Jack Book Two in the Trilogy: Murder on the High Seas

Jenkins' Spy Network Part 26

We did not know it then but the captain had sent out his spies which, in actuality, were Jenkin's spies. Jenkins checked up on me several times and once, yesterday, he observed me talking to America.

"What were you doing with that young negress, boy?" he said to me as I was locking the door.

"I'm sorry sir, but, I told her that, tomorrow, I would give her an extra portion of food because she asked me for more tonight and I had no more."

"It's not necessary nor desirable, mister, to fraternize with them, understand me now?" Jenkins said. "Next thing ya know you'll be asking for her hand in marriage," he added, laughing heartily at his own joke and slapping me on my back. I laughed just to go along so as to give no indication that I might be part of a conspiracy.

"Ya know there boy, for a minute I took you for a lover of the Negroid race," he said. "And I thought you might be part of a revolt, because maybe you had something to do with a break into the captain's cabin," he said staring right into my eyes.

"What? What in tarnation are you saying?" I said.

"Well, keep an eye out for me will ya, to see if ya sees any suspicious activity? Keep it strictly to yourself lad, but we suspect someone in the crew is plotting to take the ship. Have you seen anything funny about the men lately, boy?"

"No sir, not really ... I mean ... no sir, nothing much."

"What do ya mean there boy, 'nothing much'? What be you hiding," Jenkins yelled, grabbing me by the shirt and pulling me closer so that we were eyeball to eyeball.

"Well, I don't want to get any mates in trouble but ... I just don't know."

"Stop pussyfooting 'round here boy and out with it or I'll slap ya silly 'til you do tell me!" he said raising his right hand in the air.

"Okay, I saw nothing sir ... except that I saw the the head cook talking in whispers to the cooper and the blacksmith one day ... it was a few days ago and I mentioned it to the captain already. They were acting like they didn't want anyone to know what they were a'talking about sir," I said.

"Really. You didn't hear any word? Just saw them maybe conspirin' 'gain us, eh? Is that it? They looked suspicious to ye, boy, huh? Is that all?"

"Yes sir, Mr. Jenkins. That's all I know. I'll tell you if I learn any more sir, promise!"

"Why thank ye kindly, thar boy! Keep yar ear to the deck, ye nose to the wind and ya'eyes a'straight ahead and straight behind ya then seaman, and let me know immediately what'ya sees! And anythin' you has to say to the captain you tell me first! Good night to ya. Hey! If ya like that young negress that much - she is a cute little thing - maybe I'll let you spend an hour alone with her in my cabin. You keep a good ear out boy and I'll take care of ye good. Okay seaman? Hey sonny. Ya don't mind if I spend time with her first do ye?"

"Sir, I do like her a lot and want her for myself. Let me have her and I'll be your best set of eyes and ears aboard ship, I promise you Mr. Jenkins! You're very kind to me. I'll let you in on everything I hear. You can trust me. And yeah, I do think she's kind of cute."

"Well then sonny, if you like her that much, okay, it's a deal! Consider it done!" Jenkins said, slapping me on the back again like we were old friends. "I'll let you know when the time's right. Probably tomorrow night when we ship out to sea after midnight."

"Thank you sir. Good night sir," I said.

"And sonny!"

"Yes Mr. Jenkins."

"You better not be a'playin' me boy because you'll fast learn ye would be a'playin' with fire! Ya hear me boy!"

"Yes sir, I be totally true in what I told you sir. You can count on me 100 per cent sir!"

"Well matey, we'll see 'bout that! We will see!"

It wasn't long before we discovered that the first mate and the others were locked down near the slave hold in a separate compartment near the bow. Something big was afoot and we had to find out what it was. I told Jack and detailed the conversation with Jenkins too. He said don't act like we knew anything and talk to one another only late at night topside. I told Jack I heard the captain would address the crew tomorrow and that Jenkins was now his right hand man and that there had been a power struggle which made the ship's crew uneasy.

"Be extra careful from now on who you are seen talkin' to," Jack said.

I told him Jenkins was going to let me have time alone with America.

"Good. That'll give us the opportunity to give her the detailed plan," Jack said.

Jack had warned me a few weeks ago about Jenkin's spy network but I just figured that was Jack's imagination running away with him like usual. Now I knew Jack was dead right. Jenkins was ambitious and a schemer. He wanted control over everything, even the captain. Jack said the spies had been systematically studying the goings on in and around the slave hold and were using peep holes. The two inch thick plank walls let in little air and the one aft was solid pine wood. A knot the size of a large fishing sinker had been popped out. I saw one of the spies that afternoon after Jack warned me to watch out, a seaman named Devin Blackburn, squeezing out from the tiny alleyway that the carpenters allowed between the ship's aft section and the wall containing the slave quarters. It was about a foot wide and three feet high - just wide enough for a skinny man like Blackburn to squeeze through and maybe kind of sit resting his back against the aft wall while peeping into the little hole. Several of these peep holes were located along the alley wall affording views into different sections of the hold which was extremely crowded with black bodies. All were chained to the floor boards. I checked a couple of these peep holes to see what the views were like to the inside. The smell was torturous - the smell of human sweat, urine and feces.

The main problem for the peeper was that he couldn't see through all of the bodies to the area up front near the door. Fortunately, that was where Mauricia and America were quartered. Jack arranged that situation so we could talk to them if we needed to as soon as we opened the one door. I knew this about this peeper limited view problem because I had checked it out, but still, each time I opened the door to give out the food, I assumed that there were other peepholes I didn't know about. Fortunately for me, Jenkins believed that my conversations with the two girls and their positioning near the doorway was simply because I was attracted to their beauty just as he was. But now I wasn't taking any chances. I warned them about the peep holes.

Most of the darkies spoke no English. A few did. America and Mauricia told them about our planned mass escape. They were ordered to do nothing to compromise the plan such as acting familiar or friendly with us. The slave hold wasn't the only focus for Jenkin's spy network - everyone aboard ship was uneasy. All were under suspicion. Nobody knew whether or not their mates worked for Jenkins who, it seemed, liked this intrigue. He and his assistant, Thomas Berry, kept an eye and an ear on the small hold that housed the white inmates built near the port side of the aft section. It could fit about ten men if needed. The height, however, was only four feet.

Jack said it might be better if we found another conspirator to join them to keep the pressure off us. I said I wanted Jenkins out of the way and didn't like his attentions to America.

"Fine, Jenkins then," Jack said.