Camino Ghosts полностью

They lived in small mud huts with thatched palm roofs. There were twenty of the homes in a perfect square around a central common. The entire settlement was heavily shaded by massive oaks and elms. The women cooked at night so the smoke from their fires would not be seen. They lived in fear and with the constant threat of being captured. Slavery had been forced upon them once. It would not happen again, not without a fight. Joseph, the unquestioned leader, explained to the new arrivals that the white men would likely return in search of survivors from the Venus. Therefore they must remain vigilant at all hours. The older boys and younger men watched the beaches day and night in a coordinated system of surveillance. If a boat approached, the men and some of the women would take up arms, a collection of homemade knives and spears, but their arsenal also included three rifles they had robbed from an earlier band of intruders.

The warning finally came early one morning, about two weeks after Nalla landed on the beach. A small ship was spotted and it was approaching. It anchored a half mile off the island, and by then Joseph and his men were watching it from deep in the trees. A rowboat about thirty feet long was lowered, and four white men got on board. Four black men, slaves in all likelihood, also boarded and took up the oars. Slowly, the boat left the ship and picked up speed with the incoming tide. Joseph moved his men into position. The rowboat grounded in three feet of water. The slaves jumped out and tugged it onto the beach. The white men, each with a rifle, pointed here and there and gave orders to the slaves, who picked up packs of supplies. It was clear they planned to stay a few days as they looked for survivors from the Venus. One of the four black men stayed behind with the rowboat.

Because they knew nothing of the island, the white men landed to the far north, away from the settlement. Joseph tracked them throughout the first day and waited for darkness. The men walked across the island, found nothing, and turned south. Trekking through the dense forest was difficult and they stopped to rest often. As the sun began to set, the white men ordered the slaves to set up camp. Then they wanted dinner.

The slave left behind on the beach to guard the rowboat was napping in it when he was jolted to life by two strangers with dark skin. They explained that he was no longer a slave, but now a free man. They shoved the boat into deeper water, then rowed into a bay where other vessels were moored and hidden. Over the years, the men of Dark Isle had collected other boats from curious slave hunters and fishermen.

Long after the white men had finished their rum and fallen asleep, Joseph and his warriors eased into the camp. They seized the three slaves, who were horrified and thought they were seeing ghosts. They settled down soon enough when they were granted immediate freedom. They were given knives and offered the chance to kill their masters. They sneaked into the tents and slit four white throats. Their bodies would be dumped in the ocean.

At sunrise, the ship’s captain scanned the beach with his spyglass and did not see the rowboat. It had vanished and he suspected trouble. There was no conceivable reason for the crew to move it during the night. Something had gone wrong, but what was he to do about it? He had only two men and one slave left on his little ship. They wasted the day waiting and watching the beach.

Joseph and his men were watching them. The ship did not move throughout the day or during the night. The following morning, a smaller boat with two white men left the ship and rowed to the beach. The men appeared nervous and kept their rifles close at hand. They carried backpacks too small for tents. After trudging through the forest for a few hours and finding no one, they decided to leave before dark. But they were ambushed by Joseph and his men, taken prisoner, and tied to trees. After a severe lashing they told everything. There was only one white man left on the ship, the captain, and one slave. They were from Savannah and had been hired by the owner of the Venus to recapture slaves lost in the storm. A few had been found alive on Cumberland and Jekyll islands and up the coast to Savannah, but none in Florida.

Joseph threatened to shoot them with their own weapons, then decided to save ammunition. He cut their throats and left their bodies for the panthers to devour.

After dark, Joseph and his men loaded into the two stolen boats and rowed silently through the still water to the ship. They boarded with ropes, surprised the slave who was sleeping on the deck, and dragged the captain out of his bed. When he staggered onto the deck he was shocked at the sight of a dozen armed Africans waiting to kill him.