Jack stood on the helm of his beloved Pearl, listening to the mutterings of his crew.
They were calling him crazy again, and by the tone of them you could almost call it mutinous.
But Jack was not worried about their discomfort. They had called him crazy many times but nothing had come of it. He felt that secretly his crew was proud to have a mad captain.

"Jack?" Gibbs approached his captain friend. "We be heading straight for an island that be inhabited by the Spanish and their navy."

"I know Gibbs, I've been there before" the Captain replied calmly.

"Jack, those men'll blow us out of the water before we get close. Ye can't loot a place li'e that!" said Gibbs worriedly. He wasn't so sure his captain wouldn't attempt it. Jack liked to be unpredictable.

"I'm not a fool Gibbs, we aren't going to sack the port. We're going around the north side of the island. There's something I've been meaning to do" and with that Jack shouted an order to his crew and swayed away.

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The ship glided silently into the protected bay. As soon as it was anchored (near a natural dock made of rocks), Jack put down a wide gangplank and went ashore. With two-thirds of his crew. He wound his way through the forest, to a familiar cliff with a very old rope.

Pulling on it with the help of Cotton, Jack revealed a passage that had not been opened for nearly a decade.

He left the door open and ascended the slope with his men. The horses were all there, a few were gone, and he found their bones near one edge of the plateau. But there were newer, unscarred ones. Which were proof that the horses had been foaling.

The younger horses approached Jack and his fellow pirates with curiosity. The others shied away but none were aggressive.

His men were surprised when their captain went forward and approached an old roan mare. The horse came forwards and snuffled into the captains' coat, getting affectionate pats on the head.

"Take a horse each ya scurvy dogs!" he shouted when he realized they were staring.

They all spread out to a horse and watched the captain for guidance. Jack clasped the animals face between his hands and pulled it gently with him down the slope. Some of the crewmembers got bitten by their charges for being too rough, and some of the horses bolted when the person tried to touch them. In fact only four were able to follow Jack down the slope with horses. The rest came down angry and grumbling.

Jack grinned at them. "Right then, go back to tha ship and prepare to take these animals aboard." They looked at him disbelievingly. "Now!" he yelled threateningly and they shuffled off. With that Jack mounted his horse with ease, gaining a few awed stares from his men. He grinned.

He then kicked his heels into his horses' sides and she moved off at a trot. He returned to his ship, took three ropes and rode back to his men. He used the rope as a line that connected all the horses, and went back to the plateau alone carrying the other two. He then used one to make a loose bridle for his roan and again formed another chain of horses with the other rope.

When he got back to his ship he found his crew sitting down looking at the horses that were clustered together in the middle of the ship. Jack sighed.

He rode up the gangplank on his mare, the other horses following. Then he secured the horses below deck by putting the gangplank down the stairs. After they were tied sufficiently he set sail for America, Gibbs questioning his actions the whole way.

Once they reached the coast of South America, Jack and his crew released the horses and set them to running. They hurtled away into the setting sun with a sound like thunder.

Jack stood there watching them for as long as he could, before the call of the ocean beckoned him back aboard his ship. Then he hauled anchor and set sail, the tide tugging him along gently.

"What was all that about captain?" Anamaria asked quietly over his shoulder.

"Just keeping an old promise Anamaria" Jack answered as he steered his ship for Tortuga. "An old, old promise..."

FINISH