The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

Charlotte sleeps for 14 hours. On waking, she finds her privacy curtain back in place. She remembers seeing Zachariah up among the shrouds and wonders if she imagined it.

She goes on deck, where everything is shipshape, save for the broken main mast. She approaches the men, but they shy away, unwilling to talk to her despite her pleas. She finally learns that Jaggery says she murdered Hollybrass to avenge the death of Zachariah. She finds Jaggery, and he immediately charges her with the murder and announces that she’ll stand trial late in the afternoon. Angrily, she denies it. Barlow escorts her to the brig—a dank, dark cell of iron bars deep in the hold.

Alone and afraid in the dark, with no one on her side, Charlotte hears a noise. She calls out “Who’s there!” and someone strikes a light. It’s Zachariah.

Weaker and shriveled but still alive, Zachariah explains that the men stuffed his hammock and tossed it overboard to make it appear to the captain that Zachariah was dead. He has been hiding in the hold ever since. When the ship docks, the captain will keep the men aboard so they can’t tell anyone about his cruelties, but Zachariah will sneak away and report the captain to