Chapter 2: The Escape
“There she is!” Gato called, his high-pitched voice shattering the unnatural quiet on board. “The Blue Sparrow!”
Rodrigo and Santino quickly joined him on the main deck. The ship was still a long distance away, but her triangular flags were distinctive.
Santino turned to his mutineers. “Remember, we load people first, then livestock and goods. Let’s be neat and quick about this, men. We want everything off so we can take the ship and leave.”
“What happens to them when they wake up?” asked Gato.
“Who cares? They’ll be in the Sparrow’s brig and we’ll be sailing toward Mexico. Nobody will know it was us. Come on, help me start bringing the animals up.”
Sebastian’s jaw dropped as he it occurred to him that they would be stealing his father’s livestock - his inheritance! When he had gone to live with his aunt and uncle, they had claimed everything, including his mother’s furniture. Sebastian had fought long to convince his uncle to let him bring the animals to the New World, and even then, Sebastian was only allowed to keep one prize bull, three of his horses, and some small livestock. His uncle kept the rest and justified it as “safekeeping” for the time when Sebastian and his father would ever return home to Spain. The thought of those mutineers stealing his inheritance made Sebastian grit his teeth in fury.
When they were gone again, Sebastian tried to wake the captain once more. He failed, except that there seemed a time when the captain was almost conscious. He grabbed Sebastian’s arm and said quite distinctly, “Take the documents to Asunción with you. They must not be lost, upon pain of your life... or the cockroaches, either…” Then he fell asleep again immediately, and would not be roused further. Sebastian could not tell if the man had been dreaming or giving an order, but the words were clear.
Sebastian knew which documents the Captain was talking about, but he did not know what they said. He had been told on his very first day as cabin boy that these documents, plus a package for Father José, were vitally needed in Asunción. They were so important that they had been assigned to a guard whose only job was to see that they remained safe. The only person allowed to touch them was the captain; not even his officers knew what the documents contained.
Sebastian pushed the sleeping guard aside and used a heavy candlestick to break open the lock. Then he removed the documents from the desk and put them in a leather pouch. After tucking the pouch beneath his white tunic, he crawled back to his sleeping position and waited to see what would happen.
It was hard to keep his eyes closed when the Blue Sparrow pulled alongside the Santa Clara. There was a lot of shouting from both parties, and then the captain and some of his crew boarded the Santa Clara. They looked around for several long minutes before their captain gave the order to begin loading.
Through his eyelashes, he could see the captain of the Blue Sparrow shaking hands with Santino. When a pirate walked toward the captain’s cabin, Sebastian closed his eyes all the way and tried to control his breathing, which was difficult because he felt like hyperventilating.
“Captain first, then officers and crew,” called Santino. “We want to make sure the important people are locked behind bars first.”
Several large, muscular pirates boarded the Santa Clara and began picking up bodies as if they were sacks of flour. The Captain and his officers were carried from their cabin and taken to the pirate ship. Gato picked up Sebastian and threw him over his shoulder, carrying a bag of gunpowder in the other hand. Sebastian offered a prayer of thanks that his carrier was Gato, because the bag of sleeping potion was in one of his pockets. If only he could steal it! But which pocket?
Sebastian was taken to the jail cell below deck. Because the captain and officers of the Santa Clara were sleeping so deeply, the jail cell door was left open and bodies were simply tossed on the damp wooden floor. Sebastian tried to not grunt as he was rudely thrown to the floor, but he could not stifle his pain. His captor did not seem to notice, however, and left quickly to go get more sleeping sailors. Sebastian mentally kicked himself for not being able to grab the sleeping powder.
It was very dark inside the Blue Sparrow. A single kerosene lamp burned near the ladder that led to the main deck. Although he was lying right on top of him, Sebastian could not see the captain. He smiled to himself; that meant that nobody else could see, either. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, just in case. Soon he realized that they were unguarded; apparently sleeping sailors were no threat. He sneaked out of the cell and hid behind the ladder. When the last of his crew was put into the jail cell and the door was locked, he carefully climbed up the ladder and poked his head out to the deck above.
All the pirates headed away from him toward the Santa Clara. Guessing that they would either load the livestock or trade goods next, Sebastian ran away from those cargo holds and found a safe hiding spot in the shadows. He had no plan except to hope that the pirates or mutineers would not catch him. He realized that saving his livestock was out of the question, at least for now. It made him sick with anger and helplessness. All he knew for sure was that he wanted to get to the captain’s dinghy and row away into the darkness, where he and the precious documents would be safe.
There! Nobody was watching. Most of the pirates were down below in the animal hold, and those who were above deck were making their way back to the Blue Sparrow. Sebastian waited for them to cross the plank, and then he scurried over and hid in the captain’s cabin. It was now empty, except for the bottle of wine with the sleeping potion. He picked up a half-filled glass and the bottle and held them to his nose. He could smell nothing out of the ordinary. Still holding the wine glass and bottle, he studied the room. It might be possible to reach the dinghy by climbing out the small window, clinging to protrusions on the outside of the hull, and swinging himself up into the dinghy which was suspended over the side of the caravel. It sounded like a good idea, in theory; but Sebastian hesitated because it required climbing, an activity he never liked, and he wondered if he would even fit through the window.
Just then, Gato entered. Sebastian froze, hoping that the low light would hide him from Gato’s sharp eyes. But he was seen anyway.
“Hey! What are you doing here? I thought you were asleep!” Gato’s wiry frame filled the small cabin door. There would be no escape.
Sebastian tried to be casual, but he could hear his own heartbeat. “Yeah, well, I was pretending. Santino wanted the Sparrow captain to think I was one of the crew, instead of one of you guys.”
“One of us?” Doubt covered Gato’s face.
“Of course! Who do you think delivered the wine to the captain?” He drew a shaky breath as a sudden idea occurred to him. He held up the bottle and the half-full glass. “In fact, Santino sent me back to get that bottle of wine. It’s the captain’s best, you know. I’m supposed to bring it straight to him, to celebrate his new ship.” He tried to look sheepish. “I had a sip. You won’t tell on me, will you?”
“I thought Rodrigo put sleeping powder in it?”
“Yeah, well, he forgot, so he lied to Santino so he wouldn’t get in trouble. But it’s a good thing. I mean, the stew did its job, right? And why waste a perfectly good bottle of wine?”
Gato looked very confused. “Why wasn’t I told about you being part of this?”
Sebastian shrugged, trying to appear casual. “You know how secretive Santino is.”
Gato knew full well. “Anyone else I should know about?”
“I don’t think so, but why would Santino tell me? Look, don’t tell him about me drinking the wine, okay? He gets so possessive sometimes.”
It was Gato’s turn to shrug. “I don’t know.”
Sebastian gulped but kept his voice steady. Someone else could walk in on them, and he would be in big trouble. “Well, I won’t tell on you if you want to try some. I mean, I know how thirsty you must be, carrying all that gold and gunpowder.” He took a deep breath and then held the glass to his lip
s. Gato licked his lips – his passion for spirits was legendary – but made no movement to take the glass from the boy.
Please don’t let me fall asleep, prayed Sebastian, and tilted the glass back. He blocked the flow of wine into his mouth by letting the liquid stay underneath his tongue. He made gulping noises with his throat, and then lowered the glass. Fortunately, he had not swallowed more than two drops of the dangerous concoction.
“Are you getting sleepy?” asked Gato after a few minutes, still undecided.
“Are you kidding? This is the best stuff I’ve ever had! I told you I already had a sip before you found me.” Sebastian raised the glass to his lips again despite the buzzing dizzy feeling he was feeling.
Greed filled Gato’s eyes and he snatched the glass from Sebastian. He downed the rest of the wine in three gulps. Smacking his lips, he said, “You’re right. This is some of the best I’ve ever had.”
Sebastian suppressed a grin. “I’d better get going. Did you need me to help you find anything in here?”
“No, I emptied it pretty well. I think. Why? Is there something else hidden?”
Sebastian tried to think of something to keep Gato from leaving the room. “Ah, well… just the captain’s private gold stash, and I’m pretty sure you already found that.” He watched Gato for signs of sleepiness, but none seemed to be coming. Did he grab the wrong bottle? How long would it be before the potion took effect?
“Private stash? No, I didn’t know about that. Where is it?”
“I’m not sure, but he always talks about it. Maybe we can find it.” He looked under the captain’s mattress, in his pillow, in his drawers… While they searched, Sebastian kept glancing at Gato. All of a sudden, the man’s speech became slurred, as if he were drunk, and he started having trouble keeping his balance. Sebastian was afraid that when he fell, he would fall with a loud thud. There had to be a way to get the man closer to the floor, just in case. “Maybe it’s down here,” he said, getting on his hands and knees.
Gato knelt in front of the lowest drawer. A minute later, he lowered himself to the floor, sound asleep.
Sebastian carefully placed the wine bottle and glass next to Gato. He had to hurry. Surely somebody would come looking for Gato soon, and then Sebastian would be trapped. He remembered the little leather bag of sleeping powder that was supposed to be in Gato’s pocket. Fishing around in the left pocket, he found nothing but rings and jewels. The right pocket held similar items, but just when Sebastian thought that all was lost, his hand touched the leather bag. He withdrew it carefully and placed it in his inner vest beside the document pouch. Then he looked in the direction of the window, his only means of escape.
He was dismayed at how tiny it seemed. He would never fit through it. His shoulders alone were too broad, not to mention his rotund belly. Still, he had to try.
He put his left arm through the window, hoisted himself up a little bit, and tried to fit his right arm through. Useless. There were no other windows, and he did not dare go again onto the deck of the Santa Clara with all the pirates going back and forth from ship to ship. He had avoided being seen so far, but he didn’t want to push his luck. Maybe he could put both arms through at the same time.
He did so, with much pain and pressure, and found that he could just barely squeeze. When his head and shoulders were out in the night air, and the rest of him was in the cabin, he found that he was stuck. He could neither withdraw nor advance; he felt as if a vice were squeezing his lungs and he wanted to pass out from lack of oxygen. He grinned stupidly as an image flashed in his head, an image of a pirate whipping his back with a cat-o’-nine-tails before having to use an axe to cut him free. Panicking, he laughed at the mental picture, and found that when he exhaled, he could move just a little bit.
That discovery was just what he needed. He took as deep a breath as he could manage and then exhaled it all with one sharp blow. It took several times of inhaling and hard exhaling before he was able to wiggle free. He dropped to the narrow ledge below the window and tried to recover his breath. His stomach would be bruised in the morning, and he was almost certain that he felt blood trickling down his back. The dinghy was suspended on the starboard side of the ship; fortunately, the Captain had insisted on board inspection today and several ropes with plank seats still hung over the sides of the ship. If he could just be strong and silent, it would be no trouble at all to swing over to the dinghies. He reached for the first plank seat.
“Santino! I found him. Here he is.”
Sebastian withdrew his hand and held as still as he could. Rodrigo entered the captain’s cabin.
“What’s he doing? Oh… of course. What an idiot.” Santino’s voice floated dangerously close to the window.
“Never could refuse spirits,” said Rodrigo. “What do you want me to do with him? Everything’s loaded and ready to go. The pirates have returned to the Sparrow.”
“Put him in irons with the rest of the crew. I was going to do that anyway, and serves him right.”
“Irons? What about our deal?”
“More for you. In case you haven’t noticed, he’s not exactly the brightest gem in the chest. We can’t risk him spilling our plans to the authorities.”
“But he knows all our plans already.”
“No, he only knows what I told him.” There was a long pause. Santino must have winked at Rodrigo, because all of a sudden, Sebastian heard an exclamation of understanding followed by a hearty laugh.
“Let’s get him over to the Sparrow, then,” Santino said, “and we can start celebrating. My own ship at last! Merchants and officers, beware!”
There were grunts, a dragging sound, and the noise of a wooden door clicking into place, and then silence. Sebastian relaxed a little. If Santino and Rodrigo were boarding the Sparrow, his risk of being caught was diminished. Of course, he could still fall into the water and drown because nobody would pull him out, and the sides of the Santa Clara were too slippery to climb, but he had to take the risk. Besides, the dinghy was on the opposite side of the Sparrow. If he managed to climb into one of them and get it into the water, his chances of escape were fairly good.
It was easier than he expected, although he lost his grip on the ropes twice and almost plunged into the icy ocean below. He climbed – a little noisily –until he reached the captain’s private dinghy, and then he removed the waterproof tarp that covered it. He folded the tarp neatly before looking at the ropes above. Although the captain had explained the process of releasing the dinghy just yesterday, Sebastian had not paid close attention. Now he strained to remember what the captain said.
Pushing at a lever caused the dinghy to dangle at an odd angle as one of the ropes released. He quickly pulled another lever and the boat splashed into the ocean. He held very still, afraid that the noise had been heard aboard the Sparrow, but their loud music and celebrations and drunken shouts were far louder than the splash of a single dinghy.
As soon as he had recovered sufficiently from his panic, Sebastian found that he was faced with a new problem. Which direction should he go? Where were they? What if he started rowing, and he headed back toward Spain? The dinghy had a survival pack of dried meats, biscuits, tools, and stale water, but the food supplies would not last more than a week. Wherever he went, he had to reach land within a few days.
He took a deep breath and tried to remember where they were. Captain Ramirez had said that they were three weeks away from Asunción. They had just passed Buen Aire, which was abandoned last year because of the repeated vicious attacks by Indians. Well, it would take much longer than three weeks if he were to row in the dinghy! Besides, he needed to find land, and find it soon.
Wait! They were no longer in the ocean; they had already entered the mouth of a very large river. Cook said so just yesterday. It was like a huge bay, so large that you couldn’t see to the other side, but it was not an ocean. Sebastian felt relieved. As long as he didn’t turn himself completely around back toward Spain, he would hit land
within a day or so.
What if the Santino or Rodrigo noticed he wasn’t in the brig with the rest of the crew when they dropped off Gato? What if they noticed the missing dinghy? What if someone noticed a little black ship floating out there under the bright stars, and came after him? The Santa Clara was so much faster than his little dinghy; they would catch up to him for certain. He hoped the pirates on the Blue Sparrow weren’t expecting him, and that once they got what they came for, they would leave.
If only the stars in this hemisphere weren’t so different! Captain Ramirez had told him that once they passed the equatorial line, seasons reversed and the sky changed. It didn’t happen suddenly, of course, but Sebastian had noticed subtle changes as they traveled further south. He had left during summer in Spain, and it would be spring when he reached Asunción. Instead of celebrating Christmas in cold weather, he would celebrate in the heat of summer. As for the stars, there came a point when he noticed new constellations in the night sky, and then the new constellations slowly replaced the familiar ones. Now, as he scanned the sky, the only one he recognized was Orion. He pointed the nose of his little dinghy toward the farthest star in Orion’s belt, took a firm and confident grasp of the smooth wooden oars, and began to row toward land.