Aboard the Royal Thistle, Captain Richard Wainwright cursed loudly, and called on the 1st Mate to bring him some more food. His stomach was rumbling so loudly he was worried that it would wake up the pirates slumbering in the houses on the shore.
Captain Wainwright was angry that he had been left behind and in charge of the boats. He was desperate to get ashore and pay his respects to any pirate who sailed with Captain William Kidd.
Wainwright hated Kidd for two reasons. Firstly, because they shared the same name, and Kidd had soiled its use.
And secondly, because when he was younger he had sailed with Kidd under another command, and had suffered more than his fair share of beatings at the hands of the sadistic bastard that had later risen through the ranks and become a Captain before he had.
Revenge had been a long time coming, but tonight he would extract whatever ounce of the sweet nectar that he could.
His main priority for now was to look after the fleet, to protect their flank from any other boats that may inadvertently sail in behind them, and to train half of the fleets guns on the shore and the other boats in the harbor.
A secondary task was to send a party of seamen over to the other two remaining pirate ships in the harbor belonging to Kidd's fleet, and as quietly as possible, to slip aboard, overcome their crews and capture their ships and most importantly their cannons. Captain Rob had been clear in his intent: they had to ensure that the other pirate ships from Kidd's fleet were in no position to fire upon their own, or on the raiding party as they returned from the beach. Also, Captain Rob had ordered that should the raid be successful, once their own fleet had left the harbour, a skeleton crew under Wainright's command should up anchor on the largest pirate ship, sail it to the harbor mouth, and scupper it, blocking the entrance both from new arrivals and any departures.
On the evening before when final plans for the raid on Puerto Bello de la Cruz had been discussed and argued in the Captain's cabin aboard the Sea Dancer, the Captain of the Thistle had asked permission from Captain Rob to spare no quarter in their attack on the pirates of de la Cruz: "We are all with you in this, Captain Rob. Most of us have a personal grudge and reason why we would we happy to send that bastard Kidd to the depths of the ocean. There is none of us that would lose a wink o' sleep over murdering that bastard! Of that there is no fear, but once we attack the stronghold in de la Cruz, we are breaking the Pirate Code, and when Kidd returns from wherever he is now - if Mr Tyler is indeed right that he is currently away at sea - he will spare no quarter in hunting us down to the ends of the earth and beyond. He will never rest until either we are dead, or he is. Personally I favour the latter," to which they had all laughed. "My point is, that although we know that those who dwell in Puerto Bello de la Cruz are pirates just like us, that once the first pistol is fired, the war will have begun. It will be either them or us. There will be no turning back. So I vote that we sink ALL their ships, burns their boats, and kill any pirate that stands against us. No questions asked. Death to them all. Lest we show mercy and wake up the next day to find them standing over our heads demanding back their treasure and then running their cutlasses through our chests. Once we commit to do this, we do it properly or not at all."
No one spoke for a few moments.
Not because anyone disagreed, but because the gravity of what had been said was weighing upon them all.
Captain Rob ended the silence by standing up from the table around which they all sat, and walking slowly to the window at the back of his cabin. He turned and addressed the other captains, quartermasters and ships officers assembled before him.
"Mr Wainwright, God bless him, is correct. As requested, no quarter shall be spared. It is my intention that we take everything of value, and leave no one standing that opposes us. Tomorrow we will break the Pirate Code, and destroy the brotherhood of pirates, that is true. But only with reason. For far too long has Captain Kidd got away with murder and brutality. His vices are infamous, and everyone here knows someone who has suffered at his hand or under his command. Tomorrow, his reign of terror will come to an end. I am hereby authorizing a sum of ?10 pounds sterling to be paid in gold to the man that kills Captain Kidd and brings me his head...But let's not lose focus on why we are doing this. This isn't about revenge or any righteous desire to exact justice for the wrongdoings of Captain Kidd's past. This is purely in pursuit of the biggest treasure that any pirate has ever amassed. Kidd has it, and we want it. And what's more we shall take it! And when we have split the booty between us, we shall each retire to a land, as far away from here as possible, and live the life of a King until the day we dies. And long may that be. And no one, Kidd, the Devil, or the King of England, shall take that from us!"
With a twinkle in each of their eyes, they all then stood as one, raised their glasses and drunk together, swearing a vow to the success of the mission and the future which they had seen and were now going to claim for their own.
In the streets of Puerto Bello de la Cruz, the pirates under James Silver and Captain Rob's command had split up and located the houses on the maps they had been given by Richard Tyler, with several men sent out scouting to find any horses and carts they could commandeer to carry whatever they found. Under Captain Rob's instructions, a number of seamen had been left on the shore by the boats, with others lurking in the shadows at various locations en route to the houses where the treasure was hidden, guarding the boats and the escape routes and ready to deal with and dispatch any unlucky sailors that might stumble upon their plan and try to stop them.
The success of the raid would depend upon two elements: firstly, managing to locate the treasure and extract it without waking up too many people, secondly, managing to transport it to the boats and getting it back on board ship before any alarm had been raised.
Just in case, James Silver had ordered two howitzers to be carried to the beach and set up, pointing directly up the two main streets that passed through the town. With the howitzers filled with grape-shot and nails, and the cannons from the ships pointed directly into the town, the pirates were confident that once their raiding party had made it back down to the beach, that they would be able to cover their escape in good order.
It was nevertheless a daring plan. When the men watched the fire signal being giving from the top of the Spanish Fort, they entered the streets of de la Cruz in high spirits, excited and dreaming of the gold, jewels and treasure that would shortly all be theirs...if the stories had been true, and Richard Tyler had not been lying to them!
Time Ship (Book One): A Time Travel Romantic Adventure Page 5
