Pirates Treasure (eBook)

A romantic pirate adventure, Book 2

Meiring Fouche (Autor)

Meiring Fouche (Urheber)

Meiring Fouche (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
79 Seiten
Pieter Haasbroek (Verlag)
978-1-7764915-1-3 (ISBN)

Infos

A treasure map carved into living flesh.

A dying man's secret.

And a pirate so cruel he would burn the world to claim it.

Cape Town (1713). Captain Simon Verbeeck has finally found peace with his beloved wife, Maria. But when a condemned murderer whispers his last secret, the location of the lost treasure of the Santa Rosa, branded into his scarred back by the infamous Devil Harrison, Simon is dragged once more into the sea's deadly grip.

Before he can escape, Simon is seized and chained aboard the Red Swan, the floating fortress of Harrison himself. There he discovers another prisoner, a Spanish princess whose fate is bound to his own. With Harrison demanding the secret at any cost, Simon faces brutal torment meant to shatter his body and soul.

To live, he must turn despair into defiance and forge a rebellion from the ship's dark hold. But with time running out and Harrison's cruelty closing in, Simon must ask himself. Can a handful of broken men rise against the devil before he loses everything he loves?

For fans of Patrick O'Brian and classic swashbuckling sagas, The Pirate's Treasure delivers a relentless storm of survival, vengeance, and the savage price of freedom.

Set sail on the second book of Meiring Fouche's unforgettable pirate epic today.

Textauszug

Chapter 2

THE MUTILATED MAN

The southeasterly wind tugged and swirled as Simon Verbeeck left his residence in the Heerengracht and strode off in the direction of the castle. The trees along the streets sighed and shuddered, and although he could not see the sea, Simon Verbeeck knew that it must be raging tonight. He smiled as he walked down the deserted street where it was dark, save for the faint lights that shone from the houses of the citizens. There was hardly any movement, except for the occasional slaves transporting their masters somewhere in a sedan chair. Or a few sailors who had come up from the harbour to survey the colony.

Simon Verbeeck smiled at the comment that the vessel lying off Robben Island with its sails furled was a pirate ship. Well, he had never heard the like. What pirate would dare venture as far as Robben Island when he knew that the heavy artillery of the castle could make life difficult for him? When he knew that there were almost always one or more warships lying in Table Bay harbour taking on supplies? At the moment, there happened not to be such a ship, but the ‘Red Ruby’ was a match for any ship of a pirate.

The tall, dark seafarer felt a strange excitement as he hurried through the dark in the direction of the castle. Before long, the high battlements of the old castle lay dark and impressive against the delicate glow of the starlight. Only here and there was a light visible where a member of the garrison was apparently keeping his lantern burning. Furthermore, the massive building was dark and silent, with only the southeasterly wind howling through the gaps in its battlements.

The guard at the gate of the castle readily let Simon Verbeeck in. The seafarer had raised his storm lantern, and when the guard saw who it was, he allowed him to enter immediately. He indicated to him where the commandant of the castle could be found. Simon Verbeeck hurried there, and when he made known the purpose of his visit, the commandant looked at him somewhat suspiciously.

“But, my dear Verbeeck,” said the commandant, “this Zeeman is a condemned man. We expect that he will be executed in three days or so. What business do you have with a murderer, then?”

“I wish I knew, Commandant,” said Verbeeck. “A message was conveyed to me, a request was put to me, and I would like to speak with this Arie Zeeman. Who knows, perhaps the so-called secret that he possesses relates to the colony here in Table Bay. Perhaps it could be to our benefit. I assure you that I will not commit any offence if you allow me to speak with Zeeman.”

“Of that I am certain,” said the commandant. Then he summoned an assistant and ordered him to take Verbeeck to the dungeon where Zeeman was being held on the east side of the fort.

Through the wind-swept courtyard, the assistant led Simon, and even the assistant could not understand why such a renowned figure of authority as Verbeeck would want to speak to a wretch like Zeeman.

They entered the eastern section of the castle, they descended a spiral staircase into the deep darkness.

By a faint lantern light, two guards sat by Zeeman’s dungeon door. They learned the command of the commandant, they immediately recognised Verbeeck, and they let him in. The heavy door groaned and squeaked as they opened it.

“Zeeman, there is someone to speak with you,” said one of the guards and closed the door behind Simon Verbeeck. The next moment, Simon found himself alone in the company of the condemned man. Initially, he saw no one in the dark, damp, musty dungeon. It seemed to him as if the water of the sea was bursting through the roof and through the walls of the dungeon, for he knew that this old dungeon lay lower than sea level. That was why it was so relentless. Once you were here, there was no hope for you. It felt damp, it felt cold, even though it was the middle of summer.

Simon Verbeeck raised his lantern higher. And then, in one corner, on a bed of straw, he saw the gaunt, emaciated body of a man with one eye and a peculiar yellow complexion. When Verbeeck looked at Zeeman, he saw that the silent man had been consumed by decay. He was just skin and bone. And when he turned his head, he looked with weak, disinterested eyes at the large strange man with his coarse black beard who stood there in the light of the lantern.

“Do you know me, Zeeman?” asked Verbeeck, stepping closer and crouching before the prisoner.

“No, I do not know you,” said Arie Zeeman in a soft, feeble voice.

“I am Verbeeck, Simon Verbeeck.”

It seemed as if something was born in the prisoner’s eyes. He turned his body and stared desperately at his visitor.

“Simon Verbeeck,” he said, “I have heard of you. I have fought against you.”

“Were you on a pirate ship?” asked Verbeeck.

“For almost all the years of my life,” answered the prisoner. “Perhaps that is why I lie here without hope and without a future. Why did you come, Verbeeck? Did you come to release me? Did you come to help me?”

“I cannot help you, my friend,” said Verbeeck. “What the Governor says is the law. You murdered a man, did you not?”

“Yes, I murdered a man,” said Arie Zeeman. And his thin hand stirred in the straw. Then he looked sharply at Verbeeck. “If you did not come to help me, then why did you come?” His voice was suddenly hostile.

“I did not know anything about you,” answered Simon. “At least, I was not particularly interested in you, Zeeman. I had heard of the man who was being held in the castle because he had murdered another man. I had heard your name, but that is all.”

“Now, why did you come then?” asked Zeeman again.

“I was sent to you,” answered Simon.

“Sent?”

“Yes, I was sent to you by a neglected man with a wooden leg.”

“And who is he then?”

“Heaven knows,” said Simon. “He intercepted me tonight in front of my house in the Heerengracht and begged me to come and see you. He says you possess a great secret of the sea. But who he is and what he is, that I do not know.”

The expression in Arie Zeeman’s one eye became withdrawn. His thin chest moved faster. He looked down into the straw, then he looked at the relentless walls of the dungeon.

“Is it true, Zeeman,” asked Simon, “that you carry a secret of the sea within you?”

“It is true,” said Arie. Pride flickered in his eye, and it seemed as if he pushed his sunken chest out slightly. “I possess the greatest secret of the sea,” he said. Then he laughed. Laughed horribly and almost devilishly. “And you have come to hear what the secret is?”

“I have come to hear what the secret is,” answered Simon. “That is what I came to ask you. You know what the tradition of the sea is. No seaman may die with a secret. He must pass it on to those who have sailed the oceans with him.”

“To hell with tradition!” said Zeeman, and bitterness closed his jaws. “Why should I entrust the secret to you, Verbeeck? Why should I make you rich before I die? Make your name great in every tavern, in every harbour, from here to Barbados? I am the one who knows the secret, and I will take it to the grave with me. It is the last act I can do in this life.”

Simon Verbeeck looked long and with great compassion at the despairing creature. “You are making a mistake, Zeeman,” he said. “I do not come to ask for your secret because I want to become rich. If any crime is connected to the secret, then I want to punish those who are responsible for that crime. And if a treasure is connected to this secret, then I want to distribute that treasure to those to whom it belongs. You should know me by now, Zeeman. You should know that I am not a robber. I just want justice to be done. And if you entrust your secret to me and I can do anything for you, I will give my blood to do it, Zeeman. Do you not have any relatives? A father or a brother or a mother perhaps? Can I not do something for them?”

Arie Zeeman looked long at the large man with his black beard. There was yearning, there was entreaty in his eye. Then he said very softly. “Yes, Verbeeck, I still have an old mother in Amsterdam. She is very old, and I am all that she has left. I have not seen her in fifteen years. My last wish is that someone should tell her that I love her, even though I have disappointed her. But no one must ever tell her how I died. She must believe that I died by the sword. And I want that if she is still alive, she should spend her last years well cared for.”

Then he looked up into Simon’s eyes again. “If I entrust the secret to you,” he said, “will you do that for her? Will you make her last days pleasant for her and tell her that her son died by the sword?”

“I will do it,” said Simon. “I will do what you ask, for I see that you love her and that you have discovered this too late.”

“That is true,” said Arie. There was bitterness in his words. “It is true that I discovered it too late, Verbeeck. Now that I can do nothing more about it, now I realise it. Now I know that she has always been a part of my life, even here in this hell where they keep me.”

“I will do it for you,” Simon repeated. Then he looked at the prisoner. “Is there anyone who has done you violence, anyone that you hate? Someone who has wronged you?”

Arie Zeeman pointed to the eye he had lost. “There is one man,” he said, “that I would tear apart with my hands if only I could. He is the man who removed my eye, not because he was angry with me, but just because he is so cruel. He did it in cold blood because he wanted to disfigure my face with it. He said I was...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 3.9.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Red Ruby
• Illustrationen: Meiring Fouche
• Mitarbeit: Zusammenstellung: Meiring Fouche
• Übersetzer: Meiring Fouche
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Freizeit / Hobby ► Sammeln / Sammlerkataloge
• Themenwelt: Kinder- / Jugendbuch
• Schlagworte: ebook stories • english action and adventure books • historical romance and action • meiring fouche • pirates • pirate stories • red ruby • red ruby ebook series • red ruby series • sea adventure • sea pirate ebook • sea pirate stories • sea pirate story • Treasure Hunt
• ISBN-10: 1-7764915-1-3 / 1776491513
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7764915-1-3 / 9781776491513