Sail Ho

They had just rounded a turn in the path when Marie clapped her hand over her mouth and pointed. Madeline did not stifle a sound with her hand. She was struck mute by the sight of Mr. Wainwright stroking his manhood. Her lack of the ability to speak was of twofold cause.

Madeline knew Marie was seeing such a sight for the first time and would be aroused just as she had been at Marie's age. She would have to explain and then watch Marie closely lest the passions of youth conquer the girl's chaste upbringing.

She also remembered nights with her husband when she, being unable to satisfy him because of the curse, had taken his manhood in hand and stroked him until he groaned and his cock erupted with streams of white seed. She had caught his essence in a cloth, wiped him clean, and then snuggled close beside him. He would use his fingertip to give her the same pleasure.

As Mr. Wainwright's seed spilled to the ground, Madeline pulled gently at Marie's arm and then motioned for the girl to follow her. When they reached the hut, Marie was fairly bursting with excitement as well as questions.

"Madeline, Mr. Wainwright's...his...his organ looked so large and hard. Is it always so with men?"

"Yes, though some are larger and some smaller, or so I have been told."

"His eyes were closed. Why would that be?"

Madeline smiled.

"Men think about women when they do such a thing."

Marie's eyes sparkled.

"Madeline, I do so hope he was thinking about me."

Madeline patted Marie's hand.

"I think it more likely he was thinking of some trollop in a port where his ship called. He's a sailor, Marie, and sailors are known for liking the ladies of the evening."

Marie thrust out her chest.

"I will not believe a gentleman such as Mr. Wainwright would ever seek the company of one of those women."

"'Tis not company they seek, Marie. They seek the short relief of the tensions of the voyage, that is all. They care no more for the women than the women care for the sailors."

Marie stared down the path Mr. Wainwright had taken.

"If it was Mr. Wainwright, I would care."

"Marie! A young girl should not think in such ways. It is not decent."

"Did you not feel the same about your Jack?"

"Yes, Marie, I did, but we were man and wife."

Marie smiled.

"I shall continue to hope Mr. Wainwright was thinking about me, and I will continue to care about him. I do not mind if such thoughts are not decent for there is no one else here to judge me."

Madeline sighed and shook her head.

"You have the looks and temperament of your late mother, but I swear your Father gave you the stubbornness of a cane-field mule. Think what you will, because I cannot change your thoughts. Just do not allow those thoughts to become something you will regret."

"I shan't, Madeline. You taught me about men and women and that what they do together is something that should only be between a man and his wife. I do believe that."

They both turned at Mr. Wainwright's voice.

"I have a fresh dinner for you if Madeline would do us the favor of cooking it."

He laid a large, flat fish on the tree trunk that had served as their first shelter.

"I spied it digging into the sand not far from shore. Unless I am mistaken, it is a flounder of some type, and will give us a hearty repast."

After their dinner, Mr. Wainwright seemed lost in thought, and Marie asked him what kept him from talking as they usually did at mealtimes.

Mr. Wainwright said he had been taking stock of their situation and related his thoughts to them.

"We have been on the island for three weeks by my reckoning and nary a ship has even passed by, much less put in. While our food stores are still ample and could be stretched if we continue to find fish, crabs, or perhaps a turtle from time to time, at some point wild foods would be our only sustenance. In a month hence, the hurricanes of the Atlantic will make their way past the island. It is doubtful we would weather such a blow very well in only a rude hut.

"The remaining option is to again load the jollyboat and set sail for Jamaica. It is a voyage of some four hundred miles that would expose you both to the rigors of life at sea for nearly a week.

"I do not wish to watch you cook in the tropical sun at sea, nor do I wish to reduce your lives to that of the common native people by remaining here. I cannot decide my course as both seem fraught with dangers or at least discomfort."

Madeline laughed.

"You are concerned about asking us to leave this island to return to civilization? Surely, Sir, you are making a joke."

Then, her face and voice became more serious.

"Mr. Wainwright, I shall trust in your judgement, but know this. Marie is young and strong and would weather such a journey well. I am not so young, but I am strong enough and will do just as well."

Mr. Wainwright's mouth was a firm line.

"There may be high seas at times. I would keep near the island coasts as much as possible, but there will still be at least one passage on the open sea. I remember you saying the rocking of the ship made you uncomfortable. Should a storm be upon us, the jollyboat will be tossed on the waves like a leaf in the wind.

"There would also be the problem of privacy for...for our normal bodily functions. On the Rislane, the seat of ease was at the stern and the crew was forbidden to use it or to look over the stern rail. In the jollyboat, it would be necessary to use the transom as a seat of ease."

Madeline smiled grimly.

"'Twould be better to feed the fishes with my dinner a few times than to grow much older on this small island I think. As for our privacy, I trust you would do us the courtesy of looking away just as we would do for you when the need arises."

Mr. Wainwright turned to Marie.

"Miss Bonner, you are nearly a woman and should be allowed to speak your thoughts on the matter. What be they?"

Marie smiled.

"I trust in your judgement as well and I agree with Madeline. I do not find the island to be an uncomfortable place, but I would not wish to live here forever. I did not find the voyage here to be such a fearful one. I should think another will not be so much different."

Mr. Wainwright nodded.

"We shall sail for Port Royal then, though we must spend a few days teaching you both to be sailors. I will need extra hands should the wind grow strong, and as we will sail day and night, we will have to set a watch of some sort to keep the boat on course and the sails trimmed."

For each of the next three days, Mr. Wainwright let the river current take the jollyboat out to sea, then stepped the mast and attached the boom. He demonstrated how to raise the main sail and the jib, and once Madeline and Marie had become somewhat adept, they sailed a short distance from the shore and up and down the beach. He taught them how and when to tack, and how to use the rudder to keep the boat on course. He also taught them the skills required for rowing, for it was possible they might be becalmed and need to propel the jollyboat by using the oars.

After the second day, it became obvious to Mr. Wainwright that Madeline was the stronger of the two women, and he assigned her the task of adjusting the running rigging. Marie became his helmsman and was soon very good at keeping the jollyboat on the course she set by the small compass in the binnacle by the rudder.

On the fourth day, they carried all their belongings from the hut to the jollyboat, stopping only for a brief mid-day meal of salt pork. Mr. Wainwright, thinking they would all benefit from a good night's rest, spread one of his tarpaulins over a vine suspended between two trees and spread the other on the forest floor. After a dinner of crabs Mr. Wainwright caught along the shore, the three lay down to the croaking of frogs in the river for the last night they would sleep on Isla Alto Velo. He saw no reason to set a watch.

The sun had barely peeped over the horizon when the Mr. Wainwright loosed the bow line of the jollyboat, pushed it away from the shore and then stepped into the bow. While Marie used the oars to keep the boat in the center of the river, he stepped the mast and secured the stays, then attached the boom. Madeline secured the jib to the forestay and then secured the halyard that ran from its block down the mast to the small cleat where it would be tied off. She rove the jib clew line through another block on the rail and then stood by to raise and set the jib.

When the jollyboat left the river, Mr. Wainwright raised the mainsail and began a sou'westerly tack into the tradewinds. When he had the sail trimmed to his satisfaction, he instructed Madeline to haul the jib to the top of the fore stay and tie it off. The jib filled with wind and Madeline pulled it in until Mr. Wainwright judged it to be satisfactory, and then belayed it to a cleat in the rail.

The jollyboat quickly picked up speed until the water racing under her keel burbled at the stern. Mr. Wainwright went back to the stern where Marie manned the tiller to check their course, and asked her to steer a bit more to the south. Upon her doing so, he adjusted the main and jib again, and then sat down on the seat amidships beside Madeline. Madeline asked if there was anything more to be done.

"No, Mrs. Mayes. We'll tack nor'west in half an hour or so, but until then, all we need do is watch that she doesn't get broadside to a wave."

He pointed at Marie and grinned.

"As long as my helmsman keeps this course, that is not likely to happen."

Marie grinned back and mimicked the usual seaman's response she'd heard to such an order.

"Aye aye, Cap'n Wainwright."

They tacked nor'west after half an hour and continued on that tack until the low green outline of land appeared on the horizon.

"That will be Hispaniola", said Mr. Wainwright. "We'll keep the island in sight until we reach the west-most point. From there, it is open sea to Jamaica and Port Royal."

As the sun rose to sit directly overhead, Mr. Wainwright tacked sou'west once again, and then established the watch schedule.

"On a full ship, the watch would be four hours and each watch would be manned by a third of the crew. Since our crew is only three, our arrangement must be somewhat unique.

"Since I alone have the ability to navigate by the stars, I shall stand watch from sunset to sunrise. During the hours of daylight, Mrs. Mayes, you will attend to the sails and Miss Bonner to the rudder. I will sleep then, just as you will sleep during the night hours."

Madeline nodded.

"That is a fine schedule for a day such as today, but what if a storm arises?"

Mr. Wainwright smiled.

"Should that happen, it will be all hands on deck, just as it would be on a full ship -- Miss Bonner at the helm, you, Mrs. Mayes, assisting with the lines, and I, trimming the sails and determining which course is appropriate."

"As we shall be in sight of land, might we not sail to the land until the storm passes? 'Twould seem to be a more safe course."

"Yes, if the storm proves to be more than the jollyboat can weather, but I know little of the natives of Hispaniola. Putting in there could be more dangerous than braving the waves. After we begin the voyage on the open sea, we will have to do as best we can, for there will be no land for at least two days."

Madeline smiled.

"Your good judgement has kept us safe up until this time. I shall trust in that judgement to take us safely to Port Royal."

Mr. Wainwright handed his watch to Madeline.

"I will take a short rest now. Tack on this course for another two hours. Then tack back to the nor'west until the sun sits on the horizon. If you should require assistance of any kind, wake me."

Mr. Wainwright stretched out with his shoulders on the bow seat and his legs on the floor of the jollyboat. When he had loaded their possessions, he had purposely left this space open for himself and the women and had folded the two tarpaulins to form a surface somewhat softer than the wood slats of the bottom.. Their beds would be narrow and their pillows the hard, wooden seat of the jollyboat, but it was the only space not occupied by their trunks and bags.

He closed his eyes but had no intention of sleeping. He had taught Madeline and Marie to handle the jollyboat, but they had not yet been tested in the open sea. When Madeline brought the jollyboat to a nor'westerly tack, he would determine if they were capable or if he must stay awake at least for most of the journey.

As the first hour passed, the heat from the sun, the gentle rocking of the jollyboat and the fatigue of the day prior caused Mr. Wainwright to doze off. His thoughts upon doing so had been of Marie, and as sleep closed his mind to the sounds around him, he began to dream.

He was walking down the trail from his vantagepoint on the island. As he approached the hut, Marie emerged from the door and stepped to the ground. She began kissing him, and her kisses caused him to place his hands on her firm hips. He fondled her hips and Marie moaned.

He felt his cock stiffen as Marie touched the front of his trousers and moaned again as his cock lurched into her hand.

"You are so hard and I am fairly faint with desire. Oh, take me, take me this instant."

He had been unbuttoning her dress when he was shaken from sleep by Madeline's voice.

"Now, Marie, to the north west."

He continued to feign sleep. It was with difficulty he did not smile when he heard the creek of the boom as it swung from one side of the jollyboat to the other, the luffing of the mainsail as it lost the wind, and then the soft pop as the mainsail bellied out when it filled again.

Through eyelids cracked just a fraction, he watched Madeline loose the jib clewline on one side of the boat and then haul in the other and sheet it home. Yes, they would do well unless heavy weather overtook them. Mr. Wainwright drifted back to sleep.

Once the jollyboat was sailing on the compass point Mr. Wainwright had given them, Madeline took her seat beside Marie. Marie checked the compass again, then turned to Madeline and whispered, "Did you not see Mr. Wainwright's trousers rise as he slept?"

"Yes, I saw."

"Why would his...why would he do such a thing? He was asleep."

Madeline smiled at Marie.

"Marie, there are many things men do of which young girls normally have no knowledge. We are in a unique circumstance, and you are witness to things usually reserved for when a woman is wed. Men's organs often rise of their own accord when they sleep. It is a perfectly normal thing for a man to do."

"Is it as when he closed his eyes on the island and stroked himself?"

"Somewhat, though usually it is brought on by a dream, or so my husband told me."

"Oh, I do so wish the dream was of me. It would please me to know he thinks of me that way, for I think the same of him."

Madeline understood the girl was speaking from her heart rather than from her mind. She had done the same when she was Marie's age. She tried to be gentle, but also to dispel Marie's thoughts of what would likely never be.

"Marie. As I said, we are in an unusual circumstance. It is normal for you to be taken by Mr. Wainwright as he is our protector, but do not read more into the book than has been written. It is likely Mr. Wainwright will sail off on the seas again once we reach Port Royal. You will be but a memory of a task to which he was set by his Captain."

"I shall make it so he wishes not to leave me then."

"How would you do this?"

Marie smiled.

"I will give myself to him."

Madeline shook her head.

"No, child. Such a thing never achieves the desired goal. He would enjoy your charms, and then board the next ship that would accept him. It is the way of sailors."

Marie pouted her lower lip.

"Then how did you convince your husband to not do the same?"

"My Jack was not a sailor."

"But he could have done as you say sailors do. Why did he not do so?"

Madeline squeezed Marie's hand.

"Marie, Marie, Marie. I cannot give you a very good explanation of what happens between a woman and a man that makes each want to stay with the other. It is a feeling you must experience, and I do not speak of what you feel now. What you feel now is strong attraction and hope as do all young women with some of the men they meet.

"The feeling of which I speak is love, and though it is difficult to describe because it is a different feeling for every man and every woman, you will know when it happens. It is as if the other has stolen a part of you and you would die should that part leave. It is a feeling of wanting to do everything you can to make the other happy. It is a feeling of wanting the other to touch you, to couple with you, and to give you children."

"I feel some of those things for Mr. Wainwright."

"I know you do. Every woman feels some of those things for some men, and others of those things for other men. Love is feeling all of those things and more for one man, and he feeling the same things for you. That is why my Jack did not leave. He loved me and I loved him."

"Could Mr. Wainwright not feel those things for me?"

"Yes, but it would not be of your doing. It would be because he felt those things in his heart. You could not put them there. Only he can do that."

Marie lapsed into silence then. As she checked the small compass and made a slight correction she wondered that life was so difficult.

She was certain she wanted to do everything she could to make Mr. Wainwright happy, and she had thought often of bearing his children. She did not have the feeling that he now held part of her. Perhaps Madeline was right and her infatuation with Mr. Wainwright was just that -- a strong attraction caused by his courage and strength and the hope he had similar feelings.

If he had those feelings would he not have told her by now? They had been together for nearly a month. Surely that was enough time for him to realize his attraction and tell her.

Marie sighed and looked again at the compass. The needle pointed to the course she was to steer. If only there were a compass for her life and someone to tell her what heading to take.

When the rim of the sun rested on the horizon, Madeline woke Mr. Wainwright. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and then scanned the horizon. The jollyboat was not yet close enough to Hispaniola to enable him to make out the trunks of trees. Their progress was about what he'd anticipated.

He took the tiller from Marie and told Madeline he would tack to the sou'west again. She ducked low as the boom swept across the boat, then reversed the port and starboard jib clew lines. The jollyboat had slowed during the maneuver, but now picked up speed again. Mr. Wainwright asked Marie if she was hungry.

"Yes, I am ready for dinner, though I wish it were something other than salt pork. It will be good to be back in Port Royal. Even a roasted chicken will seem like a feast."

Mr. Wainwright smiled.

"With luck, in four more days you will have your chicken."

They ate the cold salt pork as they had since leaving the Rislane -- each one dipping into the cask of brine, retrieving a lump of meat, and then using Mr. Wainwright's knife to saw off a piece small enough to chew. The sun was halfway below the horizon when they finished. Mr. Wainwright tacked the jollyboat to the nor'west once again, and settled in for his night watch. In little over an hour, the stars would begin to show themselves, and as they did, his night map would be revealed.

When it became too dark to see each other, Madeline and Marie took the makeshift bed in the bow. They were soon breathing deeply in sleep, for the day had been long and tiring, and the hot sun that beat down on them had only made it seem more so.

Mr. Wainwright stretched out his legs, then leaned back against the transom and mused about their situation.