Voyage of Plunder Read Online Free PDF Page A

'fore too long.”
    “I'll never be one of you!” I spat.
    More laughter.
    They were murderers, all of them. “Myfather trusted you. He was your friend, and you murdered him. And now you want to murder his wife as well, and do God knows what else. I hate you. I hate all of you! I swear upon my soul you'll hang for killing my father!”
    Suddenly the laughter died. Above my head the sails snapped with a shift in breeze. I swallowed hard, my breathing ragged.
    One of the pirates stepped forward. Will Putt was his name. I remembered sitting on Will's lap when I was a child. Funny how I'd never realized how huge Will was until now. He was hairy-chested, and muscles bulged from places I never knew had muscles. He crossed his arms. “You have it wrong, Daniel. We trusted your father, and he betrayed
us.”
Will thumped his chest for emphasis as others nodded.
    I blinked, not understanding.
    “Your father purchased our goods—”
    I glared at him. “Never! If he'd have known what kind of—”
    Will held up his hand to silence me. “He knew. By God, boy, I'm telling you, he
knew.
For years he sold our stolen goods to the colonists. The colonists were only too eager to purchase our goods because there were no taxes, you see. Your father made a good living. He was a rich man. But he was rich because of us.”
    “You're lying!” Tears stung my eyes. I knew it wasn't true. It
couldn't
be true! “My father was a righteous man. He never would have—”
    “A few months ago,” said Will, “the government threatened to throw him in prison. To save his own hide, he turned king's evidence. Told them everything he knew. Our names, our faces, everything. So, you see, we had a score to settle. And there's a reward on all of our heads now because of him.”
    “But if you're telling the truth,” I argued, “if he's been working with you for all these years, then why didn't the government threaten him with prison earlier? Why now?”
    Will grinned, his eyes glittering. “Because, lad, a few months ago we looted the
Norfolk.
Worth a fortune, she was. A fortune belonging to the king. They could no longer look the other way and pretend nothing was happening. Heads had to roll, starting with your father's.”
    Will was wrong!
Wrong!
They all were! “But my father never did anything dishonest in his life. He was a
good
man! And he never would have done what you say he did.
Never!”
I said more, defending my father with every shred of honor, every shred of dignity I had remaining, beseeching all the pirates to believe me. Yet even as I spoke, a vague memory crawled in the back of my mind like a spider, long-legged, cobwebbed, and musty.
Norfolk … Norfolk …
    Finally, as each man except Josiah averted his eyes, my words trailed off. The ship settled into silence again, hemp groaning, water gurgling softly. My eyes welled with confusion and I hung my head, watching the deck shimmer through a curtain of tears.
    Then it was as if I was speaking from far away, as if someone else had control of my voice, rather like a puppet on a string. “Sail to the nearest port,” I said, my voice sounding as bleak as I felt. “Let Faith ashore, and I shall stay with you as your hostage. If Faith talks, kill me. She'll say nothing, I promise.”
    The wind cut through my clothing, and I shivered. Hair whipped into my eyes, and I wiped it away with a cold hand. I stared behind me into the blackness, rowing for the wharf, wishing the moon were visible, yet at the same time thanking my fortune that I was cloaked by darkness. No one had seen me.
    I had escaped.
    Just that morning—a morning of fat gray clouds and a nasty wet wind—the
Tempest Galley
had anchored in Newport Harbor, bright pennants flying from her masts. As morning turned tomidday, Faith was rowed ashore. I stood at the rail wondering when I would see her again,
if I
would see her again, still feeling the hot moistness of her hand against mine as she'd whispered good-bye and her eyes had