18 BLACK HEARTS FOR THE DEAR LADY: PT 1—BLACK HEARTS
I found myself lost in the currents of the black sea, the waves pushing my body here and there. I remembered the vessel that had brought me out here, roasting in the burning sun. The ship was called The Dear Lady. I should have never entered the dark portals, bunked in its nether regions. I was hired on as all other men, deckhands, standing in front of the town court, listening to the Captain and his First mate spout off an advertisement looking for all that would work hard and receive as many shillings as the pocket could carry.
I had nothing to lose. I had no family to speak of, except an uncle and an aunt I stayed with one summer. But I ain’t heard from them nigh on a year. Both parents had died of the plague. The only woman I e
