The Dust of 100 Dogs - A. S. King [62]
The battle took less than an hour. David ordered the men onto the ship to fetch food and find its captain. Emer watched from the forecastle. When the men returned with no captain and no food, David looked to Emer for instructions. She rose and walked to the ropes, boarded the ship, and returned five minutes later with a crate.
The men stood on deck, still surrounded by dead and dying sailors, passing a bucket of rum around. “It’s not without regret when I tell you there was no food on board,” she said. The men noted Emer’s voice and her tapered waistline. Had the three bragging sailors been telling the truth that morning? Was their captain really a woman?
“But I want you to take a good look at this,” Emer said, kicking the crate out toward the men. “From now on, this will be our cargo! This will be our reward!”
When no men approached the crate, but instead stood gawking at her sweat-drenched figure, Emer bent down and opened it. David reached in with both hands and pulled an array of jewels and gold trinkets out. A string of pearls emptied onto the deck and rolled under the crew’s feet, scattering. Then the men began to cheer, one by one. A sailor threw his hat in the air. Another hugged the man next to him. Another jumped up and down all by himself, feeling the rum sloshing round his very empty belly. They would be rich. They would be famous. They would be respected.
All of a sudden, there was a rush for the pearls. Nearly every man was on his knees, snatching as many as he could. One man threw himself down on top of ten or more, searching with his one hand under him. Another stepped on hands that tried to reach out. Another punched a sailor for stealing what he claimed was his.
Emer stopped the melee by firing her pistol. She ordered the men to attention.
“Why are you squabbling over tiny pearls, men? Are you not savvy? We’ll divide this cache as we would any other—each of us getting our share.”
One man called out, “I want my share now!”
“Dewey has four, sir! He’s not allowed four if I can’t have one!”
Emer looked at her crew and saw children. So she did what any fair mother would do. She made the men return all the pearls, and then gave one to each crew member to keep for the night, to exchange later for his fair share. This arrangement seemed to make the crew happy, and allowed them to get back to work and move the ship closer to the Cayman Islands—where an imagined feast awaited them.
Emer walked to her quarters and met David, who had moved the crate there and emptied it onto her bunk. They marveled.
“A ship full of starving men, David. That’s all they were.”
“Rich starving men,” he corrected her. He winked and walked from the room, still rolling a small pearl between his finger and thumb.
Emer was alone with her first pile of treasure. At first, she stared. Then, she laughed so hard she cried. Then, she bolted the door and undressed down to her knickers, rolled herself on top of the jewels, and fell into a rum-induced nap.
Before docking the Emerald at the Caymans, Emer gathered her men on deck. “Any man who brags of booty will be left behind to find a new captain. Is that clear?” Most of the men nodded in agreement. She motioned to David and he began giving each man a handful of silver in exchange for their single pearl. “This is for tonight. Tomorrow you’ll each receive your full share.”
Once the crew was gone, Emer and David lifted the crate and headed toward the town’s market. After finding a trader giving a fair price for their jewels, they returned to the ship to lighten their large load of coin. Emer had purchased a sack of fruit and two fully cooked fowl, and stayed on board to relieve the three starving men she’d left to guard the ship. Three hours later, David returned, allowing her to go on her own shopping trip.
After buying enough supplies for their scouting journey