Historical fiction; United States -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- Fiction
"For which I honor you, sir," said Mr. Shawn, and having brushed the
lapel to his satisfaction and smiled with wonderful sweetness, he
changed the subject. "I've heard of your father, Mistress Jenks, the way
I suppose most seaman have in this part of the world, and he noble as
any captain under sail, now that's no lie."
Faith blushed, overwhelmed; her right hand wandered to her mouth. Mr.
Kenny was visibly wondering whether to steer Charity into another social
ordeal. Charity leaned against the brown girl, observing _Artemis_ to
the exclusion of all else on earth, particularly Benjamin Cory. Faith
turned to Ben, astoundingly, swaying so near that her face under the
ribboned calash must tilt up to look at him. She clutched the bonnet,
though it was well tied. "Pray allow me to tack into the lee of you, Mr.
Cory, to shelter my silly bonnet--your shoulders are broad enough."
Later in white nights Ben thought: _She said that, and to me...._
Later also Ben found it hard to recall anything else said by Faith or
himself--small talk, surely--in those moments of nearness while
_Artemis_, clear of the harbor shipping, moved down on them tranquilly,
a great wind-begotten dream realizing herself in the here-and-now.
A round bulky man held a rope at the bow of _Artemis_. Below him a face
cruelly pure and calm, carved from apple-wood a year ago by an old
artist of Dorchester who was nearly blind, stared into a world of many
homelands. In the momentary enclosing silence, Ben saw a flash of
startled recognition between that stout man in the bow and Daniel Shawn;
since both looked away immediately, Ben dismissed it as a vagary of his
own imagination, or none of his business. The stout man was unknown to
Ben, perhaps one of the replacements signed on at Kingston; a greasy,
unrevealing face. Ben heard a flurry of shouts from men aboard and men
on the dock who knew each other. He also found a face he knew, and
waved--the mate, yellow-haired Jan Dyckman, who had visited at Roxbury,
brick-solid and big, a shy and gentle soul ashore, moving with a warm
confidence in all the ways of his Lutheran God. But Jan did not see
Ben's wave or had no time for it, taut at the starboard rail and
watching simultaneously every inch of remaining canvas, every ripple
between _Artemis_ and the wharf.
"Ahoy, Mistress Faith!" That was a north-wind voice overriding all other
commotion, from the bald giant looming aft near the helmsman. _Artemis_
was yet some thirty yards away, gliding, barely disturbing the filthy
dockside water. Ben's glance took in the giant--it could only be Peter
Jenks--with a wonder that such an iron mountain could have begotten the
loveliness of Faith. Even that far away Captain Jenks was more than
life-size, and surely knew it. His nose was flattened like a board, set
in deep leather creases between small eyes icy blue in the
sunlight--courageous arctic eyes without compassion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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