“Uh…tell me, Mace. Have you actually let her in on the fact she’s yours now?” “No. But I will. She’ll simply have to deal with it.” Smitty sighed. “So says the King of the Jungle.”

“Just Fat and CuddlyThere’s Aunty, just out of bed, looking a little glum and gloomy,but I tell you mate, she’s put on weight as her frocks ain’t nice and roomy.I’ll send her west where there ain’t no pests, where frogs all croak for water,and I tell you mate she’ll loose the weight and once again she’ll be a corker.I’m now heading back to my mountain shack, this only if I get the time,for things won’t go well, she’ll give me hell, when she reads this little rhyme.”

“He growled. Really, how attached could Smitty be to his sister? Would he really notice if Mace killed her?”

“You admit nothing. Deny everything. Demand proof. Did you learn nothing in Boot Camp?" (Mace to Smitty)”

“My men think you are dead now, and won’t waste balls on you,” Jack said. “In fact I have let you live, but for one purpose only: so that you can make your way back to Paris and tell them the following: that the deed you are about to witness was done for a woman, whose name I will not say, for she knows who she is; and that it was done by ‘Half-Cocked’ Jack Shaftoe, L’Emmerdeur, the King of the Vagabonds, Ali Zaybak: Quicksilver!”

“Smitty gave his best pout. “Why are y’all trying to hurt me?”“Because it’s fun?”“It’s easy.”“I love it when you cry.”Smitty sighed. “Forget I asked.”