"No?" asked Lucie.
He was about two feet away from her. "Listen, wench," he said, "I'll sleep outside."
She drew a long breath. She sat up. "If you sleep out there, you will catch cold. It may rain; it dews! If you get the fever, what will I do?"
"I seem to be suffering from some kind of fever now," Joshua said.
"Mon Dieu," whispered Lucie, leaning forward to touch his hand. Then she said, "I should have made another bed!"
"That would make no difference, Lucie. Honestly." Her hair fell over her shoulders; her great blue eyes fastened on him. Joshua said, "I told you yesterday I was going to take you home and—" He stopped.
"Marry George?" Lucie asked.
"I can find you a better husband than George!"
"You can?" She studied him. She touched the side of his face. "You do grow beard."
Joshua took her by the shoulders and laid her back on the bed, with her head on his coat. He himself settled down beside her care-
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fully, stretching out full length, flat on his back. "I've changed my mind," he said.
His voice seemed to come from a great distance. Lucie lay still, not moving. He took her hand and placed it palm down over his lips. "Lucie," he said, low, looking up at the ceiling of the cave, "if I sleep here, I want to make love to you, very much." He turned over and looked down at her face.
Lucie looked up at him. "You always explain everything. But you don't need to. I understand."
Joshua grinned. "You do?" He paused, while her lashes fell. "What do you understand?" She didn't answer, so he put his hand under her chin. "Tell me."
She hesitated. Then she said quickly, "I cannot! I love you, m'sieur!" She turned her head away.
Joshua turned her to him. "Lucie," he said urgently. He held her close and kissed her. After a moment he whispered against her lips, "You love me, Lucie?"
She opened her eyes to look at him. "Yes," she said.
Chapter 29
LIEUTENANT MACKENZIE SAID, "BUT SIR, THE SITUATION AS IT exists is this. We have filled the hospitals, and the private homes in Upper Town. The jail is full; the ships' brigs are full. My thought is, sir, to make them clean up the mess. The streets are ankle deep in glass, for one thing!"
General Vaughn said gravely, "There might be merit in such a plan."
"The jails won't hold 'em, sir!"
"Disgraceful," said Rodney coldly. "They ought all to be punished!"
Vaughn said mildly, "It's hardly possible, sir, to punish five thousand men except by docking their pay. What I don't understand is how they had time to drink so much."
Mackenzie looked surprised. Then he remembered that he had come up through the ranks; General Vaughn had not. "If there's fllowing liquor around, sir—" Suddenly he smiled. "By God, sir,"
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he said, "it took twenty men to get five out of one bawdy house, after they had chased the Yanks out."
Rodney asked, "And how many Americans were taken prisoner?" "About fifteen hundred, sir. In various stages of drunkenness." He tried to keep his face straight. "There are five hundred more of them, sir, on the island."
"And what is your plan concerning them. General?" "Well, sir," Vaughn said, wondering how to sum it up quickly. "You see. Major Calcott and Major Watts are both badly injured. Watts got hit by a bottle of champagne. Lieutenant Mackenzie is the engineer officer of the regiment; we intend to leave him here at St. Eustatious. He has already drawn up plans for the defense of the island, and I'll show you his submissions. Briefly, heavy batteries at a number of strategic spots. As for the Yanks, we have thrown up an outpost at White Cliffs, and at Signal Hill. We believe hunger, fever, so forth, will compel them to surrender. It is a wilderness back in there, sir, dangerous to infiltrate, unless there's need." "I agree," said Rodney.
Vaughn sighed with relief. "That's all then, Lieutenant." "Thank you, sir." The lieutenant saluted. It was nine o'clock at night, and he had been besieged with duties which were not ordinarily his province at all because most of the five thousand officers and marines were either drunk or wounded. He thought that he could stand a stiff drink of rum himself, to say nothing of the champagne which had flowed like water all day, and unfortunately was still flowing. They had not yet gathered up all the malefactors in Lower Town; there were some hardy Yanks and British marines who were still going strong in a few sections. He was going back now with a fresh detail to try to rout them out.
Within the big cabin, John Rodney faced his father. "According to your instructions, sir, the Dutch flag has been left flying. Governor de Graaf refuses to give us his parole, and insists on being regarded as a prisoner of war."
"He will be so accommodated," Rodney muttered, and Vaughn said nothing.
John Rodney continued. "We are trying to estimate the dead— roughly about two hundred men, marines and seamen. The Americans had few of their number killed, less than thirty. The damage is going to run into thousands." He flung out his hands. "We can
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hardly estimate it yet. But we confiscated many of the merchants' books. And now we have most of the shops and stores under our control. But there was looting."
He waited for the pronouncement he was sure his father would make. His father said, "At least we have been the instrument of bringing this nest of villains to condign punishment! They deserve scourging! This island has long been an asylum for men guilty of every crime, and a receptacle for the outcasts of every nation!"
"That is true," Vaughn said, and relieved John Rodney of answering. "We have been examining some of these merchants' books you brought, sir." He tapped one. "These two British merchants have been sending 'grain' and 'fruit' to Stasia, dealing with a merchant, Joshua Harris, of Harris & Co. There isn't that much fruit in England! 'Fruit' is cannon balls, 'grain' is gunpowder! And there is a warehouse full of cordage! We couldn't buy it!"
"Lower Town," said the admiral passionately, "is a nest of vipers that has preyed upon the vitals of Great Britain. Everything will be padlocked, including food, and doled out to the residents of Stasia. And everyone on the island will be treated as prisoners of war!"
John said, "It is an immense capture, sirs. Two million pounds sterling in the warehouses alone!"
"And had the Dutch been as attentive to their security as they were to their profits, this island would have been impregnable!"
"Condign punishment shall be meted out to every man who was engaged in these nefarious activities," Rodney said. "As for you, John, yesterday there sailed a rich convoy of thirty sail, under the protection of a sixty-gun ship. I have detached Captain Reynolds, of the 'Monarch,' with the 'Panther' and the 'Sybil' to pursue them as far as the latitudes of the Bermudas."
John's ship was the "Panther." "Aye, aye, sir," he said.
The admiral was closing the interview. "I am allowing you an hour's leave, sir," he said. "Now is the time for you to do your duty and make your fortune!"
Chapter 30
THE WIND WAS STRONG AND GUSTY FROM THE SOUTH-SOUTHEAST. Spray flew from the "Athena's" bows as she climbed the Atlantic combers. Barney said crisply:
"Tell her we are the 'Triton,' number forty-one. Ask her who she is."
The British signal book was in his hands. The signalman worked. The answer came back. "She's the 'Sylph,' His Majesty's cutter 'Sylph,' sir, number 103."
"One-oh-three," repeated Barney, turning the page. "Correct. Tell her to keep under our lee." On the page opposite the name "Sylph" was her number and her captain. "Commander Carr," Barney said aloud, watching as they bore quickly down on the "Sylph." Macgregor came running out on deck, buttoning his British blues.