“Espanola, but the Spanish are only interested in the gold there. The mines are in Carib territory.”
“I think we have just had a change of plans. Can you introduce us to the Caribs on Espanola?” she asked Absalom.
“No, but Kefash can.”
They set sail, Kefash, his woman, Unkata, and their younger children, stood on the quarterdeck and watched their island recede into the distance. The Caribs were no strangers to the sea, they had large canoes that were quite able to travel between islands, but they had never been on a sailing ship like the Fox. They would have island hopped to get to Espanola, but the Fox was able to take the direct route.
Scarlett wondered what else there was to be discovered. The gold was one thing and represented a quick win but if she could establish a trading post and business in the Caribbean, that would be much more long-term and reliable. Maybe she should do what her father suggested and look at buying or starting a plantation or two as well.
Out of sight of land, Scarlett could see that the Caribs were nervous, so she asked them down to her cabin.
“You can sleep in here,” she told them then asked,
“What do you sleep on?”
Absalom looked amused.
“Why, hammocks. What else?” he laughed.
It turned out that the Caribs had been using hammocks to sleep and rest in for many years. They got the idea from watching sailors who came ashore and tied them up between trees. When they killed them, they took their hammocks and used them for themselves. An unfortunate side effect was an outbreak of smallpox from an infected hammock, which killed one in five of those that caught it. Luckily, the outbreak was restricted to the one island and tribe and wasn’t repeated. Now they traded for sailcloth or took it from ships that brought the settlers, after they killed them of course. They weren’t thieves.
Kefash told them to make landfall behind the Island of Saona. It was sheltered and a common landing ground for visiting canoes, but when they got there, they found that the reef that ran almost North to South between the main island and Saona was too shallow to bring the Fox in.
Absalom had to explain to Kefash that the Fox drew almost fourteen feet of water as he didn’t understand why they couldn’t just run up to the beach. They anchored as close in as they could and went ashore in the boats. Kefash bade them wait there while he went inland and made contact with the local tribe. Before he left, he cautioned Scarlett to wear her face paint at all times as he was sure they were being watched. Scarlett, in the meantime, gathered up a cask full of tomahawks and knives from their stores to trade.
“They will definitely want those,” Absalom confirmed after he cast his eye over them.
They weren’t the best quality as they were mainly captured from various ships. Steven had an idea.
“Do we still have those farming tools we took from the plantation raid?” he asked Scarlett.
“What the mattocks and picks? Yes, they are in the aft hold,” she replied, curious as to what he was thinking.
“Stack them by the boat when we get ashore and place the keg further up the beach,” he suggested with a thoughtful look then explained his idea.
They set up on the beach. The cask was placed by a fire made of driftwood and the tools were set in a stack by the boat as if they were left there to be used later. Scarlett, Uncata, and the children sat around the fire cooking fish they caught on the reef. Absalom looked on curiously. Scarlett was up to something, but he wasn’t sure what.
They waited for quite a while before Kefash returned with a group of local Caribs, who were carrying several sacks of something he assumed was the local blue amber. The sacks had obviously been taken or traded with the Spanish as they had ‘HARINA’ written on them.
“This is Scarlett, the woman I told you of who is the daughter of my woman and is no friend to the Spanish,” Kefash told the men. “She wishes to trade.”
“Is she on a spirit quest?” asked the leader, surprised to see face paint on a European.
“Yes, she seeks to find her spirit guide,’
Absalom, who went back to being her interpreter as Scarlett didn’t understand the local dialect, didn’t translate that. Scarlett had to find that out for herself, and he knew that Uncata discovered it by entering a sweat lodge for two days. She had also discovered what animal her spirit guide was but wouldn’t tell them. It apparently wasn’t a fox.
“Is this the amber you want to trade?” Absalom asked.
“Yes,” the leader, who was called Anchta, replied, and tipped out the contents of one of the sacks.
Absalom and Kefash looked the large lumps of amber over, checking it for clarity and colour.
Scarlett let Absalom finish the introductions then leaned over and kissed Uncata on the cheek before she leaned forward to join in the conversation. The affectionate gesture wasn’t lost on the men, it was just what a daughter would do to her mother.
“Can I see a piece?” she asked, and Absalom passed her a chunk that was the size of large coconut and weighed two to three pounds. It was an incredible deep blue and remarkably clear, with streaks of red through some of it towards one edge.
“I will trade for this,” she said, stood, and stepped over to the cask. She lifted a tomahawk and showed it to them.
Anchta stood and stepped up beside her to examine what was in the cask. As he did, she saw him glance towards the boat and spot the tools. His eyes widened slightly.
Absalom stood and shuffled over to where they stood so he could translate,
“He says these are sufficient for what they have brought, but wonders what you will be doing with the tools by the boat?”
Hooked, thought Scarlett.
“Tell him they are for us to collect wood and fresh food from the forest.”
Kefash cast her a look. He knew they had stocked up with fresh food and wood in Saint Lucia and wondered what she was doing.
Anchta walked over to the stack and looked at the mattocks and picks. These were just the tools they needed to dig more of the blue amber. He looked at Scarlett.
“He wants these. What do you want for them?”
Absalom translated.
“These are not trade goods,” Scarlett answered.
“He says he can offer special goods for these.”
Time to pull him in, Scarlett smiled inwardly.
“What special goods?”
Anchta walked back to the group and picked up a small bag made of rawhide then returned to Scarlett. He opened it and took out a number of blue and blue green stones. They were beautiful and reflected the colours of the Caribbean Sea. She could see that cut and polished, these would make rare gems.
“What is this?” she asked.
“They call it Blue Stone and find it on the beach. It is very rare and as far as they know, this is the only place it is found. They make it into trinkets set in silver. It is highly prized.”
Scarlett made an act of considering. Inside, though, she was squealing. This was a godsend.
“Alright, I will trade the tools for the Blue Stone if they will agree to trade only with me and no one else.”
Anchta agreed. If this woman who was the daughter of Uncata could bring him more of these tools and weapons, he would soon rule all of the West end of the island.
Kefash, who listened to the exchange, smiled to himself. His daughter was clever and an excellent trader. He was proud of her. Uncata was beaming and whispering to her children to watch and learn.
They returned to Port Royal a few weeks later after returning the Caribs to their island, to hear that the new governor would be Thomas Modyfort. He would have an entirely different view of privateering, especially buccaneering, than his predecessor. Scarlett didn’t care about that as once she was at sea, there was nothing a governor could do about it. In any case, more importantly, a ship arrived from England that flew the flag of a new shipping company. Browning Trading and Shipping had commenced business.
Her father came to meet her o
n the Fox as soon as it anchored and was impressed.
“You’ve done well, girl. She’s a fine ship!” he praised as he looked her over.
Scarlett, who quickly changed into a dress for the occasion, hugged him and asked,
“How’s Ray?”
“He is here staying at the Mermaid. I wanted to see you before you met him again.”
Scarlett felt the touch of premonition, “He isn’t well, is he?”
“No, he insisted on coming with me. I think he thinks it will be his last chance for you two to be together.”
Tears welled up in her eyes and she struggled not to cry.
“I was thinking of bringing the Fox home for a visit and depositing our gains. Would you be alright with us sailing back with you? We have enough in the warehouse to fill your ship. What is it called?”
Smoker laughed.
“The Caribbean Queen.”
Scarlett went with Smoker to the rooms he rented at the Mermaid. She took a deep breath and steeled herself to meet her twin.
Ray sat in a chair in the sun, dozing, by the look of him. He was thin, much thinner than she had ever seen him. He wore a leather eyepatch over his right eye and the left was sealed shut.
Scarlett knelt at his feet and reached out to stroke his hair as she had done so many times in the past.
“Scarlett?” Ray asked as he felt her touch.
“Yes Ray, it’s me,” she replied, “you’ve lost weight!”
“Always stating the obvious,” he laughed for the first time in a very long time.
They chatted, and she told him about some of her adventures and how she had been adopted by Untaca.
“I wouldn’t tell mum! Her daughter adopted by another woman, ‘whatever is becoming of you!’ she will say.”
Scarlett’s stomach growled.
“It’s dinner time. Come on, let’s go eat,” she insisted, giving him no chance to object, “You’re blind not crippled,” she told him.
Back on the Fox the next morning, she addressed the crew,
“It’s coming up to hurricane season and we’ve just got time to get down to St Lucia, pick up the horde, and sail for England with the Caribbean Queen. We won’t lose out on anything as we would just sit in port if we stayed and this gives a chance to secure what we have made already.”
She looked around the crew and saw that some were already thinking of seeing their loved ones again, others probably thinking of what they could do with their shares once they hit the shore.
“All of you in favour, raise your hand.”
Steven was in charge of the vote and could see that it was an easy two thirds majority. There was no need for a ballot.
She brought Ray on board and left Smoker to load the Queen with cargo and buy more to fill her up. They would be back in two weeks or so, which would be the end of May. Just in time to leave for England.
It seemed that being back with Scarlett had a positive effect on Ray. He recovered his appetite and developed a taste for some of the local delicacies like jerked chicken. The ex-smugglers, especially Paul who was a childhood friend, took care of him when he walked the deck and made sure he didn’t trip over any of the many obstacles.
“Whose idea was this?” he asked Jim as he was shown the bow chaser guns.
“Your sister’s,” Jim replied, “she has a good head for tactics.”
“She always was better at that than me,” Ray said a little bitterly, “if I listened to her, I would still have my eyes.”
“Now, don’t blame yourself for that. You couldn’t know that bastard of a Frenchman would renege on surrendering,” Jim answered, remembering.
“I felt like half of me was lost when she left,” Ray confessed. “It was unbearable. Life was so empty.”
Jim was surprised that Ray opened up to him but made encouraging sounds as they sat on the big gun’s barrel.
“I swear I felt every time she was happy and sad. Her heart broke when Françoise was killed. I know I felt it.”
“Aye, she went a little crazy after that. She made the Spanish suffer then and still has little mercy for them now. She particularly hates the Jesuits.”
“Did she really burn five of them?” Ray asked. He heard the story from Absalom, who took the role of his carer when Scarlet was busy being captain.
“Yep, threw the brand to light the fire under the chief one herself. Told him he would know how the innocents he had burned in the name of the inquisition felt before he burned in hell.”
“Just like her. She always hated the thought that the church could be so cruel,” Ray mused as he thought about it.
“What about these heathens she has made friends with?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t let her hear you call them that!” Jim warned. “She is very fond of Uncata and Kefash. She finds a kind of peace when she is around them.”
Ray frowned. He didn’t like the idea of her and savages at all.
They reached St Lucia and picked up a prize on the way. They spotted a Spanish caravel and gave chase. Scarlett had a chair set on the quarterdeck for Ray on the understanding that if it turned into a shooting fight, he would go down to the orlop deck with the surgeon. This got under his skin as he hated the idea of being useless.
There was no need as the Spaniard struck as soon as they saw who was chasing them.
“Do they always give up so easily?” Ray asked when Jim told him what happened from his place at the wheel.
“Now they do. Our flag is known, and they know what will happen if they don’t.”
Ray was curious.
“What happens if they don’t?
“That’s simple. We raise the red flag. They get no quarter, and we slaughter ‘em to a man.”
Ray was aghast.
“Jesus Christ! You kill them all?”
“Unless they join us as crew. She starts with the officers and once they are done, she offers the crew the chance to join us.”
“What if there are passengers?” Ray asked, dreading the answer.
“Ransomed if they be of any worth or if they are lucky and she be in a good mood, they will be put ashore.”
Ray didn’t want to ask what happened if Scarlett was in a bad mood.
Scarlett was on to the quarterdeck after her prize crew reported on the cargo, which was timber and spices.
“A good find! We will transfer the cargo and let the ship carry on. The hull isn’t worth the trouble of sailing it back. It’s far too slow.”
“Can we go down to your cabin?” Ray asked, keeping his voice under control.
Scarlett looked at Jim, who shrugged and led her brother down the stairs.
“Since when did you turn into a savage?” Ray shouted as soon as they were in the cabin.
“What?” Scarlett asked, completely taken aback.
“Burning priests, slaughtering prisoners, making friends with heathens! When did you change?”
This was totally unexpected, and the pain in her brother’s voice cut her to the quick, and her anger flared.
“You have no idea what has happened out here or why I have done what I have! How dare you question me like this!”
She took a breath and didn’t give him a chance to answer.
“I killed the officers and captain that blinded you to avenge you. Out here, you don’t risk your men in pointless fights. You lose too many to the jack or swamp fever to throw them away, so you intimidate and build a reputation of being ruthless so they give up without a fight.
Priests? Those bastards crucified the crew of the Merlin and put Françoise in a gibbet to die as slow as possible. They’ve put a price on my head so they can burn me as a heretic witch! So don’t you dare criticize me for what I have done.” She was in tears as she said the last as her lover’s death was still a raw open wound in her heart.
“And savages? You have not met them, know nothing of them, and yet you dare to call them savages and criticise me for befriending them? You need to ask what your problem is.”
Paul Horscraft sat on deck near the skylight, heard everything, decided he needed to put Ray straight, and went down to the cabin.
He knocked and walked in, not waiting for Ray to answer. He knew him since they were children and knew how impulsive Ray could be.
“Happy now?” he asked Ray, who sat on the transom bench.
“Paul?” Ray asked, “what has she become?”
“She hasn’t become anything. She does what she has to do to make this ship successful and keep the crew alive. You can’t judge what goes on here on the standards from home.”
“You can’t condone what she has done?”
“What has she done? She avenged you, avenged Françoise, laid out her rules of engagement to the Spanish, and stuck to her guns no matter what happened. You are too soft, Ray.” He sat beside him on the bench. “You always treated the whole smuggling thing as a game. Well, privateering isn’t a game and she doesn’t play. She fights, she kills, and she wins. What do you think it’s like out here? A sail in the channel? A dash across to Holland to slip a few cases of gin passed the revenue? Grow up, Ray. This is life or death, kill or be killed.”
Ray was stunned. He never expected this from Paul and what he said shook him to the core. His emotions were written clear on his face.
“Tell me, Paul. Tell me everything. Help me understand.”
Scarlett stayed on deck while the cargo was transferred. She felt like her heart was ripped apart by what Ray said and she couldn’t understand why. Her twin not supporting her in what she did was almost too much to bear.
They were just casting off the lines that held the ships together when she saw Paul come out of her cabin. She knew that he and Ray were friends growing up and she wondered what he said. Paul saw her looking and walked over.
“Give him a while to think about what I told him and then go see him,” he said and walked off.
Scarlett finished her watch and went to her cabin. It was late and she expected Ray to be asleep, but he sat at the table with a bottle of red wine and two glasses. Absalom made himself scarce.
Scarlett Page 17
