“Well?” Jeff asked.
“It appears to be acceptable. I can help it along as it begins to cook, but it is not a terrible start.”
“Try to control your enthusiasm,” Jeff said dryly.
Jenny smiled, “Make no mistake, I do appreciate your efforts and allowing me to get some sleep.”
She peeked out the door to make sure nobody was coming before walking over to him and planting a quick kiss on his lips, “Thankfully you’re a better lover than a cook!”
“Well that goes without saying!” Jeff said with a smile. “By the way, do you happen to have any secret hideaways on Utila like the cave in Port Royal?”
“Perhaps,” Jenny replied coyly, “But be off with you now. You need your sleep and I need to convert your stew into something edible.” Jeff gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before departing for his bunk.
Jeff awoke with a start as the noise of the anchor being lowered groaned throughout the ship. He felt as if he had just fallen asleep, but in reality it had been nearly three hours. He groaned as he raised himself off of his cot. He was pretty stiff and sore, and only now was the reality of his bloody activities the night before starting to sink in. Killing Craig’s men had been a necessity, but Jeff was more than a little disturbed at how easily he had taken his blade to them. He tried to push the thoughts from his mind as he made his way out on deck.
As he stepped out into the late afternoon sun, he could see that the ships were anchored just off shore from what looked like an old fort. “Welcome to Utila, Mr. Greene!” Captain Coxen shouted down to him from the navigation deck. Jeff made his way up to the Captain. “I hope that you are rested, for there is a busy night ahead,” the Captain said.
“Yes, I’m a bit stiff and sore, but overall not too bad. What are the plans for tonight?” Jeff inquired.
“We will be meeting Captain Jamison on the Grand Booty and Captain Craig is to be hanged at sundown. Then his remaining men will be given the choice to take an oath of loyalty to join either our crew or Captain Jamison’s or to be hanged with their Captain. Following the taking of the oaths of those who wish to join us, we shall go ashore and celebrate the success of our raids with other members of the Brethren.”
“I see,” Jeff nodded, “If it is all right with you, Captain, I’d like to skip the hanging and just join in the celebration on shore.”
Coxen sighed, “I sense that you are having some misgivings about the bloodiness of last night, and truth be told, I do not relish it myself. Despite my differences with Captain Craig, I will take no pleasure in his death, but he has committed a serious crime against us and an even more serious crime against Captain Jamison. Hanging is the required punishment and I’m afraid your presence will be expected by Captain Jamison and his crew. To not attend would be considered disrespectful.”
“All right then,” Jeff agreed, “I will come along.”
“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Mr. Greene. Sundown is approaching and we must make ready.”
A short time later, Jeff joined Captain Coxen, Jenny, and several other members of the crew as they loaded into two longboats and made their way over to the Grand Booty. Captain Jamison and his crew were already aboard and they had fashioned a simple gallows with a rope hanging down from the lowest boom on the main mast so that the rope was swinging just above the side rail. As the crews assembled, Captain Craig and his men were dragged up from below deck with their hands and feet bound. Jeff moved to the back of the group so he could look away without being noticed and Jenny followed him.
“Bring Captain Craig forward!” Jamison commanded. Two men grabbed Craig under the arms and pulled him to the rail next to where the noose was gently swaying in the breeze. Craig put up no resistance as Captain Jamison himself placed the noose around his neck. “For the crime of treason against the Brethren of the Coast, you are hereby sentenced to hang by the neck until dead. Do you have any last words?” Craig stared back in silence. “Place him on the rail!” The two men lifted Craig up and held him in place so that his bound feet were perched on the rail. “Now, with the authority of the Brethren of the Coast, I hereby order the sentence to be carried out. May God have mercy on your soul.” With that, the two men shoved Craig forward and he fell over the side of the ship. In an instant, the rope came tight with a snapping sound, and everything fell silent except for the breeze and the soft squeaking noise the rope made on the boom as Craig’s lifeless body swung back and forth against the hull of the ship.
“Bring the others forth,” Jamison commanded. Craig’s men were less passive about the process than their Captain had been and all struggled against their restraints and Jamison’s men as they were dragged forward. “Like your Captain, you men are guilty of treason against the Brethren of the Coast. But since you were following the orders of your Captain to whom you had sworn an oath of loyalty and to have failed at that oath would have also constituted treason, you shall have an opportunity to spare your own lives. Your Captain is no longer living, and as such, you are relieved of your oaths of loyalty to him. If you denounce his actions and swear new oaths of loyalty to myself, to Captain Coxen, or to any other Captain in the Brethren of the Coast of your choice, your lives will be spared. If you choose not to do so, you shall meet the same fate as Captain Craig.” Jamison turned to the first man on the left, “What say you?”
“I denounce Captain Craig and him treason. I wish to join yer crew and swear my oath o’ loyalty to ye, Captain Jamison.”
Jamison repeated the process with the other three men, and unsurprisingly, all three denounced Craig and swore their loyalty to him. Jamison nodded, “It is settled then. Your lives shall be spared, however, our law dictates that you be punished for your part in the crimes perpetrated by your Captain. It is my sentence that each of you be flogged and receive ten licks across the back with the cat ‘o nine tails. This sentence is to be carried out immediately.” The four men were pushed to their knees and their shirts were ripped from their backs. Jamison nodded to one of his crew, a large, muscular man who stepped forward with the cat o’ nine tails. “Proceed Mr. Smith,” Jamison said solemnly. Jeff winced as the first crack of the whip resounded with a loud smack against the first man’s back and the man screamed out in pain. Jenny placed her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to steady his nerves, but he barely felt it.
As the punishments continued, Jeff zoned out for a time, lost in his thoughts about his own violent actions from the night before. By the time all four men had been flogged, he was feeling rather nauseous. He realized that bloody violence was destined to be a part of his life as long as he remained in the 17th century, and now more than ever he was determined to find a way back to his own time.
Jeff was roused from his thoughts by Jamison’s voice, “Cut Craig down and leave him to the sharks. Get these men to The Crow and have Mr. Mortinson attend to their wounds.”
“Aye, Captain!”
Captain Coxen spoke up, “Now that this business is completed, let us make way to shore and celebrate!” The men erupted in cheers and headed for the longboats. Coxen approached Jeff, and Jenny shook him to attention by the shoulder. “The unpleasantness is behind us now, Mr. Greene. Take heart and we shall enjoy ourselves on shore.” Jeff took a deep breath and followed the Captain and Jenny to the rail and climbed down to their longboat. It was a short row to shore.
The stronghold at Utila was very different from the town of Port Royal and Jeff’s thoughts were soon interrupted by his new surroundings. The fort that Jeff had seen from the ship was an imposing structure with high stone walls that came right to the water’s edge. After beaching the longboats, the group made their way up a short path to the fort’s entrance, a large wooden door reinforced with metal straps. Coxen pounded on the door with his fist and a muffled voice answered from behind it, “What be the password?”
“Password? There’s never been a password!” Coxen replied with annoyance.
“There be one now,” replied the muffled voice.
“Well what is it?” Coxen demanded.
“Brethren,” replied the voice.
Coxen shook his head and sighed, “Very well, the password is brethren, now open the door!”
From behind the door there was a sliding noise and then the door creaked open. “Enter…” said the voice. Captain Coxen led the way through the door and the group filed in. Behind the door was a small, skinny man with dirty, ragged clothes who Jeff noticed smelled even worse than most of the people of this time period. “Oh, Captain Coxen, If I knowed it be ye, I woulda let ye in without the password,” the skinny man said with an apologetic tone.
“No harm done, Mr. Slate. Now, fetch us some barrels of rum and let the others know we are here. ”
Jeff looked around as they walked through the door. The inside of the small fort was pretty sparse. The center was open to the elements and the only thing there was a large fire pit that was currently not in use. There were a number of doors along the perimeter wall that looked to Jeff like they were probably barracks and an area with several large tables that was covered by a thatched roof. Off to one side there were several cages with chickens and pigeons and just next to them was a fenced-off pig wallow with five large pigs. Coxen and Jamison led the way to the tables as Slate and two other men rolled out barrels of rum from behind the tables while two women suddenly appeared from seemingly out of nowhere to prepare the fire for cooking. They soon had a large fire burning and although it was some distance away, Jeff could feel the warmth from it on his skin. Slate brought out a box of assorted containers for rum, ranging from elaborate pewter mugs to glass jars to coconut shells. Each man grabbed an item and headed for the rum barrels.
A short, rotund man waddled out from one of the doors and approached the group. “Captain Coxen, Captain Jamison, it is good to see ye both. ‘Tis been far too long!” The Captains bowed and shook hands with the man as they greeted him.
“What say you roast us a pig, Smitty? Tonight we celebrate!” Coxen exclaimed. “As you wish, Captain. It will take me some time to prepare it. In the meantime, there is plenty of rum and grog for you and your men and I believe that the wenches are making themselves presentable for your entertainment. “Very good, Smitty, you have always been an excellent host.”
Jeff and Jenny sat down across from each other, sharing the table with a mixture of their crew mates and Jamison’s men. The rum was already taking effect and the group was getting loud and boisterous. Several men raised a toast to Jeff’s impression of Captain Craig and to Jeff and Jenny’s exploits in defeating Craig’s ambush. In the midst of the merriment, Jeff noticed Smitty approaching the pig wallow and was surprised at how easily the overweight man was able to run down a pig and slit its throat before slinging it over his shoulders to take to be prepared for roasting. A short time later, the pig was on a spit and was hoisted over the fire by Smitty and the two women.
As the trio departed for what Jeff guessed was the kitchen, a couple of more provocatively dressed women appeared from the barrack doors and approached the group. Unlike the prostitutes of Port Royal who were in nice dresses, these women were pretty scantily clad, wearing just petticoats and corsets. Rather than attempting to make a deal immediately, these women simply joined the party, laughing, drinking, and flirting with the men. More of the party women gradually filed out of the barracks and joined the group, and soon there were almost as many of them as there were men at the tables.
Jeff got up and motioned for Jenny to follow him to the rum barrel. “So what’s the deal with the women? Are they prostitutes?” Jeff asked.
“Not exactly. They live here under the protection of the Brethren of the Coast and in exchange for their room and board, they provide entertainment for the men of the Brethren when they come to the fort,” Jenny explained.
“They are entertaining,” Jeff said with a smile.
“They get more entertaining with more rum, but you won’t be here to see that. I have other plans for you,” Jenny said with a wink before heading back to the table.
As Jeff took his seat, a buxom blonde woman placed herself on Jenny’s lap and wrapped her arms around her neck. Jenny acted for all the world like a horny male pirate, groping the blonde and slapping her playfully on the butt while they laughed and drank their wine. After a time, the men started to leave the table for periods of time to escort one and sometimes two of the ladies to a room for additional festivities. Jeff turned down two of the women who quickly found someone else to entertain. The blonde on Jenny’s lap had apparently taken a shine to her and seemed determined to get Jenny back to her room. To Jeff’s surprise, Jenny finally relented and left the table with the blonde, smiling at him as she left.
Jeff shrugged it off and moved towards the center of the table to listen to a couple of Jamison’s men telling tall tales of their adventures. While most of the stories were probably at least mostly fabricated, they were entertaining and Jeff was enjoying listening to them.
After a while, Jenny returned with the blonde who looked quite pleased. “Please excuse me for a while, Miss Esmerelda. I shall like to share a smoke with my mate here and perhaps later we can enjoy each other’s company again,” Jenny said.
The blonde sighed, “Very well, but do find me later. I be waiting for ye.”
Jenny beckoned for Jeff to follow her. He stood up and followed her across to the far side of the fort. She led him through a door that opened into a dark corridor. As they walked, Jeff asked, “OK, so how did you pass yourself off as a man to your blonde friend there?”
“All I will say is that the rooms here are quite dark and as for anything else, I have my ways. After all, I am a woman and I know what women like,” she replied.
“Apparently. Your friend seemed quite taken with you.”
“Aye, she did, didn’t she?” Jenny laughed.
As they turned a corner, Jeff could see glimmering light on the wall at the far end of the corridor. They entered a grotto that had gas lanterns on the wall and a dock with several longboats tied off to it. At one end the water was moving in and out of the grotto through an opening that was several feet wide, but only a few feet high – barely high enough for the boats to squeeze through. “This is where the occupants of the fort can come to escape in case the fort is ever over-run by an attack,” Jenny explained. “They also use the boats to go out to the reef to catch fish for meals. We should have it all to ourselves while everyone is occupied with the celebration,” she said as she let her hair down from the dirty bandana and began to undress. “Fancy a swim, Mr. Gree… I mean, Jeff,” she said.
“Always happy to share a swim with you, my dear,” he replied as he slipped off his own clothes.
Jenny walked to the end of the dock and climbed down the wooden ladder to the water and Jeff followed close behind. The water here had more wave action than the cave in Port Royal and it frustrated Jeff’s attempts to be close with Jenny. After a time, Jenny swam over to the ladder and climbed up on the dock. “Coming?” she asked over her shoulder as Jeff treaded water staring at her.
“Just wanted to take a moment to admire the view,” he said watching the water drop off of her naked skin.
“Don’t be too long. I’m getting a bit lonely and if you aren’t up here soon, I might have to go find my friend from earlier.”
With that, Jeff quickly swam to the ladder and climbed onto the dock. Jenny turned to welcome him and she embraced him tightly as she pressed her lips to his in a deep, passionate kiss. They eventually found themselves breathing hard in each other’s arms, somewhat worse the wear from making love on the rough floor of the grotto. They were so caught up in the passion of the moment that neither of them heard the faint footsteps approaching the grotto.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Esmerelda exclaimed, “I be looking for Mr. Robinson. Do ye know where ‘e is?”
Jenny hid her face against Jeff’s chest as he replied, “Uh, no. Haven’t seen him.” “I saw the two of ye head this way when ye went off fer yer smoke, but I never
seen him come back out.”
“Oh, he left some time ago and I don’t know where he is now,” Jeff replied nervously.
“A pity. He must ha’ gone off with another girl,” she said with disappointment. “Sorry to have bothered ye… Is that Annalisa?” she asked, squinting in the dim light at Jenny’s naked backside.
“Umm hmm,” Jenny replied with her face still buried in Jeff’s chest.
“Well ye two ‘ave fun,” the blonde said as she turned and departed.
“That was close!” Jeff exclaimed.
“Aye, a little too close,” Jenny agreed, “We had better get back to the celebration before she comes across Annalisa and starts to wonder who she saw.” The pair dressed quickly and Jeff did the best he could to re-apply Jenny’s facial disguise before they made their way back through the passageway. Jenny held back while Jeff poked his head out into the main courtyard of the fort. Thankfully, Esmerelda was just leading one of Jamison’s men to her quarters. Jeff and Jenny casually walked across and rejoined the men and women carousing at the long tables.
“Mr. Greene, Mr. Robinson, do get yourselves some rum and join us,” Captain Coxen shouted to them with his arms around two very well-endowed topless women who were perched on his lap.
“I told you they get more entertaining with more rum,” Jenny said in a low voice.
“Very entertaining,” Jeff nodded appreciatively.
Jeff and Jenny grabbed their cups of rum and sat down at the Captain’s table and listened to Coxen finishing up a tale of his past exploits, “…and I said to him, who are you going to trust? Me or your cheating wife?” It apparently had been quite a story, as the entire table erupted in raucous laughter.
Several other men at the table took turns telling stories and as darkness fell and torches were lit around the inside of the fort , Smitty appeared at the table. “The pig be ready for the feast, gentlemen. The women be bringing out the fixin’s now. Help yerselves.”
Jeff stood up and nearly fell flat on his face. Although he had been drinking it slowly, the rum on his empty stomach was definitely hitting him hard. Jenny, on the other hand, had been out-drinking him and she jumped up and headed for the fire pit with no difficulty whatsoever. Jeff managed to get his balance and staggered over to grab some food. Back at the table, things grew quiet for a short time while the pirates and women savored the roast pig. Jeff spotted Esmerelda coming out of her quarters with her last date and the two headed for the food. “Thar ye be, Mr.Robinson!” the blonde exclaimed as she approached the table. “I been lookin’ all over fer ye!”
Pirates of the Storm (Stranded In Time Book 1) Page 15