Chapter 6
19 December, 1659 = Friday

It was nearing noon when we arrived back in Saint Eustatius a few days later. Thanks to good winds we made good time, though the merchantman was clearly the slowest of the three ships. As we docked the ships, the men in high spirits at the thought of being in good company tonight.

It wasn't until the gangplank was lowered that I noticed Megara waiting on me, too caught up in giving orders to my crew since Stiles was on his own ship. However, once the men were given their orders and told to be back in the morning on the day after tomorrow at eight bells or risk getting left behind, did I walk down the gangplank and embrace the beautiful woman in a more appropriate but still purplish dress that spoke of her Grecian influences.

"Miss me?" she asked and I kissed her in reply.

"If it weren't for the governor having already sent his coach for me, I'd take you back to my cabin and show you how much I've missed you," I all but growled. Meg smiled as I kissed her again, melting into me as we shared the moment, but a look through the wisps of her long brown hair told me that Simmons was already approaching.

"Tonight," she teased, smiling as I pulled back.

"Captain Hunt?" he said, stopping a few feet back as I cradled Megara as she gave a wry chuckle. "The governor would like to see you."

"Go," Megara said, giving me a slight push. "I'll be waiting."

"I'll try not to be too long," I said as I followed Simmons to the coach and got inside. Megara waited without moving from the dock, smiling warmly as the coach took off for the mansion overlooking the harbor.

Once we arrived, Simmons and I dismounted the coach and went inside, soon finding Governor Fitzherbert and Rapunzel sitting in a drawing room. They were talking with a third man, large and well built and wearing an officer's uniform. When I got close enough to hear what was being said, it sounded less like a situational brief and more like idle gossip.

"Governor," Simmons said, getting their attention as we approached. The governor and the officer rose as one, and I shook their hands in turn before bowing respectfully to Rapunzel.

"Captain Hunt," the governor said, gesturing for me to sit in a chair. "I see you've taken a few ships."

"British," I said simply. "I sacked two merchantmen, forced to sink one when the British of Nevis sent the Royal Navy after me during its capture. I managed to not only survive, but take their ship as well, scoring me the mail runner."

"Sgu," the officer said, taking his chair.

"Language, Maximus!" Rapunzel admonished the officer. The name turned a lightbulb on in my brain and I knew that this was Rapunzel's eldest son, but a look at his face and at Eugene and I knew that there was no way the governor fathered this kid. Eugene was a thin, spare man, but Maximus was big and wide, radiating power and strength. I had no doubt Eugene couldn't handle himself in a fight, but his strength was based on not being hit. Maximus was like me, big and strong enough to overpower his enemy with no trouble.

"Sorry, mom," he said, shrinking under her stern gaze.

"Three ships?" Eugene asked me and I nodded. "You have the logbook for the sunk merchantman?"

"I do," I told him, cursing myself for having left it at the Badger.

"Then I see no reason the king wouldn't be pleased," Governor Fitzherbert said. "And, by my right as governor of Saint Eustatius, I grant you the rank of captain in the Danish navy."

"Thank you, governor," I said, not using his name as I didn't want to cause Rapunzel to have a fit when she couldn't resolve her reality to ours.

"It comes with perks," Eugene told me. "The notoriety of being known to take ships, meaning sailors will more readily sail with you, and the fact that I'll be buy any ships you wish to part with. Cargos as well."

"Good to know," I told him, thinking of the merchantman and the mail runner, and we began to talk terms of trade on the ships. I got five hundred gold coins for the merchantman, and three hundred for the smaller mail runner, gold coins being an international form of currency of the period and worth more than the silver daalders I was already carrying to the tune of four times more per gold doubloon.

I left the mansion and headed back to the Badger, hearing a big commotion already in the tavern as I passed. I had to figure my men were already working on a drunk, and not wanting to intrude, passed it by as I continued on to the docks.

The Badger was as I left it, only one man on the deck as I boarded the ramp. I didn't recognize the man whittling on a piece of wood, apparently a duck by its shape. He saluted me with his knife briefly before going back to his carving.

"No coin for drink or women?" I asked him and he shook his head.

"Spent it at our last port," he told me with a wistful smile on his face. "Beautiful thing she was. The night was definitely one to remember."

I fished some coins out of my pocket, and held them out to him. He put his duck in a pocket then took the coins, a smile on his face as he looked at me.

"My date is here already," I told him, and he looked back to my dimly lit cabin as the sun began to set.

"The ship be yours, captain," he said, edging past me to the gangplank. I let him go with a smile, and figuring I had the ship to myself, went straight for my cabin. The door wasn't locked, not that I thought it had one, and went inside only to find myself shocked at the sight of Megara laying nude on my bed and oh what fun we had.

=o=0=o= 21 December, 1659 Sunday =o=0=o=

At eight bells precisely we cast off the second morning with a cheer, Megara giving me a cheerful wave as I gazed back from the poop deck of the Badger. We'd spent the entire time in port pretty much in each others arms, and though she gave no outward signs to the contrary, knew she still missed her former husband. I promised her again as we left to stay away from Captain Hook's Neverland port lest I fall victim to the dread pirate himself.

My charted course again took me down to Saint Kitts and my men seemed eager to get there as they kept the Badger at full charge. It meant we would make Saint Kitts before noon if the wind held out, but our luck held even better; a pair of merchantmen on a southeast course likely heading for British Port.

"Load the port cannon with grapeshot!" I called after confirming their British flags. My men scrambled with glee as I brought the Badger in behind the slower of the two merchantmen. The captain panicked at seeing my Dutch flag bearing so close and tried to turn and run due south, but I cut him off. Nowhere to run, he surrendered without a fight.

"Bloody pirate," he cursed as I dismissed his men from the boat.

"Privateer," I corrected him as he joined his men in the long boat.

"You still deserve to hang," he groused.

"And you deserve to be shot for not following the rules of war," I bitched at him. "I'm a privateer and serve the Dutch in an official capacity during wartime with the king's blessing. I'm as protected as any soldier in his employ by long tradition of the rules of war and the only reason I don't shoot as worthless a person as you!"

"Off with ye!" Stiles shouted as he threw them the rope that held their small craft. The sailors I was discharging seemed to understand that it was time to row for their lives and did so with gusto lest I forget manners and blow them to bits.

"Stiles," I said through almost gritted teeth as I looked at the almost disappearing flag of the other merchantman. "Tell McGregor he has this vessel. We need to get underway."

"Aye sir," he said as I turned and headed to the poop deck and retrieved the ship's log. Stiles thankfully had the crew sorted by the time I swung back to the Badger and we soon began to chase the fleeing ship where my sloop easily proved to be faster once we caught the wind but this captain was tenacious and didn't want to give up.

"Bring us alongside so we can fire our port cannons," I told the helmsman. "We'll lay a broadside against her and see if they still have the will to fight."

"Aye, sir," he growled as he steered us right the stern of the ship we were chasing. The other captain tried to coax as much speed out of his own heavily laden ship as he could but the Badger was lighter and a naturally faster ship and soon began to go board to board. The moment my first cannon lined up on the merchanman's own it fired to blast the enemy cannoneers to smithereens and leave my own ship relatively unscathed.

I then led the charge on the enemy vessel, swinging over and drawing my sword as I was approached by the enemy captain. He drew his own sword and we went at it and it was then I realized I was no swordsman. The enemy captain scored twice on my left shoulder causing blood to seep from the wounds and really pissed me off, but what's worse it scared me, and when scared I did what all humans do. I lashed out in blind rage.

With a high chop that pinned his sword momentarily, I then used my bulk to overpower the smaller man and push him back a step and knock him off center. When I released his sword, he tried to rebalance himself but a powerful slash across his arm knocked his sword to the deck. Backing up one final step, he raised his hands in surrender when he realized he was at my mercy.

"Strike the colors," the captain finally called. "We surrender."

"Round them up and relieve them of their coins," I told my crew. "Basic provisions and a longboat."

"Shall we call a count for a new officer?" Stiles asked me as my crew escorted the losers to the rowboats.

"No," I said as I looked the ship over. "Once McGregor catches up we'll take all three ships south where we'll strip this ship of its goods where we'll sell them for even more gold. Our crew is stretching thin and we can't operate them all without losing our fighting ability."

"I hate to admit you're right," Stiles said as the longboat full of enemy sailors was lowered. "I seen ten men either dead or badly wounded from our crew from this action alone."

"Damn," I cursed as I looked the dead over. Stiles was right, my crew was waning and I wasn't catching on to it fast enough. "Now I'm tempted to go make port just to acquire more men."

"Not enough men in Saint Eustatius seem to be interested in joining a privateer crew," Stiles told me. "Maybe if you came and talked to them more might sign on with us."

"Alright then," I said as I settled it in my mind. "We'll round Nevis looking for another ship or two before heading back. I hate to return with near empty pockets."

"Nothing empty about this trip," Stiles said with a chuckle. "Two ships full of trade goods? Lots of profit there."

"And that is the name of the game," I said as I caught sight of sails in the distance with my spyglass. That the sails were from the same direction as McGregor should be coming from brought a smile to my lips as I collapsed the glass.

"Something good?" Stiles asked me.

"McGregor is on the horizon," I told him to make him smile. "Won't be long now."

"Good to know," Stiles said as he looked over the newly acquired ship. "I'll head over and command the men there. We'll head south and do as you instructed."

"See you again in a bit," I told as I swung back to the Badger. I had the men cast off and lower only the top sails to keep control of the Badger while Stiles did the same. An hour later when McGregor caught up, I signaled him to follow as we headed due south for several hours where we anchored Stiles ship between McGregor's and mine to offload and transfer cargo and inspect cargoes. Both ships were full of sugar and I had the men offload it all to McGregor's ship and offload the many tons of basic supplies they were carrying for the trip back to England to help better accommodate the many tons of sugar the ship was carrying.

I also stripped both ships of its armory supplies and had them brought over to the Badger to replenish our own dwindling stocks. I also rummaged through the captain's cabin on both ships for anything of value and found a matchlock pistol in a case. I took the weapon with me along with both ship's logs for proof of capture for Governor Fitzherbert as darkness began to fall.

The last thing we did was rig the charge that would blow a large hole in the bottom of the merchantman we weren't keeping while McGregor sailed away. A long fuse gave a brave sailor time to get back to the Badger before we too shoved off just as the charge blew. We then watched the ship sink and founder, her heavy load taking her down to the depths and out of sight while we anchored not far away for the night to see what the morrow might bring in Nevis.