Pirate's Promise

by Clyde Robert Bulla

  “Oh, no,” said Diggory. “Only seven years.”

  “Is this true,” asked Tom, “or is it all just a story?”

  “It’s not a story. I know of such things,” Diggory told him, “because my father bonded me to Captain Tooker. There were ten of us at home, with not enough to eat. I wished to go, and my brothers, too, but the captain would take only me. I was the only one old enough and strong enough.” He said again, “I wished to go. This is my way of seeing the world. And after seven years I’ll be free to make my fortune in America.”

  “America?” said Tom. “Is that where we’re sailing?”

  “Yes, for the islands of America,” said Diggory.

  “They’ve no right to send me there. They’ve no right to make a slave of me for seven years!” Tom asked, “Where is the captain?”

  “In his cabin, I should think,” said Diggory.

  “Where is the cabin?” asked Tom.

  Diggory pointed. “But don’t you be going there. Captain Tooker is a hard man.”

  Tom was already on his way to the cabin.

  He knocked at the door.

  A voice called out, “Who’s there?”

  Tom opened the door. He stepped into a little room with wood walls and a soft, green rug. A man sat at a table. His face was small and rather mean, but he wore a fine brown wig, and the buttons on his coat were of gold.

  “How dare you set foot in this cabin!” he shouted.

  Tom stepped back.

  “Stop!” cried the man. “Who are you?”

  “Tom Pippin, sir,” said Tom. “I wished to see the captain of the Lady Peg.”

  “Now that you’ve seen him, be on your way!”

  “A word with you first, sir,” said Tom. “Is it true that you bought my bond from my uncle?”

  “Is it true?” said the captain. “Why else would you be here? Why else would I have you on my ship?”

  “Then I have this to say,” said Tom. “It was my uncle who signed the bond. It was not I. You may buy and sell me a hundred times, but I’ll not be a slave to anyone!”

  The captain’s face was purple. He took a book from the table and threw it. It caught Tom on the side of the head.

  The captain took up a dish. Tom backed out of the cabin. He shut the door just as the dish broke against it.

  Diggory was outside. He looked frightened.

  “Quick, Tom!” he said.

  They ran to the far end of the ship. Diggory pulled Tom down behind a pile of rope.

  “It’s a bad thing you’ve done,” Diggory said in a whisper. “It’s a bad, bad thing! Don’t you know you’re never to cross the captain? He’s lord and master on this ship. Keep your head down. Stay out of his way till he’s cooled off. If he finds you now, there’s no telling what he might do.”

  “He hasn’t any right—” began Tom.

  “Don’t you be talking that way,” said Diggory. “He has every right, and you have none.” He stopped. “That’s blood on your face!”

  “Yes,” said Tom. “The captain threw a book—” He felt the ship roll beneath him. He closed his eyes. “I’m sick,” he whispered.

  6. Diggory

  For a week Tom lay ill. Some of the bonded men and women cared for him in the hold of the ship.

  Two of Diggory’s friends, Abel and Nancy, did the most to care for him. Abel was a young man from London. Nancy was his wife. Sometimes they scolded Tom, but always in a friendly way.

  “You should never make the captain angry,” said Nancy. “It is well to be brave, but do not be foolish.”

  “The captain wished to have you beaten,” said Abel. “I heard it from a sailor. But Sparrow told the captain, ‘If we beat the boy, it may leave marks. Then he will not bring such a high price.’”

  “You must keep out of the captain’s way,” said Nancy. “If he sees you, he may grow angry again. Stay in the hold. He never comes down here.”

  Before another week, Tom was strong again. The cut on his head was healed. But even after he was well, he stayed most of the time in the hold.

  “It’s an easy voyage,” said Diggory. “There’s bread and cheese enough for all, and the seamen do the work.”

  But the bonded people grew tired of the voyage. They grew tired of one another. There were quarrels in the hold.

  Tom and Diggory stayed close to Abel and Nancy. There were no quarrels among them. Abel’s head was full of stories he had heard, and he told them to Nancy and the boys.

  He told of sea snakes that could swallow the biggest ship in one mouthful. He told of pirates who sailed the seas, robbing ships along the way.

  “Do you believe there are sea snakes?” asked Tom.

  “It’s only a story,” said Abel, “but the pirates are real.”

  “I fear the pirates,” said Nancy.

  “We need not fear them,” said Abel. “They care only for treasure.”

  “Then we are safe enough,” said Nancy, “for indeed, this is no treasure ship.”

  Each day the Lady Peg sailed farther west and south. The winds were no longer cold. The sky was no longer gray and stormy.

  There was a longboat on deck. Ropes and wooden blocks held it in place. Sometimes Tom left the hold and sat in the shadow of the longboat. Sometimes he and Diggory slept there at night.

  One night they lay beside the longboat. They were both awake.

  “What are you thinking of?” asked Diggory.

  “My sister Dinah at home,” said Tom. “What are you thinking of?”

  “I’m thinking of America and what I’ll do when I get there,” said Diggory. “I wonder who will buy my bond. I hope my master will not be cruel and that I’ll be strong enough to do his work. Tom, what if the same man buys us both? Then we can stay together.”

  “I won’t be sold,” said Tom.

  “Why do you keep saying that?” asked Diggory. “I’m going to be sold. So are Abel and Nancy and all the others. Why shouldn’t you be?”

  “It’s not the same for you and the others,” said Tom. “You wanted to come on this ship. You chose to be bonded. I didn’t choose. And I won’t be sold.”

  “You can’t help yourself,” said Diggory. “When we get to America, men will come on board. They will look at us and bid for us. You will have to go with the man who bids highest for you.”

  “When we get on land, I’ll run away,” said Tom.

  “You won’t run far,” said Diggory. “Do you know what they do when somebody runs away? They track him down with big dogs.”

  “I’m not afraid of their big dogs,” said Tom.

  “You’d better be afraid,” said Diggory. “It’s a cruel thing to be bonded against your will, but you are bonded. Why not make the best of it? It’s only for seven years—”

  “Seven years!” said Tom. “You talk as if that’s nothing at all.”

  Diggory counted on his fingers. “In seven years you’ll be nineteen. And I’ll be twenty-two. That’s not so old. Tom, promise me something.”

  “What?” asked Tom.

  “Promise me you’ll do nothing to get yourself in trouble. Promise me you’ll think no more of getting away.”

  Tom only lay there, looking up at the stars. He would not promise.

  7. Sail Ho!

  At sunrise the next morning a shout awakened them:

  “Sail ho!”

  “A ship!” said Diggory. “That means there’s a ship in sight.”

  He and Tom ran to the rail.

  Diggory asked a seaman, “Which way is the ship?”

  “That way.” The man pointed. “Can you see her?”

  “Yes,” said Diggory.

  Tom went back to the shadow of the longboat. Captain Tooker had come on deck.

  The captain stood by the rail, with a spyglass to his eye. It was a long time before he went back to his cabin.

  Tom went to the rail again. The ship had come nearer. Her white sails hardly showed against the clouds.

  Most of the bonded people had
come up from the hold. They were watching the ship.

  Abel and Nancy stood with Tom and Diggory.

  “Is she an English ship?” asked Nancy.

  “She may be French,” said Abel.

  “Or Spanish,” said someone else.

  The ship was faster than the Lady Peg. By late afternoon she had come so near that they could see men on her deck.

  She flew no flag. She did not answer the captain’s shouts and signals.

  Captain Tooker said in anger, “She shall come no closer until we know what flag she flies.” He called out, “Man the cannon!”

  Seamen sprang to the row of cannon along the rail.

  “When I give the word,” said Captain Tooker, “fire a shot to warn the ship away.”

  The ship came nearer.

  “Fire!” said the captain.

  One of the gunners put a match to his cannon. The cannon roared.

  The shot was meant to fall in the path of the ship. But the gunner’s aim was poor. The cannon ball struck the deck of the ship and tore away part of the rail.

  The ship fired back. Smoke and flame shot from her cannon.

  Diggory cried out, “She’s running up her flag!”

  Tom held his breath as the flag went up. It was the black flag of a pirate ship.

  A woman began to scream.

  Cannon balls struck the water beside the Lady Peg.

  Someone shouted, “Keep your heads down!”

  The bonded men and women were running for the hold. Tom and Diggory were carried along with them. Down the stairs they went, half-climbing, half-falling.

  They drew close together in the hold.

  “We should not have run away,” said Abel. “We should go help fight.”

  “No, no!” Nancy caught his arm. “I’ll not let you go!”

  “This is not our fight,” said another of the men. “We mean no more than sheep to Captain Tooker. Let him fight the pirates.”

  The hold shook, as if something had run against the ship.

  “Hark!” said Abel. “They’re alongside us now.”

  There was a rush of steps overhead. There were pistol shots.

  Then all was quiet on deck.

  In the hold all was quiet, too. Everyone listened. Everyone was waiting.

  A voice called down the stairway, “Come out, one at a time. Come quietly, and you’ll not be harmed.”

  Nancy held to Abel’s hand. “What shall we do?”

  “We’ll do as he says,” answered Abel. “There’s nothing else left for us.”

  He helped her up the stairs. The others followed them.

  8. Captain Land

  Tom stepped out on deck into a circle of pirates. There were young and old among them. Most of them wore silk and velvet in black, white, and the brightest of reds and blues. Some had pistols ready, some had knives.

  The pirate captain was young. His face was thin and dark. He spoke like an English gentleman.

  “Put down your weapons,” he said. “All your knives and swords and pistols—put them here on the deck.”

  “We have no weapons,” said Abel. “We are only poor bonded people.”

  One of the women cried out, “Spare us, good captain!”

  “Your lives will be spared,” said the pirate captain. “Your Captain Tooker was wise enough to end a fight he could not win. Because of that, he and his men will be spared. But he was a fool to fire on me. For this he must pay.”

  Two of the pirates went to the captain’s cabin. They led out Captain Tooker and his men. Captain Tooker tried to walk bravely, but his legs shook with fear.

  “Make the longboat ready,” said the pirate captain.

  “The longboat? Do you mean to put us out to sea?” Captain Tooker’s face was pale. “We shall be lost!”

  “There are islands near. You have sails in the boat, and you have oars,” said the pirate captain.

  “But my ship—!” cried Captain Tooker.

  “The ship is yours no longer,” said the pirate captain. “Be quick. You waste my time.”

  Captain Tooker’s men let the longboat down.

  “The bonded people will be first to leave the ship,” said the pirate captain.

  Men and women began to go over the side. They climbed down a rope ladder and into the boat.

  Tom and Diggory stood together.

  “It’s your turn,” said Diggory.

  Tom did not move.

  Diggory gave him a push toward the rope ladder.

  Tom turned. He started across the deck.

  A pirate stopped him. He was a tall black man with gold rings in his ears.

  “Let me speak to your captain,” said Tom.

  “Captain! Captain Land!” called the black man. “The boy would speak to you.”

  The pirate captain stood nearby. “Speak,” he said.

  “Take me with you,” said Tom.

  Captain Land looked down at him. “What is this?”

  “They stole me away from London. They had no right to bond me,” said Tom. “Take me with you.”

  Captain Tooker was listening. “Hear the young dog!” he cried.

  “Silence!” said the pirate captain. “The boy speaks bravely, and go with me he shall!”

  Diggory gave Tom a frightened look before he went over the side.

  Captain Tooker and his men climbed into the longboat.

  The longboat cast off. Some of the seamen rowed. Others worked to put up the sail.

  Captain Land looked about him. “So this is the Lady Peg. Lady Pig would be a better name. A pigboat it is, fit for nothing but to burn! Follow me,” he said to Tom.

  The pirate ship lay alongside the Lady Peg. Captain Land jumped down onto the deck of his ship. Tom jumped after him.

  The crew was busy looting the Lady Peg. Some of the men had their arms full of clothing. Others had the chairs and the green rug from Captain Tooker’s cabin.

  “There’s little enough that’s worth taking,” said one of the men.

  “A pigboat, that’s what it is,” said another.

  The pirates carried the loot to their ship. The last one to leave the Lady Peg threw lighted torches behind him.

  The men loosed the hooks and ropes that held the ships together. The pirate ship moved away.

  Night had fallen. Tom stood beside Captain Land and watched the Lady Peg burn.

  The fire burned slowly until it came to the room where the gunpowder was kept. Then there was a great explosion. The ship broke in two. Sparks and flame leaped high into the air and lighted the sea for miles around.

  9. The Pirate Ship

  Tom slept that night in Captain Land’s cabin. His bed was a hammock.

  When he woke, he saw the captain having breakfast. There was a teapot on the table. There were oranges and biscuits in silver dishes. The captain was eating biscuits dipped in tea.

  Tom moved in the hammock.

  The captain asked, “Are you awake?”

  “Yes, sir,” said Tom.

  “You were crying out in your sleep,” said the captain. “What were you dreaming?”

  “I don’t know, sir,” said Tom.

  “Once you said ‘Diggory.’ Who is Diggory?”

  “He was my friend on Captain Tooker’s ship,” said Tom.

  “Have no fear for Diggory. The sea is not rough. The longboat will reach shore,” said the captain. “What is your name, boy? Tom Pippin—that’s it. Pull up a chair, Tom Pippin, if you want a bite of breakfast.”

  Tom sat down at the table. He drank a cup of tea and ate a biscuit. He looked at the oranges.

  “Would you like one?” asked the captain.

  “Yes, if it please you,” said Tom.

  “Then take it.”

  Tom took an orange.

  “Have you ever had an orange before?” asked the captain.

  “Yes, sir,” said Tom. “Always at Christmas my father brought some home.”

  “Was it your father who bonded you?”

  “
It was my uncle,” said Tom.

  “And you have no wish to be bonded?” said Captain Land. “You would rather be a pirate.”

  “A pirate?” said Tom. “No, sir!”

  The captain gave him a long look. “You don’t wish to be a pirate?”

  “No, sir,” said Tom.

  “Then why did you choose to come with me?”

  “I wished to be free,” said Tom. “I thought you might put me ashore somewhere. Then I could find a ship back to England.”

  “Your uncle would only bond you again,” said the captain.

  “I would not tell him where I was,” said Tom, “but I would let my sister know. She is waiting for me.”

  “Ah,” said Captain Land. Then he was quiet for a while.

  They finished breakfast. They went out on deck.

  Some of the men came close for a look at Tom.

  “He’s a redhead for sure!” one of them said.

  Tom listened to them talk. He learned that the name of the pirate ship was the Sea Bird. He began to learn the names of the men.

  The little man with the cruel face and long arms was called Spider. The black man was Benjy. There was a man named Duke, who was talking, laughing, or singing most of the time.

  Duke said to Captain Land, “What shall we do with this redheaded pirate? Can he fire a pistol or throw a knife? Shall I teach him what he will need to know?”

  “Teach him nothing,” said the captain. “The boy is not a pirate, and he has no wish to be.”

  After sundown Tom sat on deck. He watched the waves. He heard the wind sing as it filled the sails.

  Benjy the black man sat down near him. “You like the ship?” he asked in his soft, deep voice. “You like the sea?”

  “Yes,” said Tom.

  “I, too,” said Benjy. Once he had been a slave, he told Tom. His master was kind to him and taught him many things. “Then he died, and I was sold again,” said Benjy. “My new master was a bad man. Captain Land saved me from him. Now Captain Land is my master. I follow him everywhere.”

  “Will you tell me something?” asked Tom.

  “If I can,” said Benjy.

  “Where are we now?”

  “In the waters of America,” said Benjy. “To the west lie the Florida islands. To the south lies the great island of Cuba. Have you heard of them?”