“I expect anything. Stand aside.”
Frank moved off to one side and Cloud unbolted the door. He stepped inside and his breath caught in his throat as he surveyed the empty cabin. He saw the makeshift rope tied to the leg of the bunk and drawn through the open porthole. For a moment he did not speak. The joy, as well as regret, he felt at her absence did not allow for words. When he found his voice he yelled for his men. “Tom! Frank! She’s gone!” They were in the room before he finished and were equally astonished.
Frank spoke first. “Captain! We didn’t hear a sound. How did she squeeze out that porthole?”
Cloud did not bother to answer. He strode over to the porthole and pulled in the knotted strips of sheet, throwing them on the bunk. “It doesn’t matter how she did it, only that she did.” He stared at his men, daring them to show that they were not unhappy about this development; then deciding it was unfair to ask them to feel any differently he swept past them and went topside. When he was on deck he walked into the wide-eyed stares of his men. “She’s gone! She got out through her porthole sometime during the night. I want to see every man who was on watch immediately! I want a full report of every ship we passed within her swimming range!”
Within minutes Cloud had the information he asked for. There had been only two ships during the night, both Garnet merchants. He winced at the news. How ironic if Alexis had chosen to flee to one of his ships. “Make ready to sail!” he commanded. “We’re going after her!”
TheConcordwas a blur of activity as the crew quickly responded. They saw the looks of wonderment from the seamen on the wharf. They had only just secured the ship and without so much as a second to try out their land legs they were leaving again.
“It will make it easy for us to get her if she is on board a Garnet ship,” Cloud told Landis as they went below.
“That’s if she made it to one of them,” Landis said. “She took a hell of a risk. At night they might not have been able to see her. She could just be out there somewhere.”
Cloud opened the door to her cabin. “I’ve already thought of that,” he said, holding up the rope Alexis had fashioned. “Look at this. Can you believe she did this?”
“I believe anything of her,” Landis said, grinning. He walked to the porthole. “Why the rope? Why didn’t she just jump?”
Cloud sat on the bed, absentmindedly undoing the knots. “Too dangerous,” he answered. “She didn’t have room to make a safe leap outward. She could have been pulled under the ship. With this rope she could have climbed most of the way down and used the side of the ship to push herself off. She knew what she was doing.”
“When doesn’t she?”
Cloud ignored him as he stared at the rope in his hand. The knot wasn’t tight. How could that be? Her weight on it would have either pulled it tight or it would have given way. She couldn’t have used it. She couldn’t have—
He jumped to his feet, swearing as the ship gave a lurch. Ignoring Landis’s stare, he ran out of the cabin and raced for the deck. “Take theConcordone mile down river and drop her anchor. Right in the middle of the Potomac.” The men looked at him as if he had gone mad. “Tom! Harry! Come with me! Captain Danty is still somewhere on this ship. We’ll start searching now! ”
“How can that be, Captain?” Tom asked incredulously. “She never came out the door!”
“Don’t ask me, Tom. All I know is she didn’t use that rope of hers to go over the side. It fell apart in my hands. She could have been hiding under the bed when I went in. After we left she could easily have gone out.”
“I’ll be damned,” murmured Tom.
“That’s what we’ll all be if we don’t find her. Start checking all the cabins. We’ll work our way down. Don’t miss anything. The only point in our favor is she couldn’t have made it to the deck yet. Don’t let her get a chance.”
Tom and Harry nodded and separated to begin the search. The undersides of bunks were checked. Locked cabins were opened. Trunks were lifted and the orlop scoured and there was no sign of Alexis. Harry was investigating a small storage compartment when he heard a noise above him. Alexis’s cabin, he thought. The captain must be searching for something there. He ignored the noise and started out of the cubicle when he bumped into Cloud.
“Oh, Captain. I thought you were in her cabin. Did you find anything yet?”
“Nothing.” He stepped into the compartment and heard footsteps. “Must be Landis,” he said looking up, drawn to the sound. He was beginning to think he had been wrong about Alexis. Perhaps she had gone over. If that was so they were wasting valuable time by remaining stationary. Still, if he was correct, they could not afford to have the search in the harbor. There were too many chances she might slip through their fingers. He was thinking this when his eyes caught a sliver of light in the ceiling. He moved directly below it, examining it more closely. He jumped and pushed at the wooden plank. He was not surprised when it moved.
“Harry! Look at this. She pried these planks loose with that damn dagger of hers.” Cloud sighed heavily thinking he should have known Alexis would see the dagger not only as a weapon, but a tool. He and Harry quickly removed several of the planks that were part of Alexis’s deck. “Mr. Landis? Are you up there?”
“Captain? Where are you?” The reply was muffled.
“Below you!” Cloud turned to Harry. “What’s directly above us?”
“Part of her nightstand. Maybe part of the bunk.”
“Move out her bed, Mr. Landis! Then look for some loose boards!”
Landis did as he was told and soon he was staring in the captain’s face. “Well, we know how she did it,” he offered, trying to hide his mirth.
“Thank you, Mr. Landis. I was quite incapable of knowing that for myself. Harry, go on deck and tell about ten of the men to stay there and watch for her. Have the others join the search. They are to go over all the places we’ve been. I’ll find Tom and continue below.”
Alexis shifted in her uncomfortable position and tried to stretch. The powder storage compartment had not proven itself to be much of a hiding place. The first moment when theConcordreached harbor, she had tried to get off the ship. She had wanted to go over the side then, but before she’d reached a cabin with a porthole large enough for her to get through theConcordwas moving again and she realized they were putting out to sea to search for her. Once she found a place to hide she faced the problem of how long she could stay there while Cloud began a fruitless search of the vessels they passed. She had expected him to go out to sea again to look for her, but not so soon. All her thoughts were broken when she heard the sound of approaching voices. She moved behind a barrel, making a last effort to be as invisible as possible when she heard Cloud tell Tom to start checking the storage areas.
Was Cloud being cautious or did he really know she hadn’t left the ship? She waited quietly as Cloud’s self-congratulatory stride neared her hiding place. She closed her eyes and allowed herself only to feel the motion of theConcord.When she interpreted what she felt her eyes opened wide in shock. Cloud knew! He knew! TheConcordwasn’t moving any longer.
