Louis A. Meyer - Mississippi Jack: Being an Account of the Further Waterborne Adventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman, Fine Lady, and Lily of the West

Being an Account of
the Further Waterborne Adventures
of Jacky Faber, Midshipman,
Fine Lady, and the Lily of the West

Harcourt, Inc.
Orlando Austin New York San Diego London

Copyright 2007 by L. A. Meyer

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Meyer, L. A. (Louis A.), 1942
Mississippi Jack: being an account of the further waterborne adventures
of Jacky Faber, midshipman, fine lady, and the Lily of the West/L. A. Meyer.
p. cm.(A Bloody Jack adventure)
Summary: In 1806, the exploits of Jacky Faber continue as she
heads west to avoid capture by the British and discovers adventure
aboard a keelboat on the mighty Mississippi River.
[1. Voyages and travelsFiction. 2. River boatsFiction. 3. Orphans
Fiction. 4. Mississippi RiverHistory19th centuryFiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M57172Mi 2007
[Fic]dc22 2006034709
ISBN 978-0-15-206003-9

Text set in Minion
Display set in Pabst
Designed by Cathy Riggs

First edition
A C E G H F D B

Printed in the United States of America

As always, for Annetje...
as well as for the Meyer and Lawrence families
and for Team Gayle, too

Yes, we sailed into Boston Harbor on that glorious day, all of us up on the deck of the Juno, we, the students of the Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls, having recently delivered ourselves from confinement most cruel on the vile slaver Bloodhound.

And yes, it was an absolutely perfect daythe sun was shining, the breeze was cool and light, and the sky was a brilliant blue. As we stood into the harbor, we were met by a multitude of small boats, all within them hallooing and waving and blowing horns. Fireworks were set off and brightly colored smoke bombs were exploded. We could hear bands playing on every jetty that we passed, the city having already received word of our salvation and imminent arrival. All flags were out and flying.

As we approached Long Wharf, for that was plainly our destination, Dolley, Clarissa, and I stood together, back from the others. We had decided that our last act as Division Officers would be to designate ourselves as the last ones off. It suited Dolley's sense of rightness, Clarissa's sense of aristocratic privilege, and my sense of the dramatic.

Dolley, like the others, was in school dress, the clothing in which we all were captured. Clarissa, having no dress, or any other clothing for that matter, it having been left on the deck of the Bloodhound, was dressed in my maroon riding habit. She looked splendid, and how could I deny her? It is her way, I know that now, and I know we could not have gotten through what we did without her. So, let her preen, for she had earned it. I had thought of wearing another of my fine outfits that were stuffed down in my seabag, but, no, best to remain modest for a change. I was wearing my school dress, too, newly cleaned and pressed as best HMS Juno could do it.

Yes, my wound had healed up quite nicely and now hardly bothered me at all, which is remarkable since I'd almost died from it all those weeks ago. And yes, my worries that the officers and men on this British ship would discover my true identity gradually fell away as our journey continued and I was treated with the utmost courtesy.

Yes, all is well, I reflected, as I looked around at the happy scene on the deck of the Juno. I knew Captain Rutherford couldn't wait to get rid of us. He had bent on all sail to get the last bit of speed he could, to get us up here as fast as the ship would go, both on our voyage from the middle of the Atlantic, where we had been rescued from our tiny lifeboat, to New York, and hence here to Boston. Discipline on his ship, as far as the midshipmen and junior officers were concerned, had gone completely to hellmany of our girls had been flirting outright with the young men, and the young men, astounded at their luck to find thirty or so young women in various states of undress in the middle of the ocean, were certainly easy prey for their charms. I'm sure many pledges of undying love and devotion were exchanged, and, who knows, maybe some of them might turn out to be true. Even little Rebecca's thirteen-year-old self had found a midshipman her own age, and they had been holding hands and making cow eyes at each other these past precious days.

I looked upon my dear Sisters and reflected that many of the parents of these girls would be surprised in these daughters who have been so miraculously returned to them, as they are not the same girls who gaily left on that fateful day. Yes, they have been through much, but they survived through their own strength of will and, because of that, may very well not be as accepting of the manners and roles that were formerly assigned to them by their families and by society. They might very well be trouble, and yes, you may mark me on that.

The instant the Juno was warped to the pier and the first line thrown over, a flag was hoisted on the masthead of the Customs House and immediately every church bell in the city started to peal out, and they did not stop.

The gangway was lowered without great ceremony, and the girls swarmed off the Juno, having been formed up in their last muster of Sin-Kay's alphabetical line. They did not mind, for it gave them great joy to see little Rebecca run first down the gangway and into the arms of her family, then Ruth, then Sally, then all the rest.

Now there goes Annie and Helen and Dorothea and... There's Higgins!

Oh, my God, Higgins, and Peg and Mistress beside him ... and now Connie and Martha go down and ... There's Amy and Ezra!

And there ... No, it can't be. There, next to Higgins. Oh, Lord, it's Jaimy ... Good God, it's really Jaimy, standing there smiling up at me and reaching up his hand, and the tears pour out of my eyes and down my face and they are tears of absolute joy.

My happiness is complete.

Dimly, I sense Clarissa, who still stands next to me. "So that's him, eh? Well, he looks presentable ... Good chest ... fine leg...," she says. "Well, even though I owe you one in that regard, I might let you keep him." And with that, she turns and follows Dolley down the gangway, head up, the Look in place, to the cheers of her Sisters.

It is now my turn to go. I have not been able to take my eyes off Jaimy's as I float, as if in a dream, to the gangway. I put my foot on it, and then...

And then two bayonets cross in front of my chest and I hear the Captain intone, "Miss Faber, by order of His Majesty, King George the Third, you are under arrest on the charge of Piracy!"

My name is spoken and the damning words are pronounced and I see the bayonets cross my chest, and all the fond hopes that were rising within that chest die. I am found out.

I drop my seabag. Maybe I can make it over the side and into the water,