Page 133 (1/2)
PROLOGUE
THE BODY IS aly plastic The spirit, even s you don’t cohean? True, the body’s easily maimed, and the spirit can be crippled—yet there’s that in a man that is never destroyed
PART ONE
A Troubling of the Waters
SOMETIMES THEY’RE REALLY DEAD
Wilton, colony of North Carolina
July 1776
THE PIRATE’S HEAD had disappeared Williaroup of idlers on the quay nearby, wondering whether it would be seen again
“Na, hi his head “De ally-gator don’ take him, de water will”
A backwoodsreement
“No, he’s good for another day—two, ristly bits what holds the head on, they dry out in the sun Tighten up like iron Seen it many a time with deer carcasses”
Willialance quickly at the harbor, then away She looked pale, he thought, and htly so as to block her view of the h, the corpse tied to its stake was naturally not visible The stake was, though—a stark reminder of the price of crime The pirate had been staked to drown on thecorpse an ongoing topic of public conversation
“Jeed past William in pursuit of his son The little boy, red-haired like his mother, had wandered away to listen to theperilously out over the water, clinging to a bollard in an attempt to see the dead pirate
Mr MacKenzie snatched the boy by the collar, pulled hiled, craning back toward the swampish harbor
“I want to see the wallygator eat the pirate, Daddy!”
The idlers laughed, and even MacKenzie slanced at his wife He was at her side in an instant, one hand beneath her elbow
“I think we ht in order better to support his wife, whose distress was apparent “Lieutenant Ransoetic sements, I’m sure”
This was true; Williaed to ed to meet him at the tavern just across the quay; there was no risk of ed the their coretfully, though her color was better, and patted the capped head of the baby in her arms
“No, we do have to be going” She glanced at her son, still struggling to get down, and William saw her eyes flicker toward the harbor and the stark pole that stood above the flood She resolutely looked away, fixing her eyes upon Willia food It was so lovely to er” She said this with the greatest sincerity, and touched his ar him a pleasant sensation in the pit of the stomach
The idlers were now placing wagers on the reappearance of the drowned pirate, though by the looks of things, none of theether
“Two to one he’s still there when the tide goes out”
“Five to one the body’s still there, but the head’s gone I don’t care what you say about the gristly bits, Lein’ by a thread when this last tide come in Next un’ll take it, sure”
Hoping to drown this conversation out, Willia so far as to kiss Mrs MacKenzie’s hand with his best court irl’s hand, too, ave him rather an odd look, but didn’t seem offended, and shook his hand in adown his son andthe little boy shake hands as well
“Have you kilt anybody?” the boy inquired with interest, looking at William’s dress sword
“No, not yet,” Willia
“My grandsire’s kilt two dozen men!”
“Jemmy!” Both parents spoke at once, and the little boy’s shoulders went up around his ears
“Well, he has!”
“I’randsire,” Willia always has need of such men”
“My grandda says the King can kiss his arse,” the boy replied matter-of-factly
“JEMMY!”
Mr MacKenzie clapped a hand over his outspoken offspring’s mouth
“You know your grandda didn’t say that!” Mrs MacKenzie said The little boy nodded agreeably, and his father re hand
“No Grannie did, though”
“Well, that’s so not to laugh “But we still don’t say things like that to soldiers—they work for the King”
“Oh,” said Je out now?” he asked hopefully, craning his neck toward the harbor once more
“No,” Mr MacKenzie said firmly “Not for hours You’ll be in bed”
Mrs MacKenzie sly flushed with embarrass Williahter and dismay
“Oy, Ransom!”
He turned at his name, to find Harry Dobson and Colin Osborn, two second lieutenants froer to saton—such as they were
OLOGUE
THE BODY IS aly plastic The spirit, even s you don’t cohean? True, the body’s easily maimed, and the spirit can be crippled—yet there’s that in a man that is never destroyed
PART ONE
A Troubling of the Waters
SOMETIMES THEY’RE REALLY DEAD
Wilton, colony of North Carolina
July 1776
THE PIRATE’S HEAD had disappeared Williaroup of idlers on the quay nearby, wondering whether it would be seen again
“Na, hi his head “De ally-gator don’ take him, de water will”
A backwoodsreement
“No, he’s good for another day—two, ristly bits what holds the head on, they dry out in the sun Tighten up like iron Seen it many a time with deer carcasses”
Willialance quickly at the harbor, then away She looked pale, he thought, and htly so as to block her view of the h, the corpse tied to its stake was naturally not visible The stake was, though—a stark reminder of the price of crime The pirate had been staked to drown on thecorpse an ongoing topic of public conversation
“Jeed past William in pursuit of his son The little boy, red-haired like his mother, had wandered away to listen to theperilously out over the water, clinging to a bollard in an attempt to see the dead pirate
Mr MacKenzie snatched the boy by the collar, pulled hiled, craning back toward the swampish harbor
“I want to see the wallygator eat the pirate, Daddy!”
The idlers laughed, and even MacKenzie slanced at his wife He was at her side in an instant, one hand beneath her elbow
“I think we ht in order better to support his wife, whose distress was apparent “Lieutenant Ransoetic sements, I’m sure”
This was true; Williaed to ed to meet him at the tavern just across the quay; there was no risk of ed the their coretfully, though her color was better, and patted the capped head of the baby in her arms
“No, we do have to be going” She glanced at her son, still struggling to get down, and William saw her eyes flicker toward the harbor and the stark pole that stood above the flood She resolutely looked away, fixing her eyes upon Willia food It was so lovely to er” She said this with the greatest sincerity, and touched his ar him a pleasant sensation in the pit of the stomach
The idlers were now placing wagers on the reappearance of the drowned pirate, though by the looks of things, none of theether
“Two to one he’s still there when the tide goes out”