Page 145 of Storm over the Caribbean
Really, really, really.
Why?
Well, because my role in this marvellous plan was…
“Help! Oh, gentlemen, please, help! Over here! Over here!”
Yep. I was to play the damsel. The kind that was in distress.
I was going to murder Mr Ambrose. I wasn’t sure how yet, and I wasn’t sure when, but it was going to be painful.
Waving my arms and wailing like a perfect helpless female, I did all I could to attract the attention of the people passing by this late in the evening. It didn’t take long for a nearby harbour guard to notice and rush to my side. He was a tall fellow, with a handlebar moustache that contained enough wax for three candle factories.
“Is something wrong,Mademoiselle? May I be of assistance?”
“Th-there!” Raising a trembling hand, I pointed into the moonlit harbour. “Over there!”
Monsieur Moustache frowned and followed my outstretched arm with his eyes—which suddenly widened to the size of dinner plates.
“Mon Dieu! Is that…?” The man’s face paled. Several people seemed to have heard his outcry, because they turned to look in his direction. “No…it can’t be!”
Hurrying forward to the edge of the dock, he raised his lantern, sending its light flooding over the water. And there, at the very edge of the flickering light, right next to a pier at the other end of the harbour, a ship became visible. A ship atop the mast of which a black flag with skull and crossbones was fluttering in the wind.
“P-pirates!” I gasped, pointing dramatically at the ship. The ship that just so happened to belong to Mr Ambrose’s competitor. Turns out, in the middle of the night it is amazingly simple to sneak onto a ship while wearing black clothes and carrying a black flag. Especially if half the crew are as drunk as boiled barn owls. Then a quick climb up the mast, and, well…
“She’s right! Pirates! Pirates in the harbour!” a man shouted. A man who just so happened to bear an astounding resemblance to one of Mr Ambrose’s crew members. “Run! Run for your lives!”
“Run!” Screeched another fellow, who somehow also seemed to closely resemble one of my fellow pirates. Wasn’t it amazing how many pirate lookalikes were running around at the docks tonight? “Run away!”
“Good God! What is the town guard doing? How did the pirates get into the harbour?”
“They’ll kill us! They’ll kill us all!”
“Everyone, calm down!” bellowed the guard, raising both hands. “Civilians, slowly and orderly retreat away from the harbour! Guards, ready the cannons! Summon the reserves from the barracks!Mademoiselle, you should get to safety as well.”
“Th-thank you, Sir!” Curtsying, I sent the pirate ship a last, appropriately terrified glance and dashed away. The other innocent civilians, also known as pirates in disguise, swiftlyfollowed my example. Behind us, the town guards rushed to the docks, readying their rifles and cannons.
“Holy hell!” Jack was running right beside me, grinning like a loon. Though his grin wasn’t nearly as wide as that of the brat riding on his shoulders. “Holy hell, they’re really gonna do it!”
“Are they?” Another pirate looked over his shoulder. “I don’t really think th—”
Boom!
“All right, I take it back.”
I stopped for a moment, glancing back at the plumes of smoke rising from the cannons arranged along the shore. A moment later, a thunderous crash echoed across the water as several balls of iron slammed into the “pirate ship”, skewering it with ease. Shrieks went up into the air as the drunken sailors got an abrupt wake-up-call.
Jackal whistled.
“Remind me to never get on that stony-faced bugger’s bad side.”
I glanced over at the other pirates, who wore simultaneously awed and horrified expressions on their faces.
“Oh, I think they’ll help you remember.”
We quickened our strides, heading away from the harbour. But we didn’t go into town. Oh no, we moved along the shore until a tall figure appeared out of the darkness in front of us.
“You took your time, Mr Linton.”
