Get up, Jack! John, sit down!
Chapter Eight
Working with O’Donnel was pleasant enough—he had a sense of humor that William and Jessop enjoyed. Days grew to weeks, weeks unfolded into months. In the three months they were at sea, only twice did they come into port and both in the same spot, once when they came back to the east coast from the west and again after a voyage up to Greenland, Nova Scotia and through the islands of Newfoundland to Great Diamond Island off Maine. Here the officers and hand-picked sailors went to shore for drinking and carousing. The rest manned and protected the ship from marauders.
Jessop noted on both occasions that the captain also went to shore but not with the men. When Jessop asked where the captain goes on such trips, Fin told him, ‘it was none of his business,’ O’Donnel had no clue, and Bloody Harry looked at him sideways before explaining the captain went to visit a faceless, nameless man who often bought and traded goods they had plundered. The man insisted on anonymity and would only deal with Captain Stillwater himself. Jessop thought this to be odd at the least, but what did he know of pirating ways and selling booty-wares—nothing.
Jessop was thankful they had not run into any ships that the captain deemed to raid, or another ship looking to pillage the Revenge. Jessop was not looking forward to another blood bath like that upon the Victory. Sailor work kept William and Jessop busy and though William admitted he missed his sister once in a while, he seemed to be enjoying himself and learning a great deal from O’Donnel. Unlike the cooper on Victory, O’Donnel kept on top of his work. There was plenty to do, but also plenty of time to explore the ship.
Like the Victory, the Revenge had a large array of items stowed away from plundering other ships, though the Revenge seemed to have more treasure than odd military and domestic items. It reminded Jessop of wandering through the attic of his home. Once treasured articles now discarded and hidden from view and collecting dust. Many items in the attic were covered with soiled sheets protecting then from the bulk of the dirt that might happen upon them.
Here in the belly of the ship, though, items were crated or put into barrels for protection from possible water damage and strapped to the ribs of the vessel. Finer things like jewelry, gems, and coins were kept under lock and key from a stray pirate looking to fill his pocket. Each visit there, Jessop was escorted by Master Gordon. He took his job and life very seriously as seen with his lack of expression and cold stares.
Despite the ever present guard, Jessop enjoyed taking stock of the spoils and making sure all items were protected from the harsh life of sea voyaging. He found new items every time he rummaged through the content looking for cracks and breaks in the containers.
William was becoming quite proficient in his whittling and carving. Once or twice O’Donnel had to reprimand him when he would spend too much time on a project making it ‘pretty,’ as O’Donnel called it.
“Yer not makin’ a hope chest fer a dainty lassie. Yer makin’ a mooring cleat. We’re here ta fix ’em, not pretty ’em.”
Jessop suggested William make an artificial leg for Salty. A huge grin came over his face as Jessop saw the wheels and cogs turning in William’s head. Within a few moments, William was scribbling notes and sketches on a wood scrap.
Since Salty’s rescue, the little pig often hobbled over to William and Jessop for a scratch behind the ears, squealing loudly if anyone came into his comfort zone perimeter of six feet or less. This gave William a chance to do some indiscreet measurements needed to accomplish his task. He spent a good few weeks on the mission, detailing it to resemble the opposite leg. He sanded it, rubbed it with oil and added padding covered by a well-tanned piece of leather and attached fancy brass tack-like nails. Another bit of leather meant to sit on the wearer’s back and hooked to the leg with buckles giving the little pig the appearance of wearing strange one-legged chaps.
When William presented the contraption to the captain and Salty, Jessop was quite sure he saw a tear form in the man’s eye before slapping William on the back with gratitude. Salty was a little unsure at first of what to make of his new apparel, but within a day he was walking around like he never lost ham to the pirates.
He seemed so assure of himself, he often whined until the captain would put him down so he could walk beside him as he made his rounds around the deck. Within a couple weeks, he maneuvered many of the steps that had plagued him since his loss. Yes, Salty was altogether a new pig and when he wasn’t attached to the captain, one could find him below deck in the carpenter workshop following William around.
* * *
One exceptionally clear night after a long run of rain and weather, Jessop found himself on the deck relieving himself over the rail, down wind, of course, when he heard the familiar thumping of a little peg leg on the quarter deck as the captain came into view with his lantern in tow.
With the ringing of the bells, Jessop knew it was time for the captain to check the bearing and make any correction in their course. He watched the noble man examining the quadrant against the North star and moon and assessing the compass. Jessop noticed the captain laboriously squinting through lantern light to make his notes.
Jessop remembered a time when his father moved written correspondence and newspapers closer and closer to his face to read the scribble therein. Was the captain of an age that he too was having difficulty with his eyes?
He laughed to himself thinking back when he and Tom laughed at Big Tom as he did the opposite—extending things farther and farther from his face in an attempt to read the measurements on the ironworks. Big Tom did not like this laughter and refused to admit he couldn’t read the markings, whereas his father only seemed to need the attentions of Penelope noticing his actions to quickly acquire a smart looking pair of glasses.
Penelope had noted how very wise he looked with his new spectacles to swell his father’s ego. Big Tom was not so easily swayed as Jessop’s father and as far as he knew, old Tom was still squinting and struggling to see the engraved numbers on his tools.
He wondered if he could make something other than glasses that could help the captain see better. He assumed a man such as the captain needed to exude strength and confidence and would not want to look as though he were weak in any way. He’d never seen the captain have a problem reading the instruments in the daylight, so maybe this was a sort of night blindness.
He walked to his bunk thinking on these things when another memory came to him. Big Tom’s wife was an avid sewer and often relaxed after the chores of dinner with a bit of embroidery or repairs to her family’s attire. She used the flame of a candle and an old bottle filled with water to brighten her work. The light from the flame was magnified through the glass and water to intensify it by two or more times. This allowed her to work late into the night if she wished.
What if he used the same concept of water to illuminate the compass and reflect the image onto a mirror or piece of glass, making it larger and brighter? He could say he was aware how difficult it was to read the compass in the dark with a lantern.
If made correctly, it might be useful in bad weather, but easily disassembled if need be. It wouldn’t be seen as a crutch or weakness on the captain’s part but an improvement to the ship.
A few days of putting it together and some tweaking with trial and error and it might be put into action in a week or less. It put a smile on his face as he lay in his hammock thinking on how he would manufacture the contraption. It could cement his and William’s positions in the crew and also satiate his hunger for inventing useful things.
* * *
As Jessop predicted, things came together quickly with the help of William’s new expertise in woodworking, and before long the box was made and tested. Now all that was needed was to set it atop the compass and make minor adjustments.
That evening William and Jessop headed out to the quarter deck to set things up when they were interrupted by Gordon. The man of few words was exceptionally grumpy at seeing them interfering with
the ship’s instruments.
“What do ye think yer doing?” he grumbled.
“Master Gordon, good evening. I had a notion to augment the compass so as to make it luminous and easy to read at night as well as in bad weather conditions.”
“And who might be requesting such an augment?” he demanded.
“No one. I deduced it might be of help.”
“Yer deducin’s were wrong,” he said dismissively. “Grab yer gear and step down from that there quarter deck.”
“We’re only trying to help,” William said, surprising Jessop and Master Gordon. Gordon was not pleased and he stepped forward in a threatening manner towards William, though William did not cower and stepped up to the challenge.
“What might be makin’ ye think we needs yer help, fool,” Gordon growled.
Jessop stepped between the two scowling men and said, “Gentlemen, there’s no need for quarrel.” Jessop looked mostly to William thinking there was a better chance of William choosing the noble route than Gordon and he was right. Without saying a word, William nodded in agreement and took a step back. It was Gordon who seemed to be in the mood for a brawl when he sniggered at William’s falling back and egged him on saying, “Yer a mollycoddled milksop, ye are.”
William glared at Gordon and stepped forward saying something under his breath. Jessop hooked his arm as he tried to pass him. “It’s not worth a broken jaw, William.”
“Better listen t’yer mum, Willy. Wouldn’t want ye to get a whoopin’,” Gordon goaded.
William was steaming mad, leaning hard into Jessop’s palms at his shoulders restraining him. William instead sent an insult at Gordon, something about his mother that need not be repeated. Gordon’s fist came back in a rebuttal to the statement. Jessop turned just in time to push William clear of the cannon and arched his back in avoidance of it himself.
Expecting to meet impact, Gordon was caught off guard and out of balance making him stumble awkwardly into the captain coming up the stairs behind him.
“Blimey hell, Gordon. Ye drunk yer meal, did ya?” he said catching Gordon with his arm.
“No, Captain. I…”
“Captain, I fear Gordon was helping me when I accidentally bumped into him knocking him off balance.”
Jessop could see in the captain’s eyes that he was skeptical, at best, about the tale being told, but he obviously decided to play along with the charade. “I see,” he responded as Gordon straightened himself and fell into place at the captain’s side.
“What is it ye got in that chest thar?” the captain inquired.
“This?” Jessop said picking it up and wondering which route to take in the conversation. “This, Captain, is an idea I had to assist you and Master Gordon in taking your compass readings.”
“Did ye now. And how might this here gadget be aiding our cause, lad?” he queried.
He took a dangerous glance at Gordon before continuing. Gordon was flush and about to explode as Jessop continued. “Basically,” he said setting the box over the compass adjusting it minutely this way and that, “I light this candle and voila.” He lifted a pane of glass that also served as the top of the box and when he set it in place on its hinge, the compass face was reflected, enlarged and bright as can be.
“Lookey thar, Gordon…Is that not a sight fer sore eyes? Nice work, lad. Nice work indeed.”
“It’s not all my doing. William helped with box housing.”
“Not at all, Captain, it was all Jess’s idea. I just built it to his specifications,” William interrupted.
“Nicely done, boys,” the captain said running his hand along the handsomely carved trim William had done on the edges, just to make it look nice.
“Very nice. Wouldn’t ye be agreein’, Gordon?”
Gordon nodded his agreement to the captain with no expression whatsoever and avoiding the gaze of Jessop and William.
“A heap of thanks to ye, boys. This will come in right handy,” he said congratulating them with a pat on their shoulders as he scribbled down his readings on a scrap of parchment then shoved it in his pocket. Cash, on his way to relieve himself, happened by before the captain blew out the candle and took some minor adjustment direction from Jessop and admired the invention with its new owner. Jessop and William said their goodnights to the three pirates, leaving them on the quarterdeck to marvel at the contraption—at least most of them were admiring it. Gordon stood emotionless and wordless at the captain’s side.
He’d saved Gordon from a tongue lashing from the captain at spurring on a fight with the two of them, though he was sure there would be backlash somewhere down the road for what was not said this evening from an angry Gordon, but for now, all was good and no one was hurt—yet.
Chapter Nine
On one of Jessop’s treks to the belly of the ship for supplies and inspection, he was asked by Beans to also check the food storage area for broken or leaking containers. Once a month like clockwork, Beans would put in this request, so much so that he rarely went to O’Donnel but went straight to Jessop. Apparently, O’Donnel in the past, had missed a leak, once or twice, on rum kegs and trusted only Jessop to check the storage these days.
“Certainly,” Jessop answered to Bean’s request. Jessop had made his rounds through the trove of stolen goodies and dealing with Fin—not something he ever looked forward to, but the sullen man rarely said a word to him after the incident with the compass, however he felt Fin always had a suspicious eye on him.
Jessop made his way down the narrow snake of a corridor toward the food storage room, when he turned a corner nearly running into a man leaning against the wall, bent over as if to fall any minute.
Jessop grabbed the man to help him into the darkness of the storage room before setting the man upon a crate tied to the wall just inside the door. He lit a match, making the oil lamp sizzle and beam a glow of light onto the face of sick fellow. He was shocked to see it was the captain as Salty came running in the room snorting and grunting as he kicked the door shut with the peg and hoof of his back legs. The metal latch grabbed its mate with a clank.
“Captain, what’s wrong?” Jessop asked.
The captain could barely sit up unassisted. His skin was white and clammy as he reached out to Salty and clumsily withdrew the handkerchief Salty always had around his neck. Hidden on the backside was a small pocket in which the captain pulled out a small hard candy he quickly popped into his mouth.
“I’m sorry you had to find me this way, Jesse, but I trust you will use your greatest discretion as to what you’ve seen,” the captain said with an eloquently British dialect and not the slightest hint of pirate jargon.
Jessop didn’t know what to say, but when the captain stared at him waiting for a reply, he said, “Of course, sir.”
“A captain of a pirate ship cannot show weakness or in my case, illness—do you understand?”
“I do, Captain. What ails you? Shall I get O’Donnel?” Jessop asked in concern.
“No. O’Donnel knows not of my sickness. Salty keeps me in check—a little something sweet does the trick until I can get back to my cabin and have something to eat along with a concoction I take several times a day.”
“Are you…dying?”
“Oh, lad, we’re all dying, but no, I forget sometimes to keep on my scheduled regiment. As long as I do that, eat regularly and take my medicine, I’m fine, but I lost track of the time and haven’t eaten since this morning. I should be fine in a moment.”
He did look better. A little pinkness returned to his cheeks, and his eyes seemed to twinkle a little more than they did earlier.
“Can I help you back to your cabin?”
“Most assuredly not. Like I said, I can’t appear to be ill on the likes of this ship.”
“May I ask why the charade of sailor slang and pirate speak?”
“All for appearances, lad. It’s a long story and this is neither the place nor time to tell it. I’m feeling much better now,” he said as he retied the han
dkerchief to Salty’s chubby little neck.
“Good, sir. Your secret is safe with me.”
“Aye, lad. A scurvy dog, ye be if ye be divulgin’ in such things.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Jessop said with a smile as the captain opened the door and stepped into the hallway with an ever-present Salty trailing behind.
* * *
A whistle blew in the in the blackness of the night, rousing Jessop from his sleep. If not for the thumping and thundering of footsteps around him, he might have thought it was part of his dream, but it most definitely was not.
“What’s going on?” William said, falling to his feet from his bunk.
“Not sure,” he replied as he was shouldered by a passing pirate. He reached out and grabbed a young sailor of maybe sixteen and asked, “What is happening.”
“Thar be another ship closing in,” he answered.
“Why were there no bells or commands?” Jessop asked in confusion.
“Calm waters like these, the sound would be a carrying. Better to let the attacking ship think it has the upper hand, don’t ye think?”
“Most assuredly,” Jessop said understanding completely. “Come, William, grab your sword and pistol.”
“I do hate this part,” William admitted as he gathered his things and ran with the masses to his station.
They were met with a salty breeze and the rest of the men hunkered down, trying to be hidden by the sides of the ships. He and William fell into form and took a post at an open spot near the stern and looked over the edge of the rail.
There a few hundred yards off the starboard side was a beautiful ship of pristine white sails coming on fast and spotlighted by the full moon. Spread across the vessel, tiny lanterns moved around with small black shapes attached to them, looking like fireflies floating and darting on a warm summer evening.
The Revenge kept her sails stowed as if it and its crew were peacefully sleeping on the lull of the rocking waves and completely unaware of the encroaching danger. Could they really think they had the element of surprise on attacking a pirate ship? Jessop thought. Fortunately, the Revenge did not have its colors up for all to see. That was usually the case when they were on the attack—better not to announce you’re a pirate when patrolling waters overrun with incoming British boats.
Hades's Revenge Page 6