Page 63 of The Pirate Lord
“Time for what? For you to tell them how they’d be happier as servants in that godforsaken New South Wales?”
“To prepare themselves to be good wives. Unhappy women don’t make good wives, whether you realize it or not.”
A sudden inspiration came to her. He was always talking of how they would make Atlantis into a real community, a place they could all be proud of. Well, they needed the women for that, didn’t they? “Of course, perhaps you don’t care if they’re good wives. As long as they’re good . . . bed companions, I don’t suppose it matters if they do their share of the work on Atlantis or not.”
A thunderous scowl crossed Gideon’s face as her meaning registered. “You know quite well it matters.”
She gave a calculated shrug. “Not to them. Why should they put their backs into making a place better when they haven’t even been allowed any liberties? They’re being forced to take husbands from men who’ve spent their lives as criminals, who suddenly claim to desire an honest life. Yet those same men show no concern for what they think or feel. They care only about having their own needs met.”
Even Silas bristled at that one, and Gideon’s eyes blazed as he said in an undertone, “You go too far, Sara.”
She opened her mouth to answer him, to protest that she hadn’t gone far enough, when a voice cut through the tension.
“Fire!” a man shouted. They turned to see one of the pirates running up the beach, kicking up sand as he went. “Fire in the kitchen!”
Sara and Gideon both swung around. Sara saw it first, a plume of smoke, thin and gray against the dusk light. “Good heavens, itisa fire!” She grabbed at Gideon’s arm.
“Confound it all!” Whirling toward Barnaby, Gideon ordered the first mate to gather the men. “Go to theSatyrand fetch the buckets. And hurry! If the other roofs catch fire, there’ll be no stopping it!”
As Barnaby scurried to do his bidding, Gideon shouted to the other men. Several pirates and women were already coming up the beach, and Sara, Gideon, and Silas led them to the fire at a run.
Beside her, Sara heard Silas mutter, “Please, God, don’t let Louisa be in the kitchen. Anywhere else, but not in the kitchen.” He was scanning the beach as he ran, his expression lined with worry.
They reached the kitchen to find it completely ablaze.
“Louisa!” Silas shouted.
He started for the kitchen door, but Gideon held him back. “You can’t go in there, man! It’s a blasted furnace!”
Suddenly, Louisa appeared beside them and threw herself into Silas’s arms. “I’m all right, I promise,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest as he clutched her tightly, thanking God loudly for saving her. “I wasn’t in the kitchen when it started.”
“We’ve got to put it out before it catches the other huts,” Gideon said.
“Too late for that.” Silas gestured to an adjoining hut, his face grim. A spark from the flaming kitchen had already caught its roof afire. “The weather’s been so dry this week that they’ll all go up like kindlin’.”
“Where are those confounded lads with the buckets?” Gideon swore as he scanned the beach.
Sara followed his gaze, then caught sight of the linens she and the women had hung out to dry earlier that day. Many of the women were already milling around in front of the kitchen, wringing their hands. “Ladies! Go get those linens, soak them in water, and bring them here! And hurry!”
Gideon cast Sara a quick approving glance. “Good idea. We can use them to beat out the fire.” As he took off his shirt and headed for the ocean, he told the remaining men, “Help the women! We’ve got to stop this before it spreads!”
Ann came up beside Sara from out of the crowd. “What about the children, miss? What should we do with them?”
“Take them back to the ship, and keep them there till this is over.”
Ann hurried off, gathering children before her like a hen corralling her chicks.
After that there was no more chance for conversation. They were all too busy filling whatever vessels they could lay their hands on with sea water and tossing it on the fire or soaking linens and using them to beat at the flaming roofs.
Unfortunately, the thatched roofs were very dry and much too high to reach easily. The women could get to the lower edges with their linens, but they couldn’t reach the higher parts. And though the men were taller, even they couldn’t throw the water as high as was necessary to soak the roofs enough to halt the fire. There weren’t nearly enough men to throw the water either, since at least a third of the pirate company was still away at Sao Nicolau.
After hours of dragging buckets up from the ocean and soaking linens to use in beating at the flames, there were ten huts afire and the kitchen had already burned to the ground. Weary in every muscle, Sara picked up a pile of sheets and started back toward the water’s edge.
Gideon grabbed her by the arm. “No. There’s no use.”
She stared at him. The unnatural firelight flickered over his soot-blackened face. The complete desolation in his expression made her ache. He watched the fire with a grim gaze that tugged painfully at her heart.
“Perhaps if we—” she began.
