"I see a ship, sir!" screamed a young sailor, lowering a spyglass. The old captain jumped up and shook his head.
"What is the ship?" he asked the guy.
"To my mind, it is strange... Look, sir."
The captain reluctantly ascended the stern, took the spyglass, and peered at the unclear outlines of the ship in the distance. Suddenly, his arms shuddered. The spyglass fell down. The scared sailor stared at the captain.
"The Rosario!" the old man only could whisper. The wind inflated the sails of the ship sharply and so it floated away quickly from the mysterious ship, swinging on the waves on the horizon. But the Rosario seemed to sail faster than the wind. Its outline was silhouetted clearly against the purple sunset. The vessel came closer.
The captain gave the orders to sail away from the ship nervously and impatiently. The mad crew was running on the deck. The old man looked back constantly; the distance between the ships was shrinking. The tone of his bass voice became more alarming when he turned to hasten bunglers in the crew. A minute later, he glanced back again. The huge dark shadow of sailing ship was pointed directly over the stern of his vessel. The bowsprit of the "Rosario" was overhanging above the deck, facing to the captain. The bodiless ghost of the vessel was passing through the ship, and the old captain's bustling sailors were falling down dead. Horror covered the captain; he was knocked down. His body, slain by an unknown force, dropped down on the floor. The Rosario left the ship with dead crew behind and continued its terrible sailing.
Night in Tortuga has just begun. Taverns and pubs opened their doors to visitors who wanted merry and noisy feasts. Rummy bottles were tinkling; sailors' laughter and girls' screeches interrupted the sound of the waves lapping on the shore.
A very drunken fat sailor in a shabby officer coat sat down near Jack Sparrow, patted him on the shoulder, and began to tell something incomprehensible. Jack squeamishly looked at him and moved away. The fat man reeled on his stool and fell down on the floor, continuing to mutter something. Sparrow glanced compassionately at him and drank some rum from the almost empty bottle.
"Jack!"
The captain shook his head to see, who was calling him. The call repeated very close to his head. Sparrow turned. Gibbs was standing right in front of him. He looked worried.
"Mr. Gibbs, long time, no see."
Joshamee set the bottle aside from the captain and sat down opposite him on the free chair. The First Mate was very serious. This made Jack laugh.
"When did you become a teetotaler?" Sparrow asked mockingly.
Gibbs ignored his question and said abruptly,
"One more HMS has arrived to the harbor. Everyone on this ship is scared to death. They've seen the Rosario in the sea. Only three hundred miles away from here."
The sailors, who were sitting near Jack and Gibbs, froze. Someone didn't bring the rum bottle to the mouth, someone didn't finish the phrase. All of them stared at the First Mate. Sparrow squinted and frowned.
"Who has seen this ship? Show me this devil," Jack demanded.
"I said, English officers."
"False. The Rosario appears to everyone now." Jack waved away and took the bottle. "Better drink rum and stop to panic. Soberness isn't good for you."
"I'll drink, yeah," agreed Gibbs. "But the ship couldn't be imagined by three dozens of people. I don't like at all that this cursed ship has appeared here."
"It has appeared and it will swim away," Sparrow said calmly. "We won't change our plans. We're gonna to depart to Fort George tomorrow in the morning. We must deliver our valuable cargo there."
"Have it your way," said the First Mate humbly. "Just if something happens to the ship... You have only yourself to blame."
Jack just made a helpless gesture and drained the bottle. Muttering discontentedly, Gibbs went out from the pub. There was a crowd of drunken men in the street; among them, pretty ladies rustled their colorful dresses. The First Mate didn't pay attention to them and went down the street to the square. Another picture presented to him: officers in the red uniforms were standing near inns, looking to stay overnight. The pirate glanced to them, spat, and turned into the narrow lane between small houses on the sea shore.
The sailing ship flying a black flag with a skull and crossbones floated slowly by the harbor in Fort George and turned to the shore, rounding a woody promontory. There was no place for the Black Pearl at the pier in the fort. The ship was very different from the ships, moored there.
Jack keenly inspected the coast, looking for the place to drop the anchor. Finally, the heavy chain began to fall to the bottom, and the Black Pearl stopped near the rocky shore. Sparrow ordered his men to lower the rowboat, and soon he witn the help of a strapping sailor, deftly working the oars, he rowed to land.
The captain went ashore alone. Jumping over the stones, he reached the winding path, which steeply climbed up on the rock. On top it ran through a thickets of trees. He could hear the song of a bird. Jack was moving confidently along the narrow path and singing "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest". Suddenly Sparrow came across a branch, hanging down under the weight of the fruits. Jack tore one of them and took a bite, but the fruit was very bitter and hard, so the captain loudly spat it out.
The path became wider and turned into a street. Houses were hidden behind trees, single lights rarely twinkled among branches. Jack looked carefully at the houses like he was looking for a familiar one. He stopped near one of the two-floor stone houses with terrace. The candle was burning in the open window of the second floor, and wind gusts were playing with its flame. Jack came up to the oak door, hesitated at the threshold couple of seconds, and then knocked loudly. Nobody opened. Sparrow leaned to the door, trying to listen any sounds. Suddenly the door was opened. The cap lost the balance and fell down the corridor's floor with a crash. In this moment he could see the figure of a barefoot young man in the pants and the shirt.
"Jack?!" the young owner was amazed. He didn't expect guests to visit this late in the evening.
"Henry, nice to meet you!" said Sparrow, hoisting himself up on his elbow.
"Er, yeah, nice to meet you, too," the young Turner respond, swiping a hand across his forehead.
"I have some business in this fort, so I've decided to come and find out how old friends are doing," informed Jack, standing up and recovering from his fall.
"What business can a pirate have in the military fort?" someone asked in a serious voice from the stairs. In the light of the candle, burning in Henry's hands, Will appeared. His aged face with glimpses of gray hair expressed both displeasure and curiosity.
"Hugely important business, William,'' said Jack busily, and went to the table standing in the middle of the room. "Are you going to offer your guest anything?"
"Very likely, I'll offer him to go out the door," frowned Elizabeth, tying her robe and walking behind her husband. Years haven't touched her: she was still beautiful and fresh, but in her eyes there was more wisdom, in her movements – more staidness.
"Why so rude, your majesty?" said Jack with a laugh and a curtsy.
"Because I don't like to see you at my home," Elizabeth spoke coldly and adamantly.
"If the Pirate King ordered, I must to obey," Sparrow sat down at the table. "I'll just eat these nuts and then go out." The captain's hand descended to the vase, filled with nuts, and raked out a big handful. Jack threw them one by one into his mouth and smacked his lips.
"So... What business do you have in the fort?" Will asked one more time, sitting down next to Sparrow. Turner glanced inquisitively at the chewing pirate.
"I have to bring to the commandant a treasure," whispered Jack, leaning forward. "And I want to get a worthy reward for it."
"The pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow, will go to a deal with an English officer?" Henry asked sceptically.
"When the deal smells of profit, a large profit, it is possible to do it," confirmed Jack. "As a result of a chain of fleeting events, a young female person has fallen in my power. I've learnt she escaped from marriage with the commandant. According to rumors, he promised to fulfill any whim of someone who would return the girl. And my whim is very simple. I'd like to get his protection extended to the Black Pearl and the whole crew, including myself.
"Do you want to sell this girl to the commandant to save your own skin?" asked Will disapprovingly.
"You're frowning as if I'm selling her into slavery. Just marriage."
"You'll not get anything done, Jack. As soon as you'll appear in the fort, you'll be caught and hung. And I don't want one of us will be blamed in helping you," said Mrs. Turner strictly. "Go out now."
«This is Jack Sparrow?" a sleepy woman's voice came from the far dark corner of the room.
"Carina Smyth – that is, Barbossa – if I'm not mistaken?" Jack perked up, waiting for the girl's appearance. The brunette came out of the dark, rubbing her eyes.
"Carina Turner," corrected Henry. "She is my wife."
"Wow, she didn't wait for me," said the pirate with facetious regret.
"Enough!" screamed Elizabeth, and slammed the hand on the table. "If you don't disappear right now, Jack..."
"Will you shout and call for help a regiment of soldiers? Then you will be definitely hung up on the gallows because you let into your house the famous pirate, captain Jack Sparrow. Why so much hate, darling?"
"Piracy is approaching its final days. Someday soon the last pirate and everyone sympathized for it, will be gibbeted. None of us wants to be involved in it," explained Will.
"And I'm absolutely sure: if you appear, new problems will follow," added Elizabeth with sigh. "No more adventures. I don't want our life to be ruined because of you, Jack."
These words wounded the pirate. He looked down, shuffling the leg on the wooden floor and knocking his fingers on the table. Then he glanced again at Elizabeth and Will in agreement.
"Well, the trump card is in my hands. I'll achieve the protection from the commandant. And now, as I see it, it is really time to leave."
Jack turned on his heels and strode to the door. But he didn't have time to reach the entrance before the door opened. One more unbidden guest was standing on the threshold. First Mate Gibbs, panting and holding on to his heart, leaned on the doorjamb and said:
"Jack, the girl has escaped."
