Pirate's Promise
Authors: Clyde Robert Bulla
To Mildred Phipps,
who started Tom on his long journey
CHAPTER
  2    Tom and Dinah
CHAPTER
  3    Down to London
CHAPTER
  5    In the Cabin
CHAPTER
  8    Captain Land
CHAPTER
  9    The Pirate Ship
CHAPTER
 11    Captain Red
CHAPTER
 12    A Boy in Carolina
CHAPTER
 13    The Meeting
CHAPTER
 14    In the Moonlight
CHAPTER
 15    A Strange Journey
CHAPTER
 16    The Plantation House
CHAPTER
 17    The Moon and a Garden
Excerpt from
A Lion to Guard Us
Late in the year 1716 Big John Ludd came home from sea. He left ship in London, but he stayed in the great city not at all. With his sea chest on his shoulder, he began to walk.
All day he walked through wind and snow. It was night when he came to a village on the bank of a river.
He stopped at a poor little house. “Open!” he shouted, and he beat on the door with his fist.
A cry came from inside. “Children, it's your father! Your father's come home!”
A woman opened the door. “Oh, my dear husband!” she cried.
“Let me in, woman. It's freezing cold outside.” He pushed her out of the doorway and went into the house.
A few coals burned in the fireplace. There was no other light in the room.
He sat down by the fire.
“My dear husband,” the woman said again. “It's good to see you there in your old place.”
“How are the children?” he asked.
“As well as can be, all seven of them,” she said. “They just had their supper.”
“Well, where are they?” he shouted. “Don't they know their father's home?”
In the dark corners of the room, shadows began to move. A snub-nosed boy came out into the firelight. He pushed his long black hair out of his eyes.
“That's a good boy, Jacky,” said the woman. “Run and give your father a kiss.”
The boy's face turned red. “Oh, Ma!” he said.
“You're a fine lad, Jackyâa fine, big lad,” said his father. “Now let's have a look at the others.”
One by one, the rest of the seven came out into the light. They were all boys, with black hair and snub noses. The two smallest ones began to cry.
“Don't be making faces at me!” said Big John. “I'm your
father
.”
“They are only babies,” said their mother, “and you've been gone a year. You can't blame them if they don't know you yet.”
Jacky went close to his father. “There's more here that you've not seen,” he said.
“Hush!” said his mother.
“What's this?” asked Big John. “Who is here that I've not seen?”
“Don't be angry,” said his wife. “Promise me you won't be angry.”
“I'll promise nothing. What are you keeping from me?” Big John tried to look into the shadows. “Who is hiding there?”
A girl came out into the light. She was a pretty girl with a pale, frightened face.
Behind her came a boy. He was straight and tall, and his hair was red. He said in a clear voice, “We weren't hiding, sir.”
Big John's mouth fell open. “Well!” he said. “And who might you be?”
“Tom Pippin, sir,” said the boy, “and this is my sister, Dinah.”
Big John looked at his wife.
“These are my brother's children,” she said. “They came here after my poor brother died. They had no mother or fatherâ”
“They came here to
live?
” said Big John.
“They had no other place to go,” she said.
“How long have they been here?” he asked.
“Two months,” she said.
Jacky spoke up. “It's
three
months.”
His mother said quickly, “To bed, you children. To bed now, all of you.”
The children went to bed. They curled up like cats wherever they could find a place. Some slept on an old mat. Some slept on the bare floor.
Big John and his wife sat alone by the fire.
She said in a low voice, “Don't be angry, please. I couldn't turn my brother's children away. Tom is only twelve, just the age of our Jacky. The girl is ten and small for her age. They can't look out for themselves.”
“Three months!” said Big John. “Three months those brats have been here, taking the bread from my children's mouths.”
“They don't eat much,” she said. “The girl eats no more than a bird, and she's a good little thing. I'm glad to have a girl in the house. She helps in ever so many ways.”
“That may be,” said Big John, “but what about the boy?”
“Tom's not a bad boy,” she said. “He and the girl are different from our children, but I'm fond of themâ”
“Different?” said Big John. “How do you mean?”
“Their father was a schoolmaster, you know,” she said. “They can read and write.”
“They can, can they?” said Big John. “Maybe they think that makes them better than us. But they're not too good to live in my house and eat my bread.”
“Please!” whispered his wife. “They'll hear you.”
“Let them hear me, then,” he said. “This is their last night under my roof. Out they go tomorrow!”
In the morning Big John had breakfast with his wife and children. They ate by the fire.
Tom and Dinah ate in the pantry, among the pots and pans. It was cold there, but they were glad to be alone together. They talked in whispers.
“Did you hear him last night?” asked Dinah. “âOut they go tomorrow.' That's what he said.”
“I heard him,” said Tom.
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
“Sleep under the trees,” he said. “Eat strawberries and cream.”
“In the winter? That's foolish!” she said.
“I was only trying to make you laugh,” he said. “Remember how we used to laugh and be foolish together?”
“There's nothing to laugh about in this house,” she said. “Do you know it's three days till Christmas? And I've nothing to give you.”
“I've nothing to give you, either,” he said, “but some day I'll give you a hundred presents all at once.”
The door opened. Jacky put his head into the pantry. “I hear you out there,” he said. “I hear you whispering your secrets.”
Tom and Dinah said nothing.
“Ma was easy on you,” said Jacky, “but it won't be the same now that Pa is home. Pa doesn't like any beggars around.”
“We're not beggars,” said Tom.
“You will be, when Pa turns you out of the house,” said Jacky. “Down the road you'll go, like two bobtailed birds. The wind will be blowing and the snow will be flying, and how will you like that?”
He shut the pantry door. In a moment he was back. “Pa wants to see you now.”
Tom and Dinah looked at each other. Without a word they got up and followed Jacky.
Big John sat by the fire. He said to Dinah, “My wife says you help her with the work here.”
“Yes, sir,” she said.
“My wife says you're a good girl,” he said.
“I try to be, sir,” she said.
