Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom

of the hapless flute.
Automatically, he obeyed orders, standing by the splintered rail
with a grappling hook, ready to swing it with the others.
Christophe barked commands, and Jack swung his hook with the
other men. Swiftly, they drew the two vessels together. Jack could hear
the screams and moans of the wounded, and see the passengers and
crew milling around amid the splintered remains of wood and canvas
that had, half an hour before, been a ship sailing under full canvas.
“Board!” shouted Christophe. Jack drew his cutlass and leaped
up onto the brigantine’s rail; then it was an easy jump to land aboard
the flute.
The captain of the flute came forward, speaking to Christophe, but
the rogue captain brushed by him, ignoring him. Jack knew, as the
portly Dutchman did not, that there would be no terms—and no quarter.
Quickly, the rogues assembled the passengers and crew, making sure
they were disarmed.
After securing the crew and passengers, Jack spent the next hour
hustling back and forth between the flute’s hold and La Vipère’s deck,
moving cargo. The Dutch vessel carried a load of tobacco, and the
smell of it made his head swim as he and the other rogues, plus some
of the flute’s surviving crew that had been pressed into service, worked
at transferring it.
Finally, when the cargo hold was emptied of everything of value,
and Jack was gasping for breath, Christophe ordered all hands to
“stand by to mop up.”
Jack watched Christophe as the rogue captain casually turned to
the portly Dutch captain, and, with a hard thrust, ran the unarmed man
through. The Dutchman’s eyes widened in disbelief, then he collapsed
like a man cut down from the gallows.
That was the signal for the butchery. Moving mostly in silence, the
rogues began slaughtering the disarmed passengers and crew as
though they were cattle.
Some of the rogues were moving out, along the deck, evidently
searching for anyone who had managed to hide. Jack joined them,
moving aft, poking through the wreckage of the masts, spars, and
sails, occasionally thrusting with the cutlass as though he’d found some