Page 28 of Her Perfect Pirate
The coxswain mate bounded up to the quarterdeck with his usual cheerful demeanor.Yet Chow knew he was now playacting a role so the rest of them could prepare to mutiny.“Captain?”
“Make ready to take that frigate.”Boukman spit again, this time aiming the chewed tobacco at Chow’s feet.“Sharkhead will inspect the hold.Make sure there aren’t any holes that need plugging.”
A demotion that weeks ago would have crushed him.Chow took it without objection, ducking his head to disappear from the quarterdeck just as Boukman wanted him to.He kept his steps slow and dejected until he was down the ladder, out of sight.
Then he let his true reactions reign.
His first act was to find Rebecca.It was starboard watch, which meant she was cleaning the animal pen and scouring the dishes from morning mess.Chow had only to walk half the length of the ship to find her clucking over the chickens as she tried to steal the eggs from their nests.
“These two hens finally did their job,” she said as he approached.“Think I have to tell the rest of the crew, or can you and I eat these eggs as our little secret?”
Chow wished he had time to smile at her joke.He wished Boukman had made the right choice and caught the winds away from the frigate so that this could be like any other day, when he might draw Rebecca to their little alcove and steal a kiss before going back to his duties.
Boukman had not made that choice, and so Chow now needed to act.“It’s time.”
Rebecca straightened from where she bent over the animals.“I’ll alert the sleepers.”As previously discussed.No pirate wanted to sleep through this.
But before she let him go, Rebecca reached out and squeezed Chow’s fingers.It was a far cry from the kiss he longed for, yet it jolted through him like a revelation.
If it weren’t for her at his side, he would be following the captain’s orders, headed for his own doom.
Too bad it was only a matter of hours before she desertedhim, too.
AcalmengulfedRebecca,oneshe recognized from the moments of her life when she had felt her fate was entirely beyond her control.Which was strange because just now, she held destiny in her own hands.She strapped the machete to her thigh, as she had before boarding theWhimsy.She added a knife beside the two eggs in her pocket.
Then she took up her role in the plan.Walking the hammocks, she shook each one and hissed, “It’s time,” until every pirate was awake.
One by one, they climbed the ladder to the top deck.
The day was sultry, the wind strong, and the sails bristled loudly as the crew pulled them into a tack towards the southeast.Fuego and the other boys were above, manning the lines and shouting down about the frigate’s activity.It was raising its sails, too, though it was too soon to tell what it planned to do.
The pirates congregated on the main deck, forming a circle as if they were to vote.Rebecca found herself between Fearsome Fred and Long Tale Lee; Sharkhead had disappeared somewhere below and had yet to emerge.
From the quarterdeck, Boukman bellowed, “Davies!Get these men into proper formation!”
Davies turned to face the captain.“They are.”
“Have you lost your senses?We’re going into battle, not taking a roll call!”
Which was when Chow rose up from the hatch.The men parted, allowing him to cut to the center of the circle and face the captain above.
“Captain Boukman,” he said in that gruff shout that had so often commanded the ship, “we are not attacking that frigate.”
“That’s enough from you.”Boukman leaned over the banister separating his quarterdeck balcony from the main deck.“Davies, lock Chow in the brig.”
“No, Captain,” replied Jack Davies, who jumped down from the quarterdeck to join the circle.“I’m with Sharkhead.We are not attacking that frigate.”
“Aye aye,” said Long Tale Lee.“I’m with Sharkhead, too.”
“Aye aye,” Fearsome Fred agreed.
And one by one, the crew called out their allegiance.With each cry, Boukman’s face screwed tighter, his lips tilted into a deranged smile.When Rebecca at last declared, “I’m with Sharkhead,” he reached for the pistol at his belt.
Julio de la Cruz, who had been manning the helm behind Boukman the whole time, pressed his cutlass into the back of the captain’s neck.“Drop your weapon.”
Boukman was on display for the whole crew to see.They watched as his options played out across his face, and Rebecca knew the moment his smile widened that he did not intend to surrender.He was big enough to take old de la Cruz down in a single punch; perhaps he thought he could take them all with the force of his fury alone.
Rebecca reached into her pocket for a weapon.Then, arcing her arm backward the way she had learned to throw a snowball across a Rhode Island field, she vaulted the egg into the captain’s face.
