I watched the boy, but he would not return my gaze. In the dim light the ship's walls glowed a dull red and smelled of salt and battle. The carpenter came running back, hands flailing, face as white as the skull on our colors.
"Cap'n, cap'n," he sputtered.
"What is it? Spit it out, lad!" I
"There's a hole clear through the hull below," he managed
"A hole? Clear through?"
"Aye. The size of two cannonballs."
"This ship is sinking?"
"No, cap'n," he said with wonderment,"It's not. No water comes in but I can see clear into the sea below."