Marooned!

I had settled in my cabin after dinner with the captain. I was making some personal log entries, when I heard shouting and the pounding of feet on the deck overhead. I tossed my things aside and joined the excitement on deck.

"What's going on?" I asked a crewman.

"The captain's discovered a plot. There was mutiny afoot! She's takin' care of it though."

"What? Mutiny?"

"Aye. Someone was passing rumours that she was in league with the Bog People to sell you all. Ach, the Captain may be tough and she may blow hot and cold, but she is loyal to her crew and her passengers. And, if there is one thing the Captain hates more than anything, is someone trying to pull something over on her. She can sniff it out on the wind, it seems. See, here comes the culprit now...."

Being pulled forward through the jeering mob was none other than the cook!

Spitting curses at the Captain and crew, the cook was lowered into a skiff with the two crewman who had helped me on board-- Carlos and Estaban-- armed to the teeth and grinning with glee.

We watched them under the bright moonlight as they pulled away, the cook still screaming and cursing. A few hundred yards off port was a small spit of land. The skiff pulled ashore long enough to toss the cook onto the thin beach. The cook tried to rush back towards the craft but Carlos shoved her back with a gaff. "Stay there, you louse-ridden wench. You've done enough harm. And, your cookin' is enough to gag a maggot. Oh, yes, and the tide due to rise in about three hours. Hope you can swim."

As the skiff came back and Carlos and Estaban safely brought aboard, the Captain bellowed the order to depart, drowning out the distant cries of the cook. The crew gave a loud "Huzzah!" and we were on our way.

Lori Gloyd (c) June 7, 2006