Island of the Red Mangroves by Sarah Lark

Author:Sarah Lark [Lark, Sarah]
Language: deu
Format: epub
Publisher: Bastei Entertainment
Published: 2015-04-04T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 2

The Isabella Santa passed the island in front of the bay on the next day at the tenth hour. They must have set sail from Santo Domingo at the crack of dawn. The crew of the Mermaid had long been prepared for their risky maneuver. Even the wind seemed to be on their side, driving the pirate ship under full sail at lightning speed out from its cover to the side of the frigate – and the pirates fired right away from nearly all of their guns. Bonnie, who had aimed at the sails of the Spanish ship and hit the main mast right on target with her special ammunition, rushed straight to the next loaded cannon, and aimed it at the bow of the ship. But at the last minute, she thought better of it and instead of shooting a leak into the ship, she aimed at one of the huge enemy guns that she saw on the deck. Rivers and the other gunners also did a good job. They all reloaded right away for their second chance at the Isabella Santa as the Mermaid moved in closer.

However, the Spaniards also immediately manned their guns, which must have already been loaded. They fired at the pirates boarding with a hail of chopped lead, iron, and nails – but they lacked the coolness to wait long enough for the Mermaid to be really close, so almost the entire charge landed in the water. And the heavy guns took a long time to reload, so there were no major hits on the deck of the Mermaid. When Sanchez roared, "All clear for boarding!" The pirate ship shook from hits along the bottom, but it didn't lean, so there couldn't be severe leaks. The Isabella Santa, on the other hand, was completely paralyzed.

Bonnie would have never expected that her plan would actually work out. She continued firing at the hatches through which the enemy guns were visible, while Sanchez and his men were already casting their grappling hooks and storming the upper deck of the Isabella. As expected, they were more experienced in defense than their usual opponents – but they also didn't seem like the well-trained guards that Sanchez had prophesized. Bonnie assumed that some of the men were already dead when she fired at the Isabella's cannons. She and her gunners had already struck directly at the gun ports or very close to them. Bonnie saw a fiery glow inside the ship and could hear explosions. Apparently, the cannons had ignited the gunpowder – hardly anyone could have survived it. And, considering that it took up to fifteen men to load such heavy artillery …

For the experienced fighters of the Mermaid, it was certainly not very strenuous to capture the Isabella. As always, Jefe fought tenaciously, Sanchez fenced elegantly, and Captain Seegall took out one opponent after another with an almost youthful spark.

"We've won!" Bonnie cried out in disbelief to the other gunners and their helpers. "Really looks like we've won!"

It didn't only look that way.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.