Page 22 of Hooked By a Hero
Elias blinked at Dick’s surprisingly sound logic. They were more likely to be found out by British authorities in Cape Colony than in Hindustan, or at least parts of it. The trick was reaching Hindustan in one piece, especially with the damage that had been done to the ship and its diminished crew.
But instead of arguing, Tumbrill sighed again and rubbed his forehead with both hands. “I’ve no wish to argue with you,” he told Dick, eyes squeezed shut as if he had a headache. “At any rate, we’re at the mercy of the wind and sea for the moment. Sails must be repaired, the hull must be checked, and the injured should be treated.”
Elias’s ears perked at that statement. It was bittersweet to know that he was not expendable during a time when the lives and fates of everyone on board might be in question.
“As long as I get my treasure in the end, I could not care less what happens to thisFortune,” Dick said, then laughed at his own joke. Several of the others laughed with him, though more than a few seemed to be laughing out of obligation.
“Assess the passengers,” Tumbrill said, coming out of whatever exhausted stupor he had found himself in for a moment. “Make an account of who is still here and who was lost. Assign the survivors tasks. We’ll discuss our course from here once we know what we’re capable of.”
Dick and the others seemed content to follow that order, though Elias most certainly had the feeling that Dick would only obey the orders he agreed with. Mutinies were one thing, but it was difficult to govern men who had an inclination to rebel against orders they did not like.
Elias’s attention turned to the men who walked up and down the line of passengers, checking their names off against a register that one of them carried. Elias was surprised that any of the mutineers could read, but there always seemed to be at least one educated man in every crowd of rabblerousers.
“You’re the doctor,” the man with the register said when he reached Elias.
Elias glanced briefly to Caspian for support, then answered, “I am.”
The man with the register nodded. “Captain Tumbrill’s head has been bothering him since it was hit by a pulley yesterday. Go treat him.”
Again, Elias glanced to Caspian.
“Don’t look at him, go treat the captain,” the register man snapped.
“Go,” Caspian whispered, touching Elias’s arm. “I will have a care for things here.”
Elias nodded at him, and though he hated parting from the one person he felt as though he could bind his soul to forever, especially under such worrisome circumstances, he stepped out of line and made his way down to the stern, where Tumbrill had found a barrel to sit on.
“Can I help?” he asked, wary of disturbing the man who held his life and the lives of all the passengers in his hands.
Tumbrill sent him a vile look at first, but his pain was greater than his revulsion. “I sustained a blow to the head during the storm,” he said.
“Where?” Elias asked as cooly as he could.
“Here,” Tumbrill said, turning slightly and resting a hand on the back of his head briefly.
“May I?” Elias asked, reaching toward him.
Tumbrill nodded, but the motion seemed to cause him more pain.
As Elias set to work examining the large knot on the back of Tumbrill’s head, Dick swaggered closer to them.
“Developing a taste for that sort of sod?” he snorted, lip curling into what might have been a smile as he stared at Tumbrill.
“Of course not. Do not be ridiculous,” Tumbrill snapped.
Surprisingly, Dick let the matter go. “So Hindustan it is?” he asked. “All them beautiful women in their colorful clothes? I saw some in London once. Sweet as molasses they were.”
“Hindustan is too far away,” Tumbrill argued wearily. “Without Cox, there’s no telling if we’ll reach there before our supplies run out.”
“What does Cox have to do with anything?” Dick asked, jerking back in surprise. “He was a right sop, he was.”
“He was our navigator,” Tumbrill said seriously.
Elias tensed. His examination of Tumbrill’s head had told him all he needed to know, that the man was concussed, but he stayed where he was to be privy to the conversation.
“Don’t all you naval sorts know how to navigate?” Dick asked, showing signs of worry for the first time.
Tumbrill sighed. “I was never very good at it,” he confessed. “Cox was the expert.”
