Fevre Dream Page 0,104

feet, head sunk, his skin white as chalk dust. He looked like a whipped cur, thought Sour Billy.

"Ah, Billy," said Julian. "What ever would we do without you?"

Sour Billy nodded. "I been thinking while I was out there, Mister Julian," he said. "The way I figger, we got two choices. This here steamer has a yawl, for doin' soundings and such. We could take her and light out. Or now that the storm's broke, we could just wait till the pilot ties her up, and then get ashore. We ain't far from Bayou Sara, maybe well put in there."

"I have no interest in Bayou Sara, Billy. I have no interest in leaving this excellent steamboat. The Fevre Dream is ours now. Isn't that right, Joshua?"

Joshua York raised his head. "Yes," he said. His voice was so weak it was hardly audible.

"It's too dangerous," Sour Billy insisted. "The cap'n and the head clerk both gone, what are people goin' to think? They're goin' to be missed, questions are goin' to get asked. Real soon now too."

"He is right, Damon," Raymond put in. "I have been aboard this steamer since Natchez. The passengers may come and go, but the crew-we are in danger here. We are the strange ones, suspected, unknown. When Marsh and Jeffers are missed, they will look to us first."

"And then there's this mate," added Billy. "If he helped Marsh, he knows everything, Mister Julian."

"Kill him, Billy."

Sour Billy Tipton swallowed uneasily. "Suppose I do kill him, Mister Julian? Won't do no good. He'll be missed too, and there's others under him, a whole damn army of niggers and dumb Germans and big Swedes. We got less than twenty, and during the day there's only me. We got to get off this steamboat, and real quick, too. We can't fight the crew, and even if we could, I sure can't fight 'em alone all by myself. We got to go."

"We are staying. It is for them to fear us, Billy. How can you ever be one of the masters if you still think as a slave? We are staying."

"What will we do when Marsh and Jeffers are found gone?" asked Vincent.

"And what about the mate? He is a threat," said Kurt.

Damon Julian stared at Sour Billy and smiled. "Ah," he said. He sipped his drink. "Why, we will let Billy take care of these little problems for us. Billy will show us how clever he is, won't you, Billy?"

"Me?" Sour Billy Tipton stood open-mouthed. "I don't know..."

"Won't you, Billy?"

"Yes," Billy said quickly. "Yes."

"I can solve this without further bloodshed," Joshua York said, with a hint of his old resolve in his voice. "I am still captain aboard this steamer. Let me discharge Mister Dunne and any of the others that you may fear. We can get them off the Fevre Dream cleanly. There has been enough death."

"Has there?" asked Julian.

"Firing 'em won't work," Sour Billy said to York. "They'll only wonder why and demand to see Cap'n Marsh."

"Yes," agreed Raymond. "They don't follow York," he added, to Julian. "They don't trust him. He had to come out in broad daylight before any of them would agree to go down the bayou with him. With Marsh gone, and Jeffers too, he will never be able to control them."

Sour Billy Tipton looked at Joshua York with surprise and new respect. "You did that?" he blurted. "Went out by day?" The others sometimes dared the dusk, or lingered a short time after sunrise, but he had never seen any of them come out when the sun was high. Not even Julian.

Joshua York looked at him coldly, and did not answer.

"Dear Joshua likes to play at being cattle," Julian said, amused. "Perhaps he hoped his skin would turn brown and leathery."

The others laughed politely.

While they were laughing, Sour Billy got himself an idea. He scratched his head and let himself smile. "We won't fire them," he said suddenly to Julian. "I know. We'll make 'em run off. I know just how to do it."

"Good, Billy. What ever would we do without you?"

"Can you make him do like I tell him?" Billy asked, jerking a thumb in York's direction.

"I will do what I must to protect my people," Joshua York said, "and to protect my crew as well. There is no need for compulsion."

"Well, well," said Sour Billy. "Real nice." This was going to be even easier than he'd figured. Julian would be real impressed. "I got to go get me a new shirt. You