The Dagger X (The Dagger Chronicles)

   
CONTENTS
   

Map

Cast of Characters

Prologue

Chapter 1: Bucket

Chapter 2: Slave Ship

Chapter 3: Shark

Chapter 4: Uncharted Island

Chapter 5: Sharpshooter

Chapter 6: The Cave

Chapter 7: Spice and Sin

Chapter 8: Pirates

Chapter 9: Motley Crew

Chapter 10: Pippin’s Run

Chapter 11: Articles

Chapter 12: Dagger Tales

Chapter 13: Barrels

Chapter 14: Waiting No More

Chapter 15: Akin

Chapter 16: Disarmed

Chapter 17: Missing Duck

Chapter 18: Night Moves

Chapter 19: Boarding

Chapter 20: Secret Manuscript

Chapter 21: Spanish Galley

Chapter 22: Duck

Chapter 23: Arriving in Jamaica

Chapter 24: Flight

Chapter 25: Excrement

Chapter 26: The Grand Dame

Chapter 27: Prison

Chapter 28: Dumaka

Chapter 29: Flight by Night

Chapter 30: Captives

Chapter 31: Hanging

Chapter 32: Weeping Madonna

Chapter 33: Jamaica’s Secrets

Chapter 34: Maroon

Chapter 35: Birthright

Chapter 36: The Path

Chapter 37: Reunion

A Note about This Book

Acknowledgments

About Brian Eames

For
all the lucky teachers
who
chuckle,
champion,
and cheer;
who take such pleasure
in the “work” they do,
that depositing a paycheck
sometimes feels larcenous.

And especially for teachers
Jane Pepperdene
and Steve Sigur;
it is hard to believe what with all they gave
that they still likely got more back.

A tale of friends and fiends, uncharted islands and dim-lit caverns, glittering gold and ghastly greed, crocodiles and cunning, sharks and shipmates, pirates and pawns, heroes and hangmen, slavery and salvation, and just plain good and evil.

   
CAST OF CHARACTERS
   

FAMILY, BY WAY OF FALMOUTH, ENGLAND

Christopher (Kitto)

 

son of Frederick and Mercy, formerly clubfooted, age twelve years

Elias (Duck)

 

half brother to Kitto, age six years

Sarah (Mum)

 

Duck’s mother, Kitto’s stepmother

William Quick

 

captain of the
Blessed William
, Kitto’s uncle

KITTO’S FRIENDS AND PEERS

Ontoquas

 

girl from the Wampanoag tribe, escaped slave and resident of Spice Island

Van

 

member of the
Blessed William
’s crew, age thirteen years

Akin

 

formerly enslaved boy, age eleven years

Julius

 

Van’s pet monkey

PIRATES

Alexandre Exquemelin (also known as X)

 

pirate captain, former associate of Henry Morgan

Roger Fowler

 

Exquemelin’s first mate

Quid, Little John, Black Dog, Pelota, Xavier, Pickle, Coop, Robbie

 

crew members

Pippin

 

Exquemelin’s pet crocodile

FROM JAMAICA

Mercy

 

Kitto’s mother by birth, deceased

Henry Morgan

 

admiral of the Brethren of the Coast, buccaneer, lieutenant governor of Jamaica

Captain John Morris

 

privateer, longtime associate of Morgan

Spider

 

Morris’s first mate

Dame Bethany

 

old friend of William Quick and Kitto’s mother, supporter of runaway slaves, owner of rooming house in Port Royal

Nanny

 

former slave, leader of a maroon colony

Dumaka

 

escaping slave

Tom Peet

 

sailor who befriends Duck on journey to Jamaica

Vernon Sims

 

jailer at Port Royal prison

IN CUBA

The Honorable Ernesto Delgado

 

judge who condemns Exquemelin and his crew

Padre Alberto

 

Cardinal Priest of the Roman Catholic Church, Father of the artist Asalto

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