Jeff made his way slowly through the trees, following the lights and sounds coming from the town a short distance ahead. Somewhere here he expected to find one or more of Craig’s men lying in wait for the raiding party to pass by. Then he saw him. Crouched down in the shadows just inside the trees along the path to the beach was a man with his sword drawn. Jeff scanned the area carefully looking for others. With no other men in sight, Jeff slowly crept forward and took a position behind a tree about 20 feet from the man. Jeff peeked out from behind the tree and watched the man intently. Voices from the path made Jeff and his quarry both sink back into the shadows.
Craig and Coxen were once again arguing loudly. “Ye have gone soft, Coxen! Me men just be havin’ a little fun and ye want to be guardian o’ the peasants.”
“Craig, your men are as reckless and stupid as you are. We had to fight much longer and harder tonight than we should have because you and your men couldn’t leave the villagers alone. Instead of a handful of drunk soldiers, we wound up fighting the whole town!”
“Aye! And we won and now be takin’ all of value this shithole has, not settling for merely a bit o’ Spanish payroll and a silver tea set from the Governor’s house.”
“What of value did you steal from those people? A bit of rum, some worthless jewelry?” Coxen demanded.
“Aye, and the wenches be most entertainin’, or at least would ha’ been if ye an yer men had not interfered!” Craig answered.
“You and your men are barbarians, Craig!”
“Aye, but we be FUN barbarians! When did ye become such an old wench, Coxen?”
Jeff watched the men through the trees. As the Captains’ voices faded down the path, a line of men loaded down with crates and sacks followed them. Jeff could see the man in the trees shifting his weight, apparently to ready himself to pick off the last man in line. Jeff crept forward slightly and prepared himself to close the distance quickly when the man made his move. As Jeff saw the last man in the line pass by, the man in the trees slipped out onto the path and Jeff quickly followed. The would-be ambusher crept forward with his sword poised to attack, but Jeff struck first, grabbing the man by the hair and ripping his sword across his throat from behind. The man made a slight gurgling noise as he fell to the ground. The other Stevens, who had been the target of the ambush, continued down the path toward the beach, apparently none the wiser.
Just then, another of Craig’s ambush party emerged from the trees on the other side of the path and charged at Jeff. Jeff raised his sword to defend himself, but the man suddenly lurched forward and fell face-first at his feet. A large knife protruded from between the man’s shoulder blades and Jeff looked up to see Jenny smiling at him from the trees. “Nice shot!” he whispered to her as she stepped forward and retrieved her knife. “Come on, we need to catch up to the line!” Jeff said. He and Jenny took off running down the path. As they rounded a curve, they could see another of Craig’s men stepping out of the trees behind the other Stevens. “Snap!” the sound rang out as Jeff stepped on a small branch lying on the path and the would-be ambusher spun around with his sword at the ready. “I’ll take him. You stay with the line!” Jeff said as he raised his sword and ran directly at the man. Jenny ran past them as the two men’s swords clanged together between them.
Jeff and his opponent circled each other. Down the path, there was shouting followed by an exchange of several gunshots. “Jenny!” Jeff screamed to himself. But his worry over her safety would have to wait. His opponent suddenly advanced on him, slicing hard at him repeatedly, but Jeff’s training served him well and he was able to parry the blows.
His opponent stepped back, apparently surprised by Jeff’s skill. “Not bad, mate. I should like to test ye some more, but I’m afraid I haven’t the time,” he said as he pulled his flintlock and leveled it at Jeff.
Jeff flinched as the shot rang in his ears, and he searched his body for the pain of the wound, but there was none. The man in front of him collapsed on the ground and Jeff looked up to see the other Stevens standing just down the path holding a smoking flintlock. “Thanks!” Jeff exclaimed with relief.
“Think nothing o’ it Mr. Greene. I owe ye a debt of thanks fer havin’ me back up the path.”
“You knew?” “Aye, the Captain had warned us to be on guard. I seen ‘im comin’ but then I seen ye comin’ up behind that first one and knew ye ‘ad ‘im. I plays like I be unawares so they stick to their plan an’ not attack all at once. Less chance o’ anyone o’ us getting hurt.”
“Good thinking,” Jeff nodded with approval.
“Now, come wit’ me, Mr. Greene, the Captain’s waitin’.”
Jeff walked toward the other Stevens and the two men made their way down the path to the beach. Along the way, they passed three lifeless bodies, who the other Stevens identified as all being Captain Craig’s men. When they reached the beach, there stood a half-circle of the men from the Wandering Wench and the Crow. In front of them were Captain Craig and his two remaining men, now on their knees with their hands behind their heads with several guns pointed at them. Captain Coxen turned to greet Jeff, “Ah Mr. Greene, very good work! Mr. Robinson tells me that the Wench is safe.
“Yes, Captain. We left her in Mr. Harrison’s capable hands. Captain Jamison, I regret to inform you that it appears that The Crow was taken over by Craig’s men.”
Jamison took a step toward Craig and kicked him in the chest, knocking him onto his back, “Craig, you scalawag! I’ll see that you hang for your treachery!”
Coxen spoke up, “Aye, we can take him and his men to the Wench and hang them there for his crew aboard The Crow and the Booty to see.”
As men stepped forward to bind the hands of Captain Craig and his men, Jeff spoke up, “If I may make a couple of suggestions, Captains...”
“Aye, Mr. Greene?” Coxen replied. “Captain Craig’s crew doesn’t strike me as the types who are going to give up without a fight, so rather than tip our hand, it might be best to let them think everything is going according to their plan.”
“Aye, there’s some sense in that,” Captain Jamison agreed, “But how do you propose to get my ship back?”
Jeff continued, “Captain Craig has a rather distinctive look. We can use that to our advantage. If one of us were to dress up like him and row out to The Crow, it would be tough for his men to tell that it wasn’t him in the dark. Then our imposter distracts them with unloading cargo while another boat comes from the other side of the ship with a boarding party. By the time they figure out what’s happening, it will be too late.”
“Aye, a good plan,” Jamison agreed as Coxen nodded his approval. “It’s settled then, but who will be posing as Captain Craig?”
Jeff cleared his throat and said with his best Captain Craig impression, “I be thinkin’ I could do it.”
“Well, I’ll be! Ye sounded just like him!” Jamison said as several men chuckled.
“Very good then,” Coxen chimed in, “We should load a long boat with some of the spoils of the raid and get Mr. Greene decked out in Craig’s finery.”
While some of the men set about loading one of the longboats, others set about stripping Craig of his hat, eye patch, and clothes. Jeff began putting on his costume as Craig knelt naked in the sand with his hands and feet bound, staring at him in stony silence. Jeff hesitated for a moment when it came time to put on the eye patch as he looked into the dark hole in Craig’s skull where his eye used to be. After killing Craig’s men in the bloody fashion he had, it seemed odd to Jeff that he’d be creeped out by the idea of putting the patch over his eye, but the disguise had been his idea after all, so he pushed his queasiness aside and slid the patch on his head.
“With the shadow from the hat, he be the spittin’ image,” Crabtree commented.
“Aye, except for one thing,” Jenny said as she stepped forward and moved the patch over Jeff’s other eye. “Craig’s men might have noticed that the patch was on the wrong side.”
“Good that yo
u have such an eye for detail, Robinson,” Jeff quipped to the groans and laughter of the group.
Several men helped Jeff shove off and he rowed steadily towards the ships that were silhouetted against the night sky. Not far behind him was one boat filled with Jamison and several of his men, all eager to retake their ship and to punish Craig’s men for their betrayal, and a second boat of crew from the Wench, headed out to reinforce Harrison’s security on their ship.
A short time later, Jeff was within hailing distance of The Crow. “Ahoy! Hold yer fire! It be Captain Craig,” Jeff called out to the ship in his best Captain Craig voice.
From the deck of the ship, a voice called back, “Ahoy, Captain! Yer plan be perfect. The fools ne’er knew what hit ‘em!”
“Aye, and now that Coxen and Jamison be dead, the ships and the spoils o’ the raid be all ours,” Jeff replied, pulling closer and closer to the ship, “Now look alive and ye get this cargo stowed. More be on its way.”
Jeff tied off the longboat alongside The Crow and climbed up the cargo net as two crewmen climbed down and started handing up sacks and crates to the two men on deck. Jeff made sure to stand in the shadows as the men worked. He kept watch on them as the longboat with Jamison and his men approached quietly from the other side of the ship. Craig’s men were so occupied with unloading the longboat that they didn’t see Jamison’s men boarding the ship until it was too late. Some of Jamison’s men quickly surrounded the two men on deck, while two with rifles took positions on the rail with their sites on the men in the longboat. “Surrender now and I’ll give consideration to sparing your lives,” Jamison said quietly so as not to alert any of Craig’s men who might be on the Grand Booty as to what was happening. One of the men on deck reached for his sword and was quickly cut down by one of Jamison’s men. The rest of Craig’s men immediately surrendered.
After Craig’s men were disarmed and bound, gagged, and secured below deck, Captain Jamison turned to Jeff, “Many thanks, Mr. Greene, for returning me my ship! Would you be so good as to employ a similar ruse to allow us to board the Grand Booty to secure her as well?
“Aye,” Jeff replied, still mimicking Captain Craig, “It be me pleasure!”
“Be careful, Mr. Greene,” Jamison cautioned with a chuckle, “If you are too convincing as Captain Craig, a member of my crew is likely to shoot you!”
“Aye… I mean, yes! You’re point is well-taken, Captain,” Jeff replied, breaking character temporarily.
Jamison’s crew re-loaded some of the cargo back into Jeff’s longboat and prepared their guns to board the Grand Booty. Soon Jeff was rowing across to Craig’s ship and once again was back in character pretending to be Craig himself. “Ahoy! It be yer Captain!” he called out. There was no response. “Ahoy!” he called out again as he came closer, but there was still no response. Jeff was uneasy as he tied the longboat alongside the ship. He could not imagine that Craig had left his own ship unattended, but perhaps he had been forced to in order to have enough men to stage the ambush on shore in addition to taking over the other two ships. But then again, it was quite possible that there were men on the ship who were aware of what was happening and were lying in wait on the deck above.
Jeff cautiously climbed up the net and peeked over the rail. The ship appeared to be deserted, so he jumped onto the deck. He drew his pistol as he scanned the shadows of the ship. “Ahoy, it be the Captain!” he called out again. From his position, he could see the longboat with the boarding party just pulling up to the other side of the ship. Then from the shadows of the far corner of the deck, Jeff heard a sound that made his heart jump. “MMMMNNGH! SNAAHHGHHH!”
Jeff nearly burst out laughing when he realized it was someone snoring. He made his way quietly across the deck towards the noise. There, lying propped against each other was two of Craig’s men passed out with a jug of rum lying next to them. Jeff carefully crept over to the rail where the first of Jamison’s men were just boarding the ship. “They’re asleep,” he whispered, pointing in the direction of the sleeping men.
When Captain Jamison and all of his men were aboard, they quickly searched the rest of the ship to make sure the sleeping men were the only ones on board. When the all clear was given, Jamison’s men surrounded the sleeping pair and Jeff stepped forward and yelled in his best Captain Craig voice, “What be the meanin’ o’ this, ye lazy dogs?!” One of the men opened an eye and immediately jumped to his feet, while the man who was leaning against him crashed onto the deck, still unconscious.
“Captain, sir! I beg yer forgiveness!” Jeff laughed as he pulled off his hat and eye patch, “Don’t worry, I’m not really the Captain. You’re not in trouble.” The man sighed and smiled with relief. “Oh, wait, maybe you are!” Jeff corrected himself as the man suddenly realized that the men surrounding him with their weapons drawn were not from his crew.
“Captain Jamison, I j…j…just be f…f…following C…C…Captain C…C…Craig’s orders, sir,” the man stammered with fear.
“Mr. Pope is it?” Jamison inquired.
“Aye, sir!” “Don’t worry Mr. Pope, you and your mates will all be treated fairly.”
“Thank you sir!”
“Each of you will be given a fair trial before we hang you!” Jamison yelled angrily. “Get these men out of my sight!” Jamison bellowed. Jamison’s men bound Pope’s hands and dragged him below deck along with his still-unconscious crewmate. Jamison assigned four of his men to stay aboard the Booty before announcing, “We should be getting back to shore now. There is still much work to be done tonight.”
Jeff joined Jamison and his crew in the longboat and after stopping off at the Wench to assure that all was secure and to pick up an additional boat for cargo, they quickly made their way back to shore. Captain Coxen greeted them as they came ashore. “I trust that you have retaken The Crow and have secured Craig’s vessel?”
“Aye, Mr.Greene’s plan worked very well. They put up very little resistance, other than the resistance of the two men on the Booty to being awakened!” Jamison exclaimed with a laugh. The men from the Wandering Wench had already loaded the two longboats on the beach and had gathered the remaining spoils from the raid on the beach.
Jamison nodded at Craig and his men, who looked as if they had taken a bit of a beating since last he’d seen them. “Did they cause you trouble?”
“No,” Coxen replied, “But I did have some difficulty restraining the men from having a bit of fun with them.”
“Well, John, do you want to hang them here, or take them back to one of the ships?” Jamison asked.
Coxen replied, “I was thinking that some of Craig’s men may be salvageable as crew, and if we are to sail with all three ships, we shall need them. If we take Craig back and hang him in front of his men, that will give them fair warning of what awaits traitors in our midst and then we can give them an opportunity to swear their loyalty to us.”
Jamison nodded with approval. “So be it. Now, as the night grows short, we should get back to the ships and prepare to be underway before the Spanish fleet shows up”.
The crews loaded up the remaining cargo from the raid and headed out to their ships. By the time the longboats were unloaded and the prisoners were locked away securely, it was nearly dawn. But as tired as the crews were, there was no time for rest. The smoke rising on shore from the fires Craig’s men had set during the raid would be a beacon to any Spanish warships in the area, so it was necessary to set sail as soon as possible. Since time was short, Coxen and Jamison opted to delay the hanging of Captain Craig and instead assigned a skeleton crew to man the Grand Booty until such time as a more permanent arrangement could be made. The weary crews set to work hauling anchor and unfurling the sails and the three ships set out for the island of Utila, where the Brethren of the Coast had a long-established stronghold.
Chapter 11: Utila
By mid-morning, the ships were well out to sea and Jeff and the rest of the crew of the Wandering Wench was struggling to stay awake afte
r the events of the night before. Jeff had been busy for the first time in his role as ship’s surgeon attending to a variety of minor injuries the crew had sustained. Most of his patients wound up cursing him for his efforts with his make-shift antiseptics. He couldn’t really blame them as he knew only too well what lime juice felt like in a cut, but it was better than developing a major infection, especially since his antibiotics were just as make-shift. Jeff was just finishing up in the infirmary when Captain Coxen gave the order for the men to pair off and sleep in shifts as he himself turned over the helm to Crabtree to grab a short nap.
Jeff tried to pair off with Jenny so she could get some sleep, but as exhausted as she was, she was more concerned about her food preparation duties than sleep. “Are you going to prepare the meals for the crew?” she asked Jeff.
“Sure, I can cook,” he replied, “You get some sleep and by the time you wake up, I’ll have some food waiting for you.” She looked at him doubtfully, but her fatigue overwhelmed her better judgment and she reluctantly headed for her bunk.
Jeff was pretty worn out too, but the adrenaline from the life and death fights of the night before still had him pretty wired. He made his way into the galley and looked around at what he had to work with. Although in fact he was actually a pretty good cook, that was in a modern kitchen with a lot of pre-made starters that reduced the work and skill requirements considerably. He decided to keep things relatively simple and make a stew with vegetables and salted pork.
It took him a lot longer to cut up enough vegetables and meat to fill the large pot than he had originally anticipated, and he was just getting the pot on the fire when Jenny entered the galley to take over. “Dare I look?” she said as she lifted the lid on the pot.
Pirates of the Storm (Stranded In Time Book 1) Page 14