Page 34 of Miss Whittier Makes a List
She kept him awake through that watch, and through the next night, telling him the same stories over and over until she wanted to cry at his exhaustion. The pumps clanged and sucked, and the seamen dragged themselves from pumps to sails, and then to the carpenter to continue their puny efforts below decks to keep out the rest of theAtlantic.
And then there was no more use in trying. Mr. Futtrellburst into her cabin one foggy morning and shook her awake.“Miss Whittier!”he hollered as though she stood half a ship’s length away.“We must get into the boats! Captain’s orders!”
She grabbedLansing’s cloak and ran topside. They stillfloated, but as she watched, the Marines carried the wounded onto the deck and lowered them over the side with ropes. Her hand to her mouth, Hannah ran to the ship’s railing and looked down at the water, which was so much closer. Two little boats bobbed there, tied fast to theDissuade.The surgeon balanced himself in one of them, receiving the wounded.“Come down the rope, Hannah,”be called.“I want you in this other gig.”
She looked at the quarterdeck, where Captain Spark watched her.“No,”she said.“I won’t, and thee cannot make me.”
“Do it, Hannah,”Spark said, nothing in his voice of compromise.“I want the wounded and you and Adam in the boats. We’re lowering the launch and the dinghy, too, and you will all be tied to the ship. We willstay together as long as the ship floats, but it’s safer this way.”
Then Adam was at her side.“It’s the wisest thing, Hannah. This way, when the ship sinks, we can just cut loose.”He pattedher shoulder.“Besides all that, Captain Spark thinks we will raise theAzoreswhen this fog lifts.”
‘Thank God,”she murmured, and grasped the rope that the bosun held for her. She was swung down into the other boat with the wounded and settled herself into the bottom, taking one of the men in herarms. He looked at her through eyes cloudy with pain, then closed them again and relaxed against her. Adam was soon beside her in the launch.
“When this fog lifts, I think the wind will freshen,”he told her, his eyes on the deck above them.“And then I think Captain Spark will finally crowd on all sail.”He grinned at Hannah.“We could be in for aNantucketsleigh ride. Is thee ready?”
She nodded, thinking of her brother Matthew and his tales of racing in small boats alongside a harpooned whale. She pulled the wounded sailor closer to her and tucked the blanket around his still form.“Adam, I thought to live a quiet life onNantucket.”
Adam laughed.“I never thought thee would, Hannah. Not once. There is something about thee ....”Hepaused as Captain Spark’s head appeared over the railing, a pouch in his hand.
“Andrew, take this,”he called to the surgeon busy in the other boat.“Put it in your medicine satchel.”He tossed the captured dispatch in its bag to the surgeon.“If you can keep it, fine, but if it is indanger of discovery,you must destroy it.”
‘I’ll not fail you this time. Daniel,”the surgeon said quietly as he put away the dispatch.
“You’ve never failed me, Andrew,”said the captain.“Iwish to God you would not speak so.”He leaned on the railing as though he wanted to say more,but suddenly he raised his head, sniffing the air.“By God, the fog is lifting, and damned if I don’/span>t feel a breeze.”He blew a kiss to Hannah.“Tally-ho, Lady Amber. I’llseeyou in Terceira, or be damned.”
Hannah looked at Adam,a question in her eyes.
“It’s the largest island in theAzores,”he explained,his eyes on the sails for a sign of the wind Spark prophesied.“Captain Spark’s been moving through this fog by dead reckoning. Hannah, he’s quite a navigator.”
“Then what?”she asked.“I know you have been planning something.”
He scooted closer to her.“We’ll surrender with the wounded, and ask to be taken to the commandant in charge, French or Portuguese.”
She looked behind her at the other two launches, which were still empty and tied to the stem of theDissuade.“Who goes in those?”
“As many sailors and Marines as they cancarry, and they won’t be heading for the harbor, but somewhere else on the island.”He looked at the quarterdeck, and the captain who was no longer in sight.“Captain Spark means to give them a merry chase.”
Hannah sighed.“I wish I were not afraid.”
They sat another half hour, bobbing on a calm sea, and then the fog lifted as though raised all at once by a giant hand. Hannah gasped at the sight before them. It was Terceira, rising out of theAtlanticlike the welcome beacon it was.Adam couldn’t hide his admiration.“He may be an Englishman and a damned rascal, but I defy any Yankee skipper to call that landfall any better!”He touched Hannah’s shoulder.“But isTerceirafriend of foe?”
At a sharp command from Mr. Futtrell, the sailors raced into the rigging as the wind picked up, stationing themselves along the footropes for his command. At a signal from Captain Spark, who manned the helm,the sails in the upper yards dropped with a boom, and theDissuadeperked up for one last attempt. The little boats tied alongside jerked forward and Hannah grabbed for the gunwhale and took a firm grip. Adam stuck his hand in the back of her trousers and braced his feet against the floorboards.
It was a gallant effort by theDissuade.The sinking shipcrownedon all sail and beat its way to the harbor’s entrance, picking up speed until they were skimming over the water. Adam looked up at the sleek commerce raider, wounded but gallant to the end, struggling through the sea.“Thank God the tide runs in our favor,”he said, shouting over the slap of the water.“What a ship, Hannah!”
They reached the harbor entrance, and Hannah stared at the stone fort, trying to determine what flag flew from the pole. She could not tell; they were too far away.
“Ahoy all boats!”
Mr. Futtrell hung in the riggings of theDissuade,the speaking trumpet to his lips.“Cut all cables! Good luck and good hunting!”
Adam reached over and cut through the cable that tethered their small boat to theDissuade.Picking his way among the wounded,he hurried forwardto the small sail and raised it,calling to Hannah over his shoulder.“Take the tiller!”
She scrambled to do as he said, grateful down to her bare feet that Papaad insisted that his only daughter, the child of an island, knew how to handle a small boat. And thee taught me to swim,she thought, as the wind caught the sail and she leaned against the tiller. They rocketed past the final pit of land that sparedTerceira’s harbor from the brunt of the Atlantic swells. Hannah looked behind her to see the two launches in the stem of theDissuadecut across to the Atlantic side.
TheDissuadewas sinking now. Hannah looked back in alarm as the frigate turned bow down into the water and began a slow death spiral.“Jump!”she whispered fiercely, her hands clenched into fists. She watched, her heart in her throat, as the remaining men who could not fit into the small boats leaped off the rising stem.
“Can you seethe captain?”she asked Adam anxiously.“Or Mr. Futtrell?”
