Pirate's Promise (3 page)

“Sparrow? I know him,” said Diggory. “He's a seaman on this ship.”

“He brought me here,” said Tom.

“Now I see!” said Diggory. “Your uncle sold you.”

“
Sold
me?” said Tom.

Diggory nodded. “He sold you to the captain of this ship. The captain sent Sparrow to bring you on board.”

“No one could
sell
me!” said Tom.

“Ah, you know better than that,” said Diggory. “You're bonded, Tom, the same as I am.”

“Bonded?” said Tom.

“Captain Tooker paid your uncle to sign a paper,” said Diggory. “It's a paper called a bond. The captain will take you across the sea to where workers are needed. He will sell your bond for as much money as he can get. Then you belong to the man who buys your bond, and you have to work for him.”

“Like a slave?” asked Tom. “The rest of my life?”

“Oh, no,” said Diggory. “Only seven years.”

“Is this true,” asked Tom, “or is it all just a story?”

“It's not a story. I know of such things,” Diggory told him, “because my father bonded me to Captain Tooker. There were ten of us at home, with not enough to eat. I wished to go, and my brothers, too, but the captain would take only me. I was the only one old enough and strong enough.” He said again, “I wished to go. This is my way of seeing the world. And after seven years I'll be free to make my fortune in America.”

“America?” said Tom. “Is that where we're sailing?”

“Yes, for the islands of America,” said Diggory.

“They've no right to send me there. They've no right to make a slave of me for seven years!” Tom asked, “Where is the captain?”

“In his cabin, I should think,” said Diggory.

“Where is the cabin?” asked Tom.

Diggory pointed. “But don't you be going there. Captain Tooker is a hard man.”

Tom was already on his way to the cabin.

He knocked at the door.

A voice called out, “Who's there?”

Tom opened the door. He stepped into a little room with wood walls and a soft, green rug. A man sat at a table. His face was small and rather mean, but he wore a fine brown wig, and the buttons on his coat were of gold.

“How dare you set foot in this cabin!” he shouted.

Tom stepped back.

“Stop!” cried the man. “Who are you?”

“Tom Pippin, sir,” said Tom. “I wished to see the captain of the
Lady Peg
.”

“Now that you've seen him, be on your way!”

“A word with you first, sir,” said Tom. “Is it true that you bought my bond from my uncle?”

“Is it true?” said the captain. “Why else would you be here? Why else would I have you on my ship?”

“Then I have this to say,” said Tom. “It was my uncle who signed the bond. It was not I. You may buy and sell me a hundred times, but I'll not be a slave to anyone!”

The captain's face was purple. He took a book from the table and threw it. It caught Tom on the side of the head.

The captain took up a dish. Tom backed out of the cabin. He shut the door just as the dish broke against it.

Diggory was outside. He looked frightened.

“Quick, Tom!” he said.

They ran to the far end of the ship. Diggory pulled Tom down behind a pile of rope.

“It's a bad thing you've done,” Diggory said in a whisper. “It's a bad, bad thing! Don't you know you're never to cross the captain? He's lord and master on this ship. Keep your head down. Stay out of his way till he's cooled off. If he finds you now, there's no telling what he might do.”

“He hasn't any right—” began Tom.

“Don't you be talking that way,” said Diggory. “He has every right, and you have none.” He stopped. “That's blood on your face!”

“Yes,” said Tom. “The captain threw a book—” He felt the ship roll beneath him. He closed his eyes. “I'm sick,” he whispered.

For a week Tom lay ill. Some of the bonded men and women cared for him in the hold of the ship.

Two of Diggory's friends, Abel and Nancy, did the most to care for him. Abel was a young man from London. Nancy was his wife. Sometimes they scolded Tom, but always in a friendly way.

“You should never make the captain angry,” said Nancy. “It is well to be brave, but do not be foolish.”

“The captain wished to have you beaten,” said Abel. “I heard it from a sailor. But Sparrow told the captain, ‘If we beat the boy, it may leave marks. Then he will not bring such a high price.'”

“You must keep out of the captain's way,” said Nancy. “If he sees you, he may grow angry again. Stay in the hold. He never comes down here.”

Before another week, Tom was strong again. The cut on his head was healed. But even after he was well, he stayed most of the time in the hold.

“It's an easy voyage,” said Diggory. “There's bread and cheese enough for all, and the seamen do the work.”

But the bonded people grew tired of the voyage. They grew tired of one another. There were quarrels in the hold.

Tom and Diggory stayed close to Abel and Nancy. There were no quarrels among them. Abel's head was full of stories he had heard, and he told them to Nancy and the boys.

He told of sea snakes that could swallow the biggest ship in one mouthful. He told of pirates who sailed the seas, robbing ships along the way.

“Do you believe there are sea snakes?” asked Tom.

“It's only a story,” said Abel, “but the pirates are real.”

“I fear the pirates,” said Nancy.

“We need not fear them,” said Abel. “They care only for treasure.”

“Then we are safe enough,” said Nancy, “for indeed, this is no treasure ship.”

Each day the
Lady Peg
sailed farther west and south. The winds were no longer cold. The sky was no longer gray and stormy.

There was a longboat on deck. Ropes and wooden blocks held it in place. Sometimes Tom left the hold and sat in the shadow of the longboat. Sometimes he and Diggory slept there at night.

One night they lay beside the longboat. They were both awake.

“What are you thinking of?” asked Diggory.

“My sister Dinah at home,” said Tom. “What are you thinking of?”

“I'm thinking of America and what I'll do when I get there,” said Diggory. “I wonder who will buy my bond. I hope my master will not be cruel and that I'll be strong enough to do his work. Tom, what if the same man buys us both? Then we can stay together.”

“I won't be sold,” said Tom.

“Why do you keep saying that?” asked Diggory. “I'm going to be sold. So are Abel and Nancy and all the others. Why shouldn't you be?”

“It's not the same for you and the others,” said Tom. “You wanted to come on this ship. You chose to be bonded. I didn't choose. And I won't be sold.”

“You can't help yourself,” said Diggory. “When we get to America, men will come on board. They will look at us and bid for us. You will have to go with the man who bids highest for you.”

“When we get on land, I'll run away,” said Tom.

“You won't run far,” said Diggory. “Do you know what they do when somebody runs away? They track him down with big dogs.”

“I'm not afraid of their big dogs,” said Tom.

“You'd better be afraid,” said Diggory. “It's a cruel thing to be bonded against your will, but you
are
bonded. Why not make the best of it? It's only for seven years—”

“Seven years!” said Tom. “You talk as if that's nothing at all.”

Diggory counted on his fingers. “In seven years you'll be nineteen. And I'll be twenty-two. That's not so old. Tom, promise me something.”

“What?” asked Tom.

“Promise me you'll do nothing to get yourself in trouble. Promise me you'll think no more of getting away.”

Tom only lay there, looking up at the stars. He would not promise.

At sunrise the next morning a shout awakened them:

“Sail ho!”

“A ship!” said Diggory. “That means there's a ship in sight.”

He and Tom ran to the rail.

Diggory asked a seaman, “Which way is the ship?”

“That way.” The man pointed. “Can you see her?”

“Yes,” said Diggory.

Tom went back to the shadow of the longboat. Captain Tooker had come on deck.

The captain stood by the rail, with a spyglass to his eye. It was a long time before he went back to his cabin.

Tom went to the rail again. The ship had come nearer. Her white sails hardly showed against the clouds.

Most of the bonded people had come up from the hold. They were watching the ship.

Abel and Nancy stood with Tom and Diggory.

“Is she an English ship?” asked Nancy.

“She may be French,” said Abel.

“Or Spanish,” said someone else.

The ship was faster than the
Lady Peg
. By late afternoon she had come so near that they could see men on her deck.

She flew no flag. She did not answer the captain's shouts and signals.

Captain Tooker said in anger, “She shall come no closer until we know what flag she flies.” He called out, “Man the cannon!”

Seamen sprang to the row of cannon along the rail.

“When I give the word,” said Captain Tooker, “fire a shot to warn the ship away.”

The ship came nearer.

“Fire!” said the captain.

One of the gunners put a match to his cannon. The cannon roared.

The shot was meant to fall in the path of the ship. But the gunner's aim was poor. The cannon ball struck the deck of the ship and tore away part of the rail.

The ship fired back. Smoke and flame shot from her cannon.

Diggory cried out, “She's running up her flag!”