I think the correct answer is: They are both willing to risk their lives.
If we understand the word "willing" as ready to do something, this means they both are ready to risk their lives. We could think that the correct answer is "They are both helpless and weak" but in the first excerpt although he seems weak, he has been able to get food for his family and escape from the gamekeepers, even hitting them with the slingshot.
What they have in common is that although they are concious that their actions can kill them they are determined to do them. In the first excerpt hunting in the woods is forbidden and if someone gets caught doing it he would be "even killed". The kid has no option but to risk his life to get some food: "but my family had to eat one way or another."
The second excerpt refers to a pirate's slave, he has a miserable life and it could get worse. He is determined to scape or die trying, we can see that he has nothing else to loose, "I would rather die than spend another minute on that ship."
