Once Charles and Abigail's hunger was finally sated, they made their way back on deck. Before they could say a word, the Ranger's Quartermaster came over. "Cap'n, do you have a moment? We really ought to discuss the work the ship needs." Charles looked around for a moment, not answering his Quartermaster right away. He quickly found who he was looking for and yelled, "Williamson!" Only then he looked at his Quartermaster and said, "Yes. One moment."
Abigail recognized Williamson. He was the sailor who was manning the wheel the day before and helped her out. He came to stand in front of them and addressed Charles with a nod of his head, "Cap'n." "Show her around, explain things. She needs to learn." Williamson's only response was, "Aye, Cap'n." Charles focused all his attention on Abigail next, "He will show you around. Get to know the ship, it's now your home. Later, I will teach you how to use that knife of yours properly." Abigail nodded and turned to Williamson, "Hello, again."
Charles and the Quartermaster disappeared into the Captain's cabin, leaving Abigail and the sailor outside. Abigail spoke before Williamson could, "Before we go, I should like to know your name. I can't call you Williamson." It was the last thing Williamson expected her to say but he gladly offered his name, "Ben's the name, but maybe we should stick to Mr. Williamson, Miss Abigail." Abigail could not help but laugh, "No, please. Abigail. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ben."
And so, Ben and Abigail made their way around the ship. He showed her around the cargo hold, the storage rooms and where the doctor could be found. They briefly stopped by the mess hall. Abigail, of course, already knew where it was but it was on the way so they had a short chat with Sam who was taking inventory of their stores.
They finally made their way on deck and Ben was in his element. He lectured her about the ship but also told her of his life. Abigail learnt that he used to sail with a merchant ship out of England but had turned pirate after the merchant ship had been attacked. By that time, Ben had been working on that ship for almost two years, yet had not received any wages. No wonder he had turned pirate, Abigail thought. At least, this way he would actually get paid. She had seen men in the same position on her voyage from England. Pressed into service, receiving little or no wages. It was something the captain on the ship had boasted about when she and her governess had dined with him.
Abigail was startled out of her musings by Ben, "You think you're ready to go up?" Abigail looked at him confused for a second but then saw he was pointing up at the rigging. She let her eyes wander all the way to the topmast and imagined what it would be like up there, so high above the ocean. She focused her eyes back on Ben, "I can at least try, right?"
Ben had already started climbing up. But as soon as Abigail raised her arms to grab the rope, she knew she was not ready to go up. Moving her arms over her head made her wince in pain. Ben, alerted by her pained noises, immediately came back down and looked at her with concern, "What is it?" Abigail grabbed the railing and let it support her weight for a while. After a few moments the pain receded and she turned her head to look at Ben again. "I injured my back in Charleston. I'm sorry but I don't think I'm fit to climb the rigging any time soon," Abigail said apologetically.
Ben came to stand next to her and looked at her for a while, gathering courage to ask the questions that were burning in his mind, "What happened to you, miss? Last I remember you left the fort with that bitch…," he stopped himself and cleared his throat, "Apologies, miss." He accompanied his apology with a curt nod. Abigail just laughed at him, "Please, Ben. No apology necessary. I have heard much worse. Do go on!"
And Ben did. "So, last I know you left the fort and sailed away with Flint to join your father. Why are you here? Why are you with the cap'n?" Ben's confusion was evident on his face and Abigail could do nothing but laugh at his face. She took a few seconds to compose herself and then answered Ben, "You know what happened in Charleston? I mean, the murder of Lady Hamilton and the arrest of Captain Flint. I was right there when it happened."
Tears welled up in her eyes as recalled the events of the evening. Miranda had not deserved to die. She closed her eyes briefly, willing the tears to go away. "It wasn't right and my father did nothing to stop it or to punish it. The opposite, really. He wanted to hang Flint who had come unarmed into his house to talk about peace. At the same time, he had already schemed to send me away, to force me to get married. That was all I ever was good for, really, and after having spent time with pirates… Well, I believe he referred to me as damaged goods when he told me of his decision." The longer Abigail talked the angrier she got. "There was nothing I could do to change it and in the end, I complied with his decision. I was on a carriage when the cannon fire started. It spooked the horses and the carriage crashed. It was then I got injured. Instead of waiting to be rescued, I rescued myself and through sheer luck I found the Captain. As he told you, I saved his life. I…, "she swallowed hard, "I killed a soldier that was advancing on the Captain. I couldn't stay after that, now could I?" Ben took a long hard look at the woman next to him and lastly, he nodded. He understood her too well, forced into situations without regard to her wishes and powerless to stop them.
"Aye, you couldn't."