Part 3

While Claymore still kept trying to free himself, silence returned to the town.
But, it returned only after the pirate mob had traveled back, with their spoil, to
their ship. Of course, the wild horde of the pirates had left a wake of devastation
in the town. Some of the more courageous men still lay gagged and tied at the pier.

But now the disaster approached Gull Cottage. Eight pirates had reached the front
gate of Gull Cottage, and now they rushed through that gate toward the front door.
The leader of the group started wildly rattling at the front door. Noticing that it was
locked tightly, he then looking at the front windows to see if there was a possible
way to get into the house without a great effort. But it was no use. They were
barricaded, too.

Now the leader shouted orders. "You two", pointing at Jim and John, "to the back
side of the house. Take a look to see if we can get into the house there without
much force, so we can catch that young woman. But if not, you have to come back
immediately and we all will pound at this door here to open it. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir", the two called back. They rushed behind the house and now were
pounding at the back door. But it was locked in the same way as the front one
and the windows, too. In a hurry, they were back again at the front. "No use,
Sir", John said. "All is locked the same way as here, sir. Maybe the people inside
knew that we were coming, so they have barricaded themselves."

"Well then, men," the leader yelled, "let's open the door with force." Now all
eight pirates braced themselves against the door, to open it with force.
Something had been wedged inside against the door, so that the eight men
only succeeded with great exertion to open the door.

In the meantime, Carolyn, Martha and the kids had barricaded themselves in
Mrs. Muir's bedroom. They heard the wildly pounding pirates and they knew
that the front door wouldn't withstand this force rush for a long time. "Mommy!"
Jonathan and Candy yelled with fright. In this moment, a loud crashing noise
was heard. The front door couldn't withstand the pressure any more and had
given way.

Now Carolyn saw only one way to protect her children, she had to oppose
these immediately noticed Mrs. Muir's determined facial
expression. Instantly she stood in front of the barricade. She had no intention
of allowing Carolyn to do something dangerous and stupid. Like Mrs. Muir
and the children, she too heard the wildly loud horde of pirates as they
stormed into the house. "Mrs. Muir, don't do that, please. I forbid you to
go." Now Martha sounded like Captain Gregg. "You didn't know how many
pirates have invaded our house."

"Martha!" she yelled. "Get aside! I'll do what I must." Then Carolyn suddenly
stopped herself when she saw the horror in her children's eyes. It was Candy's
frightened face that held her back from doing something dangerous. "You are
right, Martha," and she took her children in her protective arms.

Now there were loud footsteps coming up the stairs. The pirates seemed to
have noticed that no people were below. They heard the footsteps of three,
maybe four, pirates. Now they reached Carolyn's bedroom door. Carolyn
did the only sensible thing she could in this special case, she took care that
the kids hid themselves in the wall cupboard, and she gave them the order to
be very quiet not matter what should happen to her or Martha.

Jonathan wanted to protest but stopped himself. He knew his mother was
right and that he had to protect his sister from these pirates, should
something happening to Martha or their mother. Carolyn closed the door
behind them. And the kids were very quiet.

It were four pirates who now wildly rattled at the bedroom door. "There
is someone in that room, I can hear it." whispered one of them. "Now we
can't open that door without force so I'm right. There are some people in
there who have barricaded that door."

The second pirate said, "Then we shouldn't waste any more time. Let's
open that door with force. That woman our Captain wants must be a very
courageous one."

Another said. "Why don't we get her for ourselves? I don't understand
why Fat Philippe wants her, let alone what plans he has for her."

The fourth spoke up in fright. "Should our captain get here and find
out that we have her, he will feed us to the sharks. Remember, the
last time one of us did something against the captain's will? I'm not
taking on that punishment."

In this moment, the leader came up to them. "Hurry, men, open that
door at once", he shouted.

The men obeyed and threw themselves together against the door.
Inside Martha and Mrs. Muir were fearing for their lives. The door
cracked, then gave way. Both women were staring with fright when
suddenly five wild looking pirates appeared in front of them. "Three
of you grabbed the youngest of the two women while I and John deal
with the older one." the leader yelled.

And they did it. Three grabbed Carolyn very brutally because she
gathered all her courage together and fought against her attackers with
hands and feet. But it was no use, and she was dragged away by her
three attackers with force. The other two still in the room offered Martha
no other treatment. The housekeeper didn't get a opportunity to fight in
defense. Masterson, the leader, knocked her out and then tied her up with
ropes which he suddenly had in his hands and then he left a note for Captain
Gregg and rushed out of the room with his companions.

Shortly before Ms Grant lost her consciousness, she heard Mrs. Muir's
cries for help but couldn't help. She fainted and then knew nothing more.
Candy and Jonathan had heard everything in their hiding-place but they
had been quiet so the pirates hadn't discovered them. Suddenly
everything was silent again in the house and it seemed as if all pirates
had left the house.