He began to feel a drowsiness induced as much by the heat inside the cuddy as by loss of blood. Maybe it would be better to lie down on deck in the open air. No. Too much risk that his condition would be discovered, and the boat had not yet cleared the harbor. Will touched the bandanna gently. It was wet but not soaked clear through. He wasn’t bleeding too badly, at least on the outside. But how long could he last without medical attention? A two-day sail to Havana, possibly three. He could endure that long, surely he could; he was twenty years old and in otherwise strong condition. There had to be plenty of doctors in Havana, maybe even an American army doctor, skilled in treating battle wounds. Sure. A U.S. army surgeon would sew him up, and when he was well enough, he would marry Elvira and they would eat lunch on an inner patio and then make love in a shuttered room.

“Say, Will, how are you feeling?”

It was Nat, squatting down in the low hatchway to the cuddy.

“All right.”

“Drew said it was your ribs again.”

“Yeah. Not bad. Need a little sleep. Didn’t get much last night,” Will said, and that was true as far as it went.

“Sure you’re okay to make the trip?”

“Yeah. Let me get some sleep, Natters.”

And trusting that he had done a good job of mimicking a man sufffering nothing more than a cracked rib or two, Will Terhune shut his eyes.

Voices awakened him less than an hour later; Luis’s voice and the voice he longed to hear more than any other. Dónde está el otro señor? he heard Elvira ask, and Luis grumble in reply that el otro was asleep in the cabin; he had injured himself loading cargo because, no doubt, he was a soft one, unaccustomed to man’s work.

Gathering his strength, Will pushed himself up, bumping his head against the ceiling. In a moment, Elvira came through the hatch and crouched beside him in the narrow space between the bunk and the opposite wall. Her white shift hung in folds; the loose neckline fell away, exposing her breasts and allowing her scent to flood over him. Uttering his name and not a word more, she clasped the back of his head and kissed him fervently on the cheeks, the chin, the nose, eyebrows, lips. This was indiscreet of her; Luis did not know that they were lovers. Elvira’s tongue sought his and savored the taste of him. “If there was room in here, I would throw myself on top of you right now!” she whispered.

“Do not. Please, do not,” Will said.