Pirates of the Storm (Stranded In Time Book 1) (12 page)

“Aye,” she replied. “I’ll be coming up
myself soon. I want to see those Spaniards sitting dead in the
water as we sail away!”

“I’ll look for you on deck then,” Jeff
said with a nod as he exited.

As he stepped out on deck, the Captain
shouted to him, “Join me, Mr. Greene.” Jeff made his way to the
bridge as the Captain called down to Crabtree, “It’s time, Mr.
Crabtree. Haul anchor and prepare to unfurl the sails!”

Crabtree repeated the order to the
men, “Haul anchor and prepare to unfurl the sails!”

“Aye!” a chorus of voices
yelled back from all over the ship. The timbers of the ship groaned
slightly as a group of men turned the anchor windlass below deck
and the
Wandering Wench
crept forward. Soon the anchor pulled free from
the bottom and as the men finished securing it, other crewmen
unfurled the sails and the Captain took hold of the
wheel.

As the wind caught the
sails, Jeff spotted Robinson emerging onto the deck. She and
several other members of the crew stood at the rail and watched to
see what the Spanish ships would do. The Captain looked at Jeff and
smiled, “The moment of truth, Mr.Greene!” Jeff looked out at the 4
Spanish ships and could see frenzied activity on their decks as
they prepared to pursue the
Wandering
Wench
. The closest ship was weighing
anchor and quickly unfurled its sails. Just as quickly Jeff could
hear the distant shouts on the deck as the ship’s crew realized
that they had no steering. In a moment, they were once again
furling their sales and dropping anchor.

“Huzzah!” yelled Crabtree from the
fore deck.

“Well done, Mr. Greene!” Captain Coxen
said, slapping him on the back. The second Spanish ship and then
the third quickly followed the same sequence as the first ship and
were now dead in the water as well. By now the crew was all
cheering loudly and they watched in anticipation as the fourth ship
attempted to set sail. But the fourth ship unfurled its sails and
continued underway. The crew fell silent as the Spanish ship picked
up speed and Jeff’s heart sank with the knowledge that the sabotage
had somehow failed. “One ship to fight is far better than four, Mr.
Greene,” the Captain reassured him.

But Jeff’s discouragement was
short-lived. In a few moments, although it was heading in their
general direction, the Spanish ship was rapidly approaching the
edge of the reef. Coxen laughed loudly. “The fool is trying to
chase us without a rudder!” Jeff watched as a moment later the
Spanish ship came to an abrupt stop and the sounds of wood cracking
and men yelling carried across the water.

“Huzzah!” cried out Crabtree once
more.

“Huzzah!” yelled out the rest of the
crew, laughing and smiling.

Coxen once again clapped Jeff on the
back as he called down to the deck, “Very good work, Mr. Robinson!
Mr. Crabtree, take a position on the bow and Mr. Pike, get to the
crow’s nest and find me a cut!”

“Aye, Captain!” the men
acknowledged.

Coxen became quiet as he focused on
steering the ship through the treacherous reef. Crabtree and Pike
were both signaling a course and the Captain followed their
direction. Soon they found their way through a narrow channel in
the reef and were headed out to open water. Coxen took a deep
breath and turned to Jeff, “Now that we’re clear, Mr. Greene, let
me congratulate you once again for your fine work on those ships! I
admit I initially had my doubts that it would work, but you have
saved us from what would have been a brutal fight and possibly
would have been the end of us all.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Jeff smiled with
satisfaction.

The Captain continued, “Now, we are
headed to join with some of my fellow Captains of the Brethren of
the Coast to sack a few Spanish settlements to the South. Usually
we do not encounter any substantial resistance, but there are the
occasional casualties. As the ship’s surgeon, you will need to
familiarize yourself with the medicine box. Find Mr. Graves and he
will take you to it.”

“Yes Captain,” Jeff agreed and he
headed down the steps to the main deck. He did not see Graves
anywhere, so he headed below deck. Jeff soon found Graves in the
cargo hold with several other men who were moving the cargo around
to make more room. “Mr. Graves, the Captain instructed me to find
you and have you show me the medicine box.”

“Aye, Mr. Greene,” Graves said,
looking somewhat relieved to have a break from the heavy
lifting.

Jeff followed Graves into a small
cabin off the main crew quarters. As Graves turned up the lantern,
Jeff could see that the walls, floor, and tall wooden table in the
center of the room were all covered with splatters of various types
of grime, much of which he figured must be blood. Graves pulled the
medicine box from under the table and set it on the top. “Here it
be,” Graves said. “Will ye be needin’ anything else, Mr.
Greene?”

“No, Mr. Graves. This should
do.”

“Very well, then,” Graves said with a
nod. “I best be getting’ back to work in the hold before Crabtree
checks up on me.” Graves said as he turned to leave.

Jeff looked at the medicine box. It
too was covered with various splashes of unknown liquids and what
he suspected were bodily fluids. He tried not to think about what
diseases were still active on the box and on the surfaces of the
room. Jeff carefully opened the medicine box. A piece of paper was
glued to the inside of the top of the box which had a list of the
various medicines and what they were used for. While there was a
relatively large number of bottles, Jeff quickly realized that some
of the more useful and important remedies had empty bottles or the
bottles were missing altogether. The worst part was that there did
not appear to be any medicines left that could be used as
antiseptics or antibiotics.

Given that the crew was about to
embark on some potentially dangerous shore raids, Jeff knew that
lacking such medications could be disastrous. He decided that he
should notify the Captain and made his way back up to the bridge.
“Ah, Mr. Greene, I trust that Mr. Graves delivered the medicine box
to you.”

“Yes, Captain, but there is a problem.
There are no medicines for tending wounds left in the box. If any
of the crew gets injured, there’s a good chance they could get
septic and die from what would otherwise be survivable.”

“Hmmm. I feared as much,” Coxen
nodded. I had hoped that our recent string of deaths was simply a
matter of Graves’ incompetence. But it would seem that it goes
beyond that. Unfortunately, Mr. Greene, we are nowhere near any
port where we can replenish the medicine box. Port Royal in Jamaica
would be the closest, but we will not be going anywhere near there
for quite some time. You will simply need to improvise when
needed.”

“Improvise. Right. I’ll see what I can
do,” Jeff said as he departed for the medical cabin.

He once again looked in the medicine
box and confirmed his earlier assessment. There were no antiseptics
nor antibiotics left. He looked around the cabin and realized that
one priority was going to be cleaning the room to try to minimize
the potential for infection. But first, he needed to figure out
what else was available onboard that he could use for disinfection
if it became necessary. From his water purification project, he
knew that limes were available, but he wasn’t sure how good lime
juice by itself would work on an open wound.

He made his way to the galley, where
Jenny was cleaning up from the morning meal. She greeted him with a
smile, “Hello, Mr. Greene! That was quite fine work we did on those
Spanish ships, eh?” She looked past him to make sure nobody else
was there before pulling him toward her and kissing him. As she
stepped back, she carefully wiped away the grime from her face that
had passed to his. “I am very much looking forward to the next
opportunity we have to be alone together,” she said as she winked
at him.

“As am I,” Jeff smiled. Though at
first glance, she still looked very much like a man, Jeff could now
easily see the beauty beneath the disguise and he found himself
becoming quite fond of ‘Mr. Robinson’.

“So, what can I do for you, Mr.
Greene?”

“I was going through the medicine box
and discovered that we are lacking in some important items. The
Captain has told me to improvise if needed, and I am here to check
our supply of things that might serve the purpose. I know we have
limes and we have onions because there were some in the fish stew
the other night.”

“Aye,” Jenny nodded, “We have ample
supplies of both.”

“Do we also have garlic?” Jeff
asked.

“Aye,” she replied.

“Good. They aren’t actual antibiotics,
but they’re better than nothing.”

“Antibi.. What?” Jenny said with an
arched eyebrow.

“Antibiotics. Medicine for infection…
sepsis,” he answered.

“Oh,” she said, still looking somewhat
doubtful.

“Also, may I have some ash from the
fire pit?”

“Yes, but may I ask for what purpose?
Surely you don’t plan on copying my beauty treatment,” she said,
gesturing at her face and giggling.

“No, although it is a good look on
you,” he said with a laugh. “I’m going to clean the surgeon’s cabin
and I want the ash to use as a disinfectant.”

Robinson looked puzzled. “You’re
welcome to take as much ash as you like, but I don’t see how you
can clean with something that is dirty.”

“Ash will kill the bacteria that cause
infection,” Jeff explained.

“If you say so, but it seems to me
that you will just be making a mess.”

“It may very well wind up looking that
way, but better to have ash all over the place than the blood and
guts that are there now,” Jeff said, dreading the project
ahead.

Jenny picked up a small bucket and
scooped some ash into it. “Is this enough?”

“That should be plenty to start,” Jeff
nodded. Once again, Jenny looked behind him to make sure they were
not seen before pulling his head to hers and kissing him as she
handed him the bucket of ash. “Thank you, Mr. Robinson,” Jeff said
as he departed.

Jeff dropped off the bucket of ash in
the surgeon’s cabin before setting off to collect a bucket of
water, a brush, and a mop. He headed out onto deck and approached
Crabtree who was supervising the various activities of the crew.
“Mr. Crabtree, I am in need of a brush and a mop and bucket to
clean the surgeon’s cabin.”

Crabtree looked at him blankly.
“Surgeon’s cabin?”

“That room where injured men get
medical treatment.”

Crabtree nodded, “Aye, we be callin’
it Graves’ butcher shop! Ye can take that mop and bucket there. A
brush ye can find in the cargo hold.” Jeff filled the bucket with
seawater before heading below deck. He found a brush in the cargo
hold and dropped it in the bucket as he headed back to the
surgeon’s cabin.

For the next few hours, he sprinkled
ash and seawater on every surface and scrubbed it into the wood
with the brush. Finally, he mopped up the excess water and ash. By
the time he was done, the room looked just as dingy as when he
started, but the staining of the surfaces was now simply the gray
color of the ash, rather than the reddish-brown of dried blood. His
arms and back were aching from the work, but Jeff knew that his
efforts would probably save lives if anyone needed any major
treatment in that cabin. He returned the brush to the cargo hold
and carried the mop and bucket back out to where he had found them
on deck. He set them down and stretched his back.

Jeff realized he was quite hungry and
headed into the galley. Robinson was in the midst of preparing a
large pot of stew for dinner and smiled at him as he entered. “Did
you make good use of the ashes?” she asked.

“Yes, I think so,” Jeff replied. “I
was hoping to get a bite to eat.”

“Help yourself to coconuts or fruit.
There’s also a platter of breadnut flatbread cooling over there.
There will be turtle stew tonight if you leave me alone so I can
finish making it.”

“All right, I can take a hint,” Jeff
smiled as he picked up a banana and some flatbread. He grabbed a
knife from the wall and whacked the top off a coconut to drink and
then gathered his food and headed topside. He plopped down on a
corner of the deck out of the way of the crew and ate quickly.
After a few minutes, he could feel some energy returning, but he
was feeling quite stiff, so he stood up to stretch.

He looked out over the rail and could
see that now the ship was well out into the open water. The men who
were not actively manning the sails were scattered about the deck
preparing their swords and flintlocks for the coming raids. He
looked up at the wheel and the Captain beckoned him. As Jeff
climbed the steps to the helm, the Captain greeted him. “I trust
you have been occupying your time fruitfully, Mr.
Greene?”

“Yes, Captain. I have cleaned the
surgeon’s cabin and have found some options for fighting infection
should any injuries occur.”

“Very good,” the Captain acknowledged.
“It is my hope that your services as ship’s surgeon will not be
needed. Most often the settlements we raid put up little
resistance. They usually have a small contingent of soldiers who
are among the least of the Spanish military and the settlers know
we are mostly after the payroll, weapons, and any other valuables
we find in the governors’ residences. Most are happy to give us
what we want and few are foolish enough to fight us. Those who are,
rarely draw any of our blood.”