Aftermath of a Battle

Chapter 3

James knew they had to make for the island; they would be too easily spotted if they did not, the island might afford them a chance to stay undetected. James woke the boys, passed out some of the biscuits, passed a cup of water around, and then set four of them to rowing toward the island.

"Sir?" Mr. Taylor addressed him.

"Yes Mr. Taylor?"

"There are Spanish on that island aren't there?"

"There very well may be Mr. Taylor."

"Are we going to engage them in a fight Sir?" Mr. Taylor asked with a look of apprehension. "I mean we don't have any weapons to speak of and most of us are wounded and….."

"Mr. Taylor, hopefully we shall be able to use our wits and avoid an open confrontation with the Spanish." James replied trying to sound much more confident than he felt. The lad was right, they were not equipped or in any condition physically to engage in a battle.

"Yes Sir." Mr. Taylor answered, although James could tell by the look on his face his fears hadn't totally been put to rest. James really couldn't blame him, if not for his own years of practice in schooling his expression he had no doubt he would be wearing a similar one himself.

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They made the island and did the best they could in concealing the longboat, as long as no one looked too closely it would do. James and the boys made their way into the jungle looking for some place to conceal themselves as well. They happened upon a small cave in the side of a low hill in an area that did not show signs of heavy traffic, at least not of the human variety. James figured this was as good a time as any to go reconnoiter the area and see just what they were up against. He had intended to go by himself, seeing no reason to expose any of the boys to more danger than was necessary, but upon informing the lads of his plan Mr. Taylor and Mr. Bailie both put forth some convincing arguments in favor of taking them along with him, so he wound up doing just that.

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They kept to the cover at the edge of the jungle as much as possible as they scouted the island. They were approaching the area James figured the Man of War had been coming from and still hadn't seen any sign of human habitation. He was beginning to think the Spanish may have only put into the island to take on fresh water, and perhaps there was no base when he heard the unmistakable sounds of men engaged in some kind of gaming activity coming from just over a rise to the right of them. He motioned for the two lads with him to get down, and he did the same. He took a few moments to decide on a course of action, told Mr. Taylor and Mr. Bailie what he was going to do, then flipped over on his belly and began crawling his way up the side of the hill mentally cursing every little bit when the wound on his thigh came into contact with the rough underbrush. Just before he reached the crest of the rise he realized Mr. Taylor and Mr. Bailie had followed him.

"You two should have stayed back." James whispered to them as he passed a stern look between them.

"You really didn't tell us we couldn't come Sir." Mr. Taylor whispered in reply.

James started to censure them, then stopped. And unlike some other officers that might, he would not fault them for showing a bit of initiative, and Mr. Taylor was right he hadn't given them a direct order. He snorted a bit, "Very well then, let us see what there is to be seen."

They crawled the short distance forward, keeping as low as possible, until they could see over the crest. A short distance out on the beach from them there was indeed a group of sailors gambling, and beyond them out in the cove were anchored several Spanish ships. James looked down the beach to their left and saw a couple dozen tents pitched and several lean-to's set up for cooking, and more men milling about. He returned his gaze to the ships in the cove, there weren't any Men of War anchored there at present, there were two sloops of war, a brigantine, and one cutter anchored there.

A plan began to form in James' mind, they couldn't go very far or very fast in the longboat, they could however go quite fast and quite far if they were to get their hands on that cutter. The problem would be to get past the brigantine that was anchored between the cutter and the open sea.

"Sir? Do you have a plan?" Mr. Bailie asked as he watched James' face.

"I do have the beginnings of a plan coming to mind Mr. Bailie." James replied.

Mr. Taylor had been watching James as well, seeing him look between the brigantine and the cutter. "Are we going to commandeer one of those ships Sir?" He asked not fully able to keep the disbelief, as well as a bit of admiration, out of his tone.

James turned to the lads with a smile, "No Mr. Taylor, we are going to steal that ship." He finished as he pointed at the cutter.

Mr. Taylor and Mr. Bailie looked at each other, then at James, then at each other once more before breaking out in smiles of their own.

To Be Continued

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