Fair Winds and Homeward Sail by Sherwood Smith

Author:Sherwood Smith [Smith, Sherwood]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Persuasion, Jane Austen sequels, tall ships, Napoleonic wars, Royal Navy
ISBN: 9781611385557
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Published: 2015-10-06T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

“No, my dear, I’ll take the oars. You’ve enough to do,” Sophy said cheerfully.

It was a brilliant day among the many islands around Bermuda, but all days were brilliant, excepting only when mighty storms blew through, bringing tearing winds. After these storms the weather would promptly return to summer. Sophy had loved spending Christmas wearing the lightest of muslins, and the thinnest cotton gloves that were not made for warmth, but to protect the skin from the fierce light that one could feel burning if one were not careful.

She looked about her with deep pleasure; she had rowed out with the captain, who had taken his midshipmen out to the coral reefs to practice their hydrography by charting.

How could something so beautiful be so dangerous? How could one describe coral? She gazed down through the clear water, once again wishing she had any skills at draughstmanship, so that she might depict these brilliant colors for Edward. Description was beyond her. “Lace? Snowflakes?” She was certain that any words she chose would read trite to someone far away in England, enduring the gray, cold winter.

The boat rocked as the captain motioned to the boys to stay in a strict row in their coracles. Most of them paid attention, though sometimes stealing looks at the creatures flashing in and out of the coral, or making rude signs at one another. They were a good set of youngsters in the main, given to practical jokes when at liberty. Captain Croft wisely looked the other way, so long as strict attention to duty was paid when it was necessary.

Sophy turned her head, and peered across the water to Ireland Island, where the ships lay, bare poles describing lazy parabolas against the azure brilliance of the sky.

A loud crack in the distance was followed by an echoing boom of cannon fire. The boys glanced up hopefully, reminding Sophy of the bright red birds that hopped about on land, looking for insects and crumbs.

“’Tis only the packet arriving,” Captain Croft said mildly, “expected these two weeks. Come, boys, you do want to finish for good and all, do you not? Or shall we begin anew tomorrow?”

Horrified at this prospect, the boys assiduously paid attention, and the captain watched them, as Sophy gently corrected their course with a dip and a lean on her oars.

Charting, she had learned, was no idle work, especially in such waters as these. The sea floor changed frequently, which was no problem when there was deep draft, but in shallow waters, with these wicked reefs, the danger was quite desperate, and good navigation as highly valued as good charts.

The boat jiggled again, and Sophy glanced up under her bonnet, aware of the captain sending looks toward Ireland Island. She suppressed a question. He would speak if needed, and she would not distract him from finishing the lesson before the sun climbed any higher, and the heat became unbearable without the relief of shade.

She had discovered that she loved the heat, as

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