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pretending I couldn't hear, wishing these ruffians weren't swarming all over our ship as if they owned it.
    “Ah, never mind him,” said Timothy. “He's always like that.”
    “Aye, well, that may be so,” the pirate replied. “Can't say I recommend it, though, as a way of living. I once knew a man who was high-and-mighty like that. Hated everything and everyone. So I slit his throat and fed his innards to my dog.”
    As everyone started to laugh, Timothy included, a pistol blasted from beside me. Startled, ears ringing, I turned to see Josiah Black glaring at the man who had just spoken. Smoke hovered above Josiah's head. “And I knew a man,” said Josiah, smiling slowly, “who drowned in his own blood because he didn't treat his dog with respect.”
    The man paled. His mustache twitched. “Cap-Captain Black! I—I didn't know this was your ship. I—I didn't know you was back on the Round. Honest.” He flicked his gaze over me. “And I was just pulling his leg. Having a bit of fun. Honest I was.”
    “That's right,” slurred Timothy, swaying back and forth. “Rat Eye was just pulling his fun and having a bit of leg.”
    Josiah sighed, stuck his pistol back in his sash, and pulled me away. I shrugged out of his grasp. “Daniel, my boy, it's best you act as if you're one of them,” he said softly. “Aboard my ship, I can protect you, but acting superior around men like these will only get you killed. They've had their fill of superiority.”
    I said nothing, wondering why he was talking to me, again wondering why, after thousands of miles, he continued to show me kindness and protect me. Did he not care that I hated him?
    “Why don't you go get yourself something to eat? Surely you're as heartily sick of salt beef and wormy biscuit as I am. There's pineapple, coconut, and yams, and Cook's roasting some pigs. Go ashore if you like.”
    I frowned. “But what will I do ashore?”
    “It's paradise, Daniel. I'm sure you'll figure it out.”
    “Why, blast my hide,” someone exclaimed from behind us, “if it isn't that lousy scoundrel Josiah Black!”
    Josiah turned and smiled. “Gideon Fist! Thought someone would have stabbed you in the back by now!”
    With a black kerchief around his head, hoop earrings, and teeth that flashed gold, Gideon Fist was a brutish giant of a man. A massive red beard curled to his chest. When he clasped Josiah in a bear hug, pistols and cutlass clanking, I smelled a powerful waft of body odor.
“Captain
Fist to you, you dog. Captain of the
Defiance
now.”
    “The
Defiance
!”
    “Aye.”
    “A fine ship, she is.”
    Captain Fist nodded, then fixed his gaze on me. “Who's the puppy?”
    “This is my—” Josiah paused. “This is Daniel Markham. He's sharpening his teeth on our—”
    “I am not a pirate,” I declared, daring to look Captain Fist in the eye.
    Fist's eyes narrowed, but he patted me on the back. “Of course not, lad. Of course not. I like your way of thinking. Like Robin Hood's merry men we are, taking from the rich and giving to the poor, namely, us. Nothing piratical about that. Nowrun along and let me and Captain Black discuss the finer points of life.”
    “Daniel,” Josiah said when I turned to leave, “take this.” He pulled one of his pistols from his sash and handed it to me. It was a fine pistol, with a handle of mahogany and swirls about its stock. “If anyone troubles you, shoot him.”

wandered down the beach, shoes off, sand hot and soft between my toes. My stomach bulged from roasted pork and yams, and I gnawed a slice of pineapple. The tangy sweet taste burst through my mouth like nothing I'd eaten before. Juice dribbled down my arm, down my chin.
    Scattered around the beach, knots of pirates yarned, drank, and ate. Malagasy men and women, their skin tones ranging from light brown to almost black, dressed in colorful clothes, sat with them, laughing, smiling. I smelled fire smoke, tobacco, coconut, roasted fish and chicken. Children ran