Victory should not, and indeed did not, come as a surprise to Lance. If he couldn't defeat a handful of pirates with the fortune he invested, he might as well have thrown in the towel.
But the details of the battle revealed some unpleasant truths.
While there were no deaths, the number of wounded was substantial. Given their equipment, the soldiers' performance was disappointingly poor.
Had it been the army, they would likely have finished the battle much sooner. If it weren't for Reynard and Dismas holding the line, the outcome could have been far from certain. After all, the pirates numbered seventy-five, while they had only fifty men, operating in three-man teams.
Luckily, the limited deck space meant the first volley of gunfire took down a dozen or so – otherwise, the fight would have been far more troublesome.
Nonetheless, considering these men were greenhorns on their first battlefield, Lance could afford them some leniency.
