to the Far Blue Mountains (1976)

by L'amour, Louis - Sackett's 02

  We just might."

  For once I knew not what to say, nor which way to move. A quick glance toward the pirate ship ... no white flag.

  A glance back toward the opening of the cove, and my vessel was not there, either.

  Blue was with me, but where were the others?

  "Taking over a pirate ship," the captain continued, "is never as simple as it seems. You see, your man Handsel used to sail with me. He knew I used this island, knew what ship you had seen, and saw a chance to become master of a vessel serving under me. When you came ashore the first time, he sent a message to me, and since then we have been simply waiting. Surrender. Surrender now, or die."

  "You have nerve, my friend, but nerve is not enough when I have a sword. If one wrong move is made, I'll lean on this blade. Will you but feel the needle point?

  It is razor sharp. One move, and no matter what happens after, your spinal cord is severed."

  He held very still, but he laughed softly. "So what do you do now?" he asked.

  "Kill me, and you die next. If you do not kill me, my men will surround you and take you. What will you do now?"

  With my left hand I drew a pistol from my waistband. Was Blue with me or against me? I gambled that I had judged him right.

  "Blue, keep them covered with your pistol and shoot the first one who twitches.

  And cut loose the unfortunate captain."

  Chapter 12

  Blue did not hesitate, but moved swiftly behind the prisoner and cut him loose.

  The man stood, tottered, and almost fell, then braced himself, chafing his wrists to restore circulation. "Thank you," he said quietly. "I am grateful."

  "You have a crew?"

  "Yes ... a few are left. They are prisoners aboard my ship."

  "We must free them." I glanced toward the pirate ship ... and still no white flag fluttered from the masthead, nor had my vessel appeared off the cove.

  And what of Lila, still aboard the fluyt? She was a strong, capable young woman, but there were evil men aboard the Dutch ship, and Lila was alone. What would the Newfoundlanders do?

  "Take that line, Blue, and let's put some lashings on our friend here."

  "You're acting the fool," the pirate said calmly. "I am the only one who can help you now. You live or die as I decide. As for the gentleman you so kindly released, do you suppose he will help you? He wishes only to take his ship and escape. You can expect no help from him, and your own crew have sold you out."

  "One of them has," I said, "or so it seems. But I had no ship or crew when first I came upon them, and what I've done once I can do again."

  Blue lashed the pirate's wrists snug and tight, and then those of the other two, who sat quietly under the muzzle of my pistol and the threat of my blade.

  "My name is Duval," the pirate said. "You have heard of me?"

  "I have not," I replied shortly, "but no doubt there's a noose waiting for you somewhere."

  "If you've not heard of me," he spoke contemptuously, "you're no seaman."

  "I know little of pirates," I said, "except for one called the Claw."

  He gave me a sharp look. "Talon, you mean. That is what they call him now. Ah, yes! He was the one. But he has retired now. He swallowed the anchor and built himself a place ashore."

  "He still has ships on the sea."

  Duval shrugged. "It may be true. How do you know of him?"

  I ignored his question, gathering up the weapons that lay about. There were several pistols and cutlasses.

  The sky was growing gray in the east. There was no sign of the fluyt and I knew I must do what had to be done without her.

  And whatever could be done must be done at once, swiftly. I glanced upward and the thought came to me with the wind.

  "We should fly our flag," I said, "and that will be our mast." I indicated a tall, almost bare pine that towered high.

  They stared at me, unsure of what I meant. "We will use Duval for our flag," I said. "Get a line over that big bough and we'll hoist him up there."

  Duval's face went white. "You can't-"

  "Oh, we're not going to string you by the neck," I said. "We'll just hang you up there out of harm's way. Of course," I added, "if you struggle too much you might work yourself loose, and if you do that, you'll fall."

  From the ship's stores brought ashore from the captured vessel, Blue took a heaving line. Bending the end of it to a stronger line, he threw the heaving line over the branch on the second try, then pulled the heavier line over.

  Rudely he pulled Duval around and, taking a turn around his ankles and another around his bound arms, they laid hold of the line and hoisted him aloft, nearly fifty feet in the air, hanging face down from a limb.

  At the last minute Duval twisted, turned, and tried to fight. "Damn you! Turn me loose and I'll give you a thousand in gold! Two thousand! Anything! I'll get your ship back!"

  "Hoist away," I said, and we hoisted.

  "Looks right pretty up there," I commented. Then I glanced at the others. "Will you lie quiet or shall we hoist you aloft?"

  "We ain't makin' no trouble. Just leave us be."

  Thrusting two spare pistols in my waistband, I led the way toward the water.

  There was in my mind no thought of what might be done, only that somehow I must have the men free who were in that vessel, and somehow I must come by a ship.

  Such carrion as Duval interested me not, nor his talk of gold or ships. I would be a trader in a new land, and perhaps at a later day, a farmer. Many a pirate had I known of, and most found their way to a gibbet. I had no such wish to be dancing on air at the end of it all. What was it Black Tom had called it? "The steps and the string." And well he might, for that was it.

  Drunken men sprawled upon the sand, and we looked at them from a distance off.

  There were not enough of them.

  "They be waiting aboard there," I told my companions. "Waiting for us, belike."

  "Aye," Blue chuckled, "I wonder if they've sighted our colors yon."

  "If they have," I said, "it will give them something to think on."

  I turned on the man we had freed. "And your name is what?"

  "My name is Hanberry. James Hanberry. English to my father's side, Dutch on my mother's, and I live mostly in the Netherlands. I've a good cargo aboard there," he said, "one I'll fight to keep."

  "You lost it," I replied coolly, "and if we get it back, I shall claim a part."

  "Then do what you have to do by yourselves! I'll be damned if-"

  "Be damned then," I said cheerfully. "You'd be skinned alive by now had it not been for me. You will either help or go your own way."

  We walked, and when we had gone some thirty yards, he ran to catch up. "You shall be damned, Sackett! The Good Lord will send you to the lowest hell!"

  "Let him, then," I replied. "In the meantime, we have work to do."

  Turning to Blue I said, "What think you of Pike?"

  "A true man, say I, and I have known him these twenty years, boy and man. If he has not flown the white flag it was because he could not."

  The wind was growing colder. Whitecaps showed themselves, cresting each wave.

  The tops of the pines bent before the wind, and I did not envy the captain, hanging on high.

  The two ships lay off the shore, almost side by side. We climbed into a ship's boat and pushed off. Pistol poised, I watched the rail of the pirated ship and saw no movement.

  There was a rope ladder over the side. As we drew up we made fast to the bottom of it and I climbed swiftly and swung over the rail.

  A faint creak warned me. A door stood partly open. The ship moved gently upon the water, but the door did not swing.

  Blue hit the deck behind me, Captain Hanberry a moment later. "The door," I whispered. "There's somebody back of the door."

  Turning sharply as if to the ladder to the afterdeck, I wheeled quickly as I reached it, grasped the latch, and jerked the door open.

  A man sprawled upon the deck, th
en started to rise, "Get up if you're friendly,"

  I told him, and shifting the pistol to my left hand, not wishing to waste a shot on so vulnerable a target, I drew my blade.

  He got to his feet slowly, a thick-lipped man with blue eyes and a florid face.

  "I be one of the crew," he said, "Cap'n Hanberry will speak for me."

  "He is that," said Hanberry, "and a good man, too. Where are the others, Rob?"

  "Below decks," he said, "workin' theirselves free. I was the first. I come above decks to see how the wind blew. There be two men in the aftercabin, Cap'n, scoffing an' drinkin'. There be another for'rd, I'm thinkin'."

  "I'll take the one for'rd," Blue said.

  He left me, moving swiftly along the deck, and I stepped into the after passage, which was a short one, with a door to right and left, and the main cabin straight aft. I walked on, opened the door, and stepped in.

  There sat a man with his feet on the table, ripped back in a chair. He suddenly slammed his feet to the floor and I shot him as he reached for a pistol.

  The ball took him fairly in the chest as he started to rise, and I turned swiftly as a second man heaved a bottle. Dodging the bottle I sprang past the table. He came up, cutlass in hand. Then he looked across his blade at me and suddenly threw his weapon down.

  "No," he said, "I'll be damned if I do! I'll not fight for Duval. I'll not risk my neck."

  "Then out upon the deck, man, and take that with you." I indicated the body.

  "There's more outside."

  Flemish galleon she was, the forem'st stepped forward of the forecastle as on most galleons, decks narrower than her sides because of the Danish tax, which charged according to the width of the deck. A good, solid vessel which I liked not so well as the fluyt, but almost as much.

  Her topm'sts had been taken down so she'd not show above the trees and could be looted in security. She carried thirty guns, and how she had been taken I could not guess, for the pirate vessel opposite carried only twelve, although obviously a fast sailer.

  From behind the mainm'st I looked over at the pirate vessel, scarcely a cable's length off. She looked dark and sullen, low upon the water as if crouched to spring. There was no sign of Pike, nor of any of the others, nor was there movement upon the shore opposite.

  I turned upon Hanberry. "How is it to be, Captain? Do you follow my lead in what happens now? Or, when your men are free once more, will you leave us?"

  He flushed somewhat. "Do you think me ungrateful? We shall carry on, although my men are not schooled in fighting."

  "If they trade in these waters, they'd better be," I replied.

  Beyond the pirate ship the pines were a dark huddle against the white of the sand-a thicker patch and deeper than those we'd come through to capture Duval.

  Was that where Pike waited? Was the watch kept so well he dare not attempt an attack?

  Well, then. If we could attract the attention of those aboard the pirate craft, then he might have his chance.

  "Open the ports," I said, "and run out your guns. First, make sure they are charged."

  "You'd fight here?" Hanberry's voice shook a little. "In this cove?"

  "Why not? At such close quarters both ships will be battered to kindling, and they know it. And we've fifteen guns to their six. Charge every gun, six with chain and grapeshot to clear the decks, nine with heavy shot. Four to aim at the gun deck, five at their waterline."

  Hanberry's face was pale, but as his men streamed on deck, he gave the order.

  They rushed to the gun deck and their guns.

  "What's her name, Captain? I cannot see it from here."

  "The Haydn."

  "Ahoy, Haydn!" I called. "Surrender at once or be blown out of the water!"

  There was a long moment of silence. Then a voice called out, "Who speaks? Where is Captain Duval?"

  "Barnabas Sackett is the name, and your Duval hangs from the pine yonder, where you will hang also unless you give up the ship."

  A man stepped into the rigging in plain sight. "I'll see you in hell first!" he shouted. "We took your ship once and we'll do it again!"

  There was no sign of Pike.

  "Is that what you all say?" My voice carried easily across the narrow gap between the vessels. "If you don't want to die for the man who spoke, then throw him into the water. If he isn't in the water by the time I count three-!"

  From over the bulwark I could see crouching men running to man the guns.

  "Just a minute here," he called. "Let's talk this over!"

  "Fire!" I replied.

  The galleon jolted sharply with the concussion and the broadside's recoil rolled us over, then back. Bracing myself, hand gripping a stay, I peered through the billowing smoke.

  "Load numbers three, four, and five with grape," I ordered, "and stand by to fire."

  Hanberry rushed to me. "They'd have surrendered!" he shouted angrily. "They were ready to surrender!"

  "They were preparing to fire," I replied shortly, "while he talked."

  A man ran forward and dove into the water, then two more.

  As the smoke lifted somewhat we could see that the mainm'st was down, that portions of the rigging had been carried away, and that great, gaping holes had been ripped in the gundeck. Five holes at the waterline were pouring water into the hold.

  "Damn you!" Hanberry shouted. "Damn you for a scoundrel! They'd have surrendered!"

  Pike and other men were rushing from the pines toward the shore. Beyond our view, and along the shore, there was a sudden clash of arms, the sound of guns and yells.

  As suddenly as they began, the sounds ceased. Then moments later, a boat appeared around the stern of the Haydn.

  Turning to Hanberry, I covered him with a pistol. "I will take your weapons, Captain," I said politely. "After this is over they will be returned."

  "I'll be damned if you do!" he said.

  "Would you rather be aloft there?" I asked mildly.

  Swearing, he handed over a pistol and his sword. It was a gentleman's dress sword, hardly what one needed in such a place as this. Still, it was a weapon.

  Pike and the others had reached our deck. "Sorry for the delay, Captain Sackett, but they had a party on the beach there, and we'd have lost men trying it. As you wished, I waited."

  There was still no sign of the fluyt. "Gather all the weapons," I said. "Do what you can for the wounded."

  They worked swiftly. Turning to look about me at the galleon, I could see no evidence of damage. Duval and his men seemed to have taken the Flemish ship without a struggle.

  The Haydn was listing heavily to the starboard.

  Pike returned. "What happened to the fluyt, Cap'n? Did she na come around?"

  "We'll find her, Pike. Let us speak with Hanberry, and do you stand beside me when the talking is done."

  It was no easy thing to sort out what remained. The Haydn was a wreck, not that good seamen could not put her into some kind of shape, but it would take much time, and much hard work.

  A dozen or so of the Haydn's men had been killed in the broadside we loosed upon them, and most of those killed were the ones who had rushed to line their guns upon us. A dozen and a half were wounded, more or less, and some of the Flemish lads had cuts and scrapes from the fighting, but nothing to speak of.

  Hanberry was in no good mood when we sat down together. "This is foul treatment!" he protested. "I am an honest merchant, with an honest crew. Who are you, anyway, Sackett?"

  "For the moment, a pirate, it would seem. A privateer, perhaps, although I confess I have no letter of marque."

  "Return my ship to me or I shall see you hang!"

  His remark made me smile, for was I not already in risk of my neck? The problem facing me was a perplexing one, and I was in no mood for problems. I wished only to have a good ship under me and to be again on my way to Raleigh's land. But the only available ship was Hanberry's vessel. With it in my possession, I might retake the fluyt, rescue Lila-if she needed it-and then be on the
way to our rendezvous with Abigail and Captain Tempany.

  "Return your ship?" I said. "You have no ship, Hanberry. It was taken from you, and when I came here you were in danger of being skinned alive. You had lost your ship, Captain. You had almost lost your life, and the lives of your men as well. I took not the ship from you, but from Duval, who hangs up above us.

  "You have water for blood, Captain. You were afraid to fight, afraid to fire, afraid to resist or not to resist. I suggest when next you come to shore, if you live to do so, that you stay there. That you find yourself a shop in a town that has a good night watch, and always be under cover with the doors locked by sundown.

  "Understand this, Captain. You lost your ship. You have no ship. Duval had it, now I have it. What happens to you now depends upon what I decide, and I may leave you here with Duval, to settle it between you."

  Oh, he hated me! He hated me not only for what I said but for what I had done that he had not done.

  Whether I was a good man I did not know. I knew I was a man who wished to survive, and that to survive I must use both wits and strength.

  "If I can use this ship to retake my fluyt, I shall. There are reasons why the attempt must be made. If I cannot, I shall sail in it where I am going."

  "And what will you do with us?" he asked. I left that to his imagination. He had seemed, when I had first seen him sitting there, bound and facing Duval with contempt, a brave man. He was nothing of the kind, only a good talker and a hater without the will to fight as he must.

  I now had sixteen men. Hanberry had at least twenty, but several of his had already lined up with mine in the fighting and the work.

  Later, I put it to them honestly. "I want my fluyt again. If I get it, I shall not want this craft. The cargo is mine as a prize of war. If you choose to sail with me, and to leave with me when we have the fluyt, you shall be rewarded. I can promise you fighting, hope of rich reward, and a chance to go home. If you choose to stay with him, I shall give no argument."

  Nine of the twenty chose to join with me, several quibbled and were uncertain. I merely told them, "We will strip the damaged vessel of her cargo, her guns, whatever is aboard of value. We will do it now."