" Hai, the pay is pitiful, and the food wretched." Delphia shoved the plate of fish stew aside. "Three miserable weeks at sea and no sign of pirates. The Esmeralda ’s haul should have attracted their attention by now." He glanced out a nearby porthole. The weather had been growing steadily worse ever since the freighter had departed the coastal waters of Africa and begun steaming for Rio de Janiero, then back home.