Broken Wing (26 page)
Authors: Judith James
I find myself much intrigued with a game called
vingt-et-un.
While most games appear to have nothing to do with skill, it seems to me that this one does, and a person who pays careful attention to the cards can greatly improve his chances of winning. My research of this theory has proven most fruitful to date, and despite, or because of my successes, I am somewhat sought-after wherever the play is deep
.
Davey had asked me to accompany him to a gathering tonight, but I assured him that I would be useless at company or at cards, as I can think of nothing but you. Everywhere, I hear your voice, and I am constantly annoyed when I turn my head to see some painted creature clutching at my arm and prattling in my ear. It is your conversation I want, not theirs. I confess that the pleasure of your company has made
me rather difficult to please
.
Now that I have relieved my conscience by confessing my newest vice, I pray and trust you will forgive me, though I’ve no intention of renouncing this particular sin. It is far too profitable and may, in itself, absolve me of the obligation I have to your brother. I pray you indulge me further by allowing me to share some observations I’ve made as a tourist. It’s a lonely pastime, as Davey is supremely disinterested and far more inclined to visit friends of his amongst the fairer sex. He maintains that he has seen it all before and is far more concerned with investigating the charms of the locals rather than the locale
.
As I ramble about by myself, I’m certain that I’m often mistook for a madman, for I am constantly looking over my shoulder to remark upon some wondrous sight to you, and of course, you aren’t there. Yet, I have promised myself that I will share this experience with you, in as much as I can, and so I wonder what you’re doing as you read this now. Are you warm in your bed, or do you sit wrapped in my best shirt, with a candle in the window seat? Maybe you’re out on the balcony, under the stars. Accompany me in spirit then, my love, as I walk the streets of Paris
.
The city is in a state of flux. Beggars are everywhere to be seen and much of the city has been vandalized. There are headless statues, streets running raw with sewage, and much bustle, chaos, and confusion. The façade of the Tuileries is ridden with bullet holes, and Louis IX’s priceless Saint-Chapelle sports a fine sign saying “National Property for sale.” Notre Dame has been sadly plundered and neglected
,
and is currently being used as a grain warehouse. She reminds one of an ancient
grande dame,
destitute, fallen on hard times but still magnificent and proud
.
One needn’t travel to Italy to see the fine sculptures and artwork of ancient Greece and Rome. Napoleon, the art lover, has raped those poor countries and brought their treasures to the Louvre, along with plunder from Egypt, the Orient, and most of the noble houses of France. It is magnificent to the point of being overwhelming, and one would need to stay a month at least to do it any justice
.
There is a place I know you would particularly enjoy, mignonne. We shall have to visit it together someday. I speak of the
Observatoire de Paris,
which has a splendid view of the city from its rooftop. They claim it to be the first modern observatory built in the world. I expect you would know the truth of it. You will be pleased to know they possess a refracting telescope made by your Mr. James Short. I had the good fortune, while there, of meeting the current director, a Monsieur Pierre Mechain, who has discovered no less than seven comets in the past twenty years! I took the liberty of telling him about your interest in such things and your exquisite taste in telescopes. My learned new friend did not believe me at first, but at my insistence he was much intrigued, and he has humbly begged you to correspond, if you so desire. I hope this pleases you
.
Well, there now, it has started to rain. I can hear it drumming on the roof, tapping on the pane, and splashing in the street below. Alone here by myself, I find it a melancholy sound. With you by my side it would be a sweet song of peace
and contentment, a prelude to warmth and comfort and secret delights. Damn, mignonne, this writing business is a double-edged sword! I feel both infinitely closer to you and infinitely forlorn and far away
.
Lord, how I miss you, Sarah! You pervade my entire being. I miss the feel of your head on my shoulder at night, the soft caress of your breath against my cheek, and the soothing comfort of your heart, beating strong and steady next to mine. I leave a space for you beside me, even though you’re far away. I watch the night sky, and when I see Venus, I imagine your arms wrapped round me as you lean against my back. I smell your scent and crave your touch
.
They say that time and distance teach perspective. Well, it has taught me this. Fortune, adventure, discovery, these are hollow things without your presence to bring them to life. I am determined that when this adventure is completed, I will not part from you again. I confess to a love for the sea, but her charms are insipid and pallid things compared to yours. I will spend my life at sea only insofar as you may wish to accompany me
.
I am serious, mignonne. I hope to gain enough from this adventure to have a vessel and a crew of my own. If you will have it, we will adventure together as man and wife. If you will not, then I shall hire a captain and spend my days doting upon you until I am so much underfoot and such a nuisance that you will indulge me, and we shall run away to sea together. Think what a marvelous observatory we might fashion on the quarterdeck at night
.
Ah
, mon amie,
you’ve become a habit with me, much
like breathing, and God’s truth, it seems as hard to do without you as to do without air. If I were there with you now, or you here with me, I would pull you close in my arms, bury my face in your hair, and give you a thousand kisses, starting with your pretty shell toes and the magnificent arch of your dainty foot, which, I assure you, is far lovelier and more inspiring than any of the tracery or architecture in all the cathedrals and palaces I have seen here in Paris
.
I shall wish you a good night now, love. I’m going to slip between the sheets and close my eyes so that I may imagine you beside me and visit you in my dreams. Until I can take you in my arms again, know that I hold you close in my mind, in my heart, and in my soul
.
Forever Yours
,
Gabriel
HAPTER
23
It was mid-June when they finally returned to Calais. The newly fitted
L’Espérance
stood at anchor in the harbor, riding high in the water, pennants flapping in the breeze. She’d been captured from the French in 1784. French warship design and construction was far superior to that of the English, and she was sleeker, faster, and more powerful than anything Davey might have bought from an English shipyard. Square sailed, she was fitted with twelve nine-pound cannon, Davey having chosen to sacrifice some of her original firepower for maneuverability and speed. She was no longer a warship after all, but a privateer, and her prey was merchant ships, her goal, to catch and board them, not to sink them. As it was, she combined a formidable capacity for attack and defense with agility and lightning speed. She was Davey’s first love, his pride and joy.
As they were rowed out to join her, the bustle and frenetic activity, which from shore had resembled a
swarming anthill, became sharper, distinguishing itself into human form. Gabriel could see busy sailors passing casks of salt pork and beef, cheese and ship’s biscuit, beer and rum, into the hold from the boats hove to alongside. They also loaded powder and solid shot, for bringing down masts and smashing through hulls; chain shot, to take down sails and rigging; and bags of sand, to act as ballast. When their cutter bumped to a halt against the starboard side, the waterman caught the main chains with a hook, holding it steady alongside as they climbed, hand over hand, up the ladder and onto the deck.
Early the next morning, Gabriel stood on the quarterdeck, skin pricking with excitement, seized by the spirit of adventure and the thrill of the unknown. The
L’Espérance
was rolling a little, but she slid along smoothly, the only sounds the gurgling of the sea green waves frothing past her hull, and the rhythmic creaking of her spars and joints. As she surged forward, the coastline faded and disappeared, and only the deep blue sea and azure sky stretched on the horizon. Taking a deep breath he raised his face into the sea breeze and called out a course for Gibraltar. They were underway.
Davey managed his ship and crew with far more organization and discipline than would be found on a pirate vessel, and far more freedom and flexibility than would be found in His Majesty’s Navy. There were no floggings or hangings, and no drunkenness or desertions aboard his ship. His men were a tight-knit group
of highly skilled, highly trained professionals, and he treated them as such. He respected his men and made them rich, and they loved him for it.
It took three weeks to sight Gibraltar. The language spoken in the Mediterranean ports was the
lingua Franca
, a bastardized vernacular parsed together from the many tongues spoken throughout the region by natives, traders, and captives from many nations. Since leaving Calais, Davey had insisted the crew converse in it so as to accustom them to its use. Its many Latin derivatives made it familiar to Gabriel, and with his facility for languages he picked it up quickly.
Mornings were taken up with gunnery drill and the putting on and the taking off of sail. A well-trained gun crew could get off three shots in two minutes, and they practiced over and over again until that standard was as easy to them as breathing. They were also repeatedly exercised in the use of small arms, cutlasses, and boarding pikes. Gabriel was the only member of the crew who had never traversed these seas before, and as was his habit, he shared his discoveries with Sarah.
Ma chère, mignonne
,
It is now seventy days since last I held you in my arms. Somehow, I have survived, though I curse each day that takes me farther away from you, and pray for swift winds to bring me home. With luck that will be before Christmas. I have many wonderful things to tell you! We have made
Gibraltar our base of operations as it is the major English settlement in the area, its fort controlling the entrance to the Atlantic, and its trading post a conduit to and from the Iberian Peninsula to the north, Africa to the south, and the Mediterranean and the Orient to the east
.
I was much impressed when we first caught sight of her. The rock itself, one of the Pillars of Hercules, is an impressive limestone formation with fortified caves and tunnels towering one thousand feet above the surrounding countryside. The fort is said to be impregnable. The strait it only thirteen kilometers across at its narrowest point, and sailing through this passage can be dangerous at any time of year. We will make one last pass to the east before setting sail for home. Our intent is to leave by early October, just ahead of the storm season, when even the Barbary corsairs put their galleys into port for the winter
.
We’ve had very good hunting since our arrival, Sarah, taking several French and Spanish ships, generally without so much as a shot being fired. With twelve cannon and our new copper bottom, we’re fast enough to catch them, light enough to follow them into coastal waters, and formidable enough to frighten them into submission. They are always relieved to find that we are not Barbary pirates, a breed of men who roam the waters hereabouts looking for plunder, mostly in the form of captives to hold for ransom or take as slaves
.
Many of these pirates are European renegades, or
renegados
as they’re called, men who’ve forsaken their religion and accepted the Muslim faith. Much like Davey, they refer to themselves as privateers. Britain has a treaty
with them and we have a pass from the Algerian Dey, but Davey knows them well and he’s not inclined to trust them. Nimble and quick, we stay out of their way
.
So far we have “liberated,” as Davey likes to call it, large quantities of silks, jewels, and wool carpets. Two of the vessels we’ve taken have given us good battle, both of them military ships. Much to our delight, one of them, a pretty little Spanish frigate returning home from the Caribbean and riding suspiciously low in the water, proved to be carrying sixty thousand pounds worth of gold and silver coin! To be honest, I’m not certain we are at war with them, but Davey says it makes little difference, as the Spaniards are a lawless bunch who hang honest privateers with their letters of marquee strung around their necks in any case. I petitioned to have the frigate calculated as part of my share in lieu of gold, and no one objected, so I have a vessel of my own and a way to make a livelihood, waiting for me in Gibraltar
.
I account myself a wealthy man now, my love, first and foremost because I have you. I also have a ship of my own at harbor, and my share of the profits from this very lucrative adventure looks to be close to twenty thousand pounds, God bless your cousin’s larcenous soul! Upon my homecoming, I’ll be able to return your brother his money and support us both in comfort. When I cast my mind back to where I was two years ago, I can scarce believe my good fortune. You have opened a door to a brand new world for me
, ma chère,
and I can never thank you enough
.
Your letters have reached me in Gibraltar
, ma belle.
I kiss them and keep them under my pillow, knowing your thoughts and your dear hands have touched them. I know how you enjoy attending your lectures and such, and the plans you have for your stables, yet you say it would please you greatly to travel the world with me. I would not wish you to sacrifice your interests and pleasures any more than you wish me to sacrifice mine, but I believe they are easily reconciled. We shall do as Davey does, my dear, enjoying the pleasures of terra firma throughout the fall and winter, and taking sail in the spring. I leave it to you to plan our first adventure. My only request is that it be a honeymoon
.
I am greatly relieved to hear that your brother has softened toward me. Beyond the fact that he is your brother, and dear to you, I am very much aware of how good he’s been to me, and other than for the want and need of you I would never have willingly chosen to anger or upset him. I hold him in the greatest esteem, not only for your sake, but also my own. Tell him I will present myself to him upon my return, and if it pleases you, tell him we will be married in the spring. It will be a great relief for me to do this openly and properly, as I’m not altogether convinced that our marriage by Davey’s cook was entirely legal in the eyes of the world. The sooner we are joined by respectable means, in front of your family, the better
.
I’m delighted to hear that you’ve begun a correspondence with Pierre Mechain, and no I’m not the least bit jealous. Remember that I have seen him and you have not. As for your concerns regarding Jamie, he has written to tell me that he is very much looking forward to attending school
in Truro, come the fall. He seems to know his own mind and I wouldn’t worry overmuch about it, if I were you. He will have comrades in arms in Sidney’s brood, and I expect he’ll do very well
.
I don’t know that I’ll be able to write again before we return, my love. We plan a sweep across the eastern Mediterranean as far as Alexandria, through what is essentially hostile territory. As such, we are not likely to make port again until we return to Gibraltar, at which point I am likely to reach you before a letter does
.
You will note that I have kept this missive friendly and informative, and have avoided any excess of emotion or sentiment. It’s not from want of passion, but rather from an excess. I find our separation increasingly unbearable, and if I allowed myself the indulgence of fully expressing my feelings to you, I fear it would open the floodgates, inundating you with a deluge of dreadful poesy and self-pitying ramblings, and leaving me sore, hungry, and dissatisfied
.
We leave in the morning, our last hunt, God willing, and I hope to have you in my arms again by mid-November. Despite my fine words and noble intent, I am now haunted by flashing images of trim ankles and snowy white thighs and plump, luscious lips. What a fool I was to leave you. Wait for me. There is only you
.
Gabriel