Mystic Mountains

little feeling.
    A devilish grin split Tiger 's face as he headed for the den where Malloy lurked, stopping off first to tell Joe to follow him with Satan, and to pick up something from the yard behind the tavern.
     
    * * *
     
    "Ho, Malloy," Tiger called softly. What a stroke of luck—the Irishman was just coming out of the Duck and Feathers, a doxie on his arm.
    Malloy peered through the gloom, his face a mixture of rage and dismay when he saw his arch-enemy standing before him, legs astride, his riding crop slapping against a palm.
    "What d'ya want, Carstairs?" he asked belligerently. "Sod off! You've caused me enough strife to last me a lifetime."
    "Nowhere near what I intend to cause you from this night forward. You took my property, set your filthy paws on a woman of my household. For that sin you 'll pay dearly." Tiger delivered the words with deadly calm.
    Malloy 's eyes flicked from side to side, his tongue sliding over slobbering lips as he pulled the doxie closer for protection.
    "Get away, woman," Tiger ordered. "Find another customer. This one 's going to be busy for a while."
    The woman craned her neck to peer at Malloy, then disentangled his hands from her waist and stepped away from him.
    "You stay here," Malloy told her, but she sidestepped, dodging out of his reach, running back to the bar of the public house. "Now look what you've done." Malloy shook a fist. "I'll kill you for this!"
    "You could try," Tiger invited, circling Malloy and grinning. "Come on, try it now." 
    Malloy licked his lips and backed up, watching the crop so intently he missed his footing and stumbled. Tiger pounced. "Right Joe, give me the sack," he shouted, securing Malloy's arms behind his back. The Irishman was no match for Tiger's strength.
    "Let me go," he yelled, but Tiger already had the sack over his head and secured with a length of rope.
    "Fetch Satan, Joe." Tiger nodded to the grinning boy. Malloy began to struggle, but Tiger laughed as he brought a fist down on the Irishman's ear. Malloy crumpled and hit the ground with a dull thud.
    "Hold Satan steady, boy, and I 'll just toss this swine over his back. Much as I hate to have his filthy body on my horse, 'tis too far for me to tote him to the wharf. You run along now Joe, and remember, you don't know where I went after leaving Paddy's tavern, right?"
    "Aye, sir." Joe touched a finger to the side of his nose, still grinning. "I never saw a thing. After you left I went on 'ome."
    "Good lad." Tiger gave him another coin and the boy disappeared into the shadows.
    Tiger led Satan through the alleyways. He passed few people and those he did see were too engrossed in their own business to give him a second glance. The inhabitants of these parts were used to seeing drunks carried home on horseback.
    Captain Tate 's crew knew Tiger well, and it was a simple matter to have Malloy rowed out to the ship, where the first mate followed his captain's orders to the letter.
    Tiger rode home with a smug sense of a job accomplished. That gutter rat would force himself on no wom an again.

 
     
     
    Chapter Nine
     
    Isabella loved the trading store, with its shelves lined with everything from trousers, shirts and waistcoats, to cashmere shawls, china dinner sets, tobacco and chamber pots and a thousand other items.
    The storekeeper left the old country with a few hundred pounds to spend and had since made a fortune reselling goods picked up at ports of call on the way over.
    Back home Isabella had often been chased out of the shops once the storekeeper found she had naught to spend and was just idling her time, daydreaming about buying the fancy goods on display.
    While Thelma ordered the supplies and provisions needed to see them through the week Isabella stood fingering a skein of fine silk thread that sat jumbled in a tray with several shades and thickness of embroidery yarn. How she wished she could buy it as a gift for Thelma. One day she would be rich. When she gained her ticket of leave. How she would achieve that blessed state she had no idea, but dreams were there for all fools.
    "Bella, is that you gal?" a familiar voice called.
    Isabella looked up, her face breaking into a wide smile. "Gracie! How are you?" she greeted her shipboard friend. Making her way round the shelves to Gracie 's side Isabella hugged her. "Are you doing all right? Look at you, you certainly look as if you've fallen on your feet." Circling Gracie, Isabella admired her neat frock, spotless apron