King of the Seas

Stowaway

STOWAWAY

MAY 12TH, 1768

I was running for my life.

The extremely agitated man on the other end of the wicked whaler's harpoon was Captain Richard Mitchell. He was closing in on me, and it was all because of a slight misunderstanding.

His daughter, Betsy, had been giving me a tour of the new family barn. She innocently suggested I try the hayloft as a potential replacement for the expensive room I had at the Seafarer's Inn.

I was trying out the softness of the new-mown hay and, just as a joke, had pulled Betsy down beside me. Unfortunately, this was only moments before Captain Mitchell arrived. Obviously, the good captain had badly misread the situation because everything went downhill from there.

Betsy panicked. "Run, Jeremy. If my father gets his hands on his harpoon, he'll kill you for sure."

"I'm staying, Betsy, your father simply misread the situation. Surely, I can explain everything to him. I don't want to leave you right now."

She shook her head, violently. "When he's in one of his rages, Papa won't listen to reason. Please, for my sake, go now." Betsy embraced me and kissed me full on the lips.

Before I ran, Betsy took a chain holding an engraved, silver heart-shaped locket from her neck, then gently lowered it over my head. "Keep this with you, Jeremy. It will protect you and keep you from harm until it's safe to return."

I swore I would return and then fled out into the rainy night, her angry father close on my heels.

I could almost feel the point of the harpoon on my backside, when, with a sudden oath, Captain Mitchell, slipped on the wet cobblestones and fell face-first onto a pile of recently deposited steaming horse droppings. I took advantage of this sudden break by quickly turning into a darkened alleyway leading down to the docks. I searched for a haven where I could hide from the wrath of my pursuer, but the docks were devoid of any piles of cargo or another shelter.

I could see a long line of darkened ships tied up in a row along the jetty. No sign of any crew. I assumed they were all at the inn for their evening meal. At random, I picked the third ship in the line and quietly climbed the gangplank to the main deck. A wooden staircase led below decks through an open hatchway.

I descended into a large open storeroom containing numerous sets of canvas sails. I burrowed beneath a pile of the damp sails, lying quietly, trying to control the violent beating of my heart and the sounds of my frantic breathing.

I heard Betsy's father cursing at the top of his lungs as he banged the side of each ship with his harpoon. When he paused beside the ship where I was hiding, he shouted, "Come out, you little weasel and face the music."

Although I was frightened, I tried to stifle my laughter. Captain Mitchell smelled so bad from his unfortunate encounter with the horse droppings that the noxious odor was drifting aboard through the open portholes.

It took a long time before the angry captain abandoned his search and left the dock. I was exhausted from the events of the day. I didn't want to take a chance to meet him again until he had cooled down long enough for me to explain what I was doing in the hayloft with Betsy.

I decided to stay in place until daybreak and then work out some plan to get things back to normal. I smiled at the memory of the unexpected and enthusiastic kiss I received from Betsy. I pulled the canvas sail up over my head, held her silver locket gently in my right hand, and fell into a deep slumber.