Dawn on a Distant Shore (36 page)

"How very clever
of you," said Giselle Somerville in a chilly tone. "And what is your
conclusion?"

Curiosity shrugged.
"Money come to mind first. There's some gold around here someplace, and
you'll have heard tell about that. Gold might be useful to you, even if we
ain't."

Giselle smiled thinly.
"As perceptive as you seem to be, you must have recognized already that money
is of little concern to me."

Curiosity shrugged.
"You ain't never been hungry, neither. But that day could come, and you
don't seem the kind to jump without looking. And then agin maybe you don' care
so much about gold as you do about gettin' your way when it comes to men. Showin'
them for the fools they can be. Ain' that so?"

There was a glimmer of
something in Giselle's eyes: satisfaction, or disdain. Curiosity nodded as
though she had spoken out loud.

"I know, truly I
do. Now, maybe it's just your daddy you want to get even with--but I'm wondering
if there's something else. Maybe you got an eye on Nathaniel, ready to make him
pay for what went on all those years ago. Maybe Otter was a part of that plan,
and maybe this a part of it, too. Revenge is right tasty cold, after all.

"So you tell me,
Miss Somerville, if I'm just a stupid old woman too scairt to think straight,
or if you ain't tolt us the real story yet."

Giselle Somerville's
gaze flickered toward Hannah and back again to Curiosity, even as she rose with
a graceful swing of her skirt. "I have some things to consider before we
continue our conversation," she said. "I bid you good day."

When she had closed
the door behind herself, Curiosity turned to Hannah to grasp her hard by both
hands. "Was the
Osiris
the ship that Moncrieff told you
about?"

Hannah jerked in
surprise. "Yes. I'm sure it was."

Curiosity smiled
grimly. "And did Elizabeth take the gold with her when she went to see the
governor?"

"One of the
sacks, yes. She took it from the carry basket at the last minute."

"And the other
sack? When did you see that last?"

Curiosity's expression
was almost more upsetting to Hannah than Giselle Somerville's claims, but she
tried to gather her thoughts.

"My grandfather
had it. Why?"

Curiosity rose to pace
the cabin, her arms crossed hard under her breasts and her chin tucked down in
concentration. Then she stopped, and looked Hannah in the eye. "We ain't
got nothing more than a little silver, then. But listen to me, child, we got to
let her think that we got the gold here with us. Do you hear me?"

Hannah nodded,
confused and distracted. "You don't believe her, do you? You don't think
that Moncrieff--" She hesitated, because she could not say out loud what
she feared might be true, that they might be alone not just on this wide sea,
but that her father and grandfather and Elizabeth were nowhere to be found in
the world at all.

Curiosity shook her
head hard. "No. I don' believe her. That old earl wanted Hawkeye, and
Moncrieff will deliver him if he can. But she's after something else, and I
ain't sure what, yet. She gave away the game, you see, telling us that she's
going to bolt."

"Maybe she
won't," Hannah said. "Bolt, I mean. Maybe she just wanted to see how
we'd react."

"Helping out
Moncrieff, you mean? Spying for him?"

Confused, Hannah shook
her head. "No, I suppose not. She doesn't like him much, does she?"

Curiosity said,
"She ain't easy to read, but there's one thing for sure--what Pickering
has to offer ain't what she got in mind."

"Because of his
face?"

"No, child.
'Cause of his heart."

From the other room came
the humming sounds that meant Lily was struggling up from sleep. In a moment
she would realize that the one person in the world she must have was not with
her, and in her despair she would wake Daniel and then the process of soothing
them would begin all over again.

"She wants
Elizabeth," Hannah said, feeling that truth in her own belly.

Curiosity let out a
sigh and she pulled Hannah to her, hugged her hard. She smelled as she always
did, of lye soap and lavender and of herself, honest Curiosity, strong minded
and gentle hearted. Hannah was loath to let her go, and Curiosity seemed to
know that. She cupped Hannah's cheek in her palm and wobbled her head gently
from side to side. "Don' you lose faith now, you hear me?"

Hannah said, "Do
you think Miss Somerville will come back?"

"Before
sunset," said Curiosity. "What do you want to wager?"

Through the afternoon
they waited. While they ground rice and mixed it with goat's milk and fed the twins,
they waited. The Hakim came and went on his daily business, but by unspoken
agreement they said nothing of Giselle Somerville; they did not know how far
his loyalties reached, and neither of them cared to test him. He made Curiosity
more of his medicine, and then went out once again to take tea with the
captain.

Curiosity could not
sit without some work in her hands and so they took up the sewing, listening
all the while for the sound of a soft step at the door. Hannah pieced together
leggings and tried to remember why it seemed so important just a day ago to put
aside calico and linsey-woolsey for Kahnyen'kehâka dress. The old Tory with his
ragged ears seemed like a dream, or a story she had heard once at the hearth
when elders told tales of the days before the O'seronni came.

Charlie brought tea
and polite inquiries from the captain. They were feeding the babies goat's milk
from a bowl, and he stopped to touch Lily's sticky cheek with one light finger,
smiling in pleasure when she grabbed at his work-hardened hand.

"Tell me,"
Curiosity said to him in a casual tone that made Hannah's ears prick up.
"Is this here
Isis
the only boat the earl calls his own?"

Charlie bristled,
surprised and offended, and began a long inventory of the ships owned by the
Earl of Carryck. He spoke of merchantmen and sloops and cutters as if they
belonged to him personally, and Hannah realized that in a way they were
his--the company was his family, and this ship might be his home for as long as
he lived. It made her sad for him, and vaguely curious, too.

Curiosity seemed less
impressed.

"Uh-huh."
She interrupted him casually, all her attention on the chore of extracting the feeding
spoon from Daniel's fist. "I'm fond of stories myself. But I don' suppose
you ever seen one of them ships, now, have you?"

He stared at her.
"But I have, and no' two days past. The
Osiris
came intae Québec
just as we set sail." As he grew more agitated his careful imitation of
the Hakim's English gave way and his own Scots came bubbling to the surface.

"The
Osiris
?"
Curiosity snorted softly. "That big East Indiaman you told us about? What
would that ship be doing over in Canada?"

Charlie flushed such a
deep color that Hannah almost felt sorry for him, a poor confused mouse to
Curiosity's cat.

"But it was the
Osiris
!
I would ken her anywhere. The earl is always sending ships on errands--did we
no' sail oot o' our way tae Martinique for his cursed ti-nain plants, and hasna
the Hakim been slaving e'er since tae see that they thrive? He'll ha' sent the
Osiris
tae Québec tae fetch a bird he fancies, or the pelt of some strange beast that
canna be bred in Scotland, or some such wastefulness. Is that no' the way o'
rich men?"

"I suppose it
is." Curiosity had a particular smile that she saved for her menfolk when they
had pleased her. Hannah had seen even Judge Middleton duck his head in pleasure
at it, just the way Charlie did now, his ears tinged an earnest red.

"It was the
Osiris
,
Mrs. Freeman, and she's headed hame for the Firth, too. You'll see her
there."

"I expect you
must be right," Curiosity said, shifting Daniel to a more convenient spot
on her lap. "Cain't claim to know too much about ships, anyway, can
I?"

Hannah could barely
keep her surprise or her admiration to herself. Curiosity had put so little work
into finding out what she wanted to know, and Charlie was none the worse for
it, and even pleased to have been of service to her. The
Osiris
was
headed this way, and probably not far behind. A great shudder of relief moved
down her spine. Hannah put her nose to Lily's neck and took a settling breath.

Charlie was at the
door when Curiosity called one more question after him. "Oh, and child,
tell me this. Who are these Campbells I hear tell about now and then? Do you
know of them?"

His expression
darkened with surprise. "Oh, aye. Who doesna ken the Campbells?"

"Friends of the
earl's, are they?"

The question agitated
the boy, for he flushed again to the tips of his ears. "The Campbells
friends to Carryck? They're naught but treacherous hounds, all widdershins tae
honest men."

Curiosity turned to
Hannah as the door fell shut behind him. "I figure that ain't exactly a
compliment."

Hannah had to smile.
"Granny Cora used to tell stories of the clan wars. The sachem called
their men "hounds."" She closed her eyes and reached for the
familiar rhythms of her grandmother's voice. ""Sons o' the hounds,
come and eat flesh"--it's how they were called to battle."

"And they call
your kind barbarians." Curiosity grunted softly. "Now I wonder what
Miss Priss meant about the Campbells being a worry to Carryck." She stood,
lifting Daniel onto her hip, and looked out the window to the rolling sea.

Sunset, and the sea
tugged the light out of the day. With a sleeping Lily in her arms, Hannah leaned
against the wall to watch seabirds wheeling white against a sky of bruised blue
and scarlet. Through the wall of the surgery she could hear the Hakim as he
sang his prayers: he had a hoarse voice and a tin ear and still his chant wound
softly around her like a silk veil. Hannah understood nothing of his language
or of his god, except that they were a comfort to him, so far away from home.
She leaned harder against the wall, held in place by Lily's sleeping weight,
her breath damp and sweet. Behind lids the color of seashells the baby's eyes
darted: even in her sleep she looked for her mother.

Curiosity's humming
stopped, and Hannah roused herself. Over Daniel's sleeping head she saw
Curiosity's face creased in concentration. "Listen," she whispered.

Hannah cocked her head
and closed her eyes, but she could hear only the sea and the creaking of the
ship around her. Nothing of Giselle Somerville. Nothing yet, she corrected herself.

"What is
it?"

Curiosity flapped a
hand. "Listen!"

Hannah closed her
eyes. Overhead, men were moving, as they did so often to change the watch, shift
sails, wash down the deck, haul rope, or look to the hundreds of other chores
that divided the day into its parts. But the ship had her own voice, too, and
it came to Hannah softly, a faint shudder and then a sighing, as a woman sighs
at the end of a long day.

"Are we
slowing?"

Curiosity spread out a
hand, palm up, as if to weigh the question.

From the doorway Hakim
Ibrahim said, "We are heaving-to."

"Stopping?"
Curiosity drew in her breath on a hiss.

The smooth brow under
the Hakim's turban creased. "Not quite, but almost. Perhaps we have lost a
sail." And in response to Curiosity's expression of disbelief: "Such a
loss is not unknown, Mrs. Freeman."

Hannah touched his
sleeve. "Are we near land?"

The Hakim took a
rolled parchment from a cubbyhole in his desk and spread it out for her to see.
Hannah shifted Lily across her chest and brushed the baby's curls out of her
face, leaning forward to look.

"We are not
within sight of a port, if that is your question." One strong brown finger
made an arc across the map. "This whole area is called the Grand
Banks--shoal reefs. Fishermen come from as far away as Portugal." From
another cubby in the desk he took stones to anchor the curling parchment, and
then he stood looking at it, one corner of his mouth turned down. "I will
go to the captain and see what is to be learned. If you will excuse me."

When he was gone,
Curiosity smiled at Hannah over Daniel's head.

"What?"
Hannah asked. "What?"

"Sail, my
foot," said Curiosity. "We been moving fast since we left Canada
behind, and all of a sudden we ain't. Heaving-to, he say. Maybe we're waitin'
for somebody to catch up."

Hannah's heart
fluttered, and in perfect imitation of its rhythm came a tripping knock at the
door. She jumped, and Lily frowned in her sleep.

Curiosity pointed with
her chin to the sleeping cabin. "Keep out of sight," she whispered.

"Give me
Daniel."

"No," said
Curiosity. "I need him here."

"I see you ain't
finished with us, after all," said Curiosity. "Come on in and set,
then. I cain't get up with this child so sound asleep."