Pirate

Several of the men talked amongst themselves, and I was surprised I had no interest in their conversation. I started to appreciate the value of Rhames as I fought sleep and finished cooking the meat and oysters. The fire would have to be extinguished before dusk, and it would be another cold night, but we had warm food in our bellies and our thirst was sated from the coconut water.

Everyone was asleep now, and I stood to walk the camp, keeping the first watch and sorting out our provisions in case we needed to make a hasty exit. I split the meat, wrapping it in palm fronds to keep the bugs off. We were into December, and it was drier and less buggy than the summer months, but this was Florida, and there were always bugs. I gathered ripe coconuts fallen in the wind the other night and set a dozen in each boat as well. Finally, after what I thought was four hours, I woke another man and laid down in one of the boats to rest.

9

The unmistakable sound of steel striking steel and the grunts of men woke me. I looked around trying to get my bearings—and found the clearing crowded with men fighting at close quarters.

I left the cover of the boat and crept toward Rhames, who stuck his pistol in my hand. “Guard the treasure,” he said, and ran to the fight.

I went to the boats, the chests still loaded where we had left them, and started pacing back and forth. There was no immediate threat to me or the boats, at least not yet, and I was able to observe what was happening. We were fighting a group of men, maybe a half-dozen, all dressed as we were. I looked at the gravel beach, not seeing a boat, and wondered who they were and how they had gotten here. The most dangerous unknown was if there were reinforcements on the way, but at least I knew from the ragtag dress of the men it wasn’t the Navy.

They must have come overland, probably from the channel, which ran between the barrier islands and our location. I heard a man scream in what sounded like Cajun, and I started to piece together what was going on. Jean Laffite and some of his crew had escaped Galveston earlier this year, running from the same Navy that now sought us. They had set up a small camp on an island south of ours, and he and our captain, both aging and wishing to retire, had become friends, often talking about joining forces and heading to Columbia, where they might obtain naval commissions and live out their years. They must have seen our ship go down and, after seeing the Navy burn our village, had joined the pursuit. It was no secret some of our men had sought out Laffite to join his crew when we disbanded. They knew we had treasure and were greedy for it.

More men came through the brush, and it looked like we would be overwhelmed, but Rhames saw them and rallied our men. We stood a better chance to escape if we scuttled one of our boats, so with one eye toward the fight, I started to load the provisions I had split last night into two boats. Just as I finished, Rhames cut through several intruders and fought his way toward me, yelling at the men to follow. Laffite’s men, guessing our motive, started to pursue. I took the pistol and fired at their group. This stopped them momentarily and allowed our men to reach the boats. Rhames ordered several of the men into a semicircle to protect us.

“Get the treasure in two of the boats and trash the other,” I yelled over the fracas. Understanding that our only means of escape was by water. A few men fell back from the fight, flipped the empty boat and started to punch holes in the bottom with rocks. Rhames and I moved the chests to the two remaining boats and pushed them into the water.

“Fall back!” I ordered, and the men jumped in the boats and manned the oars. We looked at the others staring at our escape, now knee deep in the water and unable to follow.

Rhames handed me the black powder. The flintlock pistol reloaded and the pan primed, I got another shot off and reloaded again. When I looked up, ready to fire, they were out of range. More than a dozen men stood on the beach waving cutlasses at us as we made our escape. But off to the side, I noticed what looked like one of our men held at knife point by two of the intruders. I counted the men in the boats and confirmed my sighting. My short reign as leader was faltering. In two days I had lost three men, three boats, and two treasure chests.