Jean-Baptiste did not come home empty-handed. He made quite a stir when he brought out a powerful bow, four feet in length, that he had been given by the Abnaki. He brought back a pair of skates made of deerbone for Membertou, for his father delicious recipes from the Great Lakes, and for Angélique sacred masks used in healing rituals as well as a beaver-tail medicine bag. For Jeannette-Anne, the young Mi’kmaq who had caught his eye before his departure and had begun to haunt his dreams, he brought a game of dice called “waltestan,” made by the Mi’kmaq of the Gaspé. He had not forgotten the other members of the tribe, to whom he distributed beaded tobacco pouches, decorated knife sheaths, and pipes of all kinds, including one called a tomahawk pipe because the peace pipe came with a tomahawk blade, of which Foaming Bear was the lucky recipient. Fiery Elouèzes received an amulet (a small bag covered in glass beads and containing the umbilical cord of a newborn child), which was to be hung over a child’s cradle to guarantee long life to that child.
Jean-Baptiste’s money bag bulged with gold French Louis, British guineas, and Spanish coins that he planned to use as a deposit on a cod business. I’ll be guaranteed a profit on the European, West Indies, and near East markets, he thought. Why there’s even gold cod on the ceiling of New England’s parliament building! His dreams were made of gold, which worried his father since he didn’t want to see his son become like the white man – a money hoarder. Jean-Baptiste was as dark as Angélique was fair, as solitary as she was sociable; his nose as pointed as hers was snub. It seemed as though his genes hadn’t been touched by the white man. At twenty-two, he was as passionate about fishing as his father was about hunting. So he spent the winter months getting ready, gathering stores of salt and bait – smelt fished under the winter’s ice and fresh spring herring – preparing the lines and hooks, and organizing the hold of the Phantom Ship. Joseph gave him a hand, as did Membertou. The boy had grown considerably over the past two years. At eight, he was no longer interested in making sandcastles and chasing whelks out of their shells on shore. He wanted to go on the trip instead. Angélique hesitated, worried about the rigours of fishing on the open seas. “He’ll get seasick.”
“Captain Hyacinthe told me an old trick: just put sand in his moccasins…”
But Jean-Baptiste and Joseph knew Angélique’s arguments were only a pretext for keeping Membertou on land. Joseph tried to call on her pride. “It will make him into a man. What’s more, his wanting to come along shows he’s adopted me!
Still worried, she implored, “Promise me you’ll take good care of him; watch he doesn’t catch cold.”
She had her reasons for being afraid. Membertou had almost succumbed to a bad fever not that long after Joseph’s arrival in Ruisseau. He owed his survival to the care he received from Angélique, who was skilled in the use of medicinal herbs to treat the sick. Several people said she had power in her hands – a fluid her hands gave off that speeded healing. Warm vibrations that made Joseph’s skin prickle when she caressed him.
“You smell like a wild rose bush,” he murmured, trying to reassure her and take her mind off her worries.
Angélique’s only answer was to snuggle closer. She loved him, was still fascinated by his laughing eyes and the way they caressed life and those around him… with an ever-present hint of irony.
* * *
Jean-Baptiste’s patience ran out. They were already well into the month of May and, because of the northeaster, the ice was stuck between Ile Caraquet and Ruisseau. Every morning, he watched the ice pack struggle to hold on to the shore. Every evening, he scanned the heavens to see if the stars were bright or pale, if the moon had lost its halo, or if the “puppets” were dancing. He was hoping for a southwester squall.
Finally, the time for their departure came. The Mi’kmaq came to bid the fishermen farewell. For the occasion, a proud Fiery Elouèzes wore his wampum belt decorated with symbols representing the great Mi’kmaq empire, which covered the districts of the Gaspé peninsula and the Maritimes, and those of Gaspé, Restigouche, Miscou, Poquemouche, and Miramichi. The Phantom Ship set off into the blue of the sea and sky. In the distance, the Gaspé coastline was tinged with hues of emerald and violet. The crystal crests of the waves held a hint of mystery, and the sea was still carpeted with a few glaciers doing a little jig: they were the hangers-on, loath to leave their cradle. Off Chipagan, the schooner crossed paths with a birch canoe outfitted with a small sail. Off Miscou, at the level of the Banc des Orphelins, they met up with several Norman and Basque ships arriving from Europe; some were of Nordic or Dutch design: bulging sides, flat struts, rounded shapes – heavy ships, like hookers and galiots, capable of transporting large cargo loads. Others, like Joseph’s schooner or the Portuguese and Spanish caravels and pinnaces, had more delicate, streamlined hulls, square sterns, and struts that weren’t quite as flat. Jean-Baptiste traded fresh rations in exchange for gold Louis from the European crews, who had been living off sea biscuits, salt beef, lard, peas, and beans for weeks on end.
There was an abundance of cod, and the crew of the Phantom Ship was forever pulling up lines weighted with three-pound lead and two fishhooks. Sometimes the schools of cod were so dense they seemed to buoy up the ship. There was one small problem, however; the hooks were too crooked. The cod swallowed them and then had to be slit open up so the hooks could be retrieved. The crew worked hard; they spent entire days fishing and preparing the cod. On deck, wearing his big leather apron, Jean-Baptiste had the cut-throat’s job (he’d cut the fishes’ throat and slice open their stomach) and Foaming Bear, the beheader’s job (ripping out fish guts to work off his anger). He had to be sure to put into a separate barrel the livers, which, once filtered, would be used to make medicinal oils. The dressers job, removing the cods’ dorsal fin, was left to Seawolf, a young sea-loving Mi’kmaq, while Joseph’s job was to cover each row of fish with a layer of salt to preserve the fish until the ship returned to Ruisseau, where they’d be cured; the process was called dry curing. Membertou was less active. In fact, he spent most of his time perched on the top mast table, drawing pictures on the sails of the white whales he saw off in the distance!
Jean-Baptiste thought he’d have to throw back any giant cod they caught since it didn’t cure well, but he had the good fortune of crossing paths with a boat from St. Malo, which did prepare giant cod (by wet or green curing; the cod was slit open and salted but not dried), which the Parisians loved. A trade took place: two small cod for every big one. Jean-Baptiste began dreaming of the trip he would make to Quebec to sell his cargo of dried cod for fifteen livres4 the hundred-weight5.