Come Looking For Me Read Online Free PDF Page A

passing the wine to Mr. Spooner.
    â€œYou gentlemen begin without me.” James pushed back his chair and stood up. “Biscuit, while I’m gone, replenish the decanters.”
    He walked up one deck to his quarters, now a makeshift operating room, and quietly stepped inside. Osmund Brockley, whose large tongue hung out of his mouth as he beheld Emily’s bare shoulders, was pinning her arms to her sides. Leander swabbed the gaping hole in her right shoulder and picked up a large prong-like instrument.
    â€œJames, would you mind giving Emily the rope?”
    â€œHave you given her anything to dull the pain, Lee?” James whispered, feeling very warm all of a sudden.
    â€œLaudanum and rum.”
    Emily readily accepted the piece of rope from James and bit down on it as hard as she could. Tears of agony streamed from her dark eyes as the doctor entered her wound in search of the lead. Her body tensed as she endured the pain. Osmund grunted as he tightened his hold on her.
    â€œThere now, I’ve got it,” Leander said, triumphantly holding up the offending ball. “We’ll just clean and bandage you up and let you get back to sleep.”
    Emily smiled wanly before closing her eyes.
    James waited until Leander was done before motioning him into a corner of the room.
    â€œNow that you’ve looked her over, what’s the word?”
    â€œShe has a broken left ankle, and severe cuts on both hands. She’s dehydrated and half starved. Her bullet wound, however, should heal up nicely.”
    James pursed his lips as he listened. “Well, dinner is on the table in the wardroom. It looks quite unpalatable, but you should take time for some refreshment.”
    â€œI don’t dare leave her alone with Osmund. He’s been making very strange sounds. There’s no telling what that man might do.”
    â€œYes, quite. I don’t like the look of him.” James scratched his head. “Should we ask Mrs. Kettle to sit with her?
    â€œHeavens, no,” said Leander. “Given the chance, she’d toss our guest overboard.”
    â€œIn that case, would you allow me to call up Gus Walby?”
    â€œBy all means! Young Walby’s a most trustworthy fellow.”
    James hesitated a moment, then gave Leander a sheepish grin. “But first, let us have her removed at once to your hospital. I’m afraid I would not be setting a good example to the men if she were to stay alone with me in my cabin.”
    10:15 p.m.
    (First Watch)
    ON THE LOWER DECK, Bailey Beck and the two cook’s mates, the Jamaican brothers Maggot and Weevil, gathered the few belongings of the sailors who had lost their lives earlier in the day. Their clothing and possessions would be sold off at the mast on the following day to the highest bidder, and the raised money sent home to England to benefit their dependents. The men worked by lantern-light, humming sea shanties, and fortifying themselves with the extra ration of grog Captain Moreland had ordered for them to ease the burden of their unpleasant task.
    Above deck, despite the sadness of the day and the repair work that had to be done, James allowed those hands who hadn’t rushed to their beds in exhaustion to gather as usual for a bit of entertainment. Biscuit played his fiddle and the young sail maker, Magpie, his flute. The men clapped and cheered as Morgan Evans hopped up on an overturned crate to lead them in singing an ode to grog:
    While up the shrouds the sailor goes,
    Or ventures on the yard,
    The landsman, who no better knows
    Believes his lot is hard,
    But Jack with smiles each danger meets,
    Casts anchor, heaves the log,
    Trims all the sails, belays the sheets,
    And drinks his can of grog.
    * * *
    THE DIN ON THE WEATHER DECKS awakened Emily. For a few bewildering moments, she glanced about her tiny room – illumined by a lantern, which swung gently on a wooden peg by her feet – trying to remember how she came to