“Please be careful, Papa. I love you.”
He nodded but said nothing more.
Elise watched him leave, wondering how Duran could have gotten back on board without the watch knowing. Then she remembered the dock fire back in Oswego. Everything had been out of control, and the watch had left the ship to try to help with the fire, as had she and Nick. Duran could have used that time to get on board.
It was a terrible feeling to imagine him there, watching ... waiting. He had promised to seek his revenge, and she’d been foolish to think it had ended with telling Caroline’s husband about the baby.
She doused the stove, secured the food, then put out the lamps one by one. She lit a lantern, then went to her cabin. Her nerves forced her to check through the room for any place even the smallest man could hide. There was no one. She locked the door, went to her tiny desk, and took a seat. Papa had built a secure slot for the lantern, and she placed it in this apparatus and turned the flame low. If the waves grew worse, she would blow it out, but for now she needed the light.
She pulled out her Bible and held it close. The room was already growing much colder. She opened the Scriptures. She had a special marker for times like this.
“‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,’” she read from Psalm forty-six. “‘Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountainsbe carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled....’”
But this time it was neither the sea nor the storm that troubled her most. It was Duran. The very thought of his being on board to torment them—perhaps even to kill them—bothered her most. She’d seen her father manage the bad weather and difficult seas, but this was an evil man intent on revenge.
Her gaze fell again on the start of the psalm.God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.She sighed and hugged the Bible close. “Oh, God our Father, You are the only refuge we have. This is a very bad situation with Booker Duran and the storm around us. Please, please deliver us.”
Nothing about this storm was normal. The winds whipped from one direction and then another. The snow turned to icy pellets and beat them fiercely as thick ice formed around the ship. The men fought to get the ice off while seeing to other instructions the captain gave. And all the while, they kept watch for Booker Duran in the fading light.
Bill knew he’d faced tougher times, but at the moment he couldn’t remember when. Whether it was God’s forewarning or his own natural senses, Bill knew somehow that this storm was going to be his undoing. The ship wouldn’t be able to survive. Prayers or no prayers.
The men had searched as best they could, but the storm had worsened so fast that there was no hope of checking everywhere for Duran. Bill and Nick were now consumed with steering the ship, and worries about Duran had to be set aside.
Bill had tried to steer them into a small cove, but the weatherhad gone out of control much quicker than he expected. Such was the way of winter storms on Lake Superior.
The coast was very close, and the rocky cliffs that shot up out of the lake were like foreboding sentinels. They had to make certain they stayed away from the rocks, but their control was rapidly slipping away.
As the waves pushed them ever closer to the shore, Bill ordered the anchor dropped with fifty fathoms of chain, but it didn’t help. When the bottom of theMary Elisescraped against the rocks, his foreboding of destruction was confirmed.
They were in trouble. They all knew it. Even Elise, who was locked in her cabin, would know the horrible danger they faced. He wished he could be with her to tell her all would be fine, but he had no assurance of that. In fact, the opposite was true.
The waves whipped them back off the rocks. Bill dreaded the results. “Ollie, take Russ and see what damage we have,” he yelled above the storm.
Just then the waves seemed to lift the ship high in the air and then toss her aside like a child’s toy. The ship hit the rocks hard, and the waves shoved theMary Elisehigher onto the rocky ledge. There was a distinct tilt to the deck, and Bill knew without a doubt that they were breaking apart. He looked at Nick, who was trying to right himself. He’d nearly gone over the rail with that last wave.
Ollie and Russ were hurrying across the deck. If they were back already, it couldn’t be good.
“We’re taking on water fast,” Ollie reported. “We’re doomed for sure.”
“Stand by to abandon ship,” Bill called above the roar of the wind.
Nick knew the captain was right. But how to do it? Where were they to go? He studied the rocks and the cliffside. It might be possible to get up there. He could tie off a rope on the ship and then find a place to tie it to the rocks so the crew could climb to safety. That was probably their only hope.
With the ship stuck on the rocks, Captain Wright motioned for Nick to follow him inside. The captain’s beard and mustache were caked in ice, as were his eyelashes.
Elise appeared at the door to the galley. She had on her warmest coat and a thick knit cap and gloves. “Are we leaving the ship?”
“We are, if I can figure out how,” her father answered.
There came a horrendous noise from outside, and the trio left the deckhouse to see what had happened. The waves washed over the ship’s deck, and Nick reached out to keep Elise from losing her footing. She clung to his arm, meeting his gaze. The fear he saw there matched his own.
“The main is gone,” Captain Wright said, pointing.
The main mast had broken away and now lay half on the deck and half off. It was as if it were reaching for the cliffs. It might offer them a way to get to the rocks. But then what? They’d have to climb to the top.
“I’ll take ropes,” Nick told the captain. “I’ll tie them off on the mast and the rail and then climb the rocks and hopefully tie them off on top. Then the crew can use them to climb up.”
The captain looked uncertain but finally nodded.
