Shortly after eight bells of the afternoon had pealed, I sat leaning against the aftcastle beside the mizzenmast. A while later, Mid Franklin approached, and pointing toward a hatch, he said, "I shall go below and fetch my slate and chalk."

Upon his return, he sat beside me while I chalked a column of numbers for him to add, and when he had accomplished that, I had him subtract nine hundred and ninety-nine from the total, and I nodded at his correct result. "See, there you have remembered to borrow from each column."

"I have no difficulty with this. It is when I do degrees, minutes and seconds, or pounds, shillings and pence, that I fumble."

"Then you must do the borrowing or lending between them, just as between the columns here. When you pass sixty minutes, lend one to the degrees and remove sixty from the minutes, or borrow and add. Here, like this." I chalked some figures and demonstrated.

Next, I wrote a series of pairs for him to add, and when it appeared he had mastered this, I had him practise subtracting. Then I moved on to explaining the theory of deduced reckoning with some chalked examples. He had begun practising plots when a voice shouted from aloft, "Land ho! The starboard bow, Sir."

"Point it," came a voice from the quarterdeck.

"Four points, Sir. Mid between bow and beam."

"Thank you, lad."

Nodding at this information, I said to Mid Franklin, "That makes sense. There are hills over two thousand feet high to the north of the point, and on this course, they would be the first to show, and they will rise broad the bow."

"How do you know this?"

"From the chart when I plotted the noon position."

"Captain trusts you to do that?"

"He does, with direct supervision." I pointed to the problem on the slate. "And if you practice and master this, Mister Jenkins might well allow you to do the same on the deck chart."

"Hah! He does it all himself and shares nothing. Worse than Mister Cogswell. The only good one is Mister Matthews." He shrugged. "This is why Gilbert is far ahead of us in understanding."

"Does Mid Gilbert not share with you?"

"Hah!" Franklin shook his head. "He is as bad. I think he sees this learning as a competition, and he holds everything to himself."

"Then, would it be fitting if I were to include Mid Edwards in my tutoring?"

"Oh, I do think so. He too is eager to learn, but frustrated with the lack of instruction."

"Fine, then. It might be best if you were to tell him, and bid that he approach me." I pointed to the slate. "But now, back to your plotting."

I continued presenting him with situations to solve, delighting in how quickly he appeared to understand each new concept. While we worked, one bell sounded, and then two, and shortly after it, a voice from up the mast shouted, "Land ho! Near dead ahead, Sir."

I looked up from the slate and said, "That could be either Isla Beata or Isla Alto Velo."

"How long will it take me to learn all this?"

"It depends upon your diligence and curiosity." I pointed again to the slate. "Continue practising as you are, and you will gain a strong feel for the processes. Read all you can about navigation and its theories."

"Read? Where do I get books way out here?"

"Have you not been given access to any?"

Franklin shook his head. "None."

"Oh! Little wonder your gaps in knowledge. I shall ask Captain if you could borrow some of his."

"Could you? I would be so very grateful if you did."

I continued giving Franklin problems, and as he solved them with increasing ease, I sensed both his confidence and his pride grow. When three bells rang, I suggested we stop for the day, and he thanked me, taking my hand and pumping it with vigour before he headed toward his hatch.

I had just opened the door to the great cabin, when there came another shout from up the mainmast, "Sails, Sir. Broad the starboard bow. Coming round the island."

I rushed into the cabin and followed Charles up the steps to the quarterdeck, arriving as another call came, "Two ships now, Sir."

Mister Cogswell acknowledged the lookout, then he greeted Charles. "I thought we had cleaned them all out of there, Sir."

"Indeed, we had, but Isla Beata is too fine a place for others not to take it up."

"What shall we do, Sir?"

"Come port to west-southwest, pass south of Isla Alto Velo, rather than between it and Beata."

"Aye, Sir. Steer west-southwest." Cogswell ordered the alteration to the helmsman, then he erased and rewrote the slate. When he had finished, he asked, "Will we run from them?"

"By choosing to pass south of Alto Velo, we change a closing angle to an opening one. Should they wish to engage, they are now in our quarter instead of forward of our beam."

"So, we will run, rather than presenting them a broadside?"

"We have no choice. Though their action is suspicious, we have no indication of their intentions."

"True."

"And until they fire, we can do nothing, lest we be seen as the pirates." Charles raised a finger and pointed forward. "But to be prepared, muster the gun crews and have them load and prime. Starboard first."

"Aye, Sir. Gun crews to load and prime. Starboard first."

All this while, the ships were hidden by the hills on the island, which was rather close aboard to starboard, and I assumed our low angle hid them. Then as we passed the point, the ships hove into view, appearing to be little more than two miles away and running toward us with all sails set.

I was pleased Charles had altered; otherwise, they would now be a mile away, forward of our beam and fast closing. I admired their clever trap, but I admired Charles more for his timely action.

We continued under the full press of the sails for several minutes, the two ships appearing to gain upon us, having a better wind. Then I saw four red flashes in rapid succession, two from each ship, and moments later a splash astern followed by a streak through the water twenty yards to port. Where the other three shots went, only God knows.

Then as the four cracks sounded, Charles ordered, "I have the ship, Mister Cogswell."

"Aye, Sir, you have the ship."

"Helmsman, wheel all turns to starboard. Square the targets."

"Aye, Sir. Hard a starboard. Square targets."

While the ship turned and Master called sail adjustments, Charles asked, "Who is our best helmsman here?"

"Broughton, Sir," Cogswell replied.

"Put him on the helm."

"Aye, Sir. Broughton to the helm."

"Send a runner to the starboard gundeck to warn them to prepare to fire."

"Aye, Sir. Warn starboard guns."

While Zeelandia slowly turned, the two ships continued toward us, and I wondered how long it takes to reload the four bow cannons. I ran the steps through my mind; haul the guns back, wet sponge, worm, dry sponge, charge, load, wad, tamp, haul forward, and prime.

When I saw Charles was unoccupied, I asked, "Shall I go below, Sir?"

"No, it is safer on deck. Below, if we are hit, the ball throws out a huge swarm of splintered wood from the hull, any piece of which can be deadly. Here, we need worry only about being hit by a ball."

The two ships had continued straight toward us while we turned, and they had closed to within two hundred yards when they began altering to starboard to present their port side guns.

As Zeelandia approached her course, Charles called to the hand standing in the starboard gundeck hatch, "Tell Gunner odd numbers first, fire when ready. Then if needed, fire the remainder."

"Aye, Sir. Odd when ready, the rest if needed," came the reply.

As the pirate ships swung, Broughton slowly altered course, keeping them square to our beam.

I grew increasingly anxious while they turned, their guns now visible through the ports and the ship's sides approaching square to us.

Then an enormous clap as Zeelandia shuddered.