Read The Caribbean for Free Online

into the night sky. Shane thudded to the deck, and the pistol skidded away across the boards.
    The Spanish soldiers were all staring in shock at the ship that had appeared mysteriously next to them and then announced itself in such an odd way. But Jack could see that a few of them were already reaching for their swords.
    “To arms, men!” Jack yelled. He seized a long hanging rope and ran forward, swinging over to the other ship. For a long moment he hung in the air, the dark ocean yawning endlessly below him, and then he let go of the rope, flew the last few feet, and came crashing down on top of one of the bigger, nastier-looking soldiers, knocking him out cold.
    “That was lucky,” Jack said, dusting off his hands. “I mean, er, well planned.”
    “PIRATES!” bellowed one of the Spanish guards.
    “Well, obviously,” Jack said with a bow and a flourish. “A bit slow on the uptake, aren’t we, mate?”
    Three of them rushed at him, waving their swords, but he parried their blows with graceful ease. He leaped up onto one of the ale barrels, disarmed one man with a flick of his sword, and casually planted a boot on another’s forehead, kicking him to the deck.
    Grappling hooks were flying across from the Pearl to the galleon as his crew drew the Spanish ship closer and began scrambling across. In the flurry of battle, Diego darted across to Shane’s fallen pistol, grabbed it, and hurled himself onto the galleon.
    “Carolina!” he cried. “Carolina, donde estas ?” A Spanish soldier ran at him with his arms outstretched. Diego sidestepped him at the last minute and shoved him overboard. “Carolina!” he called again, rushing to the hatch.
    “Ay, Diego,” a musical voice said from below. But at first the only person Diego could see coming up the stairs was the scowling, bearded captain who had captured Carolina in Tortuga. Then Diego realized that the captain’s hands were tied behind his back and a small, suspiciously attractive pirate was escorting him up the steps with a pistol jabbed into his ribs.
    “Not that I don’t appreciate the effort,” Carolina said, smiling at him from under the pirate hat she had stolen in Tortuga, “but this isn’t exactly the most subtle way to rescue me.”
    “At least I’m here, right?” Diego said with a grin. “And I have a ship. What were you going to do, force all the soldiers to take you back to Tortuga with that one pistol?”
    “Well, I thought I might also use my charming personality,” Carolina said, batting her eyelashes at him.
    “How did you get out of your cell?” Diego asked.
    “This blackguard here had me brought to his cabin so he could convince me to put on this ,” Carolina said with disgust, holding up a long, frilly, white lace dress in her free hand. “He wanted me to arrive in Florida ‘looking like a lady,’ he said. I decided to use it to tie him up instead.” She pointed to the captain’s bound hands, which Diego realized were tied with several strips of Spanish lace.
    “Nice work,” he said admiringly.
    “You know how much I hate dresses,” Carolina said. “Especially frilly ones.”
    Diego dragged the captain onto the deck and fired the pistol into the air. The fighting stopped all over the ship, and everyone turned to look.
    “We have your capitan !” Diego shouted in Spanish. “We have won the battle! Throw down your weapons!”
    Jack jumped off the barrel and sidled over to him. “Is that the captain? Splendid. Tell them we’ve won the battle and to throw down their weapons.”
    “Yes, sir,” Diego said, exchanging a smile with Carolina. The soldiers were already dropping their swords all over the galleon. Diego raised his voice, and again in Spanish he declared, “Now lead these men to your gold!”
    “Oh, and tell them to show us where their gold is,” Jack added.
    “Yes, sir,” Diego said with a straight face. “Now!” he called in Spanish. “You and you and you.” He pointed to the three closest