Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom

yesterday, if you recall.”
She smiled, then added, “I could tell that Giles was holding
something back, so I leaked a few tears and confessed to him that you
were actually my beloved cousin, by way of an ancestor who survived
the wreck of the Armada and married an Englishwoman. Giles was
very sympathetic. He then told me, for free, that he’d spotted Koldunya
a few days later near the Northwest Providence Channel.”
“So you decided to go hunting for Borya yourself,” Robby said.
“Sí, muchacho. I headed northwest from Andros, to follow the
channel, then left it and swung east past Grand Bahama, past Little
Abaco, then east past the northern tip of Great Abaco. I posted a
lookout constantly.” She smiled faintly. “It paid off, actually. I took a very
nice schooner that was carrying fabric bound for Charleston, and then
a flute loaded with tea and spices. So my crew had no complaint.”
“And then you headed south, down that deepwater channel that
lies on the eastern side of Great Abaco,” Jack guessed.
“Precisely. I had given up my search. I was perhaps four miles
past Hole in the Wall on Great Abaco when my lookout saw the smoke
of the explosion to the northwest, the clouds still yellow that high up
from the last rays of the sun. When I heard about big smoke clouds, I
thought perhaps Borya had taken some unfortunate vessel, then fired
her to hide the evidence. Lately, both rogue pirates have been burning
the ships they take. So I took a sighting on the cloud, and set my
course by it.”
She shrugged and sipped more wine. “So, as you can see, it was
not a miracle that I was there. I actually had been out hunting for Borya.”
“Actually, I’d say it was as likely a candidate to be a miracle as
I’ve ever encountered, love,” Jack said, surprising himself, as well as
both of his listeners. “I mean, think about it. What are the chances that
you would be close enough to sight the evidence of the explosion? If
you’d been five miles farther along your course, or had gone five miles
less.…” He shrugged.
Esmeralda and Robby looked at each other and smiled
conspiratorially.
Before they left Venganza, Esmeralda conducted Jack and
Robby on a tour of her ship. She was rightfully proud of her vessel. Her