Read Online By the Bay by Barbara Bartholomew - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Barbara Bartholomew
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at the walls.”
“No sickness?”
“Hey, I grew up on the Gulf. Getting seasick isn’t in my blood.”
He smiled. “I am very grateful. It would be sad to watch you suffer while we sail ed the oceans.”
“Oceans? As in plural, more than one?”
“ Absolutely , the captain and his beautiful wife.”
“I thought women weren’t allowed on pirate ships.”
“Only my wife .” He smiled and moved past her to sit on the bed, reclining against the pillows.
“Where have you been?”
“Calming things down. We’ve just survived a mutiny.”
“Does that mean you’re not a good captain and got fired?”
“Fired?” He looked puzzled. “A man called Lightning Jack, who has been stirring up trouble since the day he was born managed to get hold of most of our arsenal and with a small group of men, now in irons , he saw to it that I was deposited on your island without food or water.”
She stared at him. “But there’s little but sand on the island. That and a few tiny crabs, too small to make much of a meal.”
“I would have died there so I found my way across the bay one dark night and washed up by that pier just down from your mother’s cottage.” He took in a deep breath. “The problem was that when I left the island it was 1814 and when you found me there, I soon learned I’d landed in 1942.”
She hardly knew what to say. This was ridiculous, impossible, scientifically unreasonable, but she could hardly say so considering that her own experience seemed to have reversed his own.
“And so we’re now back in 814?”
He nodded.
“And you brought me because you thought I was in danger?”
“I knew you were in danger. Shadows hung over you.”
“In 1942, in the modern world, we don’t believe in such things as shadows and premonitions and things like that.”
“No,” he countered. “You just believe in a whole world at war.”
She couldn’t think of a good answer to that, but made an attempt anyway. “Oh, no, you just have pirates sailing around out in the Gulf of Mexico for goodness sake! And I’m a history major, I know there was a war in this country in 1812 when the British attacked Washington and Dolly Madison had to save George Washington’s portrait when the British burned the White House.”
He stared at her. “It isn’t over yet. They massed their ships in the Caribbean and came prepared to take New Orleans and divide your country in half by taking back the land Napoleon sold to your president.”
She wasn’t a history major for nothing. “You mean the whole Louisiana purchase?”
He raised his black eyebrows challengingly. “The British offered the Barataria ns a bargain to bring their ships, arms and men into the battle on their side.”
“What’s a Baratarian?”
“They are us, the privateers who live on Grande Terre Island just off Barataria Bay not far from New Orleans. They wanted to approach the city through our bayous led by my friend Lafitte . Jean played cat and mouse with them and seemed to agree , then went to the Americans. He offered our help to the country we considered our own and in return they came to Grande Terre, to our home, and captured our leaders, took our treasure, and burned our homes.
“That is why I was on your coast. Lightning Jack to ok adv a ntage of the chaos to take over my ship and my men and sail them down the coast to abandon me on your island.”
It was the wildest story she’d ever heard. “But everybody knows that Andrew Jackson defeated the British at the battle of New Orleans and that Jean Lafitte and his pirates helped him.”
“That scene has not been played out yet. Who knows what will happen now? But it is essential that I get back here and do my part.”
She frowned. Odd, she hadn’t thought of him as a patriot. He had seemed more attached to his home country than to the new United States. He seemed to have little concept of the U.S. as a place, but then it had been independent for less than half a
“No sickness?”
“Hey, I grew up on the Gulf. Getting seasick isn’t in my blood.”
He smiled. “I am very grateful. It would be sad to watch you suffer while we sail ed the oceans.”
“Oceans? As in plural, more than one?”
“ Absolutely , the captain and his beautiful wife.”
“I thought women weren’t allowed on pirate ships.”
“Only my wife .” He smiled and moved past her to sit on the bed, reclining against the pillows.
“Where have you been?”
“Calming things down. We’ve just survived a mutiny.”
“Does that mean you’re not a good captain and got fired?”
“Fired?” He looked puzzled. “A man called Lightning Jack, who has been stirring up trouble since the day he was born managed to get hold of most of our arsenal and with a small group of men, now in irons , he saw to it that I was deposited on your island without food or water.”
She stared at him. “But there’s little but sand on the island. That and a few tiny crabs, too small to make much of a meal.”
“I would have died there so I found my way across the bay one dark night and washed up by that pier just down from your mother’s cottage.” He took in a deep breath. “The problem was that when I left the island it was 1814 and when you found me there, I soon learned I’d landed in 1942.”
She hardly knew what to say. This was ridiculous, impossible, scientifically unreasonable, but she could hardly say so considering that her own experience seemed to have reversed his own.
“And so we’re now back in 814?”
He nodded.
“And you brought me because you thought I was in danger?”
“I knew you were in danger. Shadows hung over you.”
“In 1942, in the modern world, we don’t believe in such things as shadows and premonitions and things like that.”
“No,” he countered. “You just believe in a whole world at war.”
She couldn’t think of a good answer to that, but made an attempt anyway. “Oh, no, you just have pirates sailing around out in the Gulf of Mexico for goodness sake! And I’m a history major, I know there was a war in this country in 1812 when the British attacked Washington and Dolly Madison had to save George Washington’s portrait when the British burned the White House.”
He stared at her. “It isn’t over yet. They massed their ships in the Caribbean and came prepared to take New Orleans and divide your country in half by taking back the land Napoleon sold to your president.”
She wasn’t a history major for nothing. “You mean the whole Louisiana purchase?”
He raised his black eyebrows challengingly. “The British offered the Barataria ns a bargain to bring their ships, arms and men into the battle on their side.”
“What’s a Baratarian?”
“They are us, the privateers who live on Grande Terre Island just off Barataria Bay not far from New Orleans. They wanted to approach the city through our bayous led by my friend Lafitte . Jean played cat and mouse with them and seemed to agree , then went to the Americans. He offered our help to the country we considered our own and in return they came to Grande Terre, to our home, and captured our leaders, took our treasure, and burned our homes.
“That is why I was on your coast. Lightning Jack to ok adv a ntage of the chaos to take over my ship and my men and sail them down the coast to abandon me on your island.”
It was the wildest story she’d ever heard. “But everybody knows that Andrew Jackson defeated the British at the battle of New Orleans and that Jean Lafitte and his pirates helped him.”
“That scene has not been played out yet. Who knows what will happen now? But it is essential that I get back here and do my part.”
She frowned. Odd, she hadn’t thought of him as a patriot. He had seemed more attached to his home country than to the new United States. He seemed to have little concept of the U.S. as a place, but then it had been independent for less than half a
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