Noble Duty

1. Homeward

Thursday, 9th June, 1718
Cayo Bizcayno, Florida

The loud call of geese broke the long, sombre silence that followed the memorial service, and I looked up to find its source. Not geese – flamingos. A huge flock of them. Then, to those assembled below us, I said, "Like us, the flamingos return home after the storm. Let us do that."

I turned to Martin. "Launch the longboat."

"Aye, sir. The longboat."

"Post a lookout aloft. Report on the current in the gut beyond the mangroves."

"Aye, sir. Lookout on departure current."

"I shall be below. Report when the longboat has been launched."

"Aye, sir."

I turned to Gillian and pulled her into an embrace. "Thank you for being so brave."

"Ummm!" She snuggled her face into the crook of my neck. "It became easier with each name we called, knowing we are not alone in our grief."

"True. Though, it will be many weeks before we can inform their families, and ..."

I paused at the call, "Aloft, sir. A ship."

Martin replied, "Point it."

"Four points the starboard bow, sir."

Doffing my justaucorps, I handed it to Gillian and grabbed a telescope from the hutch. Then, down the ladder to the waist, I lept to the bulwarks, swung onto the mainmast rattlings and scurried up to the gallant top. A mile or so to the southwest lay a ship, toppled to her side in the shallow water washing across the reef.

I lifted the glass to my eye and smiled. "That is the pirates' ship, lad."

"Oh! Ain't going to bother us no more, is they?"

"Nay, lad." Still examining the ship, I called down, "Mister Martin."

"Aye, sir."

"The ship is Jupiter, and she lies on her beams' ends, inaccessible in the middle of the reef."

"Do you see any survivors, sir?"

"Aye, and much activity. Appears they are cobbling together a raft."

"To come here?"

"There is no other land within miles. Besides, they have surely seen our mast and spars above the trees."

"Shall we arm the crew, sir? Be loaded, primed and posted."

"Nay, better to thumb our noses at them as we head out. The wind is up, and the current is down. Make ready to sail home."

"Aye, sir. Prepare to sail."

Gazing down at Gillian's smiling face, the new meaning of home filled my mind, and it warmed me while I descended to rejoin her.

She handed me my justaucorps. "Are you not afraid they will fire on us again?"

"They lay on beams' ends in the shallows of the reef."

"You had said beam sends to Mister Martin, but it still makes no sense to me."

"Sorry. Beams are the transverse timbers that join a ship's ribs and carry the deck. Being on her beams' ends means she has toppled to her side, to the ends of her beams."

Gillian nodded as she gathered her skirts to descend through the hatch. "Making their cannons useless. What about muskets and pistols?"

"It is unlikely they have dry powder after many hours of pounding by the seas. But why would they fire? They want to be rescued."