Chapter 15
After going over some of the maps on Tallow’s desk, Mr. Ashby and I gathered the materials needed to figure out where we were and went to the forecastle deck.
Patrice, Mr. Ashby, and I checked the sextant, octant, compass, and map to triangulate our location.
Mr. Ashby seemed confused for quite a while, and my help was minimal.
But after an hour, we were almost certain.
“Well, Ashby? Where are we, exactly?” Captain Selton and Mr. Hull asked simultaneously. They had been there while we worked, trying to get an answer before he knew.
“It seems we were blown in the right direction, and very quickly.” He let out a long breath and nodded, then pointed toward the spotted land. “That must be Nevis, or St. Kitts.”
Mr. Hull looked over the forecastle at the crew below. “We’re headed to Nevis or St. Kitts, lads! That’s the land over yonder!” He pointed to the land again on the starboard side, and the crew cheered. It was such good news after weeks and weeks of dismal happenings.
I thought I could breathe a sigh of relief, finally. But after a few moments of celebration, a sailor announced a large ship coming toward us on the portside. The flying flag had French colors.
Mr. Ashby tensed and spoke to us low. “A French ship in these waters could only mean one thing.” His face had blanched. “Pirates.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I just stared at him.
He looked around us before going on. “These men don’t recognize that ship, but I do. It’s the same pirates Graham and I lost everything to. L’Audacieux, captained by Jacque Cosaire.”
I couldn’t believe this was happening, after everything else. “What do we do?”
“The pirates will either blast us to oblivion or take us captive. Either way, we’re as good as dead if we stay aboard the Katarina.”
“What about the crew?”
“It will be a fight for the boats on the starboard side, so I have to get you out before they discover the truth. We have to leave. Now.”
It didn’t take long before Patrice and I were packed and ready to depart, making sure to secure our loaded pistols in our pockets.
Mr. Ashby took the lead and ushered us to a dinghy, but I just stared at the small boat, not moving.
“I’m not getting on that,” I said. Surely there was a bigger boat.
Patrice made a noise as if she agreed with me, but Mr. Ashby looked at me with fierce determination, holding out a hand for either of us to take.
I had said I trusted him. Swallowing, I took his hand and got into the boat.
Patrice followed suit. Mr. Ashby worked quickly untying and securing ropes to lower the boat.
Once preparations were made, we quickly dropped down, splashing into the water.
The rapid descent made me question that perhaps my stomach left my body entirely.
He began rowing. Once we got out of the ship’s shadow, some of the crew caught sight of us.
They yelled to us and each other, but I couldn’t hear what they said.
At this point, I certainly did not feel any loss at leaving the crew behind.
The two crewmembers I cared for had perished, and I owed them nothing.
Perhaps my perspective was uncharitable, but under the circumstances, I believed God would forgive me.
From our vantage point, I gasped at the damage the storm had done to the ship. Would it even last long enough for the pirates to overtake it?
“Most ships make it across the sea without any problems at all.” Mr. Ashby frowned as he continued to row. “I’m sorry.”
“You’ve apologized enough,” I said. “None of these things were preventable. Especially not the storm.”
“Perhaps ye might ’ave taken a closer look at the captain’s books before we set sail…” Patrice grumbled.
I sighed at her. “We’ve decided not to blame Mr. Ashby, Patrice.”
I smiled sheepishly at him again. He laughed, shaking his head.
As we sat in the boat, I looked around us, noticing the water for the first time.
It was crystal clear. If the sun had shone to the bottom, I would have seen everything.
Still, it was the most beautiful turquoise water I’d ever seen.
I watched schools of fish dance below us and I might have felt peaceful…
if we weren’t in the middle of the ocean in a dinghy.
Eventually, the Katarina became small enough in the distance that it reminded me of Cameron’s Royal Navy sets he used to play with as a child.
Several minutes—though it could have been an hour—of silence passed as Mr. Ashby’s breathing increased and I saw his muscles shaking. I held out my hands. “Let me try for a while,” I offered.
He simply continued rowing.
“Please, Mr. Ashby. You will wear yourself out.”
At that, he stopped and caught his breath. “I am just trying…to hurry…to…land.”
We all looked toward the sliver of land we’d seen before, but it seemed to have disappeared.
I stood without thinking, trying to catch a glimpse of it, and nearly toppled into the water.
Mr. Ashby took hold of my hand and pulled me down.
I fell onto him, and he let go of the oars to catch me.
His arms held me tightly and I looked up into his face before we both began laughing—either at my poor decisions or his innate ability to catch me; I wasn’t sure which.
Patrice screamed.
Our laughing ceased quickly as we realized what horror had caused such a reaction. The oars were no longer attached to the dinghy.
I squirmed out of Mr. Ashby’s arms and sat squarely in the center of the boat. “Oh, no,” I breathed.
Mr. Ashby began reaching to the closest oar, tilting the boat a little too far. He pulled back and it swayed. His sigh sounded heavier than any I’d ever heard.
“I’m sorry,” I squeaked out to my companions.
Patrice, surely exhausted by everything that had occurred the past few days—or weeks—glared at me.
That glare was piercing and had always made me ashamed.
This time was different, for this choice I’d made may have cost us our lives.
We were so far from shore, we couldn’t see it from our dinghy.
Even though we had seen it from the ship.
We sat in silence, watching the oars drift farther away from us.
“The longer I wait, the more impossible it will be to retrieve them,” Mr. Ashby said.
“What? No, you’re not going in there. Can you even swim?” I said.
“Of course I can swim,” he grumbled. “Just not very well.” His pause seemed full of uncertainty. “And…there are sharks in these waters.”
He swallowed when our eyes met. Clearly he was afraid of sharks. “Do they often…eat people?”
He closed his eyes before nodding. “I’ve seen it myself.”
“Then don’t go in.” I couldn’t bear to see another person die in front of me, least of all Mr. Ashby.
“What other option do we have? We cannot float aimlessly.” Without further discussion, he dove into the water. I reached an arm as he jumped and held my breath until he broke the surface again.
He sent us a brief nod, to reassure us, I supposed, before swimming to the nearest oar.
He came back to the boat and we grabbed it from him.
He went farther out for the second, and I could tell he struggled to stay afloat with the waves.
I used the oar to follow him, but we went slowly.
Finally, he reached the second paddle. As he swam back, I noticed a dark shape behind him. I sucked in a breath.
“Mr. Ashby!” Patrice cried.
He didn’t look back, but his pace increased. I held my hand out to him as far as I could without overturning the boat. The dark shape grew closer and a fin sliced through the water. A fin like that…it had to be shark!
“Hurry!” I urged.
Four more fins appeared, and before I could scream, one jumped out of the water fully and made a large splash when it dove back in.
Oh, thank heaven.
“They’re dolphins!” Patrice said ecstatically.
We both clapped our hands and laughed. Mr. Ashby probably would have shared our joy had he not been struggling to stay afloat.
Finally, he reached us and we pulled him into the dinghy.
He lay at the bottom of the boat, catching his breath while laughing.
We continued laughing like we had gone mad.
And perhaps we had, considering we had not eaten nor slept in days.
The meager food and water we’d brought with us may or may not last until we reached land.
And although this time it was dolphins, there were many things in the ocean that could overturn the boat and ultimately kill us. And yet, we laughed.
We laughed until our stomachs hurt.
Mr. Ashby let Patrice and me have turns rowing, and we rowed into the night. Our arms and backs ached. We took turns sleeping. While Patrice snored, I watched Mr. Ashby rowing. He had adopted a rhythm of breathing that seemed to work.
“You’re a wonder,” I said aloud, though I wasn’t sure I meant to.
He smiled. “Am I?”
I nodded and took a small bite of a sea biscuit before wrapping it back in cloth.
“How so?” he prodded.
“Somehow, through this mess, you’ve managed to stay sane and push forward.” I leaned back against the boat and looked up into the stars. “Without you, I certainly would not have survived this journey. How fortunate it was to run into you at that inn.”
“Fortunate? I thought you’d contrived it.”
I glanced at him. “I hoped for it.”
“Perhaps you believe those are nearly the same thing,” he said thoughtfully. It would have come across as an insult from someone else. But from him, it sounded like a compliment.
“Truthfully, Miss Findlay, I think you are the wonder,” Mr. Ashby admitted.
If only I were close enough to him to read the emotion in his eyes. They were always so expressive that I imagined I could see his meaning in every word.
“How so?” I mirrored his question.
“What other woman would dare to take this journey, or handle it with grace?”
“I can think of one other woman,” I said, glancing at Patrice.
He laughed. “I suppose you’re right. But she wouldn’t have done this without you.”
I looked up into the sky again and spoke quietly. “No, that’s true. But still, neither of us would have survived if not for you.”
The silence of the world of water around us was astounding. I closed my eyes and listened to nothing but Mr. Ashby’s breathing. It was a long time before I heard anything else.
“And I don’t think I could survive without you,” he whispered with such heartbreaking tenderness, I almost opened my eyes and reached out toward him.
But I had no doubt he never intended for me to hear his admission.
Besides, one should never be held accountable for what they say—or think—in such perilous circumstances as these.