He had been a little worried about the noise the mallet might make, but he was relieved to find that the sound of the small taps was largely muffled by the water and Jeff reasoned that the usual creaks and groans of the wooden hull would easily mask any remaining sound. After testing the security of the wedge, Jeff was satisfied that it would hold and he returned to the surface. He handed off the mallet to Jenny and pulled another wedge from the bag. He pulled himself down and placed the second wedge just above the hinge on the opposite side of the rudder from the first and pushed it into place before retrieving the mallet once more to tap it tightly into place. He repeated the process with another two pairs of wedges and then tested the rudder for movement. He smiled at Jenny when the rudder failed to budge at all no matter how hard he pushed and pulled. He dove down once more to check the security of the wedges and all seemed to be holding fast. “One down, three to go,” he whispered upon surfacing. They carefully tied the sack of wedges closed and Jeff placed it on his back for the swim to the next ship.
The pair made their way the few hundred yards to the next ship without incident. Now having practiced the procedure, Jeff and Jenny worked together much more efficiently in sabotaging the second rudder and they soon were preparing to swim to the third ship. As Jeff was slinging the bag of wedges onto his back, Jenny let out a muffled cry. “What’s wrong?” he whispered.
“Something touched my leg!” she said quietly. Jeff lowered his face and searched the dark water through the mask.
“I don’t see anything. Probably just some seaweed,” he whispered reassuringly.
“It wasn’t seaweed!” she hissed back at him.
Jeff took another look and carefully scanned the depths for any signs of movement. “Whatever it was is gone. Come on, we need to get to the next ship.” Jenny took a deep breath and nodded.
The third ship was much further away than the second had been from the first. The distance seemed even greater to Jeff and Jenny with the thought of some unseen predator possibly stalking them from below. The moon was quite high in the sky by the time they reached the ship and Jeff could see the glow of fire as a sentry lit his pipe standing against the rail on the near side of the ship. He turned to Jenny and motioned that they needed to swim around to the far side of the ship where they would be hidden better by shadows. When they finally made it to the rudder, Jenny was pale and shivering.
“Are you all right?” Jeff asked with concern.
“I’m just cold,” she replied.
“OK, let me finish here and then you can head back. I can handle the last ship myself”
“No. We should stay together. I didn’t want to worry you, but whatever is out there brushed my legs two more times on the swim over!” she said with fear in her voice.
“All right, I’ll do this as quickly as possible.” Jeff proceeded to place the wedges as before and the two made their way to the final ship.
The last ship was a relatively short swim and by the time they reached the rudder, Jenny was looking a little calmer. “No more bumps on the legs?” Jeff asked.
“No, nothing since the swim to the last ship,” she replied. Jeff set to work placing the wedges. As the two gathered themselves for the long swim back to the Wandering Wench, they heard activity above them at the stern rail. Jeff pulled Jenny in close to the rudder as he carefully peeked out from the shadow of the ship to see what was happening. He could see a man standing at the back rail but it was too dark to see much of anything else.
“What’s happening?” Jenny whispered.
Jeff raised a finger to his mouth to shush her and as the “Shhh!” came through his lips one direction, liquid rained down on him and went the other direction into his mouth. The foul taste of urine met his tongue and it was all he could do to keep from gagging on it. Realizing what was happening, it was all Jenny could do to keep from laughing out loud as she clamped a hand over her mouth. Jeff pulled himself to the rudder to escape the stream and sucked in a little saltwater to rinse out his mouth. Jeff was now stifling a laugh and Jenny was still convulsing silently as the stream finally stopped and they heard footsteps leading away from the rail above. Jeff rinsed his mouth with seawater a few more times as Jenny composed herself.
“Ready to head back?” he whispered.
“I am ready,” she nodded.
“Let’s head straight toward the reef to minimize the chance of being seen and then we can head up to the ship once we’re inside,” Jeff suggested.
“Aye!” Jenny agreed.
After slowly putting some distance between themselves and the Spanish ship, they picked up their pace toward the reef. Jeff would periodically duck his head below to scan the water for whatever had bumped Jenny earlier. He looked up and could see the waves breaking over the shallow part of the reef less than a hundred yards away when Jenny suddenly grabbed his arm. “It’s back!” she said with alarm. Jeff quickly lowered his head and scanned the darkness. Behind Jenny he could see the unmistakable gray tail fin of a large shark moving off.
He pulled his head from the water and said, “We need to stay calm and keep moving slowly toward the reef. Try not to splash around.”
“What is it?” she asked, her eyes wide with fear.
“A shark, but…” Before he could finish his thought, Jenny took off swimming as fast as she could for the reef.
“Jenny! Stop!” he said as he took off after her. Just as he caught up to her, he got slammed sideways in the water. Despite the intensity of the hit, Jeff didn’t feel any sharp pains. He looked down at his body and was relieved to see that he had not been bitten. “Bull shark!” he thought to himself, knowing that they get their name for the tendency to ram their prey before biting. He looked around in the water and saw nothing. Then, from out of the gloom, he saw the shark coming straight for him, jaws wide open!
Jeff reacted the only way he could and he closed his eyes as he thrust his arms out in front of him to try to ward off the deadly attack. He felt his hands slam against the shark’s head as he was pushed through the water. He forced himself to open his eyes and although he had a horrific view looking through the shark’s gnashing jaws and down its throat, he found to his surprise that his hands were effectively holding the shark at arm’s length. His left hand was gripping the shark’s snout and his right was clutching the outside of its lower jaw. The shark swam in a wide circle, thrashing its head back and forth trying to dislodge Jeff’s grip. He held on as hard as he could and kicked furiously to keep his position at the surface so he could breathe. He knew that this was a stalemate that he could not maintain for long. Eventually the shark would shake him off and tear him apart. As he stared into the shark’s mouth, the water suddenly filled with a dark cloud. “Blood!” Jeff realized. But as far as he could tell, he had not been bitten. Then to his left, he saw a silvery flash in the moonlight beside the shark’s head. It was the blade of Jenny’s knife and she was slamming it into the shark’s gills!
The shark continued to thrash violently in the cloud of blood. As it did, it knocked the knife from Jenny’s hand and Jeff saw it sink into the depths below. The shark was wounded, but still dangerous and Jeff dared not let go of it. Jenny quickly swam around behind him and wrapped an arm around his waist as she reached down and pulled his knife from its sheath. She pushed back and swam to his right and attacked the other set of gills. Jeff could feel the shark beginning to weaken. Finally it stopped thrashing and although he was reluctant to release his grasp on it, the shark was starting to drag him down and he had no other choice. As he let go, he half-expected the shark to spring back to life and resume its attack, but to his relief, it slowly sank into the dark water below.
Jeff and Jenny were too exhausted to speak. Jeff motioned with his head and they manage to swim the remaining distance to the reef. Jeff found a cut through the rocks and they made their way to an area of chest-deep water where they could stand and catch their breath. The two held each other tight, both shivering with a combination of cold and adrenali
ne. When he could finally speak, Jeff smiled at Jenny and said, “I thought you were beautiful before, but I’ve never seen anything so sexy as you stabbing that shark! Thank you for saving my life!”
“Oh, I didn’t do it for you, not really,” Jenny replied, still breathing heavily, “I was planning to use it for shark fin soup, but you let it get away! But besides that, after finally finding a man to give me a good rodgering, I wasn’t about to let you die just yet!”
“I see, you’re just keeping me around for the sex,” Jeff replied. “That’s fine, just use me as you wish - 17th century, 21st century, you women are all alike!” The two managed a weak laugh together before Jeff said, “We should get back to the ship while we still have the adrenaline keeping us going.” Jenny nodded and the two headed towards the silhouette of the Wandering Wench that was barely visible in the moonlight.
As they approached the ship, Jeff reached over to get Jenny’s attention and whispered, “We’ll go quietly to the stern so we can get you disguised again.” Jenny nodded in agreement and they slowly closed the distance to the ship. Jenny’s shirt and chest wrap were where they had left them and Jeff unrolled the chest wrap. Getting the wrap and shirt on in the water was no easy task, especially in their state of exhaustion, but they finally managed to get Jenny dressed. She then pulled out the pouch of ash and grease and Jeff rubbed some on her face. He had her turn her head back and forth to look at the makeup job in the moonlight. Convinced that she was ready to be seen by the crew, the two splashed their way to the cargo net. Crabtree peered over the rail with a flintlock in hand and saw the two struggling up the net. “They be here!” he called over his shoulder. “Men! Grab the net and heave-to!” Several of the crew ran to the rail and started pulling the net up the side of the ship. As the pair’s hands made it over the rail, they were assisted onto the deck by several men.
The Captain approached, smoking his pipe. “Well?” he asked hopefully.
“I think we were successful. The wedges were holding fast when we finished at each ship and I would guess that they’ll swell in the water and get even tighter before morning,” Jeff replied.
“Splendid! You seem more than tired. Did you have any trouble?” Coxen inquired.
“We were attacked by a shark, but Robinson killed it,” Jeff said with admiration.
“Remarkable! Well done, Robinson!” the Captain bellowed.
“Thank you, Captain,” she replied. She turned to Jeff and said, “Were you going to tell him about your drink of Spanish piss?”
As the Captain and crew snickered, Jeff shook his head. “You had to bring that up, didn’t you?”
“Aye!” she replied, trying to look innocent.
“First water and now Spanish piss. You do have some odd thirsts, Mr. Greene!” the Captain said to the laughter of the crew.
“Let’s just say my mouth was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Jeff said with a laugh of his own.
“Well, Mr. Greene, Mr. Robinson, I shall look forward to seeing the fruits of your labors at first light. But you must be tired. Please take your leave, change out of those wet clothes, and try to get some sleep. We sail at dawn.”
“Thank you, Captain,” they replied in unison as they struggled to their feet and made their way to their bunks. A few men followed them down to the crew’s quarters and flopped into their bunks as Jeff slid off his swim trunks and pulled on his pants. Jenny watched the others settle in before turning her back and quickly removing her wet shirt and wrap as one and sliding a dry set on. She was just as fast in changing her pants and in a matter of seconds, she had managed to completely change clothes without revealing any hint that she was a woman to the others in the room. The two crawled onto their bunks and said a quick goodnight to each other before both quickly fell asleep.
Chapter 8: Setting Sail
Jeff awakened to the sounds of the crew arising and making their way onto deck. Jenny was already gone and Jeff stiffly pulled himself upright. He was very sore from the evening’s adventures and he stretched a little before pulling on a shirt and heading out on deck. It was still quite dark, but there was a faint line of orange and red sitting low in the sky signaling the approach of sunrise. Captain Coxen was standing on the deck of the bridge, supervising the preparations. He spotted Jeff and called to him. Jeff walked over and climbed the steps to the bridge. “Good morning, Mr. Greene,” the Captain greeted him. “We shall soon see how well your plan is going to work, but I trust it will be a success.”
Jeff nodded, “I know it will work, Captain. They can’t chase us if they can’t steer and they’ll need men who can swim to have any chance of fixing the problem.”
“Aye,” the Captain nodded, “and men who can swim are a rarity in this age. Robinson is preparing some food to sustain the men for the sail. You should go get some. We’ll be setting sail within the hour.”
“Yes, Captain. I’ll do that.” Jeff made his way down to the galley.
Graves and the other Stevens were coming out as he reached the doorway. Graves spoke up, “Mr. Greene! Robinson told us ye fought the shark with yer bare hands while ‘e stabbed it!”
“I guess you could say that,” Jeff agreed. “I was mostly just holding on to it as hard as I could to keep it from biting me.”
“All the same. Good on ye mate!” Graves said enthusiastically.
“Aye!” agreed the other Stevens as the two continued on their way to the deck.
Jenny had heard the exchange and greeted Jeff at the door. She looked past him to make sure the coast was clear before grabbing the back of his neck and kissing him passionately. As she broke the embrace, Jeff said. “Good morning to you too!” She smiled and wiped some of her ash and grease face paint from around his mouth before turning and leading him into the galley and started fixing him a plate of nuts, flatbread, and dried fish.
“Eat well,” she said, handing him the plate. Jeff suddenly realized how hungry he was and he eagerly gulped down the food.
“Thanks! I needed this,” he said with a smile.
“Anything for the brave shark fighter,” she said turning back to her pots as a few more members of the crew filed into the small galley.
Crabtree poked his head through the door. “Finish up quickly men. We be pullin’ anchor soon.”
“Aye!” they acknowledged as Jenny handed them plates of food.
Jeff finished his plate and turned to Jenny and said, “Thank you for the meal Mr. Robinson. I’m not sure what good I’ll be on deck, but I feel like I should probably get up there.
“Aye,” she replied. “I’ll be coming up myself soon. I want to see those Spaniards sitting dead in the water as we sail away!”
“I’ll look for you on deck then,” Jeff said with a nod as he exited.
As he stepped out on deck, the Captain shouted to him, “Join me, Mr. Greene.” Jeff made his way to the bridge as the Captain called down to Crabtree, “It’s time, Mr. Crabtree. Haul anchor and prepare to unfurl the sails!”
Crabtree repeated the order to the men, “Haul anchor and prepare to unfurl the sails!”
“Aye!” a chorus of voices yelled back from all over the ship. The timbers of the ship groaned slightly as a group of men turned the anchor windlass below deck and the Wandering Wench crept forward. Soon the anchor pulled free from the bottom and as the men finished securing it, other crewmen unfurled the sails and the Captain took hold of the wheel.
As the wind caught the sails, Jeff spotted Robinson emerging onto the deck. She and several other members of the crew stood at the rail and watched to see what the Spanish ships would do. The Captain looked at Jeff and smiled, “The moment of truth, Mr.Greene!” Jeff looked out at the 4 Spanish ships and could see frenzied activity on their decks as they prepared to pursue the Wandering Wench. The closest ship was weighing anchor and quickly unfurled its sails. Just as quickly Jeff could hear the distant shouts on the deck as the ship’s crew realized that they had no steering. In a moment, they were once again furling their
sales and dropping anchor.
“Huzzah!” yelled Crabtree from the fore deck.
“Well done, Mr. Greene!” Captain Coxen said, slapping him on the back. The second Spanish ship and then the third quickly followed the same sequence as the first ship and were now dead in the water as well. By now the crew was all cheering loudly and they watched in anticipation as the fourth ship attempted to set sail. But the fourth ship unfurled its sails and continued underway. The crew fell silent as the Spanish ship picked up speed and Jeff’s heart sank with the knowledge that the sabotage had somehow failed. “One ship to fight is far better than four, Mr. Greene,” the Captain reassured him.
But Jeff’s discouragement was short-lived. In a few moments, although it was heading in their general direction, the Spanish ship was rapidly approaching the edge of the reef. Coxen laughed loudly. “The fool is trying to chase us without a rudder!” Jeff watched as a moment later the Spanish ship came to an abrupt stop and the sounds of wood cracking and men yelling carried across the water.
“Huzzah!” cried out Crabtree once more.
“Huzzah!” yelled out the rest of the crew, laughing and smiling.
Coxen once again clapped Jeff on the back as he called down to the deck, “Very good work, Mr. Robinson! Mr. Crabtree, take a position on the bow and Mr. Pike, get to the crow’s nest and find me a cut!”
“Aye, Captain!” the men acknowledged.
Coxen became quiet as he focused on steering the ship through the treacherous reef. Crabtree and Pike were both signaling a course and the Captain followed their direction. Soon they found their way through a narrow channel in the reef and were headed out to open water. Coxen took a deep breath and turned to Jeff, “Now that we’re clear, Mr. Greene, let me congratulate you once again for your fine work on those ships! I admit I initially had my doubts that it would work, but you have saved us from what would have been a brutal fight and possibly would have been the end of us all.”
Pirates of the Storm (Stranded In Time Book 1) Page 8