A Pirate’s Penalty
Evelyn’s derrière receives the ultimate punishment
PART TEN of the Pirates of the Caribbean serial
If you are new to this story serial, read PART ONE, Pilgrims Below Deck, or review the summary by clicking here.
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Following the Spanish Captain’s proclamation, Evelyn expected to be immediately hung. However, she was taken to a small windowless cabin. Even more a prisoner of the Spanish than she had been of the pirates, Evelyn remained confined to her cabin.
Two weeks passed, and she was again escorted to the Captain’s cabin,
“You have created a great problem for me. I believe you, when you say the pirate Howell kidnapped you. But, it is clear that you did serve him.” He glanced at her, and then studied the floor as he resumed pacing. “In order to obey my orders from the King, I must hang you.”
Tears ran unabated from her eyes. Her breath hung in her throat. He took two steps and turned.
“However,” he said, “I am certain that St. Peter will not welcome me into heaven if I do that.” His eyes bore into her soul. “However, as you are French, there is another possibility.” He gestured to the window, and Evelyn saw the land mass for the first time. “We have stopped here at the French colony on the Ile de la Tortue. We are taking on fresh water and pork. As we are now within French jurisdiction, the local magistrate has demanded that I turn you over to him.”
Evelyn gasped, unsure what these words meant.
“They despise pirates as much as we do. However, the French King has not constrained their hands so tightly.” He swallowed. “They may not hang you.”
Evelyn choked, unable to breathe. The Captain poured a goblet of water and handed it to her. She sipped and clutched her chest. “What will they do?”
“They will likely sentence you to some amount of hard labor.”
Evelyn drank some more water. Hard labor, what can that mean?
Upon the Captain’s signal, soldiers entered the room. The men bound her hands behind her back. As though she was on her way to the gallows, she walked between them.
“May God have mercy on your soul,” the Captain said, echoing her own thought. She could not bear to look at him.
After a short ride in a rowboat, the soldiers turned her over to the local Frenchmen.
After a hundred yard walk, they came to the government house. The small community lacked an actual jailhouse, so chains were fastened to secure her ankle to a bolt in the floor of a windowless store room.
She sat on the floor for an hour, and then the magistrate came in. He formally read the charges, “You are accused of aiding and abetting the pirate John Howell. How do you plea?”
“Not guilty, Your Honor. I was a captive, a prisoner of the pirate you named…” He slapped her face.
“Silence! You can say your piece at your trial.”
However, she was not allowed to speak at the short trial before she was pronounced guilty.
The Magistrate announces, “Therefore, the court chooses to spare your life and punish you with Moses’ Law of forty minus one lashes and one year of hard labor.”
Evelyn’s knees buckled, but the guard held her up as she was returned to the makeshift jail.
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In the morning, the guards gave her a man’s shirt and ordered her to wear it backwards. Evelyn accepted her fate and disrobed. The shirt, worn backwards, fit awkwardly. The tails fell to her knees. She neatly folded her clothes and placed them on the floor.
The magistrate knocked on the door.
“Oui”
The door opened. The guard said, “Lace your fingers together.” Evelyn stretched her arms toward him with their palms together. The guard circled the rope around her wrists four times, and then knotted the binding with the short end. When the twelve-foot-long free end was pulled, the binding would tighten.
Using the rope as a leash, the guard pulled her forward. Barefoot, wearing nothing except the shirt, was led outside. She turned her face away from the crowd and watched the sunrise.
The crowd waiting to witness her punishment was even larger than that assembled for her trial. She was led to a pillory in the center of the town square. Children were placed in rows seated on the ground. The men and women stood, formed several semicircular rows behind the children.
Evelyn shivered in the morning air.
The guards paraded her around the spectators. She was turned to face the crowd, but the glare from the rising sun prevented her from clearly seeing them. The clerk read the court record.
“A lawful court of this community has found Mademoiselle Evelyn Douglas guilty of aiding and abetting the pirates led by John Douglas. The judge has determined that thirty-nine lashes and one year of hard labor will return her to a lawful and productive member of our society. As the convict is a woman, it is the practice of this society to grant extra leniency. Instead of the traditional whipping across the back and shoulders, which could render permanent scars, the convict will receive her punishment on her buttocks. This will be administered by thirty-nine of the townspeople.”
The guards turned her to face away from the crowd. The men, women, and children wishing to apply her punishment strokes formed a line.
She was pushed forward until her belly pressed against a rail. Her knees were bound to a post, completely immobilizing her legs. The rope attached to her hands was pulled, tightening its hold on her wrists and stretching her torso over the rail. The guard kept pulling the rope until she was bent nearly in half. Evelyn’s bottom projected toward the crowd, covered only by the thin cotton shirt.
The second man began to unbutton her shirt. “Non!” she screamed. He ignored her as she struggled against her bonds. Slowly, the shirt was opened along her back from her neck to her tailbone. When the final buttons were released, the material fell away and she was completely bare.
The pirates were not this cruel.
The guards stepped away. She was alone, displayed for everyone’s examination. Stretched as she was, Evelyn’s face was pressed into her arms and she could see nothing behind her. The roar of her own blood, rushing through her ears, drowned out the sounds from the crowd.
Everyone waited.
Please, get on with it!
Evelyn began to weep.
“Thirty-nine lashes will now be administered to Mademoiselle Evelyn Douglas, guilty of pirating.”
Guilty! How many times do they have to pronounce me guilty?
“Each person applying a lash will ensure they are separated, so that consecutive strikes do not land upon the same flesh. Before each lashing, I will announce its number. The executioner will strike the convicted on her buttocks. Then, there will be a ten second count before the next lash.”
“One,” the clerk announced.
One by one, the 39 citizens of the town smacked her bare bottom. Some of the swats were only slightly stinging, while some were brutally painful. Some were applied with a bare hand, while others used a paddle. A few of them were applied directly upon the exposed folds of her pussy.
Evelyn realized the real punishment was the humiliation of helplessly standing nude in front of the townspeople. The same people she would have to live with for the next year.
Jack was right. The punishment is not for the convicted, but to keep the populous in compliance with the laws. That’s why the punishment is public. Breaking the law is easy, too easy. I didn’t do anything to these people. Jack harmed no one on this island. Their only reason in punishing me is to provide the visual reminder that keeps the population lawful.
Finally, the executioner for 39th swat stepped forward.
It was the Magistrate, and he said, “Mademoiselle Douglas, I hope that you have learned your lesson and will turn away from lawless ways.” He applied a paddle to the center of her bottom. This was the most painful whack of the entire punishment.
Evelyn screamed.
As the fog cleared from her brain, Evelyn’s derrière erupted in a fire of pain. She cried out when the fabric of the shirt touched her bottom as its buttons were fastened. She was released from the pillory. They paraded her to the steps of the Government House, where she was auctioned. The highest bidder would receive her services for the coming year.
“OH!” she groaned.
I am a convict! One year of hard labor!
There was no longer any possibility of reuniting with her Uncle in New Providence. She wondered if she would live to leave the island.
THE END of this part, but PART ELEVEN— A Framer’s Wife, continues the story..
I hope you enjoyed my story. Take a few minutes and read The Girl in the Attic, Stepsister Taboo, and Daddy’s New Sub.
Also, consider my short stories and books published on Amazon. Additionally, I write under the name Sterling Scott.
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Copyright ©2022 by Mark S. R. Sterling All Rights Reserved
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