After his second shift, Santiago would have been free. He was thinking of his Lope, his little Lope. How fond he was of him! Lope was the youngest ship's boy on board and, at least in his eyes, the most beautiful, sweet and arousing.
Almost all the men on board, who more who less, had sex between themselves or with the ship's boys, but Santiago was one of the few that, when they landed in some ports, didn't have a woman nor was looking for one. He was one of those that like only their own gender. Like him, on board, there were others, like Felipe or Esteban or Juan and some others. But then, there was Lope.
Lope had been initiated by Gonzalo, but in reality, even before embarking, he had some experience with men, and he liked it. After he had sex with Gonzalo, Ramon did try with the boy, but the lad refused and had instead accepted Pedro's proposal. Then he had had a horrible adventure, when he had been lured by Luis to the water reserve hold with the pretext there were barrels to clean. Here Ramon was waiting, and the two sailors, pointing a knife to his throat, made him undress, tied him up, and raped him, in turn, while the other watched. They fucked him several times before letting him go, and they threatened to cut his balls if he told anyone.
Then, Lope became Santiago's boy and the sailor spread the news that now Lope was his boy and that he was watching over him and would protect him with his dagger, if necessary.
His little, hot Lope who always wanted to make love! Well, also Santiago desired to make love with his boy, as soon as they could withdraw and hide somewhere. Santiago in fact, being a young sailor, couldn't have a private berth like the old sailors, so he had to have sex at night practically under everybody's eyes, as many did anyway because they were just giving vent to their sexual urge; otherwise he had to find other places and other moments to be alone with his Lope. Because the two, more than just fucking, were really making love. And if you can also fuck in the shadow even if others can see you, it is not possible to exchange affection under the eyes of people ready to mock you.
He was completely immersed in this kind of thoughts, when Cisco approached him:
"Hey, man!" he greeted him.
"Ola, Santiago. I was just looking for you. Listen..." he said, drawing closer and lowering his voice, "Lope sends me. He says that he will wait for you at the hawsers deposit, as soon as you are free."
"Ah. Why didn't he came to tell me?"
"What do I know? Now he is cleaning the deck, maybe he can't move right now."
"Well, thank you, Cisco." Santiago answered resuming his work. Lope will wait for him at the hawsers deposit. For sure to make love, the young sailor thought with sweet longing since he knew his ship's boy very well. They had already done it there, because it was a safe enough and quiet place, and if somebody was coming, they could hear him on time to get dressed and not be caught.
Lope was vigorously swabbing the deck. He could see Alvaro nearby and further away Feliz, both kneeling like him to brush the deck. He liked Alvaro, but not so much Feliz. This boy was somewhat of a little bitch, he had sex with all the sailors who asked him, in change for a gift, and while he was fucked, he acted like a woman... The sailors liked that, but not Lope. He felt completely a man, even when he offered himself to his Santiago. He would never become the caricature of a female!
Alvaro turned to look at him for a moment and winked his eye. Lope winked back. Yes, he liked Alvaro, because he too was a man and had his man... A shadow made him look back.
"Ola, ship's boy!" Cisco greeted him.
"Ola, man." Lope answered continuing to brush.
"Listen," the man said bending down and lowering his voice so that the others couldn't hear him, "Santiago sends me to you. He says that, at the end of the second shift, he awaits for you at the hawsers deposit."
"Good!" the boy answered and thought that, to send someone to tell him, his man must have had a strong desire, and this pleased him very much. He really liked Santiago a lot, it was so good making love with him. Even if he was just sixteen, Lope had had many men, but Santiago was by far the best. Other men, in him, found just a hole, a substitute for the women they missed, an object for their pleasure. Santiago, on the contrary, loved him and desired him just because he was a male, and this pleased Lope. Santiago was strong and gentle at the same time, and this was a delicious mix. Lope, excited and joyful, continued to brush the deck with renewed vigour, looking forward to the imminent meeting with his man.
The two lovers were completely unaware of what was happening. The Captain, warned by Jaime that two of the crew would meet at the beginning of the third shift in the hawsers deposit for a "sordid sex affair" ordered some men to lie in wait inside the place, with the order to intervene only when the two "wicked men" had unequivocally started their "filthy deeds against nature". And Jaime had charged Cisco, one of his secret and above suspicion acolytes, to make the arrangement so that the two met just in that place.
So, when the shift change was whistled, Santiago hastily went in the hawsers deposit, sneaking inside when he was sure nobody noticed him. Lope vas not yet there. Santiago waited, sitting on a hawser roll. The boy wouldn't be late in coming.
"Oh, Santiago, here I am..." the ship's boy said opening in a wide smile as he saw his lover waiting for him.
The man stood up and opened his arms and Lope, merrily, took refuge in them, embracing his man at his waist and squeezing against him.
"You are yet aroused, baby?" the sailor said to him with a pleased smile, gently pushing with his leg between the boy's legs.
"Why, aren't you too, man?" Lope slyly answered fingering the man's fly and feeling through the cloth the strong, throbbing erection of his man.
They touched each other for a while, then the ship's boy untied his man's breeches and knelt in front of him:
"Now your Lope will prepare it carefully, so after you fuck him, agreed?" the boy merrily said and started to suck the strong rod of the sailor with joyful devotion.
"I'll make you mine with very much pleasure, boy." the young sailor answered, pushing forward his groin, and offering himself to those pleasurable preliminaries, unaware of the men hidden nearby, who didn't lose any detail of that scene at all. After a while, when the boy felt that his man was ready and quivering, he stood up quickly, let his breeches fall to his knees, wet his hole with saliva and offered his firm and little ass to his man.
"Fuck me, Santiago!" he murmured, completely aroused.
The man took the boy at his waist and leant against him, while Lope guided the sailor's rod inside him. Santiago, with few, precise strokes, penetrated the boy. Then he started to move back and forward and while his throbbing spear was enjoying that intimate and deep union, his hand searched for the boy's hard rod, already a well developed pole, and started to gently masturbate him. Lope turned his head, their lips met, and they deeply and passionately kissed.
The two were enjoying each other, filled with increasing pleasure and joy, when Gil, who was in charge of the men in hiding, gave the signal and the two lovers were suddenly set upon by six sailors. They were parted with violence. The two lovers tried to free themselves, but soon were overcome.
Gil ordered the men to pull up the two lovers' breeches and it was done.
"But, what's up, men?" Santiago asked, tense and upset.
"Nothing." Gil calmly answered.
"What are you going to do us?" Santiago insisted.
"Nothing." Gil again answered.
"Then... let us go."
"To continue your disgusting acts?"
"Come on, Gil! Who doesn't it, here on board?" Santiago said.
"Huh, huh! Those filthy things? Nobody of us never did them, right men?"
All five sailors nodded yes, laughing.
"Come on, enough with this bad joke. Let us go, now." Santiago said with a resolute tone.
"Eh, no! I'm sorry, man, but now we have to take you to the Captain."
"To the Captain? Are you joking?"
"No no. It's on his order we are here to verify the rumour that you two... did these filthy disgusting things. He couldn't believe it, the good man! Not on his ship!"
Santiago at once understood that they had fallen into a trap. So he asked his boy:
"Lope, did you send Cisco to me?"
"I? You sent him to me, didn't you?"
"No, Lope. It was a snare. And we have been trapped like two novices. Deny all, Lope."
The men laughed scornfully.
"Sure." the ship's boy boldly answered.
"But we are six witnesses, six against two. Who do you think the Captain will believe?" Gil asked with a sardonic smile.
"Listen, Gil, don't take us to the Captain. I'll became your ship's boy, I'll do anything you ask me..." Santiago murmured.
"Did you hear, men?" Gil answered, than asked to the young sailor: "Are you offering me your ass, man?"
"Yes..." Santiago answered.
"But, that way I would be the only one to amuse himself. And these other friends, here?"
"Well... they too, if you let us go." Santiago answered.
"Oh, oh! You would give your ass to all six of us! And possibly, you would even give us blow jobs like a woman?" Gil asked.
"Yes, I told you. Anything, but let us go."
"Well, you heard men. This sailor is asking to become the whore of this ship. The Captain has to be informed about that also. Let's go, we have wasted too much time, the Captain is waiting for us."
The squad of the six sailors and the two prisoners, now tightly tied, crossed the deck and went towards the Captain's cabin. On board the rumor spread.
Esteban gathered his friends.
"Santiago and Lope were caught and have been taken to the Captain. Troubles ahoy."
"That's strange. Everybody knows these things happens on board. Everybody does them. Why this story, now? I smell a rotten stench." Felipe said.
"We have to know what happened, and how!" Jose said.
Manuel then said: "We have to be united, at least amongst us. I propose an oath, men."
"What oath?" Juan asked.
"All united, one for all and all for one. We have to defend ourselves whatever the cost! Here on board something very strange is happening. We have to defend ourselves even at the price of our lives." Manuel resolute said. Then he laid down two daggers in the shape of the cross on the deck, put his hand on them, and said: "United, at the price of my life!"
One after the other the other men lay their hand on Manuel's hand, and repeated: "United, at the price of my life!" At the end there were seven hands.
Then Esteban asked the other sailors: "And you, men?"
Miguel spoke for all: "If we can, we will help you, men. But we don't feel like risking our lives. Even if we join you, we'll be too few anyway. We will not betray your secret, and this we are ready to swear. We are at your side, in all we can."
"Better than nothing." Jose murmured, clearly disappointed.
Just Manuel, Felipe, Jose, Alvaro, Juan, Esteban and Sancio had sworn.
The muster bell rung and the whole crew gathered on the deck. The seven who had taken the oath were tight in one group and the other six who didn't swear were at their side. When all the men were in order, Santiago and Lope, both tied, were pushed out of the Captain's cabin, followed by the Captain, the Second Lieutenant, Don Antonio and Don Hernando. Santiago and Lope were tied to the mainmast and their shirts were ripped away, so uncovering their backs. Diego and Gil went to the side of the two prisoners, the cat-'o-nine-tails in their hands. The Captain ordered silence, then said:
"I, Don Alonso Pedro Marcos Gonzales Serrano de Garces y Flor, Captain of the brigantine Morisco of the Navy of the glorious Spanish Kingdom, in the name of our Most Catholic King Carlos II, in the presence of the most excellent Don Francisco, don Antonio and Don Hernando, have judged the sailor Santiago Cruz and the ship's boy Lope Arias, caught in the act of the sodomy. And having found them guilty beyond doubt, I sentence them to one hundred and thirty eight strokes of the lash. They will then be chained in the hold and, at our landing in Spain, handed over to the Holy Inquisition in order to be burnt at the stake. This I have decided. The crew chief will count the lash strokes. Don Antonio will write down the verbal of the process and of the punishment. And this will serve as an example to all the crew, so that this crime against nature will never again sully the good name of my ship."
A buzz came from the men. The Captain gave the signal with his hand and the whips darted. The backs of the two prisoners were marked by sharp red strips and Jaime's voice said aloud "One!" Another dart of the two whips: "Two!" Everybody watched the punishment in a silence broken from time to time just by short whisperings. "Nine!" Jaime shouted, and his eyes shone with a sadistic pleasure.
Jose whispered: "They will not resist to one hundred and thirty eight strokes! He wants to kill them!"
"Even if they could resist... put in the hold in chains, on bread and water, then the stake..." Juan shivering murmured.
"Seventeen!" Jaime's coarse voice cried. Santiago and Lope, up to that moment, had kept silent. At each stroke their back arched, and between one stroke and the next, their bodies trembled violently. Their backs were now tortured, pieces of skin were breaking off and from their raw flesh blood was flowing.
"Thirty and three!"
And Lope started to scream: "Enough, for the love of God, stop it!"
The Captain voice rose aloud: "For the love of God? For the love of God? You, sodomite monster, you dare to call the name of God that you offended with your deeds? Twenty more lashes for the ship's boy!" he shouted. From the crew a strong murmur rose. "And twenty to anybody who will try to protest!" the Captain added, withering the crew with his glance.
Don Hernando approached the Captain and whispered something to him.
The Captain answered him aloud: "Oh no, my dear sir! There cannot be mercy for such a horrible sin. The laws of our King, of the Holy Church and of our own conscience forbid it!"
Don Hernando whispered again to him.
The captain laughed and answered, always aloud: "If they die, they would just have deserved it. Anyway, lash or stake... this is the end they deserve."
Then Don Hernando, for the first time, spoke aloud: "But the ship's boy is just a lad!"
"Not enough of a lad, Don Hernando, not enough to prevent him putting his own body in the hands of the Devil. And now shut up, if you don't want to be accused of insubordination! You hampered me enough already during the process, I won't stand another word from you!"
Don Hernando become silent and stepped back one pace, but his hand nervously clasped the hilt of his nobleman's sword. Manuel looked at his man with admiration.
"Forty and three!" Jaime shouted.
"Look at that pig... he is enjoying it..." Sancio furiously murmured.
"He will pay for this also." Esteban answered him.
"Sixty!" Jaime said.
Lope had suddenly collapsed and his head was bent on a side. The whip strokes continued, implacably. Then Miguel took a step forward and said aloud:
"With the due respect, Captain, Sir..."
The man turned, looked him up and down, then said: "Speak, storekeeper."
"The ship's boy fainted, Sir. Would it not be possible... to defer the punishment, Sir?"
"I too have eyes, storekeeper. And the punishment cannot be deferred."
"But... almost one hundred strokes yet, Sir, with the due respect, Sir, but..."
"Do you want to be accused of insubordination? Do you also want to taste twenty strokes?"
Miguel stepped back, becoming silent.
"Seventy and two."
Santiago was still conscious but from his lips not yet one wail had escaped. Just the mask of pain that was his face, just the now convulsive trembling of his body, just his back torn apart showed the intensity of his pain.
"Eighty and nine!"
Gil, who was whipping Lope, all of a sudden, lowered the whip. He had noticed that the ship's boy had had a strong and long shuddering, then his head had fallen back, eyes and mouth wide open.
"Are you tired, mister Gil?" the Captain asked.
"Sir, with all the due respect, I believe the ship's boy is dead."
"Are you a doctor, mister Gil?"
"No, but... I am sure, Sir. He doesn't breath any more."
"Be as it is, continue. And remember that you missed three strokes."
"But he is dead!" Gil protested again.
"Continue!" the Captain shouted.
Gil started again to whip the lifeless body of the boy. From the crew a strong murmur rose.
"Ninety and five!"
Then Esteban, aloud, said: "Some respect, at least for a dead!"
"Who spoke?" the Captain yelled.
"I!" Esteban said stepping forward from the line of sailors, "And, with all the due respect, I ask some respect at least for a dead!"
The Captain pointed at him: "Twenty lash strokes to that sailor."
Some men approached Esteban to take hold of him, but immediately his six companions lined at his side, their knives in hand. It was a fight, but a few minutes later Sancio, Manuel, Esteban, Felipe, Alvaro, Jose and Juan had been disarmed and held fast.
"Chain them and bring them in the bilge." The Captain icily ordered, "They will be judged for mutiny, tomorrow."
"Mister Captain, Sir, with the due respect..." Jaime, who had ceased to count, said.
"Yes?"
"Well, these seven men..."
"Would you talk in their defence? You can do that tomorrow, when I'll seat in judgement. Now continue to count the lash strokes."
"With the due respect, Captain, Sir..."
"What's up, crew chief?"
"Well, at least six of these men, have sinned against God... in the same way of these two here."
"Do you accuse them of sodomy?"
"Yes, Esteban with Sancio, Juan with Alvaro and Felipe with Jose. About Manuel... being their friend, I will not be surprised if..."
"Do you have proof of this heavy charge?" the Captain asked.
"Well, sir, the ship's boy Sancio, that one, asked me several time to... to sodome with him!"
"Bastard pig! You raped him, you together with Carlos!" Esteban shouted.
"And Diego with Carlos and Gil raped me!" Alvaro shouted.
"You see, sir, they are trying to sully the honour of honest and God-fearing men!" Jaime aloud complained.
"I'm not born yesterday, crew chief! Very often the guilty tries to accuse his accuser! This in itself is enough proof of their guilt." the Captain said contemptuously.
Don Hernando again intervened: "Sir! Don Alonso!"
"What's up, now?"
"We cannot believe one rather than the other before sitting in judgement!"
"Who's the Captain, here!?" the Captain thundered.
"You, Sir, but..."
"The Captain's judgement is not open to appeal, don't you now that?"
"Yes, but..."
"I'm the law, here on board! These seven men are guilty of mutiny and sodomy and for that they will be whipped, from tomorrow. Every day one of them starting from the eldest, until we are back in Spain. This I decide and this will be done. And it's a pity we cannot build a stake here on board!"
"Would you like to take the place of the Holy Inquisition, Sir? Are you afraid the Inquisition will be more fair than you?" Don Hernando asked in a challenging tone.
The Captain looked at him in rage, then said: "Hand your sword over to Don Francisco immediately, and consider yourself under arrest for insubordination."
"I am the Rivas' Duke, Sir. Only the King can judge me!"
"Here on board I am the King!" the Captain shouted. Then, with an icy voice added: "Anyway I am not going to judge you, I'm just putting you under arrest. The King will judge you, when we are back in Spain, after I have formulated my accusations. And now, hand over your sword, or my first charge against you will be mutiny, for you too!"
Don Hernando handed over his sword to Don Francisco and went at a fast pace to his cabin. The Captain called Pedro and Eusebio and put them on watch outside the aristocrat's cabin. Then after having the seven men taken to the bilge, he ordered to resume the whipping of Santiago and of Lope's corpse. Gil asked to be replaced and this was granted.
When the seven prisoners were alone on the bilge, chained to each other and to a pillar, Juan asked:
"What will become of us, now?"
"Death, in one way or the other. Are you scared, man?" Felipe asked him.
"No." Juan answered.
"But I am! I am just eighteen, I don't want yet to die!" Alvaro said sorrowfully.
"Possibly... our friends..." Manuel ventured.
"What can they do? Nothing. Also your man couldn't do anything. We should have killed Jaime before." Esteban said gloomily.
Sancio said: "Don Hernando was brave to expose himself in that way."
"And he will do something for us, I'm sure!" Manuel said.
"But what? Now he is under arrest!" Alvaro reminded them.
They become silent, immersed in their sullen reflections.
Later the limp body of Santiago was brought down.
"Is he... alive?" Felipe asked.
"Yes." answered Ramiro, one of the two men who carried Santiago.
"And, Lope?" Alvaro asked.
"To the fishes, poor ship's boy. And without a funeral." Bartolome, the other man answered, shaking his head. Then added: "Miguel secretly gave me this rum, hiding it from the Captain, to heal him. Do it yourselves, we have to go back."
"Don't abandon us!" Jose said.
"I don't know what we can do. Anyway Gonzalo has summoned us. We will see." Ramiro whispered to him and the two men went away.
In the dark, the seven men surrounded Santiago and tried to help him as they could. The man, completely inanimate, groaned lightly. His body was shaken by fast spasms. His forehead was burning. They spread part of the rum on his back, and part they let drip between his lips. Manuel and Juan sat on the low stinking water and took their unfortunate companion's body on their laps so that Santiago's tortured back and the head didn't touch the bilge water.
Once a day Miguel and Ramiro came down to bring them bread and water, and some scraps of food stolen from the storeroom, more rum for Santiago, and a cream to heal his wounds and those of the men who had already received the lash strokes.
"What's all that for, if we have to die anyway?" Alvaro asked once.
"Hey, boy, Mistress Death is still far away!" the storekeeper said.
"But she is yet lying in wait, Miguel, I can feel it." the boy retorted.
"She is always lying in wait, boy, the Dark Lady," Miguel answered, "from the very moment you come to this world, but... I don't want to give you hopes, but..."
"But?" Felipe pressed him.
"But Gonzalo succeeded in talking with Don Hernando and... perhaps..."
"Perhaps?" Felipe pressed him again.
"Your friends didn't forget you. Try to get Santiago back into shape, now. Did he come to his senses?"
"Not yet. But the fever seems to lower." Esteban answered.
"Don't give up hope, men, not yet." Miguel said leaving.
The seven friends spoke amongst themselves excited by the words of hope that the storekeeper had let slip out.
"Perhaps, they are organising a mutiny." Sancio said.
"No, I don't think so. They are not numerous enough. If mutiny was to be done, the moment was when the Captain ordered to whip poor Lope's corpse. That moment passed... they will not move, for sure." Felipe answered.
"Then, perhaps..." Juan started to say.
"It is useless to build castles in the air, my friend. We can do nothing other than to wait." Felipe interrupted him.
"Miguel said they are planning something with Don Hernando." Manuel reminded them.
"Right. So we can just wait, now." Felipe repeated.