What with the gentle motion of the oars through the water and the swaying to and fro of the distant stars as the little boat rocked, Billy was soon to fall asleep again. But seemingly no sooner had he shut his eyes did he awake on a straw-laid bed in a fetid room that creak and groaned as if the room itself could not stand it own fetidness.

    If his nose and ears did not prove him wrong, he was in the bowels of an old ship. Billy felt around for a way out but his hands found only the cold slimy walls of the ships hold. In his searching for a way out, he stumbled and tripped over some barrels. As he landed with a particularly painful bump to his shin, Billy exclaimed a cautious, "peep." But the only response he heard back was the loud squeak of a rat upon who's tail he had landed.

    Finally, a crack of light appeared above his head and he saw the crooked face and sunken cheeks of a man he did not know. The man made a tooth deprived grin and lowered a knotted rope down for Billy to climb. He was not so sure if he wouldn't rather stay down below with the rats than meet the acquaintance of this man. But he could smell the fresh air come in from above and so he grabbed hold of a knot and pulled himself up.

    The sun was brilliant in the sky, brighter than he had ever seen and salt lace wind, slightly cool to his skin, gently brushed his face. The vessel on which he now found himself was a sailboat. A thousand ropes raced every which way and a giant white sailed billowed and flapped overhead. It was a lovely sight.

    Then the man with the crooked face seized Billy by the arm, not too roughly, but it did hurt a little, and led him to the captain who was sitting behind the steering wheel with a pipe in his mouth.

    "You may let him go, Clarence," the captain said with a gesture of his hand. Clarence let him go and spindled back to the deck like a giant spider.
    "He's mute," the captain said to Billy in low voice.
    "Seems very nice, though," Billy said.
    "Clarence? No. He's not nice. But I didn't hired him to be nice," the captain said. And then letting a long trail of smoke come out of his nostrils, asked, "So what do you know about sailing, my young man?"
    "Nothing. In fact, I've never been on a boat before."
    "Never? Then how in the world did I find you in the middle of the ocean?"
    "Well," admitted Billy, "I was on the Queen Bethesda when I was swept overboard, but it felt more like a floating city than boat."
    "That's a fancy ship," the captain said.
    "It was pretty nice, but kind of . . well, boring."
    "Well," the captain said with a long draw on his pipe, "I can guarantee you won't be bored on the Golden Butterfly!"
    "Is that what you call this boat, seems an odd name for a pirate ship."
    "I know, I know," the captain said defensively, "My niece named it . . . what can you do?"
    "It doesn't seem like a very big ship either," said Billy.
    "What she lacks in size she makes up for in style, wouldn't you say?"
    "Oh, yes, it's a very beautiful boat but don't you think . . ."
    "Isn't she, though, Canadian Oak!" the captain interrupted proudly.
After a moment, Billy asked, "Where are all the other pirates?"
    "Well," Captain Bunting said, "so far, it's just me and Clarence. We're just starting out, actually. I figure we'll get more men as soon as we start pirating."
    "You mean, you haven't actually pirated any ships yet!?"
    "Well, no, not exactly, but we did get this ship at a really good price, I mean we practically stole it."