Stepping through the doorway, Crow stopped and looked about. The men, gathered in the room, had pulled their chairs into a circle; their faces were grim. No laughter or "hail good fellow," tonight. They had come to plan for war. The two sea captains, Hyde and Bodkins, were there as were Fine, Virgil, Earl, McCauley, James, and Bradford. Crow grabbed a chair and pulled it into the circle.
“Captain Hyde, would you please share with us your knowledge of the pirates?”
Hyde leaned forward, flicking the ash from his cigar into an ashtray, “The pirates tried to take our ship by placing members of their gang with our crew. They waylaid some of our men, then had their men hired on to replace them. At that time, they were still using sea-going junks, which are slower than the clippers we use. When
