The Little Stowaway Has Stolen The Pirates' Hearts

"Lady Bonita was a very smart lady. She knew that she had to outsmart Geoffrey just in case he wasn't telling her the truth. There is something else you all don't know. Lady Bonita and Lady Kathleen have never met each other. When the brothers argued over what their father had given them, they chose not to ever speak to each other again. This was in Lady Bonita's favor. She decided to "fight fire with fire." She was going to dress up as a pirate. That way no one would suspect that she wasn't part of the pirate crew when they got off the ship."
"Geoffrey also had the same idea, however. Now he was dressed as a pirate and could go walking about the ship looking for Mark, which we know as Marlee. She had never seen him before so she would probably think he was part of the pirate crew."
"Lady Bonita had her maid help her get her beautiful gown exchanged for a costume of a pirate. She frowned because she had never worn pants before. In those days ladies always wore beautiful gowns. It was unheard of for a lady to wear pants like a man. Finally she had the perfect disguise. She even scared herself she looked so much like a pirate. She had to chuckle and thought, 'No one will ever suspect that I am an English Duchess dressed like this. My friends would be horrified."
"It seemed like forever until she heard, 'Land Ho, Land Ho!' They had been at sea for weeks. Now she knew that she had to be very careful. The weather wasn't all that good. It was really windy and the skies were dark with rain clouds. In the distance, though she could see a lighthouse. She could see little lights blinking. She knew enough about traveling by ship that lighthouses were so important because their lights kept the Sea Captains on course and away from the rocky shores."
Grandma Lu said, "Now if Lady Bonita saw the lighthouse, that means that Lady Kathleen also saw it. I don't know for sure, but I think both ships were going in the same direction. This is not what Geoffrey wanted though, is it? He wanted to snatch Mark otherwise known as Marlee off that ship and take her to the lighthouse and wait for Lady Bonita to pay him in gold for her safe return. He had no idea that Lady Bonita was going to land about the same time as her cousin, Kathleen. Yes, they were cousins, remember? Their dads were brothers."
"Geoffrey had a beard and pistols. He looked really scary. He had no idea the trouble he was going to get into in short order. The trouble was going to be waiting for him at the lighthouse...
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Lady Kathleen had a feeling that something just wasn't right. She could feel it in her bones. She thought that it all had to do with that little stowaway, but couldn't figure out why she felt that way. She was the captain of this ship and many more. She could give orders to hundreds of sailors, but this little stowaway did something deep into her soul. She felt like she was getting soft. She never felt that way before. But in the last few days her heart felt like it was melting. She even smiled sometimes. She never smiled. She had nothing to smile about. This little twinkie had eyes that sparkled like the white caps of the sea on a sunny day. When she would dance with the crew her chuckle was deep and genuine. She was a joyful soul. The fiddlers and the drummers would play songs just for that little mite. They would play games with her. They called it school, but what it was was playing a game of Treasure hunting. They would hide a treasure while little Mark/Marlee covered her eyes. Then they would holler at her and yell "Yo ho ho! Find the treasure little one!" She was now dressed like a pirate with a bandana on her head and beads around her neck. Sometimes they would even let her wear their own hats. One day she had seen little Marlee with her hands on the Helm! The First Mate, John had let her pretend to steer her ship!

They would let her keep the treasures that she found. They had made her her very own treasure chests to keep her treasures in. Her sailors were getting soft too. This just would not do.
 When they had been on shore they had found a pine tree. They brought it on board ship and put it in a corner just for their little stowaway. She loved it. Sometimes she would decorate that tree with little treasures that they had given her.
One of her sailors had even sewn up a little dress for the little one from scraps of material that they had found in their treasure hunts. By that time they also had figured out that Mark was not a little boy, but was indeed a little girl.

One of the new sailors had brought kittens on board ship to chase the mice away, but instead of making the kittens work they let that little scamp make pets of them. She was going to be glad when they got to shore so she could make a lady out of her. She was spending entirely too much time with these wily characters.
Then she just thought of her native man friend on the island. She and he had been friends and worked together for years and years. One day she had given him a parrot to train. She wondered what her little scalawag would think of a parrot that could talk. She startled herself when she actually chuckled. Yes, that little one had changed everyone's lives, but she didn't know if they had been changed for the good or not.