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"We will notfight outright, " she said patiently "Though if I were theonly woht However, I aan to look quite angry again"But we are not weaponless" Turning away froht Henry with hereyes, andhe quickly h the etstwo flintlocks and acutlass And setso thecannonsup here"Henry started offwith all haste, the others following

"Valoree, I love you And I know you are the more experienced at this, " Daniel said unhappily "But your experience is with attacking, not defending I really think we should just surrenderand hope forthebest Our chances - "

"Are quitegood, actually, " Valoree interrupted with a grin, her eyessparkling as she peeredaround the deck, quicklyplans in her head "They think we are si lowThey’llexpect usto have acoupledozen men at most We have seventy-seven"

"Seventy-six, " he corrected, glaring fully at her stomach "Andtwelve fehed, rubbing her stoer to talk to Bull

Daniel caught herar heraround to face him "This isserious, Valoree Ido not want you or the other woently, her ssad

"We already are, husband, and nothing you can do can stop that"

"But if we surrender - "

"They will kill us Or worse, " she added quietly "Have you forgotten what piratesdidto my brother and his men? "

"You do notknow that these men are the sametype"

"Andyou do not knowthat they are not I wouldrather not take the chance Notwithmylife, notwithyour life, and notwith littleJer herbelly

"Jermina? " Danielcried

Valoree let outa sad littlebreath "Nay, hmmm? I did not think so, and trulyI donot ht it would be nice to nahed again, then gave asht at her heels

"All right You haveconvinced meit istoo risky to surrender

So what is your plan? "

"I a, she turned to see that hehad frozen, gaping at herand horrified"What? " she asked

"What? " he repeated in disbelief"You just toldme that you do nothavea plan!"

"Nay, I - "

"Aye, you did I heard it quite plainly, " he argued Valoree rolledher eyes

"Ididnot say I did not have a planI said that I was not sure of itI a itout" Valoree explained patiently

"Oh" Soh not Valoreeturned away andcontinued on towardthe hel that ill appear to surrender and allow so it, ill attack"

’That’s it? "hecried, following her to the helm "That is your whole plan? "

"My lord, the simple plans are usually the a smile for Bull’s sake as she arrived besidehiht now, but I want you togetevery last bit ofspeed out of the Valor that youcan toseem tosurrender? " Daniel asked worriedly Valoree had to count to ten to keep fro at him

Once she feltsure she would remain calm, she turned to him with adecidedly forced smile andexplained "If we appear to surrender too easily, without atleastan effort at escape, they willsurelybecome suspicious Do younot think? "

"Oh, aye, " hemumbled She shook her head sympathetically

"Husband, you appear to have difficulty with giving up control of this situation Mayhapyou should gobelowand have a drink"

Danielslanced towardthe ship that drew nearer with everypassing"Iwilltry to do better I trustyou Truly I doYou areanexcellentcaptain All the reed proudly"Andas captain, I think youwould feel better if you have so todo"

"Aye, lanced around "Why doyou not go tellHenry that oncehe has finished handing outthe weapons, Iwant the crates they werepacked in for the tripbroken andthrown overboard In fact, mayhap youcould oversee that"

"Aha"Daniel nodded"Icando that" He started to turn away, then pausedand swungback "But why? "

Valoreealmostsnappedat himthat it didn’tmatterwhy; she was captain at the moment and that meant he was to follow orders withoutquestion But then shereconsidered and forced herselfto explain "If eretruly trying to escape, ould atteoods over"

"Ah, so youhope to fool the the parts of the crates over"

"Aye But e, so youaregoing to break the crates into single slats, then haveship And drop them into the water as if they are heavy"

"Clever, "he said with a suddengrin "I shall seeto itatonce"