Virgin of the Sea Series - The Virgin of the Sea #1

CHAPTER 7

1. THE VIRGIN OF THE SEA

OVERWHELMING NEWS

Simon Verbeeck looked with great compassion at the mutilated man before him, feeling a pang of guilt for trying to force the man to speak when he could not. He quickly realized that the man did not understand Dutch either. So he made a few hand gestures to make him understand that they were friends and that they would not harm him. The light in the man's eyes softened, and the rigidity in them gradually diminished.

In turn, he made a gesture indicating that he wanted to smoke. Verbeeck ordered one of his sailors to fill his pipe and hand it to the man. He was as grateful as a child when the smoking pipe was handed to him, and he took large puffs with apparent pleasure. A smile even appeared on his face. After he had smoked enough, he dutifully returned the pipe to the good Samaritan who had given it to him.

Suddenly, Verbeeck had an idea. He squatted and smoothed the sand in front of him. The stranger now apparently understood what was going on and squatted beside Verbeeck. The captain wrote a name in the sand, and the name was De Santos. The little man seemed to recoil when he read it. He jumped up, and for a brief moment, it looked as if he would run away, but with gestures, they calmed him, and he stayed where he was. His body was now twisted, and he looked over his shoulder at what Verbeeck had written in the sand. The initial rigidity was now back in his eyes. The bright gleam of fear shone in them.

Suddenly, Verbeeck understood everything. He drew his sword and struck the name in the sand. He added certain gestures to make it clear that he was a sworn enemy of De Santos.

The man relaxed again and stood a little closer. He pointed with a trembling finger at the name Verbeeck had obliterated in the sand and then, with jerky, excited, and almost convulsive movements, he gestured toward his tongue, which had been cut out. Helpless and submissive, he stared at them, and Verbeeck felt a lump in his throat when he saw the tears in the man's eyes. He placed his hand on his shoulder and gestured to the man, asking if he could write.

The wild head nodded quickly in agreement, and Verbeeck then ordered one sailor to return to the boat and ask the rowers to take him to the Virgin of the Sea to fetch writing materials.

While they waited, Verbeeck squatted in the sand again. The stranger was once more fully engaged and squatted beside him. This time, Verbeeck drew something different in the sand. He drew a hand with a narrow palm, five fingers outstretched, and a middle finger cut off at the last joint.

When he looked up at the stranger, the man's eyes were a revelation. The man sat staring at that hand as if he were suddenly in a trance. Not a limb or a hair of his moved. His eyes had darkened, and his breathing was slow and deep.

Verbeeck shrugged and gestured toward the drawing as if he could make nothing of it.

The man slowly stood up, looked around wildly, and searched through the coconut palms. His behavior was a new mystery to Verbeeck.

The captain still didn't even know the man's nationality. If he could speak, Verbeeck wouldn't know what language he would have spoken. The next moment, the man knelt and looked at the drawings in the sand. Then he pointed to them with a peculiar reverence. He pressed on the bottom of the shortest line in the drawing, the line representing the cut-off finger.

Then he began slowly and with painful precision to write beneath the drawing. And every letter he wrote struck Simon Verbeeck with a new, overwhelming blow. The man wrote in English, and when he finished, the sand read: 'The lost treasure of Red beard.'

Simon Verbeeck and Wilhelm Rieckert stared at each other in amazement. Now they understood what this hand meant. It was an indication of where Red beard's treasure was to be found, but what a strange indication! What does it all mean? The stranger did one more thing. He wrote his name in the sand. John Tobey. John Tobey was the name of this stranger on the deserted island.