Jane Orcutt - All the Tea in China

“Oh my!” Mrs. Akers swooned again.

“We’ll probably drown anyway, for we are below the water line,” Mrs. Harrison said dolefully. “All they have to do is sink the ship.”

“You are a cruel liar, Miss Whipple,” Mrs. Akers cried. “That sailor gave you the sword so that we might kill ourselves, lest we be ravished!”

A sound like thunder cracked overhead. Mrs. Akers and Mrs. Harrison screamed. Julia and I reached for each other. My heart pounded, but I tried to keep a steady voice. “It is only cannon fire, ladies. I am certain that we will be well.”

“Allez! Allez!”

A voice rang out from the top of the stairs, then I had a quick view of thick black boots and faded gray-striped pants. A swarthy Frenchman brandished a cutlass as he descended the steps. A privateer!

He stopped, apparently surprised to find us instead of the ship’s treasure, then grinned. “Bon soir, mesdames et mesdemoiselles.” He bowed with a flourish, sweeping his red stocking cap from his head.

Mrs. Akers screamed. “Mercy!”

Seized with panic, my heart in my throat, I ripped the sword from Julia’s hands and brandished it. “Partez, vous chien français!”

Straightening from his bow, he smiled at me. “So you speak French? I speak a little English myself.” He stepped forward. “But my heart breaks that you think me a dog.”

I held out the sword, its tip pointed directly at his heart. “I would stand back were I you,” I said in a low voice.

Glancing at my sword, he grinned then turned and walked back to the stairs, calling up the hatch. “Mes copains! Venez ici-c’est les dames!”

“What did he say?” Julia whispered.

“He’s telling his friends there are ladies down here.”

She stepped to my side, smoothing her skirt. “Let me handle them. I’m well acquainted with desperate men.”

“No!” I pushed her back, gripping the sword while I used my free arm to shield the other ladies. Think, Isabella! What strategy should I employ?

Julia’s eyes shone with admiration, but she gripped my arm. “Would you defend us? You’ll be killed!”

“You will get us killed!” Mrs. Akers cried.

Mrs. Harrison sank to a barrel and sipped from a small brown bottle.

Three other scraggly looking privateers clomped down the stairs and joined their cohort. Their eyes lit with pleasure when they saw we four ladies. Julia stepped forward again, smiling. “I won’t fight you,” she said, lifting her chin. “Leave the other ladies alone.”

The three newcomers looked at Red Cap for translation. He rapidly repeated her words in French. One with dark curly hair and a full beard smiled and moved forward, but I held out the sword. “Arretez!”

The stocking-capped privateer laughed. “She’s feisty. That one is mine.”

The sword felt heavier in my hands than that to which I was accustomed, but I gripped it with all my strength. “I am not yours nor are any of these ladies. I order you to leave.”

“Allez!” The bearded one scowled and jerked Julia by the wrist, brandishing his sword in my direction.

Despite her previous bravado, Julia screamed. The pirate pulled her to his side and planted noisy kisses on her face. The other men laughed.

“Show your opponent no mercy,” Signor Antonio had drilled into me, and I heeded his words without hesitation. Into the gap between the pirate’s sword arm and his hold on Julia, I thrust my sword in his midsection. He released her, stared at me in amazement, then fell to the deck, writhing.

“Robert!” One of the privateers rushed to aid the wounded man, but the other two turned to me. Anger replaced their amused expressions, and they moved closer, cutlasses brandished. Julia instinctively scurried to my side, and behind the protection of my out-thrust sword we backed toward the other ladies.

“That was not wise, mademoiselle,” Red Cap said. “I must cut your pretty face in repayment.” Then he proceeded to tell me what else he would do.

I do not mind revealing that I was more frightened than I had ever been in my life. I had had the element of surprise with the distracted pirate, but I would now have to rely on skill and strategy. Could I fight two men at once? I had never done so.

More men raced down the stairs, and my heart pounded. It is over. My foolishness will get us killed.

To my surprise I saw Phineas fighting backward down the stairs. He carried no weapon, yet he used his hands and feet, punching and kicking, to first knock the sword from a pirate’s hands then to knock him down the stairs to the deck. Another combatant took the first one’s place, and Phineas prevailed over him, as well. The pirate landed in a heap beside the first.

The two privateers menacing us turned toward Phineas. He was prepared, however, kicking the swords from their hands then punching them before they could defend themselves. They lay on the ground, moaning.

He saw me, and I was about to raise the sword in triumph when he barely had time to yell before another privateer was upon him. “Isabella! Take care behind you!”

I whirled around to face the pirate who had tended the wounded man. He held his cutlass at a deadly angle, slashing through the air as though to warn me. I suddenly realized that I had never actually fought Signor Antonio with the button removed from the tip of my sword.

I parried his thrust and could tell from his slashing that he fought with a great deal of drink inside him. He leered at me, his eyes rheumy with alcohol. I could not afford to let him tire himself out as would be my normal method. Though inebriated, he would fight too long and hard and would take risks that might work to his advantage. I hastily prayed for guidance and strength, then feinted, ducked, and after he followed through, drove my blade into his sword arm.

Cursing, he dropped the weapon and sank to his knees. Phineas rushed beside me, kicked him in the head, laying my opponent flat on the deck. We had barely a moment before we were beset by another miscreant, but between us, we sent him to join his companion.

We stared at one another, breathing heavily during the respite. I could not believe a man could fight the way Phineas had. Not a weapon did he have, save for his body, yet he had defended himself-and me-quite handily.

Mrs. Akers sobbed loudly, and even Julia had given herself to loud tears.

“Listen!” Still panting, Phineas held up his hand. “The cannons have stopped firing.” He turned to the ladies. “Are you all to rights?”

Mrs. Akers could not stop bawling. Mrs. Harrison had nodded off with her head against a stack of barrels. The pirate I had dueled lay sprawled against a spilled sack of grain, completely still.

“I’ll take care of Mrs. Akers and Mrs. Harrison,” Julia said, wiping the tears from her face. “Go above and see what has happened.”

I looked at the still pirate and felt my knees buckle. “I… I should stay to help.”

“Go above with Phineas,” Julia said softly. “We will be well.”

Phineas took my hand and led me up the ladder. When we reached the deck, I smelled gunpowder. I tried not to focus on the prone and bloodied men on the deck, some of whom I felt certain were dead.

Smoke clung to the air around us. I could barely discern a much smaller French ship alongside the Dignity. The corsair sat so low in the water that its masts aligned with our deck. The pirate crew must have dropped onto our ship from their top masts, for one or two men still attempted to board. One landed right in front of me, knocking Phineas and me to the deck. I held on to my sword and staggered to my feet, breathing hard. The villain grappled with me for a moment then drew back in shock. “C’est une dame!” The sight of the fairer sex wielding a sword must have frightened him, for he took another look at me and raced in the opposite direction, only to be caught by one of the Dignity seamen.