by Ron Vitale
I swatted away my fears of what I was going to do to convince Ishmael not to turn me in and replied, “I will not let you down.” The lie flowed off my tongue nicely, and no matter how hard I tried, if Ishmael wanted me off the ship, he only needed to tell the truth about me, and all my plans would be for naught. I had much to think about tonight, and in the morning, my fate would be in Ishmael’s hands. I only hoped that he would give me a chance and work with me. Soon I would find out, and the worry that I might fail ate away at my confidence, but there was nothing I could do. I had to try.
Chapter 3
Nathan sat up in the crow’s nest, and the sun streamed down on him. Tired and battered, he stared out at the placid ocean. All traces of last night’s storm had disappeared. In place of the rain, lightning, and thunder, huge puffy clouds hung low in the sky, and the sunlight dried all traces of the rain from off the ship. He glanced down below and saw several crew members working to fix the damage to the ship. With no sign of land for days in any direction, the captain and the first mate had shifted all responsibilities to working on fixing the cracked beam and to keep an eye out for any additional ships.
“Hullo, up there!” Zeke called up before he climbed into the crow’s nest.
Nathan helped pull Zeke up and scooted over to make room for his friend. “Hello to you as well.” He accepted the canteen of water handed to him and took a small sip. “Beautiful clouds up here, but I’m not seeing anything else worth noting.”
Zeke took back the canteen and took a swig of water for himself. “After a storm like we had last night, often the next day is overly calm. And that’s a good thing, as it allows us to do the repairs.”
Nathan nodded. “So how’s Pahukumaa?” He held a rope in his hand and had been practicing tying knots to pass the time. He put the rope in his lap and turned toward Zeke. “Did he wake up okay?”
“He’s fine.” Zeke took a deep breath and sighed. “I told you that he just hit his head. He’s right as the rain that falls from the sky.”
“He didn’t say anything about seeing…” Even though no one was around, he stumbled on the words. “You know… Did he talk about seeing anything odd last night in the hold?”
“No, he saw nothing out of the usual last night. He said that he slipped on something, fell, and hit his head.” Zeke put his arm on Nathan. “Look, I know Pahukumaa’s story is different than yours, but he says that he didn’t see anything and nothing more happened to him than his having a bad fall.”
“But that’s not true. And what about Josep? Did he hear the loud moan I heard last night? Did you ask him about that?” In frustration, Nathan tossed the small piece of rope to the far corner of the crow’s nest.
“I talked to Josep in private, and he didn’t see or hear anything odd. None of us heard any unusual sounds from last night.” Zeke put his hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “And I thoroughly grilled Pahukumaa and he’s truly fine. Maybe you saw something that was a trick of the shadows?”
Nathan fumed and pounded his hand into his leg. “I told you what I saw. Do you still doubt me as well? I thought out of anyone that you would believe me!”
Zeke shook his head. “I’m not saying that I don’t believe you. I do. I truly do. What you might want to consider though is that although you thought you saw something that it was a hallucination or a waking dream. It was late, dark, and these things happen to first-time sailors. It’s nothing to be ashamed.”
“But I really saw it!” Nathan reached out in frustration. “I wouldn’t lie to you about it. I don’t have an imagination that creative to dream up something so frightening.” Nathan glanced down at the rest of the crew. “I just think that Pahukumaa did see something, but he knows that it’s best to keep his mouth shut. He’s been a sailor a long time, and this is my first voyage. He knows that if the crew thinks he’s no longer trustworthy or been compromised that they’ll turn on him. I know that sailors can be a very superstitious lot. I’m not dumb.”
“No one said that you were,” Zeke said. “But you’re right. We are a superstitious lot. But Pahukumaa didn’t appear to be lying to me. He looked me right in the eye and told me that he saw nothing. And I believe him.”
“You believe him over me?” Nathan asked.
“I believe you both. That’s what you don’t understand. I know that you believe you saw something, but I’ve known men who saw sirens, mermaids, and one time a young sailor out of England thought he saw a sea drake. All of those men were trusted sailors and good people, but we all go through trying times on a ship, and our mind invents what we don’t know.” He softened his tone and put his arm around Nathan, shaking him in a friendly way. “I believe you. I do. But you need to let this go.”
“Maybe we should go tell the captain. He would believe you, right?” Nathan implored Zeke with both hands.
“And what are we going to tell him? You heard a loud noise, a whale beast attacked Pahukumaa, but somehow he magically healed, and we should all be on the lookout?” Zeke shook his head and laughed. “He’ll think we’re both insane if we tell him that. We need to have proof that what you saw is true. And there’s no mark on Pahukumaa’s leg. He’s fine.”
“But if we do nothing, then we’re going to be putting the entire crew at risk. We can’t do that. We have to say something.” Nathan reached for the rope he had thrown and wrapped it around his right hand. “If that thing comes back, we need to be ready for it.”
“Nathan, you are like a son to me, but I beg you to please let this go.” Zeke spoke firmly.
“Then at least compromise with me, and let’s keep an eye on Pahukumaa until next month’s full moon. It can’t hurt for us to keep an eye on him to see if he acts weird.” Nathan kept calm and waited for Zeke to respond.
“Do you think he might change into a werewolf or something tonight?” Zeke laughed.
“You joked with me last night about a werewhale. Maybe it’s all true.” On noticing Zeke pull away, he grabbed and pulled his friend back to him. “Please, all I’m asking is for us to keep an eye on Pahukumaa for a few weeks. If nothing happens, then I’ll let this all go.”
Zeke leaned close to Nathan with only a few inches between their faces. “Okay, I’ll go along with you on this if it will get you off this crazy idea. But if there really is some sort of curse, then we should do this right and set a trap. If what you saw was real, we’ll have the proof that we need, and then the captain will believe us.”
Nathan nodded and detected a faint fragrant smell on Zeke’s breath. “So we’re just going to sit up every night and see if Pahukumaa changes and then capture him? That’s not much of a plan.”
“Over the next month, I’ll volunteer to be on watch at night. I’ll be walking the halls, and I’ll be sure to be outside our room after Pahukumaa goes to sleep, keeping an eye. You’ll be inside ready for anything that might happen.” Zeke pulled the rope from me and tested the knots. “And if Pahukumaa does change into a beast, call for me, and I’ll come to help you. All you need to do is tie him down, sit on him if you have to, and call for the other sailors.”
“I don’t like this plan. If he changes into one of those creatures, I won’t be able to stop him. It’s too dangerous…” Movement out on the water caught Nathan’s eye. He turned toward the starboard side of the ship and placed his hand over his forehead to block out the glare from the sun. For a moment, all was calm on the waves, and he ignored a bird that flew high in the sky, focusing on a spot in the water. And then he saw it again. A sudden splash of water and an arm raised waving toward them. “There’s someone out there!”
Zeke followed Nathan’s direction and stared out at the water. “What did you see? I don’t see anything.”
Nathan looked across the water and saw a man lying on a piece of jetsam, most likely a piece of a ship’s deck. He rang the bell in front of him and yelled down below. “Man overboard. Man overboard!” He pointed out at the sea and said to Zeke, “Do you see him now?”
The man out on th
e water splashed again with his one leg and waved his arm in the air on hearing the bell ringing.
“I see him. He’s closer than I thought. Come with me.” Zeke climbed down the netting and headed to the main deck with Nathan close behind.
A flurry of activity broke out on the deck with crew members rushing to the port side. Zeke pushed through the sailors to get toward the front to get a better view.
The first mate barked some commands, and, working as one, Zeke, Nathan, and Josep climbed into a rowboat and were lowered over the side of the ship.
“Remember our code,” the first mate yelled down to Zeke, and when he didn’t respond, he yelled, “Do you hear me?”
Zeke’s furrowed forehead spoke volumes of his frustration, but he nodded and replied, “James, I understand. I’ll remember our code.”
“What is he talking about?” Nathan asked.
Sniping back in response, Zeke picked up an oar and replied, “Just shut up and start rowing.”
Taken back by his friend’s gruff reply, Nathan turned away and took his spot at the front of the boat. Zeke and Josep rowed while Nathan stared out at sea. He caught sight of the man again who only kicked with his leg and used his right arm to wave. The man’s movements were erratic, and as they rowed toward him, his arm waving slowed and eventually stopped.
“He might be injured.” Nathan gripped the sides of the rowboat and was comforted by the sea’s calmness. All semblances of last night’s storm and chaotic waves had disappeared. The rowboat glided across the sea like it were a lake.
“I bet the storm last night wrecked another ship.” Josep spit a wad of tobacco out in the water.
“Let’s not be hasty in what we think happened.” Zeke said. With two men in front of him, he did not have a clear view. “How far are we?”
Nathan bottled his frustration at being snapped at by Zeke and replied, “We’re almost there.” He cupped his hands over his mouth and called, “Hello! Are you okay?”
With noticeable weariness, the man waved his arm again. A faint call came from him, but it was more a whimper than a call of exaltation at being rescued.
“Come up slowly on him. Don’t overshoot.” Nathan grabbed a pole on the side of the rowboat and reached out to ready himself. “I’ll grab onto the piece of wood that he’s floating on to stabilize us.”
He leaned forward and positioned the pole several feet away from the man’s head. The rowboat glided the distance between them and Nathan lowered the pole and, with a hook on its end, locked it on a hole on the jetsam that the man floated on. “Ease up now. We’re there.”
Zeke stopped rowing, and Josep rowed the opposite way to counteract their forward movement. Zeke pulled in his oars and leaned forward but could not see much.
Nathan called out to the man who was only five or six feet away. “Can you move?”
The man lifted his head up and Nathan flinched. His right eye was bloodshot, and his left arm and leg appeared mangled from some sort of an attack. With his good arm, he reached toward Nathan. “Please, help me. It came for us all and destroyed the ship, but I escaped.” His voice faded and trailed off into a wet and sickening cough. Blood came out of his mouth and mixed with the water around him. From behind the man, he left a trail of blood in the water from his damaged leg.
Zeke pushed past Josep and came up behind Nathan. “What did he say?”
At a loss for words, Nathan just pointed.
“Help me, please,” the man croaked out and spit up more blood.
Zeke took in the man’s condition and moved Nathan out of the way. “Tell us what happened. Did the storm break apart your ship?”
The man coughed again and shook his head. The sound of the cough cut through them all as he wheezed, and more blood dribbled out of his mouth. “No, no…” He tried to look back over his shoulder and turned quickly back around. “It came at us during the height of the storm. It rammed the ship, and we tried to fight it off.” Another bout of coughing overtook him and he fell silent.
“What was the name of your ship?” Zeke asked. He then turned around and reached past Nathan with his hand out.
Gathering his strength, the injured sailor replied, “The Acushnet. Our captain was headed home from a successful whaling stint, but we got caught in the storm. Please, you have to help me. I know it’ll come back for me. I know it.”
Nathan listened to his words and saw the genuine fear in the man’s eyes. He stared past the blood in the water but could see no trace of any other type of sea creature that had followed. Though where there was blood, it would only be a matter of time before the sharks arrived. Nathan leaned forward and outstretched his hand to the sailor. “Here, give your hand. I’ll pull you aboard.”
The injured sailor put up his hand and reached for Nathan with a look of hope in his eyes. Nathan stretched out and tried to grab the man’s hand, but he couldn’t reach him. “Zeke, we have to bring the boat around. I can’t reach…”
Nathan glanced back at Zeke who held a pistol in his hand. He fired with no trace of remorse, and the bullet lodged itself into the sailor’s head. His eyes rolled back, and the pistol shot echoed out across the water. The sailor’s arm fell down off the side of the jetsam, causing him to lose his precious balance. He slid off the jetsam slowly, leaving a stain of blood, and vanished in the sea.
Zeke held the pistol up in the air and handed it back to Josep without saying a word.
“Why the hell did you do that?” Nathan faced Zeke, his face red with emotion.
“Sit down and stay quiet.” Zeke returned to his spot in the back of the boat and picked up the oars.
Josep did the same and started to row back to the ship. Seeing that he would not be getting anywhere with an outburst, Nathan stared out at the sea and clenched his fists at his side. The anger welled up in him, and he focused on accepting it but needed to find a better way to express his anger. “Zeke, please, tell me why.”
Zeke stopped rowing and put his hand on Josep’s shoulder who stopped as well. Josep crossed his arms and moved to the side to allow Zeke a clear view of Nathan. “We couldn’t take him on board. He was near death and would have died anyway.”
Nathan interrupted him. “But you don’t know that. We didn’t even see the extent of his injuries. Doc might have been able to patch him up.”
Zeke glanced over to Josep, and an unspoken agreement passed between them. Josep nodded and faced Nathan. “He was tainted and couldn’t be let on board.”
“Tainted? What are you talking about?” Nathan threw up his hands in frustration.
“He mentioned that the creature would be coming back to him.” Zeke pointed out over the sea. “Whatever it was that chased him would be back, and that means it’d come for all of us as well.”
Nathan looked to Josep. “Did you see something last night?”
Zeke stopped Nathan and shouted, “Enough!” He slammed his hand down on the side of the rowboat. “I just saved all of us from whatever it was that chased him. Blood begets blood, and whatever it was, the thing would be back, looking for him and us. It could follow our ship and bring danger down on all of us. We have enough to worry about out here, and taking on a dying sailor wasn’t going to help him or us.” Zeke took a deep breath and sighed. “Listen, I know that what I did seems inhumane to you, but think of it this way. I killed him while he was reaching toward you. He died with hope in his heart and thought he had been saved.”
Josep nodded and chimed in. “Better to die with hope than to be on the ship with us, crying like a baby as an infection in his leg tore him apart with fever. I’ve seen men go that way.” He crossed himself and pointed back at the spot where the sailor had vanished. “Better that he join the deep as he did than to die in pain with us. It was for the best.”
Nathan glanced down at his hands. “But his family. They’ll never know what happened to him.”
Zeke picked up the oars and started rowing again. “Oh, they’ll know. Every family with a sailor in it knows the
sacrifices and hurt that they risk. When the ship doesn’t come back, it’ll be reported as lost at sea. His family will be notified, and they’ll grieve him.” He paused from rowing and glanced over his shoulder at the ship. “All the men know that is what they signed up for. This is not a glamorous life and no matter wife, children, or mother, they’re all left behind when a sailor leaves on the sea. She’s an inconstant lover, she is. The sea giveth and taketh away. Never forget that.”
Josep commenced rowing again and said, “Amen.”
Nathan lowered his head and kept quiet. The rhythmic sound of the oars cutting through water cleansed him of his anger. A moment of clarity descended upon him, thick and prescient. At that moment, he knew they were a tiny dot on the massive sea. With hundreds of miles of ocean stretching in all directions, including the miles of water beneath them, their small spot in the world became ever smaller and more real. For the first time, he thought of his mother and sister. He was alone out in the deep where the laws of human decency could be muted or altered without recourse. He glanced back at where the sailor had fallen and said a silent prayer. Not for the man but for his family. They would mourn him, not knowing how he died, learning only that their loved one’s ship had been lost at sea. Maybe that would be for the best. The truth, sticky and ripe with a hubris that only men could exert, would be lost down below in the dark depths, hidden and forgotten by even the men who had participated in such a foul and inhumane act. Nathan kept his mouth closed and knew it best to remain quiet for his own fate depended on it. For the first time, he now knew where he stood and who he stood against. The matter closed, he looked away and kept his feelings closed to all in fear. It might already be too late for whatever destroyed the Acushnet might be watching and waiting. The depths were deep and not too deep that blood could not be traced and followed. Nathan’s heart beat fast, and a deep fear erased his anger and washed it clean.
