None of the others seemed to be armed with firearms. The water raised about me, and I heard a voice say, "Here, Captain, behind you."
The boat was there, and Diana, very wet, was already aboard. I climbed in over the gunwale and dropped to the bottom. Instantly Andrew pushed us away, and I sat up slowly.
"One shillin', suh," Andrew suggested, "I will need to have a shillin'."
Chapter XVI
And now suddenly all changed.
Legare came into the room as I ate breakfast, and Henry was with him. My gesture invited them to join us, and they did so. In many places in the islands the presence of a black at the table would not have been permitted, but in the pirate city of Port Royal there were no distinctions as to race.
"Adele has spoken to me of your need for some kind of a statement," he said. "She thought only of protecting my good name, but there is more at stake here, and despite her wish to protect me, my good name rests on no such shaky foundation. I married Adele, and she is my lady, and that is enough. If more is wanted, there is a field of honor where I can bring those who question my judgment.
"Now--" He drew from his pocket a rolled sheet of parchment. "A statement sworn to before a notary. This is her story. Names are named here, that of Joseph Pittingel among them. If you need more, I shall myself come to Cape Ann or Shawmut or wherever and make my statement."
"Thank you. I am sure this will be sufficient." At that moment there was a tap at the door. "You are in time to meet Diana Macklin, who was taken for the second time by Pittingel's men."
Opening the door, I admitted Diana and a maid I had hastily secured for her through the good offices of Augustus Jayne.
Legare bowed over her hand. "Adele has spoken of you," he said. "May I express my regrets for all that has happened? With the statement he now has, Kin Sackett may soon put an end to all this."
She turned quickly to me. "Please! Can we go home? My father was wounded when they took me, and I have no idea if he is alive or dead."
"We will go. My friend John Tilly will be in port tomorrow, returning from the outer islands. At least, so he has planned."
"You are sure you will not need me?" Legare asked.
"I think not," I said. "And I am sure Adele will."
He smiled quickly, shyly for a man who had proved to be so unexpectedly bold and swift in action. "She is my first and greatest happiness."
"And you?" I looked over at Henry. "You are among your people now. Will you stay here?"
He shook his head. "My place is with you if you will have me along. These people are of my race and my blood, but I have always been a man alone. I like the way you fight and the way you think. Mayhap our roads are the same."
"If you wish it," I agreed. He was a good man and a strong man, and wherever I would go, such would be needed.
Legare extended his hand. "Enough, then. They know me in Port Royal, and what you need, you may have if you will but speak. I cannot thank you enough."
When they were gone, and Diana and I were alone but for the maid, I said, "Have you eaten? I had just begun."
"I waited for you. I thought ... well, I thought you might not wish to eat alone."
I held a chair for her. "I hope," I said, "never to eat alone again."
Her face was faintly pink, and she looked up to meet my eyes, hers twinkling a little. "That might be taken as a proposal."
"I hope it is," I said seriously, "because I would not be very good at such a thing. I'm afraid I'd be clumsy. You see, I know very little of women. Ours is a lovely land but a lonely one and a hard one, and such a life leaves very little time for thinking of women or learning about them."
We sat long over breakfast and talked of many things, none of them important, I fear, but each one a means of learning about each other. Yet as we talked, I could not help but remember Joseph Pittingel and Max Bauer. They were both about, both free, and there was no authority in Port Royal to take exception to what they had done. I must be on my guard, for they must kill me to survive themselves, and they would now wish to kill Diana.
John Tilly might arrive within the next few hours, but much as Pittingel worried me, I had no wish to remain penned up in this room. Outside there was much to see in this wild, unruly, rich, and bloody town. And I had a wish to see it for myself.
There was much else to see, including the Walks, a well-known drive along some rocky cliffs that I had promised myself to see. Yet a worry lay upon me, for I knew that Max Bauer was somewhere about, and I knew only one or two of his men by sight.
Diana wished to do some shopping, and the maid Jayne had sent would accompany her. I must needs go to the waterfront to inquire after John Tilly and the Abigail.
The maid, whose name was Bett, had gone out and bought a few things for Diana. As she had served ladies before, she knew well enough what was needed, but Diana wished to choose clothes for herself, beyond her immediate needs.
While they prepared themselves for the shopping, I went down to the lower floor and looked out upon the street. It was crowded as usual, but I saw a tall, slim black man loitering near the door. He looked familiar, and I gestured to him. He had the look of a maroon, and I was sure he had been placed there by Henry.
He came into the room when I gestured to him. "Can you get two or three stout fellows to be around while Mistress Macklin goes among the shops? Our enemies are still about."
He smiled. "Henry speak to us, suh. They may go where they wish. We will be all about."
"Good! I have much to do along the shore."
He gave me a sidelong glance. "It is no good place to be, suh. It is bad-man place."
"I must go."
"Ships come, ships go. Who know what happen, suh? Sometimes man go. Never again see. You take short steps, suh."
Upon these streets all men wore arms, and I would not be without mine. To learn of the Abigail was my first wish, but I will not deny it was in my mind to see Port Royal with my own eyes, for this was ever my way, to see, to know, to learn. To go from place to place and taste the food and wine of the country, to look about, to see.
We who walk the woodland paths know that although all men look, not many see. It is not only to keep the eyes open but to see what is there and to understand. Jamestown I knew but little else. I had seen no towns, although my father and Jeremy talked much of London and Bristol, and Kane O'Hara was forever speaking of Dublin and Cork. This was the first town of my experience that was wider than a village.
When I had donned fresh garments, I looked upon myself in the glass and admitted myself pleased. Not with myself, for I was, as always, a tall, tanned young man with the wide shoulders hard work had earned for me and a shock of curly black hair. My face was wedge shaped, cheekbones high; my eyes were green. The outfit I wore fitted me well, and that was the important thing. I looked the gentleman without any of the flash and color of the pirates I'd seen. Not that I did not look upon their clothes with some envy but would have been embarrassed to wear the like myself.
Thinking of that, I chuckled at the thought of Yance. He would have outdone the flashiest of the pirates, for he was a lover of color in his clothes, although we'd little enough chance for anything of the kind, living as we did. I felt regret for him now. He'd have loved this wild, unruly, pirate town, its dark streets, its motley population, its crowds, tinkle of glasses and clink of coins, a town of blood, gold, gems, and lust, and all of it clad in silk and leather, often enough soiled, sometimes stained with blood, for the pirates I'd seen were rarely overclean.