by Ruth Chew
When at last she fell asleep Meredith slept till morning. She woke to the sound of someone shouting.
“Ahoy! Anybody here?” a deep voice bellowed.
Jonathan rolled out of his hammock and reached over to shake Matt. He pulled on his boots and buckled his belt. Then he picked up the big pistol. He crouched low and moved over to the doorway of the hut. He rested the pistol on the water barrel that blocked the bottom of the doorway and peered over it.
Matt was up and ready in an instant. He grabbed the curved sword and stood on one side of the doorway.
“Ahoy!” The voice yelled even louder. “You’re getting to be a lazy landlubber. The sun’s been up for hours.”
“That sounds like Talbot,” Matt whispered.
“Best to be sure,” Jonathan whispered back. He kept his gun ready and shouted out the top of the doorway. “Who’s there?”
“Is that you, Jonathan?” the voice asked. “Jeremy Talbot here.”
“What’s at the bottom of the apple barrel?” Matt called out.
“Peanuts,” the voice answered.
At this Jonathan stuck the pistol in his belt. Matt put down the curved sword. Together they pushed the heavy water barrel out of the doorway. Then the two men ran out of the hut.
Both Meredith and Christopher were wide awake now. They climbed out of their hammocks and went to see what was going on.
They found Jonathan and Matt taking turns hugging a short, stocky man.
Jonathan caught sight of the children. “Come over here, young ones. I want you to meet an old friend of mine.”
Meredith and Christopher walked over to the three men.
“Jem,” Jonathan said, “this is Meredith and her brother, Christopher. They hail from Brooklyn town. They came to these parts with a sea captain who left them high and dry. I’d like to get them on a ship for home.”
Meredith held out her hand. “How do you do.”
Jem shook her hand and then Christopher’s. Like Jonathan and Matt he was wearing boots. He had on a blue shirt that was open at the neck, a red sash around his waist, and baggy blue pants with red stripes on them. His dark hair was cut short and was turning gray. He had lumpy ears, a crooked nose, and teeth that were stained and broken. But there was a twinkle in his green eyes and something nice about his smile. Both of the children liked him at once.
“I was hoping you’d still be here,” he said to Matt and Jonathan. “Have you given up the sea for good?”
“We’ve got a good trade,” Matt said. “The Spaniards left their livestock roaming around, so there’s plenty of meat. And the ships around here will buy as much as we can dry. We could use help. Why don’t you join us? It’s safer than seafaring.”
“Thanks for your offer,” Jem said. “I’d like to work with you, but I signed on as a mate with a privateer. He’s agreed to give me a share of the profits when the ship reaches port. If I got some money together I’d start a sugar plantation on this island. Then I could bring my family over from England.”
“If anything goes wrong,” Matt told him, “you’re welcome here. And you can make a living for your family smoking meat.”
Jem smiled. “I’ll remember that,” he said.
“Captain Bardfield is loading The Red Goose for a voyage,” Jem said. “I’m sure he’ll buy your dried meat. Can you get some ready?”
“Where’s the ship?” Jonathan asked.
“She’s anchored out beyond the reefs. I came ashore on the longboat. The men are waiting on the beach for me.” Jem turned to Meredith and Christopher. “I’ll ask the captain to let you sail with us. If we don’t head for your port, we’ll put you on a ship that’s going that way.”
Christopher was excited. “What kind of ship is The Red Goose?”
Jem smiled. “She’s at least a hundred and fifty tons. And she carries ten guns and a crew of twenty.”
“That’s a good-sized ship,” Matt said.
Jem was looking at Meredith. “I don’t mean to be rude,” he said, “but aren’t you wearing boys’ clothes?”
“Of course she is,” Jonathan said. “You don’t think little girls in Brooklyn go around dressed like that. The lass has been at sea for a long time.” He looked hard at the blue jeans Christopher and Meredith were wearing. “But you can see they’ve got a different style of clothing in that part of the world.”
Matt walked over to where the iron pot was hanging. He started to poke the dead embers with a stick.
Meredith grabbed Christopher by the hand. “We’re going to help Matt,” she told Jonathan. She pulled her brother away from the two men. “I have to talk to you when we’re alone,” she whispered.
Matt sent Christopher to gather firewood and gave Meredith a jug to fill from the water barrel. When he got a jug of water boiling, he poured oats from a big cloth bag into it.
“Did you ever milk a goat?” Matt asked Meredith.
She shook her head.
“Come along. I’ll teach you how.” Matt picked up a wooden pail and walked across to the woods at the edge of the clearing.
Meredith followed him. When they came to the trees she saw two donkeys roped to one of them. A goat and a young kid, a baby goat, were tied to another.
“This is Eleanor and her son Fred,” Matt told her. He squatted down on his heels beside the goat and put the pail under her. “Good morning, Eleanor.” He patted the goat. “How about giving us a little milk for breakfast.”
When Matt had finished milking the goat he took a sweet potato out of the front of his shirt and gave it to her.
Meredith reached out to pet the kid. Matt grabbed her hand to stop her. “Better not. Eleanor might take a bite out of you.” He picked up the pail of foaming milk. “Let’s go see if the porridge is ready.”
After breakfast all three men began to tie slabs of smoked meat together and pile them into baskets that hung on both sides of the donkeys. The meat was stiff and dry and looked as hard as wood.
When the donkeys were loaded with as much as they could carry, Matt handed Christopher a bundle of meat. “Is this too heavy for you?”
“I’ll manage,” Christopher said.
Matt gave a bundle to Meredith. “Try carrying it on your head. That’s what the people around here do.”
Meredith lifted the bundle onto her head. It was easier to carry that way. Christopher decided to do the same thing. Then each of the three men picked up a large bundle of dried meat and balanced it on top of his head. Jonathan and Matt had ropes to the donkeys tied around their waists.
Jem went first up the stump-covered hill. Matt and Jonathan followed with the donkeys. Meredith and Christopher came after them, holding the heavy bundles on their heads with both hands.
Meredith wanted to talk to Christopher, but they had to walk so fast to keep up with the men and the donkeys that there wasn’t time.
The woods looked different in the daytime. Green parrots flew from one tree to the next. And vines covered with bright red flowers hung from the branches.
The piles of dried meat seemed to get heavier and heavier as they marched along the narrow path through the forest. Just as Meredith was sure she’d have to stop and rest, they came to a grove of tall palm trees. The next minute Meredith stepped out into the sunlight on the sandy beach.
A long wooden boat was pulled up out of the water. There were groups of men sitting wherever there was a patch of shade. They were smoking pipes and playing cards.
One man stood up and walked toward them. He had on a ruffled shirt, and his hair was almost as long as Meredith’s. It curled over a lace collar. Meredith saw jewels in the hilt of his sword. “I’m glad to see you, Talbot,” he said to Jem. “You were gone so long I was afraid something had happened to you.”
Jem took the bundle off his head. “Captain,” he said, “my friends here have been drying meat in the Indian manner. I told them you’d buy a load for the ship.”
“Good day, gentlemen,” the captain said. “Let’s see what you have here.” He took a
good look at the meat Jem was carrying. “Excellent. Do you want to be paid in coin or in goods? I can give you cloth and tea and good Dutch cheese. And of course we’re well stocked with molasses, sugar, and rum.”
“We can use supplies, sir,” Jonathan said, “but for the most part we’d like to be paid in gold.”
“Very well.” The captain talked about the price with Jonathan and Matt. Then he took a leather purse from inside his shirt and gave an equal number of gold coins to each of them.
Jonathan put his gold in a little bag that hung around his neck. Matt rolled his in a red handkerchief and tied it to his belt.
“Ahoy, coxswain,” the captain called.
One of the men playing cards stood up.
“Row these men out to the ship with this meat. See that they get the supplies they need.”
Jonathan and Matt helped the coxswain push the longboat into the water. Three sailors unloaded the donkeys. Meredith and Christopher went to put their bundles in the boat.
“Come over here, children,” Jem called.
They ran back to where he was standing beside the captain.
“These are the young people I was telling you about,” he said. “Meredith and Christopher, I want you to meet Captain Bardfield.”
Meredith held out her hand. “How do you do.”
The captain bowed. He shook first her hand and then Christopher’s. “I understand you hail from Brooklyn town. I’ve a cargo of rum that should sell for a good price there. You can sail along with me, and you can earn your way by working in the ship’s galley.”
“Thank you, Captain Bardfield,” Meredith said.
Meredith and Christopher watched as the coxswain and three other men rowed Jonathan and Matt across the lagoon. The longboat went into the little inlet and disappeared from sight.
“There are a lot of things here I don’t understand,” Christopher said.
“Neither did I at first,” Meredith told him.
“I thought Jonathan and Matt were pirates,” Christopher said, “but they turned out to be really nice guys. All these other people look like pirates too. They just don’t act like them. Captain Bardfield could get a job acting in Peter Pan if he had a hook instead of a hand.”
“Chris,” Meredith said, “don’t you know there aren’t any pirates nowadays? And if there were they wouldn’t dress like this and carry swords.”
Christopher didn’t say anything for a minute. When he spoke it was in a scared whisper. “Meredith, what does it all mean?”
Meredith sat down on the sand and started to build a castle. “I’m still not sure, Chris, and I don’t want to worry you until I am. Help me dig this moat.”
Christopher dug down so far that the moat filled with sea water. The children used the water to pack the sand into a big tower. They built a wall with a turret on each corner and put sea shells on all the pointed roofs.
“That’s a beautiful castle.” They looked up into Jem’s twinkly green eyes. “Too bad we can’t stay here and live in it,” he said, “but the longboat’s coming back across the lagoon. It’s time to head for the open sea.”
Meredith and Christopher stood up. They followed Jem to where the longboat was being pulled up onto the beach.
Matt and Jonathan got out of the boat. They carried barrels and bags over to the donkeys who were tied up in the shade of a palm tree. Then the two men ran back to the boat. Christopher and Meredith were sitting in it next to Jem.
Jonathan put his arms around the children and hugged them. “If you run into trouble, you can always come back to us.”
“Eleanor will let you stroke Fred when she gets to know you,” Matt told Meredith. “Take care of the young ones,” he said to Jem, “and remember what I told you.”
The sailors started to shove the boat into the water.
“All ashore that’s going ashore,” the coxswain bellowed.
Matt and Jonathan jumped out of the boat. They waded up onto the beach and stood there watching as it was rowed across the lagoon. Meredith and Christopher waved to them until the boat went into the inlet.
There were ten men rowing the boat. They pulled it through the water with long sure strokes. It went past the vine-covered banks and came to the sea. Then the boat started to glide between the sharp rocks of the coral reef.
Meredith looked across the open water. She saw a tall sailing ship moored out beyond the reef. It had three masts and a high stern. And it looked something like pictures she had seen of the ship the Pilgrim Fathers sailed in.
“Chris,” she whispered. “Look! Now do you understand?”
Christopher stared. “We’re back in the days of the treasure ships. Isn’t that great?”
“Not really,” Meredith said.
“What do you mean?” Christopher asked.
“When we get to Brooklyn we still won’t be home,” Meredith told him. “Mother and Daddy won’t even be born for hundreds of years.”
After the longboat had safely crossed the reef it was rowed over to the sailing ship.
“Ahoy!” the coxswain yelled.
Someone high above on the deck of the ship tossed a rope ladder over the side. Captain Bardfield was the first to climb it.
“You go next, Meredith.” Jem helped her onto the bottom rung.
Meredith held tight to the ropes on each side of the wooden rungs. It took her a moment or two to get used to the swaying ladder. Then she started up. When she got to the top, a sailor pulled her over the side of the ship onto the deck.
Christopher followed Meredith up the ladder. Jem climbed up after him.
“Come with me.” Jem took the children down a narrow stairway and along a hall to the ship’s kitchen.
A tubby little man with white hair and pink cheeks was peeling onions. He looked up. “Hello, Jem.”
“These are your new helpers, Meredith and Christopher. They haven’t had lunch, and neither have I.” Jem turned to the children. “This is Barnaby, the ship’s cook. He’ll tell you what to do.”
Barnaby put a round orange cheese on the table beside a crusty loaf of bread. He handed Jem a knife. “Help yourselves. There are apples in the barrel over there.”
When they had finished eating, Jem went back down the hall. Barnaby set Meredith to work peeling the onions, but they made her eyes water. He gave her the job of scouring a copper saucepan with white beach sand. Christopher peeled the onions. They didn’t make him cry.
The saucepan was shining like a new penny when Meredith heard a loud grating sound. The ship gave a sudden lurch.
Meredith put down the pan. “What happened? Is the ship sinking?”
Barnaby laughed. “They’re hoisting the anchor. You two have done enough work for now. Why don’t you go up on deck and watch? I’ll send for you if I’ve got anything for you to do.”
Christopher and Meredith raced down the hall and up the stairs. Six strong-looking sailors were singing and turning a big wheel that was mounted flat on the deck. As the wheel turned, the heavy rope to the anchor was wound around it, and the anchor was lifted up from the ocean floor.
Sailors were climbing around in the rigging. They unfurled the sails to the wind. The Red Goose seemed to be spreading her wings.
Jem walked across the deck to the children. “We’ve caught the tide at just the right moment. Now we’re on our way. I have to stand watch now. Do you want to keep me company?”
Meredith and Christopher went to the front of the ship with Jem. He brought along a brass telescope.
“Let me look through it, Jem,” Christopher begged.
Jem handed him the telescope.
Christopher squinted through it and turned it slowly in all directions. “There’s something shining way out there.”
Jem took the telescope and looked where Christopher was pointing. He called to a sailor. “Tell the captain there’s a ship off the starboard bow.”
Captain Bardfield looked through the telescope for three full minutes. “Talbot,” he said, “tha
t’s a Spanish galleon. It must be the Cadiz. I heard that she was in these waters, headed for Spain with a cargo of Mexican gold. We’ll get as close as we can and attack first thing in the morning.”
“Go below,” Jem whispered to Meredith and Christopher. “Things are going to get rough.”
“Jem,” Meredith said, “are you a pirate?”
“I don’t want to be,” Jem told her in a low voice, “but the captain is in charge here. If I don’t follow orders, I’ll be hanged for mutiny.”
“But why did you join a pirate crew?” Christopher asked.
“When there’s a treasure ship in sight, any crew might turn pirate,” Jem told him. He pulled the children over to the stairway that led to the lower deck. “Stay with Barnaby.”
Meredith and Christopher spent the rest of the afternoon in the galley with the cook. Barnaby told them stories of his life in England.
“Why did you go to sea?” Meredith asked.
“There was no way to earn a living at home,” the cook told her. “I became a soldier and fought in a war. When the war was over I had no trade to make money. I signed on a ship and sailed west.”
“Were you always a cook?” Christopher wanted to know.
Barnaby puffed out his chest. “I was boatswain for twenty years,” he said, “until I got rheumatism in my knees and couldn’t climb the rigging to check the sails.” He looked out of the small square window. “We’re getting close to the Spaniard. To tell you the truth I don’t like it. It would be better if the captain stuck to trading rum for flour.”
Meredith saw the sky through the window. It was turning red.
The galley was getting dark, but Barnaby didn’t light the lantern. “Captain’s orders,” he said.
At suppertime Meredith and Christopher carried pans of food to the mess hall and set them on the bare trestle tables there. The sailors ate by the dim light from the little windows.
Barnaby strung up hammocks for the children in the hall outside the galley. They went to bed before it was completely dark. Meredith was sure she’d never fall asleep, but the next thing she knew she was awakened by a loud boom.
