"Cast off the shore. Master that horizon! If you're not working the sheets and rigging, grab a bucket and scrub the deck. I won't have any sailors lolling about waiting to get their next ration of rum!" The captain gave a sharp kick to my shin and continued his walk about the deck. I tightened my bandana and wiped the crusted blood which stuck to my hands.
"Quite a night last night, eh?" Syd clumped over to me. I nodded. He had seen a lot of action throughout his years, and I wasn't one to disagree with my elders.
"It was somethin' else." I ran my hand down my leg and felt the beaut of a scar beginning to seal up. "They could've used me in the fight though, 'stead of handin' me a bag and making me follow around Amos. He smells like the head on a windless day."
"Amos is like all of us seamen. All he can smell is land and the lack of it." Syd shook his head, "Once you've lived as long as me on this infernal ocean, you get to realizin' everything that's anything is set solid on good dry land. And you have much more to worry about than seeing action."
"I hope you don't mind if I don't believe you." It really gets me when a man like Syd doesn't appreciate sailing, cussing, fighting, living on this beautiful blue abyss. All I can smell is the sea, blood, and gold. Syd wouldn't understand.” I sloshed the horsehair brush in the bucket of blackened water.
"You'll find out in your own time. I hope it's before you're too old to settle down..." Syd's eyes closed and his head flopped back against the mast. His face was wrinkled and discolored, but in my own way I loved the man. I propped his feet so he wouldn't roll off deck. Captain Splint wouldn't see him here, and, if he did, Syd got enough last night to garner a little immunity.
I got up and went to get more water. The wind was salty and cut at my face. But it was a friendly caress even yet. I would never get tired of the sea's kiss, though it would turn my skin like Syd's soon enough. My vest flapped against my back, opening in front and letting the wind blow through my thin shirt onto my chest.
"Want to know something?" A cabin boy sauntered in with an arrogant air which made the wind feel shy in comparison. "You're a..."
I slugged him. Overdue, I thought. The first mate grabbed me by the back of the collar. "Wiley Riley... Up to some mischief again I see?"
"If you keep me out of the action, I'm bound to explode on somebody. Ain't part of our breed to play nice."
"Our breed? By that I assume you mean little scamps who don't know their place." With that he silenced me adding on a distinct glare. I knew the drill- hours more of scrubbing the deck and dishes in the hot galley.
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I looked up from the galley. I noticed something odd. Silence. Still silence. Why had the rabble rousing, beer sloshing, carousing noises suddenly stopped? If the captain was shouting orders, surely I would hear his distinctive thump-thump pacing.
What if there are other people on board? My pulse quickened at the thought. There was no way I could stay down there another instant. I would have to chance getting caught.
I balanced on the ladder to the deck and peered through the door in the ceiling. There were men in uniforms standing all about the deck. I could see their guns were out and their swords sheathed close at hand. I almost shouted with joy. We had been captured. I was their only hope!
I dropped the door back into place and scrambled down to a lower part of the ship. Hidden in the lower decks, past the hammocks in the sleeping quarters, the best room of the ship lay protected from invaders like the men who were upstairs. I lifted the huge bolt on the door and stepped inside. My eyes adjusted to the blackness quickly. I was good in the dark. The darkness made all people equal.
I picked a few choice items and lashed them with rope around my waist. I went up to the gun deck and squeezed my head around one of the cannons. The sea snapped viciously below. The other ship was a few lengths away. The name was "The Audacity". I remembered being told she was a British battleship. Right above me was a rope which lashed the two boats together. There was a plank which the men must have walked across on, but I wouldn't quibble about such luxuries. I had been practicing my climbing and this was the only way my plan was possible.
I pushed the cannon back a few inches so I could fit the rest of my body through the side of the ship. I balanced on my hands, hanging upside down, and wrapped my legs around the rope. The rest was done quite easily shimmying up the rope to the other ship. My, she was yar! I couldn't worry about the men holding my own crew captive for I was a captive of her. I ran my eyes over her like I'd seen the captain eyeing the women in port, but my desire was far more than what one night would satisfy. The Audacity had a deck of polished teak and the ropes were pulled taut and tied around shiny copper fittings. The sails were furled and the anchor down, but I could imagine how majestic she would be in action. What I would give for a ship off my own like her!
Suddenly a bullet lodged itself in the mast by my head. I dove for cover and listened to the conversation on the other ship. "Have you lost your mind, Rodgers?" A quick nervous voice reprimanded.
"No, sir, Lieutenant. I saw a boy on our ship. Probably stowing away, trying to escape."
"There's nothing that is going to keep us from completing this mission, Rodgers. Nothing." There was a pause. "Pull yourself together man! We cannot fail."
Then I did something really stupid. I laughed. I laughed loud and booming which echoed across the two ships. I ducked behind the mast.
"I told you!" Rodgers shouted at his lieutenant.
"Men stand by and shoot anyone you see left on The Audacity."
I steadied my nerves and peered out. There were fifty guns trained on the deck, fifty pairs of eyes looking for me. I held out a broom and waved it. There was a gunshot. I looked. I was unharmed but holding nothing.
"Hey you Brits!" I yelled and started untying what I had round my waist.
"You hear that?" I heard someone say with trepidation.
"I say you've got two minutes to leave that ship or I'll blow this one to smithereens." I lit a match and held out the small barrel of black powder I had carried over. "Oops. Maybe a little less than that."
The voice of the lieutenant came, "How much of that do you have boy?"
"Enough," I replied. God grant me grace, I prayed. I tossed the first barrel to the other side of the ship and ducked behind a crate. Shrapnel flew everywhere on The Audacity and I heard a Brit collapse.
"We will evacuate the ship!" The lieutenant cried.
"First untie my captain and his crew. Otherwise you will just capture me as well." The men were soon untied and had gathered up their weapons again. The British had caught us by surprise but we outnumbered them. I dropped the second barrel in the ocean as I clambered off The Audacity onto our ship. The Brits were pretty angry to say the least. We let them go after throwing a few of them into the ocean to cool off.
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After a few weeks things got back to normal. I was no longer the hero, but it wasn't "swab the deck, Riley" or "Riley, go get me some more rum" every few minutes. Of course those orders came, but mainly I was being taught to master the seas myself. Amos taught me about the rigging, Syd taught me how to handle a sword, and I taught myself from books how to navigate and read the seas. Every now and then I couldn't help getting into a bit of trouble though. After all, it is our way.
"Hey, Riley!" The cabin boy looked up at me with a devilish grin. "You know what you are!"
"You never know when to stop do you?" I shook my head.
"You're a..." After fist and face collided, he fell silently to the floor.
"Yeah, I know, genius. I'm a girl."