Chapter 4 Summary

The crew now is practicing beat to quarters. Many of the sailors have practiced this hundreds, even thousands of times, but not under Jack's regime, which had changed much of the old regime. It was an unruly, crowded deck as Jack watched calmly as Dillon barked orders at the men. Stephen was amazed at the seriousness and speed of the men. Jack explained that it was to simulate an emergency- certain men manning each gun, a man to sponge down the gun, a man to board the ship at the capital moment, a fireman and a sail-trimmer to adjust the sails during battle.

Stephen watched with awe as the men swirled around him in a purposeful, deadly haze of activity. After it's over, Jack promises Stephen a decent amount of space in his cabin, but is amazed when Stephen asks if he could...