The Stowaway

IX

Eliza believed that all people were inherently good. It was a matter of their experiences in life that changed a person.

"It is not what you thought, is it?"

Eliza quickly snapped out of her daydream and registered what Captain Buckley had just said. "What wasn't?" she asked.

"This," he murmured. "Life aboard a ship. You are but a silly child, run away from home, and you are quickly realising that life at sea is an unforgiving existence."

Eliza's eyes narrowed. Had she been able to stand, she would have done. She would have even stood up on the bed to be taller than the man, just so she could look down upon him.

"It is true that I did not expect such violent sickness," Eliza said through clenched teeth, "but that does not make me silly, and it certainly does not make me a child. I am not a child. I am three and twenty."

"You are run away from home. That makes you every bit a ridiculous child," Captain Buckley countered. He spoke without care, without feeling. He had no notion of how his words affected her, nor any sympathy if he did indeed realise.

"I am not run away from home," Eliza retorted. "I have every intention of returning home. I am instead running toward something." Eliza took a breath. "I have only one option in my life, Captain. I was born to do one thing, the only thing that is available to me. Be married. My mother would have me married to whichever bore with a good name pays me a little attention, and every single one of them sees little more than a bag of coins when they look at me."

Captain Buckley's expression did not change. He remained hard and cold.

"Forgive me for wanting to experience something more than what is expected of me before I settle into obscurity. I understand that is where I must end up. But if I did not do something reckless and impulsive then I was going to throw myself from a window."

Captain Buckley pressed his lips together in a firm line. "So, to put it plainly, Princess is tired of her castle, and thought she would take a jolly holiday about a working ship without the Captain's permission, before returning to her rich society friends?" he said mockingly.

Eliza threw the cup of hot tea at Captain Buckley in a fit of rage. He effortlessly dodged the cup as the contents spilled all over the timber floor. Eliza scrambled to her feet, feeling like an unsteady deer.

"Did someone spit in your tea? Is that why you are such an arse?" she brazenly demanded to know.

Captain Buckley immediately held his index finger up to her, as though he was about to scold her like a naughty child. "Don't you darespeak to me like that," he spat.

"Well don't you speak to me like that!" she shot back. Eliza was standing up as straight as she could, but she was still a head and a half shorter than the man. It made it very difficult to look intimidating when she was the height of an imp. "You did something nice for me in fetching that tea, and then you had to ruin it by being cruel. It is almost like you cannot bear the thought of someone thinking you are kind. Does making fun of me make you feel better?"

For the first time in their short acquaintance, Eliza saw an emotion on the captain's face other than pure callousness. His eye twitched, and she saw that she had struck a nerve. He was quick to mask it, but that was what it was, a mask.

His black eyes flared, and his teeth clenched. He seemed to grow eight inches as he bent over her. "You will clean every inch of this floor," he seethed, "and every inch of that deck." He pointed towards the door. "And you will not have a scrap of food until I can see my reflection in that timber." He turned on his heel and stormed towards the door. He stopped at the entrance, and added, "Don't test me, Miss Banes, and don't you even thinkthat you understand me. This journey can be easy or hard. It is up to you." And with that, he left her there.