CHAPTER 38 “Fishes love witnesses.”
Renato surveyed the deck of his fine new ship. All about him, men rushed to make Medusa ready to sail.
Amidships, three men struggled to maneuver Renato’s portrait-in-progress down the hatch toward the captain’s cabin. In the stern, four others jockeyed his church pew into position against the rail.
Renato glanced across the waves to the forlorn group on the deck of his former ship. Bentley clutched the rail as if he might otherwise collapse, while at his side, straight as a spar, glowered Goble. Further back, amid a knot of slump-shouldered sailors, stood the tightly-bound form of the traitor Faraday.
The thought of this delicious and well-deserved revenge produced an unstoppable smile. The movement stung Renato’s tortured face muscles, but was wort
