The afternoon sun cascaded into the chest as Will lifted the lid open, throwing the bright glow of gold against his face. Looking up at him from the inside of the chest was a stack of brilliant gold bars. Will reached in and hefted one, its weight cemented what he was experiencing as genuine and not some wild fever dream from the hot sun.
“Dear Christ in a manger,” a sailor said over his shoulder. “That’s more gold in one place than I’ve ever seen in my life!”
Will was dumbfounded, he had never seen that much gold, collectively, in his life. He reached in and examined another bar, each one felt to weigh about five pounds. The chest was full of them, Will’s head started to spin as he mentally tried to tally how much value sat in front of him. He could buy a ship, an entire fleet with the contents of this chest. It was a fortune that would last a man his entire life and that of his children, likely even his grandchildren. This was the kind of fortune men would kill for, risk life and limb to steal away, or even mutiny against their commander over.
“Row for the Endurance men. We need to get out of here.” Will ordered giving the handle of his cutlass a squeeze.
They rowed in silence toward the Endurance, through the debris and floating dead. There was no more grumbling of bad omens or cursed luck from the crew as flotsam and dead bodies bumped against the hull of the longboat. Will caught several looks between the rowing sailors that set his hair standing. The chest they had discovered was going to be a problem. At best, the position he was holding aboard the Endurance was fragile. In a matter of a few days all the senior leadership of the fleet had been lost. If Will could not maintain order aboard the Endurance, things would devolve into chaos beyond recovery. As they approached the shadows of the masts on the water’s surface Will looked aloft to see a scurry of activity. Sailors in the rigging were pointing to the opposite side of the ship and shouts drifted down. The bell aboard the Endurance started a frantic succession of rings, followed shortly by drums signaling all hands to their battle quarters.
“Something is wrong,” Will said aloud, his heart sinking.
“There must be a sail visible on her other side. Another damn ship to fight.” grumbled one of the men pulling on the oars. “Another engagement and in less than a week since you clambered aboard in place of the old man, Lieutenant.”
“Funny how a chest of gold makes mouths and hearts bolder. Tell me sailor, what exactly are you getting at?” Will snapped, fearing what the man would answer with.
“The Admiral is dead, as is your Captain, we were fired on by our own countrymen from the fort and now we’re chasing a vessel that you say has mutinied, rescuing pirates out of the drink. Why would the fort open fire on us, unless you officers committed some treason? How far exactly do you think you will push before we deal with you Sir?” the sailor raised his voice, standing in the longboat, his long oar still firmly in his grasp.
There were three armed marines aboard the longboat as part of William’s compliment, part of their duties charged them with maintaining order against mutiny. Will looked over his shoulder to one of the marines as the sailors ceased their rowing and stood around him. His eyes met the barrel of a musket.
“They have a point Lieutenant, why don’t you put your sword down before this gets out of hand,” the marine said.
“This only ends one way men.” Will started, gently lowering his sword to the deck of the longboat.
“Your end is what you should be considering,” another of the sailors quipped, “When we get back aboard, I say we clap this fool into irons and lock him below, head for the nearest British port and get this mess all sorted out. It’ll be the gallows for him when the Crown catches up to him.”
“Or perhaps, for you. Once you are discovered as a bloody mutineer.” Will seethed, unable to check his tongue.
The longboat clunked clumsily against the hull of the Endurance and the men aboard made quick work of attaching the lift ropes. In moments the craft was being heaved up while the crew aboard turned the capstan, it’s lock clunking with every step. Will’s furious outrage grew with every thud of the capstan as they ascended up toward the deck of the Endurance. Captain Grimes had implored him to do what was right and he now sat in the midst of the second crew to mutiny against his command. He felt completely and hopelessly alone. He looked down at the unconscious pirate laying at his feet, if he surrendered now, she was as good as dead.
The deck rail of the Endurance crested into view and Lieutenant Shelton stood with Lieutenant Harper watching as the longboat came level with the deck. Will stood helpless to warn his fellow officers with a musket still trained on him.
“Sail on the horizon Sir, we can’t identify her colors… yet.” Shelton started, losing his voice as he noted William’s expression and saw the demeanor of the rest of the longboat party. “What is going on here?”
One of the sailors quickly disembarked, scrambling toward the ladder well and disappearing below deck. The marine who had his musket trained on William edged out from behind him as the remaining sailors unloaded the chest from
