46) He said, 'Be still'. The good Doctor left me shivering in the dark. I could not make out his features. And when he had touched me he did not die. He must be immune to my murderous touch. No surprise. He chuckled, more to himself, when I showed him the handbill with my picture rudely drawn, the handbill the crew had tossed upon my head as curses rained, 'criminal!' etc. His parting gesture was to point out another small boat tethered to the stern. It was floating just fine. Had I chosen the wrong one? Was I to try to escape again? Why the charade?
The awful cries of the crew, when they found their fellows dead in the hold, filled my brain. To escape is to escape. I can hardly be faulted for doing what anyone in my position would do. I am, instead, rather proud that death came to only two souls. I am almost a hero. It could have been much worse, so on. But still, there is a tone or timbre to mourning that sets it apart from the usual complaints of the day. Thus do I believe.
I watch the crew gather around the empty, black center of their brotherhood, all of them by the rail whence the skiff did sink. Voices calm, almost reduce to whispers. They stand quietly. The ship turns away from the shore. Further out we go until the lights from shore are nearly extinguinshed on the horizon. Then I hear the ship engine stop. We slow. A gentle rocking resumes. There is no effort to reset the anchor. Down a ladder descends the pilot, I have to believe it's him. The crew is silent as the pilot joins them. As a group they melt into the night. I stay hidden, as the Doctor instructed. I must have remained that way for minutes, until I guess the danger to me has passed, though really not knowing what else to do. I get up, finally, to escape, I suppose. I crawl toward the stern. The little boat is no longer tethered. In a turn odd to me, the crew has assembled therein. Rowing. Dr. Creep is among them. I am left alone on the ship now drifting aimlessly off shore. I would have called out, but I am not able to speak. What good would it have done? Why come back to me? Perhaps Dr. Creep, always good for a joke, sent them out looking for me? But then why did the pilot also leave? No, Dr. Creep is saving them or they've had enough, they no longer want to imprison me. Barring a hidden fold to a plan, they've been made to abandoned ship. What to think.... Well, I have the larger vessel. Room to move around, stretch my legs. I am a captain of the...the...Black Swan. My cargo is death.