"Captain," panted the bigger one, pointing a shaking finger at Nathaniel. "He set a lunatic Negress on us so as to slip awa' while we were fightin' her off! Sinclair here almost had the better o' her when a redskin come up and stabbed him wi' a candle."

"Negress? Redskin?" The exciseman looked around himself as if they might jump out from a shadowy corner. "Stabbed him with a candle?"

Nathaniel snorted. "An old woman and a little girl."

"Old or young, they were armed!"

"Aye, with a bird and a bit of beeswax. It's a miracle these two escaped with their lives."

The big dragoon flushed purple to the roots of his hair. The smaller one had gone pasty white. Burns turned his head away and let out a great coughing laugh, and for a moment both Moncrieff and the captain studied their shoes.

"Sir!"

"Never mind," barked Moncrieff. "Go report to your sergeant, and tell him what a bluidy cock-up ye've made o' guardin' women and bairns."

The little one glared at Nathaniel. "You haven't seen the end o' us."

"Come calling anytime," said Nathaniel lightly.

"Enough!" Pickering marched to the door. "The rest of you men get back to your duties!"

"Women and bairns?" echoed Burns thoughtfully as he watched the crowd leak reluctantly away. He raised a brow in Pickering's direction. "I take it ye have mair passengers on board than Mr. Bonner, Captain."

"That depends on what you mean by passengers," Nathaniel said, staring hard at Moncrieff.

"Mr. Bonner travels with his family," said Pickering, as if Nathaniel hadn't spoken.

"Then I'll need tae inspect his baggage."

The captain blew out his cheeks and sucked them in again. "Is that really necessary, sir? I can assure you, sir, they carry nothing of interest to the Crown."

Burns picked up his hat from the table and smiled politely. "I'll have tae make that determination for masel', Captain."

Moncrieff cleared his throat. "May I have a word wi' you first, Mr. Bonner?"

Nathaniel's first instinct was to walk away, but Moncrieff had struck a tone that surprised him, hesitant and deferential. No doubt it was more trickery, but Nathaniel was curious enough to step onto the quarterdeck with him.

Elizabeth managed to calm the babies by setting them to nurse, although she herself was far from settled. She only had to look at Curiosity or Hannah and she would begin to laugh again. It was that kind of laughter that defies all logic and reason, doubling back on itself until the stomach ached with the effort to breathe normally.

Hannah's face was flushed too as she bent over Sally, murmuring to the puffin in the same voice Elizabeth had last heard from Falling-Day as she tended an injured dog. She ran fingers along wings and leg, flexing joints and looking for wounds. Elizabeth would have sworn that the bird gave Hannah an indignant look as she set it on the floor.

"She lost a few feathers, but there's nothing else wrong that I can see," Hannah announced.

"Joshua had his horn," said Curiosity with a satisfied grin. "And we had our Sally. Lord, but she made a fine batterin' ram."

She put an arm around Hannah and hugged her. "You looked mighty fierce yourself, missy. You put the fear of God into that little man. If I live to be a hundred I won't forget the look on his face when you poked him with that candle."

There was something of Curiosity's old tone in her voice, a hopefulness that had been missing for these last long weeks. Elizabeth did not comment on it, did not even look too hard at her, for fear that these good spirits might flee as quickly as they had come. Certainly she did not dare scold Hannah. The impulse to defend Curiosity could not be faulted, but she had thrust Daniel at Elizabeth and rushed to take on two armed soldiers with little concern for danger. It had been frightening, and now she could not stop laughing when she remembered it.

Hannah was still agitated and worried about the puffin. "Perhaps the Hakim should have a look at her."

Elizabeth shook her head. "There's no telling what's happening on deck. It would be better to wait for your father."

Curiosity straightened. "I hear him now. And he ain't alone."

At Elizabeth's breast, Daniel's suckling had slowed down to the gentle rhythm that meant he would soon follow Lily's example and fall into a sound sleep. She pulled her shawl over both of them for modesty's sake, corrected her posture and composed her face, ready for more redcoats or even for Angus Moncrieff.

Hannah came to stand behind her, but Curiosity held her ground. Sally disappeared into the shadows under the table, as if she sensed more trouble just ahead.

The man who came in with Nathaniel was neither sailor nor soldier, but a stranger to all of them. What struck Elizabeth about him first was the contrast of the way he bore himself--very much the gentleman--and his hands, work roughened and thick fingered, the hands of a laborer or farmer. His dark eyes moved through the room from person to person, pausing at Curiosity and coming to rest on Hannah. He seemed delighted with what he found, his expression so open and intelligent that Elizabeth felt some of her apprehension flowing away to be replaced by curiosity.

"Ah," he said. "Now I take your meaning, Mr. Bonner. I'll see tae it that those men are reprimanded for their behavior, insolent puppies that they are."

Nathaniel's gaze settled on Hannah. In Kahnyen'kehâka he said, "You all right, Squirrel?"