Tessa's legs tripped her up and she sprawled face down on the deck, trying to breathe. She tried to get up, but only had a knee under her when he was there! With a yell, he grabbed her shirt collar with one hand and her trouser waist with the other, and jerked her clean up over his head. She thought he was going to throw her into the sea and began to kick wildly. He let go of her collar and she fell.

Her hands slapped the deck, but he still held her by her trouser waist. He turned and walked, carrying her like a satchel. She grabbed his leg when she saw he was walking back toward his ax, still imbedded in the railing.

"Sail ho! Sail ho, off the starboard quarter!"

Tessa held Hipplewaite's leg as he froze. The constant roar of the crew who had been yelling non-stop went suddenly quiet. The silence sent a chill up her spine. Then, there was an explosion of voices as Hipplewaite and his officer began yelling. The crew jumped to the commands.

Hipplewaite reached down and grabbed the front of Tessa's shirt and pulled her upright like she was a feather. He held his arm out straight so she could not kick him, and called out some more orders to his men.

Tessa knew this would be her only real chance, while everyone was rushing to obey the shouted orders. She reached to her boot top and found her knife. Pulling it out, she kept it against her leg, out of Hipplewaite's sight. He turned, dragging Tessa, and in two strides had a hand on his ax handle. In pulling it free, he relaxed the arm holding Tessa. Tessa grabbed his shirt with her left hand, pulling herself close to him. Her knife went in his stomach. She watched his eyes open in surprise, then they looked at her hard. From the corner of her eye, she saw him lift his arm and let the ax handle slide through his fingers until the blade reached his hand. She realized he was still dangerous, and pulled her knife out and pushed it in again, and again. She broke his grip on her shirt front and pushed him back against the rail. She backed quickly toward her sword. Hipplewaite staggered after her.

Tessa picked up her sword and ran to the other rail. She brought her sword down on the rope tied to the small boat. Without a look back, she threw herself over the railing!

Act Four

She came up coughing in the wake of the Sea Harvest. A look around her spotted the rowboat thirty yards away and drifting toward her. Tessa slipped her sword back through her belt and swam slowly to meet the boat. She looked back at the Sea Harvest. It had crowded on sail and was moving quickly away.

She reached the boat and rested again by hanging on to the side after dumping her sword in it. This time it took her two tries to get over the edge and flop into the bottom.

It took Tessa several minutes to catch her breath. She pulled herself up and regained her seat. Looking around, she saw the Sea Harvest heading south, under full sail. Turning to the west, she saw the reason they were running. A ship was heading south too, trying to cut off the Sea Harvest. I hope you catch them, she said to herself.

Tessa took stock of her situation. She slowly moved around the boat, getting the oars, the cloths for her hands, cutting another piece of her shirttail to cover hear head from the sun. Once she finished all that, she settled down and began rowing slowly toward the shore.

Several hours later, the distant thunder from the south told her the two ships had met up. She continued rowing.

It was close to midnight when she reached the shore. She grabbed her sword and climbed out of the rowboat into the surf, soaking herself once more. She walked shakily up the rocky beach. She stopped to rest and fell promptly asleep.

The sun's warmth woke her the next morning. Tessa sat up and tried to push the hair out of her face. "Uggh!" she grunted, when her fingers stuck in the tangled, salt-and-dirt encrusted mess. She moved enough hair out of the way to begin taking a look around. She stood slowly and walked back to the high water mark. The rowboat was three hundred yards to the south. ;Put there by high tide, was her thought as she turned north and began to walk.

Not five minutes later, Tessa spotted a horseman in the distance. She stumbled quickly up to some rocks nearby. She pulled her sword out before looking back out from behind the rock. The horseman was getting closer.

Tessa stared intently, then grinned insanely as she recognized Alejandro! She started up to wave at him, then remembered the sword. She pushed it up under the rocks, hiding it. Waving both hands over her head, she stepped out and walked shakily toward him.

She watched him stop in alarm. She stopped too, and waited. He moved closer on his horse. Tessa thought suddenly that she must look very different to him, ragged hair, soiled white shirt tucked into sailor's pants. No wonder he is cautious. I would be too, she said to herself.

She held up a hand, "Alejandro, it is me, Tessa Alvarado." She barely recognized her voice, so parched was her throat. Alejandro must have, though, because he jumped from his horse and ran up to her. Tessa sank slowly to the ground and he kneeled next to her.

"Water," Tessa said. Alejandro ran and brought back a canteen that he held to her lips. She choked on her first swallow.

"Slowly, Seņorita, slowly," said Alejandro.

Tessa finally swallowed several times. It tasted great. After a moment, Alejandro gave her some more. Then, her brought her some bread from his saddlebag.

"It is all right Tessa. You are back in good hands," Tessa heard and recognized Vera's voice. She had been helped off Alejandro's horse, and a crowd of people were around her as they laid her on the ground by the plaza fountain. Vera held her head and was wiping her face with a cool, damp handkerchief.

Tessa looked up, recognizing several of the Dons, Gaspar, even Captain Grisham.

"Can you tell us what happened, Seņorita?" Grisham asked.

Tessa took the cup of water Vera held for her and drank it. She passed the cup back to Vera, who gave it to Gaspar, telling him to refill it.

Tessa waited a moment to think. She told the same short version of her kidnapping that she had told Alejandro.

"That is what we thought when we found yours and the Colonel's horses on the beach, along with Orvantes. How did you escape, Tessa?" asked Vera.

"The Colonel and I escaped in two rowboats," Tessa replied.

"Where is the Colonel then, Seņorita?" asked Grisham.

"We left the pirate ship at different times and we could not get back together. I just kept rowing," Tessa replied, turning over her palms to show her red and blistered hands. "Is the Doctor here?" she asked.

"He had to go out to Don Pedro's hacienda," Vera said, ooh'ing and aah'ing about her hands until Tessa asked her for more water.

Vera held the cup to her lips while she drank.

"Can someone send word to Marta that I am fine?" Tessa said when Vera paused to refill the water cup.

The crowd around her went immediately silent, alarming Tessa.

She sat up quickly. "Has Marta been hurt? Is she all right?" she asked breathlessly.

"Marta has not been hurt, Tessa," Vera replied soothingly.

"Then, what is the matter?" asked Tessa.

"She is in jail," spoke up Grisham.

"Jail!" shouted Tessa. She immediately began to stand up. Several reached to help her. Vera ended up next to her, holding her around the waist.

She swung on Grisham. "Why is she in jail? What did she do to you?"

Grisham took a step back, holding up two hands in front of him. "It wasn't on my orders, Seņorita, but on the Comandante's orders."

"Montoya's orders?"

"No Seņorita, Colonel Orvantes is Comandante here now," replied Grisham dejectedly.

"When did Orvantes do this to Marta?" Tessa asked, still stunned by the news.

"This morning, Seņorita," Grisham replied. "She refused a request from Colonel Orvantes."

"She refused and then slapped his face," exclaimed Vera.

Tessa looked from Grisham to Vera. "What did Orvantes want?"

"He said he was taking over your hacienda during the military emergency," Vera replied quickly.

"He cannot do that!" said Tessa.

"But I can, Seņorita."

Tessa turned at the sound of the voice. The crowd had parted and Colonel Orvantes walked toward the fountain.

Tessa had two immediate thoughts as he walked into the open circle around her. One was that Hipplewaite must have beaten him hard, because there were still bruises on his face, and two, that he was lucky she was unarmed.

"I have used my authority to take over as Comandante for the duration of this emergency or until Colonel Montoya's return," Orvantes said suavely.

Tessa looked at him, noticing he had on one of Montoya's coats. His arms were longer than Montoya's. "Why have you arrested my friend?"

"She refused to obey my order and she struck me."

"What is this order about? My hacienda?" Tessa asked.

"That is correct, Seņorita. I gave orders designating your hacienda as the new military headquarters in case of the return of the pirates."

Tessa clenched her fists hard, heedless of the pain, trying to contain her anger at this bald attempt to steal her land. And by this self centered popinjay!

Vera watched Tessa's face turn red and put an arm around her shoulder.

Tessa watched Orvantes' bruised face, thinking hard. She had a tough choice to make. For her, seeking vengeance for her father's murder had been her priority. Now, she had become the pueblo's guardian, having her pursuit of the truth of her father's killing deflected in order to protect the people of Santa Helena.

This was just another instance of that guardianship and the dilemma that it posed for her. Orvantes was a cruel man. He thought his position in the military hierarchy of California gave him a license to steal. Is he worse than Montoya? she asked herself. Who can say? But I know Montoya. Would her choice hurt more people than it helped? Would justice be served? Which justice?

Tessa took a deep breath, her mind made up. She turned to Vera and smiled, appearing to gracefully extricate herself from Vera's embrace. Vera let go, seeing the glint in Tessa's eyes and the gritted teeth of her smile.

Tessa walked in a small circle, widening the gap around herself and Orvantes as the crowd stepped back. She stopped in front of him. "Yes Colonel that would appear to be an excellent military strategy," she said lightly.

Orvantes seemed to have been ready for something other than the off-hand compliment from Tessa. He gave her a tentative smile.

Tessa smiled back and walked around again, making their audience take another step back. Stopping in front of Orvantes again, she looked at the crowd, then back at him. "It is too bad that I will not be able to let you occupy my hacienda, Colonel," she said clearly.

Orvantes' smile disappeared. "You have no choice in this matter, Seņorita," he said sternly.

Tessa put her hands on her hips and laughed. She pointed a finger at Orvantes. "You are missing some important information, Colonel. I know for a fact that one of the pirate ships has been blown up and the other was being pursued far to the south of here. There is no more reason for the military emergency. The pirates will not be coming back!"

The crowd all began to speak at this news. Orvantes took a step forward, raising his hand. "Hear me, hear me," he said, quieting the crowd. "I am still the Comandante and I will determine when the military emergency is over!"

There were several low-voiced comments from the crowd but most remained silent. Tessa again turned away from Orvantes and walked around in a circle, pushing the crowd back another step. She stopped again in front of him. Gaspar, Vera and a few others edged closer when she stopped.

Tessa smiled again at Orvantes. He glared at her in return. "Comandante? Yes, for the duration of the emergency." Tessa looked at the crowd and then back at Orvantes. "But wait, am I not one of the signatories who signed the document authorizing Martial Law? I now withdraw it," she said, pausing for a moment. "Does any other Don wish to withdraw his authorization?" Tessa asked, noting a smile beginning to appear on Grisham's face. She turned to Gaspar.

Gaspar took a step into the circle, getting a bit of help from Vera. "I, Don Hidalgo, also withdraw my authorization for Martial Law," he said firmly, understanding what Tessa was doing.

Several other dons spoke up, also withdrawing their authorization, causing the crowd to buzz again with conversation. They quieted when Tessa again walked up to Orvantes.

"There Colonel, you do not have to worry any more about the safety of our pueblo. Besides, you were in charge of the defense of Monterey, were you not?" Tessa asked, causing a ripple of laughter to go through the crowd.

Orvantes was not going to back down so easily. "Thank you for the information about the pirate ships, Seņorita. I must wait until I can verify it. Until then, you may stay in your hacienda."

"Thank you, Colonel." Tessa turned toward Captain Grisham. "Captain can you have Marta released now?"

"That will not be possible, Seņorita," Orvantes spoke up before Grisham could answer.

Tessa swung back around to Orvantes. "What do you mean, Colonel? You said I could have my hacienda back."

Orvantes gave her a thin smile. "Yes, that is correct, but your woman attacked me personally, and I cannot allow that. She will be punished accordingly."

Continue to Part Eleven

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