The Lost Prince (7 page)

“But, Cap’n! You can’t!” Rook sputtered.

“We came here for gold, Rook, not the food of starving children.” Gentleman Jim turned back toward the
Reckless
without touching so much as a single grain of rice. Dean couldn’t believe his eyes.

Rook grabbed the captain’s shoulder and pulled him back. “In case you hadn’t noticed, sir, we’re not far from starvin’ ourselves. We’re down to hardtack and leather, we are!”

Gentleman Jim stopped short and stared at Rook’s hand on his shoulder. Rook withdrew the offending appendage, but the expression on his face remained angry and defiant.

“How long have you been part of my crew, Rook?”

Rook grunted. “Eighteen months.”

“Eighteen months and you still don’t understand the way things work. Or is it that you just don’t want to? I’m tired of your insubordination. I didn’t ask for your opinion, and I don’t care to hear it expressed again. I’m a generous man, so I’ll allow you to survive this one final lapse of judgment.” He held up a finger. “One. Don’t mistake my good nature for weakness or I
will
make an example of you. Get to work.”

Rook planted his feet. It looked to Dean like he might actually challenge Gentleman Jim, as foolish as that would have been. Dean didn’t do anything. He kept his mouth shut and watched the action unfold, just as a good spy should. Ronan got in between his captain and the insubordinate crewman, just as a
good first mate should. “You hard of hearing? Your captain gave you an order, you pox-faced bilge rat! What’re you doing still standing there?”

Rook pointed at the missionaries. “If I wanted to do charity work, I would’ve joined up with their lot. We can’t afford to turn our backs on any kind of loot. Not after the month we’ve had. The pirate king expects a real tribute this time, not more excuses.”

“The pirate king will get his due,” Gentleman Jim said. “He always does. Are you suggesting I pay him with crates of rice and grain?”

“Either that or the ship that carries ’em!”

Gentleman Jim shook his head. “I’m not that kind of pirate. My crew steals from people who can afford it, people who deserve it, and if we’re lucky, both. That’s the Gentleman’s Code.”

And that’s why it doesn’t pay to get attached
, thought Dean. His mission was now complete. Gentleman Jim’s fate was sealed. In less than a day, Dean had rooted out the reason the last few payments from the
Reckless
had been light. Gentleman Jim wasn’t skimming off the top, he was leaving money on the table. Not quite the damnable offense that One-Eyed Jack had suspected him to be guilty of, but that hardly mattered. Either way, he was costing One-Eyed Jack money, and would pay dearly for it once Dean made his report. Dean felt sick. He suddenly remembered why he hated his job enough to run away.

“Gentleman’s Code?” Rook cackled. “Not that kind of pirate?
Beggin’ yer pardon, Cap’n, but there’s only
one
kind of pirate.”

Gentleman Jim’s cutlass flashed from his side. Its edge came to rest against Rook’s jugular. “I respectfully disagree. There’s all kinds.… There’s the kind that follow orders, the kind that swim home, and the kind that have their throats cut. Which one are you?” Rook shuddered and pulled his neck back from Gentleman Jim’s steel as far as he could.

“I’d say he’s the kind who’ll button his lip if he wants to live,” Dean called out, surprising himself. The logical part of his brain had told him not to get involved with matters that didn’t concern him, but he couldn’t help it. Mutinous pirates were like an infection that had to be stamped out immediately, and the fact of the matter was, Dean liked Gentleman Jim. Even so, speaking up in his defense was an odd gesture considering what he was about to do to the man. If only there was some way to warn him without getting in dutch with One-Eyed Jack again.

Rook looked around for allies among the crew of the
Reckless.
He found there were none to be had, and held his tongue at last. Gentleman Jim stared him down with hard eyes. “If you want to find yourself another ship in the Black Fleet, you’re welcome to do so. In fact, I highly recommend that course of action. But right now you’re part of
my
crew. I’m the captain here, not you. As long as that’s the case, you will obey my orders, or you will regret it for the rest of your short, miserable life. Is that understood?”

Rook’s eyes turned to slits. “Aye, Cap’n.” He looked like he would have rather eaten worm-ridden hardtack than fall in line with Gentleman Jim’s orders, but with a sword at his throat, he was inclined to do little else.

The confrontation ended without any bloodshed. Rook did as he was told. He sealed up the crates and helped put them back where they belonged. Once that was done, the Pirate Youth shut up the missionaries in Cordoba’s quarters and tied up the rest of his crew. As the boys took their leave of the
Santa Clara
, Dean tapped Ronan’s shoulder. “This is probably a stupid question, but does One-Eyed Jack know anything about this Gentleman’s Code we keep?”

“You’re right, Seaborne. That is a stupid question.”

Dean looked at Ronan. “You don’t think it might be a problem one day?”

Ronan called to one of his mates and jerked a thumb in Dean’s direction. “Listen to this one. He takes point on a single busted raid and suddenly he’s an expert on looting ships.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. You’re truthfully not worried what could happen if he found out?”

“Relax, will you? We’ve been working this way for years. Years. Unless you plan on ratting us out the next time you and One-Eyed Jack have tea, I think we’ll be fine doing things our way.”

Ronan grabbed a line and swung back to the
Reckless
.
Once his boots hit the deck, he threw the rope back so Dean could follow.

Ronan had no way of knowing the truth of his words. “You’ll be fine, all right,” Dean muttered as he took hold of the line. He wouldn’t be having tea with One-Eyed Jack, but the two of them would definitely be talking, and the conversation would spell the end of Gentleman Jim and the Pirate Youth. Dean wished he could do something for them, but he wasn’t sure he had the stomach to try. He was already on One-Eyed Jack’s bad side. He had to follow orders. He had no choice.

Dean swung back to the
Reckless
with the rest of the Pirate Youth. Once everyone was back on board, Gentleman Jim cut the line that tied the two ships together. He gave the
Santa Clara
a mighty shove with his boot, and they were off. As the
Reckless
sailed away, Dean could tell its captain wasn’t happy about going home empty-handed, but that was the least of his problems. The ship had only just pulled away from the
Santa Clara
when Dean heard its cannons sound. The crew on deck ran to the railing as Cordoba opened fire. Gentleman Jim rubbed his beard, grumbling. “Well, that’s gratitude for you.”

A cannonball pounded the hull of the
Reckless
, and the ship began to list. The shift in balance was slight at first, but when Dean felt it happen so fast, he knew the damage was bad. He ran to the side to get a look. Sure enough, the shot had torn a gaping
hole in the boat. “We’re taking on water!” he shouted as the deck angled down further. Another cannonball hit its mark, and the
Reckless
shook so much that Dean had to grab hold of the rigging to keep from flying away. He climbed back onto the deck, but knew he wouldn’t be staying very long once he got there. None of them would, not with an ocean of water pouring into the lower decks.

“Looks like we’re all the kind of pirates that swim home now!” Rook called out from across the ship.

Dean didn’t know whether to feel sad or relieved as he watched the horizon tilt. He hated to say it, but Rook was right. The
Reckless
had begun its final journey, straight to the bottom of the sea.

CHAPTER
7

M
an the lifeboats!” Gentleman Jim yelled. “Abandon ship!”

Dean blinked.
Already?
Most pirate captains he knew waited until they were safely off the boat and rowing hard for shore before they gave that order. Gentleman Jim apparently felt his crew deserved more than the standard pirate code of “every man for himself.”

“Ronan! Get the boys off the ship and get us ready for a long journey. No one gets left behind, you hear? No one!”

“Aye aye!” Ronan shouted back. Dean was taken aback by the code of honor that was enforced on board the
Reckless.
It took a special kind of madness to try to be a pirate and a good man at
the same time, but somehow Gentleman Jim pulled it off. That said, his noble heart wasn’t doing him any favors. His ship was sinking fast, and if the crew was to survive, there was much to do and not a moment to lose. Dean had seen ships even larger than the
Reckless
vanish forever beneath the waves in just over fifteen minutes. He and the rest of the Pirate Youth ran about the ship readying launches, gathering provisions, and throwing any object that would float over the side.

There were far more people than lifeboats, which meant that anything that would keep a person dry and out of the water could not be allowed to go down with the ship. Hatches were broken off at the hinges and thrown overboard. The door to the captain’s cabin came next, followed by his table, which was stubborn as an oyster that refused to part with its pearl. Its legs had been bolted to the deck to keep it from sliding about, so the boys had to chop them off with hatchets and carry the tabletop out by itself.

Stripping down the ship was the kind of job that wasn’t easy under normal conditions, and even harder while under attack. Captain Cordoba was relentless in his campaign to sink the
Reckless.
He fired his cannons in broadsides, sending walls of shot at the doomed pirate ship. Most of the cannonballs missed their mark, but when they hit, they tore through wood like parchment, and splinters filled the air with flying needles. Gentleman Jim’s crew raced across the deck of the
Reckless
, ducking, dodging, and
shielding their eyes as they tried to save everything that wasn’t nailed down.

Amidst the chaos, Dean grabbed a handle on the main cargo hatch and called for help opening it. What he got was a quarrelsome pair of twin pirates named Kane and Marko. They helped lift open the hatch, and Dean pointed at the freshwater stores kept down below. “If we want to drink something other than salt water once this ship goes down, we’d best get those barrels out fast. Let’s go!”

“Right,” Kane said, tapping his brother on the shoulder. “You go down with him and hand up the barrels. I’ll stay up here and take ’em from you one by one.”

Marko scrunched up his face. “Why am I the one going down there? You get below and hand ’em up to me.”

“I’m not going down there! What if something happens and I end up stuck under a barrel? The ship’s sinking, you know.”

“I know the ship’s sinking! I suppose it’s all right if I get stuck under a barrel?”

Marko shoved Kane, and Kane shoved him back. Dean got in between them before a fight broke out. “We don’t have time for this! One of you has to go. I don’t care who. I’m not strong enough to bring them up myself.”

Marko presented Kane to Dean. “He’s the stronger one. He should go down.”

“Me? Stronger?” Kane shook his head. “I don’t think so. You punched me in the eye a fortnight ago and it still smarts! Look here, see the bruise? It’s yet to fade!”

“Blow me down!” Ronan thundered, coming up behind the twins and grabbing each of them by the collar. “What is this? Rook’s skulduggery contagious? Get down there before I chain you both to the rudder!” He pushed Kane and Marko through the open hatch. “Haul up those provisions! First the water, then the food. Now!”

The pirates hit the lower deck hard and scrambled to their feet, ready to do their part at last. “Thanks,” Dean said to Ronan.

Ronan shook him off. “I didn’t do it for you. Without that water, we’re dead.”

Dean shrugged. “Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. You two! Here!” Dean slid a gangplank down through the hatch for the twins to roll the barrels up on. He stood ready to receive the first one when a chain shot struck the ship. Two large cannonballs strung together with iron chains wrapped around the mainmast and pulled it down.

“Look out below!” Gentleman Jim yelled as the mast toppled over. Kane and Marko covered their heads and ran. Wooden spars from the sails stabbed into the deck as they fell. Lines snapped and shot back like whips. Almost everyone on the ship’s upper deck jumped overboard as the mainmast crashed down. It lay
across the deck like a fallen giant, and several young pirates were pinned beneath the sails that came down with it. Dean went to cut them free, but Cordoba’s last cannonball hit the broken mast first. It spun around the splintered base and swept across the deck like the hand of a vengeful god, taking out everything in its path. It was headed right for Dean and Ronan when Gentleman Jim came out of nowhere and shoved them out of harm’s way. They tumbled down through the main cargo hatch to join Kane and Marko.