There was good reason the pirates looked so dispirited: Major Giovanni had interrogated them all night.
Interrogations in this era were simple and brutal. In a word, they relied on "torture until they talked."
Though this method could easily lead to wrongful convictions, it was just the thing for dealing with enemies.
Giovanni's methods weren't sophisticated. He had one word for it: beat them. Beat them to death.
The pirates had been beaten all night. It was no wonder they were in such poor spirits.
Friedrich had wanted to hear whether real pirates had anything unusual about them. Archduchess Seneka, meanwhile, had no fondness for pirates whatsoever. After all, the pirates of the Gulf of Aden had once been the bane of the Oman Empire.
These pirates were British, no less. Whether as an Omani or an Austrian, Archduchess Seneka had every reason to hate them.
Before his interrogation, Baron Hyman had thought of standing firm unto death, then delivering a few impassioned words. But after hearing several bloodcurdling screams, he changed his mind at once. Perhaps he could use his wit to mislead the Austrians with some false intelligence.
But after two burly men had slapped him dozens of times with a plank, he spilled everything he knew in one breath. He just wanted the pain to end as quickly as possible.
Of course, there were tough men too. Captain Callum, Baron Hyman's immediate superior, refused to give up any intelligence even after they drove more than twenty nails into his body. Out of respect, Major Giovanni gave him a bullet.
Most of the others, however, weren't nearly so loyal to the British Government. They soon coughed up their intelligence.
As for telling truth from lies, all they had to do was compare a few statements. Unless someone had