Governor Swann sat at his desk in such rare high spirits that he was actually singing under his breath. "Swing high, me hearties, yo ho… yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me." He was grinning from ear to ear. "Just think – no more pirates. No more cursed ship and its cursed crew. All gone and done f-" He stopped when the door to his office burst open and a guard rushed in.

Swann jumped to his feet. "Excuse me, you!" he addressed the intruder, who was sputtering breathlessly. "If you need to see me you can knock or-"

"Sir, it's the pirates! They've escaped! I've raised the alarm, sir, and I haven't touched anything at the scene so you can see exactly how I found the place."

The Governor hovered uncertainly. "Summon my personal protection immediately. No – wait – I'll go with you. If there are a lot of filthy pirates loose in here I ought to be careful."

The corridor that should have been empty save for a cell of unwashed pirates was now crowded with soldiers. "There you are!" someone exclaimed. "Governor, sir, we've been waiting for you! See – look here. This is how he was found."

"He? He who?" Swann shoved his way through until he stood not three feet from the bars and looked down.

The pirates were gone…but the cell wasn't quite empty. It still contained Commodore Norrington, who sat on the floor against the bars, his hands cuffed through them so that he couldn't even rise to his feet.

Swann stared. "Well…good heavens, let's untie him, shall we?" he snapped finally. The soldiers jumped to obey.

The moment Norrington's cuffs were off he jumped to his feet, tore off the bandana that had been tied around his mouth, and spat out a mouthful of straw. "Sparrow," he gasped immediately. "Sparrow must have got loose, he came to me armed for God's sake – who was supposed to be keeping him under guard? Well? Who?"

The soldiers looked at each other dumbly.

"Well?" Norrington pressed.

Governor Swann tried to press the shaking from his voice. "So where is he now?"

"Now?" Norrington whirled on him. "How the devil should I know? I've been sitting there tied for nearly an hour…where was the next guard who was supposed to take a watch? Why did nobody come in and find me?"

A timid-looking soldier stepped up. "I did, sir," he said weakly. "I came in, I swear I did, but the pirates were still there and…and you weren't there…I don't understand, sir, I swear I came to check on them…"

Norrington looked him over with disgust. "Who is this boy?"

One of the older guards snorted. "Johannes doesn't talk much," he offered. "The boy's new…none of us could really vouch for his character, Commodore."

Norrington nodded. "Of course. A spy, it must be. How much did Sparrow pay you for this? It had better be an awful lot – this trick has just cost you your life, boy."

The young soldier was struck speechless, and Governor Swann decided it was safe to step in. "Well, now that we've got that all sorted out, why don't we take him away? Put him in with that other young pirate we caught the day Commodore Norrington came home." He turned to Norrington. "And you, Commodore…why don't you help me catch those pirates?"

They stalked out of the dungeons side by side, wringing their hands. Norrington was trying to massage blood back into his. Swann was just nervous.

Norrington knew full well that they would be too late to stop Sparrow from escaping. The Hellfire had been caught but the Pearlfloated outside the harbor, waiting with the rest of the crew, and all they had to do was somehow get out to her and they'd be home free. There were plenty of ships at the dock being guarded by only a man or two, and anyway he'd given the pirates the key to where their weapons had been stored. It occurred to him only afterward that he might be getting some innocent people killed for Jack's sake.

Anyway, he had to hurry. He had to make a convincing attempt to catch them in order to keep his own self out of trouble. Suddenly Norrington froze in his tracks, remembering Johannes and Charles Foster, the two young men who might well hang for what he'd done. He'd have to free them. But how? What would Jack do?

Jack would almost certainly take his own crew and skedaddle, Norrington thought wryly, but that's hardly fair, now, is it? Cursing himself for having a conscience, Norrington waited until the Governor was distracted and then slipped off down a different corridor.

It only took a moment to free the two young men. Norrington dragged them out into the hallway and gave them their instructions: "The pirates came by and let you out, do you understand? They like disorder and didn't want to see criminals hang. You attacked them, both of you, tried for all you're worth to subdue them and prevent them from getting away. You were both knocked unconscious. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Johannes spoke up confidently. "As long as we're all on the same page, sir, it shouldn't be too hard to clear up any…er…misunderstandings the Governor might have about what actually happened."

"That's a good lad," Norrington said approvingly. "You'll go far here. And you?"

"I've given up on justice and now I only want to escape this mess alive," Foster answered sullenly. "If it means lying for you, then I'll lie. How will you explain what happened on the beach when we landed?"

"Everyone was overwrought, nobody said what he meant, it was all an accident and a misunderstanding and I'm sure the Governor will understa-" Norrington cut himself short by swinging the butt of his gun up and smashing his audience on the temple. Charles Foster crumpled. Next Norrington turned to Johannes, asked "Ready?" and then, without waiting for an answer, clubbed him to sleep.

Whew, finally! Only one more chapter, everybody. And it's all done, mostly edited, totally ready to go up with another hour or so of work. So basically now is your last chance to review and tell me what you think before I finish the story! Thanks so much for reading and thanks for all the encouragement and I'm sorry for such a random long delay before this update. I assure you it won't happen again.