After a long day of plundering, Captain Bailey the Bald and his crew were tired from plundering. They had stolen many large boxes filled with gold, food, and soda.

That night they stayed up late and celebrated with songs and dancing. When they finally got tired, they all went below deck to get some sleep.

Just as the pirates were falling asleep, a big storm hit! The crew had to stay up all night sailing through harsh winds and large waves.

In the morning, the crew was exhausted. They all decided to take a nap, but when they tried to fall asleep they kept rolling out of their beds and hammocks! 

Even Captain Bailey couldn’t sleep.

Eventually, the pirates gave up and went back up on deck to see if they could figure out what was wrong. They checked the oars, the sail, and the anchor but nothing was wrong. 

The pirates were confused and Captain Bailey was getting angry.  

The pirates began sharing ideas.

“We could throw all o' the

boxes overboard,”

said Olivia One-Tooth.

“Or we could take everythin’

out o’ the boxes and share,”

said Jolly John.

"Maybe we could give all o' our plunder back," said Larry the Long-Legged.

None of the other pirates liked these ideas. 

They needed their food, gold, and soda.

After awhile, the smallest pirate, Stinky Steve, made a big discovery when he went down to explore the cargo hold. All of the large boxes they had plundered had moved to one side of the boat!

They had to do something or else they would never get to sleep! But what could they do?

The pirates were still confused and Captain Bailey was still angry. 

Suddenly, Stinky Steve came up with an idea!

“What if,” he said, “we jus’ move the boxes around ter balance the ship an' make the sides equal?”

The crew was confused and Captain Bailey was even angrier. They were all very tired.

“ARGH!” Captain Bailey yelled, “What be ye yammerin’ about usin’ them fancy words?”

“Our ship is tipping over because all o' these boxes are pushed ter one side,” Stinky Steve said as he pointed. 

“All we need ter do is push some boxes ter the other side so that we won’ tip anymore. 

If both sides o’ the boat have the same number o’ boxes, the ship will be balanced, and the sides will be equal.  Then we will be able ter get some sleep!”

“But how many boxes do we need ter move?” Captain Bailey asked.

Stinky Steve wasn’t sure.

“Well” he said, “there are 10 o' these large boxes. We could try moving 'em around ter see what happens.”