"Or captured?" suggested someone else. "Perhaps they escaped in their lifeboats." Jervais's eyes were narrow and his ears all but closed. "It's too far to reach shore in a lifeboat," Pierre told him, and Jervais nodded his agreement. "We'll board the vessel," he said. "There may be some sign of them. They may even be hiding." His arms trembled nervously as he crossed them, for he could not bear to think BEYOND PARADlSh 273 that they had all been killed. For the majority of them to be killed, he would rejoice. But if anything had happened to Sylvie ... He prayed that if he discovered they had fallen ill with some sea-spread disease, that he had come in time to save Sylvie from certain death. For one moment, the thought even appealed to him. If she were ill and helpless, it would make her all the more likely to choose the strong pirate hunter over the weakling who would struggle even to carry her to her cot. He closed his eyes, wincing at himself.
