Chapter 11

Elle resumed her heavier duties as soon as Harv removed her stitches. She hasn't spoken again with the captain.

Two days from port, the captain called for her. "What do you want to do about your Sir Travis?" he asked as she stood before his desk.

"He isn’t my Sir Travis and there is nothing I can do," she told him coldly.

"You can let Harve and I take care of him," he told her his voice flat and emotionless.

"You mean kill him?" Although she had no feelings for Travis she did not want to see anyone die. "I'll not have either of you become murders because of me." she crossed her arms over her chest.

Slowly he nodded. "Very well. We dock for two weeks. Do you sail when we do?"

Hope flared in her chest. She nodded.

"One condition. The crew has to know the truth and vote. Majority rules." he laid the condition out and her hope sank.

"They won’t let me sail," she said venomously.

"The crew knows much of our success comes from the information you bring. They know that you work just as hard as any of them." he stated and then turned back to his work on his desk.

Elle knew that she had been dismissed. She swallowed the one that was in her throat. She turned and left the cabin and close the door softly behind her.

Later that day Captain Talbot told the crew the truth about her gender. Shocked and angry cries arose over the deck. At his order, silence fell.

"Elle has worked with some of you for two years. Moreover, all of you know she works as hard as you do. The information she brings has been valuable and highly profitable. Do any deny it?" None of the men made an objection to the statement.

"I thought not. We shall hold a vote to see if she sails with us when we leave England." He then told them about Sir Travis and how she had come aboard ship. Then he added, "Elle you are relieved of duties until further notice."

Elle fumed. Within an hour of being in her cabin, she could stand it no longer. She went to the galley desperate for something to do. "Cook could you use some help?" Cook looked at her and shook his head.

"I’m going crazy with nothing to do." she pleaded.

"You hear the Captain, uh-er- Miss. El." he tripped over her name.

"You’ve known me two years, Cook. I’m Elle." she paused. "Let me help. I need to do something."

He shook his head. He dumped a large dried ham leg on the wooden table. "I won’t disregard the capt'ns order not even fer you."

Elle encounter much the same statement all over the ship. Finally, she went to the captain’s cabin.

"Lift your order. I can’t sit with nothing to do." She demanded.

He lifted an eyebrow. "It’s just a few days. I’m sure you can find something to do." He said and started writing again.

"Yes, I could, if you lift your order. They won’t disobey it. They won’t so much as let me peel a potato," she said indignant.

He looked up at her, and he looked thoughtful. For a moment he even looked angry. The anger faded quickly. Finally he took a sheet of paper from a drawer wrote on the piece of paper, sanded it to dry the ink, and handed it to her. "Take it to Cook."

She knew she was dismissed. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from spitting at him or something else she would equally regret.

She looked at the bold messy script.

Potatoes. She had been banished to the galley to peel potatoes or any other duty Cook found for her in the galley.