Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom

the end of the trough, and run into the shoal. Before that happened,
Jack had to trick Borya into running aground. He knew just where he
had to do it, and they were not there yet, but the waiting was torture.
Jack peered back at Borya’s sloop. He knew the Russian captain
must be itching to come up on his port side again so he could fire a
broadside instead of just lobbing shots at them with the single bow
chaser. Koldunya was barely half a mile away.
Ten more minutes crawled by, and finally—finally!—it was time for
Jack to make his move. He raced up the ladder to the quarterdeck.
Koldunya was right behind the Wench now, less than a thousand
yards astern, still gaining steadily.
“Matthews, change course to northwest,” Jack ordered. As the
helmsman turned the wheel, Jack waved at Robby to stand by,
indicating that he was about to issue those orders. Robby waved back,
acknowledging the signal, then, in his turn, signaled Connery, who was
standing ready to release the anchor.
The Wicked Wench swung to port.
As Jack had anticipated, Borya immediately did the same. The
Wench’s turn closed the distance between them, and Koldunya was
now only three hundred yards away—within broadside range.
Jack held his breath. Surely by now the Russian captain had
noticed there were shoals on either side! But the sloop plunged ahead,
doing exactly what Jack wanted. Borya’s sloop had a much shallower
draft than the Wicked Wench. The Little Butcher must have figured the
Wench was following yet another deepwater channel.
Come on, run aground, run aground, run aground now, come
on! Jack thought, balling his fists. Would Borya be able to hit the
Wench with a broadside before his sloop hit the shoal? If he didn’t hit it
soon, the Wench would run aground! They were barely two hundred
yards from the end of the inlet!
The sloop’s bow suddenly thrust upward as she came to a
crashing halt. Jack watched as her topmast snapped off and crashed
to the deck.
Jack gasped with relief. It had worked! “YES!” he yelled. “YES!”
He heard his crew yelling in celebration. It was hard to tear his