"Mr. Tyler left us at Lisbon, catching a ride to Boston on the Rainbow" Captain Phillips told me. "Mr. Hedric and I spelled each other this little way, and 'twas like old times."
He looked somewhat heavy-eyed, I thought, but his sleep would not be easy for a good while yet, or I missed my guess.
"Sir, did you hear the news from America?"
"I heard rumors of trouble with Tripoli, and the true report of our consul there taking ship for home."
I repeated what Sir Godwine had told me. Straightway Captain Phillips beckoned Mr. Hedric and me into his cabin. After a tot of rum together and a brief palaver, it did not take him long to lay a course.
"I reckon this will be a job for our Regular Navy," he remarked. "Tripoli has no merchant fleet, only pirates decked and armed for battle. 'Twould be folly and worse for us to hunt 'em until we can refit in a Yankee yard—far more weight, more stanchions to support it, and holds turned into magazines and quarters for four times our number. If we're needed, we'll do it, and you can lay to that. But tomorrow we'll sail with an empty bottom for Naples and lade wine, hemp, silk, and olives for New York. We'd have run up and got it before hoving in here if 'twould save time, but the small gain in distance would be lost by contrary winds." This last was to inform me that he had not wasted our charterer's money to relieve my homesickness.
"Aye, aye, sir."
"When we're home, I'll see what's to be done to serve our country."
That settled it. Mr. Hedric went on deck to appoint his shipwatch and give shore leave to the rest. I asked Captain Phillips's permission to broach another matter. He looked at me closely and offered me a chair.
"Cap'n, I've proposed marriage to Miss Sophia Tarlton, the daughter of Captain Sir Godwine Tarlton of the Royal Navy."
"Do tell!" It was not often that Captain Philiips employed this ancient New England expression of surprise. Then, feeling that he owed me an explanation, "I should say, Mr. Whitman, that I'd heard of him more than most English officers of his rank. "Twas natural enough, since we served our respective countries in the late war. We were both young captains, and 'twas his ship. Our Eliza, that engaged and sank the brand-new Saratoga, commanded by my boyhood friend, Cap'n Ezra Fairbank. It went hard with me, for Cap'n Fairbank and every soul aboard was lost."
"Then I reckon there's not much hope for my petition "
"What is it? Do you think 'twould prejudice me against Cap'n Tarlton's daughter? Why, I've naught but respect for Cap'n Tarlton himself. He had heavier guns, but the Saratoga wouldn't strike her colors. And he did yeoman service against Napoleon in the Battle of the Nile."
"Sophia will accept or decline tonight. I'd like permission to bring her aboard, to see what a Yankee ship is like, and to have her to myself without much interruption. There will be only the shipwatch, and they'll give me a wide berth. If she accepts, I'll ask you to marry us tomorrow morning, and to let her come home with me."
"Well, I see little wrong with either thing. Marriage is a mighty serious matter, but you're a serious man. Ye can bring her aboard, and since ye're not trifling with her, ye can entertain her in your cabin if ye both see fit. As for taking her to America, we've had ladies aboard before—my own wife before I lost her and Mr. Hedric's wife— and the men were pleased, and 'twas good for their manners and language. But I doubt if I've right to marry ye here in the harbor. 'Twould be best for the knot to be tied on the open sea."
"We won't be there till some time tomorrow."
"How old is the young lady, Mr. Whitman?"
"Just past eighteen."
"Then she has the right to marry by her own choice under English common law. Now let me give ye a word of advice."
"I'd welcome it, Cap'n, 'cause I'm sorely troubled."
"Bring her here, and if ye can, get her promise. If she will, take her tonight to the Baptist mission, and ask the minister to marry ye. I don't doubt he'll do it. 'Twould be his duty, which Baptists believe in no end, and anyway, 'twould rejoice him to jar an English Navy captain, who no doubt belongs to the Church of England. But if he won't, consider well whether ye should elope with her aboard our ship. I'd relish it, I confess—although his hands were lascars and conditions unfavorable, I was never persuaded Captain Tarlton did his utmost to save life from the Saratoga. He could never get Captain Ball to give us chase—'twould make him a laughingstock of the whole Royal Navy—and I could marry ye as soon as we gain the high seas. But 'tain't as though you're running from Bath to Boston. And severance of that sort—with no chance to ask and give forgiveness—might cut 'em both a wound that would never heal."
I did not worry about this last. It would hold true to all other fathers and daughters I had known, but my mind refused to apply it to the small, stick-swinging knight and beautiful Sophia. I thought to tell Captain Phillips that they did not love each other, but I had nothing to back it except Sophia's remark, and it would sound ill in his ears.
I wished he could perceive how desperate the matter was. He could not because I could not tell him—I knew, but not why. I had no proof to offer of brooding evil, not even plausible evidence. How could I say I was frightened to the marrow of my bones?
Before setting forth in a carrozza for Lepanto Palace, I took a few stitches in time. One was to provide for a pleasant supper to be served Sophia and me in my cramped cabin. Another was to engage a shore gig, actually a two-man gondola, with a lateen sail, whose owner I had come to know, to wait my call. The most important was to pay a visit to the Baptist mission for a brief conversation with its head, a balding, square-jawed, ruddy-skinned Welshman known as Preacher Morgan. If we came to his abode about midnight, would he marry Sophia and me?
After he had questioned me briefly and sensibly, I left in high spirits and ranged the waterfront in search of a shipmate. The first I encountered could not be beat—Farmer Blood from Poultney—and his plain red face lighted wonderfully when he knew my need of him. On my drive to Notabile my spirits never tumbled, and I trimmed my tackle better than before. It was only to engage a closed carrozza in the way of an anchor to windward.
We had hardly driven through the gate of Lepanto Palace when I saw a postern door open narrowly and Sophia emerge. She walked lightly to the courtyard as I sprang out to meet her, and in a few seconds we were under way. But I had caught a glimpse of someone at a window.
"I didn't think you'd come," Sophia said as soon as we were out of sight of Lepanto Palace.
"What could stop me?"
"That dinner last night. It would stop anyone but a fool. And isn't your ship in? Papa told me this morning that you were expecting her today."
"She's in, and I think she'll sail tomorrow."
"Then why did you come? You could have gotten a pretty Maltese
girl for your last night on the island. I'U only bring you bad luck "
Still, she could not keep her eyes from shining.
"I'll show you in a few minutes what kind of luck it is. Now I need your help giving directions to the driver."