I knew better than to question Bertha. I left them quarreling intensely in hushed tones. In the hall, I ran into two more of my father’s crew, a man known only as Maguire who had a peg leg, and the young, scrappy orphan my father had taken in, Barry Jones.

Maguire clomped up to me. “Where’s everyone, son? We’ve been wandering the deck like ghosts, looking for people. We found only Jerry steering the ship. He said there was an awful fight at starboard between your pa and another pirate. Is your pa all right?”

“Yeah, for now. He has a bad wound in his stomach, but Bertha’s tending to him. She asked me to fetch her sewing kit. Joseph’s in there with her now, mad at her for wanting to sew at a time like this.”

“Ours not to question why,” Maguire said with an ironic laugh that sounded like a sea lion’s bark. “Well, I’m going to go relieve Jerry. Barry, go look for everyone else. They might be wounded themselves and in need of help.”

Barry grinned, revealing two missing front teeth, and scampered off.