The Stolen Heart (35 page)

 

 

Together they fell into a truly peaceful slumber for the first time
since they had been separated, each so grateful for the good Lord
having seen fit to spare them both.

 

 

And each praying that yet another miracle could be bestowed.

 

 

 

CHAPTER THIRTY

 

 

As much as Jared loved Almira and adored being with her in the cabin
he considered his first real home, he had ample cause to regret his
promise to her that they could take the
Trident
to commence
their search.

 

 

The next morning, she vetoed his plan to take the faster brig. With
a bizarre mix of superstition and absolute conviction, she told him
that she needed to complete her quest on the ship she had begun it
upon.

 

 

Given her delicate state, he did not want to thwart her, but as they
searched the Juan Fernandez Islands, and then began to head north
towards Peru, stopping at every single charted and even uncharted
island they came across, he began to think she was mad.

 

 

Perkins humored her too, setting constant watches, poring over the
charts to try to find any islands that seemed logical given the
location of the attack upon the
Calypso
and where the
whaleboats had been set down.

 

 

They spotted a fair few whales, and Jared gave in to the temptation
to lower the boats twice, picking up another six sperm whales. They
hacked off all the blubber, stacking the blanket pieces amidships,
and tried it under sail, for the weather was fair their first week
out, with good steady light winds.

 

 

Almira was angry at the distraction, but as Jared pointed out
reasonably, it was what they were out there for. As much as he loved
her, he had the ship's owners and investors to answer too, after
all. Plus, the men would go mad or even become mutinous if they did
not have something to relieve the monotony. And while treasure was
all very well and fine, America needed whale oil and whale bone.
They might well have taken a king's ransom in gold, but you couldn't
light your house with it.

 

 

The whale meat was also welcome, and to pass the time he also set up
fishing competitions, and a record of who had seen the most unusual
birds.

 

 

After one week of good weather, their luck changed utterly. Some
vast winds from the north actually pushed them so far down towards
the Antarctic that they had hail and snow again, and had to beat
back up the coast to get within striking distance of Callao once
more.

 

 

When they had no luck at all, they headed north to Valpariaso to
investigate the islands there as well. Jared was also tempted to put
into port there, but Almira was sure that they were on the right
track now.

 

 

But then, she had said that before….

 

 

A large pod of sperm whales ended that argument, but not for long.
As the trying out of the whale oil drew near its end, Jared knew he
had to make a decision

 

 

He went to find his beloved, and found her even more hollow-eyed
from lack of sleep and hours of watching in all weathers than the
last time he had seen her.

 

 

He took a deep breath, and decided he had to seize the bull by the
horns.

 

 

He stepped up to her as she took a trick at the wheel, and said, “My
love, it’s been weeks now. I know how much your father means to you,
but we're running out of fresh food other than whale meat, fresh
water, and the storms have been the worst I’ve ever seen. We have to
get into port. We will come back, I promise. But even I’m at the end
of my tether. I love you, but we can’t go on like this, like the
Flying Dutchman, never at rest.”

 

 

She stared out at the grey churning waves silently for so long, he
wondered if she had even heard him.

 

 

Finally she whispered, “Another day. One more day. He’s out here, I
know it.”

 

 

Jared shook his head. “No, sweetheart, we can’t. I love you, you
know what. If it were just the two of us, I would search the world
over. But you know there's more than just us in this equation. I
would be failing in my duty to my crew if I gave in to you yet
again.

 

 

"I love you more than life itself, and would do anything to see you
happy. But each day you say one more day, and yes, we have had good
hunting, but you know what the crew has been through because we were
racing to catch the
Dophin
to save Adrian.

 

 

"I don't know a single crew who has had to go so long without so
much as a day in port, but that's what me and the seven men in the
whaleboat have had to endure, plus all the men who had to work to
get the
Trident
shipshape to come back out to find me and
your father.

 

 

"So please, try to see it from my point of view. I don’t want to
seem selfish, but even your brother agrees with me. If we don’t head
back, one more bad storm could finish us off, we're so tired.  
And if it doesn’t, starvation or thirst will.”

 

 

“Until nightfall, then. I promise. If we don’t see anything by then,
we'll head for Valparaiso.”

 

 

“All right,” he agreed with a sigh. “Four more hours won’t make any
difference at this stage.”

 

 

She nodded and kissed him. He began to protest when she headed for
the side and began to climb the rigging, but then decided not to say
anything. If it made her feel better to look out herself, then what
harm could it do?

 

 

The weather now seemed to conspire against them for unrelentingly
gray and overcast, stormy and cold. They had started out so well,
with such high hopes. Now it seemed as if even God had forsaken
them. Jared had prayed with all his heart that Almira would get her
wish. He hated to head back to port empty-handed after all she had
been through to find her father.

 

 

And there was of course no question now of heading to New Zealand.
The sooner they turned around and headed home to Nantucket, the
better so far as he was concerned.

 

 

Al stood in the ring as the clouds thickened over head, making the
sky almost as black as night despite the fact that it was supposed
to be a bright summer's day in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

 

She gripped the ring and peered out through Jared’s spyglass. Once
the sight of a spout had filled her with joy. Now any sign of life,
or little island, would have meant everything to her.

 

 

She sighed. She was only fooling herself, she knew that now. Her
father could never have made it so far in a small boat with so many
men and so few provisions, as has been indicated in Delgado’s log.

 

 

Yet miracles happened every day. Jared had said so himself, when he
had spoken of their love.

 

 

Miracles
did
happen every day. She only had to think of
the infinite variety of creatures which she had seen with her own
two eyes whilst on this voyage. She would never have believed in
them had she not seen them for herself. So why could her father and
his men not survived?

 

 

Still, she knew she was being selfish. The men of the
Trident
had done so much for her, and were now suffering because of her
search for her father. She heaved a great sigh, and closed the
telescope. Then she began to pray aloud.

 

 

“Almighty God who reigns over heaven and earth, and the seas, I want
to thank you for all you have given me. Thank you for the miracle of
me finding Jared on Nantucket, and him helping me with my sisters
Amy and Alice. Thank you for the blessing of their love, and the
love of my brother Adrian too. You restored him to me at a time when
I needed him most. You spared him when the pirates attacked, and
sent him to me as a helpmeet. You helped me spare Jared, and the
ship. And thank you for the miracle of Jared’s love, which I shall
try to prove worthy of.

 

 

“Finally, thank you for the miracle of the child who lives inside
me. It has been foolish of me to pray for the miracle of finding my
father, when I have already received more than my fair share of
miracles on this voyage.

 

 

"I’m sorry if I’ve seemed ungrateful or prideful. I’m neither, just
weak and foolish. So I do must humbly thank you, Lord for all of my
blessings, and the friendships I have found on the
Trident
.

 

 

"And now, I shall go down below, and tell Jared to turn the ship
around and head for safe harbor, and ask you to watch over us and
make sure that we arrive safely. Thank you again for your precious
bounty, Lord. Amen."

 

 

She opened her eyes, and was about to descend from the ring, when
the louring clouds wafted away in the face of a freshening breeze.

 

 

She gasped as a huge rainbow appeared to her out of the mist. The
arc was huge, and extended almost from the prow of the ship to….

 

 

To… Could it be?

 

 

Her mouth went dry, and her heart leapt into her throat. Her jittery
fingers tried to open the spyglass, and she fumblingly put it to her
eye.

 

 

She followed the rainbow to its end. Only this time, instead of a
pot of gold, she saw it. An island, with trees, and a small
sheltered harbor, and-
fires
. Signal fires, on the beach, and
someone waving a torch, or some flaming palm fronds!

 

 

“Land!” she croaked, and her voice barely even carried to her own
ears. “Land! Land ho!! Two points off the starboard bow. Land! Oh,
God, thank you, it’s land!”

 

 

She headed down the rigging as fast as her trembling legs would
carry her, and heard Jared giving orders for the sails to be
trimmed.

 

 

"We're making for port now, men, with all possible speed."

 

 

"Jared, no, we need to take in the sails! It's land, I say."

 

 

He turned to her then, but instead of seeing her own delight
mirrored in his expression, she saw a wariness she had never seen
before.

 

 

“Al, I know what you're trying to do--”

 

 

“No, you've got it all wrong. I'm not trying to do anything. There's
land!" She pointed.

 

 

He didn't even turn around to look.

 

 

"I can see you don’t believe me. But I swear, Jared, he's there.
Look. There’s a rainbow, and at end of the rainbow is an island.
They're trying to signal us.”

 

 

He shook his head, and strode toward the helm to set course for
Valparaiso.

 

 

She stepped closer and thrust the spyglass at him. “Here then. If
you don’t believe me, look for yourself!

 

 

He headed forward, and stared, and stared again. “My God! Trim the
sails! Ready the boats, men! That’s an island all right, and there
are people alive on it!"

 

 

Adrian came running up. "Are you sure?"

 

 

"Aye, have a look yourself, son."

 

 

He peered through, and gasped, "They're signalling to us!”

 

 

Perkins came up now and squinted into the eyepiece as well. Then he
roared at the top of his lungs, "Land, land ho! Castaways!"

 

 

The exhausted and hungry crew looked for themselves, and suddenly
began to cheer.

 

 

Another half hour brought them alongside the beach where the fires
burned, and though Jared tried to urge caution, Al was the first
into the boats.

 

 

“But, Al, there might be natives, and some of them are cannibals out
here.”

 

 

“It’s my father. I just know it.”

 

 

In the end Jared could only shrug and get in the boat with her, and
her brother, who also insisted on rowing out despite his injured
side, which was still sore.

 

 

As the boat pulled in toward the beach, eight bedraggled men with
long hair and fierce sunburnt features approached, looking like
gaunt red skeletons.

 

 

Jared called with the speaking trumpet to not frighten them. “I’m
Captain Jared Starbuck, of the
Trident
. We’ve come to help
you. What Captain, what ship?

 

 

One thin voice, which sounded as though it emanated from a one
hundred year old man, called back, “Hussey, of the
Calypso.”

 

 

Almira nearly collapsed with joy. “Thank you, God, thank you, for
everything,” she whispered, tears running down her cheeks.

 

 

“Father! Father! It is me, Adrian!” he shouted.

 

 

As soon as the boat hit the sand, he leapt out and ran up the beach
to the bent figure with greying hair.

 

 

Almira was not long behind, but when she tried to embrace him, he
said, “I’m sorry, lad, but do I know you?”

 

 

“It’s me, Father, Almira.”

 

 

“Almira? My daughter? It can’t be.” He looked aghast.

 

 

“It is me, Father. We've been looking for you everywhere. Alice and
Amy are well, back home with a good trade, and being well looked
after.”

 

 

He stared at her and gradual recognition dawned. “Almira. Almira, my
child, it really is you! I’ve longed and prayed and hoped. I kept
seeing your mother, you know. So when I saw you and Adrian, I
thought for a moment that it had to be a dream too.”

 

 

She stared at him and asked in a quiet voice, “How long have you
been seeing mother?”