26th May, morning at anchor

"Perry, ask her why she wants to give me a Bible," Bush said, seeing that the woman apparently had not understood him, "And tell her I will only take it if she will leave the ship at once."

Looking as confused as his lieutenant and almost as uneasy, Perry spoke to the woman and then translated her answer. "She doesn't want to give it to you, she just... I'm not rightly sure what it's for, sir. But she says she'll go after she's showed it to you. She promises she'll go," he corrected himself, accompanied by the woman's nods. "I can climb down and get it, sir. Quicker like."

This was absolutely ridiculous--and getting moreso by the moment. If the woman did not want to give him the Bible, why did she want to show it to him? Bush sighed, trying to calm himself down.

"Very well, but only if she swears she will then leave," he said, finally.

"Aye sir." And Perry disappeared over the side, watched by the woman who pointed and called down instructions to him.

[Deleted]

"Hoi," Chase said, leaning slightly out from where he was perched partway up the shrouds. "I knows her. She was there ashore, when we took Perry. The hell's she doin' here?"

Leat looked up sharply, ignoring the pain it caused and shouted up to the shrouds.

"What? Speak up, Chase! What did you say?"

"That lass, sir," Chase called down. "She was close by ashore when we found Perry, sir. His wife or somethin'."

"Aye," Williams agreed, nodding. "That's her, right 'nuff."

Leat's eyes widened. Suddenly the ridiculous turn of events seemed entirely logical.

"Mr. Farley!" he called. "Hold that women - do not let her off the ship! Don't let that barge cast off!"

He raced the rail, leaning over the see whether the guard boat would be able to stop Perry from deserting or whether it was too late already.

"But sir - " Farley caught himself, on the verge of questioning something that obviously was not mean to be questioned. "Yes sir." He kept a light but firm grip on the woman's arm, just above the bandage, and offered her a reassuring smile.

"It'll be all right, my dear," he told her.

Blast it all! Why had he not seen it sooner? Obviously Perry's fictitious "wife" was not so fictitious after all. It fit perfectly now--the woman's excess of attention to them the previous evening, her insistence on seeing the Terpsichore, and finally coming all the way out to the ship. Her true motive was more than apparent now, and Bush was positively fuming at the thought.

"A Bible indeed. More like you were hoping for some divine intervention in aiding your husband in his escape," Bush snapped at the woman.

Thankfully Leat had already ordered the surgeon to hold the her, which he was now doing. Bush could only hope the guardboat would catch Perry before he could get away. He too went to the rail, watching to see what would transpire.

But the barge was still alongside with a couple of seamen from the guard boat on board and securing it, and Perry was standing at the helm holding a book-shaped bundle and looking surprised by the noise above. "Hey? What's goin' on up there?" Then he noticed the lieutenant and offered him a salute with his free hand, holding up the bundle with the other. "Found it, sir. Bring it right up."

Having expected to see the boat already halfway out to sea, Bush was rather startled when Perry called up to him. And he was even more surprised to see that the sailor actually had a bundle in his hand.

"Get back up here at once, Perry!" Bush barked. He was in no hurry to receive the bundle; he merely wanted Perry back on the ship and out of that barge immediately.

Perplexed, Perry obeyed on the double, climbing as quickly but as carefully as he could with the oilskin-wrapped bundle. On deck he right away noticed the glares of the lieutenants and the woman being restrained by the surgeon. He moved immediately to her side, pushing the surgeon's hands away. "What's goin' on?"

Perry being back aboard ship was somewhat of a relief, but Bush still did not trust him or the woman one bit.

"You have an impressive grasp of the Portuguese language, Perry. Learned that from your wife, did you?" Bush was glaring at both him and the woman now as he spoke. "I have recently been informed that this woman is in fact your wife. How thoughtful of you to offer to speak for her."

The sarcasm in his voice was barely concealed, and it became evern more pronounced as he continued. "Why, I wonder, would she take the trouble to not only pester myself, Mr. Leat, and Mr. Cartwright while ashore, but to come all the way out to the ship? I find it very hard to believe that she did so merely to show me a Bible."

Perry opened his mouth, but for once he could think of nothing to say in response. He looked at his wife apprehensively, but she simply reached out her hands and took the bundle from him.

"Aye, she's me wife sir," he answered. "But - she just wanted to see me. She's a Portuguese woman, sir," he added, as if that explained everything.

Meanwhile his wife had unwrapped the bundle. "Lieutenant," she said, shrugging off the surgeon and approaching Bush.

All the commotion on deck had been drifting down to the Great Cabin for a while now, and finally Bolitho decided he needed to investigate just what was transpiring up there.

As he came up, he caught sight of a rather interesting group gathered on deck, seemingly centered around a woman--a Portuguese woman. Who on Earth was she and what was she doing on the ship? Seeing that both Bush and Leat were there however, he assumed the matter was well in hand--whatever it may have been.

"Mr. Bush, Mr. Leat, would one of you care to tell me what is going on here?" he said as he approached.

Bush turned at the sound of Bolitho's voice. All the ruckus must have disturbed him at last. Now he was even more angry to think that this foolishness was going to involve the Captain.

"This woman came out to the ship in a barge, sir," Bush explained, "She was hailing us and claiming to have wine for me--which I did not request in the first place. But clearly she had an ulterior motive. As it turns out, she is Perry's wife." He shot Perry a quick glance. "Knowing that, I highly doubt her reasons for coming were entirely innocent."

As he spoke, he saw that the woman was offering the bundle to him. "Ma'am, do you really expect me to accept that, considering what I now know?"

The woman looked up and saw the officer with golden epaulets. "Senhor Capitão?" she asked, moving to him instead.

Perry followed her. "Lena," he said in warning, taking her arm, but she pushed him away. "Sir - I'm sorry sir. She just..." His voice trailed away as she pulled back the covers to her bundle, revealing, in fact, a large old Bible.

Even though Bush had explained the basic details, Bolitho was still more than a little confused about the whole affair. When the woman opened her bundle and revealed the Bible, he found himself even more confused.

"My word, that is an impressive-looking Bible, ma'am," he remarked, "But whyever did you bring it to the ship? Do you wish me to have it? Or do you wish to give it to Mr. Bush?"

After all, she had been offering it to Bush only a moment earlier.

She was not entirely sure what the question was, but she simply shook her head and opened the book, turning the first few pages. The records of births, deaths, and marriages. And her finger pointed to the line which read "Madalena Fonte, Paolo Peiri, 15 março 1807."

Perry gaped as he looked at the page from over her shoulder, but then she turned the page and he saw something that he recognized. He gasped, and then smiled, shaking his head in admiration, and finally he turned his wife toward him and kissed her full in the mouth. The word "Protection." Bless that woman.

Leat had the very strongest inclination to strike Perry, as adding kissing a man in front of the captain to all the woman's insolance of the day, the couple had edged foreward onto the quarterdeck. Instead he vented his frustration by shouting at the American.

"Belay that, Perry! What do you think this is, a doss house? Get away forward! I beg your pardon, sir." The last he added in a normal tone of voice to Bolitho. Belatedly he also realised that shouting so close to Bush's ear this morning would not have been appreciated. His own head certainly didn't.

But Perry was all smiles when he looked up at Leat, and the officer's shouting could not put a dent in his happiness. He put his arm around his wife's waist and did indeed take a few steps away from the captain, but he was too distracted to give the lieutenant's orders much thought.

Higgins, one of the sentries by the quarterdeck stairs, loosened his bayonet in its scabbard. He didn't trust that Yank seaman in the slightest. All the fuss presently unfolding on the quarterdeck was only confirming that distrust.

"What is that paper there?" Cartwright asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. He had caught sight of the corner of a single sheet of paper, tucked neatly into the Bible.