Author Description

In the long ago, the youth Cofresi saw his fellow Puerto Ricans living in poverty while the Spanish masters of their island home enjoyed wealth. One thing Cofresi wanted more than anything he wished to buy freedom for his young slave friend Diego and Diego's mother. In order to do that, Cofresi needed a ship so that he could make money to buy the freedom of his friends. At first, he was lucky. But then the cruel and greedy Spaniard, Don Fernando, who kept his friends in slavery, tricked Cofresi. Thus it happened that he became a pirate. But what is the fate of those who break the law? Author Lee Cooper tells an exciting tale that is true to life in Puerto Rico nearly two centuries ago.