Chapter 7 False Punishment
Rory awoke. He had a sore head. He reached for Emma. She wasn't there. Puzzled
he looked around. It was light. Perhaps she was on deck. He scrambled on deck.
Only the skeleton watch were around. "Seen Emma?" he growled at one of them.
"No. Capt'n. Ain't been anyone around since we came on. Dead quiet."
Perhaps she went to the fo'c's'le for company. I'll gut anyone who is in bed
with her. One night when I'm out of it and she goes to find another cock.
Blundering madly he went to the crew's quarters and then saw Jaz snuggled
against a woman and it was only when he roughly turned her that he recognised
Beatrice. Barely recognised Beatrice. "My God!" He looked horrified at the state
of her face then stepped smartly back as Jaz's fist came at his face. The
knuckles grazed his beard but didn't really connect.
"Leave 'er Capt'n. You had her hurt enough." Jaz's voice growled with menace.
"My God, I didn't think Doris would have allowed this!" He then remembered why
he was in the fo'c's'le. "Where's Emma? Is she responsible for bringing her
back? You couldn't have done it on your own. Tell, now Jaz or your face might
match hers!"
"No it won't Capt'n." Razer stood behind Rory. "Emma said she would be back in
time for breakfast, if not I was to pick her up. She expected you still to be
asleep and drunk."
"Where is she then? Not on the ship? Working in Doris's instead of this one?"
"I can't tell yer, Capt'n. All she said was she had to pay her debts. You'd best
go on deck and wait. She won't want me to disturb her unnecessary like." Fuming,
Rory returned to the quayside rail. Emma was coming down the road escorted by
the two tax men. Surely she hadn't spent the night with those two Krauts?"
The officers stopped a little way from the boat and after the usual formal
departure gestures they waited as Emma walked to the gangplank. "Permission to
come on board Sir," she asked brightly although she could see from his face that
he was in a really bad mood.
"Where the bloody hell have you been? You spent the night with those pair of
creeps? You responsible for Beatie being back?" Rory roared his questions at
her. Most of the crew now lined the rail to see was to happen. Rarely did Rory
lose his temper but when he did things could get nasty.
Emma stood and looked him straight in the eye. "Yes to all your questions,
Capt'n."
"Slut!! I'm out of it for one night and you go off and find foreign cocks."
"Yes, Capt'n but only to put your wrongs to right. This is all your doing. It
was one thing to have Beatrice thrashed for what she had done but quite another
to sell her to a brothel. That just makes you a pimp!" Emma's anger was now
coming to the fore. She spat the word pimp at him with disgust.
"You meddled in my affairs bitch. You went against my orders. You knew the bitch
couldn't pay her fare. You deserve what she had."
"Oh I do, do I? Well let's get it over with but afterwards sort your own tax
out!" Walking to the hatch she threw her dress over her head and told the bo'sun
to get his whip. Murmurs of dissent when through the crew. For many it was the
first time they had seen her naked but certainly she was too popular for them to
want to see her hurt. Emma carefully folded her dress, took the purse from
around her neck and laid it on top.
"Don't do it Capt'n!" Razer yelled.
"Hold your tongue. Anyone who deliberately goes against my orders get punished
as you well know."
Razer looked around to see what backing he had to stop the whipping when the
bo'sun returned followed by Jaz carrying Beatrice. Although still hardly able to
talk, Beatrice croaked out "No!" but Rory was in no mood to lose face by
listening to her or anyone else for that matter.
Again Razer yelled, "Don't do it Capt'n!" but with his back to the captain the
bo'sun just gave him and the rest of the crew a broad wink. They quieted and
waited to see what would happen.
Slashing the splayed rope's end harmlessly through the air with loud crack he
then took up his position to one side of the splayed girl. Emma shivered. She
had half expected Rory to stop the proceedings before it got this far. Perhaps
she really had pushed him over the edge. Perhaps she over estimated her
position. Perhaps her success the previous day had gone to her head and made her
underestimate Rory's temper. His face was still black.
By the shadow cast on the deck she saw the bo'sun lift the whip. Her body tensed
in anticipation of the pain it was to receive. Instead the rope landed gently on
her buttocks. "One!" the bo'sun called. The crew cheered and clapped. "Two!" So
it went on each stroke barely touching the flesh and each accompanied by a
cheer.
In a way Rory was glad but he didn't want to show it in front of the others. He
roared at them, "Okay, get breakfast and then on with your work. Emma dressed
but didn't go to the cabin. She ate with the others and sat by Beatrice. As one,
the crew were appalled by Beatrice's injuries. It was one thing to punish her
severely for what they perceived as wrong doings. It was alright to make use of
her unwilling body but by a strange double standard it was not right to for
foreigners to beat her unmercifully and to disfigure her.
The cook, seeing she couldn't eat normal hard food concocted a thin gruel which
Jaz was able to spoon feed to her and when he had to help load cargo Emma sat by
her. In a very croaky voice and through swollen lips, Beatrice tried to say
thank you. An unnatural thing for her to do but she knew Emma had largely been
responsible for her being back on the ship and that in doing so, Emma had risked
being thrashed and even now had an uncertain future here.
Rory never spoke to her for the whole day. She ate her meals with the men and
either sat with Beatrice or examined any paperwork that came with the goods
before passing them on to the mate who in turn passed them to the captain. When
the loading was completed, and all the hatches battened down, apart from a few
who had to stand watch, most of the crew adjoined to the taverns for their last
evening in port. Emma offered to sit with Beatrice to allow Jaz to go out but he
declined and Emma felt she was in the way as the pair cuddled gently in a corner
of the deck. She stood at the rail looking out towards the harbour entrance and
wondered how to resolve the impasse between her and Rory. So engrossed in her
own thoughts was she that she didn't hear Razer come up behind her and she
started when the spoke, "Would you like to come to town with us?" Emma had
already refused similar requests from other crew members but when she tried to
reply this time only a little sob came out.
"We have to sort this out," Razer said quietly, "Otherwise the whole ship
suffers. Have you told him all of what happened?" Emma shook her head and Razer
could see tears running down her cheeks. "Go to him now, while it is quiet and
before he gets a gut full of whiskey."
Again Emma shook her head, "I can't walk in there when he doesn't want me."
"Well if you can't walk in you can go this way." In one swift movement Razer
scooped the girl up and tossed her over his shoulder. Walking to the captain's
cabin he pushed open the door without knocking and went inside.
"Get out!!" Rory sat at the table a half full glass of whiskey in front of him.
The level in the bottle indicated it had just been opened. Razer dumped Emma on
a seat, picked up the whiskey bottle and removed it from the table.
"Sorry, Capt'n but this is one time I have to disobey an order. And don't think
you are going to order me to be lashed cus you ain't. 'Cept for those on deck
and if you don't shout they won't hear, there are only the three of us to know
what goes on so before you make a further fool of yourself you had better listen
to us and find out what really happened and not what you think might have
happened. If you go on like today, you won't have a crew by the time we gets
back to Newcastle."
"I don't need you to tell me what to do Razer!"
"Oh, but Capt'n, this is one time you do and you need to listen good. First to
me and then to your girlfriend. When you've heard us, then if you want we'll go
and you can have a bit of a think before deciding what to do with us."
"Please Rory, please listen." Emma's voice showed she was close to tears again.
"We only did what we thought was right. We thought you made a mistake in taking
Beatrice from Jaz and putting her in that brothel."
"I think we ought to start at the beginning miss," interrupted Razer, "So Capt'n
just listen for a bit. After we finish you can 'ave your whiskey back and we'll
go. Agreed?"
"Do I have a choice?" growled Rory.
"No. First of all you have to agree that miss Emma has been a real help on this
trip. Without her we would have paid far more in tax and likely we would have
hardly started unloading so she saved us several days of delay. Then she got the
agent's fee reduced. I'm guessing but I reckon she more than saved the cost of
both their fares to London first class, let alone working their passage."
"When she first came on board that other girl was a right bitch and no one liked
her and many would easily have thrown her overboard but after the thrashing she
mellowed quite a bit and with Jaz's help sort of became a working member of the
crew although she physically couldn't do much. She could and did lay on her back
and take the cocks of the men. Not willingly perhaps, but she took them and it
gave Jaz status and he cared for her like a baby. And he still does. On board
she was treated like an unpaid prostitute and then you take her to Doris to
become a paid one. And what does she do but offer her for anyone to do anything
to her if the price is high enough. Unfortunately those that hired her didn't
find her satisfactory for some reason and whipped and kicked the shit out of
her. I think miss, you ought to continue with the story because so much was said
in lingo that I couldn't understand."
Hearing what Razer had said gave Emma her confidence back. She looked Rory
straight in the eye and when he looked down, she told him to look at her. "Rory,
in the short time I have been with you, I thought I knew you and I thought I
loved you. I still do despite the bastard thing you did. You sold a girl to
another for what was sexual slavery. To my mind that was utterly despicable. I
lived with Beatrice as her maid and suffered greatly at her hands and yet I
would never have stooped so low. When I heard what you had done, I was
determined to get her out, even if she was only being used for normal
prostitution. It would have taken an army to get into that place so I had to use
other tactics and that involved the two tax men. Using them I gained entry
directly to Doris herself and eventually was able to bargain for her release. I
also have the money she agreed to pay you but I think that more rightly belongs
to Beatrice. However to gain the cooperation of the tax men I had to pay them.
They didn't want money, they wanted me. I had to agree and in fact they were
quite sweet and kind."
Rory started to say, "Slut!" but Emma silenced him. "No Rory, I had to do what I
had to do because of you. You put Beatrice into prostitution and indirectly made
me one too. It was necessary but that is all it was. I don't love them although
I do quite like them." Emma then reached down her dress and pulled out the
bulging purse everyone had seen earlier in the day. She counted out the money
Rory should have had from Doris. "There is your money. If you are a real
bastard, take it. If you are the Capt'n I thought I knew, give it back and I
will give it to Beatrice. It is not much by her home life standards but here it
may help. I used my money to buy the mattress and things to make her more
comfortable."
Rory stared at the money but didn't touch it. After a minute or two he asked,
"Where did you get the rest of the money?"
"Well it wasn't by whoring, if that's what you think!" snapped Emma. "Its all my
commissions and...." "And she got five sovereigns from that tight bugger
Frazier," laughed Razer. That eased the atmosphere.
"You mean to tell me that you came aboard this boat with perhaps a few pennies
and in a few days here you have earned all that much?" Rory was amazed. Emma
just nodded. "And you saved me a great deal too in time and money."
Again Emma nodded before she spoke, "And gave you pleasure too." There was
silence as she looked at the captain for some minutes before going on, "Please
Rory, even if you won't admit to making a mistake, please just try and ignore
it. Please take me back. I do love you."
By way of reply, Rory pushed the money back to her, turned to Razer and said,
"Razer, I thought you were going ashore!"
"Yeah, Capt'n, that's what I am a going to do. You two have a good time." As he
stood to go, Emma passed him a couple of coins and said, "Have a drink on me."
Alone with Emma, Rory spoke in a mock gruff voice, "Come her wench and let's
bare that bottom of yours. Get that dress off." She did so and stood naked
before him. "I think you best get out of your clothes too, before that bulge in
your trousers gets too painful." It wasn't long before he too was in the suit he
was born in. He pulled her to him and before she realised what was happening she
found herself across his lap, arse in the air.
Slap!! Slap!! "Did you think you were going to get away with making me lose face
in front of the crew?" The slaps continued, They weren't hard but they reddened
her bum and made it tingle. Emma squirmed and wriggled but made no attempt to
free herself and the spanking didn't last long. They were both too horny for
that. Soon she was on her back receiving long thrusts from his hard cock. That
was the cock she really wanted.
Afterwards they lay still. "Let's have a drink to celebrate your success," Rory
suggested and then swore, "Bloody bugger, Razer went off with the whiskey!"
"What do we need the whiskey for when I have your cock and you have my cunt?"
Emma fondled the soft prick for a while and then taking it in her mouth lay down
on him, Rory surprised her by swinging her legs over his face and licking her
mound. He sucked her clit while she did the same for his prick until it was
fully hard again and he was able to thrust it in its love chamber once more.
They left Hamburg the next morning and headed into the Baltic. At first
conditions were good but on the second day out, the weather changed for the
worse. Squally showers made life below decks damp and miserable. Jaz did his
best to tend to Beatrice but he had work to do so couldn't be with her all the
time. Rory didn't apologise publicly but the crew knew he accepted that Beatie
was back with them and in fact each day he did enquire how she was faring. Emma
visited her and when she saw the conditions on the third day, she got Rory to
agree to allow her to spend the daytime in their cabin. Conditions there were a
little better but with all the hatches fastened down, the atmosphere was still
far from ideal. Jaz was allowed to visit her and take his meals in the cabin
too. By the fifth day out the weather improved a little and Beatrice was able to
get on deck. She was still weak and needed help but the fresh air did her good
and she didn't need so much of the medicine to keep the pain under control. As
if to reinforce the message that Beatrice was now accepted Rory and the rest of
the crew stopped and spoke to her whenever possible. By the time they returned
to Hamburg a three weeks later she was able to walk on her own and started once
again to help Jaz with his work. Emma told her that she didn't have to work, her
'fare' had more than been paid, but she just wanted to be near Jaz and wanted to
keep her mind occupied. Seeing this, Jaz set her to making her own canvas
holdall and while it took her a long while to complete, it was something she was
proud of.
Emma had increased her savings in Danzig and again in Hamburg and when one
expected cargo was not ready she was able to arrange a replacement. Now there
were no more snide jokes concerning her job as the captain's private secretary.
She more than earned her keep and her place in the captain's bunk.
On the return from Hamburg, Beatrice was violently sick and then complained of
stomach pains and cramps. They discounted period pains as she hadn't had a
period since before she left England. She assumed she was pregnant by one of the
crew. A few hours later, there was a great flow of blood from her vagina and
they assumed she had a miscarriage. No one had experience of this woman's
problem but she recovered after a couple of days.
