Captain Jim Hawkins pulled numerous maps from his cupboard. His movements were tense. He was angry with himself for talking to Miss Smollett the way he had. Something about her just made him behave so ridiculously. As he stared at each map in turn all he could see was her face. Her deep blue eyes, her perfect skin, her scarlet lips. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and he wanted her ever so badly.

Once she knew what he was really like Louisa Smollett wouldn't even give one thought to him. Once she knew that beneath an exterior which promoted money and high social class through his uniform, Jim Hawkins was still the same barely educated inn keeper's son she probably wouldn't even remember his name.

He could read and write but he couldn't do any other fancy things like other men. He couldn't speak French or Spanish. He had no knowledge of industry or business. He wasn't even a permanent part of the Navy. He had only helped them for a few months with some goods that needed trading and the uniform had been borrowed. Tomorrow morning he would be back to his normal, shabby, poor self. Then what would Louisa think? He laughed scornfully at himself. Louisa wouldn't care about him. She only needed him to get her father back.

Finally his fingers touched the rough paper he had been searching for. The oldest map stored in his cupboard. The paper was thick and yellow, the edges ripped, and stained and burned. This was it; Billy Bones' treasure map.

Jim hadn't thought about the map for years. It had been forgotten behind newer maps, ones that offered hope and rewards. Billy Bones' map however promised nothing but piracy and death. Fear surged through Jim's body as he thought of that fateful voyage. He realised they had set sail from this very port exactly 16 years ago. Perhaps the timing wasn't a coincidence, you never knew with Silver.

Jim spread the map on his desk. Only the original directions had been drawn onto the map. The current resting-place of the treasure had not been added, for fear anyone would find the map. The only two places the location could be found were in the memories of Captain Abraham Smollett and himself.

Jim lay awake in his bed late that night. Every time he closed his eyes he was bombarded by images. Some pleased his senses, pictures of his mother and father living happily at the old Admiral Benbow, pictures of Louisa smiling. Others however made him want to recoil. Dark images of Long John Silver's smug grin as he came across the treasure, the blood oozing from dead pirates and the gold. All the pain and suffering just for metal.

Eventually, fed up with tossing and turning Jim got out of bed. The Prevail was rolling around but so many long years at sea had seemed to have made Jim immune to its movements.

He climbed up in the rigging towards the crow's nest. Even in the dim moonlight he found he did not have to concentrate at looking where he was going. His hands and feet automatically found the perfect places to go and he had reached the small wooden platform in under a minute.

His eyes searched the cloudless sky dotted with small diamonds. His eyes came to rest on the one glowing the most brilliant. A familiar voice sounded deep within his memory.

"Me, I sail by the stars Jim."

"Find me north out there Jim."

"That there be Polaris. Even in the China Sea it still shines in the north."

As Jim stood there leaning against the wooden railing he mustered all his strength to fight back the anger welling up like a blazing fire inside him. He had been betrayed. He had never wanted to see Long John Silver again and now he was sailing after him.

When the nights were crystal clear like now he was haunted by memories of the one legged pirate and he tried to escape but no amount or rum could banish the horrors, which terrorised his mind late at night. Not one night went by when he didn't see Long John's face staring at him. Laughing at him.

The next time they met one of them was going to die. If Silver didn't kill him first Jim was going to rid himself of him forever. He was going to finally be free.