Chapter 2 #3
Then she opened the hatch to find a sailor standing beside it in the cramped ‘tween decks. Bother it all. It was the same sailor who’d sought to go down to the women the night before, and he looked as surprised to see her coming up as she was to see him standing there.
Taking advantage of his surprise, she clambered up quickly and closed the hatch behind her. “Good evening,” she said in her sternest voice. He was alone, of course. The ‘tween decks were used as storage. Seldom did anyone come down in them, which meant he was probably there for the wrong reasons.
Feeling a tremor of uneasiness, she sought to hide it by glowering at the sailor. “What are you doing down here?”
The sailor was of the most unsavory sort. His beard was unkempt and he stank of stale sea water and grog. Too much grog. “Look here, missy, Queenie’s expectin’ me, so don’t you be interferin’.”
The thought of this man having relations with a woman in front of everyone in the prison appalled her. Donning her most severe expression, she crossed her arms over her chest. “Surely you realize I can’t allow you to expose young children to such debauchery.”
He scowled. “Nay. I’ll be bringin’ her up here with me, I will.” He dangled a ring of keys in front of her. “I’m sure the lass and I c’n find a private spot to do our business, not that ’tis any of yer concern.”
She stared at the ring of keys. “Who gave you those?”
“The first mate. Tole us men that as long as we don’t bother nobody, he don’t care wot we do with the women.”
The very idea! She would certainly record that in her journal. Quickly, she stepped on the hatch, blocking his way to it. “I’m afraid I can’t allow you to go down there.”
“You ain’t got any say in it, missy.” He stepped closer and grinned, exposing a gap in his rotting teeth. “You best be gittin’ out of me way, before I change me mind about who it is I’m wantin’.”
She colored. The audacity of the man! Oh, she would speak to the captain about him at once! Surely the man wouldn’t countenance such overtures made to a respectable woman!
“I’m not moving until you vacate this deck,” she retorted. “Leave now or I shall tell the captain what you’ve been up to!”
An ugly frown beetled his low brow. He set down the candle he’d been carrying, then clasped her arms with two hammy fists and lifted her off the hatch.
“You ain’t tellin’ nobody nothin’. I’ll say you lied and the first mate’ll back me.
” He dropped her behind the hatch like a sack of meal, then bent to open it.
She refused to give up, especially with Ann Morris’s mournful words about forced whoredom still ringing in her ears. After regaining her balance on the rolling deck, Sara shoved the hatch door closed again with her foot. This time the wretched sailor drew back his hand as if to slap her.
But a voice from the steps behind him arrested him. “Lay a hand on her, matey, and you’ll see stars, you will!”
Both Sara and the sailor faced the steps in shock. They hadn’t noticed the man who’d climbed down from the top deck and was now rounding the steps, his flattened hands held in front of him like knives.
Sara groaned. It was the monkeyish sailor who’d spoken to her on deck this morning. Wonderful. Now she had two oafs to deal with.
“This ain’t none of y’r business, Petey,” the sailor with the rotting teeth spat. “Go back up where ye came from, and leave me and the miss to settle our tiff.”
The man named Petey drew circles in the air with the edges of his hands. “Get away from her or I’ll lay you out.”
“Lay me out? A scrawny thing like you?” The sailor shook his fist in the air. “Get on with you, and leave me and the chit be.”
What happened next came so quickly, Sara could scarcely believe it. One minute the two men were facing each other. The next minute the sailor who’d accosted her was flat on his back unconscious, and Petey was standing over him, locked in a strange stance.
When Petey lifted his gaze to Sara, she whispered, “Good heavens, what did you do to him?”
He relaxed his peculiar stance, his face shadowed in the candlelight as he scooped up the keys that had been thrown clear of the other man.
“I learned a few tricks about fightin’ when I was in Chinese waters, miss.
With me bein’ a little man an’ all, I figgered I’d best learn what I could.
A little man can fight the Chinese way as easy as a big man. ”
A sudden fear overtook her. If Petey could send a hulking sailor unconscious in two seconds flat, what could he do to her?
Still, he had come to her rescue, hadn’t he? She forced a cordiality into her tone that she didn’t feel. “I see. Thank you, sir, for using your unusual tactics on my behalf. And now, if you’ll excuse me—”
She moved toward the steps, hoping to get away before he decided to claim some unsavory reward for his help.
But she wasn’t fast enough. “Wait, miss, I gotta have a word with you. I been tryin’ to talk to you all day—”
“I can’t imagine what you could have to say to me,” she muttered as she hurried up the steps to the main deck. Oh, if only she had some sort of weapon—a knife, a pistol, anything.
To her alarm, he stepped over the inert sailor and clambered up the steps after her.
“Please don’t worry yerself. I ain’t gonna hurt you.
” He caught her by the ankle, and when she looked down to fix him with a frosty glance, he added in a lower voice, “Name’s Peter Hargraves, miss.
I’m Thomas Hargraves’s brother. I’m in the earl’s employ. ”
Everything changed in that one moment. A rush of relief hit her, so intense she felt faint from it. Jordan had hired him.
She should have known Jordan would never give up so easily. He’d simply found another way to make sure she was protected. She ought to be furious with him. Instead, she thanked her meddling and over-protective stepbrother for ignoring her wishes.
“I understand.” She glanced around, hoping no one else had heard his words. “Perhaps we’d better discuss this in private. Come with me.” Then she climbed up to the main deck and headed toward where her cabin was situated beneath the quarterdeck.
As soon as they’d entered it, she turned to survey the sailor, who’d removed his broad-brimmed hat. Now she understood why he’d looked so familiar. He resembled Hargraves quite a bit. He had his brother’s ginger-colored hair and deep-set hazel eyes.
She couldn’t, however, imagine Hargraves attempting to lay a man low with fancy Chinese maneuvers. She smiled at the man. Jordan had chosen well. “Would you like a jot of wine to warm you before you return above deck, Mr. Hargraves?”
“Nay, miss, I’m on night watch. I ain’t got much time. But thank’ee kindly.”
“If you don’t mind, I’ll take a little myself.
” The encounter with that wretched sailor had left her cold to the bone.
Opening the oak compartment that contained her utensils and meager private stores, she removed a bottle of burgundy and a glass.
“So my stepbrother hired you to look after me, did he?”
“Aye. He said I was to make sure nobody harmed you.”
She poured a generous amount of burgundy into the glass. “And I suppose I was not to be informed of this arrangement.”
“Actually, yer stepbrother told me to wait until we were well out to sea, then let you know I was here to watch out fer you. I meant to tell you sooner, but y’ve been down in the prison all day.”
“I see.” At least Jordan hadn’t intended for her to spend the entire voyage oblivious to the fact that help was available if she needed it.
“As for you stayin’ down in the prison till all hours of the night,” he added, “you really shouldn’t be below deck after dark, you know. ’Tis dangerous.”
After replacing the wine bottle in its compartment, she took a sip from her glass. “So I gather.” She couldn’t prevent the accusing note that entered her voice. “But somebody has to keep these men from molesting the convict women.”
He turned his hat round and round in his hand, scrutinizing her with curious eyes.
“You care about these women, don’t you, miss?
Tom told me you were a soft touch, but I didn’t think you’d be riskin’ yerself for a lot of bloomin’ whor— I mean, ladies of easy virtue.
You mustn’t take such chances no more. Next time, I mightn’t be around to see that you come to no harm. ”
Bother it all. She could see this protector of hers could be a nuisance. “I won’t let the sailors have their way with the women,” she warned. “There are children down there, and girls who are no more than fourteen. If the crew are allowed to come and go as they please—”
“Don’t you worry none about that, miss. If you want the women looked after, I’ll make sure the men don’t go down there no more, even if I have to speak to the cap’n about it meself.
” He scratched behind one ear. “But you got to promise me you won’t stay below decks after dark no more, you understand? It ain’t safe.”
She took another sip, eyeing him warily. “You mean that? If I promise to halt my work after supper, you’ll protect the women from the sailors, Peter?”
Though he reddened at her use of his Christian name, he bobbed his head. “His lordship paid me well to look after you. And if lookin’ after you means lookin’ after a bunch of convict women, I suppose I can manage it.”
She took one look at his stoic expression, so like his brother’s, and relaxed. It was exactly the sort of thing Hargraves might say … and do. “All right, it’s a bargain. But I’ll hold you to your end of it.”
He gave a solemn nod as he clapped his hat back on his head. “I’ll not fail you, miss. You’ll see.”
When he headed for the door, she said, “Peter?”
He paused. “Yes, miss?”
“It seems to me that Jordan bought the very best man he could find.”
Peter’s ears pinkened. “Thank you, miss.”
After he left, she dropped into a chair, relief coursing through her. Now she wouldn’t have the entire burden of worrying about the women.
Suddenly, the trip that lay before her seemed a little less daunting, a little less grueling.
Maybe everything would be fine, after all, thanks to Jordan’s forethought.
And if she and Peter could keep the ship from becoming a “floating brothel,” who knows what they could accomplish in New South Wales?