"Well," said Sam, adjusting his glasses, "I assume that since Blackbeard is the most terrifying pirate of this era, other pirates try to copy his flag. My guess is they might come close, but that no one got it quite right."

"Okay, you two, enough with the talk show," I said. "There's a mess of sailors headed this way. We have about a minute to decide which of the nine ships to board. What do we do?"