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Authors: Louise Allen
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the middle.
‘Aye, darlin’, I can help you,’ he drawled, getting to his feet.
‘Leave it out, Harry.’ Potts looked up from a half-skinned rabbit. ‘She’s the Cap’n’s woman and we can do without you getting the man riled up. He’s got a nasty temper when he’s not happy and then he’ll shoot you and
then
we’ll have more work to do with one man less. Besides …’ he winked at Averil who was measuring the distance to his cooking knives and trying not to panic‘.the lady likes my cooking.’ He lifted one knife, the long blade sharpened to a lethal degree, and examined it with studious care.
‘Just joking, Potts.’ Dawkins sat down again, his brown eyes sliding round to the knife. The cook stuck it into the turf close to his hand and went back to pulling the skin off the rabbit as the whole group relaxed. Averil began to breathe again.
‘I’ll wring ‘em, ma’m.’ A big man with an eyepatch got to his feet and shambled over. ‘I’m Tom the Patch, ma’am, and me ‘ands are clean.’ He held up his great calloused paws for inspection like a child. ‘Where do you want ‘em?’
‘I’ll drape them over those bushes.’ Averil let out the breath she had been holding and pointed halfway up the slope.
‘Not there,’ Potts said. ‘They’ll see you.’
‘Who will?’
‘Anyone in a ship looking this way. Or on Tresco. Put ‘em there.’ He waved a bloody hand at the thinner bushes close to the fire. Potts, she was beginning to realise, had either more intelligence, or more sense of responsibility, than the other men. Perhaps he had been a petty officer of some kind once.
‘Why don’t you want anyone to know you are here?’ Averil asked as Tom twisted the shirts and the water poured out.
‘Hasn’t the Cap’n said?’ He dropped one shirt into the bucket and picked up another.
‘We haven’t had much time to talk,’ she said and then blushed as the whole group burst into guffaws of laughter.
‘Why not share the joke?’ Luke strolled out frombehind one of the tumbledown stone walls. He had his coat hooked over one finger and hanging down his back, his shirt collar was open, his neckcloth was loose and he gave every indication of just coming back from a relaxing stroll around the island. Averil suspected that he had been behind the wall ever since she had approached the men, waiting to see what happened, testing their mood.
‘I said that we had not talked much.’ She hefted the bucket with the wrung linen and walked towards the bushes. Any gentleman would have taken the heavy pail from her, but Luke let her walk right past him.
‘No, we have not,’ he said to her back as she shook out each item with a snap and spread it on the prickly gorse. ‘I’ll tell you over dinner.’
‘Tell ‘er
all
about it, will you, Frenchy?’ Dawkins said and the whole group went quiet.
Frenchy?
Averil spun round. He was French? And that made the men … what? Not just deserters—turncoats and traitors.
‘You call me Captain, Dawkins,’ Luke said and she saw he had the pistol in his hand, loose by his side. ‘Or the next time I will shoot your bloody ear off. Nothing to stop you rowing, you understand, just enough to make sure you spend what is left of your miserable life maimed.
Comprends-tu?’
The man might not have understood the insult in the way he had just been addressed, but Averil did. And her French was good enough to recognise in those two words not the pure accent of someone carefully taught as she had been, but a touch of originality, a hint of a regional inflection. The man was French.
But we are at war with France,
she thought, stupid with shock.
‘Aye, Cap’n,’ Dawkins said, his face sullen. ‘Just me little joke.’
‘Go back to the hut, Miss Heydon,’ Luke said over his shoulder. ‘I will join you at dinner time.’
‘I do not want to go to the hut. I want an explanation. Now.’ It was madness to challenge him in front of the men; she realised it as
‘Aye, darlin’, I can help you,’ he drawled, getting to his feet.
‘Leave it out, Harry.’ Potts looked up from a half-skinned rabbit. ‘She’s the Cap’n’s woman and we can do without you getting the man riled up. He’s got a nasty temper when he’s not happy and then he’ll shoot you and
then
we’ll have more work to do with one man less. Besides …’ he winked at Averil who was measuring the distance to his cooking knives and trying not to panic‘.the lady likes my cooking.’ He lifted one knife, the long blade sharpened to a lethal degree, and examined it with studious care.
‘Just joking, Potts.’ Dawkins sat down again, his brown eyes sliding round to the knife. The cook stuck it into the turf close to his hand and went back to pulling the skin off the rabbit as the whole group relaxed. Averil began to breathe again.
‘I’ll wring ‘em, ma’m.’ A big man with an eyepatch got to his feet and shambled over. ‘I’m Tom the Patch, ma’am, and me ‘ands are clean.’ He held up his great calloused paws for inspection like a child. ‘Where do you want ‘em?’
‘I’ll drape them over those bushes.’ Averil let out the breath she had been holding and pointed halfway up the slope.
‘Not there,’ Potts said. ‘They’ll see you.’
‘Who will?’
‘Anyone in a ship looking this way. Or on Tresco. Put ‘em there.’ He waved a bloody hand at the thinner bushes close to the fire. Potts, she was beginning to realise, had either more intelligence, or more sense of responsibility, than the other men. Perhaps he had been a petty officer of some kind once.
‘Why don’t you want anyone to know you are here?’ Averil asked as Tom twisted the shirts and the water poured out.
‘Hasn’t the Cap’n said?’ He dropped one shirt into the bucket and picked up another.
‘We haven’t had much time to talk,’ she said and then blushed as the whole group burst into guffaws of laughter.
‘Why not share the joke?’ Luke strolled out frombehind one of the tumbledown stone walls. He had his coat hooked over one finger and hanging down his back, his shirt collar was open, his neckcloth was loose and he gave every indication of just coming back from a relaxing stroll around the island. Averil suspected that he had been behind the wall ever since she had approached the men, waiting to see what happened, testing their mood.
‘I said that we had not talked much.’ She hefted the bucket with the wrung linen and walked towards the bushes. Any gentleman would have taken the heavy pail from her, but Luke let her walk right past him.
‘No, we have not,’ he said to her back as she shook out each item with a snap and spread it on the prickly gorse. ‘I’ll tell you over dinner.’
‘Tell ‘er
all
about it, will you, Frenchy?’ Dawkins said and the whole group went quiet.
Frenchy?
Averil spun round. He was French? And that made the men … what? Not just deserters—turncoats and traitors.
‘You call me Captain, Dawkins,’ Luke said and she saw he had the pistol in his hand, loose by his side. ‘Or the next time I will shoot your bloody ear off. Nothing to stop you rowing, you understand, just enough to make sure you spend what is left of your miserable life maimed.
Comprends-tu?’
The man might not have understood the insult in the way he had just been addressed, but Averil did. And her French was good enough to recognise in those two words not the pure accent of someone carefully taught as she had been, but a touch of originality, a hint of a regional inflection. The man was French.
But we are at war with France,
she thought, stupid with shock.
‘Aye, Cap’n,’ Dawkins said, his face sullen. ‘Just me little joke.’
‘Go back to the hut, Miss Heydon,’ Luke said over his shoulder. ‘I will join you at dinner time.’
‘I do not want to go to the hut. I want an explanation. Now.’ It was madness to challenge him in front of the men; she realised it as
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