FIFTY-SIX

ZABANA BOARDED SERPENT AND IMMEDIATELY ORDERED THE HANDS rousted out of their hammocks. There wasn’t time to bring the slaves down to the quay so he would leave without them. The janissaries who tumbled aboard could row if it came to that. He looked around and could see no boats missing from the quay; only the pilot boat was out as usual; the weather never kept it at the dock.

The pilot boat!

This was the day the pilot boat was to meet the British schooner off the mole! The ship with the gold! He knew in an instant who was aboard that boat.

Zabana’s crew made fast work of the lines and as the wind was blowing Serpent away from the dock they raised the big sails while they were somewhat in the lee of the quay and moved away quickly towards the harbor’s entrance. They wore ship while still in the harbor, less risky than outside, and double-reefed the sails. The pilot boat was nowhere to be seen as they passed the mole but on instinct Zabana ordered the helmsman to bear west.

Fallon expertly guided the pilot boat to the lee side of Rascal and then, with the schooner blocking the worst of the wind and sea, he motioned to the slaves to edge closer to the side of the ship. Eager hands were there to jump into the smaller boat to secure it. First, Wilhelm Visser was handed up into the arms, or rather the good arm, of his son. Both men broke down in tears and had to be led away from the gangway. Next Little Eddy went up to the general delight and cheering of the crew. Fallon located the key to the manacles in a box at the stern of the pilot boat and unlocked each of the slaves from their oars. Then he and Aja began handing up the poor, naked men. One by one the bewildered slaves gained Rascal’s deck and were led below to Colquist to be examined. They all seemed to be Turks or North Africans but that could be sorted out later. Now they were all free men.

Then, at last, Aja and Fallon came through the channel and were swooped up into the arms of Beauty and Cully and the rest. The soldiers were gathered around, as well, and Fallon was trying to ask Beauty about them when the lookout’s call came down to the deck and froze everyone momentarily.

“Deck there! It’s that snake xebec to the east!”

Fallon jerked his head around and squinted into the sandstorm. He could see nothing from the deck; he was frankly amazed the lookout had seen anything either.

“Beauty, head north quickly! We’ll try to outrun him downwind!”

The Rascals leapt to their roles in the stinging wind, their bare feet crunching the sand that covered the deck and was piling up in the crevices and corners. The sirocco had gained strength in the last hour and was now a gale at full force and Beauty called for a reef in the main and foresail and still Rascal bounded northward on a broad reach with a bone in her teeth. Shot and slow match were already on deck and the soldiers crowded the center of the ship to be clear of the gun crews.

There, the thunder of a cannon! Fallon looked past Aja to see Zabana’s ship in the distance, its deadly snake’s head lunging towards them.

Serpent’s big sails were double reefed but her relatively light weight and shallow draft made her extremely fast in a big wind and the sirocco was certainly that. The seas were growing, as well, but Zabana was confident he had the ship to catch the schooner. It was only a matter of time.

At a mile and a half away he’d fired his bow chaser and would keep firing it to get the barrel hot as they drew closer. He was mad with the chase, the humiliation at Fallon’s hands burning his skin more than the sand.

He nodded to the agha to ready his men.

Fallon and Beauty watched as Serpent fell in behind them sailing northwest and continuing to fire her bow chaser, though in that heaving sea at a mile it would be a lucky shot indeed that found its mark.

“What do you think, Beauty?” asked Fallon. Both ships were on starboard tack, their sails well out in conditions where they should be hove-to.

“I don’t know what he’s planning,” said Beauty as she looked over her shoulder. “That ship is a handful, though. It’s amazing it’s even upright. But if we’re going to make a move we’d better make it soon. Anything can happen in this damn wind and I don’t want it to happen to us!”

Fallon kept his eyes riveted on Serpent and judged the distance between the two ships to be less than a half mile. The red grit was in his eyes and mouth and nose and it was hard to breathe looking back into the wind.

“Here’s an idea you won’t like, Nico,” Beauty shouted. And she was right, he didn’t like it.

Yet Fallon immediately saw the strategy for what it was: their best chance. He nodded to Beauty to come about and yelled to Aja to have Cully stand by the long nine and have the gun crews stand by the lar-board battery and double shot the guns with chain and shot. If even one of those guns found a stay or sheet or, please God, a spar—Serpent could be mortally wounded in this wind and sea. One could only hope.

But now Beauty was focused on picking the trough she wanted to turn into as the waves rolled under Rascal, lifting her stern high into the air before the ship hurtled down the face of the wave and buried her nose in the base of the wave ahead. The waves were coming fairly regularly, but there was some variation and Beauty wanted the greatest distance between waves she could find.

The helmsmen—for there were two of them on the big wheel—were looking forward awaiting her order to come about and Beauty was looking astern, not at the xebec but at the sea. At last a monster wave lifted them up on its shoulders and she yelled, “Now!”

The schooner slid down the face of the wave at an angle, the hands bringing the big sails in slowly as the helmsmen guided Rascal smoothly and turned just quickly enough to keep her moving under control as the wind moderated in the trough. Her bow came around just as the next wave reared up and Rascal climbed up, and up, her sails coming in tighter and filling as the wind came over the top of the wave. Here’s where the drills and discipline paid off and when Fallon tore his eyes away from the maneuver and looked ahead there was Serpent charging towards them, caught fully unaware by Beauty’s maneuver.

Now Cully opened fire with the long nine and the crew cheered. The ships were closing very quickly, with Rascal on larboard tack now, diving into the troughs and climbing up the face of the next wave in line. Serpent now had a difficult choice. Since her larboard rail was buried with the heel of the ship, her larboard guns would be useless. She could attempt to fall off to bring her starboard battery to bear, but she risked wearing ship, which could be catastrophic in that wind and sea. Now the xebec’s usual advantages were nullified or worked against her: her oars were useless and her light ballast made her unhandy and extremely dangerous in these conditions.

And events were unfolding quickly.

Zabana lisped a curse and watched as Rascal, for he had seen the schooner’s name, had come about and was now sailing back towards him. And now her bow chaser was firing! His own cannon fired again, but he could see the odds had shifted away from his favor. No matter what he did Serpent would be raked and, even if he could exchange fire gun for gun, his ship was far more lightly built and would likely suffer the most damage. A broadside exchange could prove fatal.

Here came the British ship, her sails as hard as knife blades. She would pass well within broadside range and Zabana could imagine her cannons loaded with chain shot to shoot away his rigging. Rascal had the steadier platform, for Serpent was yawing and rolling in the quartering seas, water often coming over her larboard rail. She would be lucky if a single cannon could fire and Zabana knew it.

The realization that he had been outfoxed brought bile to his throat and something in his mind refused to accept another humiliation. His rage and malevolence took control of his reason and his thin grasp on reality slipped away. Two could play at surprises! he exclaimed out loud. Quickly he ordered the crewmen to loosen the sails and, laughing maniacally, he pushed the helmsmen away and took the tiller himself. He knew his idea was brilliant and he became focused on executing his plan perfectly.

Rascal was charging down and he wanted all the satisfaction of ramming her himself.

“Aja,” yelled Fallon, “tell Cully to stand by the larboard battery. For the rigging lads!”

As the ships approached one another Fallon could see the snake’s head clearly at the end of Serpent’s bowsprit. It was turning towards him now as Serpent appeared to be falling down to pass closer to Rascal. The snake’s head was mesmerizing and detailed with eyes that were painted red and seemed to glow like embers.

Suddenly, the snake turned hard to larboard and began to cross directly into Rascal’s path. Beauty saw what was happening and called for the helmsman to fall off but it was too late. Zabana was driving the snake’s head into Rascalon purpose! As Fallon and Beauty watched helplessly the burning eyes plunged into the bow of the schooner and stuck fast.

Everyone on both ships was thrown to the decks; some were knocked unconscious and others lost their weapons and their wits. Serpent’s masts went by the board and her sails fell over the side with them. Rascal’s fore-mast snapped half way up and her mainmast came crashing down over the side in a tangle of rigging and sail and lumber that no doubt killed anyone under it. The ships were locked together, both severely wounded and helpless as the sirocco screamed overhead and threw waves as tall as small houses at the ships.

Fallon gained his feet and helped Beauty to hers as Aja tried to sort out the soldiers and crew who had been thrown against the cannons and bulwarks. Barclay was holding onto the wheel with his only arm and trying to stand while Cully’s face was a mass of blood from a brutal meeting with a gun carriage.

Suddenly, a trumpet’s call rent the air above the roar of the wind.