Chapter 51

AFTER BEING UNABLE to keep anything in his stomach, Jack stopped eating altogether. Going days without food or water made him feel weaker. He felt wretched and tired, but not as bad as he thought he should, given how sick he was. Was it due to the healing powers of Nora’s elixir? Could that little bit in his shoulder still be working?

The cabin was dark, the draperies constantly drawn on the windows. Nora had not spent the last few nights in the cabin with him, and he couldn’t blame her. The cabin likely smelled atrocious, and he spent most of his time vomiting. She would never be able to sleep. Still, it stung a bit. He was accustomed to having her close now and didn’t feel like he was adequately protecting her stuck in the bunk as he was.

He was more surly than usual when she did come around, and he still felt horrid. When she succeeded at her constant mission to shove nutrition down his throat, it only came back up again. He snapped at her, and she started snapping right back at him. At one point, she’d slammed out of their cabin, calling him a foul name. After that, she started sleeping in with Ben. Since the cabin remained dark, he had no idea how many days ago that was.

Jack rolled onto his back and looked up. He could just make out the ceiling so it must be daytime. He had to get out of this bunk, but he had never felt this terrible before. His ribs hurt, his throat was raw, his jaw felt sore, and he had probably lost weight. Being keenly aware of every swell the ship took, he acknowledged that he could never be a waterman of any sort. He was simply not cut out for a mariner’s life.

A burst of light shot into the cabin and burned his eyes as the door flung open. Squinting, he groaned against the intrusion.

“Get the hell out of here, you miserable, frustrating woman,” he rasped.

“Oh, my dear, you were right. He is quite a bear, isn’t he?”

Jack looked over at the sound of the male voice and saw Captain Hancock looming over him. Nora fluttered around the cabin, opening the drapes. He saw her gag slightly as she dumped the contents of the chamber pot out the porthole. Captain Hancock pulled a chair up to the bed and sat down on it.

“Sit up, Mr. Justice,” he commanded.

“You get the hell out of here, as well,” Jack said, throwing an arm over his face. He considered tugging the blankets over his head, but that would be childish.

“Jack!” Nora exclaimed, once again dismayed by Jack’s deplorable manners. But Hancock didn’t mind. He laughed throatily and slapped his knee.

“I am a sailor, milady, and a professional rabble-rouser. Believe me, there is nothing Mr. Justice can say that could offend me or will be something new to these ears. Now, as captain of this good vessel, I will tell you one more time. Sit. Up. Sir.” His voice brooked no room for Jack to disobey.

With another groan and a wince, Jack slowly rose to his side. Soft, gentle hands suddenly rested on his cheek and his shoulder. He turned his face into Nora’s wrist and breathed in deeply. She smelled fresh and wonderful, but it didn’t help his stomach much. When he started to heave, her hands braced him.

“Take deep breaths, Jack, it will pass,” she said, stroking his temple.

“Why are you being so nice to me now? Am I dying?” Jack asked when his stomach settled a bit.

“Seasickness can be serious, Mr. Justice,” Hancock said, lifting Jack to a full sitting position. “If left untreated, it can lead to total debilitation. Your lady needs you.”

“She’s fine. She’s skilled with weapons and fighting. I’m dying. Get out of here.” He tried to lay back down, but Hancock’s strong hands stopped him, “My lady, why don’t you go and see if the ship’s cook has the ginger water ready, and please see the quartermaster about fresh sheets. Ben is in the passageway; he will help you.”

Nora leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Jack’s forehead. “I shall be back soon. We’ll have you up and about in no time at all, Jack.” She left the cabin, closing the door behind her.

“Did you see that?” Jack asked, gesturing to his forehead. “How am I to be grumpy and angry at her when she treats me so?”

“You’re a lucky man, sir. You have only to open your eyes and see for yourself.”

“What is ginger water?” he asked instead, not willing to touch that subject.

“Exactly what it sounds like, ground ginger root in water. It’s been known to settle stomachs on ships,” Hancock explained. “Also, the fresh air will do you good, as well as looking at the horizon for a while. The horizon doesn’t move. Perhaps a combination of these will work.”

“None of them are a cure on their own?”

“Sir, the only sure cure for seasickness is to hug an oak tree!”

“What?”

“End the voyage, sir,” Hancock laughed. “Or not sail to begin with. But since we’re out in the middle of the ocean that is not an option. I was telling the truth when I said Lady Nora needs you.”

Jack perked up a bit. “You made her leave the cabin. What is it you wanted to say?”

“The lady’s husband has not been seen since the voyage started. Men at sea for long periods of time tend to miss women, and as she is the only woman on the ship....”

Jack grabbed Hancock’s wrist. “Someone is bothering her?” he growled.

“Someone is watching her,” Hancock replied. “A sailor new to this crew. He is from a different ship on his way to England. I don’t know him well, but he always seems to know where she is. He is never far away. I doubt Lady Nora has noticed, but all the same, she doesn’t go anywhere on the ship without myself or Ben.”

Jack swore. He leaned forward and paused, then slowly attempted to stand up with Captain Hancock’s assistance.

“See, sir! I knew it.” Hancock exclaimed. “There’s nothing like a little jealousy to make men move mountains.”

“I’m not jealous,” Jack snapped, knowing full well he was. “But I am sworn to protect her. If someone is going to give her trouble, then I’ll be there to dissuade him.”

“I’m not sure I’d like to see your form of dissuasion but be that as it may.”

Slowly, the two men made their way out of the cabin. As Jack finally got up on the deck, he turned back just in time to see Nora disappear into their cabin with sheets. Ben closed the door behind her, and Jack motioned to him that he would watch the door from his vantage point on deck. Nodding, Ben came up on deck to join them.

“Where is this man?” Jack asked. He could not look at the horizon while keeping one eye on the door to the cabin, but the fresh sea air helped.

“Below decks,” Ben said.

“Be sure to point him out to me,” Jack requested, jaw tightening. “I want to know where he is at all times if he is watching Nora so closely.”

“I wonder if he is enamored of her, or if it is something else entirely?” Ben pondered, fixing his gaze on Jack.

“You think he is employed by Lord Rogan?” Jack asked, leaning back against the railing for support. He was still unsteady, so he put his hands on the railing on either side of him, hoping his stance looked more casual than what it actually was—an inability to stay upright on his own.

Ben shrugged. “He watches her closely. The other men all smile when she is near and fall all over themselves to assist her in her every need. But they do not study her the way he does. He has made no move to speak to her or even be near her. He simply watches. But the look in his eyes is rather chilling.”

Jack had to admit this was not something he had considered. He’d assumed that once they made it to *The Independence,* they would be safe during the voyage. Nothing had happened in Boston; nothing suspicious at all, and he had not realized that there would be any sailors aboard who were unfamiliar to Hancock. The more he thought about it, the more he thought Ben’s suspicions were correct. His instincts told him to request that Captain Hancock lock the man up for the duration of the ocean crossing, but he was coming to know Hancock as something of a fair man. He would not want to wrongly accuse the crewman.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you, captain, about your ship. It doesn’t have the look of the others that I saw in the Boston Harbor,” Jack said. “You did say you procured it from the British?”

“I did, indeed, sir. However, the British were not the original owners either. This is a Spanish ship. According to the ship’s logs, she was originally named *The Princesa*, but when the British acquired her, she became *The Princessa* with two S’s. I don’t see the difference myself. Since the idea of having a ship named for a royal title when the whole idea of a royal sovereignty was so distasteful to me, I re-christened her something a little more appropriate to the Colonists’ heart, and, in turn, completely distasteful to her previous owners—though I have no desire to anger Spain.”

Jack smiled in response. He had a feeling that once they parted ways in Europe, he would not see this vibrant man again. He would enjoy his company while he had it.

“What do you think is happening in Boston now?” Jack asked, as he kept a diligent watch on the cabin door below.

“Oh, mass confusion, I’d wager. The governor will want to bring all involved to justice. There will be a warrant out for my arrest now, I am sure, as well as Sam Adams and a few others. Leaving post haste seemed prudent, wouldn’t you say? But I will return in time for the Continental Congress, and who knows what the climate will be like then?”

“The fanatics will be shouting even louder for war,” Ben said.

“Do you want war, sir?” Jack asked Hancock.

“I want change, Mr. Justice. And change is in the heart of people,” Hancock replied. “There is nothing stronger than the heart of a man who is fighting for his family, what he believes in, and his rights as a man. When men fight for another’s cause, they are not truly committed to it. Men who are fighting for their own cause, their own hearts, are unbeatable. If change can be accomplished without bloodshed, I could not be the happier. But England will not let us go that easily, and we are something worth shedding blood for. However, I truly believe that Heaven will smile upon us. We will form our new government with wisdom and sanctify it by the solid choice of the people who live under it. It can be no other way.”