There were chuckles as he said this, but they swiftly died.
‘I’ll say nothing of the rights and wrongs of what they done. We all has moments when the Lord moves us to mercy and maybe it’s right we should listen to those.’
‘Aye, but this girl here could compromise all of us!’ exclaimed a voice. ‘We got our safety to consider.’
Every story I’d ever heard about ruthless smugglers crowded into my mind. They would cheerfully kill me to keep my mouth shut, I knew. Will would, I felt sure; he seemed to positively hate me. All my dependence was on Gentle Jacob living up to his name and speaking for me. Or perhaps the skipper, who thought I might be useful. How could I be useful to a smuggler gang? I dreaded to imagine what he might be thinking of.
‘The case is this,’ said a new voice. ‘She knows what we does. She’s seen some of us and our ship. She’s a witness. We’re all men who depend on secrecy for our work.’
‘We hear you, Hard-Head Bill,’ said the skipper. ‘Does any other man have aught to say on this subject? Slippery Sam?’
‘We all knows what we does with informers,’ Sam said in a loud, uncouth voice. ‘Jacob never ought to done what he done last night. Saving girls is not a job for them as needs to stay secret. Many of us got families what depend on us and we can’t take no risks.’
My heart beat fast with fear. Would they all be so pitiless?
‘Sly Pete!’ called the skipper.
‘You needn’t think these are the men’s real names,’ hissed Will’s voice in my ear. ‘They know better than that and protect themselves well.’
I nodded. ‘I wouldn’t tell … ’ I said. A disbelieving snort was my only reply.
‘Free trading carries the risk of prison with it,’ said Sly Pete. ‘We know that. Murder, though, that’s another matter. I’ve no hankering for the rope’s end, nor to be gibbeted at the crossroads neither. I say we find a way of being rid of her what doesn’t involve killing.’
‘Noted,’ said the skipper. ‘Next? Boney Ben?’
I heard muttered laughs. ‘It won’t be murder,’ he said. ‘Nothing’ll be proved ever. Jacob took her out of the sea. Putting her back won’t be no different to if he never had. And a corpse don’t tell no tales.’
At first I listened in a calm, detached way to these rough men discussing my fate. Then the realization dawned on me that this was me they were speaking of. I was on trial for my life. This was no court with legal gentlemen in wigs and a trained judge, however. And I had no defence. Only a rabble of unwashed criminals baying for my blood.
‘The sea had claimed her!’ shouted yet another voice. ‘If we cheat the sea of its dues, it’ll take another. We all know it’s the truth.’
‘That’s superstition!’ shouted another man.
‘Don’t interrupt,’ the skipper said. ‘you’ll get your turn, Kit.’
I started at his name, because he must be the man who’d helped Jacob pull me from the water last night. I wished I could see him.
‘But you can’t leave a girl to drown. It ain’t Christian!’ shouted Kit, despite the captain’s warning.
After many views had been expressed, the skipper said, ‘I guess we should vote then.’ His voice was tight.
‘Wait!’ I cried, indignantly, trapped and blind behind the black scarf. ‘Don’t I get to speak?’
The captain hesitated, and then pulled me forward.
‘Make it brief.’
‘I didn’t ask to be rescued last night,’ I began uncertainly. ‘I was trying to end my life, though I knew that was wrong.’ I paused and bit my lip, realizing my confession could make them ask me why I should attempt such a thing. That was the last thing I wanted. I rushed back into speech hoping to cover up my slip: ‘But things look very different in the morning light. I was deeply mistaken to despair. I owe you all a great debt for rescuing me.
‘I swear to each one of you that if you let me go now, I will never betray you. I’ll forget I ever saw a single one of you. I’ll swear it on the Bible. Please. Let me go!’
I heard only low mutters in response. I had a bad feeling about the outcome of a vote. Slowly I sank to the deck, shaking so much I could no longer stand. They were going to kill me. I was going to die. And for someone who had been eager to embrace death just a few hours before, I was ridiculously terrified. I bit my trembling thumb until I tasted blood. I was so absorbed in the horror of what was happening to me, I scarcely heard that Gentle Jacob had started speaking.
‘I be thinking of the hidey hole at Studland,’ he said calmly. ‘No one ain’t seen that ghost for a while. I heard tell the Philistines have been sniffing round it. And even the children ain’t scared to go play there no more.’
‘Stick to the point, Jacob,’ interjected Will impatiently.
‘I’m gettin’ there,’ replied Jacob, unperturbed. ‘I was just thinking it was time someone saw that ghost again. You know the one, my friends. The young bride, what wrings her hands and wails in the grounds at night in a beautiful gown.’
There was a silence and then a muttering. ‘You mean you’d trust her to play the ghost? To help us?’
‘One of us can wear that gown and do just as good a job, and safer to boot,’ snarled an angry voice.
‘You perhaps, Generous Joe?’ asked Jacob mildly. ‘Fine slender bride you’d make with that belly.’
The other men guffawed with laughter and the tense atmosphere eased a fraction. ‘All I’m saying is, there don’t have to be no killin’,’ continued Jacob. ‘There’s other ways of keeping her mouth shut.’
‘Accomplices spill no beans,’ agreed another man in a low growl.
‘And there’s other ways a woman could be useful to us,’ Jacob added. ‘The financer’s been wanting to bring some lace across I heard. Skipper’s got some ideas about that.’
I heard Will sigh beside me. ‘I doubt this is a good decision,’ he muttered. ‘But you have a point about the lace. And I’m certainly not for killing anyone.’
‘And there was us thinking you was the old hand at that,’ someone sneered. Will was silent.
‘Enough o’ that, Hard-Head Bill,’ said the skipper sharply. ‘A vote then. All those in favour of giving Isabelle a chance to prove herself useful—with Jacob and Will to take charge of her.’
There was a long silence. My heart hammered and I longed to tear off my blindfold.
‘Right,’ said the skipper at last. ‘That’s more than half. That’s settled then; Isabelle, you stay.’
Relief flared in me, leaving me trembling. I left off chewing my maltreated thumb. Jacob pulled me to my feet and pulled the scarf from my eyes.
The sunlight was brilliant and I screwed up my eyes against it. When they had adjusted, the sight made me gasp. We were surrounded by sea, deep blue and sparkling brightly in the sunshine. The waves were crested white in places, and the ship carved a path through them, dipping and rising as she went. The autumn sun was warm against my skin and the sea air salty and fresh. I’d never been to sea before; had never imagined such beauty. It was a wonderful morning to be alive. A deeply poignant thought.
I became aware of the curious stares of the men. Most watched me with interest, a few looked openly hostile. Others were already dispersing about the ship. There were an astonishing number of them; the crew must have been some thirty men in all. I wondered how they were all accommodated on this ship. It did not seem to be especially large. Almost all of the men were uncouth and dirty. They looked a low bunch of ruffians to me. I was relieved I’d not seen sooner the kind of scum that were deciding my fate.
‘Right then, men,’ said the skipper loudly. ‘The coast is in sight. Let’s make ready.’
I was weak with relief; so relieved, in fact, that the prospect of collaborating with a crew of common criminals didn’t horrify me as much as it perhaps ought to have done. I just covered my face with my hands and fought the tears that wanted to surface.
They left me a few minutes in peace as men bustled around me
calling out about ‘reefing’, ‘winding’, ‘hauling sail’, and ‘dropping sail’. Then Jacob touched me lightly on the shoulder.
I dropped my hands and looked up at him. ‘Come and get a bite to eat,’ he said. ‘That’ll put some heart in you.’
He shambled ahead of me to the galley, a tall giant in shabby, patched clothing. I could smell the crisp, rich scents of bacon and coffee and realized I was starving. When Jacob brought me out a mug of bitter black coffee and a hunk of bread and bacon, I fell on it gratefully.
‘That’s right. Eat up!’ said Jacob in a satisfied voice. ‘So thin and pale you are. You need fresh air and good food, I reckon.’
I refrained from telling him that fresh air was highly injurious to a lady’s complexion, for I sensed he was trying to be kind, uncouth and common though he was. And he had saved my life. He’d done it in a roundabout way, as though he scarcely knew what he was doing. I couldn’t make up my mind whether he had some native cunning or whether he really was simple and had made a lucky suggestion.
The coffee tasted fiery, and I guessed it had been laced with some unfamiliar liquor. Something nudged at my ankle and I looked down to see a black-and-white cat winding itself around my leg, meowing. I threw it a scrap of rind which it swallowed greedily.
‘I’ve never been at sea before,’ I told Jacob. He was standing next to me, arms folded. He looked about him with a contented smile.
‘It’s a grand life,’ he said simply. ‘You’re going to love it.’
I didn’t answer him, having a mouthful of bacon and not being sure what to say. Was I really going to stay aboard this ship with all these dreadful men?
‘It was the best I could do, see,’ said Jacob unexpectedly. ‘If I’d have pleaded to let you go, they’d likely have put you to bed in the sea. But you remind me … Well, to tell you the truth, you remind me of the daughter I lost to the scarlet fever. I wanted to protect you. I hope you can make the best of it.’
I was startled. He had known what he was doing. I hadn’t imagined he could harbour so much intelligence inside such a rough exterior. The mention of his daughter stirred a little unexpected pity in me.
‘But how long are you expecting to keep me here?’ I asked, my voice sharp to mask the sudden confusion of my thoughts. ‘The rest of my life?’
Jacob grinned, a slow, cheerful grin. ‘We’re just keeping you and us safe. And how long you stay’ll depend, won’t it? On how well you win their trust an’ liking. You ain’t home and dry yet.’
He got up on the words and went back to work on the sails. I watched him. Win the trust of cut-throats and criminals? Of rough, working men who thwarted the law and cheated the king? My mind struggled with the concept. In my world, the working class treated me with obsequious respect. They did my bidding and performed tasks for me. They did not question my right to be superior to them, nor did they question my word. And I certainly didn’t have to consider their feelings or what they thought of me.
But now I was being asked to gain their liking, and to work to get their trust. I’d never worked in my life. That was something the lower orders did. And to try hard to please them! It was outrageous. Such illiterate, uneducated oafs! I scorned the thought.
At once, however, I remembered how many of them would like to have put an end to my life, and this swiftly sobered me. I was completely trapped here with no prospect of escape and nowhere to go if I could get away. I had no choice, for now, but to play this game on their terms.
CHAPTER FOUR
The French port was bustling with craft of all descriptions moving about under sail or oar. I watched interestedly from the deck as we manoeuvred through them all to moor up at the busy quay. The crew made the ship fast. Will did his fair share of work along with the roughest of the men and I wondered at it. Despite being wigless, plainly dressed, and aboard a ship full of criminals, it was clear to me he was gently born. Did he have no pride at all?
The men were divided into three groups: those who were to have shore leave, the few who were to stay aboard, and those who were to conduct ‘the business’. No one paid any attention at all to me until Will was stepping across the gangplank with a dark-haired, older man with a shapeless figure, who answered to the name of Numbers Ben. The skipper turned to me and asked abruptly: ‘You speak French?’
‘Of course,’ I replied haughtily. To question my ability was to question my class and my education.
‘Go with them then, and maybe you can make yourself useful,’ he said, calling Will back.
Will scowled at me. ‘I can’t possibly take her. She’ll run off!’ he objected.
‘I can’t go in such clothes,’ I cried equally aghast but for different reasons, looking down at my apparel with revulsion. ‘It would be shameful.’
‘Very well then,’ said the skipper. ‘No one here’s got time to guard her. Jacob, lock her in the cabin.’
‘No!’ I cried outraged. ‘I won’t be locked in.’
‘Come with me,’ said Jacob, taking a step to the cabin.
‘I won’t,’ I repeated, stamping my foot. I glared at them all, daring them to treat me so badly. Will and his companion shrugged and left the ship, walking off along the quay. Jacob made one more attempt to reason with me, and when I refused to budge, picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder. For a moment, I was too shocked to make a sound. When I had gathered my wits, I began to pound my fists against his back and shriek. ‘Put me down, you great looby! How dare you manhandle me! I’ll scream! I’ll tell the authorities you’re keeping me against my will!’
Jacob carried me to the cabin and dumped me down on the floor. I scrambled to my feet, still furious. ‘I won’t be locked in here,’ I yelled, feeling my temper burn inside me.
Jacob simply grinned sympathetically, winked and went out, locking the door behind him. I could feel the familiar screams of fury and frustration building in my throat. My family would have read the signs; they would have known better than to thwart me.
I kicked out at a chair, sending it crashing onto the cabin floor. My eyes misted over, burning hot, and then I let out my first scream of pure rage. I picked up the chair and threw it across the cabin. It knocked the oil lamp from the ceiling, smashing it down onto the floor with a clang and a shatter of breaking glass. I screamed again.
The door behind me flew open with a bang and I whipped round, fists raised, ready to lash out at whoever it was. It took a moment for my rage-filled, heated vision to take in the sight of a rough man with a scarred face and a front tooth missing. I screamed and flew at him, determined to tear his face with my nails.
The man caught my wrists in unbelievably powerful hands and twisted them until I gasped and dropped to my knees. Then he let me go and dealt me one ringing slap across the cheek. ‘I’ve heard enough of your childish tantrums,’ he ordered. ‘You be silent now.’
‘You can’t make me,’ I gasped, still defiant, although my head was spinning from the blow. To prove it, I began to scream again.
The man crouched down opposite me and looked into my eyes. There was a cold anger in his own eyes that made me quail, and I stopped mid-scream and froze as he drew a long sheath knife from his belt. ‘In case you’re wondering, I’m the one known as Hard-Head Bill,’ he said menacingly.
My heart hammered in terror. I was certain he was going to kill me there and then. He grasped a handful of my waist-length hair with one powerful hand, twisting it. Then he reached up his knife and sliced hard across it. I whimpered in shock as my beautiful golden hair showered over the cabin floor among the fragments of broken glass.
Bill raised the knife again and threatened me with it. ‘I’ll remind you, I was one of them as wanted you dead,’ he said slowly and deliberately. ‘I ain’t changed my mind. I’m in charge of this ship for the rest of the day. So you’ll shut it, or you’ll feel the edge of this knife.’
Bill clearly didn’t doubt that I’d comply with his order, for he got up and left, turning the key behind him. I crouche
d on the floor in silence, aware of the pounding of my heart and the trembling of my limbs. I’d never, in the course of my short life, come up against anyone who had cowed my will and forced my obedience. But I wasn’t inclined to try him any further. I believed his threat. I got up, trembling with shock and indignation.
My right knee was cut and bleeding, and I dabbed at it with a cloth I found by the washstand. My hands shook pitifully. I touched my hair, hardly able to believe what the brute had done to me. Half of it was still long and half now only reached to my shoulder.
I stayed silent and furious but too frightened to object, as the long hours of the day passed. I heard the men come and go, goods being loaded aboard and at last the crew cast off and sailed out to sea once more. My first visit to France had passed with no more sight of Cherbourg than the view of the quay.
I was hungry, thirsty, and very bored when the key eventually rattled in the lock, and the cabin door swung open. I lay quite still on the bunk where I’d passed the last few hours. ‘Get up,’ ordered a voice. I deliberately turned away to face the wall. These men were brutes. They needn’t think they could just order me about like a servant.
I shouldn’t have been surprised to be dragged backwards out of the bunk by two firm hands under my arms. I landed in an undignified heap with a shriek of indignation. ‘How dare you … ’ I began, but Will laughed harshly.
‘You ought to be learning by now that we’re not your servants. You are now the most junior crew member on board,’ he said. ‘That means you do as you’re told. Get used to it and stop bleating like the spoiled brat you are.’
‘I’m not spoiled,’ I retorted.
‘Ha!’ said Will, folding his arms, his mouth set in an uncompromising line. He stared at me in silence for a moment, and then added: ‘You’re a particularly spoiled, indulged, arrogant rich girl, and you have a great deal to learn if you want to live long on board this ship.’
He waited to see if I would reply. I was furious at his brutal appraisal, but sought to retain my dignity with a chilling silence, fixing my gaze on a point to the left of him.
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