyr who forgave her executioner.
CHENG, MRS. Cheng I Sao. Arguably the greatest pirate of all time. Those who may have sought the original of Milton Caniff 's Dragon Lady need look no further.
CHIN One of the narrator's crew. (Presumably a nickname.)
CHRIS (CHRISTOPHER) The narrator.
CIMAROONS Escaped slaves living in the jungle. (From the Sp. cimarron-"wild beast," "fugitive.")
CLEMENT A buccaneer turned pirate.
COLE, FATHER ED A missionary.
COPPER RIVER A Jamaican river emptying into Kingston Harbor.
CORSON Bosun aboard the Sabina.
CORUNA A seaport at the northwest corner of Spain.
COX, CAPTAIN One of Captain Burt's subordinates, friendly with the Kuna.
CROMWELL The English revolutionary who made himself Lord Protector. (Born 1599, died 1658.)
CUSTOM OF THE COAST The usages of buccaneers.
DARIEN A Spanish colony roughly congruent with present-day Panama.
DELL Bosun's mate (that is, assistant) aboard the Sabina.
DOBKIN, CAPTAIN One of Captain Burt's subordinates.
DOMINIC, SAINT The founder of the Dominican Order.
DOMINICANS The monastic order founded by Saint Dominic.
DRAKE, SIR FRANCIS An Elizabethan hero who plundered the Pacific Coast of South America and helped defeat the Spanish Armada. He is the father of naval strategy.
DUBEC Apparently, the third mate of the Magdelena.
DUQUESA DE CORRUNA A Spanish slaver. Later, the New Ark.
EMILIA Captain Isham's ship.
ESTRELLITA The Guzmans' housemaid.
FANCY Red Jack's sh
ip.
FAT VIRGIN ISLAND Its official name is Virgin Gorda, q.v.
FRANCINE Valentin's dog, stolen from Lesage.
FULGENCIO, BROTHER An elderly lay brother at Our Lady of Bethlehem.
GAGNE A buccaneer with whom the narrator quarrels.
GIBRALTAR A village at the end of Lake Maracaibo.
GOLDEN HIND The ship in which Drake raided the Indies and circumnavigated the globe.
GOSLING, CAPTAIN A subordinate of Captain Burt's who captures a ship carrying letters of importance.
GROMETTO An armed servant. This interesting word is said to be de rived from an East African language. The gromettos found on sailing ships were slaves or freed slaves.
GUADELOUPE PASSAGE A corridor (between Antigua and Guadeloupe) through the Leeward Islands and into the Atlantic. It is wide and deep enough for large vessels.
GUZMAN, JAIME A merchant of Coruna.
GUZMAN, SABINA MARIA DE VEGA ARANDA A Spanish lady who wished to buy a parrot.
HANSEN GUNNER aboard the Sabina.
HARKER, CAPTAIN HAL One of Burt's subordinates.
HISPANIOLA An island of the Greater Antilles, now divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
HOLY FAMILY A rural parish.
HOODAHS A Moskito slave.
HOUDEK, FATHER The pastor of Saint Teresa's.
HOY As a noun, a work boat or barge. The expression "all hands hoy" (that is, to work) is equivalent to "all hands on deck."
IGNACIO, BROTHER A lay brother at Our Lady of Bethlehem.
IGNATIUS LOYOLA, SAINT The ex-soldier who founded the Jesuits (the Society of Jesus).
ILE A VACHE An island just south of the western end of Hispaniola.
INDIOS BRAVOS Any unconquered tribe. (Sp.)
ISHAM, CAPTAIN A subordinate of Captain Burt's.
ISLANDS OF KING PHILIP The Philippines.
JACKSON, TOM First mate on the Weald.
JAMAICA A large island one hundred and fifty miles south of Cuba. It was a British possession.
JARDEN, PAUL Second mate on the Magdelena.
JERSEY One of the Channel Islands.
JIB A usually triangular sail set on a forestay.
JOAN, SAINT A teenager in armor, one of history's most successful generals. The English burned her alive.
JOHN, SAINT The apostle whom Jesus loved is probably meant.
JUDE, SAINT The apostle who asked the New Testament's most famous question. He is the patron of hopeless causes.
JUNIPER, BROTHER A foolish Franciscan.
KIDD, CAPTAIN A privateer who turned pirate.
KUNA A Central American tribe prone to albinism.
LADY MARIE CAPE Presumably Cape Dame Marie, at the western end of the Tiburon Peninsula.
LAKE MARACAIBO A large freshwater lake near the coast of Venezuela. It receives the waters of the Catatumbo River and empties into the Gulf of Venezuela through a narrow channel.
LANGUEDOC A region of France bordered to the southeast by the Mediterranean.
LESAGE First mate on the New Ark.
LISBOA Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.
L'OLONNAIS, FRANCOIS Also Francis L'Ollonais. A pirate leader most famous for his cruelty. These may be pseudonyms.
LONG BAY A pirate rendezvous on the southern coast of Jamaica. Lucy, Saint A martyred Sicilian girl.
LUIS, FATHER A monk at Our Lady of Bethlehem who taught mathematics. Maas Gunner's mate aboard the Sabina.
MACERER A ship commanded by Captain Burt.
MAGDELENA The naval vessel captured by Melind.
MAHU A slave freed to reinforce the crew of the New Ark.
MANSVELDT, EDWARD Henry Morgan's mentor in piracy.
MARACAIBO A city on the channel linking the Gulf of Venezuela with Lake Maracaibo.
MELIND A buccaneer leader.
MEXICO The Aztec capital, captured by the Spanish.
MIDSHIPMAN An aspirant to an officer's commission. Midshipmen slept between the crew in the forecastle and the officers in the stern.
MORGAN, HENRY Later, Sir Henry. After other daring exploits, Morgan assembled an army of pirates, crossed Darien, and looted and burned the city of Panama.
MOSKITOS A Central American tribe.
MOSQUITOES, GULF OF An arm of the Caribbean bordered to the south by the western end of Darien.
MZWILILI A slave aboard the Rosa who joined the narrator's crew. He is usually called Willy.
NEW ARK The new name given the Duquesa de Corruna by the narrator.
NEW SPAIN A Spanish colony in North America. It is now the Republic of Mexico.
NOVIA The narrator's pet name for the woman he loves.
NOVICE MASTER The monk in charge of postulants at Our Lady of Bethlehem.
D'OGERON, BERTRAND The governor of Tortuga. He was later captured by the Spanish, but escaped.
OGG, CAPTAIN A subordinate of Captain Burt's.
OJEDA, CAPTAIN The Spanish master of the Castillo Blanco.
O'LEARY, "PAT THE RAT" Under the narrator, the third mate of the Castillo Blanco.
O'MALLEY, GRACE An Irish pirate queen. Writing to Queen Elizabeth I, she called herself Grany Ne Mailly of Connaught.
OUR LADY OF BETHLEHEM A newly reopened monastery outside Havana.
PATMOS An island in the Mediterranean.
PEARL COAST The eastern coast of Nicaragua opposite the Pearl Islands.
PEARL ISLANDS A group of small islands off the eastern coast of Nicaragua.
PEARL LAGOON A sheltered bay on the eastern coast of Nicaragua. It is extensive. A section of the Pearl Coast may be said to form its eastern boundary, and the mainland its western boundary.
PETE THE HANGMAN One of the narrator's crew on the Castillo Blanco.
PHIL, FATHER An associate pastor at Saint Teresa's.
PINKIE An albino Kuna girl.
PORTOBELLO A beautifully sited city on the Gulf of Mosquitoes.
PORT ROYAL A city at the mouth of Kingston Bay. Twice destroyed by earthquakes, it has been rebuilt each time.
PRINCESS The sloop commanded by Captain Harker.
PROVENCE A region of southeastern France.
QUILLIGAN, PADDY A member of the Sabina's pirate crew.
RACKAM, CALICO JACK A pirate captain who is said to have maintained a harem somewhere on the Cuban coast. Anne Bonney and Mary Read served in his crew.
READ, MARY An extraordinary woman who was successively a footman, a sailor on a British warship, a soldier, a merchant sailor, and a pirate, all while disguised as a man. She died in prison.
RED JACK An English pirate who volunteers for the prize crew of the New Ark. Later, quartermaster of the Castillo Blanco.
RED KNIFE One of the Cimaroons who joins Sabina's pirate crew.
RIO HATO A Spanish colonial town on the Pacific Coast of Darian, west of the city of Panama.
ROMBEAU The buccaneer who takes command of the Magdelena.
ROSA The narrator's first capture.
SABINA In full, the Santa Sabina de Roma. A pirate vessel commanded by the narrator. Formerly the Vincente.
SADDLE ISLANDS The Galapagos Islands. A Pacific island group lying on the equator six hundred miles from the mainland of South America.
SAINT BLAISE, GULF OF The body of water containing the San Blas Islands, q.v.
SAINT TERESA's A city parish.
SAN BLAS ISLANDS An archipelago on the Atlantic coast of Darien, between Portobello and the Gulf of Darien.
SANCHEZ, GENERAL The commander of Spanish troops in Venezuela.
SAN FELIPO A Spanish galleon, the largest of the treasure ships attacked by Captain Burt's flotilla.
SAN MATEO A Spanish merchant vessel.
SANTA CHARITA A Spanish merchant vessel. Captain Burt renames her the Weald.
SANTA LUCIA A Spanish galleon.
SANTA MARIA A Spanish colonial town at the mouth of the Tuira River; this river flows into the Gulf of San Miguel, an arm of the Pacific.
DE SANTIAGO, DON JOSe The owner of th
e Castillo Blanco.
DE SANTIAGO, PILAR Don Jose de Santiago's wife.
SCULLY, BISHOP The head of the narrator's diocese.
SENOR USUALLY, the first mate of the Santa Charita.
SNOW LADY Captain Gosling's ship.
SOCCORO A treasure ship attacked by the narrator and his friends.
SOLDIER SALVE Ferric chloride ointment, used at this time to treat every sort of wound, cut, bruise, and abrasion.
SPANISH MAIN The mainland of Spanish America. (Often misused and misunderstood.)
STRAIT OF MAGELLAN A narrow and contorted passage between the South American mainland and the island of Tierra del Fuego.
SURREY An English county, south of London.
SWAN, CAPTAIN CHARLES A pirate who sailed across the Pacific to raid the Philippines and Spice Islands. He was eventually marooned by his crew.
EL TABLAZO A notorious sandbar at the southern end of the Gulf of Venezuela.
TIBURON PENINSULA A long, mountainous finger of land at the southwestern corner of Hispaniola.
TIERRA DEL FUEGO A large island at the southern tip of South America. Cape Horn is on a small island south of Tierra del Fuego.
TOLEDO A city in Spain famous for cutlery.
TORTUGA A smaller island on the north coast of Hispaniola.
TROY (WEIGHT) A system used by jewelers in which a Troy pound is divided into twelve Troy ounces.
VALDEZ, ADMIRAL A Spanish naval hero.
VALENTIN An indentured servant who has fled his master. Vanderhorst A merchant on Virgin Gorda.
VASCO A sailor aboard the Santa Charita.
VENEZUELA, GULF OF A sea at the northernmost extremity of South America, open to the Caribbean to the north.
VERACRUZ A port on the east coast of New Spain.
VINCENTE In full, the San Vincente de Zaragozza. The Spanish name of the ship that becomes the Sabina.
VIRGIN GORDA One of the Virgin Islands. It lies due east of Tortola, from which it is plainly visible.
WAHL, FATHER The pastor emeritus of Holy Family.
WEALD Earlier the Santa Charita. Captain Burt's flagship.
WEST INDIES A vague term covering the Bahamas and all the islands of the Caribbean, including the Antilles.
WILLY Mzwilili, q.v.
WINDWARD The sloop the narrator bought in Port Royal.
Windward Passage A wide channel between Hispaniola and Cuba.