Chapter 6

"I don't care what you want, Captain Mar. That boy is mine to deal with and he has not the proper manners to be seated at table with the other passengers. He's a wild Indian from the colonies, an orphan. I knew his mother. I'm teaching him but he's a slow learner. I won't let him starve, you have my word." Lord Dunsmore stared haughtily at the sea captain before him. The captain's blue eyes held a distinct challenge, as though he did not entirely believe the tale being told.

"As you wish, Lord Dunsmore. But I must tell you that I found the boy very tractable and compliant."

"Of course you did. He was weak from seasickness. He's not as compliant now, I assure you."

The captain nodded his head though the blue eyes did not lose their expression of doubt. Captain Mar turned and left John Murray standing alone in the bow of the ship as she sliced her way through the cold autumn sea. Frowning, John strode down the deck to the ladder and disappeared into the mess. There he seated himself beside the most charming wife of a Bristol merchant.

She smiled in welcome and John intimately squeezed her plump thigh underneath the table. They had already entertained each other for many nights as her husband played backgammon and drank brandy with his fellow merchants in the captain's quarters.

Captain Mar walked to the door of Edmund's isolated little cabin. He knocked and the boy opened the door. The child's dark eyes beamed with welcome. "Thank you for loaning me your copy of Midsummer Night's Dream Captain Mar. I'm sorry but I'm not finished with it yet."

The captain smiled. "That's not why I've come, lad. Come on deck with me now. Your father is at table and won't see what I have in mind. Come." The captain's leathery hand beckoned and Edmund silently followed. He understood immediately that whatever the captain wanted to do must be kept a secret.

Once on deck the captain stepped back and allowed the boy to walk wherever he wanted. Smiling hesitatingly, Edmund walked quickly to the bow of the ship. The sea breeze was fresh and exhilarating.

Silently the boy removed his heavy shoes and stockings, then pulled his shirt free of his buttoned trousers. The wild wind reached its fingers down the boy's collar and over the slender bare feet. Closing his eyes Edmund leaned back and spread his arms to the sea.

Behind him the compassionate captain guarded the boy's moments of freedom. Ten minutes later he stepped to the boy's side. "You'd best straighten you clothes now, son. It's time to be the proper English boy again."

Edmund nodded and quickly tucked in his shirt and slipped the brogans onto his feet. With the captain beside him he walked down the ladder and back to his solitary stateroom. Captain Mar nodded and soon returned with a platter of bread, cheese and fruit. "Eat quick now and I'll come back for the platter soon."

Smiling in gratitude Edmund took the platter and sat on the bunk to eat. He devoured the cheese and fruit, eating sparingly of the bread. He drank a half-cup of the beer, then lay down to read until the light faded from the small round porthole. The captain returned only minutes later, smiled at the bookish boy and retrieved the platter. Edmund smiled and waved.

Late in the night he awoke as his father staggered into the small stateroom, smelling of liquor and stale perfume. The tall heavy body supported itself against the stateroom wall beside Edmund's bed until the English lord could ease onto his own bunk.

His son lay only a few feet away, trying not to hate the impatient and debauched man who was his father. In John Murray's inebriated mind a partial verse from "Greensleeves" repeated itself over and over in his mind.

"Oh why did you so enrapture me?

Though I may be in a world apart

My heart remains in captivity."

The unkempt man mumbled the verse until he fell into a sodden sleep. His son remained awake for hours afterwards, thinking of his father and the unapproachable man who now murmured in a drunken stupor upon the bunk only an arm's length away.