Chapter 8

“Quick, men! On yer feet, the lot of you!”, Mark yelled out against the battering rain and wind pounding out against the Robin. “Victor, batten down the hatches!”

The seas came to life in an uproar late into the day just as the sun had disappeared once again. Large ominous dark clouds rolled overhead like a blanket covering the entire horizon. Flashes of lightning filled the skies giving the men light. A few men aboard held oil lanterns in their wet hands to help the pirates to see what they were doing.

The thunder cracked nearly nonstop and the men found themselves having to compete to be heard over the Heavens crescendo. They ran about the decks pulling loose cannons tight to the bulwark. Three men and Shane held the Cannon in place as water poured over them, soaking them and causing their hands to slip against the cold dark iron. Diego tied a knot hard in the line and placed a heavy piece of wood behind the cannon’s base to hold it in place. The pirates let go and caught their breath.

The storm had snuck up on them. They had not even thirty minutes before the storm was right on top of them. Then the panic struck out and men ran about in havoc trying to secure the lines and batten down the sails.

Shane glanced over to the quarterdeck steps where Carmen stood bracing herself against the seas anger. She had all her medical supplies on hand and had three men about her waiting for treatment. Blood flowed from one mans hand, caused by a line of rigging snapping as the wind caught the sails and ripped it from it’s deadeyes. One man was lying across the deck in pain screaming out over the thunder, he had fallen from one of the yard arms while hauling up the canvas and had broken his leg. Another found himself with a nasty knock to the back of the head as he slipped in the water that cascaded across the deck. Carmen hurried to take care of them, knowing full well that her night of work would not end soon.

She pulled a sheet of canvas and placed it under the one mans leg. “Hold this!” Carmen ordered and another man took the canvas and held it high, elevating the man’s broken leg. “This is going to hurt!” Carmen warned before pulling hard down on the man’s leg and snapping the bone back into place. He screamed out in agony letting a stream of french cuss words from his mouth, and let tears run down his face and mix with the heavy rain. She quickly grabbed the nearest long solid object she could find, a sheath for a sword and laid it straight against the side of the mans leg. She wrapped the canvas tight around his leg to keep it stable and tucked the end of the canvas into the makeshift cast before ordering another man to bring him into the forecastle and out of the rain.