Pirate's Promise

by Clyde Robert Bulla

He put his head down against the hammock and began to weep. “Master, master!” he cried.

  Tom was weeping, too.

  He heard someone at the door, but he did not turn. He did not look up until the door opened.

  Captain Red stood in the doorway. One of his men was with him. The two came into the house.

  They looked down on the face of Captain Land. Then they looked at each other. Captain Red nodded and laughed.

  “Come, English boy,” he said.

  Before Tom knew how it had happened, he was outside, walking with Captain Red.

  “I must go back,” he said.

  “You will do as I say, English boy,” said Captain Red. “You will come with me.”

  He and the other man took Tom by the arms.

  Tom walked between them. He saw the lights of town ahead. He saw the lights of Captain Red’s ship in the harbor.

  He tried to think of a way to escape. Once he was aboard the ship, he might never escape.

  Captain Red seemed to know what he was thinking. He held Tom’s arm more tightly. Near the edge of town, he looked back. Tom looked back, too.

  Like a shadow, someone had come up behind them. It was Benjy.

  He threw himself at Captain Red. He swung his fist like a hammer. The captain fell.

  The other man had drawn his pistol. Tom caught his arm. The man fired into the sand. As he fought to throw Tom off, Benjy struck him down.

  “Run!” said Benjy.

  Tom ran. Benjy was beside him. They ran through the bright moonlight, across the beach and into the jungle.

  15. A Strange Journey

  It was dark among the trees. Tom and Benjy felt their way. They stayed close together so they would not be lost from each other.

  They walked until Tom was tired. He could not keep up with Benjy’s long steps.

  Benjy stopped. “Rest now,” he said.

  “Will they look for us?” asked Tom.

  “Yes,” said Benjy, “but they will not find us here tonight.”

  They lay down in the wet jungle grass. Toward morning Tom went to sleep.

  It was daylight when he woke. Benjy was there with fruit and nuts that he had found. Tom ate a little. Benjy ate nothing.

  Tom looked up at the trees that shut out the sun. “No one could find us here,” he said.

  “Yes,” said Benjy. “If we stay on this island very long, Captain Red and his men will find us. They will hunt us down.”

  They started on through the jungle.

  They walked until they came to the sea. They had come all the way across the island.

  Benjy found a hiding place for Tom. It was in the branches of a tree. “Do not show yourself until I call,” he said.

  Tom sat in the tree. Through the leaves he could see the sky. He watched it grow dark. The stars were out when he heard Benjy call softly from below.

  Tom climbed down.

  “Do not talk,” said Benjy in a whisper.

  With hardly a sound, they walked to the beach. A boat lay at the edge of the water.

  Tom got into the boat. Benjy pushed it into the water. He got in and took the oars.

  They were a long way from shore before he spoke. “Our luck held good. There was no one to see us go.”

  The boat smelled of fish and seaweed.

  “Where did you get this boat?” asked Tom.

  “I took it from a fisherman,” answered Benjy. “I fought him for it.”

  “Where are we going?” asked Tom.

  “Far from here,” said Benjy.

  He set up a sail, and it caught the wind. The little boat sailed out to sea.

  It was the beginning of a strange journey. For days and weeks the boat sailed along a chain of islands. Some of the islands were green with trees. Others were no more than bare rocks.

  On one of the islands Benjy killed a young goat. He cut the goat meat into strips and hung them over a fire. When they were smoked and dry they were good to eat. He and Tom ate the smoked meat while they sailed from island to island.

  They had fish to eat, too, and turtles and turtles’ eggs. There was always food in the boat, yet day by day Benjy grew thinner. He never smiled. Tom never saw him sleep.

  Once Tom woke and found him weeping. They were sailing by moonlight. Benjy was steering the boat with an oar. Tears shone on his face.

  “What is it, Benjy?” asked Tom.

  “I think of my master,” said Benjy. “I weep for him.”

  One day they landed on an island.

  “There is a harbor not far away,” said Benjy. “There is a city on the harbor.”

  “Do you know this island?” asked Tom.

  “I knew it once,” said Benjy.

  He cut four poles and set them up on the beach. He turned the boat upside down and Tom helped him set it on top of the poles. The boat was the roof of their house. They stuck sticks in the sand to make the walls.

  Benjy went to the city on the harbor. He brought back a suit of clothes for Tom. He brought a shirt, shoes, and stockings, too.

  “Try them,” he said.

  “Where did you find these clothes?” asked Tom.

  “I bought them,” said Benjy.

  “How did you pay for them?” asked Tom.

  “With gold that our captain left to me,” said Benjy.

  Tom took off his ragged clothes. He tried on the new ones. They fit very well.

  “Now,” said Benjy, “you will be ready.”

  Every day he went to the harbor. He watched the ships come and go.

  The day came when he ran all the way back from town.

  “Make ready,” he said. “There is a ship in the harbor that will sail soon for Charlestown in Carolina.”

  Tom went with Benjy to town.

  Benjy pointed to the ship at the dock. “Go on board. Tell the captain where you wish to go. Tell him you can pay.”

  “I cannot pay,” said Tom.

  “Yes,” said Benjy. He put two gold pieces into Tom’s hand.

  “Aren’t you coming with me?” asked Tom.

  “That could not be,” said Benjy. “But I have kept my promise.”

  “What promise?” asked Tom.

  “My master wished you to go to Charlestown,” said Benjy. “In my heart I promised him I would help you find a way.”

  Tom went on board the ship. He found the captain. He asked, “Will you take me to Charlestown?”

  “Can you pay?” asked the captain.

  Tom showed him one of the gold pieces.

  “It is not enough,” said the captain.

  Tom showed him the other gold piece.

  The captain nodded. “I will take you there.”

  Tom went to the rail. He looked for Benjy. He wanted to say good-by. But Benjy was gone.

  16. The Plantation House

  The voyage to Carolina was smooth, with fair skies and good winds. Only a few days after he had boarded ship, Tom was in Charlestown.

  The city looked clean and new. Its harbor was a busy place.

  Tom spoke to some men on the dock. He asked them the way to the Tanner plantation.

  “Take the river road,” one of them told him, “until you come to a white house with trees all around it. Can you read?”

  “Yes, sir,” said Tom.

  “Then you’ll see the name on the gate,” said the man.

  Tom took the river road to the Tanner plantation. He knocked at the door of the tall white house.

  A maid looked out at him.

  He told her his name. “May I see Master Tanner, please?”

  The maid showed him into a large, quiet room. A man was there, writing at a desk. A woman sat near him.

  The man’s hair was gray. He had a thin, handsome face. He looked up from the desk.

  Tom bowed. “Good day, sir. I—” He stopped. He did not know how to go on.

  “Have you nothing to say?” asked the man.

  “Yes, sir,” said Tom. “It is about your son.”

  The woman c
ried out, then put her hand to her mouth.

  Master Tanner said, “My son has brought shame to this house. His name is not spoken here.”

  “But let me tell you—” Tom began.

  Master Tanner stood up. “I’ll hear no more. You may go.”

  Tom bowed and went quickly away. He started down the hall.

  Someone called, “Wait!”

  The woman was running after him.

  “Tell me,” she said, “have you seen my son? Is he well? Did he send you here?”

  “He wished me to come here,” said Tom. “It was the last thing he told me.”

  “Where is he?” she asked. “What word do you have?”

  “It is word I am sorry to bring,” said Tom.

  She had been watching his face. She said, “I think I know. My son is dead.”

  He nodded.

  She turned her head. With her handkerchief to her eyes, she left him.

  When she came back, Master Tanner was with her. He looked tired and old.

  “I did not know.” He took Tom’s hand. “I thank you for coming here. Will you come and sit with Mistress Tanner and me?”

  Tom sat with them. Mistress Tanner began to talk of her son.

  “How did you meet him?” she asked.

  Tom told the story. The room grew dark while he talked. The maid came in to light the candles.

  “I have talked too long, and now it is late,” said Tom. “I must start back to Charlestown.”

  “Not tonight,” said Master Tanner.

  “No,” said Mistress Tanner. “You must stay with us tonight.”

  17. The Moon and a Garden

  Tom said the next morning, “I must go to Charlestown to see what ships are there.”

  “I have already sent a servant,” said Master Tanner. “He will bring us word of any ships that sail to England.”

  “You must stay a while with us,” said Mistress Tanner. “We will show you where our son played when he was a boy.”

  The days passed quickly. Tom walked in the plantation fields and woods. He swam in the river. He rode in the Tanner carriage.

  One day word came from Charlestown. An English ship was in port. She would soon be sailing for home.

  “I have no money,” said Tom, “but I can work on the ship.”

  Master Tanner went to Charlestown to see what might be done.

  In the evening he came home. He found Tom reading in the library. “I spoke with the ship’s captain,” said Master Tanner. “He has no place for you.”

  “Not even if I work?” asked Tom.

  “No, but you can send a letter on the ship.”

  “I’ll write to Dinah!” said Tom. “I’ll tell her not to worry and I’ll surely be home on the next ship.”

  “You need not go,” said Master Tanner.

  “What did you say, sir?” asked Tom.

  “We have been glad to have you here—Mistress Tanner and I,” said Master Tanner. “We like to see you about the plantation. It almost seems we have a son again. You need not go back to England. There is much I could do for you here. When you are a little older, there is much you could do to help me.”

  “I thank you, sir,” said Tom. “I thank you ever so much, but I must go back. My sister is waiting.”

  “Would she be happy here?” asked Master Tanner. “My brother lives near London. If I ask him to, he will seek out your sister and place her on a ship to America. I can send him a letter tomorrow. You can send your sister a letter so that she may be ready.”

  Tom sat very still. He did not know what to say.

  “I have spoken too quickly,” said Master Tanner. “Think about it now. Come to me when your mind is made up.”

  He left Tom alone in the library.

  Tom thought of Dinah. The journey to America was long. Would she be afraid to come so far?

  But many others had made the journey—some of them no older than Dinah.

  Would she be happy here?

  He looked out into the night. Through the window he saw the garden with its walks and flowers and trees. Above it was the moon.

  He thought of Dinah’s wish: a place where they could be together—a garden where she could watch the moon come up. . . .

  All at once he knew. She would be happy here. And so would he.

  Excerpt from A Lion to Guard Us

  I

  The Sailor Man

  On a February morning in the year 1609, a small, thin-faced man made his way over London Bridge. He wore a leather jacket and a blue wool stocking cap. His clothes were splashed with mud, and mud sucked at his shoes. He could hardly see for the cold rain in his face.

  He had been looking for Fish Street, and here it was, at the end of London Bridge. Now he was looking for a house on Fish Street—a great stone house not far from the bridge.

  Here was one with tall chimneys and many windows. It must be the house, he thought. He went around to the back.

  A plump, pretty maid opened the door.

  “Would this be the Trippett house?” he asked.

  She looked at his muddy clothes. “What do you want?”

  “A word with Mistress Freebold, if she’s about.”

  “Mistress Freebold? Oh, you mean Annie. You can’t see her,” said the maid. “She’s sick abed.”

  “Could you just let her know there’s someone here from America—?”

  “America?” The maid stared into his face. “Then you must be—” She was gone. He heard her crying out, “Amanda, Amanda!”

  Someone came running. Someone cried, “Father!” and a girl was there. She looked no more than ten or eleven—a pale little thing with great, dark eyes.

  She stopped. She said in bitter disappointment, “You’re not my father.”

  “I shouldn’t think so,” said the man.

  “Ellie said you were from America, and she thought—I thought—”

  “So you’re James Freebold’s girl,” he said.

  “One of them. I’m Amanda.” She asked quickly, “Do you know my father?”

  “I do, and I saw him not many weeks ago. We were together in America, in the colony of Virginia. I’m a sailor, you see, and my ship was there—”

  “And you saw him.” Her eyes were bright again. “Was he well? What did he say?”

  “He was well enough, for all I could see. He’d built a house in Jamestown. That’s the only town there. When my ship sailed, he asked if I’d stop for a word with his family in London. He thinks of you each day. He prays you will all be together before another year is out.”

  Tears came to her eyes. “When you see him, will you tell him—?”

  “I’ll not be seeing him again,” the man broke in. “It’s a long, hard voyage to Virginia. I’ll not be going back.”

  “Oh,” she said.

  Someone was calling, “Amanda!”

  “You’re wanted,” he said. “I’ll take my leave.”

  “But you’ll come again?”

  He shook his head. “I’ve told my tale. Good-day to you.”

  He left her. He was gone, and she didn’t know his name or where to find him again, and there were a hundred things she hadn’t asked. She hadn’t even said thank you.

  She took a step after him, but Cook’s voice called her back. “A-man-da!”

  She closed the door. She went down the long, cold hall and into the kitchen.

  Cook was at the table, beating eggs. Her face was red. Her cap was over one eye.

  “Who gave you leave to stand in the door and talk all day?” she said. “Who was that man?”

  Ellie the maid came out of the pantry. “Oh, Amanda, was it your father?”

  The door to the back stairs opened. A small boy put his head out. “Was it Father?” he asked.

  “Jemmy!” cried Amanda. “You know you’re not to come in here. No, it wasn’t Father.”

  His head disappeared, and the door closed.

  Amanda told Cook and Ellie, “It was a sailor man back from Virginia. He
saw my father there. He talked to him. Father is well—and he’s built a house— and he thinks of us—”

  Cook gave a snort. “He does, does he? He thinks of you so much that he sails off and leaves you for three whole years.”

  “Oh, that’s cruel!” said Ellie.

  “Hold your tongue, miss,” said Cook, “and Amanda, you get back to your work.”

  She went off into the pantry.

  As soon as Cook was gone, Amanda opened the door to the back stairs. The small boy was sitting on the steps. A smaller girl sat beside him.

  “It wasn’t Father. It was a sailor man,” Amanda said. “But he saw Father. Just think of that. I’ll tell you about it tonight.”

  “Will it be a story?” asked the boy.

  “It will be like a story,” said Amanda, and she shut the door.

  About the Author

  CLYDE ROBERT BULLA is one of America’s best-known writers for young people. The broad scope of his interests led him to write more than fifty distinguished books on a variety of subjects, including travel, history, science, and music. He received a number of awards for his contributions to the field of children’s books, including, for Shoeshine Girl, awards in three states—Oklahoma, Arkansas, and South Carolina—the winners of which were voted upon by school children.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors and artists.

  By Clyde Robert Bulla

  THE BEAST OF LOR • BENITO

  CONQUISTA! (WITH MICHAEL ROBERT SYSON)

  DEXTER • THE DONKEY CART

  DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI • EAGLE FEATHER

  THE GHOST OF WINDY HILL • GHOST TOWN TREASURE

  INDIAN HILL • JOHN BILLINGTON, FRIEND OF SQUANTO

  JOHNNY HONG OF CHINATOWN • LAST LOOK • MARCO MOONLIGHT

  THE MOON SINGER • MY FRIEND THE MONSTER

  OLD CHARLIE • OPEN THE DOOR AND SEE ALL THE PEOPLE

  PIRATE’S PROMISE • POCAHONTAS AND THE STRANGERS

  RIDING THE PONY EXPRESS • THE SECRET VALLEY

  SHOESHINE GIRL • SONG OF ST. FRANCIS

  SQUANTO, FRIEND OF THE PILGRIMS • STAR OF WILD HORSE CANYON

  THE SUGAR PEAR TREE • SURPRISE FOR A COWBOY