The Fifth Brother – Installment 2
The sails had been reefed and the ship moved toward the town at a crawl. It was still two hundred yards from shore when the captain called for them to loose the anchor.
“Too shallow. Too shallow by far. We will have to use the launches to get you and your things ashore.” The captain had taken great pains to explain the whole event to Ezekiel. “You see, even though we could approach another twenty to fifty yards right now, when the tide shifts we would be left standing on our keel. No good, that. No, no good at all. Two hundred yards should do.”
Ezekiel felt he should say something. “Yes, quite. I would hate for this fine vessel to dirty her spine on the mud here. Good call, Captain.”
Captain Shaw was looking intently forward as the anchor was let loose and splashed into the water. His face was firm behind his beard, watching the men work the capstan and set the anchor. Ezekiel’s compliment made it through, and he saw the captain’s facial hair shift as he smiled and gave the smallest of nods, his eyes never leaving the work being done.
“Is it time for me to bring my things on deck? I imagine we will be launching for shore soon.”
“No, no. Give it some time Mr. Stone. We must set the anchor and check our swing. It will take a while before I can spare any men to get you ashore. At best we—“
“Ahoy, there! Do you have a missionary on board?”
They both looked over the starboard rail to see where the high pitched call had come from.
“Hello there! Are you the captain?”
A rather short man dressed in a black coat and wearing wire rim glasses sat in a boat next to them. He was balding with most of his remaining hair forming a crescent moon around his sunburnt crown. He appeared anxious, and one had the feeling that it was his normal state. There was a young man at the oars of the boat, he looked up at the pair with an expectant grin, as if the three of them were in on a private joke.
“I am the Captain. Captain Shaw. What is it you want? I am still working my deck.”
“Do you have a man on board who has come to be a missionary? I am looking for a religious man.”
Ezekiel waved at the peculiar fellow. “I am Ezekiel Stone. I am a missionary, Mr.?”
“Oh! How do you do, Mr. Stone! I am Tobia-” He stood up to introduce himself properly. At least it appeared he was attempting to stand when the boat rocked violently due to to the man’s shifting weight and tossed him neatly overboard. The young man lunged forward and grabbed Mr. Tobia by his coat collar and bodily heaved him back on board. He turned back to Shaw and Stone and gave them that peculiar smile again. Apparently, this was the joke he had seen coming.
Tobia lay on his back in the bottom of the launch. He was running his hands over himself, reasserting his glasses properly on his face then patting the pockets of his coat.
“Are you alright, sir?” Called the captain, but the man ignored him and continued checking every pocket of his black coat while he lay oh his back.
He froze. His hand having rested on the object of the mad search. He gingerly pulled out a wet envelope and held it at arm’s length. His face reflected defeat and shame as he stared first at the correspondence in his hand and then turned his tortured look towards Captain Shaw and Mr. Stone.
It was bad enough that the man was sprawled on his back holding a letter, currently only of worth to him, and was wearing such a sorrowful look, but when the young man in the launch looked over his shoulder at his two cohorts on the ship and raised his eyebrows as far as they could travel, it was a bit too much for Ezekiel. He had to step away from the rail for fear of laughing in the poor man’s face. He turned his back and buried his face in the crook of his arm. His shoulders shook violently with suppressed laughter.
The Captain bit his lip and tried his best to ignore his passenger. He called down to the launch in a voice that was perhaps a bit too loud but was the best he could do at the time.
“Would you like assistance, sir?”
“Yes, please.”
“Come on up, and we will dry you off, and you can tell us of your business.”
“Come up?” His eyes darted to the rungs built into the side of the ship. The realization that he would have to maneuver off his back was too much for him. “No, sir. I can not. Will not. Can the religious boy come down?”
The Captain turned to look at Ezekiel who had managed to just get himself under control. Captain Shaw cocked an eyebrow, and it sent Ezekiel to biting his own forearm to keep from laughing out loud.
“I will see what we can do. Would you be able to take him and his luggage ashore as well, Mr. Tobia-?”
Reaching his arms out to clutch onto the sides of the launch, he replied,”Ledsome. Tobia Ledsome. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
_______
The grinning young man deposited Ezekiel Stone and Tobia Ledsome on a short pier at the center of the harbor. Tobia stopped one of the workers on the dock and told him to deliver Ezekiel’s two cases to the Valhalla. The man nodded and took possession of the two small trunks and was off. The Valhalla was the only boarding house in Dunedin, and it belonged to Mr. Ledsome. According to Tobia Ledsome, it was a grand investment and no end of distress and vexation.
The Valhalla was indeed grand by Dunedin standards. It was two stories tall with a broad face. It had a wooden walkway in front to help keep out the mud from the street. Inside there were games of chance, a small restaurant, and a bar. The majority of the rooms were upstairs. The only stairs were on the outside of the building. While somewhat inconvenient for guests, it allowed for more floor space, explained Mr. Ledsome.
The Valhalla was a quarter mile from the pier. It could already be seen as it was one of the few buildings in the area with more than one floor. As they made their way through the dirt streets, Ezekiel couldn’t help but notice the looks he and Tobia were getting. People were amused at the sight of the poor man in his soaked clothes. Tobia was continually pulling and fretting with his wet coat and occasionally shaking water off his leg, which just brought more attention to himself and his condition, not that he seemed to notice.
As they approached the boarding house, a young lady rushed out the door.
“Uncle! Just look at you!”
She stopped on the wooden walkway. Her concern not carrying her beyond it into the muddy street. She would wait for the two to draw closer rather than risk dirtying one of her favorite dresses.
The sight of such a young, lively girl startled Ezekiel. He knew that Dunedin was home mostly to whalers and sealers and to those that could provide them services. Hard men who lived dangerous lives. The possibility that anyone would bring so lovely a creature to such a place had never entered his mind. Fists on her hips as she made a show of scolding the older man.
“Oh, Maggie. I am fine. No harm done to me. Small slip into the bay is all. Nearly died, for sure, but now I am well. Would like some tea, though.”
“You were in the bay? Whatever for? You are not a sailor and shouldn’t play at one. My mother would be very upset if you went and died on me.” Her last words were delivered with gentle kindness as she began to help her uncle out of his still waterlogged coat.
He patted her hand and made to walk inside. He froze and spun on his heels.
“My manners! First, my manners try and kill me and now they leave me altogether! Mister Ezekiel Stone may I introduce my niece, Margaret Woolrey. Maggie, this is Mr. Stone.”
“It is a pleasure-”
“Are you the reason my uncle is in such a state? Don’t know why you would dunk a good man like Uncle Tobia.”
“I-”
“Hurry and come in. Can’t take care of you two out here.” She pushed her uncle through the front door of the Valhalla. She looked over her shoulder at Ezekiel. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance as well, Mr. Stone,” she said, a small smile playing across her lips.
Ezekiel was not sure what exactly was going on. His heart was beating fast, and his face felt red. He did not like to be taken by surprise. He liked to prepare and plan for things, take in as many variables as he could before acting. That such a lovely lady existed here had not even been considered, much less that she would leave him tongue-tied and stammering at their first meeting. But, he conceded, as far as surprises go, this is a very nice one.
He followed the uncle and niece inside. She hurried off to the back of the house, telling them to sit themselves down. The entrance area of the boarding house had a few bare wooden tables with chairs. They picked one near a window facing the street, and sat. They looked across the table at each other, Ledsome looked tired and harried. He met Ezekiel’s eyes and appeared about to say something when his expression turned to one of panic.
“Are you alright, sir?” asked Ezekiel.
Tobia quickly stood up, knocking over his chair and darted towards the back of the boarding house along the same track as his niece. Ezekiel looked over his shoulder to see if some sort of doom had crept in behind them, but the place was empty. He decided to stand anyway. Better to be on his feet to react to whatever was going on. He had just started to walk around the lobby when a defeated looking Tobia Ledsome appeared from the back. In his hands, he held the same wet envelope that seemed to have broken his heart earlier that day. He motioned Ezekiel back towards the table. When they had both sat themselves in their same positions, he placed the damp correspondence on the table between them.
Ezekiel looked at the envelope. It was not very thick and couldn’t hold more than a couple pieces of paper.
“Come now Mr. Ledsome, why so discouraged? What is so important that you look like this? Is it this letter? I am sure it is not worth so much sadness.”
“I failed in a simple task, Mr. Stone. I was asked by a good man to deliver this correspondence to you. Mr. Sharp, Mr. Michael Sharp, of the Christian Mission Society left if for you. He had waited here a week for you but said he could wait no longer. He has paid me to house you for a while here, and to store any of your things when you head out. He then gave me the envelope with stern instructions (do you know Mr. Sharp? No? He can be very stern!) to hand it over to you as soon as your ship anchored out. I watched for your ship every day, and as soon as I was told it was coming in, I got down to the pier and hired that boy to row me out to meet you. I was doing me best with what was entrusted to me. A man is only as good as his reputation, you know. But the core of it, the thing he had trusted with me the most was the letter, and I really made a mess of that! My sincerest apologies, Mr. Stone.”
Ezekiel took the envelope in his hands. He could just make out a large ‘E’ on the front, but the ink on the rest was blurred or washed away altogether. He gently opened it. Even as he removed the sheet of paper, he knew is was a wasted effort. The ink had all run, and the paper tore as he unfolded it. It was a total loss. He was worried more than angry. He had expected to be met by someone when he arrived, with some guidance. That someone, apparently this Mr. Sharp, had left some sort of instructions that were now lost.
“Will this Michael Sharp be back Mr. Ledsome?”
“Yes, I am sure he will. Oh, but not soon, no, not soon. It had been a year since his last visit. I do not know when he will be back this time. He didn’t say, but I would have thought he would have made arrangements if he was to return in the next month or so.”
“Well then. I guess I will need to get on the best I can without this letter. Do you remember anything he might have said about it?”
Margaret walked over to the table with a platter holding three cups of tea. Both men stood at her approach.
“Do you men mind if I join you?”
“Not at all Maggie, not at all. Here have this seat, I will grab this chair here. Tea smells divine. You are a blessing, dear girl, a blessing!”
Maggie looked at the flattened out pile of pulp and ink on the table.
“Was that the letter that Mr. Sharp gave you? Oh, Uncle, I am sorry. You were so worried about letting him down, and now it is ruined.” She reached over and patted his shoulder.
“The letter was for our friend here. Now he is adrift without it. I am racking my brain to see if I could recall anything Mr. Sharp might have said that would be of help. So far I can’t think of a thing.”
“Mr. Sharp was here for awhile. I am sure he must have said something, Uncle.”
“Yes, Mr. Ledsome. Any conversation you might have had could be helpful. At least get me started in a good direction.”
Tobia put his head in his hands. He rubbed his bald plate and rocked ever so slightly back and forth. Ezekiel and Maggie were sharing a concerned look when there was a knock at the door, and the man hired to bring the luggage from the pier stepped into the lobby. With the arrival of Mr. Stone’s things, the trio decided it was more urgent to get him settled into his room, and they could try and work out this problem over dinner.