The Royal Handmaid (11 page)

Meredith shoved her hair back and coughed but managed a grin. “I just swallowed a little water is all.”

“It won’t hurt you,” Travis said. He turned and saw that
Pete had rescued Maggie, who had been rolled over by the surf, and pulled her to her feet. He laughed and said, “We’re a sorry bunch of fishermen. Shep, you’re fired!”

Shep was struggling to get to the boat. He caught it and said, “I’ll tell you what. If you like, we can cook the fish here. I brought a frying pan, and it’s still here,” he said, lifting the pan for all to see, “and there’s plenty of driftwood.”

“Oh, let’s do!” Meredith cried at once. “That would be so much fun.”

“It’ll be dark soon,” Travis said, glancing at the sky.

“We don’t have anywhere to go,” Maggie said. “I’d love it.”

****

The surf washed a soothing, caressing sound over the four that sat quietly on the beach. Lanie was sitting across the fire from Pete and said, “I never ate so much fish in all my life.”

“Nothing like fresh fried fish on a beach in Hawaii!” He looked farther down the shoreline, where Meredith and Travis were walking along in the light of the rising moon.

The two had been silent for some time, but then Meredith began to talk in an animated fashion. She turned to him, and her curly hair had dried out and now made a mass of ringlets around her face. “Most women would give anything to have naturally curly hair like that,” Travis said. “It must save a lot of bills at the beauty parlor.”

“I thought about trying to straighten it once.”

“Why would you want to do that?”

“Oh, I suppose because no one’s happy about what they look like.”

“Why, I am!”

“Oh, you’re so handsome you don’t want to change anything?”

Travis laughed. “No, not that. I just don’t think about it much.”

“Tell me some more about your days with the circus.”

“I wish you could meet my sister Joy and her husband.”
He told Meredith about Joy’s career as an animal trainer and said, “I worry about her sometimes. Those big cats can nab you before you know it. Of course she knows that better than anybody. It wasn’t all that many years ago that she was attacked by a tiger that got out of its cage.”

“That’s awful,” Meredith expressed. “And she still works with lions and tigers? She must be quite a woman.”

They moved on down the beach and heard Shep calling. Travis said, “We’d better get back to the ship. The captain will have my head.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Meredith said. “But it’s been fun, Travis.”

They rejoined the others and climbed into the cutter. They headed back to the ship, laughing and rehashing their day. Shep held the boat still as they all went up the ladder, and then Travis saw that Dalton was standing waiting for them.

“Where have you been?” Dalton demanded. “We’ve all been worried sick about you.”

“We just went fishing,” Maggie said quickly. “We had such fun. Why, we even cooked—”

Rena appeared and interrupted her. “This is pathetic!” she cried. “You’ve had us all worried sick—and just look at you!”

“The boat overturned,” Travis explained. “We got a little wet and wrinkled but no harm done.”

Rena shook her head. “You should have had better sense.”

“Better sense than what?” Travis asked, his anger stirred. “We went out for a little boat ride and caught a few fish. Have you got a rule against that?”

“Keep your voice down, Winslow,” Dalton said. “That’s no way to speak to Miss Matthews.”

Travis clamped his lips together, resolved to say no more. He listened as Rena delivered a little sermon, forbidding them all to do anything like this again. Travis saw that Maggie was crying and Pete was downcast. Rena finally dismissed the group.

Travis waited until later that night, knowing that Rena
often came up on deck alone. When she arrived with Dalton Welborne, Travis waited nearby until he left. Travis walked up to the woman and said, “Rena, you were wrong to speak to us like that.”

Rena had been expecting his reproach. “You can keep your complaints to yourself, Travis,” she answered.

“I’ve told you this before. You need to be more kind. A woman without kindness is no woman at all.”

Rena was enraged. “I don’t want to hear another word from you, Travis Winslow! You can stay in Hawaii for all I care, and if you can’t do any better than you have, I wish you would. Make up your mind before we leave.”

Travis stared at her as she walked by him and went down the hatchway. Nothing would have pleased him more at that moment than to leave the ship, but he knew he could not do that. He shifted his focus to the moon, a huge yellow disk in the sky, and knew he would not sleep that night. He was rarely so angry, but he knew that Rena Matthews could make an angel weep!

****

Rena stared at her best friend in utter disbelief. “You’re going to do what?”

Jeanne’s face was pale, and she had none of her usual assurance. “I’m not going on to the islands with you, Rena. I know you think I’m foolish, but I just can’t.”

“What are you talking about? You said all along that God had called you to go to the mission field with us.”

“I made a mistake. I got caught up in the excitement of it all, but for some time now I’ve been having doubts.”

“We all have doubts, but we keep on going.”

“Not me.” Jeanne shook her head and met Rena’s gaze. “I know now that I’m not supposed to be a missionary. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but it would be a mistake for me to go on. I’m catching the next ship back to the States.”

“But, Jeanne—!”

“There’s no use talking about it. I’ve made up my mind.” Jeanne bit her lip. “I’d just be a handicap, Rena. I’ll help all I can with money—but I can’t go if God isn’t calling me.”

Rena stood stock-still as Jeanne turned to leave. She felt a flash of anger and cried out, “But we’re The
Twelve!
”

But Jeanne was determined, and Rena knew that nothing would change her mind. She stood staring at the door as if she could will Jeanne to come back, but she knew this would not happen. She sat down and began wondering how she would explain Jeanne’s decision to the rest of the group. She was accustomed to making plans and carrying them out to the letter, and displeasure scored her face as she sat stiffly thinking of the inconvenience this event would cause. “I’ll just have to work harder,” she muttered and got up to tell the others what this would mean to them.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“We’re in God’s Hands”

Karl Benson took his place at the rail in the stern of the
Mary Anne,
staring down at the foaming wake. In the six weeks they’d been at sea, they’d seen nothing so violent. Karl couldn’t help but wonder how the women were faring down below. Most of them had been sick back when the seas were calm. Of course that was back when they were all inexperienced seagoers.

After a time he was joined by Professor Dekker, who gripped the rail beside him and stared out over the sea. Finally he said, “You know, Karl, I’ve never been on a small ship like this at sea. All my experience has been on big liners.”

“Are you worried, Professor?”

Dekker lifted his chin. He was not a man to admit a weakness. “Of course not. This is a seaworthy vessel and she has a fine crew.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re not worried—because I am.” Benson paused as the stern dipped down deep into the trough of the gray waters. He waited until the ship dove into another valley. “It’s a bit like a carnival ride, isn’t it? But more dangerous.”

“Don’t talk foolishness, Karl,” Dekker said hastily. “We’re in no danger.”

Benson grinned, but there was little humor in his blue eyes. “We’re always in danger. I never cease to be amazed at how fragile the human body is. The strongest man can be happy and cheerful and full of life one second and the next crushed by an automobile or a fall from a mountain. A tiny microbe,
so small that you can’t even see it with a microscope, can destroy an emperor.”

“You’re sounding a bit cynical, Karl . . . but then you always are, aren’t you?”

“I prefer to call myself a realist.” Benson looked up at the foaming sea and shook his head. “Those waves look dangerous to me.”

The waves looked like enormous rolling hills. They rose to extraordinary heights without breaking; then a line of white would form along the lip and a Niagara of water would burst over the edge, pouring itself down into the trough. Overhead the sky was a dull, leprous gray, and the sun seemed to have died.

Professor Dekker cleared his throat and turned to Karl. “Why did you give up medicine?”

“It wasn’t what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.” The reply was fair and did not welcome more inquiry, but as much as Professor Jan Dekker knew about books, he knew very little about human beings. “It seems like a waste of time to have quit. It took you years to get as far as you did in your studies, then you simply walked away from it.”

“Would you believe me,” Benson said, “if I told you that I felt God was calling me into a different life?”

“But you could have used your medical skills so wonderfully well. Medical missionaries are valuable to God.”

“All people are valuable to God, don’t you agree, Professor?”

“Well, yes, of course. I didn’t mean . . .” Dekker hated to be checkmated in an argument, so he changed the subject. “What did you think about Jeanne’s decision to go home?”

“I guess I wasn’t too surprised.”

“Really? Why not?”

“She’s never had her heart in this work. I think she probably would have gone home sooner or later.”

Professor Dekker nodded slowly. “You may be right. Well, I’m going below. This is too rough for me.”

Benson watched the small man leave the deck. He studied the sails overhead, but most of them had been taken down now. He held tightly to the rail as the
Mary Anne
rolled into a trough. He thought about the professor’s question. It was one he was often asked and one he was not willing to answer. He made his way along the deck, holding on to the rail, and encountered Lars Olsen struggling to secure one of the yardarms with a length of rope.

“You’d better get off the deck, sir,” Olsen said. “It’s not safe for you to be out here.”

“Not safe for you either, Lars.”

Olsen grinned. “I get paid for it. You don’t.”

Benson nodded but did not go below. He watched the tall blond man struggle with the rope, then turned and studied Captain Barkley through the glass of the pilot house. He was holding on to the wheel firmly with a serious expression.
He’s worried,
Benson thought,
and if he’s worried, I am too.
He went into the pilot house and stared out the window. “This is pretty bad, isn’t it, Captain?”

“I’ve seen worse.”

Benson laughed. “I’m sure you have, but that’s not a very comforting reply.”

Benson stood silently while Barkley fought to maintain control of the
Mary Anne,
turning the wheel one way or the other, glancing up at the sails from time to time. “If it gets worse,” he said finally, “we’ll just have to run before the wind.”

“I suppose that’s the trouble with a sailing ship. You have to go with the wind.”

“You can’t tack in weather like this.” Barkley shrugged. He turned to Benson and asked, “How’s everyone taking this?”

“Nobody likes a storm.”

Barkley smiled. “I do,” he said, “if it’s not too bad. There’s nothing quite like tearing along under the sky with the waves high, the ship reeling all over the place.”

“You have strange sources of pleasure, Captain.”

“We all do, don’t we?”

“I suppose you’re right.”

The two men said nothing again, and finally Barkley said soberly, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Mr. Benson.”

“What do you mean?”

“This may turn out to be a typhoon. If it is, I’d just as soon be anchored in San Francisco.”

“They’re bad, are they—typhoons?”

“I think the devil’s in every one of them.”

****

Abby got up from her bunk and took only two steps before the
Mary Anne
dropped out from beneath her feet. She uttered a shrill cry as she fell headlong on the floor.

“Are you hurt, sweetheart?” Jimmy was by his wife’s side immediately, his eyes filled with concern. He waited until the ship righted itself, then helped Abby to her feet. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“I’m afraid, Jimmy! I wish we weren’t here!”

“It’ll be all right,” Townsend said, trying to sound reassuring. But he himself had been feeling more than a little fear. The
Mary Anne
was being tossed about like a chip, and he was wishing fervently they had made the trip to the South Pacific in a more durable vessel. “Here, come sit down.” Helping Abby to her bunk, he said, “You’ve eaten hardly anything, and you’re pale.”

Abby threw her arms around her husband and cried, “We’re all going to die! I just know it!”

“Nonsense. Nobody’s going to die.”

But she shook her head and clung to him fiercely. Jimmy felt again the stirrings of doubt. He had secretly worried for some time that Abby was not nearly tough enough for the life of a missionary in a primitive land, but the idea of joining The Twelve and going out to such a glorious work had seemed so romantic. Now as the ship tossed and dipped and yawed, he felt the first taste of grim reality. He was willing
enough to serve God, but he knew that he had led a rather sheltered life. Yet he had been so sure that God was calling him and Abby to spend their lives on the foreign field. Now as the two clung to each other, he tried to pray but found that praying was more difficult in a situation like this than in a nice quiet church in San Francisco!

****

Shep Riggs wiped the seawater from his face and tried to grin at Travis. “Well,” he said cheerfully, “it looks like we’re in for a bit of a blow.”

Travis was soaked to the skin from the waves that were now crashing over the sides of the
Mary Anne
as she dipped, then rose and rolled from side to side. “You call this a bit of a blow? I’d call it a bad storm.”

Shep looked at the sky, and doubt tinged his expression. “If it don’t get no worse than this, we’ll be all right.”