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Authors: William Stuart Long
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You—”
He brushed her words aside and, to Mercy’s surprise, hugged her. “You were right!” he exclaimed. “Morgan has gone to Australia. I’ve found proof of it at last.”
“Oh, Luke!” She could only stare at him, a prey to conflicting emotions and suddenly afraid. “Are you sure?”
“He was here only for a few days,” Luke asserted. “Mercy, he bought a ship—a small brig called the Banshee—and sailed for Sydney a month ago. I met the man he bought the ship from, so there’s no mistake.” He made a wry grimace. “He bought her cheap, because her master could not keep his crew and couldn’t replace them.”
“But Jasper Morgan could?” Mercy suggested, an edge to her voice.
“Yes. It seems that Mr. Brannan’s committee of vigilance has put the fear of God into Australian ex-convicts—the ones they call the Sydney ducks—who’ve been blamed for
much of the robbery and violence here. They lynched two of them before we left Thayer’s Bend, and they’re holding another for trial. Some of their fellows reckoned it was time to quit San Francisco before the vigilantes caught up with them. The Banshee’s old owner said that more’n a score of them signed on to crew for Morgan, just to get away from here.” Luke shrugged. “Double-dyed rogues they were, according to him, and I believed him!”
He did not enlarge overmuch on the story the old sea captain had told him of the ghastly scenes attending the execution of one of the “ducks” by the name of Jenkins, who had eventually met his end dangling from a rope suspended from a beam of the old Customs House in the plaza. That example had apparently been sufficient to make the other Australians understand that for them the time had come to leave California.
Mercy was silent for a long moment, studying his face in the dim light and reading the determination in it. She asked flatly, “What will you do, Luke?” knowing what his answer would be before he gave it.
“I shall go after him. I have to, Mercy—I owe it to Dan and the others.” Diffidently he laid a hand on her arm. “You knew that when we started.”
“How will you find a ship?” Mercy’s voice was still carefully controlled. “You can’t buy one, like he did.”
“Every other ship in this harbor is seeking hands,” Luke told her. “And the masters don’t care if the men they sign on are landsmen—or ignorant farm boys, as Morgan used to call Dan and me.” He shrugged. “I heard of a vessel that is bound for the Pacific islands and Sydney as soon as her master can sign half a dozen more hands. She is partly crewed by Javanese or Malays, and they’ve stayed with her. She’s a fine new schooner, built in a Boston yard—the Dolphin—registered in Sydney, and her master is the owner. His name is Van Buren, and—” He broke off, avoiding her gaze. “That’s why I’m late, Mercy. I went out to her with a couple of others from the diggings—Australians who want to go home.”
“And you signed on?” For all her efforts to control it, Mercy’s voice was not steady. She had always known where
the pursuit of Jasper Morgan might lead, she told herself, just as she had known that Luke would follow his brother’s murderer wherever he might seek to hide. “Did you sign on with—with Captain Van Buren, Luke?” she persisted wretchedly.
Luke nodded. “I had to—there might not be another Australia-bound ship for months. The Dolphin’s not going direct to Sydney—she’s a trader, and as I told you, she will be calling at ports in the Pacific islands on the way. But she’s the only one, Mercy. If we wait any longer, Morgan will be too far ahead of us… . I’ll never catch up with him.”
Mercy’s small hands clenched convulsively by her sides. She wanted to plead with him not to abandon her, but no words would come. They had never discussed what they would do if the pursuit of Jasper Morgan were to lead to a journey halfway across the world; it was a
He brushed her words aside and, to Mercy’s surprise, hugged her. “You were right!” he exclaimed. “Morgan has gone to Australia. I’ve found proof of it at last.”
“Oh, Luke!” She could only stare at him, a prey to conflicting emotions and suddenly afraid. “Are you sure?”
“He was here only for a few days,” Luke asserted. “Mercy, he bought a ship—a small brig called the Banshee—and sailed for Sydney a month ago. I met the man he bought the ship from, so there’s no mistake.” He made a wry grimace. “He bought her cheap, because her master could not keep his crew and couldn’t replace them.”
“But Jasper Morgan could?” Mercy suggested, an edge to her voice.
“Yes. It seems that Mr. Brannan’s committee of vigilance has put the fear of God into Australian ex-convicts—the ones they call the Sydney ducks—who’ve been blamed for
much of the robbery and violence here. They lynched two of them before we left Thayer’s Bend, and they’re holding another for trial. Some of their fellows reckoned it was time to quit San Francisco before the vigilantes caught up with them. The Banshee’s old owner said that more’n a score of them signed on to crew for Morgan, just to get away from here.” Luke shrugged. “Double-dyed rogues they were, according to him, and I believed him!”
He did not enlarge overmuch on the story the old sea captain had told him of the ghastly scenes attending the execution of one of the “ducks” by the name of Jenkins, who had eventually met his end dangling from a rope suspended from a beam of the old Customs House in the plaza. That example had apparently been sufficient to make the other Australians understand that for them the time had come to leave California.
Mercy was silent for a long moment, studying his face in the dim light and reading the determination in it. She asked flatly, “What will you do, Luke?” knowing what his answer would be before he gave it.
“I shall go after him. I have to, Mercy—I owe it to Dan and the others.” Diffidently he laid a hand on her arm. “You knew that when we started.”
“How will you find a ship?” Mercy’s voice was still carefully controlled. “You can’t buy one, like he did.”
“Every other ship in this harbor is seeking hands,” Luke told her. “And the masters don’t care if the men they sign on are landsmen—or ignorant farm boys, as Morgan used to call Dan and me.” He shrugged. “I heard of a vessel that is bound for the Pacific islands and Sydney as soon as her master can sign half a dozen more hands. She is partly crewed by Javanese or Malays, and they’ve stayed with her. She’s a fine new schooner, built in a Boston yard—the Dolphin—registered in Sydney, and her master is the owner. His name is Van Buren, and—” He broke off, avoiding her gaze. “That’s why I’m late, Mercy. I went out to her with a couple of others from the diggings—Australians who want to go home.”
“And you signed on?” For all her efforts to control it, Mercy’s voice was not steady. She had always known where
the pursuit of Jasper Morgan might lead, she told herself, just as she had known that Luke would follow his brother’s murderer wherever he might seek to hide. “Did you sign on with—with Captain Van Buren, Luke?” she persisted wretchedly.
Luke nodded. “I had to—there might not be another Australia-bound ship for months. The Dolphin’s not going direct to Sydney—she’s a trader, and as I told you, she will be calling at ports in the Pacific islands on the way. But she’s the only one, Mercy. If we wait any longer, Morgan will be too far ahead of us… . I’ll never catch up with him.”
Mercy’s small hands clenched convulsively by her sides. She wanted to plead with him not to abandon her, but no words would come. They had never discussed what they would do if the pursuit of Jasper Morgan were to lead to a journey halfway across the world; it was a
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