Longarm and the Pirate's Gold by Tabor Evans

Author:Tabor Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Chapter 13

In two days he’d had three bruising fistfights, first with Mauler Larribee in the barroom of the Nueces Hotel on the previous afternoon, then the brawl in Miguel’s Cantina that night, and now the scrape with Chuck Ballinger on the Diamond HP.

By the time he reached Corpus Christi at dusk, Longarm’s bones and muscles ached enough so that he hoped the night would be peaceful for a change.

He went to his room in the hotel to change clothes, ignoring the looks that people gave his ripped shirt. When he had cleaned up, donned a fresh shirt, and slipped back into his brown tweed suit, he headed back down to the lobby. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, Cappy Fitzgerald came in the front door.

“There you are,” the old salt said. “I was hopin’ I’d find you. Sandy wants to see you.”

“I was on my way to get some supper,” Longarm said. “What does Miss Nolan want?”

“She didn’t say, just asked me to scout you up.” Cappy shrugged. “I reckon if you don’t want to see her, that’s your choice.”

“I didn’t say that. Where is she?”

“At her office, down by the docks.”

“Lead on, MacDuff,” Longarm misquoted.

Cappy led the way along Water Street, past some warehouses to a small, neat frame building with a sign over the door that read NOLAN SHIPPING. He and Longarm went inside to find Sandra Nolan sitting at a desk, scrawling figures on a piece of paper. She looked up and grinned.

“We can do it, Cappy,” she said. “If we get that cargo to Vera Cruz, I won’t lose the Night Wind. We might even make enough to finance another run over to New Orleans.”

“I figured once you started cipherin’, you’d find a way,” Cappy told her, returning the grin.

Sandra nodded to Longarm. “Hello, Mr. Long. I suppose Cappy told you the good news.”

Longarm looked over at the old-timer, whose grin took on a sheepish look. “Actually, he didn’t tell me much of anything except that you wanted to see me.”

“He didn’t? Cappy, you’re being modest. Although I suppose I should call you First Mate Fitzgerald?”

Longarm cocked an eyebrow quizzically.

Cappy shuffled his feet. “Yeah, I done told Sandy I’ll take the job o’ first mate. Not permanent-like, though. Just until she gets back on her feet.”

“I reckon this means you found a captain?” Longarm said.

Sandra shook her head. “No. I’m going to take over as captain of the Night Wind myself.”

Her tone didn’t betray any degree of uncertainty, but Longarm thought he saw some uneasiness lurking in her eyes. “That’s a big decision,” he said. “Some men won’t even go to sea on a ship with a woman on it, let alone take orders from one.”

“I know. But Cappy has already put together a crew for me, and the men are willing to accept me as captain.”

Cappy put in, “They’re all old sea dogs like me. They may not like it much, havin’ a gal as captain, but they’re willin’ to put up with it if it means they get to go back to sea.

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