"Joshua said you said Captain Gillon was incompetent! '
"Gillon's a bloody fool and so's Joshua," Barney said. He pushed the door open again for her.
Douglass looked at the door and then at him. "Are you—you cant—"
Barney said, "Will you enter, please?"
Douglass took two steps. Barney followed her and shut the door.
"Sit down," said Barney, gesturing to the lower bunk.
Douglass backed away the few feet and sat down, never taking her eyes off him. Barney took one stride and stood over her, leaning against the upper berth. "I want to talk to you," he said.
"But—" said Douglass. "You do, do you? After leaving me so unceremoniously aboard that fearful packet and—"
Barney interrupted. "Hold your fire. I'd been in prison seven months. Would you have trusted me?" He laughed at her discomfiture.
Douglass held her head high, and wriggled backward on the bunk. "What did you wish to talk of?" she inquired.
"I was surprised to see you. What made you decide this? Why are you going to America?"
Since she couldn't tell the truth, she looked thoughtful. "Joshua arranged it." She smiled up at him.
"Joshua arranged it?" Barney echoed.
"Don't you think I'll fit in, Captain?" Douglass asked, having a brief memory of Lord Edgecomb's warning.
"God, yes," said Barney. "You'll be an asset. My thought is to sink all British ships and carry off all their pretty women. Seriously, I want you to tell me why you are aboard."
She said, "It's a long story, Captain."
"I want to hear it."
"Yes," said Douglass, surrendering and summoning words. "My brother. Lord Annan, was killed last year on his ship. The estates reverted to his son, of course, and his wife—" Her voice trailed off.
"I'm sorry," Barney said. ^She said, a little stiffly, "He was killed in the defense of Gibraltar."
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"It was a magnificent action," Barney said.
"Even though it was ours?"
"Even though it was yours."
She was silent. Then she said positively, "I cannot endure his widow."
Barney kept from smiling. She went right on. "My husband had put all his money in Harris and Company."
Barney said, "You mean Joshua bullied it out of him."
Douglass said heatedly, "Naturally James trusted Joshua. I do, too! But my shares in the business can't pay their interest during wartime."
"There's a measure of truth in that," he said. "American merchants have all they can do to keep our credit partially stable. So he offered you his home?"
"Yes," said Douglass. "Yes, Captain Barney. But I leave this ship at Corunna."
"Well," said Barney, "that's all I wanted to know." He started to turn away.
Douglass leaned forward. She had not forgotten the storm; at this moment the ship plunged violently. "Oh," she cried. She slid off the bunk. Then she blurted, "Barney! Please don't leave me!"
He looked down at her. "I'm sleepy, Mrs. Harris." The ship pitched again, and he caught her. "That remark was not an innuendo," he said, to her averted face. He set her down on the bunk again. "When I make love to you—" he stopped. Douglass saw his boot rest for a moment on the side of the bunk and then he swung up onto the top berth. He stuck his head over and laughed at her. "Goodnight," he said. "I'll sleep here. Look out below."
His boots dropped one by one. Douglass sat on the bunk, her feet hanging over, almost touching the big boots. She could hear him stretching himself comfortably above her. There was silence in the cabin save for the myriad sounds of the ship as she groaned her way through the heavy seas. Almost rhythmically great masses of water hit the deck and roared overhead. Suddenly she heard Barney say sleepily:
"Is your dress woolen?"
She looked up, peering around the edge of the berth. He had stuck his head over again. "Yes."
He nodded, satisfied. "Otherwise I'd tell you to change it. You'd catch cold. I wouldn't look," he added, his eyes twinkling.
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She sat still on the bunk. Finally she put her feet up. The noises continued. The ship shook and shuddered and protested mightily. Outside the port she could see the foaming masses of angry water that hurled themselves at the ship's sides. Above all sounded the high screaming of the wind in the rigging.
It was cold. She pulled a blanket up over her, and then wondered if Barney were covered. He was evidently sound asleep. She pushed the blanket off and got off the bunk, holding tight to it. She could not possibly stand without holding on. The cabin lurched back and forth. She stood on tiptoe and looked at Barney.
He had pulled up a blanket. One big hand dangled over the side of the bunk. She touched the tips of his fingers with hers. The blanket had slipped off his shoulders, and she pulled it up further. Standing there, hanging on with one hand, she put her hand lightly on his dark head. Then she withdrew it quickly and scrambled back onto the bunk.
Two hours later Joshua opened the door.
It had been no use knocking. Knocks could not be heard. He opened the door and stood there. As he saw into the cabin his face changed. He could hardly believe what he saw. His blue eyes blazed with anger.
"Come here!"
Amazed, Douglass obeyed. She almost catapulted toward him and he caught her with angry hands, pulling her through the door and shutting it.
"For Christ's sake," he muttered, still holding her arm tight. He glowered at her. "Do you want to seriously compromise your name, sister?"
She retorted, angry too, "I asked him to stay!"
This rendered him speechless. Finally he said, "As your brother-in-law, I—"
She interrupted. "My own brother would have been amused!"
"I am not amused! This is not England but an American ship! I'm perfectly well aware of the antics of the ruling class in England, but you can't cut those capers here!"
"I will do as I please!"
"Not with my name, you won't!"
Douglass retreated before the male wrath. "Joshua," she whispered and looked up at him. _^ He said, calmer, "And of all men, to pick Barney. You'll get your
52
fingers badly burned, Douglass. You have about as much experience dealing with a man like him as you do with powder kegs."
"But Joshua," she said, "he didn't—" Another thought struck her. "You wouldn't forbid him to call on me?"
He looked surprised. "Of course not. But what makes you think he might have honorable intentions?" He smiled a little. "If he does, you shouldn't have let him enter your cabin. Poor strategy."
"I couldn't stop him."
Joshua said, "I believe that proves my previous point. It's two o'clock, sister, and they are serving a cold dinner in the after cabin."
They had reached it. "The fires have had to be extinguished, of course," Joshua went on. "I will present you to Major Jackson and Charles Adams, and then I will go back to your cabin.' His grimness had returned.
Douglass cried, "Oh, no, please, Joshua."
He shook his head.
"No," she cried again. "At least wait a bit! He may waken and leave. I don't want him to know you knew he was there! Wait—till we eat! For my sake, Joshua!"
She was clinging to his arm. Joshua looked down at her, at her face in the dim grey light. Even he was having trouble keeping his balance. She had spoken in staccato sentences, her voice high to carry through the noises of the storm. The weather was worsening rapidly. He disengaged his arm, and opened the cabin door. He had not made up his mind whether to heed her. He drew her into the cabin; Trumbull came quickly to her side to take her other arm in support.
Joshua presented her to the other two men within. The cabin was not large; the "South Carolina" was a ship of war, carrying twenty-eight twenty-two pounders on the main deck and sixteen long twelves on the forecastle and quarterdecks. The cabin was grey and dim and frightening; through the stem windows only blank greyness showed. Major Jackson was saying: