Chapter 10
24 December, 1659 = Wednesday

Stepping out of the captain's cabin in the morning, I saw a handful of my sailors scattered around the deck as they either seemed to be waking up themselves. The sound of retching drew me to the railing where I found Meredith and his brothers standing with one of the triplets throwing up into the harbor. The other two triplets looked just as green, and I gave Meredith a smirk as he looked up to me.

"Your brothers look like they need a bit of the hair of the dog that bit them," I remarked as another triplet suddenly hung his head over the side of the dock and began retching as well.

"Spirits be the las' thin' they be needin'," Meredith said as the last triplet pinched his nose at the smell of so much retching. "What they need is good honest work to drive the devil out of them."

"Work we got," I told him as I looked over my crew. They had perked up at hearing work, but probably just for something to do rather than any real zeal to just work. "I'm going out to look for a buyer for my cargo, and we'll spend the day getting it off-loaded."

"I'll get these three ready then," Meredith said as the two boys who had been retching sat down on crates.

"Ply them with water," I told him as I started down the gangplank. "Both in and out. They'll come around."

"Aye cap'n!" Meredith said with too much zeal. The triplets all looked panic stricken as I passed, but they seemed too sick and surprised to move as Meredith began move. He flipped the first over into the harbor, and I chuckled at his surprised gasp.

"Ya daffy brah..." he hollered, his shouting cut short as he the next brother yelled as he was flipped in to join him. I left the four behind as I pushed on, their indistinct shouting soon joining the early morning din as the town got their day started.

Heading towards town, I soon found Simmons strolling towards the docks. He caught sight of me and smiled, angling towards me as if he had a purpose. I stopped, waiting by a stack of crates for the governor's assistant to cross the street to join me. That he was happy at both seeing me and his earnestness in crossing the street sparked an interest into the man's morning business, and whether I might be the subject of said morning business.

"Good morning," he said once he had joined me by the crates. "I see you are out and about this fine morning."

"Business to attend to," I told him with a smile.

"The cargo of the ships?" he questioned me and I nodded in return. "It occurred to me well after you left last evening that you would have cargo to sell if not the ships themselves."

"I figured I would head out this morning to seek a buyer," I told him honestly. "Then return to the governor once I had the cargo sold and removed to sell the ships to maximize my profits."

"The governor would be willing to enter into receivership on the ships while you off-load your cargo," Simmons told me brightly while I nodded that Simmons was speaking my language. "And if you like, I can make the introductions to Mister Glomgold who runs these docks. He's, how would you say, the man in charge of commerce in Saint Eustatius?"

"An introduction would be most welcome," I told him as I straightened up. "If you would lead the way?"

"Certainly," he said as we moved back along the docks.

I briefly saw Meredith fishing his brothers from the harbor before losing them as my vantage point was blocked by my ship, shaking my head at the triplets and their insanity. It was almost as if it was their first outing in a pub which was possible given their youth, but I was going to have to remind those boys that spirits in excess was something to avoid when you had duties to tend to the next day.

Still, I followed Simmons to an office where the sign read Glomgold in gold letters on a plank of wood above the door. Simmons opened the door to reveal a dark interior room where a thin man with coal black hair and suit stood as Simmons entered. The lack of any finery told me he was likely a secretary, further enhanced by the man's immediate subservient tone.

"May I help you, Mister Simmons?" the man asked us.

"I need to see Mister Glomgold," Simmons told him. "Is he in?"

"He arrived fifteen minutes ago," the secretary said as he gestured to the far door.

"Good," Simmons said as he moved for the door. He opened it without further word or protest from the secretary and led the way into the chamber beyond, and though dimly lit, the man in this room definitely held the personal power of a wealthy individual as he sat and looked with disdain on us as we entered.

"Simmons," the man said in a light Scottish Brogue as though he might, as Meredith seemed to be, raised in Scotland but spent a life elsewhere to fade his natural accent. "I assume you've some reason for being here?"

"A new source of goods," Simmons told him as he gestured to me.

"Another privateer," the man named Glomgold said sourly as his eyes roamed over me. "Like rats on a ship, they breed so fast and fail so often."

"Few take a sloop of war from the British," Simmons replied, not letting the man's sour attitude phase him while I swallowed at the news of so many who seemed to fail.

"Bring me back a frigate and I'll be happy," the man continued to grouse. "You Dutch haven't been able to quell the pirates who rob us and your wars make my ships targets to their own privateers."

"We aren't responsible for the wars," Simmons said through clenched teeth. "Blame the Spanish and their greed."

"Greed," Glomgold said with a sigh as his eyes settled on me. "And I suppose you want me to shell out bags of gold for your cargo?"

"Just an appropriate pay as any other similar cargo," I told him. "I won't pick your pocket needlessly until you begin picking mine."

Glomgold chuckled darkly at that as he steepled his fingers and leaned back into his chair to partially hide his face in shadow. It somehow seemed to raise the hair on the back of my neck watching him fade into the shadow like some sort of demon even though I could still make out his human features.

"See my secretary next time you make port," he finally said without leaning forward to let the light touch his face. "He'll see your cargo safely off the ship and into one of my warehouses, tally it up and offer you the going rate according to the schedule I keep. Poe!"

"Much appreciated," I told him as I turned slightly to see his secretary enter.

"Poe, this man will be off-loading cargo from he ships he plunders," Glomgold informed his secretary. "Now I assume the reason you're here now is you have cargo to sell?"

"Two ships full," I told him.

"Then get it counted and into the warehouse," Glomgold barked. I was about to retort I didn't work for him and he'd better learn some manners when I realized he wasn't talking to me but his trembling subordinate.

"Yes, sir," Poe, his secretary, said. "Right away, sir."

I followed Poe out, the man stopping to grab a hat as we reached the door, glad to be away from such a curmudgeon of a man. It was only when we stepped out into the light though that I heard Simmons breathe a sigh of relief, one seemingly echoed by Poe.

"I don't see how you can stand working for him," Simmons grumbled as the three of us began walking to my ship. "Surely there are better people to work for in Saint Eustatius?"

"My sister arranged this," Poe told him as he shook his head. "She and Glomgold are partners in several enterprises, including a few smaller ports south of here."

"Anything I should be aware of?" I asked him but he again shook his head.

"Mostly plantations," Poe told me. "Nothing you'd have to worry over."

"We have a number of small ports scattered around the Caribbean," Simmons told me. "I'm not sure where they all are, it's on a map the governor has and my memory is poor in these matters."

"I'll have to bring my charts and mark them down," I noted, figuring that if I ever quit as a privateer I'd need their locations so I could ferry cargo. Nothing else, I might visit if I ran short on crew again.

Our talk fell flat as Poe began to gather layabouts to him to discuss unloading my cargo. One glance at the rail showed me my crew, including my newest additions, were awake and waiting, even if the triplets still looked wet, and green, behind the ears.

"Which two are you offering?" Simmons asked me, bringing me back to the here and now.

"The Badger, herself," I said, pointing them out in turn, "And the merchantman."

"Both look in good condition," Simmons told me. "I'll offer you eight hundred for the pair."

"Which I received last time for a merchantman and a mail runner," I said, reminding him of the last time I had cashed in ships to the governor.

"True," he said as he agreed with me. "But this time we can't offset the cost of ship repairs with the selling of its cargo."

'And here I was afraid that rich bastard was going to pick my pockets,' I thought sourly as I kicked a pebble someone had dropped off the dock. These two were definitely going to get me coming and going.

"Eight hundred it is," I finally agreed.

"I'll come back by with your payment then," Simmons said as he angled off, leaving me with a growing knot of men as a wagon lumbered in close. Poe then stepped in by my side seeming from nowhere and I led him down to my ships. McGregor then led the men down the gangplank, seeming to know I was successful in bartering the cargo and it was time to off-load it.

"A word, captain," McGregor said, holding me back as both my sailors and Poe's dock workers boarded the merchantman.

"You know your duties," I told my sailors as they paused when I didn't immediately join them. That got them going again, and I turned to McGregor.

"The lady that was asleep in your cabin," he told me and I nodded. "Megara, I believe her name is. She said she'd return with some supplies to make a flag in a few hours."

"Ah," I said, nodding in understanding. "She said she'd make one I could be known by."

"A pirate flag?" he asked me but I shook my head.

"A private signal," I corrected him. "Identifying me personally so that I might gather a name for myself and thus make ship captains less likely to resist capture knowing my reputation."

"That be a fine idea," he commented. "Well, I better get this lot to movin'."

I let McGregor go about his business while I watched the crew crack open the grates and set up the overhead lifts and cranes that would lift the large, heavy crates out of the hold. Watching the first one being lifted out as smaller crates and barrels were carted out by hand. A wagon pulled by horses was backed up down the docks and the crates and barrels were loaded onto them. When loaded the wagons pulled away to deliver their heavy cargoes to the warehouse.

Megara returned about four wagons later carrying a roll of black cloth poking out from the satchel over her shoulder. She was smiling, telling me everything was going great as she approached, her hips sashaying as she walked. The men she passed gave her a nod in passing until she reached the gangplank and started up as I gave her a smile and a nod.

"Seems like you found a buyer," she said as she joined me by the ship's railing.

"A man named Glomgold," I told her, seeing her frown at the name.

"That man is a scourge," she told me bitterly, then added after seeing my own frown, "He's my landlord."

"About what I figured," I told her as I shook my head. "I'd welcome you aboard properly but I'm still waiting on a name."

"Let's try the Saucy Mare," she said as she smiled again. "Nothing really important behind it, but if you manage to take something bigger and better, it's not a waste of a good name."

"Sounds good," I said as I put an arm around her thin waist. "Your ideas for a private signal?"

"There's always the skull and crossbones, but I was thinking something more like wine and roses," she told me as she placed her own arm around me. "Maybe crossed swords and a rose?"

"How about crossed roses and a sword," she countered. "It'll look more unique."

"That'll work," I told her as we moved to the captain's cabin. "How long do you think it'll take to sew?"

"I'm not the best embroiderer," she told me. "Days at least, maybe a week or two. The important thing is I have time to devote to it."

"Take all the time you need," I told her as she opened the door to enter. "Anything worth doing is worth doing right."

"Is that why it takes you so long to knock off for bed?" she said with a smile as she cocked her hip.

"Be glad I knock off," I responded to her saucy language with a wicked smile of my own. "Otherwise, we'd be both be up all night long."

"Can you last that long?" she asked me.

"What my manhood can't I make up for with other talents," I responded with a never faltering smile.

"Don't I know it," she said as her smile deepened. "Well, this flag won't embroider itself."

"Remember, the ball is tonight," I said as I looked at the hard working men under me as they unloaded the merchantman. "It'll probably look ill on my character that I not perform so well after spreading myself so thin."

"If this one is anything like the governor's Fall Gala it might prove to be your equal," she commented.

"Just one more engagement to survive," I replied to that, not knowing how else to phrase it. "Besides, you will find I have many talents and that though music be among them, dancing isn't."

"There I can help you," she said as her smile to shifted to one of sympathy. "Hercules had the same problem and we developed a set of hand signals to make him at least passable."

"We'll go over it when it comes time," I said my eyes going back to my crew as they unloaded.

"Off with you," Megara told me. "Plenty of time until the ball."

"Until then," I said as I turned to leave Megara in my cabin. I heard the door close as I moved back to the railing as a wagon started off with a load of goods. It was going to be a long day.