After a time the Captain of the pirates boarded our ship as well but our own Captain didn’t return. The Captain of the pirates paced in front of us while two of his crew trained their pistols at us. Suddenly he rounded on us.
“How does your captain treat you,” he demanded. We blinked, this was an unexpected question and it was met with some hesitation.
“Come on, speak up, and if I find that you have been lying to me I will shoot you. There is nothing I hate more then being lied to.” He pulled out his pistol and one bold man stepped forward.
“He treats us rather poorly sir.” The man flinched as if he expected the Captain to shoot him but the Captain surprised him by suddenly going friendly.
“Really, how does he treat you badly,” he purred.
“He beats us for no reason at all sometime except that he is in a bad mood,” spoke up the man standing before him.
“And he eats well but put us on half rations, claming there isn’t enough food,” spoke up another man clearly made brave by the fact that our companion had not yet been killed. The list of complaints from the round robin soon surfaced.
“He nearly killed Thomas.”
“He swore he would put me onto a navy ship before he paid me my wages.”
The Captain listened to all of this with a grim smile on his lips and then beckoned over the man who had been in charge of the men when they first came over.
“I think it’s time to bring this Captain Johansson back to his ship, what do you think?”
“Yes sir,” replied the man and he took a couple of men and returned to the pirate ship. Now that it was closer I could see the words The Ranger inscribed on its bow. They soon returned with Captain Johansson with them. He looked pale and he could barely climb up the side of the ship to the deck which made him the item of much hilarity amongst the pirates. I wished the Captain would show a little more courage in front of the savages or they would think the whole crew weak for letting such a man lord over them. No sooner did Captain Johansson stand on deck but the Pirate captain floored him with one powerful blow to the face.
“Do you know why men like me become pirates?” Demanded the pirate captain, standing over Captain Johansson like an avenging angel, “it’s captains like you. You think that you can do what ever you want because the law won’t punish you but I’ll be damned if I don’t make you rue the day that you were born.” He turned to his crew. “Do what you want to him.”
The pirates fell onto Captain Johansson and striped him to the waist and tied him up. They then set candles up around the mast and lit them. They placed the captain next to the mast and surrounded him and then lit all of the candles. We watched in fascination and some horror as they made the Captain run around the mast inside the circle of lit candles and pricked him with the tips of their swords. The Captain was soon sobbing with exhaustion and pain but they kept at him as blood and sweat splattered the deck as he ran. Finally he fell, unable to move another step; they dragged him up, tied him to the mast and turned their attention to us. I don’t think there was one among us who didn’t feel a little pity for the captain but I also don’t think there was one among us who didn’t feel a little triumph. The source of our misery was now reduced to a half-conscious, sobbing mess.
To be continued...
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