“The river’s very pretty today, isn’t it?” Sam said to the stranger.
“It is, but… I do not think I would like to go for swim,” the man replied, in broken English, confirming that he was the man Sam was looking for.
Sam turned to face the man and said, “Okay, Mr. Jie Qiang. You have my attention; how did you know I was about to be murdered?”
“Because, the man who murdered my family had already gotten what he wanted from you.”
“And what was that?”
“Your father’s attention,” Jie Qiang replied.
“So he thought he could ransom me?”
“No, nothing of the kind. He knew that if you advertised the fact that the Mahogany Ship had been discovered, your father would come there to see it. And your father, Michael knew, was the only man on earth who held the key to finding the real Mahogany Ship.”
“But that’s crazy. My father doesn’t know how to find it. He and I both tried ten years ago, and after many months, accepted that it was nothing more than a fabled story.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
“If that’s so, where’s your father now?”
A cold shiver went down Sam’s spine, as he thought about the question. His father had taken an unusual fatherly interest in his safety, while looking into the Mahogany Ship. He even felt loved when he called his father for help, only to discover that the man was already in Bendigo.
Dad, what were you already doing there?
Jie Qiang looked at his face, and said, “So, your father’s already come to Australia, as Michael planned.”
Sam ignored the question and then asked, “Why would Michael believe my father could help him find the real Mahogany Ship?”
“Not the ship, only her most valuable possession.”
“And what made Michael think that my father could help him in his search for it?”
“The fact that your father was in possession of a map that showed him precisely where it was, but he lacked the ability to locate the first identifying symbol on the map.”
“And Michael knows where that first symbol is?”
“Yes, Michael paid me a small fortune to receive my map to it.”
“How is it that you came to know where the Mahogany Ship met her demise?”
“Because one of my ancestors built it, while the other executed the last man to sail her,” Jie Qiang replied.
“Okay, if that’s the case, tell me, what was the most valuable thing the Mahogany Ship was carrying?”
“A secret weapon,” the man had answered immediately. “A scepter with the ability to destroy anything in its path with intense heat, reflected from the sun.”
“So you’re not lying. Okay, you have my attention. Why is it that you’re now willing to betray Michael?”
“Two years ago I sold him the original map, taken from a man known only as Rat Catcher, a eunuch slave, who was the last person to see the Mahogany Ship, firmly stuck miles inland, in the large landmass that we now know to be Australia. He had returned to China to get reinforcements.”
“Did those reinforcements ever come?”
“No, he was executed for crimes against the emperor. Before his death, he left one of my great ancestors with this detailed map of where it lay stranded, along with his journal from the original voyage. Of course, by this stage the Yongle Emperor had passed. His successor, the Hongxi Emperor, had ordered the suspension of Zheng He's maritime expeditions and destruction of the remaining giant Treasure Ships, due to their rising cost and the need to divert soldiers to fight off the constant attacks from the north. With the giant ships no longer making expeditions, it was impossible for anyone to return to this far away land to find the weapon of mythical powers.”
“But someone kept the map.”
“My ancestors knew the value of the map and left it for each generation in the hope that one day, someone would retrieve the weapon.”
“What happened when you sold Rodriguez the map?”
“I returned home from work one day to find my wife and three children all dead in their beds, and a message — ‘Followed your map, no sign of the Mahogany Ship or the weapon. I suggest you take better care when providing information in the future.’”
Sam didn’t know what to say to comfort the man. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
Sam listened to the man’s demands, a smile creeping across his face. “Yes, Mr. Jie Qiang, we have a deal.”
With that, Mr. Jie Qiang handed over the copy of the map and a journal of one of the most wretched slaves to have ever sailed aboard the Mahogany Ship.
Chapter Eighteen
Sam Reilly read and then re-read the poor man’s journal more than a dozen times on the long flight back to Australia.
Next to the old Chinese text were a number of pages, typed on A4 paper and stapled together. They were the best translation Jie Qiang could produce.
He flicked through the pages until he reached the earliest entry that seemed to connect to the story in which he was most interested…
My name is Rat Catcher, and on this day I stood watch at the top of the giant crow’s nest, scanning the horizon for any glimpse of land. At little over four feet, I am by far the smallest man aboard, but my near perfect eyesight has earned me the position on top of the tallest of our ship’s eight masts.
Rat Catcher is not my real name, of course.
I have no idea what name my father once gave me. Nor do I know what name my grandfather once gave my own father. The place in which the battle took place, and the cause for which they had fought, were both just as unfamiliar to me. I do not even know what my age was when all of this took place.
What I do know is that my father lost, and as a consequence, I was captured. Too young to be discarded in death, I was castrated, as the custom would deem sensible, so that I may never seed their enemies, and then sold into slavery.
Unable to recall how far I traveled since that day, I can only imagine that it must be some great distance, as my personal features appear so completely different than those who surrounded me in this new life.
I am short and despite an extraordinary appetite, remain skinny, although what weight I have is derived from wiry lean muscle. My eyes are a weak blue color and my skin vulnerably fair compared with those around me, so that it burns every day when I work on the deck.
I’ve been traded a number of times as my other masters feared that their possession was inherently weak and would shortly die.
By the time I reached a puberty that would never fully come, I was purchased by my current master, who I’ve since been told only did so because he thought that I could be trained to fetch rats from the tiny spaces within the hold of his ship.
My master immediately named me Rat Catcher.
More than twenty years has passed since that day, and I now know that my master has grown fond of me, and often calls me by it with some affection. I’ve sailed with my master across nearly all the seas and visited many lands, although in that time I’ve never seen people who look quite like myself.
As the years progressed, my master discovered that while I was small and physically weak, I was mentally stronger than any he’d ever met. Being small had given me the opportunity of necessity to be quick of hand and to devise the some of the most unique solutions. Together, I’ve helped my master claim many lands for his own master.