Part 4 of 9

It's late and Danilo frets. His young crew had enjoyed themselves immensely but now he's sure he will face choppy waters with his captain for their lateness. He chivvies the replete young'uns along. "Come now, make haste, we sail with the mornin' tide an' fer that you must rest." The youngsters laugh and clap each other on the back as their ship comes into view, but they are slowed and finally halted as Dani throws out both arms to block them and just stands and stares with narrowing eyes.

Pierre silences the youthful enthusiasm and moves to Dani's side. "What? Is anything amiss?"

"Yes," Dani rumbles back. "Someone is asleep athwart the cargo hatch. Also, I hears voices. I think we might have unwanted guests." Quietly, Dani moves everyone back out of sight, then picks three of the biggest to follow him down a quay-side ladder where they slip into the water. Moments later they ghost up the dark side of the Vida Nova, where the sleeper is gagged and tossed up onto the dock. No one recognizes him, although the smell of Palm Beer is familiar enough. Pierre hunts down a coil of rope to restrain the intruder as Dani leads his small cohort below decks. A runner is sent to fetch the Dock Wardens. By the time the Wardens arrive, nine more bodies have been added to the pile, all semi-conscious, all roped together, and all reeking of beer.

As the Wardens begin hauling the malefactors away, Dani nudges one stinking wet souse with his boot toe and says, "It's a shambles in the cargo hold an' the captain's missin'. This one wuz takin' a bath in a stoved-in hogshead. He woulda drowned if I hadn't hauled him out. I got him t' tell me where we can find our captain." He turns and points. "Out there, half a league away, tucked in behind a low marshy island."

Pierre frowns. "And he just volunteered that, did he?"

Dani nods. "Yes, he did, on account I wuz savin' his life. It's a bad way t' go, drownin' in beer, an' that's where he wuz headin' if he didn't tell me what I needed t' know." Danilo says this with a particular chilling intensity. "So he's not drownt an' we're off t' rescue the captain." He calls to the crew, "Avast, now we're goin' t' see if any of you remember yer lessons. We're goin' t' do everythin' like we've been doin'… but we're goin' t' do it in the dark… an' without a sound! Come, we have pirates t' sneak up on!"

It's full night by the time the Vida Nova glides into position on the other side of that low marshy island. Dani goes down into the lone long boat with a shielded lantern, rope, a bag of things he might need, and armed to the teeth. The boat's oar locks are wrapped with cloth so they make no sound as he stealthily rows around the island. Once clear, he sees his quarry, a three-master hulking darkly against the jungle backdrop.

He drifts quietly abaft the ship, listening to the night sounds; frogs, insects, the grunt of caimans, and the sound of carousing pirates. He doesn't hear the one thing he's listening hardest for – the call of a particular bird. Satisfied, he cups hands to mouth and flutes a low two-note whistle. He waits a minute, then calls again. He watches carefully and is rewarded by a brief double glint of light at what he comes to realize is the hatch of a gun port. He cautiously draws near, edging the boat very carefully up next to the rudder and calls again, quieter. An answering whistle is heard. He glides up to the hull underneath the tiny opening. "Captain?" he whispers.

"Here," is the low reply. Archie has to practically contort himself to be able the look down at his mate. "You took your time. I was beginning to wonder if you'd taken this opportunity to claim the captain's hat for yourself."

Dani snorts, "Naw, not me, I'm happier followin' the captain I got. But look…" he rummages in his bag and holds something up, "… I brought the hat."

Arch smiles. "How thoughtful. Now, to work, I'm sure the pirates are legless by now. Can you sneak aboard, come to this canvas locker and let us out?"

Dani is just about to ask, "Us? Who's 'us'?" when there is a sudden commotion and a strange man's voice is heard inside the prison room.

Inside the sail locker, moments earlier

Felizia is almost asleep. The dread of waiting, the uncertainty of what was going to happen, the fear of being caught trying to escape, has worn her to exhaustion. Her ladies had fallen asleep after changing into their darkest clothing upon Mr. Askwyth's insistence and she is ready to join them. It's only the quiet reserve of the man across the room that keeps her awake. He's wedged a chair against the door to prevent anyone entering. Felizia feels foolish for not thinking of it herself. Now he sits calmly, eyes closed, like he's thinking deep thoughts. Her gaze flicks over him again and again. Who is this man and why does he fascinate her so?

But then the bird call comes and she jerks in surprise. His eyes open and now he's looking back at her. For a brief moment, she imagines she sees admiration in his glance but then he says with amusement, "That's the call of the Paradise Green."

She shakes her head, trying to dispel this strange feeling come over her. "Is it a bird?"

He comes to the gun port to stand beside her. "Yes, a rather beautiful parrot native to my island. It's found nowhere else that we know of so we use it as a secret signal."

Together they listen and she is almost disappointed to hear the call again because Arch leaves her side, fetches the lantern and lifts it to the port briefly. He sets it down and when the call is repeated, Arch cups his hands and whistles a soft reply. He is talking quietly to whomever is outside the porthole when the door rattles behind them, the chair feet grind over the locker floor and a voice calls out, "Lady Felizia, why is the door blocked? I just came to see if…"

The sleeping ladies all jerk awake with muffled yelps of alarm as Arch and Felizia spin to face the door where Dr. Rey now stands, staring with alarm. The man seems perplexed. He lifts a hand and points to the port window. "Who are you talking to?"

Arch narrows his eyes briefly then slips across the room to close the door. "Pipe down," he orders, "You'll alert the whole wretched crew of this hulk."

Dr. Rey peers around. "Not likely," he whispers, "that lot are blind dead drunk, thanks to your cargo." He switches his glance to Arch. "Which is just what you wanted, right, with all your boasting and bragging about how fine your beer is?"

Archie grins at the glad news. "Yes, and we are about to be rescued so... are you in or out?"

Dr. Rey blinks then says vehemently, "I'm in! What do you want me to do?"

Arch gestures to the door. "Stand by and make sure the passage is clear." Then he goes to the window and calls down, "I started to say that we have five more bodies to rescue but that is now increased to six. Can we all fit?"

Dani is slow to reply, "Well, I guess, if we sit on each other's laps."

"Good," Arch whispers back. "Also, change of plan; our door's unlocked so meet us at the aft port side gun port in two minutes. We've got a sling…"

"Cap'n!" Danilo hisses, "Why row all that way? Just open this here port!"

"I wish I could, Dani." Archie has already seen that the inner boards of the gun port are fixed to the bulkhead with pitch. "It's not possible. We need to cross the gun deck to the aft port side. Be ready to stow us as fast as you can!"

Behind Arch, Dr. Rey suddenly interrupts, "George! We can't leave George! George won't last a day without me! And Harry, we need to bring Harry too!"

Arch whirls on the man. This is too much! "Harry! Who the devil is Harry? The cabin boy?"

Dr. Rey cracks open the door, glances out. "Harry is George's dog, saved George's life in a dark alley in Macapa, and he can't be left behind. Sissy threatens all the time to eat Harry!" He closes the door and speaks quickly, "Everyone is drunk as lords on your beer. I've never seen them so reeling, no one is sober enough to notice anything. Tell me where to meet you and I'll bring George and Harry."

Arch sighs; being a hero is hard work! First you do one person a favour and then you're saving complete strangers! AND their dogs! Still… he nods. "Alright, the aft port side gun port in two minutes. If you're not there, we're leaving without you. You and George have managed this long on your own but I don't think these ladies have the luxury of more time, do you?"

Dr. Rey gulps. "No, they don't. I overheard Sissy and Scratch planning their fate and you need to get them off this ship tonight." He opens the door, peers out, whispers over a shoulder, "Right, two minutes," and is gone.

END – part 4

Notes:

Archie's crew are islanders, swimmers all, but sailors of this time mostly didn't swim. Their attitude was that if the sea wanted you it would take you whether you could swim or not, either by being sucked down with the ship when it sank or by treading water until you were exhausted. You couldn't count on a bit of wreckage to cling to like Archie did (in our previous story).

Then there were the sharks…