In The Belly Of The Bloodhound (48 page)

“Come here, you,” I say to her and put my palm on her forehead. It’s warm, but maybe it’s just the excitement…We’ll see.

We got through the rest of the day as best we could. We did the Dance, we did the French, and we did the Science, but we were all jumpy. It was almost a relief when Connie read her verses and the flaps came down.

There was no story tonight, no. I think I’m storied out…Instead I sat with Hughie for a long time and told him some more about the horses at the Lawson Peabody and how he was gonna take care of ‘em and all…[_ “Now, that Daisy’s a sweet little thing and no trouble at all, but that Samson, oh what a hammer-headed bully he is—prolly take a special bridle, a hackamore, don’t you think, Hughie? Aye, I thought_]

so…,”
and how he’d have his own little room with curtains and stuff and how we’d have picnics on the Common. Amidst all this, I kept going over and over what his job in the upcoming breakout was to be,[_ had_] to[_ be—”When you hear me shout ‘Hughie! Go, go, go!’ you’ve got to go up on deck, help Hyacinth haul up the sail, take the ratchet and lower the boat down. You got that, Hughie? Remember, Hughie, when you hear…”_]
p. When I climb back up into our kip, I reach over to feel Rebecca’s forehead. Still warm.[_ I’m all right,_] she murmurs, awakened from sleep by my touch.

I don’t know…

At one thirty I am awakened by the watch to go out on my last foray. I rub the sleep from my eyes and listen to those about me. I smile to think of how they all said they would not sleep a wink this night of nights. But it seems they were wrong.

I climb down and feel my way to the Rat Hole. I’ve done it so many times now, I think I could make it there without my hands stretched out in front of me. Caroline has opened the Hole for me and I thank her and send her back up on watch.

I don’t wake Clarissa—why bother? I’ll be out and back in no time.

I’m right. I’m back in the storeroom inside of ten minutes.

I had crept out, gotten into the crew’s boat—it’s hard for me to call it a lifeboat, considerin’ all I’ve done to it—and did what I needed to do. I unhooked the rudder, lifting it up and out of its pintles, and tied a line around the tiller part—line I got by cutting off the jib halyard—and gently lowered it into the water. It made nary a sound as it slipped into the sea, and I made nary a sound as I slipped out of the boat, through the hatch, down the passageway, and back into the storeroom, patting myself on the back for a job well and completely done.

Then I freeze.

What’s that? I
stiffen and a chill runs up my spine.[_ Oh no! There’s someone in here with me!_]

I hear the striking of a flint and an oil lamp blazes into light.

My heart sinks. There in the glow of light from the lamp, standin’ between me and the Rat Hole, is Sammy Nettles.

“Hey, hey, hey, if it ain’t Smart-mouth herself…Ain’t that somethin’? Ain’t that really somethin. Yer that ghost that’s got ever’one scairt, ain’cha, girly? Well, you don’t scare me none, no you don’t, ‘cause I always knowed it was one o’ yer bunch what was doin’ it. A ghost? Shee-it, no, just a skinny girl all dressed in black…Sheee-it…”

He stands there giggling while I stand transfixed with fear and despair—[_ We are lost!_]

“Y’see, I got holes o’ my own, there on the other side of the Hold, cracks that I can peek through. Yes I do, just like I know you all got holes, and I been keepin’ my eye on all of yiz, yes I have…and I know how you got over here, too, yes, I do.”

All
our[_ plans! All our preparations!_]

“I ain’’ gonna tell Captain just yet, girly, oh no, I’m not. First we gonna have some fun…” He giggles and snorts some more. “You just stay right there on your knees…

Snap out of it! You’ve got to think! You’ve got to

He puts the lamp down on the workbench and takes a step to stand over me. “That’s good. That’s real good…” He chuckles some more and then says, “Y’know, I’m glad it turned out to be you—that blondie’s prettier, but you’ll do ‘cause you got such a smart mouth on you, don’t you. Oh yes, you do…”

With that he loosens his belt and opens the front of his pants. I jerk back, but he puts his hand on the back of my head and pulls me forward.

My mind is reeling in desperation.[_ If I come up with my shiv and stick it in his gut, he’s sure to cry_] out[_ and we’ll be discovered and all will be lost!_]

“C’mon, girly. Let’s do it now. Let’s see just how smart that mouth really is…”

Oh,[_ God! Even if I do what he so plainly wants me to do, he’ll still tell the Captain! I’ve got to do something, I’ve got to_]

But I don’t have to do nothin’. Or not much, anyway. A loop of light line snakes out of the darkness behind him and goes over his head and drops down to his neck before it is pulled tight, oh, so very tight, by two small white hands on either side of his neck. His eyes go wide in surprise and then start to bug out as the small but apparently quite strong hands pull the cord even tighter, shutting off his breath.

He makes some gurgling sounds and tries to get his fingers under the noose that is strangling him, but it is too tight and he just can’t do it.

Nettles’s legs kick and thrash about until I throw my arms about them and hug them tight to me to quiet them and to keep them from raising the alarm. At first, I feel them kicking hard, then they slowly weaken, and then they go limp and just quiver, and then…nothing. I relax my hold on his dead legs and he slips down to the deck.

Clarissa Worthington Howe stands there shaking, the end of the garrote still held in her hand.

“Is he dead?” she asks.

“I think so,” I say. Nettles sure ain’t movin’ anymore. “I…I never did anything like that before,” she says. “Never killed anyone before…”

I get to my feet and put my arms around her and hold her close to me. “We killed him, Clarissa, we both did,” I say, to take some of the load off her. “It had to be done. Try to put it out of your mind now.”

I hold her there in the darkness and gradually her trembling subsides and then stops. She stiffens and stands straight and shrugs off my arms.

“Come on, we’ve got to take care of him and then get back,” I say, kneeling back down next to the body.

We roll Sammy under a shelf and cover him with some pieces of canvas that we find. Then we crawl back into the Hold, taking the lamp with us, and button up the boards.

In the light of the lamp, I watch Clarissa get back into her kip and crawl over to Lissette, who is sleeping sitting up, with her back to the wall. Clarissa puts her head in the French girl’s lap and closes her eyes. She goes to sleep immediately, breathing gently in and out, her breath making a curl that has fallen across her cheek flutter slightly. She sleeps like a baby.

What a piece of work you are, Clarissa.

I lie awake in the dark, unable to get the thought of Sammy Nettles out of my mind. Sure, he had it coming, but to have held on to his legs like that and to have felt the very life go out of him…Well, sleep will not come easy this night.

We’ve got to go tomorrow, now, ‘cause they’ll be looking for him and they will find him. And in their search, they will also find evidence of our preparations and all will be lost. Yes, tomorrow we go.

The die is cast.

In the morning, just as the first light of dawn is breaking, the watch wakes me and I awaken Clarissa and we both wake Dolley and the three of us quietly rouse the rest of the girls and tell them that Plan A is on for real today and there’s no going back[_ now—“‘cause we killed Nettles last night when he caught us out of the Hold, and it won’t be long before they find his body”—and_] they are to make themselves ready. And while they are quiet about it, the Hold positively hums with excitement.[_ It’s on!_]

No tears are shed for Sammy’s departure from this world.

Then the flaps go up and Hughie rises to go get the bur-goo. When he comes back, Sin-Kay is with him and a quick inspection is held. Sin-Kay has lost patience with us and wants only for this voyage to be over, and he takes the roll and is gone very quickly.

The burgoo and water are given out and everyone eats and drinks, every spoonful, every drop…[_ everyone except Rebecca._]

Last night, after I had climbed back into our kip, I felt Rebecca’s forehead again…[_ Uh-oh…I_] then slipped my hand under her shirt and found her chest soaked with sweat.

Damn!
I lay down next to her and held her to me, for I knew that after the hot sweats come the chills, and indeed, they did come. I begged Annie and Sylvie to look after her on this day, to make sure she got through the Rat Hole and made it to the boat, and they, of course, gathered her shaking form to them and vowed they would.[_ Damn!_]
p. The girls get dressed as excitedly as they ever did for any high tea, and for the first time in a long while, they put on their stockings, their shoes, and their Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls uniform dresses. Everyone, that is, ‘cept me—I shove all my extra stuff in my seabag, ‘cause I got to be able to move free.

We are ready to go.[_ Come on, Mick and Keefe._]

While waiting for the hooks, I look over at Connie, who is sitting by Elspeth, and I know she is trying to raise Elspeth’s spirits enough to make the crawl through the Hole and the dash for the boat. Annie and Sylvie are doing the same with poor Rebecca—they have gotten her dressed and she is at least able to stand, however shakily.

All the girls are jumpy, ready to leap out of their skins. I think for a moment, and then say, “Connie, if you’d like to offer up something now, feel free…”

She looks at me, rises, holds out her hands, palms up, and looks heavenward. “Lord,” she begins, “You, who delivered the Hebrew children out of bondage and then led them to the Promised Land…You, who delivered Daniel from the Lion’s Den…You, who delivered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the Fiery Furnace…You who delivered all those of Your children, maybe, just maybe, You can find it in Your wisdom and mercy to deliver the girls of the Lawson Peabody from their own bondage, so that they can continue to serve You, each in her own way. Amen.”

There is a chorus of amens. Heartfelt ones, I believe.[_ Good job, Connie,
] I’m thinkin’.[
Short and to the point.
] The top hatch opens and the hooks come swinging down![
Glory be!_]

“Hooks coming,” says Julia on lookout. “Captain’s on the quarterdeck.”

It is the signal to start Plan A.

Clarissa stands and looks at me hard and her look demands of me,[_ You swear you will cover for me?_]

I nod.[_ I will, Sister, I swear._] The hooks are all the way down now.

“Very well, then.” She goes to the bars, takes a deep breath, and screams out, “Captain! Come here! I wanna bath!”

“What the hell?” we hear the Captain say, and hear his footsteps approach.

I jump down into the Pit and call up to Mick and Keefe as I hook the first tub, “Mick! Keefe! She’s gonna do it! Blondie’s really gonna do it.”

Their heads appear over the side of the top hatch. “Wot?”

“Blondie’s gonna take a bath right out there on the deck! Tell Cookie and the others!” Their heads disappear and the sound of running feet is heard as the word is spread.

“Now what do you want?” demands the Captain.

“I have to take a bath. I’m getting a rash. No sultan’s gonna want to buy me if I have a rash. He’ll think I’ll give him a disease,” says Clarissa, firmly.

“We ain’t got a bathtub, so you can’t have one. Now, shut up.”

“You got a hose right back there. I’ve seen it. I’ll bathe right there. You got some soap?”

I think the entire crew is now back aft of our cage, listening eagerly to this exchange. Sin-Kay then appears on deck.

“What is this, then?” he asks.

“Blondie there wants to be hosed off on the fantail,” says the Captain.

“I absolutely forbid it!” says Sin-Kay. “I am in charge of the cargo!”

There is instantly a loud[_ “hmmmmmm!”
] from the crew. The Captain looks around at his increasingly mutinous crew, and I know what is going through his mind—he’s got a crew half out of its collective wits with superstitious terror over the sightings of the Black Ghost, he’s got men terrified of being turned into giant seaweed sponges, he’s got sailors worried he’s gonna kill ‘em at the end of the voyage—he’s got to figure,[
Hell, why not toss them a bone, and keep ‘em happy?_]

“And I am in charge of this ship!” says the Captain to the outraged Sin-Kay, “as I have informed you before.” He strides to the gangway. “Bring her up! Pump up the hose!”

There is a mighty roar of approval from the crew.

Sin-Kay, plainly outraged, comes down the hatchway and opens the cage door. “All right, you,” he snarls. “Get out here.”

Clarissa takes one last look at me, straightens her back, puts on the Look, and goes out the door.

Take it slow, Sister, take it real slow

Sin-Kay locks the door and follows her out of the hatchway.

“Plan A…Ready!” I shout and everyone flies into action. Abby and Helen are at the gate, whipping the wires from off their waists and lashing the gate shut. Then they join the others, who have rushed down under the Stage to carry out their own parts.

I go down there myself and see the boards coming off the Holes. I take my seabag and before handing it over to Martha’s care, I withdraw from it my sword Persephone, sleeping silently in her sheath. She who had lain there quietly the entire time we were here, taking up the whole length of the bag. She will not be quiet now, oh no. I strap her harness around my waist and go back out and up on the Balcony and look aft.

As I look out, there is a roar from the crew. I guess Clarissa has taken off her dress.

I turn around. Annie and Sylvie each throw their bag of fused powder up at my feet and then go back to Rebecca. Wilhelmina carefully places a lit candle on the Balcony, next to me. All that would have been for Plan B, if the ruse with Clarissa hadn’t worked and they didn’t let her out to perform her little…diversion…and we had to blast our way out. But that, thankfully, did not happen.

“Plan A…Go!” I shout and run back down to the gate and say to Hughie, “Hughie! Go! Go! Go!” He looks at me, shocked, scared, and not moving. “Hughie! Get to the boat! Go! Go! Go!” Then he nods and goes up the stairs and—Sin-Kay had locked the upper door when he went out. Hughie rattles the door.[_ Damn!_]