by Peter McAra
‘May I ask, ma’am, why you want to go to the Lady Caroline?’ the captain suddenly asked after he’d managed the wheel silently for some minutes. ‘Are you bound for Southampton?’
‘No. I simply wish to rescue a friend of mine. A passenger. Bring him back to shore.’
‘What might the skipper say? When we pull up alongside?’
‘Why, I really don’t know. I simply have to save my friend. Whatever it takes. He set sail for Southampton under a…misapprehension.’
‘The captain won’t take kindly to having the fare whipped out of his pocket.’
‘He’s welcome to it.’
‘Very well, ma’am.’
The ship cleared the breakwater and turned her nose towards the Lady Caroline. Now there was nothing but a stretch of turquoise water between them. The sun, which had shone brightly all morning, disappeared behind a cloud.
‘We’ll get a breeze right soon,’ the captain said. Those clouds…’ He pointed. Eliza stared at the ship ahead of them, lying as still as a rock. Then, as she watched, she saw a topsail flutter. The sail below it flapped for a moment. It was as if the ship was waking from sleep, rolling up its shirtsleeves, preparing to go about the business of the day — beginning a months-long journey to the other side of the world.
‘Look!’ she cried. ‘The sails. The wind.’
‘Aye,’ the captain muttered. ‘The master will be wanting to set sail. It be a fearsome long way to where he’s headed.’
‘Will we catch them?’ Eliza’s mouth had gone dry. She swallowed. The captain answered by sliding open a panel in the floor.
‘More coal,’ he shouted through the panel. ‘The breeze is begun to blow. Give her all the steam she can take.’ He reached down and turned a steel wheel near his foot. In moments, more black smoke belched from the funnel. The ship seemed to inch forward a mite faster. They were close enough now to the Lady Caroline to see sailors climbing the rigging. The topsails now swelled, filled by a breeze which seemed to come faster every minute. Eliza felt the chill of it across her sweating forehead. The Lady Caroline’s bow dipped. She turned to a new compass bearing, aligning to better catch the wind.
Inch by inch, the distance between the two vessels continued to shrink. But the action aboard the Lady Caroline told a too obvious story. Men were spread along the yardarms from end to end of the ship. The crew were setting the sails to catch the breeze that freshened by the minute. Indeed, they were setting sail for Southampton.
‘Are we going to make it, Captain?’ Eliza could stand the tension no longer.
‘Well, ma’am. The wind, it’s blowing up a bit, ain’t it.’
‘What can we do?’
‘I don’t rightly know, ma’am.’ He wiped the sweat from his brow. Black smoke now positively spurted from the Cornish Maid’s funnel. Eliza could feel the steam engine throbbing beneath her like a pounding heart — like her own heart had begun to pound. And still they hardly gained an inch on their quarry.
‘Tell me, ma’am. What is your friend’s name?’ the captain asked suddenly.
‘Harry De Havilland. Mr Harry De Havilland.’
Squeeeeep! The captain had pulled a rope hanging from the ceiling. The whistle shrieked, hurting Eliza’s ears. Squeeeeeeep! It sounded again. A man appeared in the bow of the Lady Caroline, trained a telescope towards the Cornish Maid. Then he waved to the sailors aloft above his head. The steamship rapidly closed the gap.
‘Ahoy there.’ Captain Moss bellowed. Would the sound have carried to the other ship?
‘Request permission to come alongside,’ he shouted. Nothing happened. Then the man with the telescope put it down, reached for something on the deck.
‘Permission granted. Come alongside.’ Eliza heard his musically bellowed reply. Captain Moss slowed the flow of steam. The engine fell quiet. As the Cornish Maid brushed the timbers of the bigger wooden ship, someone threw a rope down to it. The boy on the Cornish Maid’s deck caught it, made the steamship fast to its larger sister. Now a man looked down on them from no more than a dozen feet above.
‘You have a passenger on board, sir.’ Captain Moss shouted. ‘Mr Harry De Havilland. We have a lady on board who wishes him to disembark. Return to shore.’
‘Hold hard, Captain,’ the man above him replied. By now the Lady Caroline’s passengers had come to the rail, curious to see why their ship had hove to, what had occasioned all the tooting and black smoke. As Eliza looked up, she saw Harry staring down at her.
‘Haarrry!’ She called with all the energy that had boiled inside her since she’d heard of his presence on the Lady Caroline.
‘Eliza! What — ?’
‘Come back to me!’
By now the other passengers had begun to take a pressing interest in the conversation. The sight of the man who had haunted her dreams made her heart explode.
‘I love you, Harry. Come to me.’
‘You’re alive!’ The joy in his voice overflowed like a waterfall.
‘Come!’ She shouted again, hurting her throat in the process.
‘Wha — how did you — ?’ He stared down at her as she watched his face slowly accept the miracle playing out below.
‘Harry! Come back to me. Now!’ She watched as his face changed from disbelief to puzzlement — to joy.
‘I’ll run to my cabin. Fetch my baggage.’
‘Just come!’ she screamed with the last of her breath. Two burly sailors appeared, one each side of Harry. They rolled out a net made of stout rope and threw one end down onto the Cornish Maid’s deck. The boy grabbed it and made it fast. Then the sailors picked up Harry, one to each arm, and lowered him onto the net. As the two ships lurched, he tumbled down the net, onto the steamship’s deck. As he stood, dusting the rope fibres from his jacket, the line of passengers cheered, clapped their hands noisily. Eliza climbed down onto the deck from the bridge.
As he stepped off the tangle of rope and onto the Cornish Maid’s deck, she threw her arms round him. Then the kiss. Eliza crushed him close, kissed him like she’d never kissed before. His lips, his body, his soul, melted into hers…
After a long time they eased apart, gasping for breath, their smiles fit to split their faces. From the rail above, a wave of cheers broke out. Not a few of the women wiped away happy tears.
‘Lovers reunited.’ A loud male voice boomed from the railing, rich with a music of its own. The overwhelming joy of everyone watching glowed from their faces. ‘And may you sweethearts both live happily ever after.’
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ISBN: 9780857990860
Title: A World Apart
Copyright © 2013 by Peter McAra
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