in my pirate days my ship was being pursued by five different navies, the french, the spanish, the portuguese the dutch and the english. for most of the time we didn't have to move around and could hide out in various points on the globe for long periods of time, but obviously being a tropical and warm blooded soul i liked the hotter areas near the equator, south america, the africas and madagascar where always welcoming to my crew and i.
the europian navies were filled with neurotic fears about sailing far from home, they mistreated their men and followed a barbaric code of whipping and mistreating their crew who had been forced into serving, where as we had our faithful libertarian standards of democratic distribution of booty, our charter or articles of fraternity plus we had one thing those idiots didn't, we had women on board. yes old captain mission has always been a ladies man, he's always had nothing but admiration for the goddess and this has served him well.
we were moored at a small enclave in north mad. i had distributed some books amongst my crew and some hashish, which we preferred to the usual brain numbing rums the navies gave their mens, besides hashish acted as a lovely aphrodisiac. my crew were relaxing after a 6 month plundering raid so our stocks where as high as our spirits, we had been here for two months and i was halfway through the yoga visiatha reading aloud to my friend and confidante lady arabella march who is fixing us another hashish pipe when there is a knocking upon our door. two short bursts of three knocks, followed by one burst of two louder knocks, our safety code, no one on the mainland that was our friend would deviate lest they end up with a cutlass embedded through their heart.
arabella answered the door, while i sat upright in my hammock, closing the book when in walked the ships dr, mr why.
'sorry to trouble you both, arabella you look beautiful this evening, captain i must speak with you, it is urgent.'
'of course dr. would you like some tea, or a pipe perhaps, arabella is preparing one so it's no trouble at all and it is lovely to see you, are you well?'
'yes, yes i am good, yes i'll have a pipe and a it is good to see the both of you to, you spend so much time in here it feels like ages since we spoke last.'
'yes we are quite the reclusives on land. now sit down dr, and tell me what troubles you.'
'it's the english, we have heard from a small trading vessel that there are ships heading towards the coastline.'
'curses, just when i was beginning to relax how much time do we have?'
'they will be berthed offshore at dawn captain.'
'mmm, well we have time for some tea and another pipe.'
the dr. looks through the book i've thrown down on the table, ' i have read this, it's very good.'
'yes it's having a profound effect upon us, i particularly enjoy it's direct style, question and answer.'
conversation sways to the many treatments dr why has found on the island by consulting with the natives and their healers, 'plant life here is vibrant, there are cures for all manner of things, it's abundant with natural medicines.'
'make sure you stock up the ship, we may have to sail out of here for a while.'
'some of these plants are very powerful medicine captain, they are amazing, broken bones heal within a week, cancers and tumours gone, melancholia gone, headaches gone, poor sleep gone, all manner of diseases cured.'
'what about the english, is there a cure for them?'
'he gives me a wry smile and raises his sword.'