by Smith, Skye
Warwick almost choked on his fine red Burgundy. Red stains joined the others on the tablecloth. "I thought you said she was your niece."
"She is, but my new wife also brought me two step daughters. One the huntress, the other the beauty."
Susannah was most thankful for Daniel's timing of this announcement and she thoroughly enjoyed watching its effect on her randy old fart. This young ships captain was very handsome and very charming, but there was another side to him, a dangerous side, a very dangerous side. "I also have step children, as does Robert. Our marriage was the second for each of us. Sadly I lost the only child we made together. We were too old, both of us too old. Did you here me Robert? Too old. Do you agree?"
Warwick did not miss the obvious hint. He wanted to tell his wife, "I want to be with Teesa. I want to show Teesa the world. I want to show Teesa TO the world." But instead he said, "Yes dear. Too old."
After the soup, the venison, the goose, the cheese, the fruit, and the sweet cream buns, the light luncheon was finished, and everyone left the table. The crew to return to the ship, and the others to retire the library to finish their wine. Meanwhile the table was reset for the next sitting, the sitting for the returning hunters.
* * * * *
The ten hunters trooped in and took their places and were served soup while they waited for the Lord and Lady to join them. You could have heard a pin drop when Susannah walked in on Daniel's arm and Teesa on Warwick's, and then there was pandemonium as ten men leaped to their feet and saluted Teesa and the countess with their cups of ale.
Except for their boots and cloaks, the men were still dressed for the hunt, for as soon as they had eaten they planned to go out and try again for more geese. At this sitting Teesa and Susannah again sat next to each other but this time Warwick claimed the seat beside Teesa which left Daniel beside Susannah. Soon Teesa was being kept busy pushing away a roving hand that was hidden by the table cloth. Daniel was also kept busy.
Eventually Susannah stopped playing with the inside of Daniel's thigh long enough to realize that her husband was ignoring his guests, who were all men he was attempting to recruit into his local Trained Band as officers. Ignoring them would defeat the purpose of inviting them to the hunt in the first place. She opened a line of conversation so that her guests would slow their eating. "Sweet Teesa has told me that you all need lessons in how to hunt geese."
Every man politely put down his cup or his bread or his spoon and looked towards the vision of lovely femininity. "How so?" asked James, the weathered man sitting on the other side of Warwick. He was Warwick's largest tenant in this hundred, and Warwick was counting on him to lead the band.
"Well,” Teesa suddenly remembered Susannah saying that ladies did not eat with their mouth open, and therefore ladies did not speak when they had food in their mouth. She swallowed a half chewed morsel of bread, the only food on the table that would not stain her silk, and then continued. "it is not just a sin to kill the females, but completely foolish. You need the females to survive to breed your next meal."
The men looked at each other in embarrassment. The girl was right of course. They all owned cows or sheep or at least chickens. In times of hunger you ate all but one male before you ever began eating the producing females. When you wanted to exterminate crows it was best to spend your effort and your shot on killing the nesting females. They nodded to each other. "Point taken,” James said, "we will be more careful."
"That is exactly why so many fowlers are rebelling against the drainage schemes in the wetlands,” Daniel added, "for they destroy the nesting places. Already the seasonal flocks are smaller, and it's due to the drainage not the hunters."
Susannah found his hand under the table cloth and gave it a squeeze, and then told him, "Tut, tut, no political talk at the eating table."
"It's not political talk, it's hunting talk,” Teesa defended. She looked towards James. "The way you were blasting away with your fowling pieces, you spent more on the lead than the birds would have cost you in the market. Why not shoot them while they are in the water rather than wasting so much shot punching holes in the sky?"
"Hah, that just proves how little young women know about hunting geese,” James replied and began a mocking laugh which was echoed by the other hunters. Daniel shot Teesa 'the look' but it was not in time to stop a chunk of bread from hitting James on the forehead.
"Build blinds near to the places where the geese gather to swim and feed,” Teesa scolded, "and then shoot at them all at the same time so that the first shot does not scare them all into the air and ruin the rest of the shots."
James gave her a condescending smile and explained in gentle terms that flocks of geese were smarter than to be caught like that. They had scouts and lookouts and would not settle near a blind that contained men. He reached up and caught the next chunk of bread that flew across the table at his face. Susannah would have stopped Teesa, but she was trying not to bring attention to herself, or rather to how her hand was stroking Daniel's crotch.
"I know the secret of geese,” Teesa told all of the men, "and if you all swear on your hearts and souls never to use it around nests or to kill females, then I will share their secret with you."
The men all looked at each other and smiled. How could they deny the earnest silliness of such a lovely young woman. They all crossed their hearts and so swore.
"And that whenever you share the secret that you will bind those men to the same oath." The men all crossed their hearts again. "Alright, I will tell you. It's simple really. Birds don't know how to count like we do." The men all laughed and were ready to dismiss her as a fool, so she banged her never-been-used silver soup spoon hard against the table.
Eventually the laughter died and she began again. "Birds don't know how to count, not really. They count 'no men', and 'one man' and 'more than one man' and that is all. More important, they count backwards the same way. That means that if three or more of you go into a blind and then two of you come out, then they think that the blind is empty. That is the way you can fool the geese into thinking the blinds are empty.
The best way to shoot all at once is to have the furthest man choose when all should shoot, and for him to signal the others with a bird call. Everyone then counts slowly like this, 'one goose', 'two geese', 'three geese', up to five, and then shoots."
The table was at first absolutely silent, and then each of the hunters began to speak at once to each other. Teesa banged her spoon and called out, "Now you must remember your oath. Shoot the adult males only, and never in the nesting areas. And keep the secret of geese as best you can."
James looked along the table. The men were now ripping into their venison, trying to finish eating as soon as possible while there was still enough light to hunt. They wanted to try the girl's double blind trick today. "How does Teesa know such things?" he asked Daniel.
"She's the most successful fowler in our village," Daniel replied distractedly, "and she does it all with stealth and arrows so that gun blasts don't scare the females off the nests." Distractedly because Susannah's stroking hand had been completely successful and now it was gently squeezing rather than stroking.
* * * * *
"I should be out hunting with the men, and trying out Teesa's method,” Warwick told Daniel as he poured yet more Genever into their cups. His thoughts got stuck on the vision of 'trying out Teesa'.
Daniel looked over at Warwick, the only other person sitting in the library with him. After all the wine, and now this Genever, he doubted the man could still stand, never mind aim a gun. "Teesa's method may not work for them, you know. It takes silent patience to hunt like her, and those men were anything but silent or patient while they were pulling on their boots."
"Hmm, well, at least we should settle our business. I've decided that I want the thirty five muskets delivered to my man in London as soon as possible."
"No problem." Daniel replied. "We will leave in the morning and be in London before sunset. How will I find y
our man, and how will I know him when I find him. I don't hand out muskets to just anyone, you know."
"I will send two of my lifeguards with you. Two of the ones who came in on your ship, if that is alright with you." At Daniels nod, Warwick continued, "Oh, and don't worry about your stowaway. Teesa can keep Susannah company until you pick her up on your way home. Have you noticed that Susannah is treating Teesa as if she were a long lost granddaughter?"
Daniel had noticed many things, but this was not the time to make an issue of them. Though the crew were sleeping in the estate's bunkhouse, he and Teesa had been offered rooms upstairs, separate and luxurious rooms. He had already decided that both of them would sleep in his room, and behind a barricaded door. "Teesa will hate me if I don't take her to London with us. London was the very reason that she stowed away."
* * * * *
Teesa and the crew were all aboard or standing by, for the ship was ready to sail. They were just waiting for Warwick's two men to arrive before they slipped their mooring and left the estate's dock. Daniel saw some men walking towards the dock, finally, and told the crew to make ready. Teesa climbed up onto the rear castle to claim the tiller.
One of the walking men was Warwick himself. "Last minute instructions?" Daniel asked.
"I'm coming with you to London just in case there are problems delivering the muskets."
"In other words, you wanted to see this nimble little ship in action,” Daniel stated the obvious. Warwick had thoroughly enjoyed his last voyage with Daniel on the agile Swift.. Or was this change of plan all about Teesa? Last night, he and Teesa had heard his curses when he found Teesa's room empty. They had also heard Susannah's soft whispers at Daniel's door and had seen the look of dismay on her face when Teesa had opened the door. As soon as Warwick and his men were aboard he signaled the crew to slip the lines.
Due to the lengthy wait for Warwick, the sun had already been up for three hours. That was a lot of daylight to lose in these short October days. Still, they would easily make it to London before sunset so long as there was any wind at all. Luckily the wind was from the north east so they were able to use the sails to go down and out of the River Roach. That gained them some time.
It wasn't long before the old sea dog, Warwick, was scrambling about on the decks inspecting every line, block, and fitting. Teesa even allowed him a turn on the tiller. At one point Daniel heard her say something like, "but first I must ask the permission of Lady Susannah." Despite their late start they still entered the Thames estuary before noon, and once in those calmer waters they sped along.
With the lad Davey on bow watch for flotsam and sandbars, and Teesa on the tiller, there was nothing much for the rest of the men to do, so they sat in the oar well and talked guns and hunting and ships and politics.
"The ship could stand larger sails in light winds,” Daniel told them all. Everyone nodded for there was no doubt of it. "Trouble is, that would mean lengthening and lowering the boom. It means that often the tillerman will have no forward view at all."
"Then lower the tiller,” Teesa's cousin suggested.
"That would mean lowering the deck of the aft castle,” Daniel replied. "The cabin underneath it would become nothing more than a crawl space."
"Then get rid of it. Right now we have this well between the aft and fore cabins for working the oars. Get rid of the aft castle and cabin completely. That will move the oar well further back so we can add some more feet to the fore cabin." The cousin looked around for support for his idea. He was pleased to see nodding heads. "That way the tiller and the tillerman would be on the same deck as the oarsmen and would have little trouble seeing under larger sails."
"It's a good idea, no denying it. She'd sail better without the built up castle catching the wind, and the tillerman would be able to see forward. He would no longer be standing high in the weather, and the rest of the crew would be closer to him should he need help. As you say, the cabin space we loose, we could make up for by lengthening the fore cabin." Daniel thought about it some more. "It would mean giving up the height advantage of the castle if we are ever boarded by pirates."
"They'll never catch us to board us." The rest of the men laughed in agreement. From the moment this sea trial had begun they had been delighted by her speed. "What do you think your grace?"
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I was thinking about the nightmare I had last night,” Warwick told them.
"Shouldn't mix red wine and Genever,” two men called back. They knew that all too well, for they were in the business of importing both drinks to England.
"No, it wasn't that. It was a combination of things. When I first met Daniel he was fresh back from the Americas and he told me all about how the Gael Irish were being abused, you know, ... cleared, slaughtered, sold into slavery, transported, worked to death, and how the Virginians are planning to cross-breed their costly Black slaves with cheap Irish women. Then yesterday I listened while Teesa told the hunters how to exterminate crows by destroying the nesting females. The nightmare was a mixing of the two thoughts."
"Nope, I still think it was from mixing your drinks." Everyone laughed except for Warwick.
"I fear that the king and his Lords of Ireland, whether Red Irish, English, or Scottish, are purposefully trying to exterminate the Gael Irish. Removing Strafford as the Deputy of Ireland has made it safer to be a parliamentarian, but will it have changed the fate of the clansmen of Ireland. The king needs money and the Gael Irish are in his way. This nightmare is the real reason why I decided to come with you to London. I must find out what is happening in Ireland now that Strafford is no more."
* * * * *
* * * * *
The Pistoleer - Pirates by Skye Smith Copyright 2013-14
Chapter 17 - A Stowaway in London in November 1641
"Where is she?" Daniel worried out loud. "First she stows away, and now she has jumped ship." Warwick had personally led them to the Providence Company warehouse where they were to deliver the muskets, and had introduced him to the factor there who would handle future deliveries. The factor was Warwick's brother-in-law, who was well connected with the Mercer guild. They had left Teesa on board as part of the watch, but when they returned to the ship, she was missing.
He tried not to think about what could happen to a lovely country girl in the docklands of London. That fear was the very reason she had been left on board. "Please tell me she didn't go ashore to find a market or something?" He glared at the watch.
"If she left the ship, then she snuck off just like she snuck on,” replied one of the watch in his own defense, "and no one is better at snuckin than our huntress."
"Are you Captain Daniel?" a lad called up to him from the dock. "If so I have a message for you." He held up a folded paper. "It'll cost ya sixpence." Teesa's cousin came up behind the lad and grabbed the letter and then cuffed him across the back of the head for being greedy. Daniel flipped the lad a farthing.
"What does it say?"
"The fool,” Daniel read it a second time. "It is from Warwick. Teesa is safe and will be staying with him at Warwick House until we come back with the next cargo."
"He's taken her hostage? He's a fool to be abductin' a clanswoman. So do we go and rescue her and rough him up a bit?"
"I meant Teesa was a fool. She's no hostage. This is her doing. She wanted to see London before we moved to the tropics, and this was her chance."
Her cousin called out his sour grapes. "So the poor baby has to live the life of luxury. A few weeks prancing around in silk gowns over at Warwick's town house,” but then he had a sobering thought. "Shit, the old fart will be all over her like slug slime on a young pea shoot. We do indeed need to rescue her."
"You mean rescue him, don't you? If he tries to force her into anything she's liable to cut his balls off,” Daniel stopped talking and looked around at the faces of his clansmen. They were staring at him expectantly. "Alright, I will go and play the good father." He absent mindedly pulled his small wheellock pis
tol from a pocket and checked its prime. The German clock makers had designed this pistol to work without any sharp edges to catch on clothing. It was the very type of pistol that an assassin could ... had ... smuggled into polite company, for some short range killing.
The men stared at the gun, and then at his face to make sure there was no anger there. After all, Warwick was a wealthy customer who they hoped would fill more than a few purses with gold. Daniel saw their looks and told them, "I may be late back but stay close to the ship. We may have to leave in a hurry."
After leaving the ship, he wound his way from the docklands over to Cheapside and walked towards Saint Paul's Cathedral. The dire straits of the poor of London, or rather, the newly arrived poor from the country, was worse than ever. Every street had drunks passed out in the gutter, and gangs of boys to pick their pockets. Every lane had young girls so desperate for coin that they would even bend over for the foulest of seamen despite the risk of catching the French Pox from them.
The quest for coins was the root of all the evil in this ever more crowded and ever more filthy city. The bumpkins were drawn to it by the endless tales of all the coins they could earn here. Not that the tales were wrong, they just never mentioned how much coin it took just to live here. This wasn't the lush green countryside where there was always somewhere safe and dry to sleep, and always something to eat.
In London everything cost a coin, or two, or ten. You either earned well, or you slept in the street. Those who earned but a few pennies a day, would use them to buy stale bread, rather than cast them at the landlords. The worst part was that the newly arrived bumpkins were preyed upon by those who were not so newly arrived, just as they had been preyed upon. No, the worst part was that the newly arrived were all so young, so innocent, so easily corrupted. And this was the city where his comely teenage daughter had decided to jump ship.
At a goldsmith's shop close to the newly remodeled cathedral, he knocked and then stepped back from the door so that those inside could see who was knocking before they unbarred the door. Thomas Smythes, the goldsmith, shook Daniel's hand as he led him into the small shop. Moments later his wife Alice leaped down the stairs from their lodgings above the shop, and into his arms. Alice was Robert Blake's little sister.