Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom

harmed. I recommend we strike our colors immediately and hoist a
white flag.”
“Surrender?” Bainbridge gulped. He swiped his hand across his
sweating brow, then his upper lip. “That doesn’t seem right. We’re
Englishmen. We’re supposed to fight, Mr. Sparrow,” he whispered,
shakily. His speech was beginning to slur a bit.
“Not in a situation such as this one, Captain,” Jack said, “No one
will question your decision to surrender. We can’t get away. She’s
faster than we are, and now she’s blocking our wind. She’s a twentyeight
gun frigate, and pirates are experienced in hand-to-hand fighting.
They’ll cut our men down if you order them to resist, and they’ll have
died for nothing. You can’t want that.”
Bainbridge shook his head, not speaking. His shoulders slumped.
“Captain…” Jack used all his powers of persuasion. “All we have
to do is stay hove-to and run up a white flag. They’ll board us, they’ll
take the rum, then they’ll sail away. We’ll be a lighter vessel, but no one
will be hurt. And it won’t be the first time the EITC has lost a cargo to
pirates.” This last comment was tinged with irony, as Jack recalled
several EITC ships that he’d helped Teague take while he’d been
serving aboard Troubadour.
Bainbridge took a deep, shaky breath. “No one could blame me
for having to surrender to a pirate who captains a ship like that,” he
said, staring mesmerized at Venganza’s gun ports. The frigate, her
sails half furled, was drifting toward them at a leisurely, but inexorable,
rate. The captain added, plainly trying to convince himself, “I’ve heard
tales about them, you know? They’re animals. He’s likely a huge brute,
with human thumbs strung on a chain around his neck. A black-hearted
cutthroat. I must think of my men. I must consider their safety. You’re
right, Sparrow.”
“Indubitably, sir,” Jack said, pleased to hear that his advice had
apparently sunk in. “No one could possibly fault you.’
He’s in for a ruddy shock when he sees Esmeralda, Jack
thought, studying the captain with a touch of concern. Perhaps she’s
not aboard…perhaps she’s at Shipwreck Cove, and sent her ship out
to capture a few prizes. Pirate Lords sometimes did send their ships
out without them, rather than keep their crews idle too long.