On the third morning after the Captain summoned Baat to his cabin, Sallina found Dan on deck staring out across the harbor. She leaned against the rail beside him. It was just after breakfast.
"Good morning," she said.
Dan nodded. "Morning."
The rising sun warmed Sallina's back. It would not be long before the day became hot, and the harbor began to smell. For now, the air was fresh, and the varnished masts and furled sails of the ships in the harbor shone in the morning light.
Today was the first day Baat had been allowed to leave the ship since he had arrived late for his guard duty. He set off with Garibaldi along the wharf as soon as it was light. They were going to Diamara's house to try and talk to Chimeg privately, and tell her how they were going to rescue her.
One way to rescue Chimeg would be to run up from the harbor, steal her from Diamara's house, run back to the harbor, and sail away in the Reliant as quickly as possible. But the Captain didn't like that plan. First of all, he said, there was no wind for them to sail away quickly. Second of all, he wanted the Reliant to be able to come back to Prudence to trade some day, and he would not be able to do that if the police in Prudence knew that the Reliant had stolen a slave. They would arrest him and put him in jail.
The Captain's plan was to leave Prudence first and rescue Chimeg a few days later. They would sail around to the west side of the island, drop anchor near a beach after dark, and take Garibaldi, Sallina, Baat, and Dan ashore in the Reliant's rowboat. The four of them would walk into the city, find Diamara's house, steal Chimeg, and bring her back to the beach before the sun came up. If all went well, nobody in Prudence would know that the Reliant had anything to do with Chimeg disappearing, and the Reliant could come back in a few months time as if nothing had happened.
This plan was secret. Only the Captain, Harry, Sallina, Garibaldi, Dan, Baat, and Alicia knew about it. Maybe Otis knew too, but he was not supposed to know. Alicia thought the plan was a good one, and she said the Endeavor would try to leave with the Reliant.
The harbor was on the south side of the city. Baat knew how to get to Diamara's house from the harbor, but how would he know how to get to Diamara's house in the middle of the night from the west side of the city? After Baat and Garibaldi finished talking to Chimeg today, they were going to explore the city west of Diamara's house and find a good way to reach reach it on the night of the rescue.
Sallina decided not to go with them. She thought she should try to sell some more furs in the market place. And besides, it was going to be a hot day, and she did not like the idea of walking back and forth across the city in the heat with two young men who never seemed to get tired or care how sweaty they were.
But now that she started thinking about her market stall, she did not much like the idea of selling furs either. She would have to carry the canopy, the table, and the furs herself. When she was there, she would have to stay in her stall all day. There would be nobody else to watch the furs while she was away. She would not be able to go for a swim at lunch time. She would not even be able to go and pee without worrying that someone would come and steal some of her pelts.
"I'm not going to bother going to the market today," she said.
"Right you are, Miss," Dan said.
She stared down at the harbor water. She couldn't see very deep because it was so dirty. What was that floating in the water? A fish's skeleton. And what was that? A sock. How did a sock get in the water?
Dan stared out across the harbor.
"Are you looking at anything in particular?" Sallina said.
Dan looked sideways at her for a while. He pointed to a ship one hundred paces away across the water. "I'm looking at that."
It was a large ship, floating on its own, away from the wharves. It was unlike any ship Sallina had seen before. Its hull curved from front to back like a crescent moon, so that the aft and fore decks were high above the main deck. The ship was longer than the Reliant, but its masts were not nearly as tall. Instead of three sails, each mast held only one large sail, and these large sails were each divided into slices by wooden poles that ran from one side of the sail to the other. The sails looked a little bit like the paper fan her mother used to cool her face in the summer.
There were two rowboats in the water next to the ship. Even the rowboats were unusual. They had some kind of long paddle at the back instead of oars.
"What kind of ship is it?" she said.
"It's a junk," Dan said. "It's from Chiin, across the ocean." When he said Chiin he said it like this, "Chee-In".
"That's where silk comes from, isn't it?"
Dan nodded. "Aye."
The junk's sides were brightly painted. In places, there were lines and rectangles she thought must be some kind of writing.
"What is special about this particular junk?" she said.
"She's quarantined," Dan said. "She comes in yesterday, right slowly under sail, at around mid-day, and pulls up on the opposite side of the wharf from us. She's bigger than she looks. Her sailors get off and wander about. They bring one of their own ashore on a stretcher and take him to the hospital." Dan pointed down the waterfront to a large white building. Sallina figured that must be the hospital. "A few hours later, the harbor-master orders them off the wharf and into the harbor. I asks him about it afterwards, and he says the sick man is being eaten alive by a disease, and they don't want anyone else in Prudence to catch it."
"How horrible," Sallina said, "Where is he now?"
"In the hospital."
"Why don't the doctors make them take him back on their ship, so he won't spread his disease around?"
"The crew of the junk won't take him back," Dan said. "They dumped him in the hospital and left him there."
Sallina looked at the ship, hoping to see the face of the captain or someone else who might have decided to leave the sick man on shore. "Is he going to die?"
"I don't know," Dan said, "But I think I'm going to go and have a look at him."
"Really?" Sallina said.
Dan did not answer her. He stared at the junk.
"May I come with you?"
Dan frowned. But after a while he said, "If you like."
Later that morning, Dan and Sallina walked along the waterfront towards the large white building. Sallina stepped around a pool of dirty water in the street. The sun was already hot, and the harbor was beginning to smell.
"Why do you want to see the sick man?" she said.
"I don't really want to see him, Miss," Dan said, "although I'm curious. I just want people to see me going into the hospital."
Sallina lifted her trouser-legs with her hands to keep them from getting wet. There was water tricking out of a big net full of fish on a table beside the street. The fish were stiff. Their eyes were round and lifeless. They were gray and shiny with flashes of dark blue.
"And why do you want people to see you going in?"
Dan stepped to the right of a puddle while Sallina stepped to the left. A man going the other way came between them. He stepped close to Sallina, closer than she liked. But before he could come closer still, he slipped and fell in the puddle. Sallina stopped to look at him. He sat upon his bottom in the dirty water. Dan kept walking. The man in the puddle frowned and wiped his hands upon his trousers. He turned and stared at Dan's back. He shook his head.
Sallina caught up with Dan.
"To answer your question, Miss," Dan said, "I'm going to the hospital because when we leave, I want the Captain to be able to say that we're leaving because we don't want to get sick. The Endeavor will leave too, and maybe a few other boats as well. The more the better."
Sallina frowned and nodded. This must be something to do with their plan to rescue Chimeg. She looked to make sure that nobody was listening. "Is that part of the plan?"
Dan smiled. "We'll see. If we're not the first to leave, people here will be less suspicious of us when they can't find Baat's little lady. And if there's one thing the Captain's worried about, it's people being suspicious of the Reliant. People being suspicious would be bad for business."
At the hospital door, Dan told the doorkeeper he was the surgeon from the Reliant. When the doorkeeper looked at Sallina, Dan said, "She's my nurse."
The doorkeeper let him in.
Sallina followed Dan past rows of beds. Most had a man or a woman in them, sleeping or staring at the ceiling. One woman was holding her tummy and moaning.
"These are all sailors," Dan said, "This is the sailor's hospital. They don't let sailors go to their other hospitals. They don't like to get all our strange diseases from across the world."
They went up some stairs to the second floor and walked along another row of beds. The light was better here. The sun shone through the windows. But there was a smell in the room, not the smell of the harbor, but some other smell. It was sharp and unpleasant. Sallina wanted to cover her nose, but she did not. She thought she would upset the patients if she covered her nose.
Dan stopped in front of a bed half-way along the row. "This is him."
There was a small wooden board hanging on the end of the bed with papers clipped to it. Dan picked up the board and looked at the papers.
Sallina looked at the man in the bed. "This is the man from Chiin?"
"Aye," Dan said, "He lost his arm to disease. He has necrotizing fascitis."
She took a step closer to the sick man. He had been staring at the ceiling, but seeing her coming closer, he turned his eyes towards her. His skin seemed yellow for the most part, and green in places. His left arm was cut off half-way along, and bandaged. His face looked as if it had lost some of its shape around the edges. But she could see that his eyes were narrow, like the eyes of the Kubla, but even narrower. His hair was jet black. Even though he was lying down, she saw that he was short and thin.In his remaining hand, the man from Chiin held a gold locket. Sallina looked at the locket and he moved one finger aside so she could see a picture set inside its frame. The picture was a small water-color painting, made with a very fine brush. There was a woman in the picture, and three children. Two were boys, and one was a girl.
Sallina looked into the man's eyes. "Your family?"
The man stared at her.
"He can't understand you," Dan said. "He doesn't speak our language. Just Chiin."
Sallina pointed to the picture and held her arms as if she was cradling a baby.
The man smiled and nodded slowly.
"Okay," Dan said, "Let's go."
"He's all alone," Sallina said, "None of his friends are here. Isn't there anything I can do for him?"
"Nothing. He's going to die."
Dan walked away. Sallina stayed beside the man's bed, looking down at the locket, until she heard Dan's footsteps on the stairs. The men and women in the beds stared at her. Their eyes did not move in their faces, and none of them smiled. The man from Chiin reached out with his hand. His skin was yellow and green
Before the man from Chiin could touch her, Sallina turned and ran down the length of the room.
"Dan! Wait!"
When they were outside in the street, among the shouts of healthy people, and the strong smell of rotting vegetables and fish, Sallina said, "Is he really going to die?"
"Aye," Dan said. They walked along the waterfront. She could not see the ship that the man came from. It was hidden behind the taller masts and sails of many other ships.
"Unless someone pays his bill, of course," Dan said, "If someone pays his bill, they'll get him some real medicine."
Sallina stopped. "Why didn't you tell me that?"
Dan stopped also. "Miss, I thought you knew. But now I told you. You're not going back to pay his bill are you?"
Sallina stood in the street. Should she go back and pay the man's bill?
"How much is it?"
Dan smiled at her and tilted his head to one side. "Fifteen guineas."
Sallina frowned. "I don't have that much money with me."
"Come back to the boat, then," Dan said. "Think about it some more. He's not going to die right away. It'll take a week or two."
Sallina started walking again. Dan walked beside her. "And what about the rest of them?" he said, "Are you going to save them too? According to the notes at the end of his bed, the man you saw was a thief and a murderer. Maybe there's someone else in the hospital you should save? Someone more deserving?"
A murderer, Sallina thought. The sick man did not look like a murderer. Maybe the other sailors from his boat lied about him so they could get rid of him when he was sick. But why would they do that, unless he really was a thief and a murderer?
"I'll think about it," she said.
Dan jumped over a crate of wet wriggling eels. "Right you are, Miss."
"Do you think we'll catch his disease?"
"No I don't," Dan said, "It's a disease you get from an infected wound. He must have cut himself, maybe with a cooking knife, and not cleaned the cut properly. After a few days, the cut healed over, but then it started to hurt. He should have cut it open again to clean it, but he didn't. When it started to go yellow and green, he began to worry, but nobody knew what to do for him. They were stuck with no wind out in the ocean. By the time they got here, it was too late. The infection had spread through his body."
A woman beside the street held up a pair of red silk underwear and waved them in Sallina's face. "Looks good on you sweetheart!" she said. She smiled, and there were black stains between her teeth.
Sallina pushed the underpants away and stepped around the woman. "So we can't get necromizing facillis, or whatever you called it, just from being near him."
"No, Miss, we can't," Dan said. "But I'll tell you what: make sure you clean out your cuts. Even if it hurts. Scrub them clean, and run clean water through them. It can save you a lot of trouble in the end."
They reached the Reliant's wharf and turned off the street. The large ship from Chiin was in the harbor ahead of them. "You really are a surgeon, aren't you Dan. I mean: you're a good surgeon."
"Of course I am, Miss."
"But that's not all you are."
Dan shook his head and smiled. "No, Miss."
Two days later, the crews of the Reliant and the Endeavor stood upon the Reliant's deck. They were gathered together to decide whether they should leave Prudence the next day, the twenty-sixth of August, or stay another week until the first of September.
Sallina and Garibaldi stood at the back with Sharpy and Natasha. Dan had taken Sharpy's cast off that morning, and he was standing without crutches. Sallina thought the leg looked thin and pale, but Sharpy said he felt, "As good as new." He was wearing shorts and smiling. Jasper was somewhere in the crowd, too. His arm had been out of its cast for a week now, and he showed no sign of ever having broken it.
"He really is a good surgeon," Sallina said.
"Who, Dan?" Natasha said.
"Yes, Dan."
"He's a cranky old fart, that's what he is," she said. Sharpy laughed.
Sallina frowned at them both.
Natasha put her hand upon Sallina's shoulder. "You're absolutely right. He is very fine surgeon."
"And a cranky old fart," Sharpy said.
Sharpy and Natasha laughed. They leaned together with their arms around one another's waists. Sallina shook her head.
"But he likes Sallina, you know," Sharpy said, "He has a soft spot for her. Never gets cranky with her."
"Is that so?" Natasha said, and smiled her wide, smile and showed her straight, white teeth. "Well, if you are going to have a friend, Dan is a good friend to have."
Sallina was about to say that a good surgeon was always a good friend to have, but she had to be quiet, because Alicia began to speak.
Alicia and the Captain were standing on the aft deck. Alicia stood with her hands on her hips with her head high. She wore a black-and-white striped shirt and baggy yellow trousers made of silk. Her feet were bare.
"Sailors!" she said, "The Captain and I offer you two choices."
The sailors waited for her to continue. Sallina thought it was funny that even Alicia, who was captain of the Endeavor, called the Captain by his title instead of his name.
"We can stay here for another week," Alicia said, "Or we can leave now and take a week of vacation at the hot springs on Rotunda Island."
Sallina leaned closer to Natasha. "Where is Rotunda?"
"Just off the west coast of Independence," Natasha said. "Great hot springs there. I'm for doing that."
"If we stay here," Alicia said, "we may get sick. Several other ships have left the harbor, rowing themselves into the channel because they believe a plague is about to break out in the city."
Sallina knew that Dan had been going aboard these other ships and talking to their surgeons. She wondered if the things he had said, about the hospital and the sick man from the Chiin, had scared them, and made them leave.
"I'm not too worried about the plague," Alicia said, "Dan says we should be okay. But I know a lot of you are worried about it."
Several of the sailors murmured, "Aye."
Jasper shouted, "There's plague on that there junk over there. A plague from Chiin that turns your flesh into slime!"
"Thank you, Jasper," Alicia said, "Our surgeons assure us that there is no such plague. But, as I said, I know you are worried about it, and you're not the only ones."
One of the Endeavor's crew, a tall woman with bright red hair and freckles, said, "But what about the circus?"
"Yes," Alicia said, "The Prudence City Circus is on the thirty-first of August, six days from now. Some of you want to stay for the circus, others want to leave to get away from the circus."
Sallina had heard the people of Prudence talking about their circus. They were excited about it. When Sallina was a child, a circus came to her home town. She saw a lion and an elephant, and people swinging from ropes in a huge tent. It was very exciting. But that was just a small circus. A circus in a big city like Prudence would be much more exiting. She would love to see the circus. Why would anyone want to get away from it?
"I've never seen it," the red-haired woman said, "And I hear there's nothing like it."
"You're right there," Alicia said. "There's nothing like it. And you'll notice that the people who don't want to be in Prudence for the circus are the same ones who have already been to the circus in Prudence City. This is not the kind of circus you see back home."
"Well, we want to see it," the red-haired woman said, "I became a sailor because I wanted travel the world and see strange things. So I want to see it."
Alicia smiled at the red-haired woman, but Sallina thought the smile was not particularly friendly. "I know you want to see the circus," Alicia said, "And I know that nothing I say will stop you wanting to see it. But I don't want to see it. In this circus, as I'm sure you've heard, the trick that the lions do is to eat young women. The shows the clowns put on are fights to the death with swords, tridents, and spears. The surprise punch-lines in the show are when the people who think they are in the arena to clean up the mess after the last act suddenly find the arena flooded with water and they are being eaten by crocodiles. This is not a circus. It's a barbaric and horrible show of cruelty."
The sailors were silent. Alicia's face was red.
"It's not worth seeing," she said. "Just imagine it. It will give you nightmares if you see it."
Sallina felt hot and uncomfortable. Would she like to see the circus? She wanted to say no, of course not. But part of her, some part of her that she was ashamed of, could not believe what Alicia said, and wanted to see it to be sure.
Garibaldi said, "I never liked this city."
Sallina looked at him. He had never liked the city? Now that she thought about it, he had never been excited about the city. She was the one who had enjoyed watching the people, and swimming in the pools.
"On the one hand," Alicia said, "We have the threat of plague, the heat and the smell of the harbor, and the people of Prudence going mad for their circus. And on the other hand, we have a week's relaxation and fun at Rotunda, bathing in the hot springs and hunting in the forest."
The sailors murmured among themselves. Sallina watched Jacqueline, the red-haired sailor. She was frowning and listening to one of her friends. She shrugged her shoulders.
"For myself," Alicia said, "I'm for a week's relaxation."
The Captain said, "Does anyone have anything to say before we vote?"
Sharpy held up his hand.
"Yes, Sharpy."
"We don't have no money left," he said, "For staying in a hotel, I mean. And the smell down here drives us crazy."
Natasha laughed.
"Thank you, Sharpy," the Captain said, "Okay, all in favor of staying for another week, raise your hands."
Many of the sailors raised their hands. The Captain counted.
"Twenty-one in favor of staying. All in favor of leaving tomorrow, raise your hands."
He counted again.
"Twenty-nine."
Some sailors cheered, others groaned.
Alicia said, "We leave tomorrow. We shall be towing the boats out of the harbor, unless the wind gets up tomorrow, so everyone get a good night's rest."
Alicia turned to the Captain. The meeting was over. The sailors all began talking at once.
Sallina looked at Natasha. "Have you seen the circus?"
"No," she said, "And I don't want to."
"Have you been to the hot springs?"
"Oh yes," she said. She looked up at Sharpy, and he looked down at her. "It's where Sharpy and I first met."