Jack: Book 3 in the Trilogy

Nasty Business Part 29

When Captain Pendleton told us about the girls' secret plan to stow away on the Midnight Raider after we would leave Jamaica a week away, Jack was pissed.

"I told you Jack you cannot trust them, they'll say or do most anything to get something that - in their crazy minds - is good for them and good for us."

"Hey sonny! Shut-up! I don't want any 'I told you so's."

"Lads, I've got an idea," said Pendleton. "I've got a house in Charleston that the young ladies can stay in and nobody will be the wiser - I can have papers made to show that, legally, they would be my slaves. No-one will question it. They will even be able to run about Charleston going to markets shopping and such, with no problems. My signature on a paper is unassailable in town and no-one would dare interfere or give them a problem, believe me."

"Yes, but your situation in Charleston - once people there get wind of the fact that someone stole your ship and sent the slaves back to Africa - is going to be highly suspicious," I said.

Pendleton took a puff from his cigar that had been among several boxes of cigars he had purchased in Cuba. He coughed a bit, having developed a smoker's cough from the nasty habit. "Lads. No-one needs to know what happened on the ship - at least not right away. It's going to be months before any of my crew get back to Charleston. And the company and my partner won't breathe a word because it won't look good for them and therefore won't be good for business. We're in a solid position to dictate the terms and those terms include, keep everything business-like and secret," Pendleton said.

"I don't get it," said Jack. "Why would you possibly want to bring the young ladies with us? What advantage could you possibly get out of it except treating them as slaves and maybe even selling'em down the line?"

Pendleton's eyebrows wrinkled as though he were considering a deep question. He puffed again on his cigar that was getting soggy on one end from saliva. He then spat out the porthole, coughed a couple times, and said, "We'll need them to convince the company and my partner that my story is true. And that story isn't going to be the real one - I can't tell the company that I had been selling slaves with my partner against company policy. I must make up a story about a mutiny and blame the crew. It'll be my word against theirs, or rather our word. I'll say that they were the ones who locked me up and were engaged in slave selling, that they went ashore one day in Cuba after stealing the company's money in my cabin and bought a shipment of slaves from pirates. You lads, the two young ladies and the black crew members and I escaped and took the ship back after the crew went ashore again to purchase more slaves, leaving you and Jeremy in charge. That's when you lads made your move, freed me and the slaves and stole the ship back. In order for us to convince my partner and the company to not have me thrown in prison, and for us to keep the ship on mortgage - a loan from my partner and the company - and to be able to engage in blockade-running, we must have such a story. We'll need the women to back up our story. They can then stay at my Charleston home when we go to sea assuming the war starts soon, or they can come with us and be quite useful. They can perform the domestic duties and both are very smart so they can do any number of things."

"Yeah, like get killed. Why would the company believe two black Jamaica girls anyway?" said Jack.

"Good question. They won't necessarily. But there's something else. We'll have to offer some kind of collateral. We will of course have the ship which the company can take back at any time. That, of course, would not satisfy my partner as he stands to get nothing out of that. We would have to offer the ladies as collateral to my partner - that, if we cannot pay him something back, he would at least have two young ladies he could sell. I don't see that we have any other choice. We don't ever have to give them to him though if it came to that."

The captain coughed several times, again spat out of the porthole, and said, "Sorry lads but we've gotten ourselves in a pickle - it's become something beyond our control really and we must play the hand that we have. If we can all agree to stick to the same story, I think it'll work."

"I can almost go along with everything you've said thar captain, except one thing," said Jack.

"What's that there Captain Jack?" said Pendleton.

"We're not going to risk the ladies! They're not a'gonna be part of this deal!"

"I'm totally with Jack on that one," I said.

"Then lads, without them as collateral my partner will insist on complaining to the company which will put an end to our blockade-running plans and the prospect of us getting rich," Pendleton said. "Talk to the young ladies before making a decision, but only after we first can come to a tentative agreement," he said. "I have a feeling the young ladies would agree with me although I have not discussed that at all with them. I would put it to you this way: we agree now to implement my plan including using the young ladies as discussed, and then see if they would agree. If they agree, then we all commit to doing it and to keeping with one story - my story as told to you both. Morris and the other Negroes will, of course need to agree just in case any are questioned which is highly unlikely. I don't think it'll come to that, but just in case, we should be ready with a solid plan."

"So, under your plan," I said, " if we get blown out of the water by a Yankee ship while trying to smuggle guns into Charleston, and if we die, then your partner will sell Mauricia and America into slavery?"

"I wish there was another way for us to keep the ship, but there isn't in my estimation," Pendleton said. "These people are shrewd businessmen. The ship is collateral enough, I'm hoping, for the company. And the two young ladies, I'm again hoping, will be enough collateral for my partner to take the risk that we'll pay our debt to him."

"Why don't you lads talk and, if ye agree with me, then we talk to the ladies and explain that it is 100% up to them if they want to go along or go back and stay in Kingston," said the captain, who spat out the porthole again. "Yes, lads, being at sea can be a nasty business."