Caray, Caray!

Dressed as a monk, Ric, still posing as a pious padre, goes with Mario trying to arrive in time for the auction to buy Jime and Cami before they end up in the hands of others with less well-intentioned designs. It's tough luck for Jime who was bought and driven off by Lord knows who--but at least in a decent carriage and it's a relief that she's at least seated inside it instead of being tied to a rope while being dragged behind.

Back to the auction block: Bermejo begins to offer Cami up when Timoteo, who is apparently Ric's wealthy old widower uncle, arrives. Liking what he sees (obviously runs in the family) he buys her for 4,000 reales and the auction is over. Tío Timoteo (try saying that ten times fast after chugging!) takes her away as, on the other side of the plaza, Ric arrives a minute or so too late. Cami gets into the open carriage but bends down to hide her face in shame as they drive away.

The place has emptied out pretty much and Ric and Mario cannot see either of the women there now. Mario offers to find out who bought the two women, but Ric refuses, saying it's probably better it turned out this way. (No problem. The novela gods have determined that the only other wealthy household in the town, Ric's relations, is where she'd end up.)
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So Ric goes back home to say good-bye to his mom and Cuzzin Lissie. Ma gives him grief over having to leave again for gawd knows how long and leaving her there abandoned. It's rough, she says, being an outcast in that town with all the church ladies shunning her because of his running off to be a pirate. He again says that unlike the other little boys, piracy wasn't his first choice and life isn't fair.

Ric says good-bye to Cuzzin Lissie, and asks her to take care of his annoying mother. She hugs him and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Lissie, though, is like a clinging vine and Ric seems to get a bit uncomfortable, but eventually he gets free and heads off to the ship and Jamaica for his meet with Foreman.

Meanwhile, Old Uncle Tim and Cami arrive at the old geezer's mansion. Tío Tim asks what crime she committed to end up being sold as a slave. Cami insists she did nothing wrong and was kidnapped from her home and fiancé and ended up at La Mariana Island.

Francisca, Timoteo's sister, shows up and asks what's he got a new servant for since the last thing they need is another housemaid. She looks over at Cami and tells her he sure as heck has got no need for a hooker anymore these days.

The old guy wakes up from his momentary senile stupor and orders Frannie to see that Cami gets cleaned up to get rid of the bedbugs and lice and then get her dressed in something from his dead wife. (Shucks, can't we at least dress her in live Lissie's cast-offs? Well, cheer up Cami, perhaps there'll be a pair of ruby slippers in the old broad's trunk. If there are, just remember to click 3 times the next time you tell them you want to go home. It worked for Dorothy.) Lissie gets home a few minutes later and Aunt Frannie runs out to tell her the news. She tells Lis that her daddy brought home trouble by buying some hooker from the auction block and wants her cleaned up and deloused and then dressed in one of her dead mother's outfits. The two of them wonder what crazy thing the crotchety old eccentric has got in mind this time.
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Lazaro finds Ric and Mario and then lies to Ric. Lazaro assures him and Mario that he bought back the two brothers and says he paid 5200 reales for them and then paid a merchant headed to Mexico to take the boys with him. Ric asks about what happened to Camila. He tells him that he didn't find out who bought her since he left before she was put up for sale, and he tells them he's off to the whorehouse for a liberty frolic before Ric sets sail.
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A while later after Cami has cleaned up she and Old Tim have another chat. He learns that she can read and write and cipher. He shocks her by asking if she is still a virgin and, impactada at the embarrassing memory, Cami modestly tells him how she was raped. He asks her if she's pregnant and she hasn't a clue. He then tells her, rather matter of factly, that his 3 sons died at birth and that his remaining child is a girl who is now blind.

Tia Frannie and Lissie come into the study and find the old man chatting with Cami. He introduces them and rudely explains in front of his sister that Frannie is his old maid sister who lives off his charity. He gripes to Lis then for keeping company with Mercedes, and snarks about the two of them as "the blind woman and the bitter one." Lissie says Mercedes is embittered by all her misfortunes. He explains to Cami then that he also has a sister-in-law, Mercedes, who if she hadn't been foolish enough to have married his wretch of a brother, and who, had she raised her son better, wouldn't have had to feel bitter about life.

Old Tim suddenly changes the subject and says he wants them to instruct Cami in various classes like dancing, painting and playing an instrument, in order to make her into a fine lady. Frannie asks her brother why in the world he wants to do that and he answers, "What's it to you?" and leaves.

The two women ask Cami who she really is and where she comes from. She explains and asks them what he's doing this for? Lissie suggests generosity, but Tía Frannie says she knows him too well and he hasn't got a generous bone in his body. For her money he's got some perverted plan in mind.
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At this point in time, Saintly Santi has no other option but to resign himself to Cami's loss and to strengthen himself emotionally in order to overcome the disappearance of the woman he loved and lost. Santiago has now pulled himself up this morning, and is sitting with his legs slung over the side of the bed when Rita comes in all smiles for a visit, but he's in no mood for chitchat; when Rita enters the room he shuts her down with a rude bark to fetch Vasco for him.

Vasco comes in for a heart-to-heart with Santiago. Santi has a plan to get one of the craftsmen in town to make him a wheelchair. He asks Vasco what he really thinks happened to his sister and could she be a captive of Don Jorge's instead of being drowned? Vasco almost lets the cat out of the bag that they really don't know anything, but catches himself just in time. He says Doña Sofia would know so that's out of the question. More than likely she did drown.

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First chance she gets, the ungrateful Cami writes a letter for her family and asks Ascanio to mail it for her. Ascanio refuses to take it for her when Timoteo walks in and grabs the letter out of his hands. He warns Cami against anything stupid like this. She insists that if they contact her family they'd repay the amount he spent on her, but he says he wouldn't return her for three times the amount. She is his legally and none of the letters she writes will ever get to its intended destination. If he eventually lets her go out into the town, she will be well chaperoned.

So Cami threatens to kill him but he tells her she's not foolish enough to try something like that since she knows the only thing she'd get is hung for her effort. So she asks him what in the world an old guy like him wants with her; why is he trying to turn her into a such a sophisticated lady when she thought all he wanted was a housemaid. Does he want to make a mistress out of her? He answers that as a consolation to her, if she is a good girl, provided that she puts out for him, she'll be free once he is dead.

Cami can't believe Old Tim would need her for that at his age. He turns around and casually says of course he can still get it up, from time to time of course, but the plumbing still works. So he's planning to keep her around to warm the covers whenever the urge arises, so to speak.

Meanwhile, Lissie and Tía Fran have a chat on the patio. Lis tells her how Ric came home for a short visit and how just hearing his voice makes her swoon. Fran tells her to get over it and that she's just blowing things all out of proportion with this Ric infatuation. After all, the guy is a buccaneer! He may not have killed that hooker, but he's a cold-blooded killer: a pirate who robs, kills, plunders and rapes. Lissie cannot bear to hear her aunt scream these things at her and she covers her ears. "Not him! The others may, but not him!" (Would it be a bit too crude to ask at this point if this is what they mean when they say "Love is blind?")

In her new diggs, Camila supposedly finds the courage necessary to deal with life as it is now; and she begins to improve herself for the massa, yes, learning painting, dancing and to play a musical instrument. Time passes and we see that while she is taking dancing lessons --and learning painting and to play a musical instrument--she is also learning how to curtsy with her nose tilting skyward. Not a bad gig back then, you gotta admit.
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A few more days have passed and Saintly Santi is a bit better. He still hopes that Cami will suddenly reappear. Vasco, Rita and Santiago head for the riverbank where Cami supposedly fell in. Vasco almost spills the beans about his sister again. This time Rita covers for him. Santiago says he hopes Cami is truly in heaven with God because otherwise he's determined to keep looking for her.

Back at Don Jorge's: LaFont, like that little devil that always sits on somebody's shoulder talking them into lots of evil mischief, has another bright idea for his boss. (Like the first one worked out so well, huh.) This time he tries to convince Don Jorge that they should begin robbing the caravans that transport silver in order to sell it later to the English. Jorge's not quite sold on the idea, though. He says it's risky but LaFont replies that all business has some risk to it.

Later that night in his bed, Santiago tearfully remembers Cami and his first meeting and their flirting later on. (This of course includes a view of him in all his blacksmithy bare-chested glory, bending over his beloved Cami as the two kiss.) Santi begs the Lord to return her to him while Rita tells the family what happened at the riverbank earlier and they agree to keep the lie going. Justo says they might also hope for a miracle and find that Cami has returned.

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More time passes. Ric has his meeting with Foreman, the English corsair/privateer (a person with his government's permission to pursue and to plunder the merchant ships of an enemy country, this being England, and the merchant ships in question being Spanish). Foreman explains to Ric the strategy of the next attack. They plan to wait for the flotilla of ships which they know are full of mined silver and gold, and to take them during a storm. The idea is that during a storm some get separated from the rest of the group and are easy prey then. Foreman wonders about Ric's hesitation and asks if he's turned into a coward now. Ric is not convinced to participate and is acting moody and distant. Ric says its just that this kind of life does not agree with him and he's a bit past caring.

Foreman tries to encourage Ric by telling him that the war is ending soon and they need to grab as much as they can to return home and become proper businessmen. Ric gripes that he wants a bigger percentage like the Dutch captains get, but Foreman says the English can't afford any more. Eventually they come to some agreement and Ric tells Mario to drink up and be merry cuz they've got another ship they're planning to attack.

Fran, Lissie and Mercedes discuss this new mistress-in-training of Timoteo's. The women think that Cami has bewitched Ol' Tim and that she's going after his money.
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In spite of the fact that Cami is becoming more refined and that Old Tim treats her well, she just isn't getting used to living the "good life" of a would-if-the-old-guy-could-be courtesan. One afternoon in the garden Fran walks by and they begin to chat. She explains to Frannie, who accuses her of being a sly hooker, that she only wants to get back home to her family. She isn't there by choice. (I say quit the kvetching already. It could have been much worse. You could have been sold to a real rat-infested whorehouse. As it is, this hooker job at least has a classier name and a bit of prestige, and there are some real perqs like great hours, clean sheets, 3 meaty squares a day, prettier dresses, maid service, lots nicer furniture, continuing ed classes, and you only got to do tricks with one old man, so ya know it's only gonna be once in a blue moon.....) Cami gets on her knees and begs Frannie to help her escape by mailing one of her letters.