Chapter 24 – Fateful Meeting
March 19, 1660

The next morning, after Sil and I were allowed to have my cabin back, the petite Asian and I had one last fling before we got dressed and she went back with the others. Once I was dressed myself, my pistols loaded and cleaned with my new cast bullets, we cast off and sailed back northeast, the westerly wind forcing me to tack south-east first. I ended up dropping almost all my sails just east of the southeast most point of the island, the Wench facing north to coast along at a snail's pace.

The day wore on, everyone on high alert and their eyes peeled for any signs of sail when Jasmine's call of a sail due north made everyone suck wind. I checked it with my spyglass, but the black flag on top was unmistakable; we had found Captain Hook.

"Full sail!" I called and my crew rushed to get the sails into position.

"Hook?" Hans said as the soldiers filed below.

"Looks like it," I said the Wench picked up speed. Hans's face paled as he turned to shout orders for his men to get out of sight as all the sails were set. As our ships got closer, I could make out the glint of a spyglass being used to view us as well.

"All hands, ready the port guns with grapeshot!" I said as the last top gallant was put into place, looking up into the sheets to see my crew dropping to the deck. "You too, Jasmine!"

The cannons were pulled back and loaded, Jasmine dropping to the deck as she turned to help where she could. Once the cannons were run out, my crew waited as I looked again to Hook whose ship angled more to land.

"Damn him," I cursed as it occurred to me what he was trying to do. "To port! Prepare to ram him!"

"Aye," Ariel said as she turned the wheel to steer us closer as I moved to the helm to take direct control there. I didn't want to present my broadside lest Hook fire chain-shot and drop my masts to leave me helpless, but the closer our ship's came, the more that seemed to be the case.

"Simba," I called to get the African man's attention. "Ready the hooks! Timon! Drop starboard anchor"

Simba nodded, grabbing the grappling hook attached to heavy rope that would link the ship's together as Timon rushed for the lever to drop the anchor. Looking the scene over, I knew there was no way to not take a direct hit from Hook's cannons but I saw my original idea might work better than ever if Hook fired chain-shot the mast and not grapeshot at the crew.

"Take cover and prepare to fire all cannons at once!" I shouted as the other ship's crew became noticeable. As the Wench came into the cone of fire from Hook's cannons, Ariel and I hit the deck together as they fired. I had a brief glimpse of double ball and chain flying through the air telling me I had a chance as I forced myself to my knees in time to see Simba throw the heavy hook over the brig's railing as the other ship nearly sailed right past. The rope jerked taut immediately as the Wench shuddered and pulled hard to starboard.

"FIRE!" I yelled as the brig's side swung in line with my guns as the enemy crew lost their balance. My cannons roared, their shot ripping enemy sailors apart as I raised a cutlass over head and yelled, "CHARGE!"

With that one word, Hans led his men up out of the berthing deck, over and past my cowering sailors where I joined the melee as muskets fired and pitched in on the slaughter making my way to the quarter deck where a voice rang clear. Knowing it had to be Hook, I pulled a gun as I climbed the steps, finding a man in a large black jacket with gold braid and a feathered tricorn hat. I knew it was Hook once I saw the missing hand, his tell-tale signature and leveled my pistol at him and fired, but my aim was poor as it hit him in the shoulder for a grazing shot.

"Bad form, old boy," he said as he drew his sword from its sheath as I dropped my pistol and readied my blade. "Have you not the courage to face Captain James Hook?"

"I'm here, aren't I?" I said as we crossed blades, but it was false bravado. As a large man, easily two hundred fifty pounds of muscle and little fat, I always dominated a fight with sheer presence but Hook matched me pound for pound. Add to that I was now facing a lefty, it threw off everything I knew of fencing and had been able to learn to leave me guessing how to handle myself.

It started with a few parries and thrusts with no hits as we danced back and forth, Hook's light rapier proving more responsive than my own heavy cutlass as we fought it out getting a few slashes on my shoulders and arms as I tried to survive. So great was my concentration on Hook that I wasn't even aware of the battle around us until Hook parried my slash then stepped back and raised his weapon to an en garde pose.

"It seems I have been beaten," he said as I finally noticed I was surrounded by Dutch soldiers, their rifles pointed at Hook who now stood alone. I sheathed my no longer needed sword, Hook doing the same before unsnapping his baldric and sliding it off his shoulder.

"My sword," he said as he presented me with the elegant weapon that had scored a dozen times on my shoulders. I took the proffered sword as my crew cheered, Hook stepping back and raising his hands.

"Captain James Hook," I said and to lend credence to my actions, "By the power of King Frederick I place you under arrest to stand trial in Saint Eustatius for charges of piracy."

Hook nodded his acceptance, allowing himself and a handful of surviving crew to be taken to Wench and placed into my brig, then looked over my new ship and its corpse strewn deck. The fight had been bloody and many soldiers lay among the pirates, the number of dead mind boggling.

"Drop sail!" I called to send the sailors up the shrouds then looked at the brig's sails. "Both ships. We'll be here for a bit."

"Shouldn't we make for Saint Eustatius, sir?" Hans said as he approached me.

"In time," I told him as I thought about Sil back in Neverland. I couldn't leave them to be forgotten and promised myself to go back for them. "For now, we bury the dead."

"Sir, prisoners below," a soldier reported to Hans.

"Transfer them to the Buxom Wench," Hans replied to the man.

"I think he means the pirates have prisoners below," I corrected the lieutenant. "Women, yes?"

"Aye, sir," the soldier said. "Six of them."

"Let's take a look," I said as I led the way down the stairs. Now that the fighting was over I could look over the ship to find that though it had a forecastle and quarterdeck, underneath was hollow and filled with cannons to allow thirteen cannon per side along her main deck with three more on the forecastle per side for a total of thirty two cannon.

Going down onto the berthing deck, I found it was more compact in design than the Wench, but with a military touch of bare bones necessity in that the downstairs area was mainly for sleeping. Near the front was a metal cage where hammocks were slung to each side and the end to accommodate six. Soldiers had gathered at one where inside two women lounged sleepily as if unaware of the recent battle.

"We believe these are the keys, sir," a soldier said as he handed me a ring of large metallic keys. I tried them one after the other until the lock clicked open, swinging the door open to nudge a raven haired woman with olive skin.

"Miss," I said as I tried to wake her. Her eyes fluttered briefly as she gave a vain attempt to push me away.

"No more," she breathed, her voice weak as she tried to roll over, failing before passing back out. I tried again to each of the girls, either getting the same response or none at all. All had good pumping hearts as evidenced with a test of the vein at the wrist, so I figured Hook had already dosed them to keep them pacified until they reached Neverland. Figuring they would be out for awhile, I left them in their hammocks and locked them back inside.

"What's wrong with them?" Hans asked me as he regarded the sleeping ladies. "No way they slept through that battle."

"They've been drugged," I told him as I looped the keys over my pistol to hold for the time being. "Likely the first step to become like the girls back at Neverland, hopelessly addicted to the drug and trading their souls for more."

"Drugged?" Hans said aghast. "They seemed so...normal."

"Aye, now," I told him as I moved to check some of the other doors nearby. There were some outhouse like rooms next to the cage with chamber pots under the primitive toilet to collect waste and a large storeroom full of food stores that took up the front twenty five feet of ship. A stove sat forward of a pair of tables separated by the bottom of the foremast along with a cabin across from the lavatories for both the cook and their assistant complete with proper beds and not just hammocks. I figured Colette and Linguini would love this room as they were a couple and it would give them privacy.

In the middle of the ship running almost all the way back to the main mast was an open space where the hammocks were strung and a series of picnic-like tables were set up in the center to feed crew at. I counted space for two hundred men, just a few more than I had on the Wench currently before moving through a door into the aft section where it seemed the officers dwelled.

In the center of the space was a large table that could seat ten, the large chair at the head of the table looking like a throne. The first door on the port side was a collection of bunk beds set onto the walls for what I thought might be the young officers that would supervise the various departments of the ship. The next two doors to that on the same side were a single officer's quarters, the bed reminding me of the one I once slept in in my truck a lifetime ago. There were three more such cabins on the starboard side, which left the door just past the stairs leading up to the main deck right in front of the quarterdeck, seemingly reserved for officers due to its location to the quarterdeck and officer's area.

The last door led to what I thought it might, the captain's cabin. It spanned the entire width of the rear of the ship and light was able to filter in through small rectangular windows near the ceiling across the entire back end. The bed itself was huge, able to sleep three wide, and had a feather filled mattress so it would be comfortable. Turning to starboard I found Hook's private desk and library while on the port side was a wardrobe and large tri-fold mirror along with a changing screen. Since Hook and I seemed to be of the same size, I opened the wardrobe to find a second of his large jackets, this one a vibrant scarlet red also embellished in gold trim along with several changes of clothes and boots.

The rest of the evening passed quietly, the corpses entombed in blankets and buried at sea in a somber ceremony. The girls in the brig had yet to come around which left Hook and the pirates in the brig of the Wench. I also needed to set a crew for it and transfer supplies and assign sleeping quarters, I also needed a name.

"Now that the dead are buried," I said once the last man had been buried at sea. "The Buxom Wench needs a commander."

"We're keeping this ship?" Timon asked me and I nodded.

"All the trouble to take it?" I told him and saw the crew looking around. "I'm making this ship my new flagship, the Buxom Wench to be sold once we return to Saint Eustatius and the money from the sale added to our growing coffers."

That got a cheer from my crew to help raise morale as I held up my hands to quiet them down. A vote was held and Timon was made the commander as he was of little use in a fight. Timon then selected his crew of ten to guide the Wench back to port and I left him three fourths of the sailors under Lieutenant Westergaard's command to guard against Hook or his men getting free. That left me with a couple dozen sailors and the rest of the soldiers as supplies were shifted around and everyone bedded down for the night in the darkness. I also let Ella have her own hammock now that we had the room, sleeping alone that night and enjoyed the comfortable bed, relaxing at having survived taking a known and terrible pirate.

It had been a great day.