*******

At that moment an outright miracle saved Kotty’s life.

Just as Captain Cutthroat was about to deliver the final push to topple Kotty over, a cannon blast shook the air.

“Captain! We’re in trouble!”

Captain Cutthroat turned around to find a massive military ship making a beeline for them.

“Take down the pirate flag!” Captain Cutthroat barked at his men. “Hide the evidence of our looting in the hiding place in the lower deck. Don’t say anything to anyone without asking me first!”

The military ship was close enough that they could begin to see people aboard.

“Get off that plank!” Captain Cutthroat growled at Kotty. “Can’t kill you with them watching, or we’re finished. John, get him below deck and gag him.”

********

“Prepare to be boarded!” Captain Thomas, commander of the military ship ordered the pirate ship.

Soldiers with drawn rifles stormed the pirate ship and ordered everyone to lie down.

“There’s no need to use weapons! We’re just an exploratory ship!” Captain Cutthroat smiled unconvincingly as he dropped to his knees.

“We’ll see about that!” Captain Thomas said curtly, smoothing down the white, curled wig on his head.

He was young and carried himself with haughtiness and much pomp. Medals glinted on his immaculate uniform and he proudly kept a gloved hand on the hilt of his gold-handled sword. He turned his nose upward and glanced over the dirty pirate crew.

“You certainly look like pirates,” Captain Thomas quipped. “What’s more, I can smell pirates from a mile away. Do you know how much the queen pays me for each pirate head?”

“A lot, I’ll bet.” Captain Cutthroat gave another smile. “Too bad we’re not pirates….”

“Smile at me again and I’ll throw you overboard!” Captain Thomas snapped.

“Captain, we found someone bound and gagged in the lower deck!” The soldiers returned from the lower decks with Kotty.

“Most ships don’t gag and hide their own men!” Captain Thomas looked Kotty up and down. “Who are you and what is the nature of this ship?”

“Me? I’m Kotty, a prisoner.” Kotty pointed at Captain Cutthroat. “And him? He’s a bloodthirsty pirate and the rest of them are his evil crew. They were going to force me to walk the plank a moment before you arrived!”

Captain Thomas smiled triumphantly.

“I knew they were pirates!”

“So, what now?” John growled. “You’re going to turn us in for money?”

“Precisely.”

“And what happens to us?”

“Come now, you surely know the answer to that already. You will be hung in a public execution, by order of Her Majesty.”

*********

The soldiers commandeered the pirate ship and brought her back to land together with their ship. The pirates were all thrown into a dingy prison, locked away in a pit deep beneath the bowels of a military building.

They could hear soldiers galloping around the island they were being kept on, announcing the time and place of the execution of the pirates the following day.

Kotty, on the other hand, was free to do as he wished.

“Knock, knock!” Kotty banged on the door of Captain Thomas’s private quarters, housed in the highest room of the guard tower. “Can I speak with you a minute? It’s me, the prisoner you rescued.”

“Enter.”

Kotty walked in to find Captain Thomas sitting behind a desk, still wearing his military uniform, counting coins and sliding them into different pouches.

“What?” Captain Thomas did not lift his eyes from the coins.

“I came to ask for assistance in finding my friends. They’re lost at sea an—” Kotty stopped mid sentence. He recognized some of the coins and trinkets Captain Thomas was occupied with. They were part of the pirate loot that Captain Cutthroat had stolen from other ships.

“Captain, isn’t it your obligation to return contraband? I hope you’re not just pocketing all of the pirate booty for yourself.”

TO BE CONTINUED…

(Originally featured in Mishpacha Jr., Issue 830)