The Bargain: A Port Elizabeth Regency Tale: Episode 2 Read Online Free PDF Page A

or a little time at sea.” Horrid, schoolboy-like giggles came out of the lecher. "Yes, I'm thinkin' she'll do."
    Something primal rose up in Gareth at the thought of Ralston harassing Jewell. A growl inside almost ushered out, but he smoothed his fisted hand along his coat. “Let Miss Jewell be. She’s under my protection.”
    The bubbly laughter poured harder out of Ralston's mouth, making his jet-black mustache twitch. Even his stomach jiggled with the horrible noise. “I’m not thinking of harming her. No, I had much more pleasurable thoughts of how to spend the time with the pretty blackamoor.”
    Pounding forward, he got into his first mate's face and talked really slow, so the lout wouldn't mistake a syllable. “Ralston, leave her alone. Don't force my hand.”
    The man stepped back; his laugh had diminished but still sounded. “Oh, why didn't you say the chit was yours? Good for you, Captain. But if you tire of that little piece, give me first go.”
    He yanked the man by his ratty coat. “Ralston, so help me, you touch her and I’ll…”
    The laughter finally stopped from the fellow. He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple vibrating. Then Ralston wrenched free. “Don't get so mad. And don't blame me for looking for an opportunity. And when they aren't waiting on you, you know what those black are good for. Why else would they breed ’em like cattle in the Americas?"
    He leapt backward, out of hitting range. "Well, Captain. Take your time with that one. Learn the ways to control her, and I bet that knowledge will be of use in Port Elizabeth. It'll give you an advantage over the warring tribes. Why make war, when there are more pleasant things to be done?”
    Stunned at the man’s logic, Gareth mumbled a command, though it could have been a curse. He cleared his throat and started again. “Ralston, go check the main sail. We push off in the hour. Belay this foolish talk. That's an order.”
    His first mate saluted and trudged away.
    Gareth pivoted back to the ocean, his ocean, and tried to put his mind upon a cresting wave, upon the gentle white foam, not the ugliness of Ralston's words. How would things in Port Elizabeth improve if all of the colonists held this attitude?  
    The Xhosa, the powerful warrior group that inhabited the inlands of South Africa, had sent a representative to the last council meeting. The man had claimed that all the whites felt like this. And, fool that Gareth was, he said the tribe's experience was with the Dutch and the Spanish, not the English. English were different; English laws had spoken for equality since the Somerset decision.
    But how truly different were the Port Elizabeth colonists?
    And how different was Gareth?  
    He’d ignored parts of that decision to keep Jewell close and under his influence. For her own good, he couldn't risk her staying in London without his protection, and, like Eliza, she was too willful to be reasoned with, not without a bargain.  
    His conscience had been wearing on him since he presented her with the option of staying with Palmers or coming to Port Elizabeth as an indentured servant. Yes, England did afford slaves the right to choose not to leave her shores, but life in England was cruel to outsiders, those of different skin. The thought of the willful miss being tricked into prostitution or living in abject poverty wasn't something he could allow. That would never honor Eliza.
    Maybe he should've trusted Jewell, but telling people what to do was in Gareth's blood. Growing up as a peer-in-waiting, with privilege and being set apart, a whole sphere apart from everyone, was all he’d known. Even when his funds were low, his assured elevation and family ties proved enough for the Marsdale family to consent to his betrothal to Eliza.  
    Perhaps his need to control things made him no different than his base first mate. Hadn’t Gareth been fine with Eliza owning another person? To enslave, didn't that come with assumption of superiority, or