Another Ship
Captain Peanut Butter • Chapter 34
New to Baron Britpop Blastfurnace? You can read Books 1 & 2 starting here:
In the previous chapter, Ben Franklin and his grandson, Temple, set sail for France, hoping to persuade Louis XVI to aid the war effort.
Captain Peanut Butter will continue the tale.
After docking our first captured British ship, the lads and I set out again. I was eager to capture two more ships. I planned to earn as many weeks off as possible during my year-long service. Ana was continually on my mind, and I wanted to check on her well-being.
As fate would have it, a ship appeared within hours of our sailing. It appeared to be a newer ship and flew no flag. This was no British supply ship. Suddenly, a flag appeared. It was black. A pirate ship. What fool pirate would sail these waters during a war? I opened my spyglass and looked.
“Shall we make a run for it?” Barrelhoop asked.
“Not yet. Take us closer,” I replied.
“We can easily outrun her.”
“If need be.”
“Aye, Cap’n.”
As we got closer, my heart sank. Britpop was standing on the deck with a knife to his throat—a knife being held by the pirate Jennings.
“It is Jennings. He has Britpop,” I shouted to the crew.
“How can this be?” Barrelhoop asked.
“He must have taken him hostage in Kapri.”
“To what end?”
“To get to me.”
I had no choice now but to approach and hear Jennings’ terms. Which I was certain included me surrendering myself.
I will take the telling of the tale now.
Moments earlier, they had dragged me up to the deck. The crew of the Bersheda were armed with muskets and swords. The pirate Jennings put a knife to my throat and stood by the railing.
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of killing you,” Jennings said. “See that, Baron? It is The Jellyfish. Your beloved Captain Peanut Butter is weak regarding crew and friends. I intend to trade you and Swift for him.”
I knew better than to say anything.
Jennings smirked at my silence.
When The Jellyfish was within earshot, Jennings shouted, “Peanut Butter. I have Baron Blastfurnace and Mister Swift. They both will die unless you surrender yourself. I care not about your crew. They are free to leave once you have surrendered.”
Captain Peanut Butter shouted back, “When they are both safely onboard The Jellyfish, I will surrender myself to you. You have my word.”
“You think I’m fool enough to take the word of a pirate,” Jennings shouted. “You shall board, then I will release them.” Then he smiled and said. “You have my word.”
“Don’t do it,” Barrelhoop said firmly.
“He will kill them if I don’t.”
“He will kill you. What about Ana?”
“What about Elise and Marie?”
“We should fight.”
“There is no winning this battle. Britpop will be the first to die.”
“Send one over as a sign of good faith,” Captain Peanut Butter shouted.
One of the Bersheba crew shouted, “Ship, starboard. A war sloop!”
“Don’t let them box us in,” Jennings shouted. “Hard starboard.”
We turned toward the approaching ship.
Ben Franklin will take this portion of the narration.
From the deck of the Reprisal, I looked at the two ships. “That’s The Jellyfish. We need to assist them,” I said to Captain Wickes.
“We can’t. The fate of the United States depends on you getting to France.”
“It also depends on Captain Peanut Butter disrupting the British supply chain.”
“It is too risky. Hard port!”
“Captain, I must protest.”
“Protest all you want. It is my duty to get you safely to France. Fighting a pirate ship is an unnecessary risk. If the pirate Peanut Butter is half the captain you claim, he doesn’t need our help.”
“Surely, you can spare some cannonballs to scare them away.”
Captain Wickes glared at me, then shouted, “Send a volley their way, lads.”
The cannons roared, and iron filled the sky. Sadly, they missed the mark.
I shall retake the telling of the tale.
Thankfully, the cannonballs fell short of The Bersheba.
“Give them a taste of their own medicine, lads. Fire the cannons!” Jennings shouted. The ship swayed as the cannons fired.
Suddenly, the deck exploded, sending wood fragments into Jennings’ legs. He fell to the deck in pain. I took the opportunity to jump overboard, then instantly remembered Andelbert.
One of the Bersheba crew pointed a musket at me and fired. I went underwater as a lead ball narrowly missed my head.
The helm of The Bersheba exploded, taking out the ship’s wheel.
The Jellyfish was in fevered pursuit of the now-crippled Bersheba.
“We need to rescue Andelbert. Get ready to fight, lads!” Captain Peanut Butter shouted.
Another explosion shook The Bersheba. I looked up, and to my delight, I saw a balloon flying overhead. Then I turned and saw The Eternal Horizon closing in on The Bersheba. Elise had come to rescue me. I swam hard for the ships.
The Jellyfish and The Eternal Horizon grappled to opposite sides of The Bersheba, and both crews swarmed the ship. The fighting was intense.
Duke Dottydum made quick use of his military training and took out a pirate with a musket, followed by two others with a sword.
“Check below for Andelbert,” Captain Peanut Butter shouted to Jonas.
The remaining Bersheba crew, seeing they could not win the battle, began yielding.
But Jennings would not yield. He could barely walk. Still, he hobbled toward Captain Peanut Butter, holding his sword.”
“Drop your sword, Jennings, and I will let you live,” Captain Peanut Butter said.
“I’d rather die,” Jennings replied.
“As you wish.”
A sword plunged through Jennings’ heart and poked out of his chest. Captain Brun, the former captain of The Elise, pulled the sword back out, and Jennings fell to the deck.
My efforts to swim to the ships were exhausting, and I rested for a minute. As I looked up, the balloon descended nearby, and I saw the most beautiful sight of my life. Elise was looking down at me from the balloon basket. Once the basket had hit the water and started floating, I found fresh energy and swam to it. Elise and Ox helped me in. Ox greeted me with a huge smile.
I embraced Elise.
“I can scarcely believe you’re here,” I said to Elise.
“And I you,” She replied.
“Where did the balloon come from?”
“I bought it in France from the Montgolfier brothers. Well, I tried to. They insisted on giving me an older balloon and taught me to fly it. We didn’t bother unloading it in Kapri as we were in too much of a rush. Ox had the idea to use it and drop the cannonballs.”
“That was brilliant, Ox,” I said.
“I remembered your stories and thought to myself, what would Captain Peanut Butter do? And it came to me.” Ox replied.
“Amazing.”
I looked toward the ships. All four were now together.
“It seems like the fighting is over. I hope Andelbert is safe.”
“As do I. I brought Maria.”
“What?”
“She insisted. How could I refuse?”
“You could not.”
We floated in our basket and waited to be rescued.
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I welcome your thoughts, questions, suggestions, corrections, etc. Thank you.
Mark
Great story, Mark!
"One if by air, two if by sea," or something like that.