Midwife of the Blue Ridge Read Online Free PDF Page B

have the
    most—”
    An unfamiliar noise interrupted his speech. Maggie and Joshua
    both glanced upward in time to see an eerie, liquid blue fi re hiss
    and crackle at the top of the mizzenmast. For a few seconds the
    blue light danced along the uppermost spars and rigging before
    dissipating into the atmosphere.
    “Megstie me!” Maggie inched close to Joshua. He slipped an
    arm around her shoulders.
    “Just a bit of St. Elmo’s fire. Why, I’ve seen where the blue
    flames shoot across the spars and climb up and down the shrouds
    for hours at a time.”
    “St. Elmo’s fire!” Maggie sniffed the ozone in the air and
    stared in wonder at the topmast, hoping the strange event would
    repeat itself.
    “Some say it’s a good omen—a blessing from the patron saint
    of sailors. It’s not really fire as such—more like lightning. They
    say St. Elmo’s fire portends a strong wind on the way.”
    The helmsman turned the hourglass and struck the aft bell,
    signaling the beginning of the first watch. “Come along now,
    Midwife of the Blue Ridge 29
    Maggie.” Joshua slipped his arm from Maggie’s shoulder and
    glanced toward the quarterdeck, relieved to see Captain Carlyle
    engrossed in his celestial navigation. “I’ll be whipped and pick-
    led if Cap’n sees you’re still on deck during the watch.”
    “Joshua, I was wondering.” Maggie laid a warm hand on his
    forearm. “What harm is there in my finding a wee corner to curl
    up in, here, on main deck? Quiet as a mouse I’d be . . .”
    The mate’s gaze swept across the ordered chaos of the crowded
    deck. Spars and spare mast pieces rested amid coils of tarred rope.
    Yards of anchor cable caked with dried mud were piled near the
    iron-banded casks filled with water, salt meat, and other stores.
    Near the chicken coops and pigpens, the four mariners standing
    first watch were busy arranging sea chests around an upended
    cable reel for their nightly game of euchre. In all likelihood Mag-
    gie’s presence would go unnoticed.
    “All right . . . but mind, steer clear of the watch,” he warned.
    “If anyone finds you out, Maggie Duncan, you’re on your own.”
    They tugged her pallet far from the quarterdeck, back behind
    a stack of canvas near the foremast. Maggie bid Joshua good
    night, very happy to be granted one night’s reprieve from the
    grim quarters below.
    H
    “G’ way . . . leave me be . . .” Maggie groaned, dismissing her
    tormentor with a wave of her hand. Her eyes blinked open. A
    cool breeze washed across the deck and the ship bobbed on
    waves slapping up to the rails. Bright lights flashed in the distant
    sky. Propped up on one elbow, she pushed the frizzle of hair from
    her face and squinted at the dark silhouette hovering over her.
    Relentless, the prodder persisted in poking a stick between her
    ribs. “Get below, you filthy guttersnipe! Your kind is not allowed
    to pollute this deck after hours . . .”
    “Sod off, y’ drunken skulk . . .” Maggie pushed the stick aside,
    irritated at being so rudely wakened from the first deep sleep she’d
    had in days. The knob end of the stick caught up under her chin,
    30 Christine
    Blevins
    and the man forced Maggie to rise unsteady to her feet. Though
    she had never before laid eyes upon him, she recognized her tor-
    mentor at once.
    A queued, beribboned powdered wig sat askew on his head,
    exposing a patch of close-clipped dark hair. He moved close, his
    pallid face inches from hers. “Filthy Scots vermin! Infesting the
    deck by day—by God, I will not allow you to haunt it by night!”
    “I beg pardon, yer grace,” she croaked, stretching up on tiptoes
    to alleviate the discomfort of the cane lodged against her throat.
    “I misspoke . . . I mistook ye fer one of the watchmen . . .”
    He lowered the silver- tipped cane. His misbuttoned shirt was
    trimmed with fine lace and stained with the luxuries of claret
    and beef gravy. His sour breath stank of wine and garlic. The
    man stood only a