"Guards? There is no one there but the prisoners—and the ants. Their Majesties' sloop of war, the Duke of York, pays four visits to the island each day, but no one else is there, and no one ever goes there. The Duke of York is always changing her schedules, so that friends of the condenmed who might have notions of organizing rescue parties never know when they might be discovered—and sentenced to the same treatment."
"Roarin' Jehos'phat! D'ye think I aim t' set still knowin* the best friend I ever had is bein' tortured, havin' the life squeezed out o' him every minute?"
"You'll oblige me by obeying instructions, too. Master Friendly. On one previous occasion a man was spirited away from Death Island, and with any luck the feat can be repeated." Esther Mary turned to her uncle and smiled wanly. "Just this once do you suppose I might have a small swallow of that brandy you keep for emergency use?"
The clergyman's eyebrows lifted. "I've never opened the keg, but I dare say the occasion and your exertions of the day might warrant it," he replied. Rising from his chair, he walked to the inner wall, pushed aside a chair, and slid back a panel set in the woodwork. Then he gingerly brought out a small wooden keg and a pewter mug, from which he blew a cloud of dust. Removing a wooden stopper with some difficulty, he poured a small portion of liquor into the mug, handed it to Esther Mary, and watched in stem disapproval when she downed the brandy in a single gulp. Then he replaced the plug with great care and methodically restored the little keg to its hiding place.
Color returned to his niece's face, and she walked to the window seat. The others watched her, and she took her time before addressing them again. "Plans have been made," she said. "It is better if you do not know these plans or who will carry them out."
"Let me tell ye," Dirk rumbled, "that no wench is a-goin' t' tell me I can't have a hand in rescuin' my friend 'n' maybe crackin' a few heads I been achin' t' crack."
"I hate to contradict you. Brother Dirk." Esther Mary's tension suddenly evaporated and she laughed, almost gaily. "But you're going to do precisely what a wench tells you to do. And I'm afraid you're not going to like your instructions, but that can't be helped. When darkness falls you'll leave this house, taking care that no one sees you. You'll go at once to the Duchess or her chamberlain, and you'll be quite worried. You'll say that you've had no word from your master, and you'll ask them if they know what has become of him. Is that clear?"
"It's clear." Dirk's fingers curled around the throat of an unseen enemy. " 'N' then I'll choke the life out o' them "
"Listen to me!" Esther Mary's voice carried authority, though she spoke no more loudly than before. "They'll tell you ty-ey don't know where he is, either. You'll complain that you a^e without funds and that you need a job. I happen to know they believe you to be a simpleton and they have no intention oi molesting you. They'll tell you they're sorry for you, but they have no work for you. So you'll return to the suite of rooms at the Golden Bucket, and tomorrow you'll go out to look for work. You'll go several places, and finally you'll make your way to the Rainbow, on the waterfront. There you'll be given work of a sort, helping to keep order when the seamen who frequent the place become overly boisterous."
"That there is the craziest idee I ever heard," the big American growled. "I'm stronger'n most, 'n' if anybuddy is a-goin' t' help Jerry, I want "
"You've made very clear what you want, Brother Dirk." Esther Mary was enjoying her power. "But you'll be watched from this time forward. And if the rescue attempt should be successful, every move you make, everyone you see, everything you do will be observed."
Dirk's impotent frenzy grew. "If'n ye spirit Jerry away, ye aim t' hide him somewheres, that's sure. So why couldn't I help? Answer me that!"
"I will. You don't know Jamaica. If you were to set foot outside Port Royal you'd be lost in five minutes. What's more, the attempt to rescue your friend is being organized in such a way that no trace or hint of suspicion on the part of the authorities will be aroused. And your mere presence would create such an alarm that the whole brigade of troops would be ordered to fall in and chase you."
Reluctantly he sat down and smiled wryly. "Ye're smarter'n me, wench, 'n' there's no denyin' it. I want Jerry t' be helped, not hurt worse, 'n' the last thing I aim t' do is t' give away anythin'. So I'll do like ye say. But only this once, mind ye. I'm not a-goin' t' have a wench a-pushin' me around. If'n I wanted that, if'n I was a-hankerin' t' jump ev'ry time a female cracks a whip, I'd find me somebuddy purty, with the temper o' Satan, 'n' then I'd ask the rev'rend here t' fix up a weddin' for me."
Esther Mary accepted his capitulation gracefully. "I think you'll find life far more exciting than you imagine it will be. You're going to be useful. Brother Dirk."
Janine, who had fallen silent after the other girl had struck her, was still trembling with indignation. "I suppose you have my future all plotted too," she snapped.
The clergyman's niece twisted around on the window seat and nodded imperturbably at her recent antagonist. "I have. You'll remain here as the guest of Uncle Jonas and of myself for the present. Under no conditions are you to set foot outside the house. If a search is made for you, there will be soldiers at our door, of course, but this is one of the last places they'll look, and by that time you'll be elsewhere."
Digesting the information in silence, Janine's fury mounted. *'Am I permitted to know the location of 'elsewhere,' my good woman?" she asked frigidly.
In no wise upset, Esther Mary wasted no words. "At the present time you are not," she said succinctly.
"You're very kind." Janine's tone was blistering.
Esther Mary smiled politely. "That is my intent," she replied, then turned to the minister, who was fidgeting uncomfortably in his chair. "Uncle Jonas," she said, "you look a bit peaked. It would do you good to take a holiday tomorrow."
"I knew it," the reverend muttered. " 'A man's foes shall be they of his own household.' Matthew, 10."
"On the contrary," Esther Mary said sweetly, "I am thinking of you, as always." She repressed a grin, then added lightly, "A day of fishing will do you good, Uncle Jonas. A great deal of good."
Chapter Nine
AT DAWN two huge Negroes, barefooted and clad only in trousers, appeared at the modest little house of Reverend Jonas Pennywell. Disturbing no one, they quietly entered a small shed in the rear and soon were hard at work calking the seams of a large and cumbersome rowboat with a waxlike putty. They completed their task in a short time and came out again into the yard, where one of them shinnied expertly up a breadfruit tree, picked several ripe fruits and threw them down to his companion, then slid easily to the ground. The pair crouched in the shade of a spreading banyan tree and silently devoured the raw fruit.
Perhaps thirty minutes later the house came to life. An elderly Negress appeared from inside and took no notice of the men as she placed kindling and four dry split logs in a brick oven located on a bare patch of ground a few yards from the back door. She started a fire, returned to the house, and emerged a few moments later with two frying pans, a large kingfish, and a basket of eggs. Neither she nor the men seemed to see each other, and she obviously regarded their presence as nothing out of the ordinary. As she continued her preparations, she sang softly and unconcernedly:
"We come to de new land on a big boat, Many die on de trip, t'row dem in de sea, Sinners' bodies sink, angels' bodies float, Praise de Lord, none of dem bodies me!'*