Well, I don't have much to say this time, so here we go.
Sorry about the Aragorn angst in the last chapter. Just had to put it in.
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Aragorn was woken late the next morning by Jack roughly shaking him on the shoulder. It seemed he had fallen asleep in the night and rolled down into the nook the other prisoners were in. It was lucky he did – there were British soldiers standing around the area he had been sleeping, discussing the crisis.
Obstinée was among them. Aragorn felt sure that if he and Jack were caught, they would be torn to pieces. His hands had never looked so strong before...
"Aragorn," said Jack, "quick, wake up. We've got serious trouble here."
"I see that," said Aragorn.
"Any second now them soldiers is gonna come down here," said one of the pirates, "and catch us."
"Exactly true," said Jack. "However, I do have a plan. This nook that we're all in runs all the way down this wall, right to the end. Near the end, however, it deepens into a sort of tunnel with no left wall. One at a time, we could funnel through this, and around that corner. They won't notice us.
"Well, they might, but we'll have to risk it," he added as an afterthought. "Alright, why don't we go starting from the people closest to the end?"
So the first person, a small, lizard-like man crept into the nook, and quietly shimmied through and down around the corner. He was not noticed. Then a slightly better-built man with no right arm went through. Still no one noticed him. Their last five prisoners went through after that, the man who had insulted Aragorn on the stairs last. Unfortunately this man had some trouble getting into the tunnel, and dropped his musket with a clatter which alerted the soldiers.
They turned around to see Aragorn and Jack crouched there, pushing the man's musket to him in the tunnel.
"Here! It's the prisoners!" shouted a soldier.
"What 'ave we 'ere?" said Obstinée, eyes flicking from Aragorn to Jack. "Monsieur Turner, and Monsieur Sparrow? Escaped? Well we have ways of dealing with escapees."
He began to laugh sneeringly. Aragorn stood, and walked over to Obstinée, looking him straight in the cruel eye. He held his fist up in front of him.
"You see this ring?" he said, pointing to the silver ring on his finger. "It is very, very, hard."
As Obstinée soon discovered; Aragorn punched him in the mouth with the greatest strength he could muster. When the man was on the ground, bleeding from his mouth, Aragorn drew Andúril from his scabbard, aimed a blow at Obstinée's neck and raised the sword, but was stopped by Jack, grabbing his wrists.
"Aragorn, no," he said. "Normally I'd tell you just to kill the bastard, but that would drop you even further in it than you're in it already. Besides, it isn't the opportune moment. Let's go."
Aragorn did not wish to give up this opportunity, but he put the sword back in the scabbard and followed Jack around the corner. They met up with the seven freed prisoners, on a long, thin ledge leading down into the beach.
"What are you waiting for? If you wish to be caught, by all means stay, but I'm out of here," said Jack, and began herding them along like sheep. They needed no second telling, and began running down of their own accord.
Behind them, they could hear Obstinée yelling, "What ees the matter with you fools? Follow them! Vite! vite!"
Some of the soldiers at the top came running down after them, stopping at the ledge, and fired of a volley of three shots. Jack pointed his own pistol at the brick wall of the prison and fired. A section of bricks fell down right in front of the guards, who were knocked over.
Aragorn, Jack, and the prisoners sped down the rest of the rock ledge onto the sandy beach. They did not stay long, for now soldiers in redcoats were coming from the main town to apprehend them. And men from the Navy were coming from across the beach.
The escapees charged across the beach to the dock, pushing several bystanders over in their haste. As they did so, several musket balls sent up showers of sand, water, or splinters depending on where they hit. Just as they had gone over the ramp onto the nearest dock, there was the sound of an explosion from behind them and it went up in pieces.
Another explosion sounded and they received a brief, fleeting glimpse of a cannonball plunging through the dead centre of the wharf, sending up an array of water and sharp wood (most of which fortunately went down).
"Oh God, they're firing the cannons at us," said Jack exasperatedly. Aragorn looked up to the prison. He could see no cannons at first glance, but then he looked to the roof, where two of the three cannons there were smoking.
"Can't they bloody leave us in peace?" cried Jack, jumping onto the nearest ship and busied himself with a cannon. "Aragorn! Give me a hand, will you?"
Aragorn sprang onto the ship as well, and followed Jack over to the gun.
"Help me lift this into the cannon," the pirate said, and Aragorn helped him to lift a heavy, lead ball and put it down the barrel of the gun, to a purpose Aragorn could not think. Surely nothing could shoot something of that size and weight?
Jack then took a match from his pocket and struck it on one of his teeth, aimed the cannon, and then lit the fuse.
"I advise you to let go," shouted Jack, stepping back from the cannon, and Aragorn did the same. The fuse burned down...three...two...one – BOOM! The cannonball could be seen for a split second flying from the cannon, but then was gone. The wall of the prison that faced them took on a heavy explosion right at the top, where one of the smoking cannons was positioned exactly. The men manning it flew backwards as the gun was blasted down onto the escarpment, which it smashed, and then into the water.
"Good shot," said Aragorn.
"Thank you," replied Jack. "Oh no - "
For an explosion had just sounded off, and the hull of the ship was breached and the explosion tore up the floor beneath Aragorn and Jack. Aragorn managed to hang on to the splintered edge of the hole, but Jack had been thrown upward and now hung by his arms on the mast.
"Aragorn, get off the – "he started, but then something tore through the stem of the mast. It toppled over, sending Jack falling through the hole in the deck and into the flooding hull.
Aragorn was horrified. There was a scream from the prison and he looked up to see a cannoneer being thrown from his post, off the prison and into the water.
"Do not destroy the sheeps! Fools!" the man's voice could faintly be heard as he took over the cannon. It was Obstinée. The foul man – throwing his own men over. He deserved nothing short of what justice could give him.
"Aragorn! Over here!" came another voice from out in the bay. Aragorn looked up to see a ship coming towards him, a man in a navy uniform piloting and a man in a redcoat at the bow. He gave one last look at the hull which was nearly filled with water now, and took to the dock.
He ran to the end, the ship drawing nearer, and leapt onto the side, grasping two portholes that the muzzles of cannons jutted through. A rope was let down, which he clambered onto, and was pulled up onto the deck.
The man in the redcoat had pulled him up. He took off his bicorn to reveal an untidy head of brown hair, with a neat moustache to match.
"Will," said Aragorn breathlessly. "Thank you."
"Where's Jack?" he asked.
"In that ship there," said Aragorn, nodding towards the now almost sunken ship.
* * *
Jack gasped for air above the surface of the water, managed to grasp a deep breath and plunged under the surface of the water again. He swam down to where the cannonball had struck, and was still stuck.
'At least the water's warm,' thought Jack, desperately prying at the cannonball with his fingers. It would not budge. It was tight, so Jack was mystified as to how water had gotten in. His guess was that the ship had rocked drastically when it was hit, and water came in through the portholes. 'Just my luck enough water gets in to sink this dinosaur,' he thought bitterly.
But then he thought, why didn't he just wait until there was enough water he could climb out of the hole in the floor – his roof. He splashed at the surface, trying to grab the edge of the hole, and – yes! he had it! There was quite the assortment of splinters now thrust into his hand, however.
Just then, the ship gave an almighty lurch and the bow sunk down lower. There was the sound of something rolling on the deck above him, and then a full barrel ran over his poor fingers and crammed itself into the hole. Jack roared in pain and frustration and pulled his hands out. There would be no use trying to push it out.
Now he was in very deep trouble, quite literally. The ship was nearly full of seawater, he had no means of escape through the deck, and the cannonball was still blocking his only other exit.
'Come on, move!" he thought desperately, still trying to free the lead ball. Just then, it shifted, and rolled from the hole it was stuck in and plummeted to the floor of the cove.
Jack tried to get through the hole, but became stuck halfway through. The pushed at the ship desperately, hurting his hips, but he did not move for a few seconds, and when he did, the wood tore long gashes in his legs.
His lungs on fire, he shot desperately up to the top of the water.
* * *
The last of the seven escaped prisoners climbed up the rope and onto the deck of the ship. Will helped him to his feet. Elizabeth was at the wheel, and Aragorn was standing guard over the prisoners. Now all they needed was Jack.
Chances looked grim for him, though. All that was visible of the ship he had fallen into was the tip of the mast and the railings at the stern.
There was another explosion and a cannonball blasted into the water beside the ship that they were on. Soldiers in navy uniforms and redcoats were thundering down the dock. Elizabeth turned the wheel quickly and they moved slightly away from the end, so the soldiers could not climb aboard. If Jack did not come soon, they would have to leave him.
Just then, there was a splash and a spluttering for air. Jack had come out of the water and was thrashing towards the ship.
"Throw down the rope!" cried Will, and Aragorn hurried over to see what it was. Jack was indeed swimming towards the ship.
"Throw me a bloody rope!" he shouted. He plunged under the surface of the water again. Will and Aragorn threw down the same rope that had pulled Aragorn and the prisoners onto the boat over the side yet again.
Jack broke the surface and took a firm grip on the rope. "Pull me up!" he cried, and Will and Aragorn wasted no time in doing so.
But halfway up the weight on the rope was doubled and the two men dropped it a few inches in surprise. They looked down to see Constable Obstinée clutching Jack's left leg, clawing at it with his knife-like nails.
"Arrgh!" roared Jack. "Geroff, you mad frog!"
"You and Turner are going to ze gallows, Sparrow!" the constable roared back.
"Will! Aragorn! Pull me up, fast!" Jack shouted up at them. Aragorn and Will pulled with immense difficulty at the rope, with two people on it.
Grapnels began to fly up and take hold of the railings of the ship. Soldiers climbed up these and began pouring onto the ships. The escaped prisoners immediately went to arms. Some dropped muskets and drew swords, and some kept the muskets and charged with bayonets.
Some of the soldiers were knocked over and off the ship, others jumped off in fear of the musket charge. Others, who hadn't gotten onto the ship yet, had their ropes cut and they fell into the cove. But there were some who managed to get onto the ship and begin fencing.
Jack and Obstinée were still on the rope, both struggling. Jack, who was now near the top, was struggling to take Will's hand, and Obstinée was determined to keep him from doing so.
An inaccurate grapnel flew and hit the hull, bounced off, and stuck deep into Obstinée's right shoulder. He shrieked with pain and released his grip with his feet. The rope was tugged straight out of Will's and Aragorn's hands, and Jack and Obstinée plummeted down.
As Aragorn reached for the rope, it snapped taut and the force of this caused Obstinée to let go of Jack's leg and fall head over heels into the briny seawater.
Jack laughed in triumph. "Bit wet, Mister Obstinée?" he jeered. Obstinée, who had come to the top, thrashed for the Jack's leg again, but did not find it. Will and Aragorn had started pulling again, and within moments Jack was at the top. They pulled the end of the rope up with him, and were pleased to find that there was no Mr Obstinée clinging to it.
"Alright, Jack?" asked Will.
"Fine," he replied. "Couldn't say the same thing about him, though."
Aragorn and Will laughed.
"Dispoas'd! Take us out!" cried Will, obviously to Elizabeth. She turned the wheel and began to bring them out of the harbour.
"Dispoas'd?" said Jack.
"Elizabeth," said Will quietly. "False identity."
"Ah, gotcha," said Jack brightly. Then, at the soldiers on the dock, he shouted, "Thank you for the ship, everyone! And thank you for the hospitality, Mister Obstinée, but I think I much prefer that of Mister Munditieson."
Obstinée was climbing up the wooden ladder onto the dock and cursed after him.
"Jack?" said Will, holding a cannonball.
"Ah, thank you," said Jack, and placed it in the cannon. He lit the fuse, waited three seconds, and then the end of the dock blasted to pieces. Soldiers were thrown into the water, and the unfortunate Obstinée, who had just stood up, also was catapulted into the bay. None of them was seriously injured.
Aragorn, Jack, and Will laughed loudly, and shook hands.
"Now, who are these?" said Jack, walking over to where the few soldiers brave enough to stay and fight were being held up by prisoners with unloaded muskets.
"Prisoners of war, like," said the lizard-like man evilly.
"What are you afraid of - those muskets aren't loaded," said Aragorn. The soldiers turned their heads in his direction.
"That's crazy talk!" said Jack. "Don't listen to him!"
"Shall we – "started the man without front teeth.
"No, no," interrupted Jack. "We'll be lenient. Take that boat there and trouble us no more," he said to the soldiers, pointing to a lifeboat. The soldiers happily scrabbled into it in fear.
"Mind the hole in the bottom," said the pirate, walking over to it.
"The what?" said one of the men, as Jack drew his sword and cut through the rope holding it in one stroke. The boat fell down into the water.
"See you next fall," Jack called down, as water began to fill the boat through a large hole in the bottom. The men wisely abandoned the vessel.
Jack walked up to the wheel and took Elizabeth's blue navy hat off her head.
"Thanks a lot, Lizzy darling," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders. "Why don't you let me take the wheel now?"
"Alright Jack, you can probably steer better than I can," Elizabeth replied.
Jack smiled and took control.
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Whew! That was a *long* chapter. Lots of action there. I'll get next chapter up soon again.
Sorry about the Aragorn angst in the last chapter. Just had to put it in.
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Aragorn was woken late the next morning by Jack roughly shaking him on the shoulder. It seemed he had fallen asleep in the night and rolled down into the nook the other prisoners were in. It was lucky he did – there were British soldiers standing around the area he had been sleeping, discussing the crisis.
Obstinée was among them. Aragorn felt sure that if he and Jack were caught, they would be torn to pieces. His hands had never looked so strong before...
"Aragorn," said Jack, "quick, wake up. We've got serious trouble here."
"I see that," said Aragorn.
"Any second now them soldiers is gonna come down here," said one of the pirates, "and catch us."
"Exactly true," said Jack. "However, I do have a plan. This nook that we're all in runs all the way down this wall, right to the end. Near the end, however, it deepens into a sort of tunnel with no left wall. One at a time, we could funnel through this, and around that corner. They won't notice us.
"Well, they might, but we'll have to risk it," he added as an afterthought. "Alright, why don't we go starting from the people closest to the end?"
So the first person, a small, lizard-like man crept into the nook, and quietly shimmied through and down around the corner. He was not noticed. Then a slightly better-built man with no right arm went through. Still no one noticed him. Their last five prisoners went through after that, the man who had insulted Aragorn on the stairs last. Unfortunately this man had some trouble getting into the tunnel, and dropped his musket with a clatter which alerted the soldiers.
They turned around to see Aragorn and Jack crouched there, pushing the man's musket to him in the tunnel.
"Here! It's the prisoners!" shouted a soldier.
"What 'ave we 'ere?" said Obstinée, eyes flicking from Aragorn to Jack. "Monsieur Turner, and Monsieur Sparrow? Escaped? Well we have ways of dealing with escapees."
He began to laugh sneeringly. Aragorn stood, and walked over to Obstinée, looking him straight in the cruel eye. He held his fist up in front of him.
"You see this ring?" he said, pointing to the silver ring on his finger. "It is very, very, hard."
As Obstinée soon discovered; Aragorn punched him in the mouth with the greatest strength he could muster. When the man was on the ground, bleeding from his mouth, Aragorn drew Andúril from his scabbard, aimed a blow at Obstinée's neck and raised the sword, but was stopped by Jack, grabbing his wrists.
"Aragorn, no," he said. "Normally I'd tell you just to kill the bastard, but that would drop you even further in it than you're in it already. Besides, it isn't the opportune moment. Let's go."
Aragorn did not wish to give up this opportunity, but he put the sword back in the scabbard and followed Jack around the corner. They met up with the seven freed prisoners, on a long, thin ledge leading down into the beach.
"What are you waiting for? If you wish to be caught, by all means stay, but I'm out of here," said Jack, and began herding them along like sheep. They needed no second telling, and began running down of their own accord.
Behind them, they could hear Obstinée yelling, "What ees the matter with you fools? Follow them! Vite! vite!"
Some of the soldiers at the top came running down after them, stopping at the ledge, and fired of a volley of three shots. Jack pointed his own pistol at the brick wall of the prison and fired. A section of bricks fell down right in front of the guards, who were knocked over.
Aragorn, Jack, and the prisoners sped down the rest of the rock ledge onto the sandy beach. They did not stay long, for now soldiers in redcoats were coming from the main town to apprehend them. And men from the Navy were coming from across the beach.
The escapees charged across the beach to the dock, pushing several bystanders over in their haste. As they did so, several musket balls sent up showers of sand, water, or splinters depending on where they hit. Just as they had gone over the ramp onto the nearest dock, there was the sound of an explosion from behind them and it went up in pieces.
Another explosion sounded and they received a brief, fleeting glimpse of a cannonball plunging through the dead centre of the wharf, sending up an array of water and sharp wood (most of which fortunately went down).
"Oh God, they're firing the cannons at us," said Jack exasperatedly. Aragorn looked up to the prison. He could see no cannons at first glance, but then he looked to the roof, where two of the three cannons there were smoking.
"Can't they bloody leave us in peace?" cried Jack, jumping onto the nearest ship and busied himself with a cannon. "Aragorn! Give me a hand, will you?"
Aragorn sprang onto the ship as well, and followed Jack over to the gun.
"Help me lift this into the cannon," the pirate said, and Aragorn helped him to lift a heavy, lead ball and put it down the barrel of the gun, to a purpose Aragorn could not think. Surely nothing could shoot something of that size and weight?
Jack then took a match from his pocket and struck it on one of his teeth, aimed the cannon, and then lit the fuse.
"I advise you to let go," shouted Jack, stepping back from the cannon, and Aragorn did the same. The fuse burned down...three...two...one – BOOM! The cannonball could be seen for a split second flying from the cannon, but then was gone. The wall of the prison that faced them took on a heavy explosion right at the top, where one of the smoking cannons was positioned exactly. The men manning it flew backwards as the gun was blasted down onto the escarpment, which it smashed, and then into the water.
"Good shot," said Aragorn.
"Thank you," replied Jack. "Oh no - "
For an explosion had just sounded off, and the hull of the ship was breached and the explosion tore up the floor beneath Aragorn and Jack. Aragorn managed to hang on to the splintered edge of the hole, but Jack had been thrown upward and now hung by his arms on the mast.
"Aragorn, get off the – "he started, but then something tore through the stem of the mast. It toppled over, sending Jack falling through the hole in the deck and into the flooding hull.
Aragorn was horrified. There was a scream from the prison and he looked up to see a cannoneer being thrown from his post, off the prison and into the water.
"Do not destroy the sheeps! Fools!" the man's voice could faintly be heard as he took over the cannon. It was Obstinée. The foul man – throwing his own men over. He deserved nothing short of what justice could give him.
"Aragorn! Over here!" came another voice from out in the bay. Aragorn looked up to see a ship coming towards him, a man in a navy uniform piloting and a man in a redcoat at the bow. He gave one last look at the hull which was nearly filled with water now, and took to the dock.
He ran to the end, the ship drawing nearer, and leapt onto the side, grasping two portholes that the muzzles of cannons jutted through. A rope was let down, which he clambered onto, and was pulled up onto the deck.
The man in the redcoat had pulled him up. He took off his bicorn to reveal an untidy head of brown hair, with a neat moustache to match.
"Will," said Aragorn breathlessly. "Thank you."
"Where's Jack?" he asked.
"In that ship there," said Aragorn, nodding towards the now almost sunken ship.
* * *
Jack gasped for air above the surface of the water, managed to grasp a deep breath and plunged under the surface of the water again. He swam down to where the cannonball had struck, and was still stuck.
'At least the water's warm,' thought Jack, desperately prying at the cannonball with his fingers. It would not budge. It was tight, so Jack was mystified as to how water had gotten in. His guess was that the ship had rocked drastically when it was hit, and water came in through the portholes. 'Just my luck enough water gets in to sink this dinosaur,' he thought bitterly.
But then he thought, why didn't he just wait until there was enough water he could climb out of the hole in the floor – his roof. He splashed at the surface, trying to grab the edge of the hole, and – yes! he had it! There was quite the assortment of splinters now thrust into his hand, however.
Just then, the ship gave an almighty lurch and the bow sunk down lower. There was the sound of something rolling on the deck above him, and then a full barrel ran over his poor fingers and crammed itself into the hole. Jack roared in pain and frustration and pulled his hands out. There would be no use trying to push it out.
Now he was in very deep trouble, quite literally. The ship was nearly full of seawater, he had no means of escape through the deck, and the cannonball was still blocking his only other exit.
'Come on, move!" he thought desperately, still trying to free the lead ball. Just then, it shifted, and rolled from the hole it was stuck in and plummeted to the floor of the cove.
Jack tried to get through the hole, but became stuck halfway through. The pushed at the ship desperately, hurting his hips, but he did not move for a few seconds, and when he did, the wood tore long gashes in his legs.
His lungs on fire, he shot desperately up to the top of the water.
* * *
The last of the seven escaped prisoners climbed up the rope and onto the deck of the ship. Will helped him to his feet. Elizabeth was at the wheel, and Aragorn was standing guard over the prisoners. Now all they needed was Jack.
Chances looked grim for him, though. All that was visible of the ship he had fallen into was the tip of the mast and the railings at the stern.
There was another explosion and a cannonball blasted into the water beside the ship that they were on. Soldiers in navy uniforms and redcoats were thundering down the dock. Elizabeth turned the wheel quickly and they moved slightly away from the end, so the soldiers could not climb aboard. If Jack did not come soon, they would have to leave him.
Just then, there was a splash and a spluttering for air. Jack had come out of the water and was thrashing towards the ship.
"Throw down the rope!" cried Will, and Aragorn hurried over to see what it was. Jack was indeed swimming towards the ship.
"Throw me a bloody rope!" he shouted. He plunged under the surface of the water again. Will and Aragorn threw down the same rope that had pulled Aragorn and the prisoners onto the boat over the side yet again.
Jack broke the surface and took a firm grip on the rope. "Pull me up!" he cried, and Will and Aragorn wasted no time in doing so.
But halfway up the weight on the rope was doubled and the two men dropped it a few inches in surprise. They looked down to see Constable Obstinée clutching Jack's left leg, clawing at it with his knife-like nails.
"Arrgh!" roared Jack. "Geroff, you mad frog!"
"You and Turner are going to ze gallows, Sparrow!" the constable roared back.
"Will! Aragorn! Pull me up, fast!" Jack shouted up at them. Aragorn and Will pulled with immense difficulty at the rope, with two people on it.
Grapnels began to fly up and take hold of the railings of the ship. Soldiers climbed up these and began pouring onto the ships. The escaped prisoners immediately went to arms. Some dropped muskets and drew swords, and some kept the muskets and charged with bayonets.
Some of the soldiers were knocked over and off the ship, others jumped off in fear of the musket charge. Others, who hadn't gotten onto the ship yet, had their ropes cut and they fell into the cove. But there were some who managed to get onto the ship and begin fencing.
Jack and Obstinée were still on the rope, both struggling. Jack, who was now near the top, was struggling to take Will's hand, and Obstinée was determined to keep him from doing so.
An inaccurate grapnel flew and hit the hull, bounced off, and stuck deep into Obstinée's right shoulder. He shrieked with pain and released his grip with his feet. The rope was tugged straight out of Will's and Aragorn's hands, and Jack and Obstinée plummeted down.
As Aragorn reached for the rope, it snapped taut and the force of this caused Obstinée to let go of Jack's leg and fall head over heels into the briny seawater.
Jack laughed in triumph. "Bit wet, Mister Obstinée?" he jeered. Obstinée, who had come to the top, thrashed for the Jack's leg again, but did not find it. Will and Aragorn had started pulling again, and within moments Jack was at the top. They pulled the end of the rope up with him, and were pleased to find that there was no Mr Obstinée clinging to it.
"Alright, Jack?" asked Will.
"Fine," he replied. "Couldn't say the same thing about him, though."
Aragorn and Will laughed.
"Dispoas'd! Take us out!" cried Will, obviously to Elizabeth. She turned the wheel and began to bring them out of the harbour.
"Dispoas'd?" said Jack.
"Elizabeth," said Will quietly. "False identity."
"Ah, gotcha," said Jack brightly. Then, at the soldiers on the dock, he shouted, "Thank you for the ship, everyone! And thank you for the hospitality, Mister Obstinée, but I think I much prefer that of Mister Munditieson."
Obstinée was climbing up the wooden ladder onto the dock and cursed after him.
"Jack?" said Will, holding a cannonball.
"Ah, thank you," said Jack, and placed it in the cannon. He lit the fuse, waited three seconds, and then the end of the dock blasted to pieces. Soldiers were thrown into the water, and the unfortunate Obstinée, who had just stood up, also was catapulted into the bay. None of them was seriously injured.
Aragorn, Jack, and Will laughed loudly, and shook hands.
"Now, who are these?" said Jack, walking over to where the few soldiers brave enough to stay and fight were being held up by prisoners with unloaded muskets.
"Prisoners of war, like," said the lizard-like man evilly.
"What are you afraid of - those muskets aren't loaded," said Aragorn. The soldiers turned their heads in his direction.
"That's crazy talk!" said Jack. "Don't listen to him!"
"Shall we – "started the man without front teeth.
"No, no," interrupted Jack. "We'll be lenient. Take that boat there and trouble us no more," he said to the soldiers, pointing to a lifeboat. The soldiers happily scrabbled into it in fear.
"Mind the hole in the bottom," said the pirate, walking over to it.
"The what?" said one of the men, as Jack drew his sword and cut through the rope holding it in one stroke. The boat fell down into the water.
"See you next fall," Jack called down, as water began to fill the boat through a large hole in the bottom. The men wisely abandoned the vessel.
Jack walked up to the wheel and took Elizabeth's blue navy hat off her head.
"Thanks a lot, Lizzy darling," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders. "Why don't you let me take the wheel now?"
"Alright Jack, you can probably steer better than I can," Elizabeth replied.
Jack smiled and took control.
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Whew! That was a *long* chapter. Lots of action there. I'll get next chapter up soon again.