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approached the bunk where the injured
young man had lain for over four days now, and said, “I hear you have come back
among the living, young chap.”
     
    Logan rasped, “Not
sure if I’m living or not, but sir, could you tell me just where I am, and how
long I’ve been here?  You remind me of my pa, but he smells like horses, and
you don’t.  So you can’t be him.”
     
    Beckford laughed in relief.  The young man certainly
would recover now that he had awakened.  “From what I hear in your dialect,
young man, you must be an American.  Tell me, just how did you come by all those
injuries?  Some bruises look like they’ve been acquired quite some time ago. 
And I’ve a feeling that I know just about what you’ve been through.  Before you
answer though, this is the ‘Silver Queen’, an ocean liner, of which I am the
owner.  You collapsed in the doorway of one of my warehouses on the docks of London, but we are over four days out to sea from there now.” 
     
    Logan waited a full
minute before giving his answer, then in a low raspy weak voice, “The ‘Silver
Queen’?  I’ve heard of her.  Luxury liner.  Before I tell you my story, may I
ask why you didn’t just turn me over to my captors?  How come you’ve taken me
in?  I’m sure there is a reward out for my hide.”
     
    “Well, I certainly don’t need any reward, and besides
my niece wouldn’t let me turn you in.”  Lord Beckford chuckled, then, “Anyway,
I wouldn’t have, in all good conscience, turned you in to that blackguard.  I
think I know pretty much your circumstances anyway.  And if the captain of that
slave-trader ship is the one you escaped from, I would have done everything in
my power to escape that devil ship too, young chap.”
     
    A key turned in the outer door lock and Claude heard
Maria’s voice calling out from the entry that she had brought lunch.  And right
about that time, Logan’s stomach growled again. 
     
    Lord Beckford patted the patient’s hand, and said,
“We’ll continue this conversation after you’ve eaten.  We will have a lot to
talk about then.”  Maria walked into the patient’s room carrying a large tray
full of hot steaming food.

CHAPTER 3
     
    Olivia answered the light tap on her stateroom door,
and smiled as she greeted her uncle.  “I guess I’m not in the best of moods
today, Uncle Claude,” she began, “and I’m really sorry.  I must have
over-reacted to the mumblings of a half-conscious man.  I was so used to the
peaceful life I’ve been living at the manor, then all the turmoil of this sea
voyage, and finding that bondsman at the warehouse has gotten to me.  I heard
Maria return. So after lunch, I believe I’ll stroll the deck for awhile, that
is if she is with the patient.”
     
    “At the moment, niece, Maria is feeding the poor man. 
He looks like he hasn’t had a decent meal in years, and although the man
appears to have strength in his arms and shoulders, his body certainly hasn’t
had much nourishment for awhile, along with his clothing being in tatters.  It
really doesn’t speak like a bondsman, and I’m not so sure that he is one, as he
appears to be more like an unkempt slave. 
     
    “There are certain vessels that use nothing but slave
labor, mostly men who have been taken captive from some of the ports around the
world.  They call it ‘shanghaiing’, and I know of several notorious ship
captains who practice this, thus saving themselves a few coins to pay a crew. 
They only hire a small crew to keep the ‘bondsmen’ in line, and I know of one
captain with the reputation of being the worst of the lot.  His name is Devlin,
Captain Devlin that is.  I’ve heard that he has forged papers for these
supposed ‘bondsmen’, although they are more than likely, most of them at least,
just some innocent chap who has been kidnapped, thus forced to work at slave
labor for the captain, until they die, or jump ship, most of them are never
heard from