Sailors In Silk, Chapter 2B free porn video

Sailors in Silks - Chapter 2 B - By: Beverly Taff Foreword to all: I read the first chapter of Corsets and Cutlasses on the Fictionmania site when it was written and posted there by Cleo Marie. I so liked the story that I contacted Cleo Marie through the remarks column at the end of the story and expressed an interest in writing a follow up to her first chapter. After some detailed Internet correspondence, Cleo decided that she would let me, 'Borrow' the plot of her story' and write my own version of what happens next. In letting me do this however, we agreed that I must always let Cleo see each chapter before it is posted and if it impinges too much on Cleo's versions of the advertures of her main characters, Madeline and Elizabeth, then I must amend mine or not post it. This is perfectly fair to me for after all it is her idea and I am not a plagiarist. I therefore hope to write some follow up adventures using the same characters of Madeline and Elizabeth but to avoid confusion I will be entitling my version as Sailors in Silk to differentiate it from Cleo's story of Corsets and Cutlasses. I will also prefix my chapters with the number and the letter 'B' to further avoid confusion. Finally I cannot thank Cleo enough for giving me the idea, (In truth, I was drying up with Author's Block,) nor can I thank her enough for allowing me to explore and develop her ideas. Once again, thank you Cleo. P.S., In line with this policy, Cleo requested that I adopt a different title for my version to avoid confusion by the readers. Cleo suggested 'Pirates in Petticoats or Pirates and Petticoats but the word pirate has rather cruel connotations. I first thought of the title Buccaneers and -- ----------, but I couldn't find a suitable alliteration to rhyme with 'B' so a contacted my editorial adviser cum- mentor (I don't know if I should mention her name here,). My editor is one of the listed aficionados who helps authors a lot and often. This lady suggested 'Sails and Silks. I thought about this and debated whether to take all or half of her advice. Should I call it 'Sailors in Silks' or 'Sails and Silks' as my editor suggested. Finally I chose Sailors in Silk because after all, the story is essentially about transformations and transvestism. The pirate theme with its sailing ships and swashbuckling adventures and eighteenth century fashions is really just a vehicle for the story, (albeit a very good one) Anyway, thank you Cleo for the idea of the next story and thank you P---- --- for your suggestion of the words Sails and Silks. Please don't be too offended if I only took half your advice. Cleo has allowed me to use the same characters so if readers consider Cleo's story 'Cutlasses & Corsets' to be Chapter 1 then this is chapter 2B. (The B is for Beverly Taff.) So here comes my next Story. Sailors in Silk, Chapter 2B - By: Beverly Taff (with acknowledgements to Cleo Marie. UK) Characters: Madeline and Elizabeth. After plunging into the water I surfaced after Elizabeth. My sword was weighing me down whilst Elizabeth's voluminous silk hooped petticoats had trapped a pocket air. Unfortunately for her, the woolen dress was becoming waterlogged and she coughed her appeals for help. I in my panties and corset was better able to swim, but breathing was becoming difficult as the stays and fastenings of my corset constrained my chest. Fortunately my arms and legs were free so once I could breath I could swim towards Elizabeth as she floundered and struggled amidst all the confusing folds of her petticoats. Firstly however, I had to be able to breath and the corset was getting tighter and tighter as the laces seemed to shrink in the water. Despite Elizabeth's desperate please for help, I firstly had to slice through the upper set of stays of my corset with my cutlass to allow my lungs to expand and breath. After this was achieved, I carefully slid my cutlass down the back of my corset and swam desperately towards my beloved Elizabeth. I arrived in the nick of time. Her woolen dress had become saturated and she had started to sink into the depths. A Dived to grab her and she clawed frantically at my arms. Fortunately I managed to reach her and calm her then haul her to the surface. Once she seemed to have recovered her breath I tried speaking calmly between gulps for air. "My sword is behind my back down my corset. Whilst I'm supporting you, gently slide my sword out without slicing my derriere then cut the stays on the bodice of your dress." Elizabeth coughed painfully and took deep gulping breaths as she continued panicking. I tried to calm her but she was terrified. Her trembling hands grabbed feverishly for my sword and tugged frantically at the hilt. I felt the keen blade slice into my buttock. "Ouch darling. Take it slowly. You've cut my butt." Despite my cries, Elizabeth continued pulling until the whole blade flashed free and I swiftly grabbed it from her shaking grasp. "There Darling, now turn around and I'll get the dress off you." Elizabeth simply clung onto me and I had to force her around before I could finally slit the bodice stays and waist ties of her dress. Frantically she wriggled and squirmed until she was finally able to slide free of the sodden weight. I just managed to dive and grab it before it sunk from reach. Deep under the water I was severely hampered by Elizabeth's sodden woolen dress in one hand, and my sword in the other. I had no idea why I rescued the dress but at that point it and the sword were the only things we had. I thought it might be of some use later. From under the water, I looked up to see Elizabeth's hooped silk petticoats now spreading free like some strange, giant silver jellyfish. Her stockinged legs flailed desperately like two stings. By now my lungs were bursting and I closed my eyes as I thrashed for the surface. In my desperate struggle to regain the surface, I surfaced in the centre of Elizabeth's petticoats and I tried to untangle my head. Elizabeth screamed with fright thinking that some sea monster was attacking her from below. As I coughed and gasped, she finally recognised me then squealed with relief as she wrapped her stockinged legs around my neck. I spluttered my fears as my nose buried itself into the crotch of her panties. Elizabeth giggled and thrust her soft peachy mons against my nose. For a moment I savoured her beautiful silk clad sex but the seawater had removed all her natural scents. I gently extricated my nose from her intimate parts and gasped. "Not now darling, beautiful though your peach is. We need to find a piece of wood to float on." Lying back in the water with her thighs on my shoulders, Elizabeth had found it easier to float. However, the effort of supporting, my sword, Elizabeth's heavy woolen dress and her ripe gravid buttocks over my shoulders were overwhelming me. I gasped my distress and she quickly realised my plight. "Oh I'm sorry darling. Look, I can see a large piece of wooden deck planking over there. It must have been blasted off my father's ship by the pirate's cannon fire." "Good, then guide me to it. I can't see anything from under your petticoats, but so long as my head is covered they won't recognise us. We'll just look like a scrap of torn canvas. Try and drag your outer slip over your head without blinding your vision." Elizabeth quickly grasped my idea to camouflage our appearance and we slowly paddled towards the large piece of broken deck planking. Fortunately, and unknown to us, they were still fighting on the two ships so our actions went un-noticed. Once we had reached the sanctuary of the large chunk of planking we huddled behind an upright piece of frame and watched the two ships. As the fight continued to rage, we both realised that we had been a little too hasty in jumping. From our position on the poop, we had not been able to properly see what was happening under the forecastle. We spread our waterlogged bodies flat across the planking and settled to watch the outcome. Fortunately the tropical water was fairly warm. From England, our ship had taken the North East trades from Europe and down past the Canary Islands. Then we had set out Westwards towards the Caribbean. It was obvious now that the pirates were based somewhere in the Caribbean Sea and regularly patrolled this route in search of victims. On our piece of broken planking we were able to haul ourselves partially out of the water and lie behind a piece of upright framing thus hiding ourselves from view as the two crews fought on. We spread Elizabeth's heavy fawn woolen dress over us to disguise her white silken petticoats. Thus covered, we were almost the same colour as the weathered deck planks and invisible. Nevertheless, we were both still fairly cold and I was grateful to be able to squeeze tight against Elizabeth's delightful silken skin in an attempt to share our mutual body warmth. She squirmed salaciously against me and gently locked me between her silken stockinged thighs. The commotion of battle finally subsided and we watched sickened as bodies were unceremoniously dumped into the ocean. We recognised our fellow shipmates but plenty of pirates had also succumbed. It was obvious that the fighting had been fierce and smoke still smouldered inside the hold of Elizabeth's father's ship. Despite the smoke, the remainder of the pirate crew seemed more intent on plundering the bales of valuable silks, satins, Damask and barrels of spirits from the hold of my uncle's honest trading ship. They even plundered the copper pots and sheaths of copper plating that was so valuable for ship repairing in the Caribbean. As the sun sank to the west, the smoke from my uncle's ship reduced to the faintest whisper. Having satisfied themselves that they had pirated everything of value, the pirates descended into a riotous party aboard the shattered remains of my uncle's ship. The sea was calm and there was absolutely no wind as the sun was setting. The two ships remained still locked together by the bows. The pirates obviously did not care though. Because the sea was absolutely calm, they had all the time in the world to indulge their ill-gotten successes. The ships lay becalmed and perfectly still for it was summer and there was only the slightest of long easy oceanic swells to disturb their attachment. The pirates obviously intended to make their escape in the morning. It was quite obvious that the pirates felt they had nothing to fear and they partied into the night as the brandy and rum flowed like water. Darkness descended quickly and Elizabeth and I watched with relief as the revellers finally became silent. We presumed they had succumbed to the liquor and we debated what to do. "Maybe we could climb aboard and kill them in their sleep," I suggested. "How many are there left alive? Surely there's bound to be somebody keeping a lookout," objected Elizabeth fearfully "Well we can't stay here all night. We'll freeze to death eventually. Once a wind springs up, those ships will drift away from us. This piece of timber planking is low in the water and the ships are still carrying some canvas. This is our best chance to sneak aboard and try our luck. It's that or join the fishes." Elizabeth nodded her head resignedly as she sighed. "You're right. Come on, let's paddle." Softly, we pushed with our legs and eventually we arrived under the quarter of the pirate ship. I stared up at the hull and noticed some broken rigging lines lying over the side and trailing in the water. "That's our best chance. We can clamber up the rope and come up by the break of the poop deck. Look at the rail. There are a lot of carved mouldings to hide behind then there's that door right by the break of the poop deck. Can you climb a rope?" I asked Elizabeth. "I'm a tom-boy aren't I? That's what my mother always called me. Of course I can climb a rope, but I'll have to get rid of these stupid petticoats." Deftly I helped her slip out of her white petticoats for there was no need of camouflage now. The deathly hush aboard seemed to confirm our suspicions that nobody was awake. The only sound was the soft creaking and grinding of the two locked hulls and that would serve to hide our barefooted footfall. Elizabeth was now wearing nothing but her camisole and French panties. I climbed up after her in case she slipped and occasionally I pushed my nose up into her silk-pantied derriere. She squirmed as she savoured the delicious sensations then we clambered together up the rope. At the top we came level with the rail and I peered nervously about. Our silk clad bodies slithered and pressed against each other until we finally slipped across the wide taffrail and landed noiselessly onto the slippery bloody deck. We hesitated for a brief moment as we contemplated the blood stained results of the recent carnage then we slipped silently into the poop cabin. It didn't take long to locate the sounds of drunken snoring coming from a tiny cabin next to the main stateroom. As we peeped from the dark alley we located the so-called watchman spread out in his chair besotted with brandy and totally unconscious. We debated what to do. "Kill him!" whispered Elizabeth. "They killed all my father's crew." "We'd best find a sharp knife then and slit his throat," I offered. "This sword is a little too clumsy in these confined close quarters." Without another word, Elizabeth disappeared then returned brandishing several wicked looking knives. "I found them in the galley. It's empty, even the cook is drunk. I cut his throat. If they're all as drunk as the cook, we'll never have a better chance. Now, let's kill him." Elizabeth moved with the certainty of a woman who had dealt with plenty of drunks and I resolved to ask her later, where she had learned her awful secrets. It was enough for me to realise that the man never woke up as she slit his throat from ear to ear. The blood spurted like a fountain and covered Elizabeth from head to toe, but she bravely covered his mouth as he gargled and croaked in a futile endeavour to raise an alarm. Instead of a shout, his breath simply frothed and bubbled through the gaping slice across his throat and in another second he slumped to the floor. I stared in fascination as she released her grip and his eyes blinked futilely as he struggled to repair the gaping wound in his throat. His last conscious moments were filled by Elizabeth's blazing eyes cursing him for his cruelty and his wicked trade. With a final frothy burbling, his last breath expired and he lay still. "It's as easy as that when the bastards are drunk," Elizabeth observed, as she wiped her bloodstained hands on the filthy brandy stained tablecloth. "Were did you learn to do that?" I whispered in shock. "The Parisian finishing school wasn't the only place I attended in Paris. We girls who tipped the velvet went visiting some less savoury haunts. We had to be able to protect ourselves. One of the girls was a butcher's daughter whose father had done very well. She knew how to slaughter just about any beast, including two-legged ones. She showed us a few tricks!" "Huh. Remind me never to go to sleep after a row with you darling." "Not you darling. Never you. You're too sweet and you're the only boy- girl I love. I also saw what you could do with that sword so you'll be useful. Come on, let's get on with the job." Quickly we searched the pirate ship and found only one more so-called watchman in a drunken stupor. Elizabeth dispatched him the same way as I watched and learned the technique from Elizabeth. What shocked me the most however, was how quick and silent it was. A simple barefooted creep up to the sleeping drunk, a simultaneous hand to the jaw and a swish with a razor sharp knife then the job was done. With little time left before somebody woke up, it remained next to sneak aboard my uncle's ship. The smaller craft was still pinned under the bows of the pirate ship. We looked down onto my uncle's ship and the site sickened us. The pirate ship's heavy cannon had smashed huge holes in her lighter planking and she was all but a wreck. There was absolutely no way she could be saved. Even as we looked there was an ominous grating sound and the little ship lurched heavily. "We can't go aboard her, she's sinking," I warned. Elizabeth cried softly, "Oh no! That's all my clothes and stuff. Everything I've got is on her." "It's too risky. Look down there in the hold, that looks like water. She's about to go! I remember that she was carrying some heavy iron ingots in the lower hold, that is why she was so slow and this pirate ship caught her." As I spoke there was a hideous tearing sound and the plucky little craft gave one last groan of pain. There were some howls of fear from the after poop cabin and several drunken revelers staggered onto the deck. Even as their eyes bulged with shock the water started surging up through the scuppers and the deck was already awash. The drunks stumbled frantically for the bow but already the ships had become separated as the smaller craft started her final death plunge. The drunken pirates screamed at us to throw them ropes but instead we just made doubly sure that there was no more broken rigging or ropes lying loose over the gunwales. There was a final sucking gurgling whoosh and the little ship was no more as she sucked several poor swimmers down to share her grave. Two drunken pirates, who must have been good swimmers, were left floundering stupidly in the water bellowing for help. Without ropes to catch hold of, there was no way they could scramble aboard up the sheer sides of the bigger vessel. In any case, they were too drunk to do anything and we were certainly not going to help them. They would have raped us then slit our throats. Eventually their cries faded away and we decided it was safe to leave our vigil of the dark waters. We decided to try and hoist a sail. "D'you know to hoist a sail?" asked Elizabeth. "Vaguely," I replied. "I watched the crew a few times and the first lieutenant tried to get me interested. The lightest sails are at the top so they should be the easiest to handle. The trouble is they are dangerous in bad weather. The highest smallest sails will be the easiest to set for neither of us is very strong. We won't go very fast, but we'll get away from this graveyard and she'll be easy to handle. I'm sorry I'm not a lot bigger and stronger." Elizabeth studied my slender girlish frame clad only in my French silk panties and busted corset then she smiled and gave me a squeeze as her lips finally met mine. "You're my heroine darling and I like you just the way you are." Her soft ripe curves felt wonderful against my trembling body for only now was the shock beginning to take effect. We both shook and trembled with relief as the trauma surfaced and tears coursed down our cheeks. "Don't cry my darling Madeline," soothed Elizabeth despite her own tears, "this ship is all ours, let's set sail for the Spanish Main" "How can you be so calm?" I sobbed. "We're utterly lost and I have no idea how to navigate." "But we both studied geography together as children. America and the Indies are to the west. Just keep going west and we'll hit something." "Huh. That's a great help," I giggled, as the tension sagged from my body. "What if there's a storm? They have these awful hurricanes and things in these parts." "We'll just have to take our chances," swallowed Elizabeth nervously. "Whatever happens we can't stay here, in the middle of the ocean." "Well let's get a sail set and see how we manage," I suggested sounding a lot more confident than I felt. After an hour of fumbling in the dark, Elizabeth and I managed to secure the tattered tails of one tiny scrap of topsail. Her father's ship and its crew had put up a desperate fight. There was not a sail on the pirate ship that had not been torn and tattered by her desperate cannonades. The pirate ship of course had inevitably won the contest. Her greater size, speed and heavier cannons had decided the fate of the plucky little ship the moment she had been spotted. After struggling up the rigging, I finally returned exhausted to the deck and examined my frightfully damaged nails. Elizabeth frowned as she secured the last line and rubbed her tender fingers. "We'll have hands like washer women at this rate!" she cursed. I was too hungry to care and staggered towards the galley. There was some dry bread beside the extinguished stove and a large cauldron of what I presumed to be some sort of stew or soup. Too hungry and tired to care, I dipped the bread into the cold mush and chewed gratefully. Despite her delicate feminine manners, Elizabeth eventually joined me. I was so hungry I actually finished my portion and shivered as a cool breath of wind chilled my slender hairless body. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around her silky chemise and whimpered, "It's getting cold." I looked at the sea to recognise some delicate ripples whisking across the dark surface. In the east, the first fingers of light were plucking at the clouds and I looked up at the tiny scrap of sail. "There's a breeze getting up. Perhaps we'll start moving soon." "Well I for one will have to change. I'll catch my death in these." I stared transfixed at Elizabeth's stiff nipples pushing cold and wet against the transparent silk chemise. She followed my gaze and swayed towards me. As she hugged me she whispered. "Not now my pet. Let's see if we can point this ship in the right direction." The tiny scrap of sail started to fill with the light airs and I felt the ship heel ever so slightly. From the poop, the wheel creaked as the spokes moved and I realised that she was reacting to the slightest breath of wind. "She's moving, look," I whispered as Elizabeth's nipples pressed hard against my own and the silky chemise slithered daintily across my chest. My 'boy-clitty' responded in like manner and she sagged with pleasure as I burrowed against her and our silky panties slithered tantalisingly between us. Elizabeth shuddered then dragged herself back to reality. "Yesss. I want to as well my darling but we must look to the future. D'you know how to steer?" "I can read a compass." "Well that's a start. Let's find some clothes then start to get organised." Reluctantly we parted and started to search for some suitable clothes. I was busy searching in the slop chest when a shriek of delight emanated from the captain's palatial stateroom. I went to investigate and found Elizabeth dancing around the table hugging a beautiful red gown to her naked breasts. "Madeline Look! They're my clothes! They must have stolen them from my father's ship to sell on or trade. Look! Your chests are here too, even the special chests!" Eagerly, I dug into my special chests and found my beloved 'real clothes', the beautiful frocks and gowns that so expressed the inner me. The pirates must have mistaken them for Elizabeth's and hauled them aboard as well. "We'd better find somewhere to wash," observed Elizabeth. "I don't think they washed much," I observed, "the one I killed smelt awful." Elizabeth ignored my words and opened a door leading off from the captain's staterooms. It led to a cabin with a wide bed and a copper tub that was obviously used for washing. "He at least washed. But his bed sheets are filthy! Ooohh, the smell!" Elizabeth pinched her nose and retreated as she retched. "It stinks in there. We'll have to clean it." "We can use some of those stolen bales of silk and satin that were taken from the hold of your father's ship," I suggested. "Elizabeth grinned then suggested we look for some water. This took me out of the cabin again and down into the orlop deck. As I stepped on deck, I noticed the airs had increased to a light breeze. The ship was leaving a distinct wake despite only carrying a single sail and I realised she was really built for speed. The wheel was swinging idly so I went to investigate. Fortunately, the compass was intact and the steering and navigating equipment was all sound. I tried heaving the wheel over to see what would happen. The ship started to turn slightly and I realised that I had actually gained control. Nervously I turned the wheel each way and watched the ship's behaviour until I had a vague idea of what was happening. I called to Elizabeth to declare my success and she appeared in the most fetching skin-tight, soft, suede britches I had ever seen. My eyes followed the soft curve of her tummy down to the secretive 'Vee' that held so much promise and she smiled as she recognised the effect she had upon me. Then she stood beside me at the wheel and studied the almost invisible wake. ""You've done well. What direction are we going?" "About West nor' west a half west. We should steer a little bit further north to reach The Americas. This will take us to Hispaniola or Cuba. Look, here's the last position on the chart where they attacked us. If I tie the wheel like this, we will steer on this course. I think we have to trim the sails to steer anything else." Elizabeth frowned for we neither of us had the strength to haul on the yards. We had often watched the crew on Elizabeth's father's ship and we knew that it took several strong men to haul a yardarm around and reset a sail; even a small one. We were stuck on this course as long as the wind remained westerly. Elizabeth shrugged and declared she was going to find the water. I decided to join her. We still had not fully searched the ship and there might still be a pirate or two hiding down below. Together we crept down into the darkness of the holds until we found the large hogs-heads of water. "She must stay at sea for a long time to carry all this water, whispered Elizabeth." "She's a pirate ship. She never knows where she'll be allowed to dock. She might have to stay at sea all the time. The British Navy is cleaning up around the Caribbean. She might have to sail all the way to Brazil or Africa to trade her loot." Elizabeth sniffed the water and smiled. "It's fresh and sweet. She can't have been at sea long." "Well her holds are fairly empty. She can't have captured many ships. It looks as though we were her second or third victim. There's not much down here except silks, satins, cloth and copper pots." As I whispered, we suddenly heard a whimper from behind the huge hogs- heads of water. Immediately I drew my sword whilst Elizabeth drew her knife. "Whose there?" I demanded in my deepest gruffest voice. "Don't kill us. We're hurt," wailed a young falsetto voice. "Come on out!" I ordered as Elizabeth and I separated and hid either side of the alleyway between the hogs-heads. "We cant!" wailed the voice again. "We've both been cruelly injured!" "There's more than one of them," I whispered to Elizabeth, "what shall we do?" "It's not a trap!" Declared Elizabeth. "How d'you know?" I demanded. "They wouldn't have declared that they were two or more, and they sound like children as well." Her reasoning made sense so I inched forward whilst Elizabeth slipped silently around the other side of the huge hogs-head barrel of water. With my sword raised and my dagger ready I leapt past the end of the barrel and landed against the side planking with my sword hand en-guard. In the darkness I finally made out two crouching shapes under a filthy canvas sail and I shouted to 'Bill' to look out. Elizabeth recognised my ploy to make them think we were two men and she followed my example by leaping past the end of the hogs-head onto the spar ceiling of the hold. Her eyes had better accustomed themselves to the dark and she grinned as she finally recognised them peeping out from under the canvas sheet. "It's the deck boy and the young apprentice from my father's ship. It's Timothy and David. She stepped towards them and lowered her knife as she smiled. "How did you two get here?" One of the boys groaned in pain and cried for some water. "What's wrong?" asked Elizabeth solicitously, now having become the caring motherly type to the two young boys. "We've been wounded," croaked Timothy as he moved his hand to reveal a bloodied pair of trousers. David followed suite and Elizabeth gasped with shock. "Oh you poor dears, what on earth's happened to you? Let me have a look." Nervously, the boys moved their hands from their groins to reveal almost identical wounds. I saw the bloodied mess where their genitals would have once been and I retched as I curled up in sympathetic reaction. "What happened?" whispered Elizabeth solicitously. "It were the cannon ma-am," wailed Timothy the apprentice, "The damned thing burst and shrapnel hit us both in the same place, if we had both been taller, it would have passed between our legs. We crawled down here to hide. We couldn't fight any more." Elizabeth was too busy attending to their wounds to react and she ordered me to carry them up onto the deck. They cried piteously as I tried to move them as gently as possible but eventually, we got them up into the clean fresh air and Elizabeth splashed vinegar liberally around their cruel wounds. The boys squealed in pain but eventually the bleeding stopped and she was able to examine the extent of the damage. After finding a needle and some sail twine, she had me light a fire and boiled the needles and twine in some more vinegar. "What are you doing that for?" I asked after she had administered liberal doses of rum and made them both unconscious. "You have to keep the wound clean. There was a doctor in France with some new ideas and my friend the butcher's daughter also told me that vinegar is wonderful stuff. If we keep the wounds clean they might recover. They're both still young and their boy bits haven't grown to manhood yet." "I don't think they ever will, now." Elizabeth smiled as I squeezed my thighs together whilst I tried to imagine the pain and the future loss. "Well if we can make them better, they'll be useful crewmembers without all the problems of sex. They are eunuchs now, whether they like it or not." "Oh God! The poor little buggers!" "It's not that bad. They are still young and they won't miss it. They'll just never grow to be bothersome men. In fact it's to our advantage. Timothy's an apprentice, he'll know a bit about navigation and seamanship. He'll be able to help us whilst never becoming a sexual threat." I smiled as I realised Elizabeth was thinking along the same lines as me. Timothy would certainly be a very useful navigator whilst David would make an extra pair of hands to help in the rigging. Elizabeth continued. "It's their second trip to sea. Timothy is a bright little boy. I heard the lieutenant saying the boy was good at maths. They are still only young lads and probably still missing their mothers. If I mother them, they'll become firm friends and good little mummy's helpers." I grinned at Elizabeth's reasoning but it made perfect sense. Now that we had a fire in the galley, we prepared some hot food and placed the boys in the officer's poop-deck cabins. As they lay recovering on soft satin sheets in their comfortable cots, their gratitude was quite apparent in their soft childlike eyes. Elizabeth's care and obvious medical knowledge soon had the boys up and about. End of Chapter 2B ? To Be Continued