Bride of the Baja by Jane Toombs Page B

stand beside him.
    "Mr. McKinnon," Jordan said, "go aloft and have a look, if you please."
    McKinnon climbed the shrouds to the fore topgallant yard, where he stood holding the rigging with one hand as he scanned the sea through the spyglass.
    "Appears adrift," he shouted to the deck.
    Jordan's first thought was of the Flying Yankee . Could her crew have taken to the boats only to have the Yankee survive the storm? It wouldn't be the first time a seaworthy ship had been abandoned by a crew. And in this case their captain was already dead. Their tale of being driven onto rocks might be more fancy than fact.
    Jordan raised his speaking trumpet. "What manner of ship?" he asked McKinnon.
    "Three-masted square-rigger, sir."
    The Flying Yankee was a three-master square-rigger.
    McKinnon climbed down and swung onto the deck next to Jordan. "As far as I could tell, sir, her sails are shredded and she's lost part of her foremast."
    "Could you see her colors?"
    "No, sir. And there's no sign of life aboard, though it's hard to be sure at this distance. I'd judge her to be four leagues from us."
    "We'll tack toward her and have a look," Jordan said, estimating that at the Kerry Dancer's speed of five to six knots, it would take them more than two hours to reach the other ship. When McKinnon remained silent, Jordan glanced at him. "You have doubts, Mr. McKinnon?"
    "No, sir, we're duty-bound to take a closer look. There may be crewmen on board who're still alive and 'twould be criminal to leave them at the mercy of the sea. And if she has been abandoned, we can put a crew aboard and sail her to port for the salvage money. That would mean an unexpected bonus for all hands."
    McKinnon hesitated. "There was one thought did cross my mind," he said.
    "Out with it, Mr. McKinnon."
    "It was those pirates," he said.
    "Bouchard? The much talked about pirate who's never seen? I take it you fear a ruse."
    "No, sir, likely the ship's just what she seems, a derelict abandoned in last fortnight's storm. The thought comes to me, though, that was I a buccaneer and feared the Kerry Dancer could outrun me—and we can outrun most any ship in these waters—I'd try to lure her as close as I could."
    McKinnon wants it both ways, Jordan thought. The mate agreed that they had a duty to investigate the derelict at the same time that he cast doubt on that very course of action. A captain, without the luxury of second thoughts, had to act with alacrity and decision.
    As they slowly closed on the drifting ship, Jordan went aloft but could discover no sign of life on the other vessel. Her sails hung in tatters, and the ship rolled as though rudderless. He did make out a flag at the peak, as shredded as the sails, the colors an unmistakable red, white and blue. She could be the Yankee, And yet . . .
    Jordan tried to recall the lines of the Yankee. He'd seen her only once in the fog, and, he admitted, at the time he'd looked far more closely at the golden-haired girl than at the ship. He shook his head, not being able to say for certain whether this was the Yankee or not.
    "Call all hands, Mr. McKinnon," Jordan ordered when he returned to the quarterdeck.They reduced sail, and soon the Kerry Dancer was lying to a half-league from the drifting three-master.
    "Get the long boat ready for launching," Jordan told the mate. "We've three hours of daylight left."
    The sea rolled under them in unbroken swells as it had all day. The Kerry Dancer , no longer underway, bobbed up and down, forcing Jordan to steady his spyglass with his hand as he inspected the hull and then the decks of the other ship. No, it wasn't the Yankee , he decided, this ship was broader in the beam. He raised the glass to the forward rigging, suddenly frowning as a premonition of impending disaster swept over him.
    "Belay that order, Mr. McKinnon," he called.
    "Aye aye, sir."
    "Prepare to make sail." Men scrambled up into the Dancer's rigging.
    "What do you see, sir?" McKinnon asked.
    Jordan handed the