Zealand

48. To Cabo Verde

Monday, 14th March 1666

For a few days, we saw no more land; then as I sat in the mess, tutoring before early dinner, a call came from aloft. "Land ho! Fine a port."

I smiled and told those at the table with me that it would be the Islands of Cabo Verde.

"How do you know this, Boy?"

"Captain is tutoring me in navigation, so I have the opportunity to examine the charts with him."

"Navigation? Are you learning to be an officer?"

"More just learning all I can. But with everything he is teaching me, it appears to be headed that way." I chuckled. "All except teaching me how to do his laundry, clean his privy, scrub the decks, polish the furniture, and so on."

Richard nodded. "Teaching you to obey and to be humble. Besides, those are all needed, and he needs someone he can trust to do them."

"Yes, I suppose. He began as a cabin boy, so he understands."

"Him? A cabin boy. A long way up from there."

"I read that Sir Francis Drake also began as one."

"Aye, they told us that in the Navy," Hank said. "But I'm curious. You're not yet fourteen; how'd you convince your father to let you go to sea so young? Mine forced me to wait to sixteen. Some here, even longer."

Do I respond? Yes, I must. How? "My father is unknown, so Mother raised me on her own."

"How'd you convince her?"

I winced. "The plague took her when I was twelve."

Hank slapped a hand to his mouth and mumbled through it. "Sorry. So sorry for –"

"Fret not. It is behind me now and well resolved."

He nodded. "And rather than taking you in, her family sent you to sea."

I shook my head. "No, I knew no family but her,"

"Oh!" Richard grimaced. "Did your tutor take you in?"

I shook my head. "No, I had no tutor but Mother, and she was teaching me reading and cyphering when she passed." I paused and thought. May as well tell it all. Their curiosity will pull it from me, anyway. "We lived in the mews behind Tavistock Street, in a garret above the horses. When my begging could not raise the fortnightly rent, the landlord evicted me."

Hank pursed his lips and examined me. "How'd you come from that to here?"

"I sought shelter for the night in the lowered jib of a barge near Billingsgate, and in the morning, when Captain hoisted the sail, I rolled out of it. By this time, we were away from his wharf and being swept by both wind and current – too late to set me ashore."

"And from there?"

"We continued downriver, and he taught me how to assist him sailing the barge." I shrugged. "He was pleased, and when he learnt of my circumstances, he offered to take me in."

"When was this?"

"The day before London began burning. We spent ..." I paused at the sound of the bell, and when I counted eight, I said, "We have lost track of time. I must go fetch his dinner."

Richard rose and motioned to Hank and Mic. "And we have the watch."

A while later, as I served dinner to Captain, I said, "When I was tutoring this morning, they began asking me questions about myself, and I could find no honest way to avoid answering. They continued probing, and when noon rang, I was not finished what I had planned to teach."