Home of the White Dolphin - Segment 01

As I did with the first two novels in my "Home of the" trilogy, I have just one request. Because this novel was published years ago, it's too late to make any corrections or changes. Therefore, if you have any suggestions for improvement or find typographical errors, PLEASE KEEP IT TO YOURSELF!

If you haven't done so already, you might want to begin by reading Home of the Red Fox first and then Home of the Gray Dog. Both are eBooks on Amazon, but I left all three novels in my WdC portfolio so members could read them for free.

FOLDER

Home of the Red Fox  (E) A novel about Walker’s mansion for unwanted elderly people. #1082587 by J. A. Buxton

FOLDER

Home of the Gray Dog  (E) This is a sequel to "Home of the Red Fox." #1130105 by J. A. Buxton

Okay, here goes. I do hope you enjoy my continuing story about Walker and the people from the 19th century.

Chapter 01

September 30, 1845 – Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean

Mitchell Whiting stood on the rolling deck of the White Dolphin, muscular arms akimbo, staring out at the raging sea. His long, supple legs acted like springs, keeping him balanced without conscious effort. Despite the storm swirling around him, his thoughts were miles and years away.

“M’lord,” cried the young cabin boy, terror causing his voice to shake, “it ain’t safe to be up here.” Twelve-year-old Robbie, hired only recently for his first ocean voyage, couldn’t know that his master had spent most of his youth aboard ships. Lord Norton Edgeworth, a wealthy nobleman from Derbyshire, had apprenticed Mitchell at the age of seven to the fiercest captain in his fleet. The captain told the young boy that Lord Edgeworth hoped Mitchell would die at sea before he had to acknowledge his illegitimate child.

Lord Edgeworth quickly forgot the child once he was out of sight. Mitchell’s mother had died a couple years later after years of serving as Lord Edgeworth’s mistress. However, the boy had proven to be a natural sailor and survived both the whims of the fickle sea and the cruel punishments of the captain.

Now, at the age of 25, Mitchell had become a captain himself. The White Dolphin was hopefully the first of many ships in his fledgling company. Over the years, he kept his distance from his noble father, but learned everything he could about the man and his family. The cold hatred in his dark brown eyes at the mention of Lord Edgeworth would shock anyone watching him.

Forcing himself back to the present, he looked at the cabin boy and even managed a smile. He decided not to remind the boy, for probably the hundredth time, that he wasn’t a Lord. He knew Robbie thought any educated adult was of the nobility. “It’s okay, you just get down below yourself. Cripton loves storms, and he’s keeping us safe with his steering. Go on now, boy!”

Mitchell watched the youngster fighting his way to the hatch leading to the quarters below and couldn’t keep the laugh from escaping at the blatant lie he’d just told. His first mate, Cripton Willoughby, hated storms with a passion and would have much preferred to stay high and dry in his cabin rather than relieve his captain at the wheel. However, Mitchell had fought the storm during the dark hours and needed to relax his weary arms.

Finally, after another half hour had passed, he returned to the wheel manned by the thoroughly soaked and grumbling first mate. The older man, his fiery red hair dripping rain down his forehead, glared at his employer after handing off the wheel over to him. “It’s about time, Mitch,” Cripton said, trying to massage some life into his numb hands. “You sure took your bleedin’ time getting back.”

Mitchell grinned, but just let his longtime friend ramble on to get the ire out of his system. The redhead tended toward sputtering angrily when upset. After working together for the last 10 years, though, Mitchell knew it was only bluster. “Well, I’m here now, so get below and get something to eat. See if Robbie’s okay, will ya? This is his first trip, and the kid’s probably shaking in his boots.”

“If he had any boots, you mean.” Cripton had noticed when the cabin boy first came on board his ragged, threadbare clothes wouldn’t withstand the rigors of a rough sea voyage. His shoes were good only for walking in a city, while the patched shirt and trousers had both seen better days. The only seaworthy item was a gray woolen cap the boy never took off. “Where did you get the kid, anyway? I could have got ya one with more experience if I’d known you wanted one.”

Mitchell squinted into the rain, now slowly dying down to a mild squall. His black hair, longer than was the fashion of the day, still blew around his shoulders in the strong wind. Brushing one wayward strand out of his face, he finally answered his first mate. “I wasn’t going to get a cabin boy for this trip, being as we’re only going to be out for a few months.”

He leaned into the wheel, holding it steady, when a sudden gust of wind tried to steal it from him. “When I stopped at a dive for a quick drink, I saw the owner and several others brutally cuffing and kicking a young boy. Seems he’d been working there for the last couple days, and they thought he filched some of their coins from the bar.”

Cripton groaned. He knew Mitchell to be a soft touch for any youngster in trouble. “So, of course you had to hire him. Say no more.”

“Come on, Cripton, you’d a done the same. Now, get down and check on him.”

Once his friend left, Mitchell returned to what had been on his mind before young Robbie interrupted his dark brooding thoughts. Even though he was a courageous man, he was dreading his return in a few weeks to land. A letter he’d received the morning of the White Dolphin’s departure waited for him down in his cabin. He had quickly read it, and then angrily left it on the table next to his bed.

Soon, though, he would have to accede to the imperious, blunt instructions contained in the letter. He had no choice, not if he wanted to continue in the life he loved so well.

Chapter 02

October 17, 1845 – Boston Harbor

The White Dolphin took almost three more weeks of sailing through an angry choppy sea to reach Boston Harbor. Cripton stayed near the ship’s railing to watch the city grow closer, making sure to keep a good distance between him and Mitchell. Just the evening before, he had learned of the reason causing the foul mood in the usually easygoing young man.

* * *

Over brandy after dinner, Mitchell showed Cripton the letter. “You know, Cripton, I don’t like to take on passengers, this being mainly a cargo ship. What could I do, though? Artemus handles all my company’s legal affairs, so I couldn’t turn him down.”

“Mitch,” said Cripton, after reading the short official letter from Mitchell’s solicitor, Artemus Tucker. “It doesn’t sound too bad. All ya have to do is bring a woman and her servant back to England. Tucker will take them off your hands when we get there and bring her to the man wanting to marry her. Where’s the problem in that?”

“The problem is putting up with a well-bred female all those weeks. She’s sure to whine and complain about everything. Cripton, you know once they see her, the crew won’t hesitate about tossing the woman’s skirt over her head, whether she’s willing or not.” The White Dolphin’s crew consisted of a rough group of sailors, the dregs of the docks being the only type Mitchell was able to afford at the time. “Even if she’s homely, which I doubt, the men will be slavering after her instead of working.” Mitchell’s mood got even worse, if that was possible. “Just wait and see, Cripton. She’ll be trouble and not worth any amount of brass the nobleman is paying for her safe delivery.”

* * *

Now, the next afternoon as Mitchell maneuvered the White Dolphin into the assigned berth on Atlantic Avenue, Cripton hoped the passengers wouldn’t cause the expected trouble.

Chapter 03

November 03, 1845 – Aboard the White Dolphin

“Didn’t I tell you they’d be trouble?” Mitchell’s grumbling about the women wasn’t new, and Cripton said nothing, just continued eating. For the last two weeks, since leaving Boston, the rude behavior of the young bride-to-be severely tried Mitchell’s usually even temper. Cripton watched his captain fume, none too silently, over the latest denigrating comments he’d overheard her make about his beloved ship. He couldn’t help smiling at the memory of the first time he and Mitchell met the passengers.

* * *

Standing at the rail of the White Dolphin, Mitchell immediately saw what was waiting for them. He let out a loud exasperated groan at the sight of nearly a dozen leather trunks on the dock. A fancy hatbox teetered on top of one trunk, looking ready to fall at any shift in the wind. Almost hidden from view behind the large stack of luggage stood two women.

“Well, Mitch,” Cripton started to ask, “should I get a couple men to bring…” His words tapered off when Mitchell abruptly left him to head down the ship’s lowered gangplank. Cripton hurried after him, but couldn’t keep up with the strides of the younger man’s long legs. When both men reached the dock and walked toward the trunks, one of the women stepped forward.

“Criminy, Mitch,” whispered Cripton, out of earshot of the woman coming toward them. “If she’s the intended, does the poor sod of a bridegroom know what she looks like?”

Even though she couldn’t have heard him, the woman immediately stopped to pull the loose hood of her cape up over her head. This put her face into shadow, but it was too late. The men had already seen the long, jagged scar from below her right eye to just above her mouth. When she reached them, the woman kept her head down. She ignored Mitchell while asking Cripton in a soft voice, “Are you Captain Whiting?”

Mitchell felt Cripton nudging him in the ribs to say something. Instead, he continued to stare at the woman’s bent head, waiting for her to look up and acknowledge his presence. At the sound of light footsteps, Mitchell turned and watched the second woman coming to join them. There’s no need for a hood to hide this one’s face, he thought, unable to stop staring at her. His admiring and lingering look started at her long, blonde curls swirling around her head in the breeze from the nearby water. Her wide, blue eyes held his gaze for long seconds. Reluctantly, he continued down her face to once again stop at the sight of her pouting, full lips. His visual inventory of the enchanting creature in front of him came to a crashing halt at the sound of her angry voice.

“My sister asked a question. I shouldn’t like to think either of you are the Captain from your bad manners.” She aimed her next haughty words at Cripton. “I demand you take us to the Captain immediately, and you,” pointing at a shocked Mitchell, “have our luggage brought aboard.” She glanced over at where the White Dolphin was rocking gently in the water. “Is that the best my fiancé could find to hire?”

After this inauspicious start and ignoring the two stunned men, Jane Templeton motioned the other woman to her side. They quickly boarded the ship that would take both of them to their divergent destinies.

Chapter 04

November 11, 1845 – Passenger cabin on board the ship

“Lizbet, what do you have to write about on this boring ship?” By using the short name Elizabeth disliked, Jane knew she would get her sister’s full attention. As usual, it worked, and she watched the 16-year-old slowly close the book she’d been writing in. Before leaving Boston, Elizabeth had left her sister to buy a thick, blank diary at a dockside bookstore.

“Jane, must you always complain?” Elizabeth stood up from the chair she’d been sitting in for most of the morning and nearly fell when a leg that had fallen asleep gave out from under her. “Why don’t you go up on deck and enjoy the sea air for a while?”
“Only if you come with me.” In a voice dripping with spite, Jane taunted her sister because she knew Elizabeth only left their stateroom after dark. Since that initial slip on the dock of showing her scar to strangers, Elizabeth refused to join her sister out in public, even for meals. She had seen the revulsion on Cripton’s face, a look she was painfully familiar with and tried to avoid whenever possible. Robbie, the young cabin boy, had asked for the job of bringing her meals to the cabin and seemed not to have noticed the ugly scar.

Not getting an answer and expecting none, Jane gave herself one last admiring look in the cabin’s mirror and merrily danced her way out of the room. Wincing at the sound of the slammed door, Elizabeth once again sat down and opened the diary. She read the sentence she’d just written before her sister’s rude interruption, “I saw him again last night.”

Taking up her pen, she wrote in neat, schoolgirl lettering, “He was standing at the railing looking out at the moon shining down on the water.” Elizabeth gave a small laugh, knowing the man probably didn’t notice the moon or even the water. With a shake of her head at such a silly notion, she continued, “He is so tall and handsome, like a Greek god my tutor once told me about. Robbie told me this morning at breakfast it was most likely the Captain I saw. Maybe he’ll be out there again tonight, and I can watch him from the shadows for a longer time. I hope so!” With that, Elizabeth closed the diary and returned it to a location in the cabin where her sister wouldn’t find it.

The rest of the afternoon passed slowly, the monotony broken only by the arrival of Robbie with the evening meal. Jane didn’t return until just as the sun was disappearing over the horizon. The smirk on her beautiful face warned Elizabeth that her 17-year-old sister had caused trouble somewhere on the ship. No amount of prodding, though, would get Jane to reveal what she’d done.

All Jane would say was, “I was bored, and it was his fault for leaving it out in the open like that.” With that cryptic comment, Jane changed into her nightclothes and bounced into bed. Within minutes, she was asleep with the pillow failing to muffle her loud snores.

Chapter 05

November 13, 1845 – Outside on the ship’s deck.

Minutes after hearing the distant ship’s bell strike midnight, the start of the middle watch, Elizabeth pulled her heavy cape over her much thinner nightgown and tiptoed to the cabin door. Being careful not to wake her sleeping sister, she silently closed the heavy door behind her and headed for the stairs leading topside. She stopped at the top of the stairs when she heard two male voices nearby.

“Mitch, she couldn’t have meant to do that. Women just don’t understand how important some things are on ships.” Cripton struggled to keep from laughing at the outrage on Mitchell’s face. This was the first time since late afternoon he had spoken with Mitchell. Only now was he hearing of the latest outrageous behavior of Jane Templeton.

“If it’s the last thing I do,” yelled Mitchell, pounding his fists on the railing, “I’m going to find the bastard who told her the ship’s head was empty, so she should go right in!” His voice lowered in embarrassment. “Cripton, I was in the middle of taking a piss when she opened the door. When I turned around to see who was there, she wouldn’t stop looking at my…well, I had to push her back out on deck and slam the door in her face.”

Cripton gave up and let out a shout of laughter. Finally, he managed to get out, “Come on, Mitch, you’ve had women see your naked ass before. In fact, from stories you’ve told me, you rather enjoy their seeing you that way.”

Mitchell seemed ready to slug Cripton for laughing. Instead, he tried again to make Cripton understand what happened, pausing for emphasis between words, “My ass is NOT what she was looking at.” He stopped until he saw his meaning had gotten through before going on. “For crying out loud, Cripton, I watched her tongue slowly licking her lips when she saw me getting hard.”

Elizabeth listened from back in the shadows of the stairwell, still unobserved by the men. In her young innocence, she didn’t understand what they were discussing. She did, however, wish she had her sister’s courage to look at a man’s hard body. Out of habit and not realizing she was doing it, she pulled her long hair across her cheek in an attempt to hide the long scar.

I’ll ask Jane tomorrow what she meant about his leaving it out in the open. With this thought tucked away in her mind, Elizabeth returned to her stateroom’s bed, there to dream of rescue from her lonely life by a pirate who looked amazingly like the White Dolphin’s handsome Captain.

Continued in next segment

Home of the White Dolphin - Segment 02  (GC) Contains chapters 06 thru 10 #2090937 by J. A. Buxton