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.Earlier, from the transom windows, she’d noticed two ships.But now she couldn’t even see them.She was tired and hungry and bored.And more than a little curious to find out what was going on.No one had brought an evening meal, and Tim hadn’t come back to see her.After testing the door and finding it unlocked, she decided to go above deck.Merideth stepped through the hatch just as the first broadside hit the Carolina.The evening twilight was brightened by an explosion of orange-gold light as the thunderous roar split the silence.Men screamed, and as Merideth watched, stunned, a sailor threw down his comrade and rolled him on the sand-strewn deck, extinguishing the flames that licked up his back.Horrified, her hand clasped to her mouth, Merideth retreated till her spine straightened against the mainmast.Men sweated and swore, sponging the great guns and lighting the fuses.There wasn’t a moment of quiet.a moment of peace.Smoke filled the air, making her eyes smart, and Merideth scrubbed at the tears that flowed down her cheek.This wasn’t what she’d expected.This was horrible, and she couldn’t imagine how these men endured it.More screams and curses drowned out Merideth’s sobs as another explosion filled the air with splintered wood.Fires erupted on the deck, and tars scrambled to dump sand and water on the burning wood.This was war and death.And Merideth could do naught but cringe against the mast.She heard a voice, loud and commanding above the din, a voice somehow reassuring in the midst of chaos.“Prepare to repel boarders! Prepare to repel boarders!”Merideth twisted her head to follow the sound of his voice.He stood on the quarterdeck, surrounded by smoke, his once white shirt grimy and torn, his dark hair loose from its queue.Surprisingly, she knew a moment of relief when she realized he wasn’t bleeding like so many of the others around her.But any such emotion was short-lived as he grabbed up a cutlass and ran toward the ladder leading from the quarterdeck.Another explosion was followed by a sound like a score of trees cracking in the wind.Merideth looked back toward Jared Blackstone.He was glancing up, into the sails, and then his eyes dropped and locked with hers.She saw shock, then anger and fear, and before she knew what he was about to do, the captain leaped from the quarterdeck.He landed on the run, grabbing her and throwing them both toward the far rail.They landed with a thud against a giant coil of rope just as a section of shrouds and sheared-off mast crashed onto the deck.Pain radiated from her shoulder and Merideth could barely catch her breath.She needed a moment to think about what had just happened, but the captain gave her none.With no compassion for her bruised arm, he clutched her to him.“You could have been killed,” he yelled above the tumult, his face close to hers.She concentrated on the flashing prisms of green in his eyes as the meaning of his words sank into her befuddled brain.“Do you never listen to orders?” With that he pulled her none too gently toward the hatch, climbing over large fragments of oaken mast that cluttered the deck where Merideth had stood just moments before.“Get below and stay there,” were the captain’s final words as he left her by the hatch and rushed toward the rail.Merideth swallowed and obeyed, but not before her gaze registered the carnage on the deck.Those sailors not manning guns were running about barefooted, grabbing pikes and firing muskets.The British ship was close, so close Merideth could plainly see her crew as they swung giant grappling hooks toward the Carolina’s deck.These were Englishmen, countrymen, and they were obviously winning the day.But Merideth couldn’t help wondering what would happen to the Americans who fought them so ardently.“Yer Ladyship.Why ain’t ye below?”Merideth turned as Tim came barreling toward her.He grabbed her arm, much as the captain had earlier, and pushed her down through the hatch.“Cap’n said I was to watch out for ye.But he said ye were down in his cabin.” The boy spoke as he scrambled down the ladder, forcing Merideth to bunch up her skirts and hurry to keep ahead of him.“Ain’t no place for ye up there,” he said, pulling her along the companionway.“It’s no place for anyone.” Merideth leaned against the bulkhead after she was shoved into the captain’s cabin.Here the sounds of fighting were only a little less vivid than on deck.“I wanted to see what was happening,” Merideth explained as she tried to catch her breath.“We’ve got ourselves in a tight one,” Tim said.He yanked something from his breeches.It was dark in the cabin, with no candle, but Merideth could make out a pistol.“Wh.what are you going to do with that?” Hard-faced and smeared with sweat and grime, he didn’t seem the same boy who had tossed his captain’s clothes about the cabin.“Protectin’ ye, like the cap’n said,” he answered simply.“I see.” Merideth didn’t think it wise to point out that she probably needed more protection from the captain than from the English attackers.But she couldn’t help the feeling of sympathy that swept over her when she thought of the American crew.Except for Captain Blackstone.He deserved whatever befell him for killing her father.Who cared that he swore he hadn’t done it? Who cared that he’d saved her from being buried beneath the falling mast? None of that mattered.or so Merideth tried to tell herself [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]