Windswept (45 page)

Jacob scoffed at the ineffectual instructions. “You’re sending Frank? He won’t be able to get Nora off that ship.” He thrust his arm through the bars and grabbed the soaked collar of Thurston’s nightshirt. “Let me out of here, Judge. You’ve got to open this cell.”

“I can’t let you out, Proctor. How do I know you’re telling the truth? How do I know this isn’t a plot concocted by that crew of yours to help you escape? How…”

A new set of footsteps sounded through the passageway, and halted the flow of Thurston’s words. Gasping for air, and dripping a trail of rainwater onto the brick floor, Felix charged up to the men and leveled frightened eyes on Jacob. “It’s gone, Cap’n. The
Raven’s Wing
has sailed.”

Jacob bunched more of Thurston’s nightshirt into his trembling fist and twisted, hauling the judge to the bars. A growl that was primal and fierce came from his throat. “Damn it, Judge, what more do you need to hear? For God’s sake, I love Nora. I’d risk my life to save her. I’ll bring her home and come right back to this stinking cell. You have my word, but you’ve got to let me go before there’s not a ship in Key West that can chase Moony out to sea.”

Thurston quivered against the bars. Fear flickered in his eyes. “All right.” He motioned to the guard. “Frank, let him out.” He stepped away from the door as it swung open. Jacob raced past him as a cry pierced the incessant roar of the wind.

“Wreck ashore!”

Chapter Twenty-eight

The
Dover Cloud
was ready, rocking at her moorings like a thoroughbred anxious to leave the paddock for a good run. Jacob jumped aboard amid shouts of welcome from his crew. He loosened a rope from a piling and shouted over his shoulder. “The judge may lock me up again when we return, so if this is our last run for a while, let’s make it a good one.”

“Aye, captain,” Willy said, handing him a slicker, “we’re ready.”

Jacob thrust his arms into the jacket. “If any of you men don’t want to go out in this, I’ll understand, but get off now.”

Each crew member glanced at his companions’ faces from under the dripping brims of nor’westers, and Willy spoke for all of them. “It’s only a good stiff breeze for a brisk sail, captain. Not a man here would want to miss it.”

Jacob slapped Willy’s back. “You’re full of bilge water, Will. It’s a damn tropical storm and you know it. But I’m grateful.”

Jacob took the wheel as the
Cloud
’s sails filled with the howling wind and the ship rode the first of the big waves out of Key West harbor. Other wreckers, hoping for a good salvage, had set out ahead of him, but those ships were turning back. “It’s too rough out there, Jacob,” one skipper called to him above the sinister sounds of nature. “Ain’t no cargo worth paying for with your life.”

Jacob only waved away the man’s words
.
The cargo on the stranded ship at Sailboat Reef was indeed worth fighting for, worth dying for. The precious cargo of the
Raven’s Wing
was the very substance of Jacob’s life.

The
Dover Cloud
rounded the southern tip of Key West and faced the menace of the Florida Straits head on. Waves topping ten feet buffeted the ship and sent walls of water onto her decks. Jacob’s crew cursed and vowed revenge against a sea that showed no mercy. Still the schooner forged ahead, riding wave after wave to dizzying heights before crashing to sea level again.

In the distance, through sheets of rain and charcoal gray clouds that touched the earth, Jacob saw one single light burning on Sailboat Reef, one light from somewhere on board the
Raven’s Wing
that would guide him to the stranded ship.

“A pitiful performance, Moony,” he said bitterly, as if his foe were standing in front of him. “All your experience didn’t keep you off the very reef you’ve been plundering for years. Serves you right, you old bastard, and gives me the chance I need to catch you.”

And to the ship that remained sturdy under his feet, he said, “You’re a good lady,
Cloud
. You make this run and we’ll let you rest. You’ll have earned it.”

Nora had been almost grateful when the strident scrape of wood on rock jolted her to awareness in the dark hold. She’d almost said a prayer of thanksgiving when the
Raven’s Wing
tilted precariously, tried to right itself, and, unsuccessful, settled with a mournful groan onto the reef. When the ship’s careening, headlong course was brought to a sudden, bone-cracking halt, Nora knew the schooner could not escape the ravages of the storm but maybe, just maybe, rescue was possible for her.

Voices, mostly indecipherable and muffled by the wind, carried into the hold. Nora made out phrases punctuated by panic. One man’s cry announced the demise of the main mast just before the wood rent and split the air with a thunderous clap. When the huge timber hit water, the ship teetered on its bed of coral, and Nora covered her ears against the moans of a threatened vessel battling an unforgiving sea.

“She’s breaking up, Moony!” a sailor called, and proof of his warning sounded in creaks and splinters of wounded wood and bent iron. A piece of the hull gave way, and water leaked into a three foot slit of torn lumber.

Nora watched in horror as sea water seeped in to her shoes. At least fortune had been with her when she’d strapped herself to the side of the hold that ultimately protruded out of the water, but it wouldn’t be long before the gash in the hull widened. Water that leaked now, would soon tear through the hold with a vengeance.

When she heard Moony give the order to abandon ship, Nora stared at the round hatch still bolted above her. Would Moony come and take her off the ship? Even if it meant she might live, she prayed he wouldn’t come. If the foul hold of the
Raven’s Wing
was to be her tomb, it was better than being captive to a cruel monster, one who would probably kill her in his own time anyway.

She identified the sound of a rowboat hitting the water, and the frantic calls of men trying to board it. Then all was quiet except for the storm. Rain pelted the side of the ship with unending fury. Thunder clapped overhead, and the wind continued to howl and taunt the
Raven’s Wing
with jolts and jostles that made the beaten ship rasp its death rattle.

Occasionally a flash of lightning illuminated the hold providing Nora with the ghastly sight of sea water rising relentlessly. Supplies intended to sustain the crew for the short voyage north floated around her knees now. Bottles of whiskey, smoked meat and soggy loaves of bread bumped into her legs and floated away on a bobbing trail to ultimate destruction. And she waited for help to arrive or for the last full breath she would take before the water took her.

Jacob aimed a lantern beam on what was left of the
Raven’s Wing.
Flotsam of the ship’s deck and masts caught the waves and crashed into the sides of the
Dover Cloud
. Only a portion of the hull remained above sea level, and it appeared the ship’s crew had abandoned the wreck to trust their fortunes to the angry sea.

Though he knew it was useless, Jacob called her name. “Nora! Nora!” His voice was lost to his own ears, claimed by a wailing wind. He made the decision to search the ship before attempting to chase Moony and his crew into the Atlantic.

“Get closer,” he shouted to Willy, though he knew his own ship might become a victim of the reef. But time was his worst enemy now. If Nora was in the hull, it would only be minutes before the sea would pull what was left of the
Raven’s Wing
under the roiling surface.

His crew dropped the rowboat into the water and Jacob and Willy jumped aboard. Calmer seas existed in the watery valley created between the two ships. The small boat maneuvered the gentler white caps to come aside the hull of the
Raven’s Wing
. Jacob threw a rope to a section of ragged, torn timber. After checking its stability, he climbed hand over hand onto the hull. Bracing himself against the wind raging over the shell of the ship, he called Nora’s name again.

The sea lapped at her shoulders. Salt water filled her mouth and shook her from a dazed stupor. She spit it out and stared around the hold. It seemed foolish to hope now, and Nora wished she would fall into a void of unconsciousness so she wouldn’t have to watch the water inch its way above her head. It would be so much more peaceful that way, but was impossible now.

Fully alert, she drew a deep breath and prepared to battle to the end. She tried to extricate herself from the ropes that had saved her during the worst of the storm. Maybe, if she were loose, she could widen the gap in the hull and escape. Failing that, she would at least be free to find the last bit of air left in the hold.

The sodden fibers at her waist were stretched taut. She rubbed her fingertips raw trying to slip the knots free, but they wouldn’t budge. Tears of frustration flowed into her eyes. She cursed the blasted ropes that once saved her, but now prevented her last desperate attempts to survive. And then a voice came to her through the howl of the storm.

“Noraaa!”

Joyous recognition flooded her heart. It was Jacob’s voice, the sweetest, most wonderful sound in all the world. Nora closed her eyes against the ravages of the storm and let her spirit rejoice in survival. She was going to win. She would wake the next morning to the beauty of the island and to the love of her life. Jacob!” she shouted. Adrenalin pumped through her veins, and she renewed her efforts to untie the ropes at her waist. “Jacob, I’m down here!”

“I’ll find you!”

Water seeped past her lips. By skidding her boot soles along the side of the hull, she was able to raise her mouth a few inches. “Jacob, the hatch is locked. You have to open the hatch cover.”

A full minute ticked agonizingly by before she heard his voice again. “Nora, I’ve found the hatch, but it’s submerged. If I open it the hold will be flooded.”

“It already is, nearly,” she called. “Hurry, Jacob, there isn’t much time.”

“I’ll get you out Just hang on.”

Seconds turned into precious minutes. Nora struggled for each inch of air. Outside, footsteps sounded on the hull. Jacob called for help. There was a loud crash and once more, footsteps. Then the entire hold reverberated with a resounding crack. The wood above her head split and revealed the tip of an ax blade. Jacob was literally chopping the hold to bits to get to her.

Water covered her mouth and she tilted her head back to breathe through her nose. The ax came down again. The blade sliced through, twisted and pulled at jagged timber. A large chunk of the
Raven’s Wing
gave way and floated past Nora’s eyes.
One more time, Jacob. One more swing and you can reach me.

Thwack! The blade did its job. A gaping hole appeared in the side of the hull, but not without exacting a price. The ship pitched closer to its grave, and water rushed over the exposed lip of the hole and into the hold. Nora filled her lungs with air seconds before water covered her head.

The sea swelled around her, rolling in waves that pushed her into the wood wall and then tried to drag her back. But she could no longer order her hands to work at the ropes. Buffeted by crates and barrels and bits of lumber, she’d lost control of her limbs. Her lungs burned like fire. And then strong hands were around her waist. A narrow, hard object slid between the ropes, sliced them with one smooth movement, and suddenly she was free.

Propelled upwards, Nora willed the air to stay in her lungs.
Air, sweet, wonderful air.
She kicked with her feet, and stretched toward it, toward the light that seemed to float on the surface of the sea. And then her head broke through and she gulped great drafts of life-giving oxygen into her lungs. She clung to the remains of the
Raven’s Wing
until Jacob hoisted himself out of the wreck and pulled her up beside him. Her tears mingled with those of the man who held her in his arms and whispered her name over and over like a prayer.

The winds had died down and a drizzling rain had been burned off by a brilliant sunrise when the
Dover Cloud
limped proudly back to Key West harbor. Her crew had saved the precious human cargo of the
Raven’s Wing
. Most of the men, humbled by the vengeance of the storm and the magnitude of their efforts, were ready for rest.

Realizing his only reward might be another night in the island jail, Jacob Proctor cared only that he had saved the person who meant more to him than life. It was the reason he would be able to face his fate, whatever it might be, with only prayers of thanksgiving that Nora had been spared.

A rosy-streaked dawn illuminated the sky and the hundred or so people gathered at the dock to watch the
Dover Cloud
slide into its berth. Nora settled deeper into the crook of Jacob’s arm where she had remained the whole of the journey back. She sighed contentedly. “I knew you would come. I knew that somehow you would.”

He laughed softly in her ear. “Did you now? You knew I would slip the bonds of a Federal judge, break down iron bars, and battle the fiercest of elements to get to you?”

He sensed her smile. “Yes.”

He wrapped a blanket more snugly around her. “Well, as usual you were right. But did it ever occur to you that I risked life and limb primarily to retrieve the evidence Felix said you’d found?”