Page 4 of Miss Whittier Makes a List
Spark read them quickly and nodded. He looked back at another officer still on the deck of theDissuade.“Mr. Lansing, have we need of any others?”
“Two more, sir,”Lansing holleulle.
His hands clasped behind his back, the captain walked up and down in front of the remaining Americans. Hestopped in front of one sailor,Nantucketborn and bred, and nodded to his lieutenant. The Marine grabbed the man and dragged him to the railing as he protested and tried to dig with his bare feet into the deck.
“By God,”muttered Captain Winslow, his face white.
Captain Spark continued his stroll of the neck, stopping at last before Winslow’s own son.“This one,”he said to his lieutenant.
Captain Winslow leaped forward, shouting, as the young man cried out.“By God, sir, that is my own son! And this his first voyage! Has thee no heart?”
“None whatsoever, Captain Winslow. Take him aboard,”the captain snapped.“Terms of enlistment are up when this ship docks inPortsmouth, and not one moment before.”He tipped his hat to Captain Winslow, who was held back in the iron grip of his bosun.
The impressed seamen were quickly bundled over the side and hauled up onto the other deck. Captain Winslow dropped to his knees and wept, his head in his hands. It was more than Hannah could bear. She jumped up again and ran to the British captain, who waited to reboard his vessel. She grabbed hisarms andtried to pull him around.
“Thee cannot do this! Have we no rights?”She tugged his arm, but he was anchored fast to the deck and would not budge.
“You have no rights,”he said quietly.“None whatsoever. You belong to an impertinent nation that will soon be afailed experiment. Let go of my arm.”
She did as he said and wiped her streaming eyes with her sleeve.“I wish thee to hell, sir,”she said, her voice as quiet as his and more fierce.
“Well I won’t go, Miss Spitfire,”he replied.
To her utter amazement, he grabbed her by the mass of hair on the back of her neck, hauled her close, picked her up, and kissed her. Her feet dangled off the deck and she grabbed onto him to take the pain off her hair, while he kissed her once, and then again more thoroughly. She clung to him, her head on fire, and tried to speak, even as he kissed her a third time, completely in command of the situation. Wild-eyed with fury, she stared at him, noting even in her rage how improbably long his eyelashes were. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.
And then it was over. He set her back on the deck and released her hair.“I haven’t had that pleasure in two years,”he said softly. He stepped aside quickly in case she should strike out.“May I add that you needn’t improve upon a finething?”
He sprang to the railing, hisarmdraped gracefully in the rigging to maintain his balance, and then leaped across the space between the ships as his men laughed and cheered.
“Release the grappling hooks,”he ordered, and then looked at his first mate, who wiped tears of laughter from hiseyes.“Wearthe ship, Mr. Lansing, lively now.”
As she watched in total humiliation and stunning fury, the sailors on the opposite ship grinned at her and released the grapples from theMolly’smutilated railing. The vessels moved apart quickly. Captain Winslow joined her at the railing and put his arm tight about her shoulder. He was shaking, and his face was as gray as aNantucketwinter sky.“Oh, lass,”was all he could manage as the ships swung apart and the Marines climbed down from the riggings.
But there was Captain Spark on his quarterdeck again, a speaking trumpet to his mouth.“A word, Captain Winslow.”
In pointed disgust, Winslow turned his broad back on the British officer.
“I advise you to douse your running lights tonight,”called Captain Sir Daniel Spark.“The French are out and seem not to be asking questions before they open fire.”
Winslow said nothing. At a word from his bosun, the remaining sailors fell to the ropes to continue their course towardCharleston.
“It’s good advice,”Spark called out, his voice much farther away now.“Goodday, Miss Quaker. I hope we meet again.”
“Impertinentbastard Englishman,”Winslow said, his voice drained of all emotion. He hugged Hannah close.“What am I ever going to tell my wife? She did not want Adam to go on this voyage.”
Dinner that night was eaten in silence. Winslow toyed with his mutton and biscuit, then set his fork down, defeated. He bowed his head over his plate in silence until Hannah touched hisarm. With an effort he looked at her, and pushed the plate away.“We’ll be inCharlestontomorrow night, Hannah,”he said, speaking for the first time, his eyes staring down again.“And then I do not know what to do.”
“Captain, surely Adam will be all right, once that abominable ship docks inEngland,”Hannah said.
“If he gets there alive. Thee does not know what happens on a British warship. I do not suppose there is a harder service anywhere.”
The other ship’s officers at the table nodded in agreement.“Why do ye think so many jump ship?”asked one of them of no one in particular.“Adam’s a tender lad, and those jailbirds on the gun deck are a rough lot.”
Hannah shook her head and put her finger to her lips, and the man was silent. The captain finally raised his eyes to the others. He rose as the bosun on deck whistled for the night watch.
“Are you going to douse the running lightslike that wretched captain said?”one of them asked.
“No,”was Captain Winslow’s brief reply. He trudged from the cabin, and in another moment, they heard his footsteps on the deck above.
