Free A Pirate’s Wife by Lynelle Clark Page A

continue.
    As he walked to his grand cabin Roberto was deep
    in thought. Something was not right. He could feel it, but
    he could not put his finger on it yet. Sitting at his
    mahogany desk, he pored over the charts, making sure they
    were still on course. With the manifest open before him, he
    wrote down the time and date of Captain Peek du Toit's
    visit.
    At suppertime Rosa-Lee did not come. He sent
    word to Enrico.
    'Where is Señorita Almaida?'
    'Not in her cabin, Captain,' Enrico replied
    cautiously. 'I have looked everywhere but I cannot find her.'
    He tried to appease Roberto. Enrico was clearly distracted
    and fearful fidgeting with his pants, his eyes down cast.
    The man in front of him was not easily fooled. Enrico had
    warned the señorita, after he had found her in her cabin
    dressed in men's clothing, of the foolishness of she was
    about to do. But she would not listen to him and he could
    not lie to this man.
    'Did you look on every deck?'
    'Yes, Captain.' Sweat formed on the boy's forehead
    and upper lip.
    'What are you not telling me, Enrico?' Roberto
    barked; all his usual brusque sternness back. Then it
    dawned on Roberto who the seventh person was. He cursed
    as he turned to Pierre with a quick move causing the chair
    to be unbalanced for a brief moment.
    'She is on the other ship!' He slammed his fist down
    on the table. The plates and glasses rattled and a bottle of
    wine toppled over. Pierre caught it just in time.
    'We will have to go and get her. For this she will
    pay,' he said, seething and pacing the floor. 'She was
    disguised as one of the men. She has put us all in danger
    with her game. We will have to get her back'
    'That will be a daring feat,' Pierre said.
    'I realize that, but we have no choice. If she talks we
    are all dead.'
    'Who says she didn't talk already?' The situation
    was critical.
    'Then the ship would have returned. We are not that
    far from the Heerengardt that it cannot catch up with us.
    We will have to follow and devise a plan to reclaim her
    without them noticing it. It is a good thing that the moon is
    not shining tonight.'
    'Roberto! You are mad to suggest this. We will be
    going into the heart of the D.E.I.C and if they catch us, we
    would be immediately hanged.'
    'I will go alone,' Roberto said. This undertaking was
    of the highest risk.
    With the order given they turned, following the ship
    with speed and in absolute dark silence. All the pirates
    were on the lookout for any sudden movement, eyes darting
    over the black calm waters, searching for the Heerengardt.
    It took them six hours to intercept the Heerengardt.
    By then the sun was already dawning in rich amber colours
    and Roberto realized they could not get closer without
    being noticed. They fell back, keeping their distance with
    the crow master giving feedback every hour.
    †††
    June 11, 1624
    Kayla came for a short visit. She really looked well
    considering she was five months pregnant. Derek was
    overwhelmed, keeping a tight hold on her hands.
    She in turn could not get enough of little Manuel.
    Not that I could blame her. He was growing strong and
    healthy. Every day he looked more and more like me with
    the exception that he had his mother's dark brooding eyes.
    He was big for his two months but it was normal, the
    medicine woman assured me.
    Today we relived many of the moments we shared
    with them in the wilderness of Africa. Kayla remembered
    the time that one of the chiefs hunted us and we had to hide.
    He wanted Qonchita as his woman and I was not willing to
    let her go; under no circumstances. We had to flee late at
    night. The rest of the group scattered in a different
    direction.
    Then when we finally came back to the group, I was
    accused of abandoning the group and punished
    accordingly. Both Qonchita and Kayla were angry at the
    captain. But I took my punishment and made the best of it.
    Qonchita forgot all about propriety and rebuked me
    because I was so calm about it. I explained to her