"I found out later that if I had broken my promise to remain silent, that bastard of a governor in New South Wales would have sent a ship to get them. He had a reputation for moving hell to regain an escaped prisoner." Scaggs moved his head slightly and stared through the window at the ships in the harbor. "After I returned home, I saw no reason to tell the story of the Gladiator's raft."
"You never saw them again after you and Cochran set sail for Sydney?"
Scaggs shook his head. "A tearful goodbye it was, too, Betsy and Jess standing on the beach holding their baby boys and Marion's daughter, looking for all the world like a happy mother and father. They found a life that wasn't possible in the civilized world." He spat out the word "civilized."
"And Cochran, what was to stop him from speaking out?"
Scaggs' eyes glimmered faintly. "As I mentioned, he also had a secret he didn't want known, certainly not if he ever wished to go to sea again. He went down with the Zanzibar when she was lost in the South China Sea back in '67."
"Haven't you ever wondered how they made out?"
"No need to wonder," Scaggs replied slyly. "I know."
Carlisle's eyebrows raised. "I'd be grateful for an explanation."
"Four years after I departed, an American whaler sighted the island and stood in to fill her water casks. Jess and Betsy met the crew and traded fruits and fresh fish for cloth and cooking pots. They told the captain of the whaler that they were missionaries who were stranded on the island after their ship had been wrecked. Before long, other whalers began stopping by for water and food supplies. One of the ships traded Betsy seeds for hats she'd woven out of palms, and she and Jess began tilling several acres of arable land for vegetables."
"How do you know all this?"
"They began sending out letters with the whalers."
"They're still alive?" asked Carlisle, his interest aroused.
Scaggs' eyes saddened. "Jess died while fishing six years ago. A sudden squall capsized his boat.
Betsy said it looked as if he struck his head and drowned. Her last letter, along with a packet, arrived only two days ago. You'll find it in the center drawer of my desk. She wrote that she was dying from some sort of disease of the stomach."
Carlisle rose and crossed the bedroom to a worn captain's desk that Scaggs had used on all his voyages after the Gladiator went down. He pulled a small packet wrapped in oilskin from the drawer and opened it. Inside he found a leather pouch and a folded letter. He returned to his chair, slipped on his reading glasses and glanced at the words.
"For a girl convicted of theft, she writes very well."
"Her earlier letters were full of misspellings, but Jess was an educated man, and under his tutelage, Betsy's grammar showed great improvement."
Carlisle began reading aloud.
My Dear Captain Scaggs,
I pray you are in good health. This will be my last letter to you as I have a malady of the stomach, or so the doctor aboard the whaling ship Amie & Jason tells me. So I will soon be joining my Jess.
I have a last request that I pray you will honor. In the first week of April of this year, my two sons and Marion's daughter, Mary, departed the island on board a whaler whose captain was sailing from here to Auckland for badly needed repairs to his hull after a brush with a coral reef. There, the children were to book passage on a ship bound for England and then eventually make their way to you in Aberdeen.
I have written to ask you, dearest friend, to take them under your roof upon their arrival and arrange or their education at the finest schools England has to offer. I would be eternally grateful, and I know Jess would share the same sentiments, rest his dear departed soul, if you will honor my request.
I have included my legacy for your services and whatever cost it takes to see them through school. They are very bright children and will be diligent in their studies.
With deepest respect I wish you a loving farewell.
Betsy Dorsett
One final thought. The serpent sends his regards.
Carlisle peered over his glasses. " `The serpent sends his regards.' What nonsense is that?"
"The sea serpent who saved us from the great white shark," answered Scaggs. "Turned out he lived in the lagoon. I saw him with my own eyes on at least four other occasions during my time on the island."
Carlisle looked at his old friend as if he were drunk, then thought better of pursuing the matter. "She sent young children alone on a long voyage from New Zealand to England?"
"Not so young," said Scaggs. "The oldest must be going on nineteen."