"Captain! Captain! You're needed on deck!" A woman's voice called from the above deck. Sparrow looked up and then back down at Claudia. Claudia went for the sword but was startled when she found the blade of Sparrow's dagger ready at her neck.

"You're pretty, you know, and I'd hate to have to draw a dark red line across that nice neck of yours." He closed his eyes, as he smelt her hair. "Don't try anything…" He said as he banged on the overhead door.

"Open the door!" He yelled as he led Claudia up the ladder, dagger still at her neck. The door opened, and the two moved slowly onto the deck. Sparrow shouted to the woman to bring some rope and a bottle of rum.

"What are you going to do to her?" The woman yelled back, "Burn her?" Claudia glared at the woman as Sparrow hollered back at her.

"I'm not sure yet. I think we'll keep her, we might be able to use her." The woman disappeared out of sight and then returned with a bundle of rope and the bottle of rum.

"Who is she?" She asked, giving Claudia an evil look. The older man walked over to the three of them just as Sparrow began to tie Claudia's hands together and spoke.

"She sure is a pretty one, mate." He examined Claudia and then looked back at Sparrow again. Sparrow finished the knot as he answered the first question.

"You remember that scuffle we had years ago, with old Bootstrap Bill's son and his girl?" The older man and the woman both responded to Sparrow in unison.

"Oh, Aye, the Governor's girl." The woman stopped as the man continued. "How could we forget mate?" Sparrow sat back and opened the bottle of rum.

"That," He pointed at Claudia, "Is the girl's cousin, the Governor's niece." Sparrow took a swig of the rum and tilted his head back.

"Funny how things work, isn't it?" He said as he looked back at the man.

"What are we going to do with her? Kill her?" He asked Sparrow, who shook his head as he took another drink from the bottle.

"No, we can't." He said as he stood up and looked Claudia in the eye.

"Why not?" The woman said. "She is of no use to us!" Sparrow turned back to her.

"Maybe not now, but soon she will be." Sparrow glanced from the woman to the man.

"Our first recruit." Sparrow said. The woman slapped him.

"No. We need a crew, not some rich white girl." The woman went to slap him again, but he caught her arm and quickly put the blade of his dagger to her neck.

"She's part of the crew, savvy?" The woman, frightened, nodded and then backed away. Sparrow turned to the man. "Take Anna Maria down to the lower deck and give her the rules." The man looked confused.

"Rules, Captain?" Sparrow nodded.

"Aye, rules." He responded as he raised his dagger and pointed it to Claudia, shaking his head. "No one is to touch her but me, savvy?"

"Aye, Captain. No one but you, mate." The man said and turned to Anna-Maria. The man said something to her and they disappeared below deck.

Claudia looked around, and up at the sky. It was starting to get dark. My uncle must be worried about me. She thought. How am I going to get out of here? She looked at Sparrow who sat down in front of her as if taking guard.

"At least I'm alive." She said.

"Aye, mate, at least you're still alive."

The Governor sat on the porch of the house, looking out into the beyond, waiting for Claudia to show up.

"Sir," Maria caught his attention, "Perhaps we should send out a search party and look for her?" She said as she dusted the candleholders next to the door.

"No, no, I shall get Commodore and some troops to help me." He said as he stood. "Get me my coat, take me to the Commodore." He walked outside and got into the stagecoach. The driver handed the Governor his hat and coat and then took his place at the reins. He started the horses and Maria was left standing in the open door, watching after them as the coach disappeared into the darkness.

Claudia sat there, looking around for something sharp enough to cut the rope that tied her hands together at the wrists. No one was around; the three of them were going through some ship maintenance. Wait She thought. She hadn't seen the man with the parrot since she got onboard the ship. I wonder where he could be. She thought as she frantically looked around, wanting to spot him. He was nowhere to be found.

She just sat there for another half-hour or so, thinking to herself when her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Sparrow and his fellow shipmates came back on deck. Sparrow and the man walked to the back of the ship and searched through some of the storage barrels and soon brought out three bottles of rum. Anna –Maria was set at the front, watching for British soldiers or anyone else who might want to overrun the ship. Claudia looked on as the two men wandered back over to where she was and set down in front of her as Sparrow held out one of the bottles of rum to her. Claudia looked at him with a stern look and indicated that her hands were tightly bound together behind her back. Sparrow laughed a little and then leaned in oh so very close to her, she thought he was going to kiss her, but instead he quietly whispered in her ear.

"Aye, but then you'd get away. I could always tie a leash around that pretty little waist and keep you with me at all times, also." Claudia wanted to slap him, but she couldn't. He began to run his finger down her jaw, around her collarbone and back. He moved even closer to her and kissed her. She backed away and he pulled her closer, only to get her head shoved in his right eye. He fell over, then sat back up nursing his hurting eye. He looked at her with his good one and began to speak to her, but was interrupted by her stern voice.

"You underestimate me sir." She said as she sat there, looking at him, giving him an evil smile. "Just because a woman is small and tied doesn't mean she doesn't posses the ability to protect herself from even the worst scoundrels like you." Sparrow looked back at the other man and Anna-Maria, watching the events taking place. Anna-Maria was the bold one to make comment upon the happenings.

"And I don't suppose you deserved that one, either." Anna-Maria started to laugh as she smiled at Claudia. The man finally spoke up.

"Captain, sir, it is bad luck having one woman aboard, but two is blasphemy." The man looked at Claudia then back at Anna-Maria. Anna-Maria and Claudia both chuckled. Sparrow stood up and started walking to the back of the ship when Anna-Maria frantically started calling him.

"Captain! Captain! Get back here now!" Sparrow turned around.

"Why? Why should I?" He turned and continued walking, holding the bottle of rum to his sore eye. Soon the other three were all frantically calling his name. He turned around and yelled at them.

"What do you want!?" He took a few steps forward and then saw Anna-Maria start to bring in the anchor. The man ran over to Sparrow and practically pushed him to the front of the boat. He pointed out towards the main road that went through town.

"Look! Look! The British army is coming!" Sparrow slightly leaned over the railing of the ship to see a bunch of men charging towards the boat. Many were flashing lights on them and yelling at them to step off of the boat. Sparrow shook his head as he helped Anna-Maria finish bringing in the anchor as the older man set the sails. Claudia was just sitting there, wondering if she should call out to her Uncle, or should she just stay on the boat and go quietly? She couldn't choose. She just sat there, humming a mournful tune as the three man crew worked as hard as they could to get that ship out of there. Once Claudia felt the ship moving, she looked over at the wheel and saw Sparrow taking over his job getting the boat out to sea. The man watched the land get smaller, and the British soldiers get into their ships. The British got started and were a good hundred feet behind, but within a matter of minutes they were gaining on he pirates.

"Anna-Maria!"

"Aye, Captain!"

"Man the sails! We must outrun them!"

Anna-Maria stood there, looking at him as if he was a ghost.

"What are you just standing there for? Man the bloody sails!" Sparrow pointed at the large wooden columns that held the ship's sails. Anna-Maria just stood there, staring at him.

"MAN THE BLOODY SAILS! Do you want to get hung?" Sparrow yelled at her as if she were a child who had just stolen a cookie from the cookie jar. He couldn't believe she wasn't doing anything. Anna-Maria laughed a little then responded.

"Aye, Captain. You're dumber than you look. How am I supposed to man the sails all by my bloody self?" She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. The older man looked back at the two of them and yelled, "They're about a yard away! Do something!" Sparrow looked at Anna-Maria then to Claudia. He handed the wheel over to the old man and stood Claudia up.

"You know how to man sails?" He grabbed her by her shoulders as he spoke directly into her face.

"I lived with the Governor, not a sailor sir." Sparrow looked confused. "That is to say, of course, that I don't know the first thing about in which you're talking." Sparrow forced her to turn her back to him cut the ropes that tied her wrists together. He turned her back around and said, "Well then, it's time to learn." He pushed her over to Anna-Maria who took her arm and started to climb the poles to the sails as Sparrow positioned himself once more at the wheel.

The old man turned back to the British ship which was coming so close to them that within another half hour or so you could have reached out and touched it from the Pirate ship. The man started to panic, so he ran to help Claudia and Anna-Maria with the sails. Sparrow looked back at the other ship following them.

"Hurry up, We need to get going!" Anna-Maria finally got the final sail to drop, in which the ship took off at once, leaving the British soldiers nothing to do but fire cannons, and the Governor wouldn't even let them do that, because one of them might hurt Claudia.

The three of them jumped down, the man and Anna-Maria landing on their feet, but Claudia landed on her side with a thud. Sparrow looked behind him, they were far enough away from the British Ships in his opinion, but he had Anna-Maria take the wheel just in case. He walked over to Claudia and sat down beside her, she was on her side trying to get up. He shook his head.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." He said, as he started to help her up. "That's why you learn to land on your feet."

She glared at him as he walked away and started to brush herself off. She had a sharp pain in her right side. She looked down at the spot that stung and noticed a fairly large circle of red liquid that had soaked through her dress. Great She thought. Liz is just going to love me for this one. She shook it off and looked over to Anna-Maria, who had given Sparrow back the wheel. She motioned for her to come to her so that she could talk to her.

"Aye." Anna-Maria said as she walked over to Claudia. She stopped in front of her, waiting for her to continue.

"Um," Claudia began, lowering her voice. "Do you have some extra clothes I can use?"

Anna-Maria smiled and began to laugh a bit.

"Aye, mate." She took hold of Claudia's arm in a friendly way. "Follow me."