Chapter Two

Jack made sure the ropes were snug around the barrel before shouting up to Gibbs. The first mate grunted with the effort, threw some more weight into it, and finally managed to get the water keg on deck.

"It's for the good of the ship, remember that!" Jack yelled, and he caught the grin before his friend turned away.

"How many barrels left?" he asked Anna Maria. She shrugged. "Two, maybe three. It will take a good hour to finish up and be out of here."

"All right. Then I'm going to find Corinne."

He let her clamber up onto the ship and then turned the skiff around. The shore was not far away, and it was only a matter of ten minutes to make it to shore. He dragged the little boat onto the beach and headed off in the direction his love had gone.

The birds made a lot of racket, and he frowned at them as he cut through the trees. Then he found the path she'd blazed; not bad, but not the work of an expert, either. Then again, he was no expert himself.

It was almost serene in the little jungle on this island; it would have been more peaceful had there been less conspicuous animals spying at him from the treetops. Then something stung his sense of smell...rum. And it wasn't his brew, either. He knew what the Tortuga rum smelled like, and that wasn't it. Probably someone's own special concoction, due to Commodore Norrington's ban on liquor. Chances were, there was a private still on this island, set up by someone who was, he had to admit, quite smart. He peered through the bushes ahead, and found the source of the smell. But it wasn't a still.

A dirty young scalawag lay sleeping in the undergrowth, snoring away and clutching a half-empty bottle of rum to his chest. Jack had never met him, but he knew another pirate when he saw one. He pulled out his sword, its blade barely pinging on the sheath as he drew it, and held it to the man's throat. The cold touch of steel woke him up, and he nearly slit his own throat on Jack's blade.

A quick peripheral glance told him that he wasn't being threatened by a novice. Jack had the steady, sure hand of an expert swordsman, and the alarming glint of impulsiveness in his eyes warned him to keep still. This man might seal his doom on a whim.

"Where are you from?" Jack demanded. "What ship? Who is your captain?"

He tried to scramble away from the deadly blade, but it inched ever closer to his throat. "I...The ship is - ah..." his eyes strayed from Jack's face to the silvery edge that was chafing his Adam's apple. "I'm from the t-t-Titan," he stammered.

Jack did not move, but the wheels in his head turned at a fast pace. The Titan...he'd seen her, once. She'd been beautiful and glorious...but that had been long ago. Her captain had run her onto the rocks nearly twelve years ago, more than two years before the mutiny on the Pearl. So either this man was lying, or...

"Get up." He pulled the blade far enough away that the young pirate - he looked to be about twenty - could bring himself to a crouch, and finally, a standing position.

"Now, you coward, tell me something. Have you seen a young woman pass this way?"

His large green eyes widened. "She belongs to you, eh?" He let a sneer cross his rather ugly face. "She's gone by now. I've been left on purpose, to..." he let his voice trail off and seemed disinterested in talking anymore about his errand. But Jack had already guessed it.

"Your precious captain's treasure store is on this island, is it not?" he wondered aloud, grinning at the astonished look on the young man's face. "Well, you're of no value to him, since you've already effectively managed to give away the fact that there are valuables somewhere on this island, and rest assured, we will find them." He threw the flat of his blade into a hard whip on the man's left cheek, drawing a raised, red welt and a trickle of blood down the side of his face. "And yes," he added, "She does belong to me."

Gibbs watched as the two men got into the boat and the one he didn't recognize rowed them to the Pearl. Jack looked very angry. His face bore thunderstorms waiting to happen.

The dinghy was heaved up, and Jack jumped out after the young pirate, who had a gash on his cheek. He looked around at the pirates of the Black Pearl with distrust as he stumbled out on deck.

Jack prodded him with his blade. "Tie him up."

Mr. Cotton grabbed some heavy rope and began to do so. He didn't struggle, but he spat on the deck once.

Anna Maria looked at Jack with question in her eyes. "Where's Corinne?"

He looked away. "She's gone." No one said any more. Jack climbed up to the poop deck and took hold of the helm. He glanced down at the prisoner. "Put him in the cell," he ordered coldly. Cotton obeyed, handling him with little mercy. Other pirates were not looked upon kindly. And anyone who mocked the disappearance of a member of this ship would suffer much at their hands.

Jack pulled out his telescope and looked through its small glass, peering in the distance. He could see through it another nearby island, far away, and something...something else. A ship.

He roused his spirit and ordered the anchor pulled up and turned the wheel in the direction of the other island. Gibbs could see the blue edge too, and he stepped up beside Jack.

"Captain, you think it's wise to go near more land when we've got what we need? What if there are British settlements on that island?"

Jack turned his head slightly. "Land isn't the only thing that lies in that direction." He grabbed his distance glass and handed it to Gibbs. "Take a look, bearing to port just a little of the land."

His friend took in a quick breath when he saw it. "That where our prisoner came from?"

"Aye. He also said something else that's interesting. He said his ship was called the Titan."

"The Titan?" Gibbs was impacted by that. "I heard much about that one after I came here. You ever been on it?"

"No, but I've seen her. Beautiful ship. Perhaps not as good as the Pearl, but then again, nothing is to me. Her captain rolled her over some rocky straits over by Mexico."

"So he's lyin'?"

Jack shrugged. "He might be. Then again, I never actually saw what happened to the Titan, just heard. He and I never were on good terms, and there were others who didn't care for him, either."

"Hmmm." Gibbs looked toward their destination. "Maybe she's just christened after the old Titan," he suggested.

Jack shook his head. "No, anyone stupid enough to rename their ship after that ill-fated vessel wouldn't have a ship that large. She's bigger than the Pearl, even."

"I guess we'll have to find out from the captain how his ship came back from Davy Jones...right before we kill him."

Jack nodded slightly, looking off into the distance. Any other day he would have sucked in the fresh sea air and admired the beauty of the ocean. Today it wasn't a likely occurrence. Gibbs stepped down from the upper deck and began to work alongside the others. If they wanted to catch up any time soon, work was going to be hard and tireless.