Саймон Бествик - The Devil and the Deep - Horror Stories of the Sea

Captain Thomas’s brow furrowed. “Sir,” he said to Red-beard. “Why have you drawn your weapon?”

At that moment, Black-beard came out from between the rumps of Calico Girl and Bird King. He was carrying Uncle JoJim’s shotgun.

“I have a better question,” Black-beard said. “To wit: Just what in hell is that lance of yours? I’ve never seen the like, even among the Injuns. And I may want to buy it.”

Captain Thomas shifted his gaze to Black-beard. And then he smiled, exposing his teeth for the first time.

From where Charley stood, Captain Thomas’s teeth looked as if they had all been filed to sharp points. And they glistened.

“I fashioned this harpoon from the tusk of a narwhal,” Captain Thomas said. “Not that you will know what that is. And it is not for sale.”

Black-beard stepped a few yards closer and raised the shotgun. He pointed it at Captain Thomas’s chest.

“That’s a shame,” he said.

Red-beard spoke then, too. “Joshua, hold the boy.”

Charley had taken a step toward Uncle JoJim. But now Joshua grasped both his wrists and pinned his arms behind his back.

“I’m truly sorry,” Joshua whispered in Charley’s ear. “But I have to do what Pa says.”

Captain Thomas was still holding the charred snake aloft on his narwhal tusk. And he was still grinning his sharp-toothed grin at Black-beard.

“Well,” Captain Thomas said. “Will you do it, or not?”

Black-beard cocked both hammers of the shotgun.

Now Uncle JoJim spoke. “Before you fire,” he said, “I have a request to make of Captain Thomas.”

Black-beard kept the shotgun trained on Captain Thomas, but said, “Go right ahead. For all the good it will do you.”

Uncle JoJim looked at Captain Thomas. “You owe me a small debt, sir. I’ll ask for payment now.”

Captain Thomas kept grinning at Black-beard, but he answered Uncle JoJim. “Proceed, Mister James.”

Uncle JoJim gestured toward the two geldings and the mare that Joshua had tied to the wagon’s rear wheel. “Spare the horses.”

One of Captain Thomas’s shaggy gray eyebrows rose.

“I cannot promise,” he said.

Black-beard gave a growl.

“Enough of your shit,” he said. Then he pulled the shotgun’s front trigger.

A gout of blue and yellow flame spat from the shotgun’s right barrel, and there was a sound like a thunderclap. The shot caught Captain Thomas square in the chest, and he fell backward onto the fire grate. His coat was peppered with black holes over his heart, and two of its brass buttons were gone. The narwhal tusk was still clutched in his right fist.

Charley stared at the dirty, callused soles of Captain Thomas’s feet as the man’s coat began to smolder and his wild hair began to burn.

Overhead, lightning webbed through the storm clouds rolling in from the south.

Black-beard lowered the shotgun. “Damn it to hell,” he said. “Sam, go drag that son of a bitch from the fire. It’s like to burn off his hair, and then that scalp won’t be any use.”

Red-beard stared at Black-beard. “You think I want to get burned any more than you do?”

“Make the Injun do it, then.”

“But you said to kill him once you’d shot the lunatic.”

“Well, sweet Jesus, you haven’t done it yet, have you?” Black-beard said. “So send him over to pull that goddamned carcass away! He does anything but, and we can both shoot him.”

Red-beard took his pistol from Uncle JoJim’s ribs and gave him a shove. “Go on. Bring that Yankee out of there before his hair burns, and maybe you’ll get to live a little longer.”

Uncle JoJim started for the fire. But he gave Charley a sharp look.

“My shotgun has left its scabbard,” he said.

Charley knew what that meant. Uncle JoJim wanted him to jump onto Bird King and ride for home. But how was he supposed to do that? Joshua was holding him tight.

“I feel you pulling,” Joshua whispered. “Just be still, and you’ll be all right. Maybe you can be Pa’s slave.”

Uncle JoJim approached the hot coals and crouched with his arm stretched out. He turned his face away from the heat, wincing, and grasped Captain Thomas’s left ankle.

“Be quick about it,” Black-beard said.

Uncle JoJim leaned away from the fire and yanked Captain Thomas from the grate. The force of it made Uncle JoJim fall to the ground, and Captain Thomas’s feet came to earth on either side of him.

Captain Thomas pivoted upright, his coat and hair enveloped in a halo of smoke. His eyes blazed like coals. His sharp-toothed grin was a twisted rictus.

Black-beard gave a bellow and raised the shotgun again.

At that moment, a white spike of lightning struck the hilltop to the west, and the thunderclap was like the report of a cannon. As the sudden flash illuminated the gully, Captain Thomas’s right arm whipped forward and threw the narwhal-tusk harpoon.

The harpoon stabbed through the air and spiked into Red-beard’s groin. Its point emerged from the seat of his trousers, and Red-beard’s arms flew up. His pistol shot a small flame toward the sky and then fell away. Red-beard collapsed backward, and the point of the narwhal tusk buried itself in the dirt. Red-beard was pinned to the ground with the blackened water moccasin burning against his crotch. His hat rolled away on its crisp brim.

Red-beard’s legs twitched, and his arms flailed. His eyes bulged, and his mouth opened wide. He screamed like a goat being slaughtered.

“Pa!” Joshua cried. He released Charley’s wrists and started toward Red-beard.

Black-beard gave a bellow and raised the shotgun, once again aiming at Captain Thomas. He pulled the second trigger, but nothing happened.

Captain Thomas, his coat and hair smoking, stepped over Uncle JoJim toward Black-beard.

Black-beard dropped the shotgun and fumbled in his belt for his pistol.

Uncle JoJim was giving Charley another look.

Charley spun and ran back to where Calico Girl and Bird King were tied. He jerked on Calico Girl’s reins to free their slipknot from the wheel spoke, then yanked the end of the rope to free that slipknot as well. Then he jumped up, grasped Bird King’s mane, and pulled himself onto the stallion’s back.

Bird King jumped backward and wheeled, and the end of the rope whipped into the air. Charley slapped Calico Girl’s rump as they passed, and she began to wheel as well.

As Bird King galloped past Black-beard, the rope snapped into the man’s wrist, and his pistol whirled away into the fire. Black-beard shouted, then ran for the three tied horses.

Captain Thomas, still smoking and grinning, changed direction and kept walking toward Black-beard.

Charley tugged Bird King’s mane to bring him to a halt beside Uncle JoJim, who was getting to his feet.

“Calico Girl is free,” Charley said.

Uncle JoJim gave him a fierce glare. “Why have you stopped? Do as I said!”

Charley began to shake his head. He didn’t want to be disrespectful, but he had no intention of leaving until Uncle JoJim was on Calico Girl and could leave with him.

But Uncle JoJim slapped Bird King’s neck and shouted, “ Yicí! ”

Bird King leaped away and charged up the hill to the north. Charley tugged on his mane to stop him, but the horse paid no attention. Uncle JoJim had told Bird King to go home. And Bird King had learned to obey Uncle JoJim in Kanza before Charley had ever spoken a word to him in English.

All Charley could do was look back as Bird King ran across the hilltop and down the other side, watching for Uncle JoJim and Calico Girl to appear behind them. A deep red glow burned at the western horizon as the sun began to vanish, but the sky above Charley had turned purple. Black thunderheads filled the sky to the south and were swallowing the purple as they advanced. Streaks of lightning shot through the thunderheads, and a few jagged spikes zigzagged down to strike the earth. Thunder rumbled and growled, and the wind became a constant hiss through the grass.