A chill ran down her spine. What was she to do if the captain were to sail for Lisbon, leaving her behind here on Madeira at the mercy of any unscrupulous person?
There was a knock on the door. ‘May I come in?’ asked Joe.
Bridget sighed. ‘Aye, please do.’
The lad entered the bedchamber, carrying a tray.
‘D’yer know that at one time me and the captain thought you might die, but here you are looking a whole load better despite your rash. The captain reckons it could be caused by the fever making you all hot.’ He beamed at her.
Bridget forced a smile, guessing why the captain had not been completely honest with Joe. She was also remembering that it was the lad who had put poppy juice in her drink the first day she was here. ‘I am much better so I do not need any potions, Joe,’ she said hastily.
‘All right. But the captain said you’re to eat this bread and cheese and then I’m to bring you a custard apple.’
‘Tell me about your captain?’ she asked.
Joe grinned. ‘He’s a hard man to please, but he’s fair. His ship is anchored in Machico harbour and he’s here to load and transport the bulk of Senhor Jorge’s sugar–cane harvest to a buyer in Lisbon. It’s the senhor who owns this house, but he’s gone off with a fleet of warships, led by the explorer Vasco da Gama. They’re going around the tip of Africa, hoping to find a swifter passage to the Indies. The captain intended going as well, but we were caught up in a battle with the natives at one of the Portuguese trading stations on the African coast.’
‘What happened?’ she asked, unable to conceal her curiosity.
Joe’s eyes took on a faraway expression and he did not immediately answer, then he said solemnly, ‘I don’t think the captain would like me to give you the gruesome details, but I can tell you that there were more of them than us. There were spears and arrows flying through the air with us managing to dodge most of them. Then it was hand–to–hand fighting. Unfortunately whilst the captain was fighting three of them at once and winning, a spear came out of nowhere and he got wounded in the thigh. The captain drew out that spear and stuck it in one of the enemy. He has a stubborn streak does the captain. Even so that didn’t stop him, but then something even nastier happened and we had no choice but to get him out of there.’
‘It sounds as if he was lucky to survive,’ said Bridget, admiring the captain’s bravery.
‘You can say that again,’ said Joe, his face alight with enjoyment. ‘It was the same when we sailed the northern seas and we did battle with pirates. We often ended up in hand–to–hand combat. The captain only ever used the cannon as a last resort. He’s always aware that there might be innocent captives aboard who could suffer along with the sinners.’
‘That’s very perceptive of your captain,’ said Bridget.
Joe grinned. ‘I’m not sure what that means, but he’s the best captain to work for that I know. Now I’ll have to be going or he’ll be wondering what I’m up to.’
Bridget would have liked to have heard more of the captain’s exploits, but did not wish to keep the youth from his work. ‘I would like some warm water, Joe, and if you could fetch my clothes I’d be very grateful,’ she said persuasively.
‘Certainly, the captain had me wash and dry them.’
She said softly, ‘You are kind.’
He flushed to the roots of his hair. ‘My pleasure, mistress,’ he mumbled, and hurried from the bedchamber.
Bridget ate the bread and cheese and drained the cup of wine and water, marvelling that the captain and Joe had survived such adventures. She wondered why, if the captain was English, was he staying here and plying his trade between this island and Lisbon instead of returning home? If her father and Captain Black Harry were not to be found on Madeira it was possible that they might not be because more than a year had passed since his ship had been seen here—then she must try to persuade him to take her to Lisbon. It was possible that she might find news of her father in that bustling city. She wished Joe would hurry and bring her clothes.
However, it was the captain who knocked at the door before announcing his presence and coming into the bedchamber when she bid him enter. He was carrying a basin and had a drying cloth over his arm.
‘Where are my clothes?’ she blurted out. ‘I want to get dressed and out of this bed.’
‘I am glad to hear you say that, mistress, but are you certain you are well enough to do so? I am having a search made for your father, but if he cannot be found, I am at a loss what to do with you once you are recovered. I will be leaving Madeira soon.’ He placed the basin on the table and the drying cloth on the bed.
‘When will you be leaving?’ she asked, sitting up straight. ‘Joe told me that you are here for the sugarcane harvest. If you are to find my father, surely it would be of help to you to have the name of the ship he sailed on? It is called Thor’s Hammer and was last seen anchored in the harbour at Funchal.’
Harry shot her a glance. ‘So it was only Thor’s Hammer that your informant saw?’
‘Aye!’ Her brow knit, thinking it sounded as if he thought there should be another ship. ‘It belongs to a mariner known as Captain Black Harry. He and my father set out almost two years ago in search of a northwest passage to the Indies in the wake of the voyage made by John Cabot. I was expecting my father to return last year, but he never did so.’
Harry frowned. ‘Who told you that the ship could be found here?’
‘A mariner in London.’
Harry drew up a chair and sat down. ‘It does not necessary follow that your father was on that ship.’
She gripped a handful of the bedclothes convulsively. ‘Are you saying that he could have been on the Odin’s Maiden instead? That’s the name of Captain Black Harry’s other ship.’
He hesitated. ‘It is possible. You must accept, Mistress McDonald, that ocean voyages hold great risk for mariners and explorers.’
She had paled. ‘I am not a fool. But Cabot returned, so why shouldn’t my father?’
‘Why not, indeed?’ said Harry, knowing that Cabot had not returned from his second voyage. He went over to the window and gazed out. ‘But I have to be honest with you and tell you in the light of what you have told me that I do not believe your father to be on this island. I, too, have journeyed to the New World and your father went missing the same time as Odin’s Maiden. This was fifteen, sixteen months or more ago.’
Bridget stared at the captain’s broad back in bewilderment. ‘What are you saying? That you knew my father? If that is so, why did you not tell me earlier?’
‘You have been ill and out of your mind and I didn’t immediately know your identity and that you were searching for Callum.’
‘Were you on either ship?’
‘Aye, I was a shipmate of your father’s at one time and that is how I became acquainted with him.’
‘Then you will know Captain Black Harry, too?’
Harry
