CHAPTER XX
ONE NORTH, ONE SOUTH
If our dear Kate Bonnet had really imagined, in her inexperienced mind,that it would be a matter of days, and perhaps weeks, to procure avessel in which she, with her uncle and good Dame Charter, could sailforth to save her father, she was wonderfully mistaken. Not afree-footed vessel of any class came into the harbour of Kingston.Sloops and barks and ships in general arrived and departed, but theywere all bound by one contract or another, and were not free to sailaway, here and there, for a short time or a long time, at the word of amaiden's will.
Mr. Delaplaine was a rich man, but he was a prudent one, and he had notthe money to waste in wild rewards, even if there had been anopportunity for him to offer them. Kate was disconcerted, disappointed,and greatly cast down.
The vengeful Badger was scouring the seas in search of her father,commissioned to destroy him, and eager in his hot passion to do it; andhere was she, with a respite for that father, if only she were able tocarry it.
Day after day Kate waited for notice of a craft, not only one whichmight bring Dickory back but one which might carry her away.
The optimism of Dame Charter would not now bear her up, the load whichhad been put upon it was too big. Everything about her was melancholyand depressed, and Dickory had not come back. So many things hadhappened since he went away, and so many days had passed, and she hadentirely exhausted her plentiful stock of very good reasons why her sonhad not been able to return to her.
The Governor was very kind; frequently he came to the Delaplainemansion, and always he brought assurances that, although he had notheard anything from Captain Vince, there was every reason to supposethat before long he would find some way to send him his commands thatCaptain Bonnet should not be injured, but should be brought back safelyto Jamaica.
And then Kate would say, with tears in her eyes: "But, your Excellency,we cannot wait for that; we must go, we must deliver ourselves yourmessage to the captain of the Badger. Who else will do it? And we cannottrust to chance; while we are trusting and hoping, my father may die."
At such moments Mr. Delaplaine would sometimes say in his heart, notdaring to breathe such thoughts aloud, "And what could be better thanthat he should die and be done with it? He is a thorn in the side of theyoung, the good, and the beautiful, and as long as he lives that thornwill rankle."
Moreover, not only did the good merchant harbour such a wicked thought,but Dame Charter thought something of the very same kind, thoughdifferently expressed. If he had never been born, she would say toherself, how much better it would have been; but then the thought wouldcome crowding in, how bad that would have been for Dickory and for theplans she was making for him.
In the midst of all this uncertainty, this anxiety, this foreboding,almost this despair, there came a sunburst which lighted up the souls ofthese three good people, which made their eyes sparkle and their heartsswell with thankfulness. This happiness came in the shape of a letterfrom Martin Newcombe.
The letter was a long one and told many things. The first part of itKate read to herself and kept to herself, for in burning words itassured her that he loved her and would always love her, and that nomisfortune of her own nor wrongdoings of others could prevent him fromoffering her his most ardent and unchangeable affection. Moreover, hebegged and implored her to accept that affection, to accept it now thatit might belong to her forever. Happiness, he said, seemed openingbefore her; he implored her to allow him to share that happiness withher. The rest of the letter was read most jubilantly aloud. It told ofnews which had come to Newcombe from Honduras Gulf: great news,wonderful news, which would make the heart sing. Major Bonnet was atBelize. He had given up all connection with piracy and was now engagedin mercantile pursuits. This was positively true, for the person who hadsent the news to Bridgetown had seen Major Bonnet and had talked to him,and had been informed by him that he had given up his ship and was nowan accountant and commission agent doing business at that place.
The sender of this great news also stated that Ben Greenway was withMajor Bonnet, working as his assistant--and here Dame Charter satopen-mouthed and her heart nearly stopped beating--young Dickory Charterhad also been in the port and had gone away, but was expected ere longto return.
Kate stood on her tip-toes and waved the letter over her head.
"To Belize, my dear uncle, to Belize! If we cannot get there any otherway we must go in a boat with oars. We must fly, we must not wait.Perhaps he is seeking in disguise to escape the vengeance of the wickedVince; but that matters not; we know where he is; we must fly, uncle,we must fly!"
The opportunities for figurative flying were not wanting. There were novessels in the port which might be engaged for an indeterminate voyagein pursuit of a British man-of-war, but there was a goodly sloop aboutto sail in ballast for Belize. Before sunset three passages were engagedupon this sloop.
Kate sat long into the night, her letter in her hand. Here was a loverwho loved her; a lover who had just sent to her not only love, but life;a lover who had no intention of leaving her because of her overshadowingsorrow, but who had lifted that sorrow and had come to her again. Aymore, she knew that if the sorrow had not been lifted he would have cometo her again.
The Governor of Jamaica was a man of hearty sympathies, and these workedso strongly in him that when Kate and her uncle came to bring him thegood news, he kissed her and vowed that he had not heard anything socheering for many a year.
"I have been greatly afraid of that Vince," he said. "Although I did notmention it, I have been greatly afraid of him; he is a terrible fellowwhen he is crossed, and so hot-headed that it is easy to cross him.There were so many chances of his catching your father and so fewchances of my orders catching him. But it is all right now; you will beable to reach your father before Vince can possibly get to him, evenshould he be able to do him injury in his present position. Your father,my dear, must have been as mad as a March hare to embark upon a careerof a pirate when all the time his heart was really turned to ways ofpeace, to planting, to mercantile pursuits, to domestic joys."
Here, now, was to be a voyage of conquest. No matter what his planswere; no matter what he said; no matter what he might lose, or how hemight suffer by being taken into captivity and being carried away, MajorStede Bonnet, late of Bridgetown and still later connected with someerratic voyages upon the high seas, was to be taken prisoner by hisdaughter and carried away to Spanish Town, where the actions of hisdisordered mind were to be condoned and where he would be safe from allvengeful Vinces and from all temptations of the flaunting skull andbones.
It was a bright morning when, with a fair wind upon her starboard bow,the sloop Belinda, bearing the jubilant three, sailed southward on hercourse to the coast of Honduras; and it was upon that same morning thatthe good ship Revenge, bearing the pirate Blackbeard and his handsomelyuniformed lieutenant, sailed northward, the same fair wind upon her portbow.