L. Meyer - Bloody Jack - Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary Jacky Faber, Ship's Boy

I light my candle and look over at my Bible but pick up instead Moll Flanders, which I borrowed from the midshipmen's berth and say to myself I'll only read a little and then I'll do the Bible assignment. The middies got some pretty interesting books, the naughty boys. I'm settling in but then I hear a tap on the bars of the little window. What...

It's Davy. I blow out the candle.

"Shushh ... talk real low," I says, getting up and standing under the grating. "What's happened ... how's Jaimy ... what's—"

"Back in jail again, Jacky? My, my," says Davy, all full of himself for having snuck on the ship undetected and so full of news that he can barely contain himself. "Seems you've spent more time in here than any of us. It's proper, though, you bein' a connivin' deceiver and liar and all."

"Davy...," I hisses.

"All right, Jacky, calm yerself." He clears his throat. "Well, right after you got hung and we all charged up the beach, yellin' like banshees and swingin' our cutlasses and bangin' our guns with Jaimy in the lead—or I should say Mr. Fletcher, him bein' made midshipman about the same time you was but he didn't get to enjoy it none, you bein' dead and all—and anyways, Jaimy runs straight through the pirates' line and cuts you down with one swipe of his sword and you crumpled on down to the ground, all loose-jointed like you didn't have no bones, and you know the rest of that part, but you don't know that the pirates were all killed, LeFievre, too, except for a few who were real happy to tell us where their loot was stashed. There's tons and tons of it, Jacky, all gold and silver and jewels, and we're rich again, Jacky. The Captain is so happy, he's forgivin' you for bein' a girl and you're to get a full midshipman's share o' the plunder."

He pauses. "You did hear what they're gonna do with you?" I reply that I had.

"Sorry, Jack. Anyway there's more. After the pirates are buried—'cept for LeFievre's head, which we're goin' to hang from the bowsprit when we go into port as a warnin' to other pirates, neat, hey?—well, right after that, Jaimy goes up to Bliffil and slaps him across the face and calls him out! Right! He challenges him to a duel with swords to avenge the beatin' o' you. I guess the Captain's rule about no duelling amongst the midshipmen don't apply when the ship is far away and anyway he don't say nothin' against it. Calm down, Jacky, he's all right. Anyways, Bliffil weasels out and won't fight and ever'one sees that he won't and the Captain is going to put him off at the next port 'cause the Captain found out that Bliffil hung back by the boat when the fight was going on and he's to receive no share of the loot! How's that for justice!

"The fixin' o' the ship is goin' real fast, and they expect to be done in a few days. Everyone's comin' back now 'cause we've got enough wood, so Jaimy'll be here tomorrow, and Tink and I are now rated Ordinary, and didn't I have the best time in your camp!"

Chapter 45

So it is to be Boston. After all this time of wondering where I would finally be put off, it is to be there, the home of the bean and the cod. Well, it is a seafaring town and maybe I'll be able to find my little ship there, after I'm finished off at the finishing school, which is the Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls. So maybe I'll get to be one after all. A lady, that is.

Not that I have much say in the matter. When Tilly comes back on board, I go to see him and say, "Why do I have to go to this school? I have money now and I want to marry James Fletcher and he wants to marry me and why can't we?

He says, "Because you're too young. The Doctor says you're probably about fifteen years old at the outside and therefore have not reached your majority and have no rights, and furthermore, you are female, which means you have even fewer rights. Besides, the Captain has obligations to Mr. Fletcher's parents and marriage to you is not in it."

"But Mr. Tilden, why can't I just be given my prize money and be put off? I've been looking after myself for my whole life now and I believe I'm qualified to continue doing it."

"I'm afraid the matter is settled, Miss," he says, primly. I think I make him nervous in my new femaleness. He looks over his spectacles at me. "The Schoolmistress is personally known to me. She is a fine upstanding Puritan lady. You and your money will be safe there. I will convey you to the school when we arrive in Boston."

End of matter.

Everyone came back aboard today. I will not be closeted away, and I browbeat the poor helpless George Marine and Johnny Marine to escort me down to the gangway. I have them stand on either side of me, all beautiful in their uniforms and me in the middle with my new black midshipman's kerchief and my dress whites. I have a Bo'sun's pipe, which I use to pipe everyone aboard, saluting smartly like a proper middie. There's Mr. Lawrence and Liam and the Master and ... there's Jaimy.

He comes towards me and I go towards him, but the Marines step between us.

"Sorry, Miss Faber, but specific orders on this one."

The Captain is the last one to come on board. He returns my salute and orders me below. I think my midshipmanship is over.

It takes some doing, but the Dolphin is off on the tide.

Chapter 46

Bliffil was put off the ship without ceremony in Charleston. Before he left he laid his curse upon Jaimy and me and promised to see us both in Hell.

My poor dear Marines have been replaced with a trio of older men. Major Piggott, the commander of the Marine unit, apparently wasn't pleased with the level of discipline that the former dear boys were able to maintain in the force of my charms. No matter. I found that two of my new grizzled veterans have daughters of my age, so...

I am still entered on the books as a midshipman, since the senior officers consider it a great joke. When I had previously thought the Captain might be mad, I was mistaken. Mr. Lawrence tells me the Captain is the sort to quickly take offense and is a dead shot and has fought several duels already and left the other fellow the worse off for it, so no one is liable to be cheeky, to his face at least. "Plus," says Mr. Lawrence, "you've made him rich beyond all dreams of avarice, so he don't care."

I, however, do not consider my rank a joke. I wheedled Deacon Dunne into writing out my commission all fair and legal-like and he goes along with it, what could it hurt? The Deacon likes the idea of the prize money, too. It'll buy him a nice little parish up-country and he'll never have to go to sea again. I put the commission in my sea chest with my other things. Davy, on that first night when he brought his news, also brought me back my shiv and my other clothes, and so all I own is now in the trunk. Except for my share of the prize.

I get visited by the officers, but neither the midshipmen nor the sailors are allowed to see me. Especially not Jaimy. Or so they think.

Late at night, when the moon is bright and when the Marine is off to sleep, Jaimy creeps to my grating and through it we whisper. I have found chinks in the wall for handholds and toeholds, and I can climb up high enough so that I can leap up and grab the grating. Hanging there I slowly chin myself up, and through the bars we can bring our lips together for a moment till my arms start to quiver and weaken and I have to drop back down.

We left Charleston a week ago and the winds have been generally fair and so we're one day from Boston. I, who have been kept locked down for the entire time since we refloated the Dolphin, have finally been invited to dine with the officers and midshipmen. I suppose they figure I can't do too much damage now.

Now that I have a brush, I have experimented with my hair, which comes down to below my shoulders, and I believe that tonight, my last night on the Dolphin, I will wear it swept up, as that makes me look a little bit older. I have an old broken piece of comb to hold it in place. There. Like that. And tonight I shall wear my blue dress for the first time. I start to make myself ready.