“So you say. But at least these savages haven’t raped me.”
This was going badly, and I needed to convince her before the other women suspected anything. “I’m not like that. I want to help you. At least get you back to civilization, where you can make your own choices.”
She continued her work for a long minute. “And how do you suppose to rescue me?”
“You’re going to have to trust me. There’s not enough time now to tell you all that has happened.” I stopped, not knowing how much to tell her now. “I want to help you.”
“Right. Here’s the cabin boy wanting to help me. That’s nice—probably get us both killed in the process.”
“I’ve got men and boats,” I said and took a chance. She had to come willingly, or we would lose all notion of stealth. “Please. We have to go now.” I made like I was moving away to force her decision.
She spoke several words to the other women, and I thought for a second she had turned me in, but as I was about to run, she appeared at my side.
“Well? You have a plan?”
“But, the women. What did you tell them?” I asked.
“Told them I needed to pass some water.”
My heart jumped in my chest and I looked at her. Afraid I would lose my voice if I spoke, I started moving back toward the game trail.
She followed until we reached the trail, then stood with her hands on her hips. “Where are we going?”
“We have a camp upriver,” I said, and turned back to the trail.
“And when they find you?”
I looked back and faced her, shrugged and turned away.
“It’s not too late for me to go back, you know. At least I know what I’m dealing with here. You could have one of those bastards at your camp just waiting to rape me again.”
I hadn’t considered this twist either. Cleary, she was thinking better than I, and I admitted to myself that all I wanted was for her to be with me. “What’s it going to take to persuade you that I want to help?” I tried to put the onus on her.
She was silent for a minute, and I grew anxious.
“Swear to me that you mean no harm.”
“I do,” I said.
She moved toward me and my heart jumped. “Let’s go. Better the devil I know than these heathen.”
We moved to the beach and reached the cypress tree, where we waded into the water, and I saw her look back.
She turned back to me, “Well, Nick. If this is it, then here we go.”
I couldn’t contain my smile and was sure she saw me blush as I trudged through the water to get around the tree and headed toward our camp. We traveled in silence, each taking cautious looks over our shoulders. Around a corner, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the nose of a canoe sticking out of the brush. I hurried to it and pulled the line holding it from a branch.
“Hurry,” I said, looking back to the camp. There had been no sign so far that they had realized she was gone, but by now enough time had passed they would be looking.
“What about the camp and your men?”
“They took the other boats and went upriver. We’ll find their camp by dark.”
“Upriver is it? That’s odd.”
“It’s a bit of a story and I’ll be happy to tell you once we’re on the water. But we need to move. They’re sure to have noticed you gone by now.” I climbed into the stern of the boat and grabbed the long pole from the bank.
She waded toward me, and again I was stung by her beauty. Her skirts parted and revealed her legs as she climbed over the side. Turning away, I grabbed the pole with both hands and pushed against the mucky bottom. The shaft stuck and I pulled to no avail.
“Good Lord,” she said, as she hopped over the side, took the pole, and rocked it back and forth until it came free. “Move forward. I guess I’ll be rescuing you.”
I moved to the bow and again caught a glimpse of her bare leg as she climbed in. With one hand down the shaft and the other near the top, she set the pole at a low angle and pushed. The canoe started to move forward, picking up speed with each long push. Soon we were well down the river.
“You gonna let the girl do all the work?” she asked as she stopped pushing, handed me the pole, and moved to the front of the canoe.
I took her vacated position and did my best to mimic her motions as I pushed us forward. It was awkward at first, but after a dozen or so attempts I caught on. Now to find the camp and hope that none of my men were the ones who had raped her.
14
She sat quietly in the bow of the boat as I poled us upriver. The current was mild and the work easy, once I got the movement figured out. I had a hard time taking my eyes off her, although I did risk a glance back every few minutes. Deer scattered from the banks as we approached, and alligators in larger numbers than I had ever seen sunned themselves on the sandy shore.
I knew Rhames would want to put as much distance between our camp and the Indian village as possible before stopping, but I was getting anxious, as we only had an hour until dark, and there was still no sign of them. My stomach rumbled, and my throat burned. Food would have to wait, but at least the water flowed clear here, so we could drink our fill from cupped hands when we stopped for a break.
“Where’s your band of men, Captain Nick?” She turned and looked at me. “Surely you have one and it’s not just the two of us.”
I saw her eyeing my cutlass and dagger, the only weapons we had.
“And that’s what we’ve got to fight off the savages? You know they’ll come after us. Where they got it I have no idea, but I saw the gold they exchanged for me.”
My curiosity piqued. I had wondered about her circumstance, and this was the first clue she had given. “They didn’t hurt you or—you know?” My voice faltered.
“Oh. In that regard, they were nicer than your band of buffoons. Blonde hair and blue eyes—I’m worth a fortune in trade or favor to them as I am.” She turned back to watch the river ahead.
I was about to ask more, but the river turned on itself, and I saw a longboat pulled ashore on the far bank. “There they are,” I said, with more confidence than I felt. There was no telling what might happen when she saw them, or they saw her. I had a powder keg on my hands and no idea how long of a fuse it had.
With a long, hard push, I grounded the boat and jumped to the dirt beach. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw the other boat and canoes further around the bend. I heard voices from behind the brush, where the plume of smoke from a small fire was barely visible.
I pushed my way through two palmetto palms, cursing as I cut my forearm on a stray branch, and entered the clearing. “What! No watch and a fire?” I looked around at Red, Swift, Johnnie, and Syd. “Where’s Rhames?” I asked, as I looked back at the men to see if they had the pistol aimed at me.
“Over by the boats. Probably sleeping,” Red said. “Tough bastard—that one.”
“Finish cooking and get that fire out before dark. We need to move and put more water between us and them before we stop for the night.” I said.
“Aye, but they’ve no boats. We trashed and holed the canoes left behind. They won’t be coming by water,” he said.
“Truth be told, we don’t know how or with what force they will come after us with, but they will.” I didn’t need to say anything else, as Rory entered the clearing and caught the eyes of the men.
I watched their reaction, trying to gauge if any would be trouble, when I saw Johnnie flinch. Was it in recognition, or did he feel the same things that I did when I looked at her? She walked toward the fire and took a piece of meat off the stick that was holding it. We had smoked all the turtle, so there would be no need to cook that. I looked around the clearing and saw the carcass of a four-foot gator, then turned to the sky, thankful that no buzzards had sensed it as they would alert the Indians to our location.