Time Ship (Book One): A Time Travel Romantic Adventure: The ideal Beach Book for reading on Holiday!

by IAN C. P. IRVINE

  Captain Rob had thought about this long and hard. He was a shrewd judge of men, and after speaking further about the plan with Richard Tyler, he had convinced himself that the man was telling the truth and was earnest in his desire to seek revenge on Captain Kidd. In addition, Tyler's story seemed to tally: the wound on his eye was still fresh, and the anger and venom that showed in his face when he talked of Kidd was real. No one could fake that. No, Captain Rob was sure that meeting Richard Tyler by accident was a stroke of good fortune that could not be ignored.

  Tyler was a small, round man, obviously well fed and partial to ale, but Captain Rob saw in him a strength of character and a sense of pride, that Kidd had obviously dented. Now Tyler wanted revenge.

  At the same time that Tyler led a band of the pirates to recover the treasure hidden in the fort, Captain Rob would lead another party to one of two houses in the town where Tyler had promised them other parts of Kidd's hoard had been hidden. He had drawn two very clear maps for James Silver and the Captain, clearly marking which house contained the hidden hoards, and handed them over with the guidance that in both houses they should make their ways to the cellars, remove the beer and water casks, and dig down for two feet in the dirt. They should then recover three large sacks, and five large chests from each house. He cautioned it would take four men to lift each chest, and they should have carts ready outside the house to convey the chests to the boats: "You will find carts and horses tethered outside the houses. Only take one chest per boat, lest it presses through the bottom and spills all over the harbor beneath."

  Captain Rob and James Silver had laughed upon receiving the instructions. They were so specific, and so clear, it was obvious the man was an accountant who lived for figures, facts and details!

  To accompany Tyler up to the Fort, Captain Rob sent the Captain of the Eagle, a tall and fierce Welshman, Captain Llewellyn Jones, one of the strongest men Rob had ever met. In a skirmish aboard a galleon off the coast of South America, Captain Rob had once seen a group of six Spaniards surround and descend upon Captain Jones, hiding him from sight as they took him on. Minutes later the Welshman was the only one to emerge alive, his cutlass swinging and striking the heads of three of the Spaniards as he did so, brushing off his attackers as if they were an annoyance rather than a threat.

  As the pirates landed their longboats on the sands of the harbor, Tyler's parting words were, "Remember, no man shall act before our party has taken the Fort, lest ye warn them and cause them to shut their gates and fire their cannon on your ships. I shall signal our success by the waving of a fire-stick on top of the walls. Look ye for my signal! Only then should ye go to work. I would caution ye not to leave any man standing who may later identify ye, lest ye want Captain Kidd to hunt ye to the ends of the world and throughout all time!"

  "Richard Tyler," Captain Rob had replied. "I promise ye man to man, that if ye succeed in yer task today, and we are victorious, ye shall be richer tonight than the Queen of Sheba!"

  "But not as good looking..." James Silver had added, jokingly. Richard Tyler had laughed, turned around and disappeared into the night, Captain Jones and his party following close behind.

  Ten minutes later Richard Tyler stood before the gates of the old Spanish Fort and shouted loudly at the watch, who were obviously asleep. The rest of the pirates under Captain Jones's command lurked behind in the shadows of the tall Blue Mahoe trees, which grew on the slopes beyond the path towards the top of the hill. From where they watched and waited they could see down onto the ramparts of the small fort, and were surprised to see that no one was obviously manning the three cannon that were visible atop the walls and pointing towards the harbor.

  Perhaps, with Captain Kidd away at sea, the garrison left behind had relaxed just a little too much, and hopefully drunk their fair share of grog.

  "Ahoy, there!" Tyler bellowed aloud. "It's Rich Tyler here, sent back by Captain Kidd to make sure that no one has fallen asleep on duty! Open up these gates and let me in. Sharpish, unless ye want me to tell the Captain what I've found here!"

  The small round man stood with his feet apart, and pressed two balled fists onto his hips, acting the part of being shocked and angry with the state of the watch on the fort.

  "Richard Tyler? Is that you out there?" a groggy voice came back, uncertainly.

  "That it be! And if that is you, Samuel Smith, then I would be worried if I were you lad! Why is the gate undefended? Who is manning the cannon? Where is the rest of the watch? Let me in! Now! Before I lose my patience and get straight back in a boat and back out to the Captain and fetch him hither too!"

  Two figures appeared in darkness on the rampart running across the top of the fort gate.

  "Tyler? What are you doing back here? Last I heard ye had caught the supply ship to Boston, on account of the fact that the Captain had given you a hiding!" There was the sound of a few laughs on the other side of the wall.

  "Well, well, Mr Black. I'd recognise that voice anywhere. Yes, it is me. I left, but only because I had to find a doctor to see to my eye. But I saw one, and now I've come back to make sure that my share of the booty is still intact, on orders of the Captain who I met ashore in Tortuga, and on the promise of an extra share to compensate for the loss my eyeball. And what do I find? Nothing less than all of you drunk and asleep in your hammocks. I tell ye what men, I'm losing my patience out here. I'll count to ten then head back down to the bay, preparing my report for the Captain as I go. If that's what you want, my boys?"

  There was the sound of commotion, and raised voices, and then slowly the two large wooden doors began to swing inwards into the fort.

  Richard Tyler stood his ground, waiting for the doors to open fully.

  "Ye took yer fair time, lads. What madness has crossed yer mind to fall asleep on duty?"

  "Keep yer hair on Richard Tyler! We saw the ships come in, and we got the right response to the challenge. All is well, Richard Tyler. All is well. Perhaps we had a little too much grog and fell asleep just afterwards, but only on account of the fact that it is Master Fletcher's birthday today. There's no need to write any report for the Captain. Especially since the booty in the storeroom is just as ye left it. Shipshape and secure. And also because I mind to recall that there is a half-full bottle of brandy here in my hand that could be yours if you would just promise to forget what ye've seen."

  "Aha...perhaps, now ye are just taking advantage of my thirst. I'll tell ye what lads. If the three of ye agree to head down to the boat just now, and collect my chest for me, I will take a drink and ponder on it for a while...But get ye gone, now, afore I change me mind!"

  From inside the gate, a few voices were heard exchanged, and then slowly three figures emerged from the darkness of the Fort and into the night, stumbling with their breeches and pulling on shirts.

  Richard Tyler pointed down the hill, and the three men stumbled past him, leaving the gates of the fort wide open.

  A few minutes later, Captain Jones and his band emerged from the trees and crept into the Fort, leaving behind six pirates who crept down the hill and quickly killed and silenced the unlucky three pirates before they realised they had been tricked and could raise the alarm.

  Inside the fort, the main party found only three other pirates asleep in their hammocks, each of whom was killed swiftly by Captain Jones with his cutlass across their throats.

  Whilst half of the men followed Richard Tyler into the store room to start collecting the treasure, the other half climbed up to the cannons and pushed them over the edge of the ramparts, watching as they crashed down the hill and bounced off the cliff and fell into the water of the bay beneath.

  Twenty minutes later, the store room was empty and the treasure was being carried slowly but steadily back down to the boats in the bay.

  Thanks to Richard Tyler, the first part of the plan had been a complete success.

  Chapter 5

  The Royal Thistle

  Puerto Bello de la Cruz

  Sunday
Morning

  1699

  4.45 a.m.

  Aboard the Royal Thistle, Captain Richard Wainwright cursed loudly, and called on the 1st Mate to bring him some more food. His stomach was rumbling so loudly he was worried that it would wake up the pirates slumbering in the houses on the shore.

  Captain Wainwright was angry that he had been left behind and in charge of the boats. He was desperate to get ashore and pay his respects to any pirate who sailed with Captain William Kidd.

  Wainwright hated Kidd for two reasons. Firstly, because they shared the same name, and Kidd had soiled its use.

  And secondly, because when he was younger he had sailed with Kidd under another command, and had suffered more than his fair share of beatings at the hands of the sadistic bastard that had later risen through the ranks and become a Captain before he had.

  Revenge had been a long time coming, but tonight he would extract whatever ounce of the sweet nectar that he could.

  His main priority for now was to look after the fleet, to protect their flank from any other boats that may inadvertently sail in behind them, and to train half of the fleets guns on the shore and the other boats in the harbor.

  A secondary task was to send a party of seamen over to the other two remaining pirate ships in the harbor belonging to Kidd's fleet, and as quietly as possible, to slip aboard, overcome their crews and capture their ships and most importantly their cannons. Captain Rob had been clear in his intent: they had to ensure that the other pirate ships from Kidd's fleet were in no position to fire upon their own, or on the raiding party as they returned from the beach. Also, Captain Rob had ordered that should the raid be successful, once their own fleet had left the harbor, a skeleton crew under Wainright's command should up anchor on the largest pirate ship, sail it to the harbor mouth, and scupper it, blocking the entrance both from new arrivals and any departures.

  On the evening before when final plans for the raid on Puerto Bello de la Cruz had been discussed and argued in the Captain's cabin aboard the Sea Dancer, the Captain of the Thistle had asked permission from Captain Rob to spare no quarter in their attack on the pirates of de la Cruz: "We are all with you in this, Captain Rob. Most of us have a personal grudge and a reason why we would be happy to send that bastard Kidd to the depths of the ocean. There is none of us that would lose a wink o' sleep over murdering that bastard! Of that there is no fear, but once we attack the stronghold in de la Cruz, we are breaking the Pirate Code, and when Kidd returns from wherever he is now - if Mr Tyler is indeed right that he is currently away at sea - he will spare no quarter in hunting us down to the ends of the earth and beyond. He will never rest until either we are dead, or he is. Personally I favour the latter," to which they had all laughed. "My point is, that although we know that those who dwell in Puerto Bello de la Cruz are pirates just like us, that once the first pistol is fired, the war will have begun. It will be either them or us. There will be no turning back. So I vote that we sink ALL their ships, burns their boats, and kill any pirate that stands against us. No questions asked. Death to them all. Lest we show mercy and wake up the next day to find them standing over our heads demanding back their treasure and then running their cutlasses through our chests. Once we commit to do this, we do it properly or not at all."

  No one spoke for a few moments.

  Not because anyone disagreed, but because the gravity of what had been said was weighing upon them all.

  Captain Rob ended the silence by standing up from the table around which they all sat, and walking slowly to the window at the back of his cabin. He turned and addressed the other captains, quartermasters and ships officers assembled before him.

  "Mr Wainwright, God bless him, is correct. As requested, no quarter shall be spared. It is my intention that we take everything of value, and leave no one standing that opposes us. Tomorrow we will break the Pirate Code, and destroy the brotherhood of pirates, that is true. But only with reason. For far too long has Captain Kidd got away with murder and brutality. His vices are infamous, and everyone here knows someone who has suffered at his hand or under his command. Tomorrow, his reign of terror will come to an end. I am hereby authorizing a sum of £10 pounds sterling to be paid in gold to the man that kills Captain Kidd and brings me his head...But let's not lose focus on why we are doing this. This isn't about revenge or any righteous desire to exact justice for the wrongdoings of Captain Kidd's past. This is purely in pursuit of the biggest treasure that any pirate has ever amassed. Kidd has it, and we want it. And what's more we shall take it! And when we have split the booty between us, we shall each retire to a land, as far away from here as possible, and live the life of a King until the day we dies. And long may that be. And no one, Kidd, the Devil, or the King of England, shall take that from us!"

  With a twinkle in each of their eyes, they all then stood as one, raised their glasses and drunk together, swearing a vow to the success of the mission and the future which they had seen and were now going to claim for their own.

  In the streets of Puerto Bello de la Cruz, the pirates under James Silver and Captain Rob's command had split up and located the houses on the maps they had been given by Richard Tyler, with several men sent out scouting to find any horses and carts they could commandeer to carry whatever they found. Under Captain Rob's instructions, a number of seamen had been left on the shore by the boats, with others lurking in the shadows at various locations en route to the houses where the treasure was hidden, guarding the boats and the escape routes and ready to deal with and dispatch any unlucky sailors that might stumble upon their plan and try to stop them.

  The success of the raid would depend upon two elements: firstly, managing to locate the treasure and extract it without waking up too many people, secondly, managing to transport it to the boats and getting it back on board ship before any alarm had been raised.

  Just in case, James Silver had ordered two howitzers to be carried to the beach and set up, pointing directly up the two main streets that passed through the town. With the howitzers filled with grape-shot and nails, and the cannons from the ships pointed directly into the town, the pirates were confident that once their raiding party had made it back down to the beach, that they would be able to cover their escape in good order.

  It was nevertheless a daring plan. When the men watched the fire signal being giving from the top of the Spanish Fort, they entered the streets of de la Cruz in high spirits, excited and dreaming of the gold, jewels and treasure that would shortly all be theirs...if the stories had been true, and Richard Tyler had not been lying to them!

  James Silver and his men reached the first house, discovering that it was directly across the street from a tavern. The sound of snoring coming from the tavern was so loud that it could be heard in the street outside, where several drunk sailors lay asleep or unconscious in the dirt. On instructions from James Silver, two of his men dragged the bodies of the drunken sailors into the shadows and quickly slit their throats. They then slowly opened the door to the tavern, counting twenty further drunkards lying on the tables and the tavern floor. They were all snoring and sleeping so deeply that they posed no risk to the pirates: cannon fire itself would possibly not wake them!

  The door to the house opposite the tavern was not locked, and James Silver led the first of the pirates inside, discovering several men sleeping on the floor on mats in the main room. Silver killed them all himself, by slitting their throats with his cutlass. His men looked on as he worked swiftly.

  Some stairs led upstairs to another floor, and Silver sent some men up with a wave of his hand. His men knew what to do.

  At the back of the main room, some stairs led down into a cellar which had beer barrels and water casks lined up against the far wall, just as Richard Tyler had said they would find.

  James Silver's pulse quickened. He could almost smell the gold!

  They went to work quickly, moving the barrels and casks to the upstairs room and starting to dig furiously in the ground with their spades.


  They worked silently in candlelight, the heat in the room building up quickly and forcing some of the pirates to strip down to their breeches, wrapping their headscarves around their necks, mouths and noses to stop them breathing in the dust.

  The dirt piled up swiftly against the other walls of the room, until at last one of the pirates shouted loudly with excitement, only to receive a quick bash on the head from James Silver for his trouble.

  "Shut up, man, lest ye wake the devil himself!"

  James Silver snatched the man's spade from him, jumped down into the small pit and dug around the chest that was slowly emerging from the ground. After he and two other men cleared the soil away, they tried lifting it but discovered they couldn’t. It was too heavy.

  Swearing loudly, Silver beckoned for help from some others, and slowly they managed to pull it up and out of the small trench.

  The lid was locked, a small padlock preventing anyone from opening it.

  Swinging the back of the spade down from above his head, James Silver eventually managed to crack the rusting padlock open, and it dropped to the floor. While the other men in the room stopped digging and stood around him, gawking at the chest, James Silver slowly opened the lid.

  Their jaws dropped wide open and profanities in four languages filled the air.

  "By the big, black beard of Beelzebub," James Silver exclaimed aloud, throwing the lid open wide, "Richard Tyler was telling the truth, God Bless Him! Take a look at that, my boys..."

  The chest was full of gold coins. Thousands of them. They glinted in the light of the oil lamps which the pirates raised above the chest. James Silver put both hands in the chest, rummaging around in the coins, and laughing aloud. He took one out, examined it closely and then bit it between his teeth, appraising it.