Chapter Nine- A Pirate's Life For Me


"Go on, walk the plank!" a pirate said to Elizabeth.

"Barbossa, you lying bastard!" spat Will, "You swore she'd go free."

"Don't dare impugn me honor, boy! I agreed she'd go free, but it was you who failed to specify when or where."

Will was gagged. Barbossa resumed.

"Though it does seem a shame to lose something so fine, don't it lads?"

"Aye," said the pirates.

"So I'll be having that dress back before you go."

Jack lied to the pirate nearest him, "I always liked you."

"It goes with your black heart." she snapped, throwing it at him.

"Ooh, it's still warm," said Barbossa, rubbing the dress against his face then throwing it to the pirates.

"Off you go! Come on!" yelled another pirate.

Elizabeth walked slowly to the edge of the plank. "Too long!" said Bo'sun, stomping on the plank, causing it to wobble. Elizabeth fell into the water. Will tried to lunge forward, but could not.

Jack played along, laughing with Barbossa's crew until it was his turn. He faced Barbossa. "I'd rather hoped we were past all this."

"Jack, Jack. Did ye not notice? That be the same island we made you governor of on our last little trip."

"I did notice."

"Perhaps you'll be able to conjure up another miraculous escape. But I doubt it." Barbossa brandished his sword at Jack, "Off you go."

"Last time you gave me a pistol with one shot." said Jack.

"By the powers you're right. Where be Jack's pistol? Bring it forward." The pistol was brought to Barbossa.

"Seeing as there's two of us, a gentleman would give us a pair of pistols."

"It'll be one pistol, and you can be the gentleman and shoot the lady and starve to death yourself." Barbossa threw Jack's pistol into the sea. Jack dove in after it, coming up for air as the ship began to move.

"FRANCESCA!"

"AYE!"

"SILVERWARE!"

"...AYE!" she called at the top of her lungs. Vicky and Francesca were locked in the brig, sitting in opposite cells just as she and Jack had been, Francesca now in Jack's cell.

Jack looked back at the Pearl, wading onto the beach, "That's the second time I've had to watch that man sail away with my ship."

Elizabeth followed him as he walked, "But you were marooned on this island before, weren't you? So we can escape in the same way you did then."

Jack halted. "To what point and purpose, young missy? The Black Pearl is gone and unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice, unlikely, young Mr. Turner will be dead long before you can reach him."

Elizabeth followed him again as he knocked on a tree trunk, took four steps and jumped up and down several times. "But you're Captain Jack Sparrow. You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Company. You sacked Nassau Port without even firing a shot. Are you the pirate I've read about or not? How did you escape last time?"

"Last time…I was here a grand total of three days, alright? Last time..." he opened a hidden cellar door covered in sand, "…the rumrunners used this island as a cache. Came by and I was able to barter a passage off. From the looks of things, they've long been out of business. Probably have your bloody friend Norrington to thank for that." Jack climbed out of the small cellar with two bottles of rum in his hands.

Elizabeth was livid "So that's it then? That's the secret grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow? You spent three days lying on a beach, drinking rum?!"

"Welcome to the Caribbean, love."

Elizabeth still followed him. "So. Is there any truth to the other stories?"

"Truth?" He pulled up his right sleeve to show the branded "P" and his tattoo, then the other sleeve to reveal scars all the way up the underside of his arm, then opened the right side of his shirt to let her see two bullet wounds in his chest. "No truth at all." he sat on the sand. "We still have a month, maybe more. Keep a weather eye open for passing ships and our chances will br fair."
"And what about Will? You have to do something."
You're absolutely right." He rolled a bottle across the sand to Elizabeth, holding his own in an imaginary toast. "Here's luck to you, Will Turner." He took a long drink of rum.

Elizabeth plopped down on the beach next to Jack, "Drink up, me hearties, yo ho." She took a small sip.

"What was that, Elizabeth?"

"It's Miss Swann. Nothing. Just a song I learned as a child, when I actually thought it would be exciting to meet a pirate."

"You– wanted to meet a pirate? I don't believe you."

"Yes, I did," she said, taking another sip of rum, "Francesca started the fascination. She said she'd met a pirate and he had taught her that song."

Jack thought with a strange look on his face, answering, "...Oh, did she?"

"I don't believe her. Probably Mr. Gibbs' doing."

"Let's hear it."

"No."

"Come on, we've got the time! Let's have it."

"No. I'd have to have a lot more to drink."

"How much more?" he smiled, taking a swig.

"Francesca?" asked Vicky.

"Yes?"

"Why did Jack mention silverware?"

Francesca waved the broken fork at Vicky. "Our escape plan."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, remember? We were locked in here when... Oh yeah- you weren't here, were you?"

"No...Where's Will, by the way?"

"Ah...hm...on deck, I suppose."

"And Jack is marooned on an island...with Elizabeth?"

Francesca sighed, "Jack Sparrow, you'd better behave yourself."

Jack and Elizabeth sang out loud, circling the campfire.

We're devils and black sheep and really bad eggs; Drink UP me 'earties yo ho! Yo ho, yo ho (Elizabeth stepped on Jack's foot as she passed him) ouch! A pirate's life for me.

"I love this song!" said Jack drunkenly. "Really bad eggs! Woo!" He fell onto the beach with Elizabeth. "When I get the Pearl back, I'm gonna teach it to the whole crew and we'll sing it all the time!"

"And you'll be positively the most fearsome pirate in the Spanish Main," said Elizabeth.

"Not just the Spanish Main, love, the entire ocean, the entire world. Wherever we want to go, we'll go, that's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails- that's what a ship needs, but what a ship is…what the Black Pearl... really is…is freedom."

"Jack, it must be really terrible for you to be trapped on this island."

Jack took advantage of the her drunken state with what was left of his sharp mind, slinking his arm over her shoulder, "Oh, yes. But the company is infinitely better than last time, I think. And the…the scenery has definitely improved–"

"Mr. Sparrow, I'm not entirely sure that I've had enough rum to allow that kind of talk."

"I know exactly what you mean, love." He curled the ends of his mustache upward.

"To freedom." She gestured to make a toast.

"To the Black Pearl," he said, clinking his bottle against hers. Jack gulped down the last of the rum in his bottle, passing out flat on his back.

Will appeared below deck. "Vic; Francesca."

"Will!" blurted Victoria.

The rest of the crew was brought down by Ragetti and Pintel.

"Walk," ordered Pintel, showing Will into the same cell as Vicky. "You too," he added, unlocking Francesca's cell and locking her in with the other two, "Your Sparrow can't save you now, eh?"

"Burn in hell," she hissed, "you and your mates."

"Shut up, you!" Ragetti yelled.

The other members of the crew were locked in the opposite cell.

Jack talked in his sleep, apparently kissing someone, talking again; then the talking faded when he opened his eyes, forced awake by loud explosions. He sat up lazily, staring at Elizabeth who was throwing rum into a large bonfire, lighting the trees and adding to the fire with another explosion, blasting her backwards a bit.

"No! Not good! Stop! Not good! What are you doing? You burned all the food, the shade, THE RUM!"

"Yes, the rum is gone."

"Why is the rum gone?" Jack asked frantically.

"One, because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels. Two, that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire Royal Navy is out looking for me, do you really think that there is even the slightest chance that they won't see it?"

Jack didn't seem to comprehend or care, "But why is the rum gone?

She sat to watch the horizon, "Just wait, Captain Sparrow. You give it one hour, maybe two, keep a weather eye out and then you will see white sails on that horizon."
Jack got out his pistol to shoot her, then put it back, thinking better of it, plodding away. He imitated her voice, "Must've been terrible for you to be trapped here, Jack. Must've been terrible for you… Well it bloody is now!" No sooner had he looked up he spotted the Dauntless sailing towards the island. "There'll be no living with her after this."

"But we've go to save Will!" said Elizabeth once they were on the Dauntless.

"No," answered Governor Swann, "You're safe now. We will return to Port Royal immediately not go gallivanting after pirates!"

"Then we condemn him to death."

"The boy's fate is regrettable, but then so is his decision to engage in piracy," said Governor Swann.

"To rescue me, to prevent anything from happening to me!"

"If I may be so bold as to interject my professional opinion," said Jack to Commodore Norrington, "The Pearl was listing near to scuppers after the battle. It's very unlikely she'll be able to make good time. Think about it, the Black Pearl, the last real pirate threat in the Caribbean , mate. How can you pass that up?

"By remembering that I serve others, Mr. Sparrow , not only myself."

"And what of Francesca, Governor? She's your daughter."

"She's a pirate! She disobeyed every one of my orders and requests! We will not be going back for her while the pirates remain."

"You'd abandon your daughter to save your own neck?" said Jack, "That sickens me- that, and the way this boat rocks– pardon." He ran to the side of the deck, sick to his stomach. "I think I've found the rum," he slurred with a groan.

"Commodore, I beg you, please do this. For me…as a wedding gift."

The Governor was thrilled, "Elizabeth! Are you accepting the Commodore's proposal?"

"I am."

Jack appeared happier, "A wedding! I love weddings…drinks all around!" He stuck out his arms in front of him, "I know…clap him in irons, right?"

The Commodore turned around, "Mr. Sparrow , you will accompany these fine men to the helm and provide us with the bearing to Isla de Muerta. You will then spend the rest of the voyage contemplating all possible meanings of the phrase 'silent as the grave'. Do I make myself clear?"

"Inescapably clear."

Norrington joined Sparrow moments later, "Mr. Sparrow, I know your intent is not to save Mr. Turner, so I must warn you not to intervene regarding Governor Swann's wishes for his daughter."

"And what would that be, Commodore?"

"To lead a happy life married to a decent man. Actually, that means anyone but you."

Jack smiled wryly, "Having pompous hair doesn't make you any more decent, just less of a man."

"Brood all you like, Mr. Sparrow. You'll not have anything to do with her rescue." Norrington left at that, a hint of dejection in his voice.

"I am her rescue." said Jack softly, closing his compass.