Chapter Five

They'd been enroute for two days and over 100 miles. Still his crew didn't know exactly where they were headed. They long passed the corridor that was uncharted and full of tiny islands. Now they were just in the middle of the blue waves with no direction set.
"The crew is getting restless." Thought Bill, "Jack needs to be clear about our destination and soon."
Some of the crew believed that the reason they were just going nowhere was because the captain had made a grave error in releasing the crew of merchant sailors and was afraid of detection. This was an idea being handily fed by Barboosa's plants. The discontent and depression could be cut with a knife. Bootstrap could see that the crew was ripe for incident. There were fights breaking out here and there on the ship.
"I must get to Jack and talk to him." And Bill headed toward the captain's quarters. He was met though with a no so welcome committee of personal "guards".
"What's ye pleasure, mate?" asked one big one. He seemed to tower and almost hit his head in the cramped space.
"I'd like to talk to the captain." Said Bill.
"Hey," said another of the men on the door, "ye be the former first mate...oh no...there'd be nothing for you to see the captain about...orders, mate, sorry." Said the man pushing Bootstrap backwards.
"Orders from who, Damn, ye?" and Bill recovered and reached for his knife.
The man pulled out his gun and aimed between Bill's eyes... "Now, there, there mate, you'll not be wanting to do anything like that now. Barboosa ordered it. He says that all ye needed to say was said when ye was replaced. He says the captain needs his rest 'bout now. Says that while he be plottin' the way to this treasure...if there is one...he's to have complete privacy."
Bootstrap slowly moved his hand to show that he was no longer after his knife. He'd caught the meaning of doubt the man projected.
"What do you mean, "If there is a treasure"?" he asked and then continued "And what if there isn't then what?"
The men all laughed together. The one then answered and replaced his pistol.
"Well, now that could be most unfortunate for "Captain Jack Sparrow, eeh?"
Part of the code dictated that if the crew felt that the captain was keeping something from the company or not telling the truth about a booty they could maroon him. Basically, the captain was at the will of the crew except in times of war or battle. At which time the captain could just shoot anyone who didn't agree with him. Even with this understanding it was a captain with an iron will and quick response who would avoid such a fate. Bill feared that in Jack's constant state of rum drunkenness he might not be aware of his peril. Yet there was no way for him to warn Jack. He wasn't even sure that Jack would listen. The last time he'd seen Jack on deck was right after he named Barboosa first mate. After that, Barboosa had named a man quartermaster. A man named Bo'sun. Bo'sun was an escaped slave who was covered with tribal markings. He was mean, plain and simple. As quartermaster he had say so over all payment to the men and was to assure that all officers didn't abuse their offices. As it was Bo'sun didn't respect Jack at all and sided with Barboosa. That meant that the only officer Bo'sun was watching was the captain. It was really more like controlling Jack's moves.
It wasn't much of a job. Jack was having a very bad time of it anyway. He was hearing voices singing to him and when he closed his eyes he was seeing all sorts of ghouls reaching for him. It was such that he constantly reached for rum and the rum was doing him no good.
Two days they'd been out and already this voyage was falling apart. Bill could do nothing but turn and walk away. He couldn't do anything for Jack this way. As he turned he walked right into Barboosa.
"Bootstrap Bill," Barboosa said "And what are you doing here, mate, looking to talk with ye ole' friend Jack Sparrow?"
"That's Captain Jack Sparrow!" he spat back
"Oh, but of course." Barboosa said and then, oddly took Bill by the arm and began to walk up on deck
"Ye know, Bootstrap, it must be hard for you to let go of ye ole' office and ye friendship with the captain."
"I've not let go of my friendship with the captain!" protested Bill
"But you must!" Barboosa said with a smile "after all he did replace you."
"I resigned, Barboosa!" Bill said lifting his head high in pride
"Awww, but that was only just in time, Bootstrap. Jack had already approached me about taking first mate. He feared he could not trust you to do what needed to be done. And then after the merchant ship...." And Barboosa trailed off.

"After the merchant ship? Barboosa, it was you who advised me. Is this the same sage advice you'll be giving to the captain? Or was this your plan all along?" accused Bill

Barboosa turned nasty. "Now Bootstrap, don't let your jealousy get in the way! Keep your mouth and your head and you'll get your share. Your share to do with what you please. Believe me, Jack Sparrow is only interested in himself. And if you think differently then you are a true fool, mate."

Bill kept his tongue. Barboosa could kill him or maroon him and Jack might never know what happened. But then Bill wasn't even sure Jack would care right now. He probably was all about plotting toward this treasure. Jack was a pirate. He was a pirate where Bill failed. He'd just have to bide his time and wait for the opportune moment.

Jack was reading over the map. There were many notes and entries but none with exact bearing to the island. It was hard to concentrate. All Jack could hear was the constant singing and calling. He opened his cabin door and spoke to a guard there.
"You, mate, where are we heading?" asked Jack
"No where, we're just heading north." Answered the man
"Steer toward the starboard!" commanded Jack. The man was off to relay the order. There was no apparent change in the feel of the ship's direction but suddenly Jack was overcome with pain. His head full of screams.
"No! No!" and Jack went to his knees. The men outside the cabin banged on his door. Jack pulled himself up and opened it.
"Sir! Is there someone here!" and one man came in gun drawn.
"No!" said Jack and he touched his ear and said, "tell them to bare to the port and keep going."
Jack didn't have to double-check the order..because..The moment it was done the voices subsided. Now once again it was just a steady and constant song and dead beckoning to where ever they were going.

As Bill made his way down the deck. Barboosa stood leaning to the side and watching him until he'd disappeared. "This friendship business wasn't as easy to do away with as I'd firs thought. I've got to move faster before this "friend" messes up me plan." Barboosa thought.
"Orders, sir?" it was Bo'sun. "...do you have orders for that one?" he asked again playing with his cutlass.
"No, not yet. I'll be lettin' ye know when that changes. It will change." Said Barboosa as he walked away.

Francisco Barboosa was born a dubious birth to an English wench and a Spanish captain. His mother was on her way to the islands as part of the effort to bring women into the colonies. The women who were chosen to come were not "good women", but rather part of the growing number of unfortunates who'd fallen on difficult times. The promise of blue skies, plenty to eat and maybe even a man to treat you well was all these women could ever want. Alas, the merchant ship fell to a Spanish attack. The women and the booty were taken to the Spanish ship. None were ever to see England again. Barboosa's mother was a portly thing, a little older than the others. But she possessed a dignity about her that did not escape the gaze of the captain. The captain, Pedro Alphonso Barboosa, was a whoremonger and man with little honor who just did hold the command by a thread on board his vessel. He took, Barboosa's mother by force even though she would have given herself to him without the violence. But still he could not conquer her.
"What is your name, wench?" he spat at her once done.
"Ann Parker, you dog!" she spat back...that answered with a slap across her face.
"Don't you dare talk to me like that! I am your master, she-dog!" and he pulled her up by her hair.
"Then we are a pair in heat...you the cur and me the she-dog... careful...I bite!" And she did...bite him on his hand.
Ann suffered a great beating from the hands of Pedro. It was the first of many because the two would never part...becoming common law husband and wife. No one who looked upon the union could understand why Pedro continued to come back to her or why she continued to have him.
Pedro deposited the women on an island in the Caribbean. A settlement was there and he would return to Ann and the two children she bore him. Although an unfaithful man himself, he demanded that Ann be chaste. Ann was actually a very good mother to the young Barboosa and his sister Anita. For a few years until he was eight years old things were good...until Pedro came home. Then of course there was much fighting amongst the two.
Then one day Pedro came home and didn't leave. He was sick. His whoremongering had finally paid off. Syphilis would make him a mad man. Ann waited on him hand and foot, but alas it was she who died first of a stopped heart. With his mother dead and his father dying it was decided that his sister Anita would be sent to Spain and into a convent. He was to remain with his dog of a father. The parting with Anita was a cold one. Barboosa was angry that he had to stay. Anita was angry that she had to go. At the last the two merely stared at each other as her ship left dock.
It wasn't long before Pedro finally gave up the ghost and Barboosa was all alone. He promised himself never to have a family or a friend. He thought God cruel to leave him this way.
"And so you must want me only for yourself!" he said shaking his fist at the sky.
It wasn't long after that Barboosa signed on with a clan of sailors and became a pirate. In all the long years...it is all he'd ever known. No homeport. No wife or children. Not even a common wench to await his coming. And he had no sympathy for those who let such relationships stand in their way.

Jack had his head on the table one hand poised on a half glass of rum. There was a tapping beside his head and he looked up. A woman was standing within reach of him.
"How did you get in here?" asked Jack,too drunk to move ,to startled to want to.
The woman put her finger to her mouth and then giggled. Jack gazed upon her and could not blink. She was beautiful. Long red hair...burning green eyes and pouting lips. She pointed to a cupboard and beckoned Jack to go into it. Jack rose from the table and opened the cupboard; there he found a compass. He looked back at the woman.
"A compass? For what? I already have one, Love, I'll not be needing another." Said Jack
The woman lost her smile and pointed to the compass in his hand. Indeed, her smile faded and her face became dark and slowly drawn until it became.... a skeleton's face!
"Whoa!" and Jack woke up, "A dream!" he said to himself and was about to lift his glass to his mouth again only to find that instead of the rum to his lips it was the compass from the cupboard...that was, by the way.. open. Jack knocked the bottle of rum over as he got up from his seat.
"Can't take much more of this bloody haunting!" he said to himself or who ever was listening. Jack opened the compass and tilted his head slightly. "It doesn't point north." And then he paused and smiled "But then I'm not going north am I?" He relaxed now, "Well, it would seem that these little ghosts or what ever they are come in right handy." Jack walked to the door taking his hat and coat and heading past his guards and up to the deck.
"Captain!" said one man...and the others looking quite shocked.
"Yes, it is ye captain, mate, we'll be plotting a course now." Jack walked up to the wheel and moved the mate aside. He whipped out the compass that didn't point north and began to wield his loving Black Pearl as though she were a mare in the meadows.
Someone had summoned Barboosa who was standing next to Jack now.
"Captain, ye know where ye be going now, sir?" asked Barboosa
"I do! I can hear it. It calls to me, Barboosa, I know where the Isle de Muerta is and the booty she holds." Answered Jack.
"You hear it you?" Barboosa asked and turned to look at the crew, making signs of a man gone insane.
"Captain," and he drew closer to Jack, "You're driving yourself too hard, Mate, you speak like a man possessed. Crews don't like those kinds of captains, sir. They'll lose confidence." Hissed Barboosa
"They won't lose confidence, Barboosa!" and then Jack paused and turned to Barboosa with that little quirky turn of the lip he made when he was knocked off balance "Will they lose confidence, Barboosa?"
Barboosa had him where he wanted him now! "Captain, let us talk a bit." Barboosa turned and dismissed the others so that he could talk to Jack as he maneuvered the Pearl. Night was falling fast and they were coming up on their third day at sea.
"Jack, you know everything is an equal share so the bearings to the treasure should be an equal share, too." Said Barboosa.
Jack paused before answering, pretending that he was distracted with the sea. But really for the first time since coming into this cursed information he was clear. It was quiet in his head. Perhaps it was a clue that he should trust someone else. He waited a moment...nope...no voices. Maybe, it was right he would tell his first mate the song and lighten his burden. If he did this maybe Barboosa and the men wouldn't think he was crazy. But still Jack hesitated.
"Barboosa, we will dine in my cabin. I will tell you what you need to know then."
Barboosa clenched his fist. At last, he would know the bearings and then he'd not have to bow and scrape to Jack Sparrow any longer.
"Aye, Captain, tonight say at eight?" asked Barboosa
"That will do just fine." Said Jack as he continued to push the Pearl along the waters toward the place that only he knew how to find....but not for long.