July 24th, 1771

Oh... I'm nearly too tired to write. My very bones ache... We've been lifting and pulling and heaving and pushing for two whole days - and the night between them. I am tired! Tired and aching and, oh, my back hurts... I just need to sleep... All this work... It's harder than I thought to be a pirate. Especially when you're not used to it and the most you've ever done was to help the stable boy muck out - in secret...

I think I'm going to go to bed. I'll write back soon,

Me
xxxx

July 25th, 1771

I feel much better and refreshed now, so I can write all I wish! It was such hard work those two days. And I'm aching like anything today. But it was really good fun! Well, there was a moment when I nearly got knocked overboard and was only holding on by my little finger and it not being very strong, I would have probably drowned if Besse hadn't grabbed me and hoisted me back up - but that only gave me the jitters for a couple of seconds. I don't have a clue why Besse saved me, though. NO WAIT! I get it... He has evil plans of making us slaves, or- or- or of cooking us for dinner. I swear it must be that... I've got goosebumps just thinking about it. And I bet he'll feed us to the crew without even telling them, and- Well, I'll stop there - too much to tell you without going on about carnivorous monsters.

Talking about monsters, we saw one the other day. A real live sea monster. One of those serpent things, and REALLY long. Humungously so. I mean, it was about three times as big as our ship. And it just slithered straight by us - us all in awe of it, I mean, it was hard not to be. Though Kes said he didn't have the faintest idea what it was doing this side of the world, seeing as they shouldn't have them in the tropics - them being fresh water creatures.

He said he'd seen one when he was little and it had curled around a ship not a hundred yards from his own pa's and just crushed it. Squeezed it. And it had fallen apart and you could see all the sailors jumping out and screaming in agony before the sea monster ate them. He swallowed them whole, you know, and didn't even give them a dignified death - they must have been covered in saliva. Fancy dying like that! No wonder the other pirates were all scared out of their brains - if I'd known that when it had gone past, I would have been too. But he told me and Ben afterwards in an important whisper.

To change the subject, the meals are atrocious! They shouldn't be allowed to have some of the stuff they give us! Some of it ressembles more what comes out than what should go in. All stodgy and sticky and runny and gluey, at the same time as well. The colour isn't right, either. Kind of... undescribable nothingness. And the water's all stale and dirty - they all drink so much rum that they don't care, though.

I don't miss my family or anyone. Strange, when you think of it. Not even Dawn. This one is so good and friendly, and I'm so busy, that I don't have time to. Do you think I should send them a letter to tell them I'm alright? I hope they're not worried or anything - it would be dreadful if they were.

You don't half get wonderful sunsets and rises out here... Out in the ocean... Back home it was nice - though I never really got a good look... But here it is just... well, fantastic. The whole lot of it. The colours just trickle out and then blaze and then disappear and you can't even see when it's happening! You kind of just realise it's changed and then you realise it's not there any more. Beautifully strange.

We're to arrive at the next port in not three days time, I shall write back when we arrive - my ink supply is running drastically low.

It looks like I didn't write all that much, even though I did have a good nights sleep. Oh well! I'm going to go and see what Ben's to up on deck.

A pirate's life for me! (That's what Kes keeps saying!)

Me
xxxx

P.S. Ben had a nightmare last night and he was yelling as loud as a horn!! And he flipped around and just fell out of the bed! Hilarious!!

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Well, hope you liked it...

Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter!

i rule u all : yeah... that's what I'm here for... NOT.

JessieRose : Thank you!

Billie : Glad you liked it!