“True,” James replies. Then he looks down and sees Miko making his way along the guidelines. He hollers down to him until he gets his attention and then watches as he makes his way up to where he and the captain are standing.

When he reaches the steerage deck, James notices he’s a little green. “Just take some deep breathes, that should help,” he advises.

Miko goes over to the railing and tries to do just that, but his stomach rebels. Bending over the railing, he loses the contents of his stomach as he retches into the water below. When it’s over, he feels slightly better.

From overhead, a sailor cries out, “Captain! Sails!”

“Where away?” he hollers back.

The sailor points off to the left of the ship and hollers down, “To the port!”

They all look and see a ship out there, heading in their general direction. “Empirical warship,” the captain says, not too concerned.

“Is that a problem?” James asks.

“Unlikely,” the captain replies. “It’s most likely just on patrol.”

James doesn’t share the captain’s nonchalance about sighting a warship.

“Think it’s looking for us?” Miko whispers as he leans close to James.

“I hope not,” he replies as he continues watching the warship.

As time passes, the warship continues to close the distance between them, heightening James worries.

Suddenly, James hears the captain swear. “What?” he asks.

Gesturing to the warship, the captain says, “They want us to furl our sails and be prepared to be boarded.”

“Is that bad?” James asks as he looks over to the warship. He can see a sailor on the other ship signaling with two flags.

“Bad?” cries the captain. “With the waves crashing as they are, it’s unlikely we’d survive. Our ships would be smashed together.”

“Then why would they want to?” he asks.