CHAPTER FOURTEEN - THE MEN OF POQUOSON
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - THE SELECT MEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - THE GUNNER
CHAPTER 18 - DEVIL COMES TO FRISCO
A fortnight had passed since Jack first step foot in the house of Angelica McPherson in the Village of Frisco on Okracoke Island. His days had been spent pouring over the logbooks he had stolen from the Skye. The treachory of the Campbells had been laid bare before him.
During that terrible summer when the Tuscarora had attacked the Colony and made Angelica a widow, what had surprised the Colonist of North Carolina the most was the warriors were armed with muskets. It had remained a mystery, some had blamed the Spanish in Florida, others said it had been the French from Cananda, but Jack knew who the true villian had been, for the greedy traitor had written it all down in the logbook, the hidden ledger of the Skye. Thirty muskets with powder and shot had been given over from the cargo hold of the Skye to Jacob Anderson, a known agent of Archibald Campbell, Earl of Argyle and the only white man whom the Tuscarora were known to trade with let alone allow to live.
The fire of vengenance grew even brighter in his heart when he thought of all the souls who perished that summer. Even brighter still did it burn when it became clear that not only had the Campbell armed the Tuscarora but then he had his agents purchase the land for a pittance from widows and orphans. Thus, Jack spent his dark nights brooding upon the vengeance that burned in his heart.
The note that Kate had given him bore the names of the three ships owned by the Campbell that plyed the waters of the Carolinas, the Skye, the Fortune, and the Sparrow. He had struck a line through the Skye, for her silver and gold were in his sea chest and the blood of a Cambell had whet his sword. It would be only a matter of how and of when would his sword find Campbell blood to spill upon the Fortune and the Sparrow.
The dawn brought the light back into Jack's hearts as he enjoyed the hospitality of the widow Angelica McPherson and her son Andrew. It had been years since Jack had lived in a house with a woman's touch. The widow McPherson was a delightful hostess and her house always kept in perfect order. She had the habit of rising early and singing in her garden while gathering food for the day and feeding the livestock.
The sound of her voice singing in the early light soothed Jack's tormented heart, for once he had lived with a woman such as this. During his days he could not help but to admire her beauty, her raven hair, her deep dark eyes and her inviting smile. At times, in her presence, Jack's heart would forget its anger and dream a new dream but only for awhile, for even she, though she knew not, had felt the depths of the greed and of the cruelty of the Campbell. The thought of her being made a widow would once again fan the fire in his heart.
Andrew had proven to be a very energetic lad who always inquired abour Jack's sword and his pistols. He had even convinced Jack to teach him how to use a sword, much to the chagrin of his mother. Jack and Andrew spent hour upon hour fencing with two wooden sticks. Every day Andrew improved his skills and every day Jack delighted in his company, which lessened the pain of his parting from his own son, Kevin.
Yet everytime Jack would be happy and be content, his heart would turn to the pain of his parting, to the pain of the massacre in Glencoe, to the pain of the death of Maggie and now to the pain of the widow McPherson. His heart would remind him who had been the author of his misery, Archibald Campbell the Earl of Argyle.
Jack sat alone on the porch of the McPherson home, quiet in his thoughts and in his admiration for angelica's garden. Andrew and his mother had gone to the village to trade her vegetables for salted fish in the village of Frisco. A moment of heavenly respite in his tormented and acursed life, a moment that was too short and too fleeting for that day the Devil had come to Frisco.
"Jack! Jack! Men have come! Jack!" cried Angelica as she ran down the path towards her home.
Jack stood up and rushed towards her, catching her in his arms as she nearly fell from exhaustion and apparent fright.
"Jack, strange men came to the village, armed with muskets. Magnus tried to stop them, he tried Jack. They shot him, Jack, they shot Magnus! I know not whether he lives or not for he fell hard upon the ground. They spoke of war and of needing men. Jack, they took Andrew, please Jack do something, he is all I have in the world. Please Jack." Angelica looked upon Jack with tears flowing from her dark eyes.
"How many men?"
"Five maybe six, but they have muskets and swords."
Jack ran back into the house and grabbed his sword and two loaded pistols. When he returned to the path he found Angelica, with a musket of her own in her hands waiting for him. Her tearful and frightened eyes had turned in almost an instant to eyes that were cold and hardened. One way or another Angelica McPherson would have her son.
Jack said not a word, but ran past her down the path towards the beach of Frisco. Just as the two were about leave the woods onto the open beach, Jack turned to her and instructed her to wait at the edge of the clearing.
"If things go poorly, I will return, if anyone follows me, kill them and run back to the house."
Jack composed himself, he held a single pistol in one hand and placed his other hand upon his sword as he walked out from the clearing. He spyed three young men bound and sitting in a longboat guarded by a single man with a musket.
Off and closer to the village stood four men, three armed with muskets and another with sword in hand facing off against the men of the village of Frisco. He heard the sobs of a woman and the cries of children who were knealing by a the lifeless body of Magnus, the man of the village. The men of Frisco were too many for the strangers to overcome and yet they needed more men.
The man guarding the longboat saw Jack at a distance and gave the alarm.
"Mr. Bonnie, we have company!"
Jack halted at the sound of his name, Bonnie, could fate once again played another cruel trick upon his accursed life. Captain Charles Bonnie, the pirate who had long ago killed a Captain of a merchant ship by throwing him overboard in the middle of the Atlantic giving all on board the choice to join the crew or join the Captain. A choice that Jack had made long ago, the choice to join a pirate's crew.
The men of Frisco became embolden at the sight of Jack approaching, but not so embolden as to risk certain death at the hands of these strangers. Mr. Bonnie, ordered his men to fall back to a safer position, as he himself moved to confront this man armed with sword and pistol.
As he approached, a smile grew upon his face, for he knew this armed man. He stood his ground and moved one hand to his sword, while holding a pistol in the other, a perfect match of two men of the sea.
"Well, well in all the places of the world to find me ole shipmate and gunner, Jack Henry. Ya gave us the slip in Barbados oh so long ago, but now here ya are before me very eyes, fit as a fiddle. Now Jack is there goin to be any more treachory this day or are we well met?"
"Depends, I have need of one those lads in the longboat."
"Well, problem is Jack I have a need for all of those lads in the longboat on account of the war and unlike in times past, this time Jack, I have a lawful right to take them."
At the mention of the word war Jack's eyes lit up, for he had not heard of any war.
"Ah I see by the look in your eyes, that ya was unawares that a dear Queen Anne declared war upon the Spanish and the French. Aye so she did, and all of a sudden my fortunes were changed. Ya see Jack not long after ya jumped ship, the British navy had decided it was time to sweep the Carribean of all pirates. The scoundrals chased us for years, finally I had to scuttle our old ship off the course of Florida. Me and some the lads made our way to Charles Town and there we languished til kind fortune upon us did shine, with war comes the need for men like us, Jack. I signed aboard a ship, owned by an old friend of yours Jack, Archibald Campbell, the Sparrow is her name, for now. We sailed from Charles Town to Norfolk and there we were to meet up with two other ships the Fortune and the Skye. Now as I here it there was some sort of trouble aboard the Skye but a fortnight ago, where the master of the ship was murdered and her treasure stolen. Odd thing it was not beset by any band of pirates, but they say one man or perhaps it was the Ghost of Glencoe who did murder that poor fellow. And here who is this that I do see standing before me but a few leagues away from where that foul deed was done but Jack Henry, or should I properly say Iaian MacDonald of Glencoe."
Jack stood still and spoke not a word, for there was not much to say, his old captain knew him and knew him well. His hand twitched upon his sword, as the two men stood in an awkward silence. Jack showed no sign of distress or weakness, although it was clear that he had the disadvantage.
" Now Jack, it would be a shame if I were to return to the Sparrow with no lads for the crew. I would have to tell of our encounter, how on this beach I stood before the Ghost of Glencoe, who we could all but surmise mudered the kinsman of Archibald Campbell and come to think of it the kinsman of the Master of the Ship aboard the Sparrow. And these poor folk here in Frisco, harboring a known outlaw. What do ya think will become of these folk when the wrath of the Campbells descends upon them with fire and with sword."
Jack knew the meaning of it all, by fire and by sword would the Campbells come to slaughter all of Frisco. He briefly turned and looked upon the villagers as they stood their ground armed with clubs and knives. He turned over his shoulder to see the path where Angelica stood with the only musket in the village, still hidden, still waiting for the return of her son.
It was Jack who broke the silence.
"I still have a need for one of the lads in the longboat."
Charles Bonnie shook his head back and forth then drawing closer in a low voice said:
"Jack, of course ya do. But Jack ya having nothing to bargain for him, now do ya. Besides, Jack who needs these lads when I could have ya once again manning the guns. Jack, ya know me ways, when we get to sea, I have men aboard all the Campbell's ships, and ya know what I will do, the choice I shall give the crew, the choice ya made yourself long ago, join the captain for a swim or join the crew. I come to ya with a grand opportunity for the Ghost of Glencoe to once again stick his sword into the belly of a Campbell and steal the ships of the Argyll. Now, is that not exactly what ya want Jack? Instead of wanting to fight me, ya should be thanking me for I bring ye all that ya heart doth desire. In fact, Jack I think it is ya who needs everyting from me."
Damn him, he was right, thought Jack. He could have it all, all the vengeance upon the Campbell that he had desired and then some. If it were not for the tears in Angelica McPherson's eyes, Jack would have gladly left even the treasure of the Skye behind and resumed his quest of vengeance. And then he thought of Andrew, would the lad make the same choice or would he choose death over dishonor. Turning once again towards the path, while keeping an eye upon Mr. Bonnie, Jack shouted out:
"Show yourself!"
The widow McPherson appeared from behind the woods with her musket aimed at the guard of the longboat.
"Ya see, Captain yours are not the only muskets in Frisco. And ya know the women of these lands, they never miss their mark. With one shot she will kill your man, and I shall kill ya. The good folk of Frisco shall descend upon those remaining poor souls of yours and slaughter them for the work they have done this day in the killing of Magnus. Now it seems that I have a need for all the lads in the boat."
Jack paused for a moment allowing his old captain a moment to assess his situation.
"Not all must be blood this day, for it is true that ya offer is a fine one for me but not a fine one for those lads and these good folk. Release the lads, return to the Sparrow and tell yar Captain of the unfortunate business where in Magnus grabbed one of the muskets and it accidently fired, killing him. The folk became enraged led by a man whom ya may or may not recognize. In two days, I will arrive in Okracoke harbor, and I will join the crew of the Sparrow. And ya will have all that ya desire me Captain. If I fail to arrive in two days time, then ya can suddenly remember who ya saw this day on the beach of Frisco, the ghost of Glencoe, Iaian MacDonald.
Charles Bonnie smiled.
"We are of one accord upon this matter."
Jack Henry had met the Devil upon the beach of Frisco and they were of one accord.