“And how long have you played the boy?”
“Cap’n Newport,” she said, “came into the inn where my mum keeps us in chambers overhead. I heard him talking to the mariners there, a joint of mutton in his hand, saying he needs a crew of able men for an expedition to Virginia to save the company settled there from their penury. I found these here breeches of my older brother who had left home and, being in the habit of listening to the sailors’ tales, was able to convince Newport I was fit for cabin and to wait upon the pilot or some other navigator. Had I known, Master, of your kindness and good nature such deceit I never would have parlayed, but I feared to be found out and thrown to the whales or sharks or shut up in the dark belly of the Venture.”
“Foolish child.”
“You will not uncover me now, Master Ravens, I prithee. I promise to make myself known in Jamestown.”
He faced her, the light behind him creating a halo around his head. “You are a bold sprite. Tell me: is your brother soon to follow to reclaim his pantaloons?”
She laughed, and in so doing, began to think that he would not tell a soul after all.
“I came to find you, John, if John you be, tho surely not so—”
Brushing the sand from her arms, she confessed that her Christian name was Jane.
“Long Jane Long,” he chuckled. “I came to find you for I am going away this very day. They have closed up and made safe the boat, and we sail on the tide. Had I not seen you thus, I would have asked you to accompany—”
“But I can still join you. Nothing has changed.”
Henry Ravens gripped her by the shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eyes. “No, you cannot go. Intrepid as you are, you are still a woman, indeed a girl. But fear not, I shall keep close your confidence until we are all joined in Jamestown. Now, give me a kiss, boy,” he said, “for good luck.” And she kissed him on the cheek for the first and last time.
Eight men set out on a bark of aviso for Virginia on the twenty-eighth of August, being a Monday, to the great excitement of all those marooned, but the longboat returned on Wednesday evening, having attempted to find safe passage around the reefs from the north and from the southwest. They made to sea again on the first day of September, following the course that brought the Sea Venture into the bay, hoping to make way in open water. “If we live,” Ravens said to the assembled company, “and arrive safe there, I shall return by the next moon with a pinnace from the colony. Light beacons each night thence to guide our ship safely to you.”
Four weeks later, Long Jane tended the bonfire on that first night and for many nights afterward from the highest spot on the islands. By day, she watched the horizon when she could, ever hopeful, all through October and into November till the December moon, but no bark appeared, and to no eye, nothing but sea and air. What became of Ravens and the seven sailors no one ever knew.
During this time of waiting and watching, work began on another ship, tho divers mutinies took place among the mariners, some of whom were irreligious and of secret discontent, to spread disquiet regarding the colony in Virginia. Six men made themselves outlaws and outcasts by plotting to steal a boat and live by themselves on a nearby island, but no sooner had their conspiracy been hatched than the cock crowed, and all were banished from St. Catherine’s Beach. Only by their petitions through Mr. Strachey would they be readmitted to the company by the mercy of Sir Thomas Gates, the governour. In January, a Mr. Hopkins hatched a plot with others, and he was arrested and placed in manacles. Were it not for pleading his wife and young childers left behind in London, he, too, would have been ensconced forever. Lastly, a man named Robert Waters fell into an argument with a Mr. Edward Samuell over the matter of a poor-cut timber, and it ended when Waters struck a shovel behind Samuell’s ear and killed him. Gates ordered the two men, murdered and murderer, to be bound together and a guard of six attend them, but despite the horror of the sin, the guards cut the rope and led Waters into hiding in the woods beyond.
It was Mr. Chard who first approached Jane about being the go-between. “We need someone who won’t be missed, lad, and someone who can be trusted. Take this food and follow the trail to the clearing where first we found the wild boars, and there turn east and travel about one hundred steps where you’ll find a bower, and behind the palms, there is a cave, and in that cave, you’ll find Robert Waters. Go to it, boy, and be quick and silent as a hare. You know Samuell had it coming.”