Chapter 8

How the hell can a man come up with Western Omelets for 15 people on a small yacht after several days at sea? Cookie is a wizard! The Fates really smiled on us when he joined the crew! He did mention that he was now out of eggs and ice, so there would be no more omelets until we put into a large port. That was almost enough for us to forget the pirate we were chasing and head to port right away. Oh, well, maybe later.

We were running flat out to catch the other boat, but it still took us almost two hours to get close enough to hail them. Capt. Scruggs used the hailing funnel to reach them. “WE ARE THE ANGEL’S FLIGHT OUT OF NEW ORLEANS! WHO ARE YOU?”

There was no answer, so he tried again with the same hail and got no answer. We were very close when he tried for the third time. This time, he did get an answer—a bullet that hit the deck at his feet! Son of a Bitch! That was a declaration of war if we ever heard one, so Capt. Scruggs turned the battle over to me. At this point, only two men were needed to manage the boat, so I had everyone else line up on our boat’s side with weapons in hand, ready to board.

With a deft bit of steering, we ran up alongside the other boat and threw out grappling hooks and buffers. The men pulled us into contact with the other boat and Capt. Scruggs dropped our sails. The sudden drag on the other boat came close to causing it to swamp, but, close as it was, that did not happen.

There were a lot of men on the deck of the other boat, so I called for a volley of shotgun fire. The opposition was never expecting that, and a number of their crew were cut down. Another volley of shotgun fire was sent out from Angel’s Flight, and the other crew ducked for cover. Apparently, they had never faced sawed-off shotguns, and they did not know how to cope. We received some rifle fire in return, but the erratic motion of the two yachts kept them from scoring any hits.

Several of the crewmen from the other yacht fell overboard and were lost to the sharks. We had no idea of any of them were already dead. By this time, the two boats were locked together until the ropes were cut, and that was not going to happen as long as bullets were flying around. The combination was almost an impromptu catamaran with all of the sails on one side. The drag from our side was causing the combination to move in a great arc that was going to come to a screeching halt when we lost the push from the following wind. I was content to wait for that because it was going to happen in only a few minutes.

I had Bob Abnernathy, who was going to be the captain of the captured boat to designate the sailors to furl the sails on the other boat as soon as that could be managed. The rest were to be my fighting boarding party. Our shotguns were going to make our attack a short one. I ordered that no quarter be given to the pirates, since we were going to hang any that were not immediately killed in the battle. That was fine with our men, so that was the plan.

We knew that we would not be boarded except by individuals, so Nina was released from her bodyguard duties and Cookie replaced her. She was champing at the bit to join the fight and the reassignments were made. Everybody but Cookie was in favor of this because he was considered the most valuable man on board, even ahead of the captain!

As soon as we stopped moving at the loss of the winds impetus, I ordered my crew to storm the deck of the other boat. Our attack was as ferocious as any pirate attack, and the remaining pirates were disposed of with shotgun fire, much of it at point blank range because the rifles they had could not be brought to bear quickly enough.

Oh, some of our men did receive minor wounds, but nothing that Cookie could not clean and bandage up after the fight was over. Once we had control of the pirate boat, I turned management of it over to now Capt. Abernathy while Nina and I, along with two of our crewmen, searched below decks.

My God, what a mess! The smell of stale urine was almost overpowering, and there was trash of all kinds lying about on the deck and even in some of the bunks. I had thought that we could simply take over this boat and operate as a small flotilla in the Gulf, but now I could see that this boat needed a thorough cleaning before it was acceptable.

There were no prisoners aboard the boat being held for ransom, and that did not surprise us. However, it did make things a bit simpler for us. We found the locked storage area where the gold and silver coins were stored. These pirates were such slobs that there was nothing else of value on board.

The money was taken back to the Angel’s Flight and divided into shares. Again, Nina and I skipped our shares, but the rest was divided according to tradition among the officers and crew. Both Scruggs and Abernathy received two shares as the officers, while each man of the crew received one share. It turned out that most of the money was in silver. Fortunately, Abernathy was familiar enough with the coinage of the Latin American countries that he was able to divide that up. As before, all of the men were happy with the way they were treated, even though they did not get as much money as they had the first time. Oh, well...

I had not given up my idea of a flotilla to chase pirates, so we decided to take the prize to New Orleans and have it refitted to be our second vessel with Capt. Abernathy in charge. The trip back was not as comfortable for them as it might have been because of the squalor on board, but we rotated the crew everyday to give them some relief, and Cookie cooked for everybody. In appreciation for his efforts, everybody kicked in a little to bring Cookie’s share of the loot up to equal that of the officers.

On the way back to New Orleans, Capt. Abernathy put the new boat through its paces, and found that it was almost as fast as Angel’s Flight. That was great news and signified that we could have an effective flotilla once we learned how best to use the two boats. That was between Scruggs and Abernathy to work out, and Nina and I stayed out of the discussions, except when the question of fighting came up.

The captured boat did not have a name that we could find, so we decided to choose a suitable name for it. Nina and I decided to split up in the same way that we had done during the wagon train run to Santa Fe. She moved her daily activities to the new boat which was renamed Nina’s Joy. She was now familiar with my methods, so she took over as battle leader on her boat, and Cookie became the permanent bodyguard for Capt. Scruggs. Nina appointed a crewman to be the bodyguard for Capt. Abernathy, and that part was settled.

Another cook was hired to work aboard Nina’s Joy, and he started learning immediately from Cookie. The new cook’s name was Jeb Anderson, and he was looked upon with suspicion until he had proved himself.

Our plan was for Nina to remain aboard her boat during the day, but to come aboard Angel’s Flight at night. This routine would be modified as circumstances required.

I sent a telegram to Schloss in St. Louis that we were back in New Orleans and inquiring about the progress on the new pistol design. He sent me a message back that he could demonstrate the pistol prototype if I wanted to come to St. Louis. Ah, that was music to my ears. I left for St. Louis the next day, but Nina stayed in New Orleans to supervise some changes she wanted to make to Nina’s Joy while the other work was going on.

In St. Louis, Schloss showed me the prototype he had made. It had all of the design features that I wanted in a pistol. It had the top-break action and the ejector system of the Smith & Wesson, the nine-chamber cylinder that could all be loaded, and the double-action. I was absolutely enthralled by the new gun when I fired it. I went through two boxes of cartridges before I was too tired to play with it any further.

I wanted to take it with me back to New Orleans, but Mr. Schloss claimed that he needed to keep it to use as a pattern for the other three guns. Dammit, I reluctantly agreed, but I sure was not happy with that decision. Oh, well, Schloss did say that he could cut as much as a month off the delivery time for the remaining guns if I left this prototype with him. That was a compelling argument, so I returned to New Orleans without the prototype, but with a glowing description of it for Nina.