Jacob's ladder
Chapter 6: A sea voyage

The schooner sailing to England wascalled The Seagull. Her length was one hundred and twenty five Englishfeet, her beam forty. She had two masts: the foremast and the mainmast, and wasreasonably fast. In a few days, they made the turn around Finisterre and were sailingthe Cantabrian Sea on their way to the South of England.

The weather had turned cooler, with alittle rain, but not stormy, although the sea was wavy and the ship wobbling.Lady Borland was seaworthy, but Luis suffered his sailing baptism and felt sickwhen the deck swayed under his feet. He scarcely ate; as soon as he wouldswallow something, he had to run at the railing, among the laughter of thecrew. On the fourth day the weather improved, the waves subsided and Luisstarted to get used to his new situation. His stomach started withholding food,his face lost its greenish tinge, and he began to enjoy the voyage.

The next morning, coming on deckafter his first good sleep, he found Lady Borland sitting near the stern,basking in the sun and taking advantage of the fine weather. She acknowledgedhis presence with a smile.

“What news?” asked Luis, taking anempty deck chair and letting his gaze wander at the sailors who were cleaningthe deck or tending the sails, watched by the boatswain.

“News? How can we get news aboard aship? Who could have brought them? A seagull?”

“I wouldn’t wonder, since that’s thename of the ship,” joked Luis. “But I was speaking of the news we do get here.Where are we? When can we expect arriving at England? What will the weather betomorrow? Fine? Stormy?”

“You are very talkative today, but thatis not what you really want to know. Am I mistaken?”

Luis wrinkled his brow.

“No, milady. I can’t forget that Charleshas been a prisoner of his enemies for one month. You are right, that’s thenews I’d like to get, but you can’t give it to me, as I knew perfectly well whenI asked.”

Lady Borland rested her hand on hisarm.

“I’m sorry to have reminded you. Yourjoy is gone. I had never seen you in as good cheer.”

“Don’t worry, my joy was false. Ihave too many things in my mind. Besides Charles, there is something else.”

“I you trust me, I’ll do anything inmy hands to help.”

“You’ve done so much, that I’ll neverbe able to repay you. I don’t believe that you can help me in this particularmatter, but I feel the need to share my thoughts with someone, if you don’tmind.”

“Go on, I’m listening.”

It took Luis some time to startspeaking, as though he didn’t know where to start.

“It all comes from just before weleft Salamanca. I overheard Charles speaking to another professor in theuniversity. They thought they were alone and some of the things they said were notfor my ears. Don José mentioned that Charles has a secret which can be verydangerous for me. I have tried to coax him in vain; he just says I’m too young toknow. This is always in my mind.”

For some time there was full silence.Surprised, Luis looked at Lady Borland and found her watching him with apeculiar expression. Suddenly he understood and exclaimed:

“You know!”

“Shut up!”

“You must tell me!”

“It’s not my secret. If Charles won’ttell you, I must not.”

“Please, milady! Perhaps I won’t eversee Charles again. What if he has been killed? I can’t keep on living withoutknowing this!”

“If we ever know he is dead, I’lltell you. Otherwise, I cannot speak.”

Luis was about to insist, when thevoice of the lookout at the top of the mast interrupted him.

“Ship ahoy to the South-South-West!”

Captain McEwen came running with aspyglass, with which he pried in the indicated direction.

“It’s a sloop” he said, after sometime. “She’s about ten miles, very fast, and comes directly to us.”

Lady Borland and Luis came to see.The ship was far away, but the masts were visible, with all the sails unfurled.

“Is she pursuing us?” asked the lady.

“Too soon to know,” answered thecaptain. “Its bearing may be casual.”

“Will she overtake us?”

“She’s faster than The Seagull. I’d rateher speed as twelve knots. But I can’t see any flag.”

“We don’t have one either. Hoistours, captain McEwen. Perhaps they’ll do the same.”

“I’ll wait until they are nearer. Atthat speed, we’ll be overtaken in five hours.”

Three hours later the sloop wasnearer, still sailing directly toward The Seagull. The captain ordered theBritish colors to be hoisted. The Union Jack, with the cross of St. George on awhite background, waved with the wind at the top of the mainmast. In answer,the other ship also hoisted its banner. McEwen watched through his spyglass andturned at his two passengers.

“Black flag,” he said.

“Are they buccaneers?” asked Luis,thrilled.

“Buccaneers disappeared over onecentury ago,” replied the captain, turning his spyglass again at the nearingship. When he put it down, he said: “There’s a man at the bowsprit, staring atus. He’s clad in black from head to feet.”

“Blatsov,” whispered Lady Borland.

“Then that’s his flag,” added Luisbetween his teeth, “unless it belongs to Nikomakos.”

McEwen looked at them withoutunderstanding, but said nothing.

“But where has he got the ship? Thisman is the devil!”

“This time we are lost!”

“Not yet! Captain, can’t we gofaster?”

“We can try. I’ll order all the sailsunfurled, although with such fresh wind we’ll be in danger of their gettingtorn.”

“Do it. We have no alternative.”

The captain shouted.

“All the canvas aloft!”

The boatswain came running, stoppedbefore him and exclaimed:

“All, captain? Are you sure?”

“Ay, Mr. Smith: the jibs, the stays,the royal and the skysails. This is life or death.”

Smith followed the captain’s finger tothe sloop, whose ram was pointing directly to The Seagull. He immediatelyunderstood the situation and ran back, shouting:

“All the canvas aloft!”

The sailors made an extra effort andsoon all the sails which, up to that point, had been furled, were blowingbefore the wind. The schooner seemed to jump suddenly ahead. The speed withwhich the sloop was coming near decreased visibly.

“Not enough!” exclaimed the captain.“They are still gaining on us.”

“How long till they overtake us?”asked Lady Borland.

“If the sails hold, about fourhours.”

“Can we reach land in that time?”

“Only the French coast, but rememberthat we are at war with France.”

“War?” asked Luis, surprised. “Sincewhen?”

“Since March 1st, whenBonaparte left Elba, landed in France and usurped the throne, breaking thetreatise of Fontainebleau.”

“Blatsov is not after me,” repliedthe lady. “We could land Luis and let him overtake us.”

“We would be in great danger,”protested McEwen. “We could be the prey of a French warship. The Seagull is notwell armed.”

“Also, milady,” interjected Luis,“What would I do, alone in France? Who would help me? Sooner or later, I’d fallin Bonaparte’s hands, and he would get what you know.”

“Then let’s go on to England,”decided Lady Borland, “and God help us.”

During several hours, the two shipscontinued their race, while the distance between them decreased very slowly. Itwas now possible to see the man in black, always rigid at the bow, and the workof the sloop’s crew, more in number than the schooner’s. If they wereovertaken, they would be helpless.

“That ship carries canon,” said thecaptain, watching through his spyglass at the stern, near the steer wheel.“They can sink or ram us.”

“They won’t do that,” replied LadyBorland. “Blatsov doesn’t want Luis dead, he wants to seize him. They’ll try toboard us.”

“It won’t be long now.”

All through the race, the part of thesea they had been crossing had been empty. Everybody in both ships had been lookingat the other. Therefore, when a report was heard and a jet of water spurtednear the sloop, nobody knew where it came from. At first they thought it hadbeen a warning shot by the other ship. Perhaps, after all, they intended tosink them. The first to replace the source was the boatswain Smith, who took hiscap off and threw it up in the air, yelling:

“Ship ahoy!”

A British frigate, attracted by thedramatic scene, had come near without anybody noticing and was intercepting thesloop. The flags waving at the top masts of both ships made clear who neededtheir help. The first shot allowed the frigate gunners to adjust theirmarksmanship. Two minutes later, before the sloop could react, the twenty-twocanon in that side of the frigate belched iron against Blatsov’s ship, whichreceived the broadside attack in its rigging. The masts broke and fell to thesea, but remained joined to the ship by sail shreds, stopping her suddenly. Afew remaining sails, inflated by the wind, made the sloop move in a narrowcircle around the place where she had been hit.

The Seagull started increasing herdistance from their pursuers. The captain and his two passengers watched theslope with their naked eye or through the spyglass, but her deck haddisappeared under the smoke and they couldn’t see anything. When their sight finallycleared, Blatsov was nowhere to be seen.

“Do you think he is dead?” asked Luishopefully.

“Perhaps,” answered McEwen. “The crewof the sloop must have suffered casualties, but we can’t be sure.”

After dismasting the sloop, thefrigate officers did not seem interested on finishing the work and sinking herand followed a bearing parallel to the schooner. When both ships where near,one of the sailors signed that the captain of the man-of-war wanted to speak tohis colleague and would receive him on board. McEwen ordered the sails furledand the boat launched, and invited Lady Borland and Luis to go with him. Whenthey climbed on the deck of the frigate, captain Lanchester came to greet them.He showed his surprise on seeing the lady and asked them to explain the strangebehavior of the sloop. He wanted to know whether they could give him anyinformation about the ship’s country. Lady Borland simply told what hadhappened, from the time the ship had been sighted, without mentioning Blatsovor his intentions about Luis, and giving to understand that the sloop probably wantedthe goods in the hold of the schooner. The lady thanked captain Lanchester fortheir help and asked where they were going.

“We are on our way to Ostend,” hereplied. “We suspect that Bonaparte will try to occupy the Low Countries, so weare moving troops and ships to stop him.”

“We are bound to England,” saidMcEwen.

“I don’t recommend you to go therealone, milady,” said Lanchester. “These waters are infested with French shipsand you risk another bad meeting, when I won’t be there to protect you.”

“What would you advise?” asked LadyBorland.

“Follow us to Ostend. From that harbor,another man-of-war can escort you to London; there is a continuous transfer ofships between the two towns. You’ll get there a little later, but safe andsound.”

“I like the idea,” replied the lady.“We accept your offer, captain Lanchester. We’ll follow you to Ostend.”

While they were being rowed back tothe schooner, Lady Borland added:

“This proposal has given me an idea: whydon’t we change our plans and go to Brussels? It’s the high season, everybodywill be there. If Blatsov has survived and tries to follow, he won’t imagine replaceingyou in the Low Countries.”

After his experience with the man inblack, Luis did not consider himself safe anywhere, not even in England;therefore, one place or another were the same to him. McEwen, however,objected.

“If Bonaparte conquers the Low Countries,you will be in danger in Brussels, milady.”

Lady Borland winked at Luis.

“We know that Bonaparte cannot win. Don’tworry, captain.”

Once again aboard The Seagull, thevoyage continued without further complications, and on April 15ththey cast anchor in Ostend. After saying good-bye to captain McEwen, LadyBorland and Luis traveled to Brussels, where they arrived on the evening of thenext day.