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Tin Swift(74)

By:Devon Monk


“Toward family, Captain.”

“Southwest,” Hink added, though that was not the truth. “Could have sworn I already mentioned that.”

The captain smiled, the mustache shrugging over his lip. “Ah, and perhaps you did. It’s been a very long day. The details fly from me like leaves on a breeze. Good evening to you, Captain Hink, Mrs. Lindson.”

“Good evening, Captain,” Mae said.

Hink started off again. “And to you, Beaumont.”

The man squeezed past crates of walnuts toward the door. “Come, boy,” he said to the servant who had been following them. “See me to the door.”

Mae watched as he walked away. Captain Hink obviously didn’t trust the man, since he’d told them they were headed southwest, when Kansas was really southeast of here.

Captain Beaumont obviously didn’t trust Captain Hink either, since he’d asked Mae where they were traveling. Likely, he had been trying to catch Captain Hink in a lie.

As far as Mae knew, there was no reason for Captain Hink to think their destinations were worth hiding. Which meant that Captain Hink might want to hide his own doings from the man.

Were all airship captains so distrustful?

Not for the first time, she wished they hadn’t stopped in Vicinity. Wished they’d just ridden straight through and on down to Kansas. It’d still be many miles left to go on horseback. A month at least, but they wouldn’t be tangled up with glim pirates, reclusive miners, and the sorts of men that other men felt warranted lying to.

“Coming, Mrs. Lindson?” Hink asked.

“Yes.” She caught up to his long-legged stride. He knocked on the polished rosewood door carved with an image of elephants and tropical trees.

More bolts and locks snicked and clicked, and the door opened again.

But instead of letting them in, Old Jack stepped out. “Why is it a man has to be bothered every damn second? What do you want, Captain Hink?”

He shut the door behind him, but not before Mae caught a glimpse of another servant in the room. The room seemed relatively sparse, but the servant was leaning out the window and lighting a wick that burned a strange green-yellow color.

That was all she saw before the door shut firmly behind the hunchbacked old man.

“This is one of my passengers, Jack,” Captain Hink said. “And she’s in need of a few medicines to tend the woman who’s injured in our company.”

“Medicines? Yes, yes.” He shuffled past them both toward one wall covered in wooden shelves and drawers and filled with bottles, jars, boxes, and parcels. The sweet, dusty scent of dried herbs was stronger here, as was the smell of beeswax and oils.

“Tell me what ails the girl,” he said, stopping short in front of the first of the shelves, “and I’ll tell you what I have to soothe it.”

“I just have a short list to fill,” Mae said.

Jack craned his head up so he could see out from under his bushy eyebrows. “Then get on with telling me the list.”

“I’ll need yarrow and clean cotton for bandages. And I’ll need something for the pain that won’t put her to sleep.”

“I’ve got the first two.” Jack tottered along the line of shelves and reached down for a packet of clean cotton cloth. “Bandages.” He set them on the top of a hutch filled with small perfume bottles.

“Yarrow, yarrow…that’s right over here. Haven’t had a bundle for a while.” He pulled a thin metal stick out of his pocket, no bigger around than a cigar. Then he tugged it straight. The brass stick stretched out three feet long. He pointed the clamp on the end toward a jar on one of the higher shelves. He hooked the jar down and set it next to the bandages.

“As for keeping someone awake and out of pain, I’m not sure there’s much for that. You can have your pick of whiskey, laudanum, or Bateman’s Drops.” He opened a small door on his apothecary hutch.

“No coca leaves?” Captain Hink asked.

Old Jack shook his head. “Bartered them off for a case of champagne. Have a bottle of Peruvian coca tonic left.” He withdrew a slim green bottle.

“Knew a glim runner who used it once,” Hink said to Mae. “He didn’t have complaints.”

Mae held out her hand and Old Jack passed her the bottle. She studied the label. “There’s three dosages worth here.” She considered the long road ahead and that they had lost nearly all their supplies in Vicinity. “Better this and two bottles of laudanum, if you have them.”

“Said I did, didn’t I?” Jack pulled down two bottles. “They ain’t cheap. We’re coming into winter and I won’t have new supplies until the winds calm in spring.”