Yet again, usual disclaimers apply throughout this tale. If you recognise it, it probably belongs to the Mouse – else it is mine!
Chapter 61 - Three Hangings and A Burial
Commodore James Norrington stared at the captured men before him. Captain Gitlin and Captain Burr stood, manacled yet defiant. Damian Roseridge struggled as two marines attempted to restrain him as well. "I was not with them, damn you!" he cursed. "They were holding me hostage!"
"That was why you were seen talking with DeWitt prior to the attack then," the Commodore sneered. "Money won't save you this time, Roseridge. You'll hang with the rest of them!" He turned to Theodore. "Take them away, Captain!"
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Commodore Norrington sat quietly in his office musing over the events of that day. The pirates had been hanged a week after the battle, as well as Damian Roseridge - despite tearful pleas from his mother. The Roseridge plantation was now in the hands of young fifteen year old Edward Roseridge and his younger sister Matilda. Following their family disgrace, they had departed the Governor's mansion and returned to their plantation, Nanette Roseridge vowing never to set foot in Port Royal again.
He had thought that the Black Pearl would have stayed, but they had fled Port Royal after the battle. He had been forced to send the HMS Gauntlet to collect those taken to safety to Port au Prince for the Black Pearl had not yet answered any of his attempts to contact them. The body of Lieutenant Robert Gillette had been buried at sea on the way to Hispaniola with full military honours.
He was still trying to find out what had happened, but so far Captain Theodore Groves had refused to speak of it, other than saying that a pirate must have killed the Lieutenant. James Norrington had the suspicion that he was withholding something, but what it was he was unsure. For now though, he was prepared to wait.
Perhaps he would find out later at the dinner that the captain was hosting at his house for the returning Turners, Weatherby Swann and his nephew James. He sighed, still unsure exactly what to put in his report for the new Governor who was expected in early November.
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