"The shore patrol 'as been huntin' me fer years!" Thought Captain Jim, "Ay pray today's no the day they find me!"
The ship had set sail in record time, for nobody on board the Lady Jane wanted to be caught by the shore patrol! The sails puffed out as they found a gust of wind to ride. The wind was strong that morning, and so she pulled the ship out of the little port and into the lanes of the sea. It might have seemed as though the very boards of Lady Jane were fleeing the approaching officers.
Captain Jim glanced back over his shoulder at the men standing on the dock. They were yelling and waving but to no avail. Then they did something that made Jim's sweat cold tears.
"Hit the deck, me boys!" He ordered. "They've a field mortar, an' they're plannen ta use it!"
Captain Jim's words were muted by a volley of musket fire and the ear shattering sound of the field mortar fire. Jim, flat in his belly on the main deck, tipped his face up to see what distraction had been inflicted when he saw another shot from the field mortar headed straight for the mast!
"If they demast the Lady, thet'll be the end fer us all!"
To be continued...
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