The River Palace: A Water Wheel Novel #3

by Gilbert, Morris

  “What can we do?” Wainwright asked shortly.

  “Just what you are doing. There was no damage to the main deck, so the firebox and engine room are fine. Carruthers isn’t answering engine room hails, so I think he must be dead. Swain and McCullough, as you know, were up in your stateroom, and we know the stern’s on fire up on the top decks, but we don’t know how bad it is up there. I’ve got the crew working a bucket brigade on the stern steps; I suspect the worst fires are up on the Hurricane Deck, and we need to get to them fast. Right now I’m going to go to the pilot’s stairs and see if I can get up to the wheelhouse that way.”

  “You’re a good man, Humphries. God be with you,” Wainwright said.

  “God be with us all.”

  SOUTHERN LOUISIANA HAD SPECTACULAR afternoon thunderstorms, and this one was no different. No small spitting of warning drops, no rolling of far-off thunder, just crash, and then the flood.

  By the time the stricken Queen of Bohemia made it into her portage in New Orleans, the fires on the Hurricane Deck were already out. The starboard side of the Texas Deck still burned in places, but the bucket brigade was quickly dousing them. Precisely because Zedekiah Wainwright had spared no expense in the construction of the Queen, the fire damage she sustained was much less than it would have been on any other steamer. The pumps working the water system to the bathrooms kept going, so the crew had access to water on every deck. The fine plush Turkish carpets were of wool, which not only didn’t flame on top, but also effectively smothered the fires that caught underneath, from the walls burning into the floorboards. The fires on the Texas Deck moved along the outside walls and along the roof, but not into the staterooms. Only half a dozen staterooms, including Zedekiah Wainwright’s, lost part of their roofs.

  Gage and Nadyha stood far down the docks from the Queen as she came in, because Boldo and Anca and, of course, the puppies, were still with them. At the Queen’s berth there were fire engines and ambulances crowded around, and they were already having to deal with an unruly crowd of people, mostly the friends and relatives of passengers on the Queen.

  Though she was injured, the Queen of Bohemia was not cowed. Joshua Swain guided her into port as gracefully and strongly as ever. In record time the crew had the landing stages down. People flooded off the boat, first running and shoving, but as the crowd thinned, they grew more orderly.

  “They’ll be last, you know,” Gage said to Nadyha.

  “I know,” she said, but with anxiety.

  When all of the passengers had cleared the landing platform, they came out of the cargo hold and made a procession down the gangplanks. First came Niçu leading Tinar, then Mirella leading Saz, and Cara and Simza with Cayenne. Gage and Nadyha looked at each other, then burst into laughter.

  For the first time in his life, Matchko had managed to hitch a ride on Saz.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Gage Kennon was a very busy man during the next few months. The very next day after the accident, Zedekiah Wainwright said, “A. J. is going to be out of commission for a long while. Can I interest you in a chief purser’s job?”

  Gage said, “Acting chief purser I’ll accept. Until A. J. comes back.”

  “Good enough. Maybe by then we can all get back to pursuing our lucrative acting careers,” Wainwright said, slapping Gage on the back. “Providing you can talk Nadyha into it, that is.”

  “I can’t talk Nadyha into anything.”

  “You talked her into an engagement.”

  “No, I didn’t,” Gage said with a grin. “She asked me to marry her. It has to be her idea, you see?”

  Denny made inquiries, and found out that the Perrados plantation was for sale. Major Wining had, in fact, been disciplined for his poor stewardship of the estate, and he and his staff were now lodged in a shabby boardinghouse in town.

  “I can’t possibly buy that forty-thousand-acre estate,” Gage moaned. “Even if I wanted to, which I don’t.”

  “As it happens, it’s possible that the estate can be broken up into parcels. If, for example, someone wanted to buy that useless strip of woods that joins onto that useless canebrake.”

  “I’m someone,” Gage said eagerly. “And I need some money, and I want you to help me get it.”

  “Already done, Johnny Reb,” Denny said cheerfully. “Wainwright Investments, Limited has interests in four banks. Take your pick.”

  Baba Simza’s and Niçu’s and Mirella’s cottages, which were at the old campsite, were finished in October. Gage’s and Nadyha’s cottage, which was a slight distance away, closer to the spring, was finished in November.

  Gage and Nadyha stood together, with Gage’s arm around her waist, hugging her close. Once he had permission to touch her, he wanted to keep her close all the time. They gazed at their home; the very last touches of bright green paint had been done on the elaborate gingerbread trim just that day. “Never in my life did I imagine I’d live in a house that looks like a circus wagon,” he said.

  Nadyha gouged him in the ribs with her elbow. “Dilo gaje, that does not look like a circus wagon. It’s so much better, it looks like a Gypsy vardo.”

  He turned her to face him and encircled her in his arms. “You’re right. And believe me, I do love everything about Gypsies.”

  He kissed her, but lightly, without heat, because Gage had realized that he was going to have to control his passion for her until they were married. If it had been up to him, they would have been married the day after the accident. Nadyha had wanted for them to get engaged, but she insisted that Gage had to wait to set the wedding date until she knew it was time for them to get married.

  She returned his kiss, then pushed him away. “Pah, you always want to kiss. Niçu and Mirella don’t kiss all the time.”

  “Bet they do when they’re alone,” he teased, and drew her back into his arms.

  After long moments Gage reluctantly let her go. “You know, you really should go ahead and move in.”

  “No,” she said vehemently. “It’s our house, for me and you to live in, together. Why would I want to be there all alone? I’ll stay in my vardo, with Baba Simza and Niçu and Mirella, until we get married.”

  “When is that going to be?” Gage demanded. “I’m tired of sleeping under the willow tree.”

  “Soon,” she answered softly. “I promise you, ves’tacha. Soon.”

  Every morning at dawn Gage rode into town to meet with Denny and Zedekiah Wainwright, and though they often pressed him to stay when business lasted until late evenings, he always refused, and returned to the camp. Although now Mirella was obviously expectant, and so didn’t dance, Nadyha still did. And Gage wouldn’t miss that for the world.

  NADYHA’S VITSI MADE THEIR way back to New Orleans in December. Nadyha’s father, Dimas, was the Rom Baro of the vitsi, which was an elected position, so he was more like a president than a king. However, he was positively feudal in some of his views, and that included the marriage of his daughter to a gaje.

  “You’ve all gone dinili,” he told his mother, Simza. “You and Niçu and especially Nadyha. What do you think you’re going to do? Turn into gajes and go your merry way?”

  “We’ll never be gajes,” she replied. “Especially Nadyha. Her betrothed is a special man, a good man, and he knows Nadyha will always be Roma. I think he even loves her more because she is a Gypsy.”

  “Well, I’m not paying him a bride price,” Dimas growled. “As I see it, he should pay me.”

  Although Dimas was so angry about Gage, and looked at him only with disgust, he did decide that the vitsi would stay for a couple of months. They were comfortably camped out around the original campsite. As the days wore on, Dimas came to cautiously respect Gage, and eventually he even came to like and trust him. As did the king, so did the people, and by the end of January most of the vitsi had come to accept Gage, not as a Gypsy, but as a relatively sane and sensible gaje.

  The week before Christmas, Gage told Nadyha, “We’re fairly sure now. The Queen sh
ould be fully repaired and restored next month. Mr. Wainwright’s set the first sailing for February 5.”

  “Then I have a question to ask you,” Nadyha said, her hazel eyes sparkling green-gold. “Will you meet me on the Queen of Bohemia on February 4, and marry me?”

  “Huh? You—how did you know that the Queen would be ready then?”

  “I didn’t, until now. But it’s what I’ve been waiting for. Our lives have been all entwined with her, and I believe that our lives will be entwined with her for some time to come. I wanted to get married on the Queen of Bohemia, for I think it will be good baksheesh for us. And miry deary Dovvel has said to me that this is a good thing.”

  “It’s not just a good thing, it’s the best thing,” Gage said, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her up high in his arms. “Just like you.”

  A GYPSY WEDDING IS a four-day celebration, with feasting, music, singing, and, of course, much dancing. Zedekiah Wainwright experienced several moments of half-regret that he had invited Gage and Nadyha to wed on the Queen when they boarded along with the forty-two other Gypsies from their vitsi. However, they were very respectful, did their own cooking and cleaning, didn’t drink too much, and were on the whole a very joyous and merry people. By the wedding day Wainwright was already talking to two of Nadyha’s brothers and one of her sisters, trying to persuade them to join their theatrical troupe.

  The ceremony was attended by Denny and Cara, who were growing closer every day, and Zedekiah Wainwright and, of course, Anca and Boldo and Matchko and Bitti and Baro. Dimas and the vitsi had been almost as horrified at Nadyha’s dogs as they had been with her choice of husbands, but as they had been with Gage, after a month they philosophically accepted the half-grown puppies.

  Nadyha had told Gage that Gypsies didn’t have formal wedding ceremonies, and she consented to have a gaje ceremony. Gage got his pastor, a humble, sweet-natured old Methodist preacher, to preside. Gage and Nadyha stood in front of him in the Moravian Salon, facing each other, and holding each other’s hands as they recited their vows. But of course, there must be some part of Romany’s heart in their dedication to each other. After they finished their Christian vows, Nadyha’s maid of honor, Mirella, handed Nadyha a piece of bread and a small sewing needle, and Denny, Gage’s best friend, handed him the same. Gage and Nadyha pricked their fingers, and placed a tiny drop of blood on the bread. Then they exchanged the bread and said to each other, “By this bread and this blood, I promise you that my heart, my life, belongs to you forever.” Then Nadyha and Gage ate the bread.

  It would have been shameful to Gypsies to exchange a public kiss, so Gage turned again and took Nadyha’s hands in his.

  His voice ringing throughout the room, he said, “Devlesa avilan. It is God who brought you.”

  Nadyha smiled sweetly. “Devlesa araklam tume. It is with God that I found you.”

  GYPSY GLOSSARY

  amaro deary Dovvel our dear God

  anarania amen

  av akai come here

  baksheesh a good path laid before you

  baro big

  baxt meant to be

  beng devil

  bitti small or young

  bitti chavi young Romany girl

  bori brother’s wife, sister-in-law

  bujo to swindle, scam

  cam sun

  camova physical love

  chavaia! Stop!

  chaveske chikni granddaughter

  chavi Romany girl

  chivani wise woman

  choro a thief

  chovihani a person of power

  churo knife

  ciocoi overseer

  devlesa avilan It is God who brought you

  devlesa araklam tume It is with God that I found you

  Devvell at one time this was their word for God

  dhon dhon bestipen very much wealth

  didlo crazy

  diklo head scarf

  dilo fool or imbecile

  dinili silly, stupid, foolish

  Dovvel God

  drabengri healer

  dukkering fortune-telling

  dûrvâ marshland grass

  elachi Grains of Paradise—cardamom

  familia family

  gaje non-Gypsy, peasant

  gaji non-Gypsy, peasant (female)

  gajo non-Gypsy, peasant (male)

  galbés coin necklaces

  gam’i choro evil thief

  gója a favorite Gypsy dish of a pork roast stuffed with grated potatoes, rice or corn flour, onions, garlic, and other spices

  habben food

  hai yes

  Hush kacker! Shut up and listen!

  kralisi queen

  jook dog

  jostumal enemy

  kaki aunt, also a respectful form of address for an older woman

  kako uncle; these are also terms of respect

  kishtis sashes that Gypsy men wear

  kumpania a group of Gypsies of several vitsis, or clans

  lalo blood red

  lil story

  lubni loose or immoral woman

  magerd’ o choros wicked thieves

  mahrime unclean

  miry my

  misto kedast tute you did very well

  mokadi spiritually unclean

  mokadi lalo refers to the particular red color that is considered unclean

  nais tuke thank you

  narkri unpleasant or troublesome

  phei sister

  phral brother

  Phuri Dae wise woman of a clan

  pias, baro pias fun, big fun

  prala brother

  puridaia grandmother

  purodod grandfather

  rai sir

  Rom Baro the Big Man of the vitsi; male leader

  Roma as the Gypsies refer to themselves, Roma or Romany

  romoro Gypsy/Romany men

  shanglo police

  she’enedra sister of the heart

  shesti nonsense

  si tut bocklo? Are you hungry?

  tale hawks

  te’ sorthene friend bonded by heart, spirit

  vardo living wagon

  ves’tacha beloved

  vitsi Gypsy clan

  wuzho pure, clean in spirit