The Devil's Fire Read Online Free PDF

attended first to Griffith. Livingston did not know the surgeon's age, but he was certain the man was at least a score older than any of them. He was also the fattest, though he had lost much of his girth since they’d recruited him. He was a bald man with a massive cranium that was perpetually sunburned. No matter how long Thatcher remained in the sun, his pale skin never seemed to tan properly. He was always sweating, even on cold days, and he smelled awful. He was constantly complaining of illness, embellishing his woes with a guttural cough that that made people wince.
    Livingston often found himself secretly yearning for Thatcher's passing, so he wouldn’t have to put up with that awful stench and endless bleating. However, he knew that
Harbinger
was badly in need of a surgeon. Accidents of a wide variety were common to a ship and crew of this size, and Livingston was thankful, now more than ever, that Thatcher had persevered, against all odds.
    The slice in Griffith's arm was not as bad as it looked. The cut was long, but not very deep. Livingston offered the captain a bottle of brandy to get him through the operation as Thatcher stitched the wound with a curved needle from his weathered canvas case.
    Livingston watched nervously. He habitually stroked his head, sliding his palm over the thin bristles of hair, from front to back, then back to front. His hand encountered less resistance than he remembered.
    Thatcher was finished with the arm in a few minutes, but the earlobe was another matter entirely.
    "Just sew it back on," Livingston suggested.
    Thatcher responded with a withering look.
    "What?" Livingston shrugged. "The skin won't know no different, will it?"
    Thatcher sighed. "Her teeth made a bloody mess of it. It's mutilated. I’d have better luck fastening a pig’s ear in its place."
    "Give it here, then," Livingston said, holding out his hand. Thatcher slapped the lobe into his palm.
    "I think I can make do without it," Griffith said, averting his eyes from the severed ear. "Patch up the hole and have done with it. And get that cursed thing out of here before I lose my supper."
    "He won't hear from it!" Livingston protested, gesturing with the lobe and flinging trickles of blood across the room.
    "Unfortunately, I hear you just fine," Griffith drawled.
    Thatcher poured some of the brandy on Griffith's wound. Griffith wrinkled his brow and hissed through clenched teeth. Thatcher wrapped a bandage around the ear and then sat back to admire his work, as though he'd just accomplished the Mona Lisa. Then he took a hefty swig of the brandy, wiped his lips, and burped.
    "See to the girl," Griffith instructed.
    "The whuh?" Thatcher said, genuinely perplexed.
    Griffith indicated the body just beside the Thatcher.
    "Oh," the surgeon said. He sighed exasperatedly.
    Livingston saw his opportunity to chime in. "Griff’s lost too much blood. Makes no sense to bother with that wench."
    "I agree," Thatcher replied with an excessively sympathetic expression. He arched his neck for another swallow of brandy.
    Griffith snatched the bottle away and seized the surgeon by his fat throat. "Patch up her skull before her brains come out all over the floor."
    Thatcher nodded timidly. "Don't need to yell. I heard you." He moved to the girl and began cleaning her scalp. "Won't make promises, though."
    "Patch her up," Griffith snarled, "or find yourself pitched over the fucking side."
    Livingston enjoyed that thought, but would have suggested throwing the girl over instead. Thatcher, as reprehensible as he was, had pulled his considerable weight.
     
    A half an hour later, Livingston found Griffith resting his arms on the gunwale, staring pensively out to sea. The sun was no more and the sky had darkened prematurely due to the storm clouds that enveloped it.
    The captain looked smaller than normal, with his arms tucked close and shoulders hunched, a bandage around his arm and another wrapped around his head, concealing his ravaged ear.