pirate ship spaniardMorning approached with all haste. The sun broke through the dark barrier of clouds, and the fog was finally lifted. Jaquette sat up in a sudden movement, he had fallen asleep on his guard, but thankfully one of his men rose to take his place. But standing next to the watch was Spaniard. Jaquette quickly rose to his feet, walking over to the newcomer. He brushed his coat with his hands as he went. The captain reached the guard and the Spaniard. The guard was none other than his trusted friend Louis. The two were trying to communicate, but had no luck because of the language barrier. Jaquette motioned for Louis to step away, and decided to try the Latin dialect, “Do you speak Latin?” he asked the man. To both Louis’s and Jaquette’s surprise he did speak it. They received a quick response, “YES! About time I can talk to a learned man.” The captain eyed him warily, not sure how to take the comment, “I am Captain Francis Jaquette,” he bowed low, in a polite fashion. “The formal greeting of the French court.“ replied the Spaniard, who impressively watched the Captain’s introduction and bow. He was taken aback at how crudely the captain was dressed, yet he had a strong sense of decency. Jaquette proceeded to explain who he was, and why he was stranded on the beach, but he remained silent on the fact that he was a privateer.

After telling his story, Jaquette listened to the Spaniard’s description of the nearby port. It could be reached within a couple of hours, and harbored one large ship and a garrison of troops. The fort of convenient size, and provided shelter to the inhabitants from the elements and from attacks by the Indians. Jaquette listened intently to the summary of the fort. He liked it. He slowly reached into his coat pocked, the Spaniard raised his rifle. “No, no.” chuckled the Captain, he then flipped his coat open to prove he had no weapon. Once the Spaniard had lowered his rifle Jaquette retrieved his map. Promptly opening it, he as the Spaniard if the location where he marked as their landing point was correct. The man showed the captain that this location was incorrect, and he pointed to the correct landing point, just a little south from the location. Jaquette thanked the man, and proceeded to put the map back into his coat. He ordered his men to hide the boats in the nearby foliage, and grab their provisions. One the orders had been fulfilled, the promptly set out with the Spaniard, heading south along the shoreline.

They trudged on through the sands under the hot Caribbean sun. After about an hour’s journey, they came upon a small river which emptied into the crystal sea. Judging from the provisions that Jaquette and his men carried, the Spaniard told them of a small bridge which he used on his hunting trips. Jaquette question the man carefully, wearied by the thought of venturing away from the shoreline. But the Spaniard was able to ease his doubt, and the small group of seven followed the river upstream. The insects pestered them, diving for their eyes and ears, all the men could do was swat them away with their hands, but they continued to come back. Eventually growing accustomed to the insects and tropical humidity they came to a small wooden bridge, of a humble origin. It was barely 3 feet wide, and had no railings. The men quickly crossed over it, and found themselves on the other side. They trudged on for another two hours coming to the end of their journey. The Spaniard halted. He whispered to Jaquette that it would be best if he went forward first, and tell the others that he had arrived with some guests so as not to alarm the guards. The captain agreed and waited in the brush with his men as the Spaniard went forward towards the camp.

Francis sat there with his men for a good twenty minutes. His men were tired, sweaty, and hungry from their trip from the shoreline. As his men sat there, Jaquette could have sworn he heard a sound. Rising from his hiding place he stood to find the barrel of a rifle pointed to his head. “Oh…” murmured Jaquette as he slowly stood up, raising his hands. To his surprise, it was not a Spaniard who was pointing the weapon at him, but none other than a British Soldier. “Lower your weapons, ” ordered the soldier, “Move along!” he motioned with the rifle. Jaquette’s men then followed in suit, placing their weapons on the ground and raising their hands above their heads. They were then marched to the fort, which turned out, to their surprise, to be English.

Having reached the fort, the soldiers guided them in, as the Spaniard carried Jaquette’s weapons behind them. The soldier rallied the French into the center of the fort, where all eyes were upon them. Francis looked up the flag pole, there flew the Spanish flag. It was an English outpost, disguised to look like that of the Spanish. Jaquette cursed under his breath for taking in the Spaniard so kindly. He was trapped in an English fort in the middle of the Caribbean. Towards one of the corners of the fort, on the ramparts, stood an officer, dressed in the formal red coat of the English army. He was surveying the horizon through a telescope. As he was doing so, a soldier swiftly climbed the steps, presenting himself at attention to the officer. A brief exchange of words took place, the officer nodded and put his telescope away.

He then made his way to the ground, he looked over the prisoners from a distance, and motion for one of the soldiers to come to him. He whispered something in his ear, and then walked over to a small cabin. Opening the wooden door, he stepped inside of the wooden structure. As Jaquette watched the officer’s movements, another soldier stepped up to the captain. He motioned with his rifle Jaquette to enter. The French men moved to protect their Captain, but Jaquette simply shooed them away with his hand. Another soldier stepped up to assist the first, and then the two soldiers then escorted Captain Jaquette to the cabin and the awaiting British officer.