The Smuggler's Curse by Norman Jorgensen

Author:Norman Jorgensen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Published: 2016-10-15T04:00:00+00:00

SACRIFICIAL GOATS

‘Ahoy!’ yells Teuku from the crow’s nest. ‘Off the port bow.’

We all immediately turn to look.

The breeze is up and steady again so the Dragon cuts through the water like a hot knife through lard. Captain Bowen stands at the helm, relaxed and evidently satisfied by the ship’s performance.

Mr Smith raises his glass and adjusts the focus. ‘I don’t like the looks of this, Cap’n,’ he says, his brow creasing in concern. ‘A miserable scurvy pirate, from the cut of ’er. Three masts. Chinese. A fightin’ junk, I’d guess. Too high in the water for a merchant. Out of Lumut over in Malaya, I’d gamble, from the look,’ his voice a little more urgent than usual. ‘I’ve seen their sort before in these waters. Lumut is a right dragon’s lair of piracy. The whole town lives off the evil trade.’

‘She’s a day or so from home then,’ says the Captain. ‘And so much for the British Navy’s boast of wiping their kind from the face of the earth.’

‘I don’t like the look of it, Cap’n,’ repeats Mr Smith.

‘I agree,’ he replies. ‘All hands! All hands, prepare for battle!’ he yells.

The men rush to their regular places on the main deck. With Teuku at the masthead, it is up to me to bring all the gunpowder bags topside for the weapons. Even though the tail end of the typhoon blows strongly, I am soon sweating like a pig from the weight of the sacks on my shoulders and the steep stairs.

‘They’ll be itching for an easy score,’ calls the Captain. ‘But we’ll soon make the scum regret it, won’t we, men? They are going to wish they had never put to sea, curse their damn eyes.’

I am surprised at how cheerful the men all seem, considering that within the hour they will probably be in the thick of battle with cannon fire and bullets flying all about. There are no hymns this time but a sense of mounting excitement, perhaps because this looks more like a fair fight than that with the enormous frigate. Me, I just feel sick to my stomach with nerves, though unexpectedly, this time, just a little bit excited as well.

As it draws closer, I see the pirate ship is indeed a Chinese junk with a high stern. The hull is stained and her three sails are a filthy faded red, but they are well set and held in shape with numerous horizontal sail battens. She leaps along at a fair clip, the bow cutting through the growing swell with ease on a starboard tack. I am a little disappointed, though, not to see a black skull and crossbones flying from her masthead.

The gap between us is closing quickly and before too long, I can see the crew on deck. There are about twenty of them. Most wear colourful clothes, and bandanas wrapped around their heads, and they all have daggers and cutlasses in their belts. Several have shaved heads with long ponytails down their backs. Like our crew, they are all barefooted, hard-looking men.

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.