“Captain Danty’s last order was that we not interfere in what is happening. She’ll want to get away on her own. She knows how dangerous it would be for us to help her.” Jordan shook his head slowly, realizing what she wanted to do was virtually impossible. The Americans would never give her an opportunity to escape.
Peach’s jaw went slack and his mouth formed an O but no sound escaped his throat. He quickly placed a hand over his mouth.
Jordan and the others looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong now, Peach? What’s upset you?”
He did not reply for a time. He had never disobeyed one of Captain Danty’s orders before and now he wondered if he had done the right thing. With all the men staring down on him he felt obliged to speak. “I didn’t know…about what the captain said…” His voice faltered but he tried to go on bravely. “I didn’t know she didn’t want us to help her or I wouldn’t have done it. Honest!” He hurriedly crossed his heart with a thin finger.
“Well, what did you do?” Peters asked impatiently, tapping his large foot against the deck.
“When I packed her things I put her dagger in the folds of her clothes,” he explained in an anxious whisper.
No one said anything for a time. They stared at Peach in amazement then at each other in amusement. “Out of the mouth of babes,” Wilkes whispered reverently as if he had just received an oracle. Everyone stared at Jordan for confirmation of what they intended to do, either together or individually.
Jordan ran his hand through his hair as he scanned their faces. “We’ve never disobeyed an order before, have we, men?” There were sly grins among the shaking heads and a sound of hope among the low murmurs of “no.”
“Then why does this mutiny feel so damn good?”
A cheer went up from all of them. She was not going to like it but there was nothing she could do about it now. Peach found himself atop Peter’s broad shoulders as Jordan gave the order to put about. He was smiling happily as the ship started her turn and when he looked around he saw every man was going about his work with the same expression.
“We are going to Roadtown first,” Jordan told them. “We’ll tell Grendon what’s happened. After we’ve followed her orders that far we’ll head for Washington. If she’s going to get away then she’ll need something to get away on!” The others nodded. “She’ll be furious, you know.” He said it seriously but he could not help laughing. “She’ll probably have us all keelhauled!”
No one seemed to mind. It would be worth her wrath, just to see her again.
Chapter 10
An hour passed, but to Alexis it seemed an eternity since she had been brought aboard the Concord. She brushed away the last traces of tears with the back of her hand and opened her eyes to examine her quarters. Her frown was evidence of the grim sight greeting her.
The cabin Cloud had chosen for her was so tiny she thought she could probably cross its length in a few strides. The bunk occupied most of the available space and the rest was taken up by a nightstand and commode. There was a porthole and this is what Alexis decided to examine more closely. She walked over to it, discovering she was correct about the few steps it took to reach it. She tried to open it and met resistance. After a few minutes of struggling, and with the strength of renewed anger at her predicament, she forced it open. It was not large, barely adequate to fit even her slim figure through. Barely adequate was not the same as inadequate, she decided. She shut the porthole again, but not before she availed her senses of fresh air and salt spray. She sat on her bunk and stared at the bare wall facing her. There was nothing, she thought, nothing but the porthole as a way out, and that would do her no good until theConcordreached Washington. There would be no escape at sea this time.
Washington. Why did the President want to meet her so badly? Arrest her. The charges were absurd. The work of foolish men. She would have helped them. A little more time and she would have stood by—
Her head lifted in the direction of the door when the release of the bolt caught her attention. “I don’t want to see anyone,” she called as the door began to open. When it continued to fan into the room she turned away and rubbed at her tear-stained face, wanting to refuse the intruder the sight of her despair.
“You do not have any choice in the matter, Captain Danty,” answered the man she would have stood by. He shut the door and the bolt was immediately thrown into place on the other side. “There is a guard in the companionway,” Cloud told her when she raised questioning eyebrows. “You do not have to fear because I am locked in here with you.”
“I don’t fear you,” said Alexis. The fingers hidden in the folds of her dress trembled from a fear she could not identify, but not one caused by the man standing over her, crowding the small space with his presence.
Cloud did not comment on her swollen eyelids or reddened cheeks, wanting her to form the impression that either he had not noticed or that he cared nothing for it. His eyes fastened on the dress she was wearing and he wished she had changed her clothes. She looked vulnerable inside the yards of material. He thought it only briefly. Her eyes locked on his and her vulnerability vanished. She was not a helpless creature to be pitied. Her golden eyes reminded him of that even as they reminded him she was the woman he wanted and could not have. His voice was without inflection when he spoke.
“There are some things we had better straighten out, Captain Danty. Harry told me you would not speak to him or John when they brought you here. I won’t have you treating my men as if they are of no account. They respect you and you’re making them feel miserable about what they’ve done.”
Alexis was off the bunk immediately. She stood with her hands on her hips, feet firmly planted, and tossed her hair over her shoulder as she raised her chin defiantly. “Yes, Captain Cloud, we will straighten these things out. First, I was not aware a prisoner was expected to make witty conversation with her jailers. Second, I refuse to take the blame for their guilty feelings. It is their own reluctance to go through with this that is making them feel guilty.”
Cloud did not answer her. She had echoed the sentiments of everyone.
Alexis calmly walked past him and went to her bag. She motioned to him to have a seat while she began to take out her clothes. She saw him hesitate and she laughed. “You will have to sit on the bunk, Captain. The accommodations you have for your prisoners leave no room for visitors.”
Cloud stretched out on the bunk, placing his hands behind his head. He was unaware Alexis wanted to scream at him for the possessive manner in which he took over her space. “It may not be much,” he said, glancing around casually, “but it’s secure.”
“If you say so.” She smiled derisively. “Tell me, Captain. Why didn’t you let me go after Travers? You knew I was close. You could have waited and taken me afterward.”
“You might have been killed.”
“That was always my risk to take.”
“Not when my orders make me responsible for bringing you back alive.”
She did not answer and continued to fold her clothes.
