He steadied himself and rose. His gaze searched and met that of Josè Silva, a Portuguese sailor who’d been with the crew of the Robin Hood almost from the start. “Mr. Silva,” Nick said, his voice raspy. “I’m sorry. It’s Maria.” And then, though his first instinct was to cover her with his coat, to hide her from view, he also understood Silva’s need to see her. To know she was really gone.
Nick moved aside, and Silva, face stricken, moved forward. “Maria?” His intake of breath was sudden and sharp. “No!”
Nick moved away as the man bent and murmured in quiet Portuguese. Nick had his own demons to confront now. He moved forward, higher up the rise. Several of the men followed him, terror shining in the whites of their eyes. Nick was certain he looked no better, no braver. He pushed the last branch aside and moved into the sunlight at the peak of the hillock they’d crested.
“Holy Mary, Mother of God,” Red, who was behind him, breathed.
Nick closed his eyes, but no prayers would come.
ASHLEY PACED THE BOW of the ship, her gaze never leaving the barren beach of Isla de las Riquezas. Nick had disappeared and nothing but the leaves on the palm trees moved now. All was silent. Mr. Chante stood with his spyglass to his eye, but he neither moved nor spoke. The rest of the men were at their battle stations, tense and silent.
“Mrs. Cap’n,” Chante said without turning to look at her. “I gave orders for you to go below.”
“And I told you I’m ignoring those orders.” She paused, turned, paced the length of the bow again. “I also told you to call me Ashley.”
“I too can ignore,” he said. He lowered the spyglass, wiped his brow, and stared at the beach. She stopped pacing, pausing beside him in hopes that he would offer to allow her to look through it. She’d asked and been rebuffed three times already. Perhaps the fourth time would persuade him.
“Doan ask again,” he said. “There’s nothing to see. Not yet.”
“Surely if the Barbary pirate’s men were on the island we would have heard something by now, wouldn’t we? Shouts or the sound of a pistol firing?”
Chante nodded.
“Then what is taking so long? They’ve been gone hours.”
“Not so long,” he said, spyglass to his eye again. “It may be Yussef is not the worst thing they find.”
Ashley swallowed. “The captain told me that women and children live on the island. What would Yussef do to them if he found them?”
Chante shrugged. “Kill dem. Take dem prisoner. He can sell the women and children in the slave markets at Gibraltar. Get a good price too.”
Ashley shuddered. “I imagine death is preferable to that.”
Chante lowered the glass and looked directly at her. His dark eyes were hard, those of a canny hunter. “You doan know nothing about it.”
Ashley lowered her gaze, but she could not allow the moment to pass. Chante was speaking to her. This was her chance. “Do you have anyone on the island?”
“Why doan you ask me the question you really want?”
She rolled her eyes. And she’d always thought she valued directness. “Fine. Who does Nick have on the island? Who is he worried about?”
“Why doan you ask him? Oh, but I know the likes of you.” He folded his arms over his chest. “You asked and he won’t say.”
Ashley turned away from him and began her pacing again. “I do not know why I even bother.”
“You can’t help it, little gazelle.”
She scrunched her nose at him. “Oh, how sweet—endearments.” She studied the land again, staring so hard she felt she could almost make Nick appear.
“A gazelle is the favorite food of lions. You have no patience to hunt. You are no lion. That is hardly a compliment.”
Ashley bit her lip and stared at the island. Her throat was dry and her lips chapped. She should go below and drink a half pitcher of water, but she did not want to leave the bow. “But gazelles must be fast or else the lion would always win the day.” She looked at Chante. “Even we prey have our tricks.”
“Doan I know it.”
She opened her mouth to ask what he meant when a man clinging to the bowsprit like a monkey called down. Chante lifted the spyglass to his eye in a fluid motion and Ashley moved to the ship’s rail. Nothing. Nothing...there!
“It’s the Cap’n,” Chante said.
