Jefferson labored for the rest of the day, learning his various duties as a cabin boy from the crew (whose teaching methods were none too gentle), all the while keeping a close eye on Captain Baron. The man held onto the Chronivac for a while. Then he disappeared into his quarters briefly and returned without it. Jefferson observed this and noted to himself that the captain must have left the book in his quarters, and began to plot how he could get in there and retrieve it. He had to get that book!
At dinner time, the captain joined the crew below deck for drinks. Jefferson was exhausted from the day's work, but he knew he had to take the chance and sneak away. He found the door to the captain's quarters unlocked and crept inside. He found the book on top of a chest and grasped it triumphantly. Now, he needed to write in it as soon as possible, but with what? He looked around for a pen and ink, but didn't find any. But there must be something on this ship to write with! He would have to look elsewhere.
He left the room and closed the door behind him as quietly as he could, but he barely had time to turn around before a huge hand clamped over his mouth and another snatched the book away from him. He soon found himself being dragged below deck by Mr. Teedles and presented to the captain.
"Captain," the big black man said. "I found this rat in your quarters, trying to steal this from you." He tossed the book on the table in front of the captain. Jefferson tried to shout, but his protests were muffled by Mr. Teedles' hand.
The captain, annoyed at having his merriment interrupted, picked up the book and flipped through its pages with a grim expression.
"A thief, are you? Take him back to my quarters and bind him. I will interrogate him myself."
He took another drink of ale while Mr. Teedles dragged the struggling boy back up the stairs. He waited a bit, giving Mr. Teedles enough time to prepare the boy. Then he slipped out while the men were singing and made his way up to his quarters, finding the naked boy hogtied on the floor. He ignored the boy at first, instead sitting in his chair and opening the book again, studying it.
"What is this, boy?" he said.
"It's mine!" said Jefferson.
"I didn't ask whose it was. I asked, what is it?"
Jefferson did not answer. How could he? If the captain knew what it was, he might use it. "Please give it back," he implored. "I need it to get home!"
Captain Baron stood up and walked across the room, out of Jefferson's sight. He returned shortly, putting his foot on Jefferson's back between his shoulder blades to stop him from moving. Then, Jefferson felt a sudden, blinding pain on the sole of his right foot, where the captain had struck him with a long narrow stick that he used for disciplining unruly cabin boys. Jefferson screamed and shook in his bonds, but the ropes and the captain's boot kept him where he was.
"What is this book, boy?"
"It's the Chronivac!" cried the cabin boy. Jeff had never even been spanked before, and was wholly unprepared for the torture of bastinado, so he was surrendering eagerly to stop the punishment. Unfortunately, the captain was not satisfied with his first answer.
"Gibberish," he said, and Jefferson soon felt the same pain on his left sole. He screamed again.
"What is this book?" repeated the captain.
"It's a magic book!"
"Do you take me for a fool?" And Jefferson's right sole got another taste of the cane.
"Aaaah! It really is, I swear! You can change people with it!"
Another blow to the left sole. Jefferson burst into tears. The captain left the boy briefly so he could open the door and shout to the first person he saw, "You there. Fetch my scrivener. Send him to my quarters at once."
Then he returned and started rummaging through a chest filled with clothes. He found what he was looking for and knelt down in front of Jefferson. "I think I have heard enough of your lies," he said, and stuffed a cloth into Jefferson's mouth, tying another cloth around his head to keep it in.
There was a knock on the door and the captain welcomed in Mr. Nash, a short, fat man with a white beard. The captain handed the book to him and said, "Read this. Tell me what it is."
Captain Baron knew the alphabet, but could not form letters into words and was reliant upon Mr. Nash to keep records for him. The little man took the book and also took a pair of spectacles that were hanging from his belt and put them on. He examined the book for some time, turning its pages and reading through them. He looked at Jefferson, who looked back at him with desperation in his eyes.
"Where did this come from?" he asked the captain.
"I confiscated it from this lad when he joined the crew."
Muffled protests came from behind Jefferson's gag. The scrivener flipped through the pages. Finding the entry he was looking for, he removed a quill and a small bottle of ink that were attached to his belt and sat down on a chest, putting the open book on his knee.
"What are you doing?" asked the captain.
"It can't possibly work," said Mr. Nash, crossing something out in the book and writing something else next to it. "It can't."
Jefferson began to struggle desperately in his bonds, but he couldn't loosen them, and soon Mr. Nash had finished writing. He looked up at the hogtied cabin boy, who was no longer a fair-skinned, red-haired boy, but was now a black African boy, still struggling to get out of his bonds.
"Merciful heavens," exclaimed the scrivener, and he returned to the book to write something else. When he was done, he looked up as quickly as he could, but the change was too fast for him, and the 16-year-old had been replaced with a 12-year-old, still hogtied just as tightly, his muffled protests now of a higher pitch.
"Did you see that?" he asked the captain.
The captain looked down at the bound cabin boy, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. "See what? My God, man, what is it?"
Mr. Nash looked down at the book with wide eyes. "Whoever holds this book in his hands yields immense power." Then his eyes rose to look at the captain. He began flipping through the pages again, looking for another entry.
"What is it, man? Have you discovered its secrets?"
"Oh, yes," said Mr. Nash, finding the page he was looking for.
"Don't keep it to yourself. What is it?"
The scrivener didn't answer. Instead he wrote as fast as he could. When he finished, he looked up. Captain Baron was no longer captain of anything. He was now another 12-year-old cabin boy. He was still looking at Mr. Nash with the same impatient expression.
"Aren't you going to tell me what's in the book?" he piped.
The scrivener flipped through the pages again and started writing. "No," he said.
"But you promised!" the boy whined.
Mr. Nash finished writing and stood up. He was quite a bit taller than he had been, considerably more trim and fit, and about twenty years younger. His white beard was brown again and his clothes were brighter and well-tailored. Neither of the cabin boys noticed these changes. The man put the book down and said, "Do you know why I invited you to my quarters, Samuel?"
"Your quarters?" The boy looked around the room.
"Yes, of course. These are the captain's quarters and I am the captain, am I not?"
Yes, of course, thought the boy. What had he been thinking a moment ago? He looked down at the hogtied boy. "Why is Yafeu tied up?"
"Yafeu is being punished. Do not concern yourself with him. I invited you here," said Captain Nash, walking up to the boy and putting a hand beneath his chin to make him look up, "to teach you the finer points of giving pleasure to a man. Have you ever given pleasure to a man in his bed before?" The man drew his finger on the boy's cheek.
"I... I don't know, sir."
"It will be one of your principle duties as cabin boy on my ship, so we had better start your education immediately."
Captain Nash began undoing the strings of his codpiece while Yafeu (formerly Jeff/Jefferson) could do nothing but watch in horror.