Hunt for the Panther 3 (9781101610923) (11 page)

“It’s Uncle Finn!” Tim yelled, skidding to a stop near their workstation.

“Swig, it’s okay,” Jem said. “It’s all been solved. He and Thomas are going to go to port and—”

“Exactly!” Tim wrung his hands. “He
went
to port!”

“So? What’s wrong with that? I thought it was a good idea.”

“You
told
him and Thomas to go?”

“Well… yes.” Jem stared up at the quartermaster. “What on earth is the matter, Swig?”

“I’ll tell you what’s the matter!” Tim pulled at his dirty hair with both hands. “They took the
Hop
!”

“Can you imagine, Josephine, how impressed your schoolmates will be when you tell them about your trip?” Uncle Daniel said as they strolled through Port Aberhard toward the docks. “The tropics are just so fascinating. So…” He took a deep breath of the humid air. “So full of
possibilities.
”

Josephine
hmm
ed politely, lifting her skirt a few inches off the ground as she tiptoed over a mud puddle.

Scarlet stepped right into it without noticing, preoccupied by all the pirates around her.
Which ones were Lucas’s crewmates?
she wondered.
Had he told any of them about the treasure on Island X, or was he keeping that secret to himself for now? Surely—

“Scarlet?”

“Hmm?” She shook herself back to the present. Uncle Daniel and Josephine were both staring at her feet. She looked down to find herself ankle-deep in red mud.

“Oh. Oops.” She sloshed out and continued walking.

“I’m particularly intrigued by all that… vegetation.” Uncle Daniel waved at the jungle that leaned right up against the port town, almost as if it wanted to push the whole thing out to sea. “Think how many plants in there have undiscovered powers. It’s mind-boggling.”

He should meet Uncle Finn,
Scarlet thought, then quickly dismissed it. That would involve going to Island
X, and there was no way she was bringing her Old World uncle to her home.

“It is fascinating,” Josephine agreed. “Just… a bit hot.”

Uncle Daniel’s eyes snapped down to her. “Are you feeling unwell, dear?” He reached for her hand.

“Oh no, I’m fine. It’s just—”

“You look flushed.” Uncle Daniel peered into her face. “Perhaps we should go back to the house so you can lie down.”

“Oh no, I’m—” Josephine began to protest.

But Uncle Daniel tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. “Scarlet, dear, would you guide us home? Josephine is unwell.”

Scarlet looked from her cousin to her uncle and back again. Josephine didn’t look any less well than usual. In fact, she looked better now than she had when she’d arrived a few days ago. Her cheeks were flushed, but it
was
the middle of the afternoon, and no one in their right mind went for a stroll in the middle of the afternoon in the tropics. Well, except an Old Worlder who didn’t know any better.

Still, she steered them back to her father’s house without argument, watching out of the corner of her eye as Uncle Daniel escorted her cousin down the street, bent over her as if sheltering her from a gale.

Well,
she thought as they reached the house,
at least my father doesn’t do that.
Uncle Daniel made the admiral’s father-daughter meetings seem downright reasonable.

Admiral McCray himself met them at the front door. He took one look at his brother and Josephine and rushed forward.

“I’m fine,” Josephine said quickly.

“She wasn’t feeling well,” Uncle Daniel explained. “Shall we sit down in the parlor?”

“Of course!” The admiral ushered them inside.

“Well,” he said, once Josephine was stretched out on a sofa in the parlor and Meggie had been dispatched for tea. “I was going to suggest we dine at Humphries’s tonight, but if Josephine’s unwell, I’ll just tell him—”

“Oh, please don’t.” Josephine sat up. “I’m fine, really. I was a bit warm, that’s all. Father, you’ve been so looking forward to dinner with Humphries.”

“True,” said Uncle Daniel, “I haven’t seen Humphries in ages. But your health is far more—”

“I’m well,” Josephine cut in. “Truly.”

Scarlet raised her eyebrows. She wasn’t entirely certain, but something told her that proper ladies didn’t interrupt their fathers. Actually, it might have been her own father who’d told her that. It might have been Rule Number Fourteen or whatever number they were on.

“Who’s Humphries?” she asked as Meggie marched in with a tray of tea and biscuits.

“A good friend from the Old World,” Uncle Daniel answered, helping Josephine off the sofa and over to the table. “He left years ago to start a plantation here. Apparently it’s a very lucrative business, or so he says in his letters.”

“Oh.” Scarlet’s stomach twisted at the word
plantation
. She stole a glance at her father, hoping to catch his eye and give him a desperate “you’re not going to make
me
go there, are you?” look. But he wouldn’t look at her.

“I still find it hard to imagine,” Uncle Daniel went on, “how Humphries could give up his life in a bustling city, ship a few trunkloads of belongings halfway around the world, and set up a new life where civilization barely exists!” He shook his head and dumped three big spoonfuls of sugar in his teacup. “But I’m eager to learn about plantations here in the tropics.”

“It’s a very big and fancy house,” Josephine told Scarlet. “We’ll have to wear all our finest. Isn’t that exciting?”

“I can barely contain myself,” Scarlet replied, gulping down her tea.

She could feel her father’s eyes on her, giving her a warning look. But this time, she didn’t look at him.

“This is so exciting,” Josephine chattered as she braided her hair. “I’ve never seen a real plantation before. What do you think it will be like?”

Scarlet sat on her bed, trying to muster the will to change into the sky-blue dress that had somehow appeared in her closet while she and Josephine and Uncle Daniel had been out walking that afternoon. Its frills and poufs and ribbons had practically made her lose her lunch. What had she ever done to Meggie for the maid to have it out for her this way?

“I can tell you what it’ll be like,” she said, tucking her legs up under her and closing her eyes. “Picture a jungle. A great big beautiful tangle of trees and vines and ferns and flowers like you’ve never seen before.” She closed her eyes, imagining her home. “And in that jungle live thousands of animals. There are butterflies of every color imaginable. Birds that squawk and birds that sing sweetly. Huge lizards that can walk upside down on the branches, but never fall off, not even when you’d bet your life they will. And there are monkeys, too. They crash through the treetops, swinging from their tails while their babies hold on tight to their backs.”

She opened her eyes to find Josephine standing still, her fingers frozen in her half-braided hair and her eyes fixed on Scarlet. “And?” she whispered.

“And that’s what was there before the plantation,” Scarlet finished flatly. “Now it’s just row after row of sugarcane.” She stood up and walked to the closet—not because she wanted to see the dress, but because she suspected if she kept talking about the jungle, she’d lose it completely. She’d once sworn never to set foot on a plantation, and here she was, going to dine at a most… what was the word her uncle had used? A most
lucrative
one. And in the most hideous dress in existence. A strangled whimper escaped her before she could stop it.

“Here.” Josephine finished her braiding and came to stand behind Scarlet. “I’ll help you.” She began to untie Scarlet’s ribbons.

“I don’t need…,” Scarlet began, then gave up. Realistically, the only way she was going to get dressed
and out the door was with someone’s help. Meggie obviously hated the job, especially after Scarlet had accidentally kicked her in the shin while trying to get into a hideous green frock. So Josephine would have to do. “We don’t… wear clothes like this… at my school… so…,” she explained feebly.

Josephine just hummed in response.

Somehow, within fifteen minutes, Scarlet was not only dressed but her hair was braided like her cousin’s, pulled back from her face so it didn’t keep falling in her eyes.

“How’s that?” Josephine stepped back to admire her handiwork.

Scarlet patted her head and had to admit it wasn’t bad. In fact, it was almost as good as wearing a hat.

Josephine pulled on her boots and laced them up, and Scarlet watched her, allowing herself for a moment to imagine what life would have been like if she hadn’t run away to become a pirate, and had gone instead to live in the Old World with Josephine. Would they have been like sisters? Would Scarlet have been sent to finishing school, too? Would she have ever survived?

But there was no time to ponder it, for the admiral was calling for them. Josephine gave Scarlet a once-over, then took her hand and pulled her out the door.

The carriage bounced down the plantation road, lined on either side by endless rows of leafy sugarcane plants twice Scarlet’s height.

“Isn’t this amazing?” Uncle Daniel said, half leaning out the side. “What an empire Humphries has made! Look how these plants prosper here. Row upon row upon row of them!”

“The jungle that was here in the first place was pretty prosperous, too,” Scarlet pointed out, and received an elbow in the ribs from her father. “Well, it’s true,” she murmured.

“It’s enormous,” Uncle Daniel marveled. “He must have dozens of workers out there.”

Josephine peered out at the sugarcane. “Did he bring them from the Old World?” she asked.

Uncle Daniel shook his head. “No need for that. Inexpensive labor is easy to find here.”

Admiral McCray frowned. “Inexpensive, but not free, I hope.”

Uncle Daniel shrugged, still peering out the window. “I’m not sure. He hasn’t mentioned anything about… about that in his letters. But I understand it’s not uncommon.”

“What’s not uncommon?” Scarlet asked.

“Slavery,” said Admiral McCray. “Employing laborers but not paying them.”

“Oh, I’m sure a friend of Father’s wouldn’t do that,” said Josephine. “Right, Father?”

“Well, I don’t know,” said Uncle Daniel. “I’d hope not, but plantations do require an enormous workload, for planting and—”

“That’s no excuse for holding people captive,” the admiral said coldly.

Scarlet’s head swiveled from her father to her uncle and back. She hadn’t even considered that plantations might use slaves as laborers. Just when she thought they couldn’t get any worse!

She’d just opened her mouth to suggest they turn around and head home when the sugarcane suddenly fell away, revealing an enormous white house with white trim and white pillars.

“Ohhh,” Josephine breathed. “It’s beautiful!”

“Just what I expected!” said Uncle Daniel.

Scarlet squinted and shaded her eyes. “It’s blinding,” she said. “Who needs a house that big? It’s—” Her father elbowed her again, and she gritted her teeth and clammed up.

As soon as the carriage stopped in front of the big white house, the front door swung open, and a tall, thin man with a shiny bald head stepped out to greet them. He was dressed in loose white linen, and his skin had been darkened and wrinkled by the sun. Another man followed, wearing a black suit complete with bow tie and white gloves.