Chapter 5

It had surprised me that I was so tested by the loss of Claudine for we had not known each other but for a short time and it just didn't make sense to me. To add to my troubles, we went into a spell of poor pickings hardly sighting a sail of any prize worth boarding at risk of our lives and limbs on the Spanish Main. We anchored in a snug little harbor at an island that was supposed to be under the control of France but all of the residents were of African origin or spoke the Dutch language as a second tongue. At first, I thought we might have been off course and had stumbled on one of the Dutch Islands that had been loyal to that country because of their lax policies of establishing infrastructure. However, in the small courthouse, I discovered a number of volumes were written in the French language and the transfers of property and the marriages and births were also recorded in that language.

I was told that the French governor and his wife and two mistresses were driven off the island when the Treaty of Paris was signed to end the French and Indian Wars in the New World. Such matters were changing so often these days that it seemed of little importance because I was officially a "Privateer" under the flag of England and anytime a French government was concluded in such a way it was a matter of delight in my way of thinking. Of course, the French and Spanish governors in the Islands had already signed my death warrants and it made little difference that I had the technical documents to forestall my hanging except in a location under control of the British government.

We were almost drifting without a stirring of breeze in the offing when the lookout spotted a longboat sitting without benefit of sail or oar off our port bow. Generally, such things merely revealed empty space or the rotting bodies of the recently departed but in this case there were actually two live human females in the bottom of the thing rolling around in the scuppers with pieces of dead fish eaten raw and some bottles of wine still uncorked. We hoisted the two women giving them a good dousing of cleansing water to wash away their stink of abandonment. The older one looked to be still under forty and the young one was barely old enough to recognize a cock if she saw one. There was a distinct possibility they were mother and daughter for there was a considerable likeness between them that was enhanced by their virtual nakedness with merely shreds of tattered clothing on their sun-burned skin. I ordered the cook to "lard" them up with the cooking fat to soothe the pain and take away the redness in sensitive areas. After that, they were too tired for fun and games and they were so slippery that any gentleman would have a hard time getting his arms around them to fix them in place whilst boning them with a certain familiar stroke.

I roused them with a touch of the rum and the younger one made sense first by assuring me that she was a virgin and her father in Havana would make it worth my while to keep her in that status. In her present condition, I didn't think she had anything to worry about because her mottled skin and skinny appearance was none too appealing to a fun-loving pirate.

Of course, I didn't say that to her and just told her she needed time to recover from her ordeal. I was more curious as to the ship they came from and why they were castaway like murderers or thieves no longer wanted to be onboard a disciplined ship. I kept my questions unspoken for the time being and sent her down below to my own cabin to rest up because her virginal status aroused an urge in my loins to correct that situation as quickly as possible.

The other female took longer to come around but she was a bit more reticent to speak not certain into whose hands she had befallen. I could see her casting her eyes around to search for her companion and it convinced me that she was either the girl's mother or someone tasked with her care and safekeeping.

I calmed her down and added more of the cooking grease to her delicate skin. She was lucky that her petticoats were torn and placed over her body in the boat. It must have been her daughter that did that to save her mother's milky white skin. I took particular care in rubbing it into her generously shaped backside and she was moaning before I finished my ministrations. It was easy to see that the woman who was still in the prime of life much needed a man's shaft to relax her nerves in such stressful situations. It was far too early to assume such liberties but I gauged her capability to "take" my further efforts to restore her equilibrium would be on track the following evening and I would take full advantage of her helplessness and dependence on my ship to bring her to safety. It seemed only fair that her daughter be part of the arrangement since she was such a tasty morsel and would be wasted on the pathetic lumps of expatriate humanity in Havana hoping for some recognition from the court back in Madrid.

I wrapped her in the clean sheets and let her sleep in the adjoining cabin to mine which was empty after the demise of my first mate that had been lost at sea in a recent unexpected heavy sea that took us all by surprise.

The Mother's name was Donna Emanuel and the daughter was her only child called Isabella. I turned out that Isabella was only just eighteen and her mother was thirty-eight after giving birth when she was only twenty. In truth, they looked more like sisters rather than mother and daughter. Apparently the father was a victim of the dreaded Inquisition because of some dealings he had with a number of Jews in Barcelona and the fact that he often ate dinner at their homes and there was some suspicion about the lineage of his own mother. He had been poorly advised to "confess" his crimes and sealed his own fate at an auto-de-fete that reveled in his being burned to a crisp in the public square in front of the cheering crowds of people. His wife and daughter watched the entire spectacle and were pronounced guiltless because they showed no emotion at his destruction. Their voyage to the New World was a convenient way for the King to be rid of the embarrassment of members of the upper classes being subjected to such stringent discipline just for having contact with the Jewish populace. Most of the Jews who had become Christians by power of public conversion were spared but still looked upon with suspicion by the authorities and had to constantly be on the alert for accusations of heresy. It was obvious to me that they were entirely innocent in the affair but if I had been in Barcelona at the time I am certain that I would curb my tongue because fear of the Inquisition was so rampant that one would not trust their own parents.