Danger (9780545628136) by Korman Gordon

Author:Korman, Gordon [Korman, Gordon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2013-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

08 September 1665

Samuel had tasted battle before, but the long slow approach to the galleon brought out in him a cold, numbing dread he would not have believed possible.

“Why do they not flee?” he whispered to York. “Or fire upon us? Do they not understand our intentions?”

“See how she lists, boy,” the barber pointed out. “She’s aground. A reef, mayhap. There are treacherous shoals in these seas.”

Suddenly, smoke and flame belched from the galleon’s gun ports. The roar of the volley echoed across the water. Lethal shot came screaming in on the barque. With a sickening crunch, a cannonball shattered a section in the stern, well above the waterline. The deck collapsed for a few feet around it, sending a handful of seamen sliding into the hold. But most of the projectiles sailed over the Griffin and disappeared into the water.

Samuel waited for the barque’s guns to respond in kind. Then he noticed that all the gunners were assembled with the attack force, swords and muskets at the ready. Captain Blade had no intention of sinking this galleon, not until her treasure was safely aboard his own vessel.

The Griffin came alongside the Spaniard, and the grappling hooks were airborne. It seemed only a heartbeat later that scores of heavily armed privateers were scrambling up the ropes to the higher decks of the galleon. Steel-helmeted Spanish troops awaited them there. Muskets fired, and sailors with whom Samuel had broken bread for many months dropped lifeless into the sea.

The second wave of privateers caught the defenders reloading. The Englishmen streamed onto the deck. Swords clashed. Men fell.

This was a fight to the death.

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