The Legend of the Phantom (14 page)

Chapter 17

Christopher felt the pressure of the ball enter his chest just a bit to the right of his left shoulder as it tore through his heavy leather jacket. The impact threw him back and dropped him even as the ship began its final shudder, throwing him off balance and dropping him to the deck.

The force of the water as it rushed through the opening in the hull, sent the ship skidding and tilting as the weight of the water displaced the air inside.

The deck tilted at odd angles, seemingly to change every few seconds, that Christopher found no good foothold to steady himself with.

By that time, the pirates and his crew had assumed he was dead and had turned away.

Pulling himself to the edge of the gunwale, Christopher sought escape from the floundering vessel, but instead found that he had one leg wound around a ballast line. The rolling of the sinking ship coupled with his own movements had effectively snared him, and working fervently he sought to free himself before he was dragged under with the rest of the ship.

As
the warm Pacific water washed over him, and seeing the great swell coming, he instinctively gulped a large lungful of air just before succumbing to the pull of the sinking ship.

As the ship dropped below him, the water rushed in, creating a suction from which he would
never have been able to survive had his leg not been caught on the ballast line. As the ship sank, the ballast floated and through the difference in weight, caused the line to become taut and finally to snap, sending ballast and Christopher reeling for the surface. Just as he was about to succumb to fate and death, Christopher’s head broke the surface of the water.

Once given the
new lease on life, despite his crippled left shoulder, Christopher hung onto the ballast and struck out for the nearby shore. His wet form going unnoticed by all living but a passing bird above and a few fish below. A sea turtle scooted out of his way, and on seeing the creature, Christopher’s mind reached back to the days when he roamed this wild land with his friend Caribo. In fact, it was on this side of the land that he and Caribo had found so many baby turtles before.

In fact… Christopher quickly scanned the shore from his bobbing position on the open water and
, much to his surprise and relief, recognized many of the landmarks. This was not only a similar shore, but the same shoreline that he and Caribo had landed on before; which meant that he could get home.

Another thought entered into his head. Since the pirates saw his ship sink, they must believe he is dead. Also
, they would need to make repairs to their ship, and would bring it to shore to do so. There would be no point in sailing far as there was no one to fear.

Having run all those thoughts through his mind, he realized he still had a great chance
of getting his wife safely from the pirates and possibly stealing their ship in the process. And if things went sour, he had another plan to fall back on.

T
wo days later, having followed the beach northward, Christopher found the pirates in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. The place had a natural cove with a good flowing river of fresh water that emptied into the bay.

The pirates had
anchored the ship as close to the shore as they could and were busy floating logs out to the ship to be worked into a new sail staff and railings. Though the shore seemed ideal, the majority of the men stayed on the boat to sleep, thus assuring themselves safety from natives and fauna. Not only were there crocodiles in the area, but some men had reported seeing a jaguar patrolling the area.

All of this activity did not go unnoticed by Christopher.

From a lofty perch high in a nearby tree, he watched and waited to assure himself that he could find his wife, and to track the pirates’ activities. The ship’s repairs would take a few more days at a minimum, and his only hurry was to get his wife back safely into his arms. Yet he delayed, watching and biding his time, until he was able to make the right move to get them safely away.

Later that day
, Christopher observed that the captain of the pirates took Pierre and Miya to shore. Pierre was in chains and Miya was tied like a dog on a leash. The sight of Miya made his heart leap. Once on shore, Pierre was dragged off, and tied facing the bright sun to a stout tree. There they left him amid Pierre’s many curses to have nature take his life according to its own timeline.

Christopher could he
ar the pirates making bets on whether the great cat or the lack of water would claim him first.

Meanwhile
, Miya was staked to the inside of a large tent that had a good-sized fire nearby.

Though the temptation was a strong one to go straight to her, Christopher knew that to succeed he had to dispose of the pirates first.

So, when the sliver of moon had replaced the sun, and shadows had covered the land, Christopher stole out to where the single guard was placed and quietly slit his throat.

Chapter 18

Something in the night woke Pierre.

His body hurt, his mouth was dry, his wrists were losing their sensation
, yet he could feel the cords cutting into his swollen wrists and ankles.

He tried to spit, but it lodged in his throat.

Then something in the dark caught his attention. It was a man. He was obviously an enemy to the pirates and therefore a friend to himself. He watched as the dark silhouette stole up behind the guard and with a single deft motion, slit the guard’s throat. Then as the guard’s body dropped to the sand, the man stood up, and Pierre involuntarily took in a lungful of air. Christopher!

There was no way that Christopher would free him. But the wheels turned in his head and he realized that Christopher may still be the means to his escape. All he needed to do was to show the
pirate captain that Pierre was still necessary.

Working up his dry mouth
, Pierre began to yell for the pirates.

Christopher was certain he was in the clear and was on his way to the tent of Miya when
Pierre sounded the alarm. He wasn’t certain how he had been seen, but seen he was.

The pirates stormed out from their tents and though he was able to dispatch quite a number of them, soon he was caught through the overwhelming number of blades and forced to drop his own.

“So, it looks like the lover has returned from the dead,” grumbled the captain as he came out of the tent, having been aroused from a deep sleep. “Dispatch him!” Then thinking about it, amended, “No. Take him to the ship and cast him in the hold. I will deal with him in the morning.”

Some of the pirates began to murmur about longboating out at night, while
others stared blankly as they tried to recover a bit from the quick fight with Christopher. 

“Move!” barked the captain. That got things going. Shortly
, Christopher found himself in irons, being dragged off to the longboat. But he didn’t care. He called out to Miya who incredulously couldn’t believe he lived but responded in like manner. Her ‘Kit’ glowed in the knowledge that Miya was alive and she knew he was as well.

That was his last thought before
a blow to the head knocked him unconscious.

He came to as the men hauled him aboard the ship. Someone ahead of him took the captain at his word, and shortly he heard the heavy grate of the hatch being lifted.

“In you go,” someone muttered and with a hard push he found himself falling, and abruptly stopping as his body slammed onto the floor below.

The blow momentarily knocked him out again, and this time Christopher woke a bit more groggily. Still
, the night was dark and he was fairly certain that he was out only a short while.

Around him
, the workings of the ship’s repairs were clearly evident, with moonlight shining in through a large hole that Christopher’s ship had left in the fight. The light bathed the interior in enough light to see the seventeen chests of dowry gold that his in-laws had made for him. ‘It’s a shame,’ he thought to himself. But he knew at this juncture in the game that the gold wouldn’t be returned.

Christopher dragged himself over to look out of
the break in the hull and found the beach was not so far away. ‘If I could get out of this, I could swim that,’ he thought to himself, summoning up his courage for the upcoming events. ‘But first, let’s see what can be done about this ship.’

Working quietly and quickly he enlarged the hole just enough to slide through. Dark water surrounded the ship, but Christopher did not let it daunt him. Slipping out
of the break in the hull, he dropped quietly into the water; staying under the curvature of the ship until he was able to make his way into the ship’s shadow on the other side.

Using the anchor cable, Christopher silently climbed the dark side of the ship until he once again stood on deck.

‘Now to find the cannon.’ The cannon on the pirate ship were easily found as they were positioned to be fired from the top two decks. Stacked nearby were the wadding, wicks, balls, and powder.

From Christopher’s memory, he counted just seven pirates left on land, with the rest of the crew sleeping aboard the ship. He mentally reviewed the scene that he had gathered though the previous day and mentally agreed with himself.

Then gathering wicks, he braided them together and led them to the various powder kegs on board the ship. ‘It may not cripple the boat but it should do a lot of harm,’ he thought to himself. Then, having lit the fuse, Christopher dived overboard.

The blast of the powder caught him less than a few hundred yards from the ship.
An intense heat, coupled with fragments of wood, metal and cloth filled the air. Christopher dove as pieces of the ship plummeted into the water. The weight of the gold, offset by the loss of the upper decking, started the ship listing to one side. Water found the previous hole from the earlier attack and with it water weight was added to the already heavy ship. As Christopher pulled away in hard and strong strokes, the ship finally succumbed and sank; its sterncastle cracking and ripping off of the main vessel as it settled into the sand and mud far, far below.

Christopher treaded water, searching for survivors, but either they were killed in the explosion or pulled down with the suction of the sinking ship. Either way, not a soul was visible in the sea.

The explosion was enough to wake the camp. From the
pirates’ vantage point, neither man nor debris could be differentiated in the distance. Instead, all they possessed seemed to be stripped from them in a single moment. Gone were their gold, their transportation.

Confusion led to denial which led to anger. The Captain was a heartless man and
, finding the ship gone and his men fighting amongst themselves, he used the opportunity to take out the one that he felt would not support him.

Down to
six plus Pierre, who just giggled incessantly while tied to his tree, and Miya, who was still tied to the stake, the men sobered up quickly as the Captain barked out orders for night patrol.

He couldn’t be certain
, but he was very suspicious that Christopher had something to do with their misfortune, and though reason told him that no one could have survived such a blast, something still lurked in his subconscious that warned him that Christopher was still alive.

His subconscious was correct.

At that moment, Christopher was riding a wave on a plank of debris onto the beach not more than a quarter mile from where the captain stood.

Exhausted and meaning to carry on, he had had too much for his body at the moment. Pulling himself up out of the way of the tide, Christopher finally succumbed to the drag of his muscles and collapsed unconscious for a time.

The hot sun warmed him as he slowly woke. Sand clung to his face and stuck to his cheek where blood and drool had dried it to his skin.

He felt much better, and though wanting food and water, he was sufficiently ready to pursue his goal. 

When he arrived back at camp all he found was Pierre
, still tied up…and Pierre wasn’t all there. The lack of water for the last two days hadn’t done him any good. Then when the pirates had packed up to go inland, they did give him water to drink. Seawater. And lots of it.

The effects of the seawater
on Pierre’s mental state were obvious. Less obvious were the effects on his body. As the seawater was drunk, it temporarily increased the blood’s concentration of sodium chloride which in turn signaled the kidneys to excrete sodium. But the seawater’s sodium concentration was above the kidneys’ maximum concentrating ability. Because of this, eventually the blood’s sodium concentration would rise to toxic levels, removing water from all cells and interfering with nerve conduction. Pierre’s system was shutting down.

Christopher realized it was too late for him, and cutting him loose, gave Pierre a chance to live free for the last moments of his life.
Off Pierre ran, straight into the jungle. Christopher watched him with sad eyes.

Then following
Miya’s trail from the beach to the jungle’s edge, Christopher started tracking his wife and her captors.