“Well, let’s see.”
They stuck the crowbar against the barrel and pried it open. There – looking up at them – was a black bear with an odd grin covering its face.
“Eegads!” they shouted and jumped backwards.
“Fear not,” Willard called out, “He is friendly.”
They gave him a hand and pulled him from the barrel, and Horatio went to lay alongside Willard. No one said a thing. They were overcome with relief at having escaped and did not wish to draw attention to themselves by talking. Only Barnes Griffith, the energetic seaman, was upon his feet. He was at the helm, watching their course carefully.
“By the devil!” he exclaimed, “Admiral, come here!”
“You can handle it, my boy. I have faith in you,” he answered from the deck.
“No, you don’t – not for this, anyway. Come here at once!”
“Now, I am the Admiral here, and I give the orders,” he laughed, “What is the matter?”
“There are six ships of war coming toward us – flying Gylain’s colors!”
“What? You must be mistaken,” cried the Admiral as he leapt to his feet and ran to the bow.
“There, sir, off to the port bow.”
“Good God!” the Admiral said. “It’s the whole bloody harbor fleet!”
Chapter 44
“Unfurl the sails, men, and prepare for flight. Archers, take your positions and soldiers stand in front of them. They may outnumber us, but we will not easily go down!” cried the Admiral.
The men were in the act of carrying out his orders when Ivona, still wearing her lovely white dress, stepped forward and said, “No, we must not do that.”
The Admiral turned to her. “For what reason, Ivona?”
“Because, my lord,” she answered humbly, “It is impossible for them to know that we are escaping. While Gylain ate with me, I asked him to send the fleet to the northern part of the island. He did so immediately. They are just now returning and have not had communication with the land since. If we behave as an ordinary frigate, we will not be stopped.”
“Your presence of mind is worthy of your rank and beauty, Ivona,” he said, bowing, “And mine to my own. Men, do nothing to excite suspicion. Archers and soldiers, go below deck and do not show yourselves unless you are summoned.”
“Yes, sir,” and it was done at once.
The Admiral stood facing the oncoming ships of war, the wind coming directly toward him. His stature was straight and manly, his bearing strong and courageous. There were no lights except the moon, and in the semi-darkness his eyes shone forth with the anger that was always kindled within him. A few mere coals, perhaps, yet present nonetheless. The others had arisen, and were standing around the deck toward the port bow, watching the approaching ships. Celestine stood hand-in-hand with Alfonzo, her head resting lightly on his shoulder. They were still strangers to each other, except for their love. Willard stood alongside Horatio, the black cape once more covering his gleaming armor. A few feet to the left, Ivona stood by Oren Lorenzo. The Fardy brothers and Vahan Lee were solemnly assembled in the stern, and Barnes and Blaine Griffith stood directly behind the Admiral, silent in their brotherly companionship. Osbert was near them, looking lost apart from his native element, the forest.
“If I remember correctly,” the Admiral turned to Barnes, “The prisoners were all killed attempting to escape, except Nicholas Montague?”
“Correct, sir. The men had little choice, for the captives were escaping
“No doubt, Barnes, for the winds of Gylain blow here just as the trade winds blow in the Indies, only more regularly.”
The Admiral gave Barnes a more serious look. “I suspect you are glad to have gotten over your childhood fancy for my daughter? She is as compassionate as her mother, for good or for ill.”
“Father,” Celestine broke in, “Think of her only at her best; she was not always as she became in the end. You harm the good memories when you think only of her faults.”
“Her faults were also her charms, my daughter. And her charms cannot be forgotten by any who loved them, much less those who suffered for that love.”
“Suffered, yes, but with joy,” she answered, “And with hope. Memories are so much more than the present, their love so much fuller.”
“But memories are the past, and the past is no more.”
“Then why do you not let it go? Why is a memory of anger and hatred allowed, when one of love is not?”
“Because the parting note is the most replayed – in its melody the others are forgotten. If only the hearts of women were won as easily as the hearts of men, and the victories of love as the victories of battle.”
“Both battles can be lost, even in the end,” Alfonzo said. “I hope ours does not go that way tonight.”
“We will see soon enough,” William Stuart answered, “For the ships are up to us now.”
While they had been conversing, the gap between The King’s Arm and the six frigates had closed, and now the enemy fleet split, three on one side and three on the other, to let them pass. As they did, the fleet came to a stop, not risking a maneuver in the crowded harbor. As The King’s Arm passed them, the captain of the leading ship called out through the night:
“Ahoy there! Is it not late to weigh anchor?” It was Montague’s voice.
“Our orders were late in being fulfilled, but our schedule allows no time for idle stops. Just as well to sleep aboard while sailing, than to sleep aboard while anchored,” the Admiral called back.
“There may not be much sleeping beyond the harbor this night, for the sea grows rough.”
“Yes, I can taste it in the air. It will be a long storm, though, and I would rather take the pressure until we reach the calms of the stretch, than be stranded here while it blows itself out.”
“A wise decision. Have you sailed these regions before, for your voice is familiar?”
“It is an accent shared by everyone from my home port.”
“Ah, well, bonvoyage .”
TheKing’s Arm sailed forward, going slowly in the crowded harbor. It seemed an eternity to those aboard before the last part of The King’s Arm had gone past the fleet. But at last it did and they were out of danger. They sat in different areas of the deck in small groups, reuniting with those they had left behind before the battle. The first of these groups was Blaine and Barnes Griffith, who sat on two barrels that overlooked the ship’s stern. The water was still and placid, the full moon reflecting in its face, and its shadowy residents drifting aimlessly.
“Well?” Blaine said, “How long has it been, fifteen years? You left a boy and return a man.”
“A man in form, perhaps,” Barnes returned, “Yet I have much to learn. Before, I felt as if I knew the world, but now I have seen that I am nothing.”
“I, on the other hand, have been given the wisdom of age, and know it dries up the energy of youth,” Blaine said. “Neither is better or worse.”
Silence fell upon them. Each tried to sneak a look at his brother, but when their looks met, they turned away as if some distant object required their immediate attention.
“They tell me you’ve become an expert fisherman,” Blaine said after a moment, as if they had been apart for only a few weeks, “A real terror with the hook.”
“My early lessons have made me great,” Barnes laughed. “The forest has its fishing holes, I surrender that. But there is nothing like trolling for deep sea fish with a mackerel on the hook. You have got to twitch it just right,” and he stood and pretended to jerk a rope in a complex pattern. “If the movements are right, the big ones go for it. Then you hold on tight and hope it gets tired before you do. How have the old forest rivers been?”