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“I am coming out,” came the muffled, wary response.

Tony álvarez stood and could see that even if he so desired, the men had all possible escape routes blocked.

He was placed between two of the large men and marched up to the captain’s day cabin.

Clements knocked on the cabin door, and when bade enter, was followed in by one of his guards with the lad proceeding him.

“What have we here, Clements?” Captain Beauclerk asked as he turned from the ship’s log that he had been working on.

“We caught ourselves a stowaway, Captain,” the head of security answered.

“He is a young lad; how do you think he will enjoy being keelhauled?” the Captain asked with a half-smile. His crew members knew that their captain would never partake of that barbaric cruelty, but Tony did not, and he was quaking with fear.

Beauclerk was not a brutal man, so he put the lad at ease right away. “None of the Bennet’s employees would ever do anything against the law, and keelhauling is very much illegal. We were just having some sport at your expense. Now what are you running from, lad?” the Captain asked calmly.

“How do you know that I-I am running away, sir?” Tony asked, calming somewhat but still nervous, fearing that the Captain would throw him off his ship as he had the three sailors earlier.

“That is usually why someone stows away, in my experience. What is your name, lad?” the captain asked in an attempt to get him talking.

“My name i-is Tony, captain,” Tony took a deep breath and decided that he had a better chance of being allowed to remain on board if he was completely honest. “I am not running away from something that I have done, but from something that others plan to do and want me to participate in their schemes.”

“Well, Tony, tell us the whole tale and we will see if we are willing to help you.” Beauclerk looked past Tony to the guard.

“Smithers, ask one of the men outside to request that cook send us some food, I have an idea that we will be here a while.” Then he looked back at Tony as he stood.

“Sit with us, Tony, and while we eat you can share all with us.”

Fifteen minutes later the Captain’s steward brought up a plate of cheese and cold roast beef sandwiches with ale to drink. As they started to eat, the Captain nodded toward Tony in a signal for him to commence.

“It started when my late father let greed overrule his good sense, and he participated in a scheme to…” Tony told them all, how they planned to kidnap the Duke’s daughter, Elizabeth Bennet.

Lost in his recounting, he did not notice the Dennington Line employees sitting up straighter or that they leaned forward to listen more keenly after he mentioned the lady’s name.

He told them the perspective from his side of the attempt, how it had gone very wrong with the mastermind’s death and his father’s arrest and subsequent hanging.

He related all from Fowey and the precipitous escape once Younge realised that they were being watched, and the order to make sure that the man following Karen Younge was dispatched.

He described how they came to be in Bundoran and the plans his mother and the Younges were making to exact their revenge with all of their combined wrath focused on the lady who, in Tony’s opinion, had done nothing to earn their enmity.

Lastly, he told them how they planned to ransom her for two hundred fifty thousand pounds and that he had heard Karen Younge rant about what she would do to the lady.

“Who killed the man in Fowey,” Clements asked, keeping his voice regulated to the situation even when he wanted to demand an answer.

“There were three, two held him and McLamb did the deed,” Tony offered, praying it was enough to keep him on board.

“Did you know what they planned to do ahead of time?” the Captain asked.

“No, sir, I did not,” Tony denied emphatically. “It was after we sailed that the three boasted about what they had done.”

Clements leaned over to his man and told him to make sure that their ‘friends’ received the names of the murders. Once the guard left the cabin to follow his orders, the captain resumed the questioning.

“You know that this ship belongs to the Dennington Lines do you not, Tony?” The captain was not surprised when the lad nodded that he did.

“Do you know who owns the company?” This time Tony shook his head.

“The father and family that is the target of your mother and her accomplices. In fact, Lady Elizabeth is the Duchess of Derbyshire and is one of the owners.” Tony’s mouth hung open as the reality started to sink in.

“Not only that,” the captain continued, “did you or any of the schemers know that the Bennets are not only cousins to the royals, but close to them and that any move against any of them is treason? You do know the punishment for treason, do you not, lad?”

“I do, captain,” Tony said dejectedly. “Will you clap me in irons now and send me to the tower to be beheaded, or shall I work for you for the trip then be beheaded?”

“No, Tony,” the Captain laughed, “just the opposite. I believe his Grace would very much like to meet you, son. You have already proven that you are a young man with honour, even if you did swear revenge for your father. You had enough character to see the error of your ways and make the hard choice to change. You took a great chance sneaking on board my ship, but it just so happens that you could not have found a safer place to be. Every ship in the Dennington Line has been on the lookout for the Stealthy Runner . We were sending a letter to his Grace as soon as we arrive in Dublin. Now we will send a letter and you.” He looked at Clements.

“Mr. Clements, give young Tony one of the three open births and assign him some tasks to help you.” The Captain turned back to the young man.

“Everyone on my ship works, Tony, from the captain down.”

“Hard work does not frighten me, Captain. Thank you, sir. I will not let you down!” Tony vowed, feeling better that he had in a long while.

“No, I do not believe you will, young man,” the Captain agreed as he dismissed the two that remained in his cabin.

The next morning, just before sunrise, the Coastal Trader slipped her moorings and sailed with the tide with a very pleased Tony álvarez still on board. He stood on the deck and watched as Bundoran shrank until he could no longer see it as they made a heading for Dublin.