Pirates of the Storm (Stranded In Time Book 1) by Fletcher Best Read Free Book Online Page A

more
friendly manner than that of yesterday.”
    “What be friendlier than a hangin’?”
one of the men in back yelled out. The others laughed and Jeff
found himself laughing with them.
    Graves continued, “Be that as it may,
he is to be with us for a while and introductions are in
order.”
    Crabtree stepped forward and said, “Ye
be overstepping yer position, Mr. Graves, but yer thought be sound.
Men, gather ‘round!” The men formed a circle and Crabtree stepped
forward and grasped Jeff by the shoulder. “I be Crabtree, the first
officer and I command the ship when the Captain is indisposed.
Graves ye already know. Harrison be the one with the bruises ye
near killed yesterday…”
    “I was about to turn the tide on ‘im
when ye all interfered!” Harrison yelled, to which everyone,
including Harrison, laughed heartily.
    “As I was sayin’,” Crabtree continued,
“That be Gerard, but we mostly call ‘im ‘Frenchy’. That there is
Stevens, Pike, the other Stevens…”
    Jeff interrupted, “Do you call the two
Stevens something different to distinguish them?”
    Crabtree rolled his eyes.
“Aye! I jus’ told ye. That be Stevens and that be the other Stevens.”
    “You mean you actually call him ‘the
other Stevens’?” Jeff asked with some amusement.
    “Aye! What else would we call
‘im?”
    “Of course. Silly of me. Please
continue.” Jeff replied.
    Crabtree quickly ran through the names
of the remaining 20 or so men. “Other than Robinson in the galley
and the Captain, that be the crew. Now that the introductions be
complete, everyone back to work!” Crabtree boomed. The men
separated and quickly resumed their chores.
    From the other end of the deck,
Captain Coxen emerged from his cabin and called out, “Mr. Greene,
please join me. Robinson will be delivering food in short order.”
Jeff walked toward the cabin and remembered his bottle of water
cooling by the rail. He reached down and carefully tapped the
bottle with his finger tips to check the temperature. It was still
quite warm, but cool enough to handle. He picked it up and carried
it with him into the cabin, where the Captain was already seated at
the table. “Rum at this hour! Good, you’re already developing a
tolerance!” the Captain said, gesturing at the bottle.
    “Oh, no, this is rainwater I boiled in
the galley,” Jeff explained.
    The Captain had a look of disgust on
his face. “Still insisting on water, eh? Very well, suit yourself.
I will be having some grog with lime. You should have some as well
so that you don’t succumb to the scurvy.”
    Jeff took a small taste of his water.
It was still quite warm and tasted like a mixture of mud and
spoiled lettuce, but it was drinkable – sort of. “Perhaps I could
add some lime juice to my water?”
    “As you wish,” the Captain
nodded.
    There was a knock on the cabin door.
“Enter,” the Captain beckoned. Robinson entered carrying a platter
of breadnuts, fruit and flatbread and a large pewter pitcher and
set them on the table. “Very good, Mr. Robinson. Please bring some
limes for Mr.Greene’s water.”
    “Aye, Captain. Will you be needing
anything else?”
    “No, that should suffice.”
    “Very good, Captain. I shall return
with some limes.”
    Robinson departed and the Captain
grabbed a couple of breadnuts and popped one in his mouth. “Do try
the breadnuts, Mr. Greene, they are delicious.” Jeff grabbed a
breadnut and popped it in his mouth. It was somewhat like a large,
soft peanut.
    “That is good,” Jeff
agreed.
    Robinson returned with a small bowl
with some lime quarters. Jeff and the Captain thanked her and she
quickly departed. Jeff squeezed some lime into his water bottle and
swirled it around. The lime juice did definitely help the taste of
the water. He sampled some of the flatbread that had been made with
bread nut meal and was pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was.
“This is really good!”
    “Aye,” the Captain agreed, “Robinson
does