by Peter Roop
Then she remembered something that Mama had told her: “Never trouble trouble, till trouble troubles you. For if you trouble trouble, trouble is sure to trouble you.”
“I would like to trouble your trouble, Lord Dunmore,” Samantha said out loud.
“I’m sure he is scared,” someone laughed.
Samantha’s face flushed as she spun around to see who her tormentor was.
Matthew!
“You scoundrel!” she said. “Listening in on someone’s private thoughts.”
“If they are so private, you should keep them in your head,” he teased. “Anyway, I know a secret.”
“I do too,” Samantha replied.
“You first,” Matthew said.
Samantha looked around. “Let’s go by that tree.”
When they were seated in the shade Samantha said, “Your father is taking James with him aboard the Cardinal when he sails to Saint Eustatius.”
Matthew laughed. “That’s no secret. Papa told me. And besides, I am going too.”
“You’re what?” Samantha cried.
“I’m sailing with them too,” Matthew bragged.
“But you are in the militia. You can’t go.” What she really wanted to say was, “If I can’t go, you can’t go.”
“Papa talked with Sergeant Shell. He dismissed me from the militia until I return. After all, I have sailed before.”
“But it’s not fair,” Samantha snapped. “Why can’t I go?”
Matthew stared at her. The answer was obvious.
“You males get to do everything. We females just have to stay home and cook, tend the gardens, spin the thread, make the candles, do the wash …”
“There’s more to it, Sam,” he said. “This is the real secret. But you have to promise not to tell anyone.”
“Promises are like piecrust,” Samantha said. “Easy to make and easy to break.”
“Then I won’t share this. It is too important.”
Samantha turned to her cousin. “I’ve never broken a promise between us, Matthew. Why should I start now?”
“Because you are so angry, Sam. And this will make you angrier.”
Samantha ached to know what the secret was, but she didn’t want to give in.
Matthew stood to leave.
“I promise,” she whispered.
He sat back down and leaned toward her. “Papa is not really sailing with a load of tobacco and pine planks. He’s not taking any trade goods with him.”
“Why ever not?” she asked. “What is he going to use to trade to the Dutch for the gunpowder?”
“Sam, he’s not even sailing to the Caribbean,” Matthew answered. “He’s only sailing down into Chesapeake Bay.”
“Whatever for?” she asked.
“To capture British ships!” Matthew said. “Papa has a letter of marque.”
“Whatever is a letter of marque?” Samantha asked.
“It is a special letter saying that Papa can legally capture British ships.”
“Why does he need a letter? Why can’t he just capture them?”
“We’re not really at war yet, Sam. Without the letter of marque, Papa would be a pirate like Blackbeard. With it, he has permission to attack British ships. The Cardinal is going to be a privateer.”
Samantha sat silently, digesting Matthew’s words. “You and James are going to be pirates?”
“Not pirates. Privateers. And we get a share of all the ships we capture.”
“A share?”
“When the ship is sold, all of the pirates—I mean privateers—split the prize money. James and I will be rich. And your father too.
“Papa? Why?”
“He’s given my father all his money to buy a share of my father’s ship. That way, he gets a share of the prize money too.”
Suddenly Samantha understood Uncle John’s and Papa’s plans. Uncle John would try to capture the ship that Henry was on so he could rescue Henry. Then he would sell the ship. Papa would get enough money to buy the land and send James to William and Mary.
Samantha wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, “And I’ll be at home!”
She tugged her hat down over her unruly hair and tucked the loose strands under to keep them out of her face. She was so frustrated that she felt like cutting off her hair.
Like a bolt of lightning, an idea struck her: I will cut off my hair. And I’ll sail in James’s place aboard the Cardinal!
Chapter 18
Samantha debated whether to include Matthew in her plans. She looked at her cousin as he watched two dogs fight across the green. He could be trusted not to tell Mama and Papa. But what if he thought it was a bad idea and would not help her?
She would do it on her own.
She walked back to Sarah’s house. She listened for the sound of Matthew’s feet behind her. She willed herself not to turn around to see if was following her.
He wasn’t, and she walked alone to Sarah’s.
Her family was saying their goodbyes. Samantha forced a smile onto her face. Outside, she looked as if nothing was wrong. Inside, she boiled like a steaming kettle of crabs.
“We will join you in three days at Burleigh’s Landing,” Papa told Uncle John.
“Be prompt. I’ll sail on the tide’s turning on the tenth.”
“I will be there, Uncle John,” James piped up. “Rain or shine.”
Samantha wanted to kick him for his cheerfulness. Who did he think he was, sailing on the Cardinal without her? Didn’t anyone know how unfair this whole idea was? She should be aboard the Cardinal when it sailed, not lily-livered James.
On the sail home, James chattered about the great things he would do aboard the Cardinal. He would learn to sail a great ship, not a little skiff. He would learn the names of every fish and bird he saw. He would …
Samantha finally managed to block out his words.
Mama, looking severe, sat in the stern with Samantha. She didn’t say a word the entire trip.
Samantha hardly noticed the watery world around them. A blue heron winged its way overhead. She paid no attention. Fish splashed. She ignored them. A muskrat family failed to divert her. A flock of geese, looking for a winter refuge, honked overhead. She barely heard them. Normally, she would have watched where they landed, figuring she and Henry would hunt them.
Samantha mulled a plan in her head. She would disguise herself as James. She glanced at her twin brother. Every day of her life she had seen him. Now she looked at him with different eyes. She noticed how he held his hand to his eyes to shield them from the sun. She watched his expressions as he talked about being a cabin boy. She saw how he straightened his queue.
She’d have to cut off about half of her hair and tie it in a queue. That would be easy. Imitating James would be easy too. She’d only have to pretend until they were well out in the bay, too far to bother to return her to shore. She’d let Mama and Papa know what she planned to do so they wouldn’t worry about her. She would leave them a note, so they would not worry too much.
But how in the world will I stop James from going aboard the Cardinal? she wondered. How will I take his place?
Samantha was so deep in thought that she almost sailed past their landing. A nudge from Mama’s elbow brought her back to the here and now.
“Child, put your mind on what’s at hand,” Mama said.
Samantha tacked and turned her boat so it slid up to the wharf. She handed things to Papa while Mama and Martha went into the house to begin making supper. Cheerily, James watered Jasper. Samantha heard him chattering as she straightened ropes, stowed her fishing gear back aboard, and rolled up her sail.
All the while, she struggled with the problem of keeping James back while she sailed on the Cardinal. She could tie him to a tree. But he would holler for help. She could gag him and tie him to a tree. But who would know where to find him and untie him? She could take him fishing and leave him stranded on an island. But who would rescue him? She could pray he got sick and could not g
o … What was she going to do? She had to sail with Uncle John and rescue Henry.
Supper was quiet after Mama barked at James to leave off with his chatter. Mama’s looks at Papa were as cold as icicles. Martha ate and excused herself. Samantha felt like a volcano ready to explode, but she forced herself to keep the lid on. Any outbursts would doom her plans.
Samantha watched the way James held his knife as he ate with it. She noticed how he held his cup as he drank. She watched as he broke his bread and ate it, carefully catching any crumbs on his plate. She had seen him do these things many times before, but it was if she were watching them for the first time.
Samantha glanced at Mama. She wasn’t glaring at Papa, but she had an eye on Samantha. I can’t let on about what I am thinking, Samantha told herself.
Even as she lay in bed that night, Samantha struggled with how to take James’s place. If only Henry were here, she thought, he would know what to do.
Her thoughts focused on Henry. At least they knew where he was. She felt relieved that Thomas Wormley had not taken action against him. From the stories she had heard, Henry’s life would be unpleasant: cramped space, wormy food, and the awful smell of bilge water. But what Henry probably missed most was his freedom.
“Hold on, Henry,” Samantha whispered. “I am coming.” But how? she worried as she fell asleep.
An owl hooted, “Whoooo—oo.”
Its mate answered, “Whooo-oo-oo.”
At the sound of the owls, Samantha sat bolt upright. While she had slept, her brain had solved her puzzle.
She knew how to get aboard Uncle John’s privateer.
Chapter 19
She would need James to help. If he went along with her plan, both could sail on the Cardinal!
Samantha wanted to rush up the ladder to the loft and shake him awake. She knew she couldn’t do that without rousing the whole household, though. She tossed and turned so much that Martha woke up and bid her to be still.
Samantha rolled over and pulled the cloth plug from the hole in the wall. Peeking out, she tracked the moon as it set. She lay as still as a log until the night faded and dawn came.
She woke James and whispered for him to follow her. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he trailed behind Samantha to the wharf. No one could overhear them there.
“I am going on the Cardinal,” she announced.
“What? Sam, you can’t go. I’m going.”
“Hush and listen. We are both going.”
James stared at his sister in astonishment. Her hands were on her hips. He knew that when she stood like that her mind was made up and nothing would change it. She was just like Mama and Papa.
“How?” he asked, now curious.
Samantha grabbed his arm, and he fell silent.
“I’m going to cut my hair to look like yours. We’re going to dress the same. You will go onto the ship as planned. I am going to sneak aboard.”
“But the captain will know.”
“No, he won’t. We are twins, aren’t we? When we dress alike, no one will be able to tell us apart, especially if I act like you.”
Samantha leaped off the wharf and picked a flower. She twisted it one way and then the other as she studied it. “This is a pickerelweed,” she said in perfect imitation of James.
Her brother smiled, then laughed. “Is that really what I look like?”
It was Samantha’s turn to laugh. “Yes.”
“We can trade being cabin boy,” James said, getting into the act now. “I can hide while you are cabin boy and you can do the same.” A worried look crossed his face. “But what if we get caught?”
“We only have to get so far out into the bay that the captain will not want to bother to sail back and put me ashore. After that it won’t matter.”
“What about Mama and Papa?”
“Papa will be taking you to the landing. I will leave Mama a note explaining what we are doing and how we are going to help rescue Henry. By the time she reads it, we will both be gone.”
“How will you get to the landing?”
“In the Fish Hawk.”
“I don’t know, Sam,” James said, beginning to waver.
“Well, if you don’t help me, I swear I’ll tie you to a tree and leave you until Papa finds you. By then the Cardinal will have sailed.”
James knew by the intensity in her voice that Samantha meant what she said.
“What clothes will you wear?” James asked.
Samantha thought for a moment. “Our breeches are nearly the same, so that won’t make much difference. You’ll have to smuggle out a shirt for me. We both have hats.” She took hers off and ran her hand over her long red hair.
“I’ll wait until the last minute to cut my hair. I’ll tie it in a queue like yours. With my hat on, no one will be able to tell us apart.”
She tried to sound more sure of herself than she was. Her plan was a desperate one. But she was desperate. Wasn’t it her fault that Henry had been captured? Then it was her responsibility to rescue him. This was her only chance.
“Let’s do our chores as we always do,” she said. “James, remember, not a word to anyone. Act naturally. If you spoil this, I’ll tie you up anyway!”
“Sam, don’t worry,” he assured her. “We can do this.”
James fed Jasper while Samantha gathered eggs. She slopped her pig with scraps from the table. She milked Molly, their cow. While her hands squeezed Molly’s teats and warm milk squirted into the bucket, Samantha’s brain turned her plan over and over, trying to find a flaw.
“As long as James doesn’t give us away,” she told Molly, “I’ll rescue Henry.”
When James and Samantha entered the house after their chores, Mama said, “I wondered when you two would be finished.”
Papa said, “Son, you’ll have to be faster when the ship’s captain gives an order. You can’t lollygag around and daydream.”
“Yes, Papa,” James said. “I have a lot to learn.”
Samantha said nothing as she ate.
Mama eyed her suspiciously. “Cat got your tongue?” she asked.
“No, I was thinking,” Samantha answered.
“About what?” Papa asked.
“About where the best fishing might be this morning.”
“May I go with you?” James asked.
Samantha usually refused his requests to come along when she fished. James was so clumsy in a boat. But if he were with her, he couldn’t accidentally blurt out her plans.
“Yes, come with me,” Samantha said. “You can practice being my cabin boy.” She said it harshly, as she did when she teased him, to keep Mama from suspecting that she was up to something.
The days passed quickly. James slipped out a shirt. Samantha hid it in a canvas bag along with other things she had collected. She watched as Mama, now resigned to letting James go, helped him fill his bag. In it she placed a needle and thread, a spare pair of stockings, an extra shirt, and a second blue neckerchief.
Secretly, Samantha took the same things and placed them in her bag. She hoped that the captain would not be very observant of a lowly cabin boy. She frequently ran her fingers through her hair, knowing it soon would be gone.
On the morning of James’s departure, Samantha packed the Fish Hawk. As soon as Papa and James were off to the landing, she’d sail.
After breakfast Mama hugged James. Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. She wiped them away. Martha hugged James too.
“Come home safely,” Mama said before turning back to the house.
Samantha watched her go. Mama’s shoulders sagged, as if she were carrying a great weight. Henry was gone, and now James. Samantha hated to add to her mother’s burden, but she had no choice. She had to rescue Henry.
Samantha hugged James too. She whispered, “Don’t act surprised when you see me. I’ll get aboard somehow.”
Out loud she said, “And don’t fall overboard.”
James grinned. “I won’t. The Cardinal is ever so much bigger
than your Fish Hawk.”
James climbed up behind Papa, and they set off for the 10-mile ride to Burleigh’s Landing.
Samantha followed Martha and Mama into the house. She pretended to busy herself mending a rip in one of Papa’s shirts. She slipped the scissors into her pocket.
“I think I’ll set my crab pots now,” she said.
Mama held out her hand. “You won’t need my scissors crabbing,” she said.
Chapter 20
Samantha handed Mama the scissors. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” she said innocently.
Mama looked at her peculiarly.
Samantha went to the door. “I am going downstream to set my traps. I’ll be home for dinner.” I hate to do this to you, Mama, Samantha said in her head, but I have to.
Last night, while everyone was helping James prepare, Samantha slipped to her room and wrote a note to Mama and Papa. She had it tucked inside her shirt. It read:
Mama and Papa,
Please don’t be too angry with me. I sailed with the Cardinal to find Henry. It is my fault he was captured. I must try to rescue him. I will be home safely at the end of the voyage. I promise.
Your loving daughter, Samantha.
Samantha hurried to the barn. She placed the note in Jasper’s water bucket, where Papa would find it.
As she cast off the Fish Hawk, Samantha glanced toward her house. Mama stood in the doorway, holding Samantha’s musket. Why did Mama have to find her gun? Now Mama might suspect she was up to something.
“I’m just going crabbing,” she shouted. “I don’t need it.”
“Samantha, where are you going?” Mama called.
Samantha ignored her mother’s cry and raised the sails. The Fish Hawk glided into the creek.
“Samantha Byrd!” Mama yelled.
Samantha tightened the sheet until the sail was as taut as she felt inside. Then she and the Fish Hawk disappeared around a bend.
At a secluded place further along, Samantha pulled to shore. She took almost everything out of the Fish Hawk: her crab pots, coils of fishing line, oyster tongs, ax. The sight of the ax made her hesitate. Could she cut her hair with it? She licked her thumb and ran her finger along the blade. It was sharp enough.
