Black Sam - Prince of Pirates

Fifty - THE LAST LEG

Fifty - THE LAST LEG

April 1717

Captain Prince slipped away under the cover of darkness. He knew that this would only buy him a day or two of freedom from Cyprian’s relentless shadowing, but it was freedom nevertheless. He reflected on the man who he knew so little about, but had hated ever since he learned of his orders to be a nuisance. He didn’t seem like such a bad person. After all, he was just following orders. Something he himself would do without question. Any man disobeying such an order could face severe punishment.

It was not Cyprian that he hated; it was those who gave him his orders, or rather those who persuaded the men who gave the orders. He resented the fact that his employers sent a spy to watch over him. Cyprian said he was an escort, but Prince knew better than that. The Royal African Trade Company did not trust him with their money so they sent someone to secure it for them. If he had an evil mind, he would sink this ship to spite them all.

He walked down into the cargo hold. Chests full of gold and silver and piles of sugar and other goods sat where human cargo once did. It was the biggest load of goods and treasure he had ever seen let alone given responsibility over. No wonder they sent Cyprian. He walked over to one of the chests and opened it up. His eyes widened in awe of the sight of so many gold coins. He stuck his hand down inside, took a handful and lifted it up just above the top of the chest. It was heavy, and he felt rich just clutching the pieces.

The sound of a pistol’s hammer pulling back broke the silence. “Drop every last one of them or I’ll put one in your ear.”

Prince dropped the remaining coins into the chest. The man behind him came around and closed the chest, but kept the pistol raised at the captain’s face.

The company commander shook his head dramatically. “You wouldn’t be trying to steal from the company, would you now, Captain?”

Captain Prince scoffed. “Don’t be stupid, put your gun down.”

The man laughed and then looked at his gun, as if he did not realize he still had it aimed at him. “My apologies, I’m a bit jumpy,” he said lowering his weapon. “It’s just that you looked like a thief just now and old habits die hard.”

“Are you accusing me of being a thief?”

“Heaven forbid, no. I just said you looked like one. What with your hand full of the company’s gold.” The man’s face was very accusatory but he chose his words wisely.

“As captain, I have right of inspection to any goods stored in the confines of my ship.”

The commander kept his eyes on the captain. “Did you like what you saw?”

Prince pondered the commander’s expression for a moment, which along with his tone contradicted his words. Prince was losing patience.

“You are coming dangerously close to violating the agreement that I have with the company. It is well within my rights to make any inspection that I deem necessary, furthermore I will not stand for your absurd and wrongful accusations.”

“The agreement you have is between the company and yourself, not with me or my men, therefore I am in no such danger. My charge is the security and delivery of every container in this hold, by whatever means necessary. If I blow a man’s head off for stealing from the company, it would be well within my rights.”

Prince’s sword went to the man’s neck before he finished his sentence. The commander did not flinch.

“Good thing you’re not a thief,” the commander said.