Nope, still don't have him!

Chapter four: 'I see you learned a few things aboard Sparrow's ship.'

Jenny stared sullenly at Hall, whose turn it was to keep watch over her. She had tried for the first few days of the voyage to create a fuss, trying to bring attention to her plight. But all it brought her was beatings from both men until she learned her lesson and kept quiet. Her days were filled with trying to get comfortable and ignoring the hunger pangs that gnawed at her stomach. The men gave her food but it was only when they thought about it and tended to be stale and largely inedible. Her nights were filled with dreams of Jack, which in a way was worse to bear than the day time was.

'Stop soddin' starin' at me, ya filthy pirate whore.'

Jenny snapped from her reverie and looked away from Hall, feeling a hatred burn inside her that she never thought could exist.

'We're here,' Nicholas Boothe announced as he entered the cabin. 'Better get her untied.' He pulled Jenny up by her hair. 'But you try anything Mistress, an' yer might not live to regret it, understand?'

Jenny nodded then gasped in pain as Hall untied her hands and feeling flooded along her arms to her hands. She resisted the urge to kick him as he untied her feet and bent to rub her ankles instead. 'Where are we?' she asked, hesitantly.

'None of yer business,' Boothe informed her, walking over to the side window and looking out on the harbour of Port Royal for the first time and feeling slightly disappointed with it. After hearing all the tales of the infamous pirate town, he had been expecting something along the lines of Tortuga. But thanks largely to James Norrington, Port Royal was gaining some degree of respectability.

'Port Royal? What are we doing in Port Royal, I thought we were going to Grand Turk.' Jenny looked out of the window, shocked to see the familiar harbour stretching out before her.

'Ah Mistress Samuels, you really are far too trusting,' Nicholas Boothe mocked, leaning down so his face was level with hers and she could smell the rancid ale on his breath. 'Make sure she stays quiet, I have someone I have to meet.'

…

'This way gentlemen. I apologise for her appearance, but we found it necessary to bind her for much of the journey as she is a tad hard to control,' came Boothe's voice from outside the door.

Jenny looked around, her stomach lurching with fear. 'Who has he brought with him? Are they selling me as a slave?' The door opened and she felt her knees give way and clutched the edge of the table for support.

'Father!' Jenny looked at the man standing before her with a mixture of astonishment and horror. 'What…?' She looked from her father to James Norrington and back again, her mind racing.

'I hired these men to track you down. You are to come home with me before you bring further disgrace to the family name,' he spat, looking his daughter up and down with distaste, aghast that she was dressed as a man.

'How did…? James!' She looked agast at the Governor who was standing impassively by the cabin door, his hands clasped behind his back.

'I am sorry Jenny, but you left me with little choice. I had to let your father know what had happened to you.' The Governor looked at Jenny with sorrow in his eyes, wishing with all his heart things had turned out differently.

'Nothing happened to me,' she shrieked, taking a step towards him before being checked by Thomas Hall.

'You were living your life as a pirate's whore and you say nothing had happened to you?' Henry Marston shook his head incredulously as he regarded the stranger before him. 'I should never have sent you over here. I should have married you off to Roger Crompton when he asked me for your hand.'

'Edward had not been in his grave two months before that bastard tried his luck.'

'Jenny! I have never heard such language.'

'Oh come, come father. I have heard you use stronger words than that when dealing with your men, your serfs,' she sneered comptemptuously, turning her back on him.

'If I may have a little privacy with my daughter?' Henry Marston enquired of Governor Norrington, smiling a charming smile as James nodded. 'You two as well,' he jerked his head towards the door, falling silent as Boothe and Hall also left the cabin.

'How dare you disgrace me like this. Have you so little shame?'

'No Father,' Jenny smiled sweetly, her eyes as cold as ice. 'I have no shame whatsoever. I am also not coming with you, you cannot force me to.'

'I can and I will. I will arrange the passage back to England as soon as I can and will have you locked in the brig if necessary.'

'You bastard! What pray, do you have planned for me what we get back to England? Do you intend keeping me prisoner in your house? Bar all the doors and windows until such a time I might become complient? Well you might as well turn the house into a fortress for I will never be complient to you again. Never!' She gasped as her father's hand struck her across the face, causing her to fall to the floor.

…

James Norrington tried not to listen to the altercation in the cabin but with both of them now shouting, it was hard not to. He wondered, not for the first time, if he had done the right thing in informing Henry Marston of his daughter's situtation. He had known there was not much feeling between father and daughter from conversations he and Jenny had when she was in his employment. 'What is done, is done,' he thought to himself resignedly, casting a glance at the closed door as it suddenly fell silent within.

…

'That is your answer to everything is it not, father?' Jenny's voice dripped with sarcasm as she rubbed her cheek gingerly. 'This little venture must have cost you well. Come into some money have we?'

'I have ways and means, you need worry about that,' Henry Marston replied contemptuously with a look in his eyes that made Jenny feel even more uneasy. 'You will be placed under house arrest at the Governor's mansion.' He reached out for his daughter, frowning with anger as she snatched her arm from his grasp and marched to the door. 'Dear Lord, what has happened to you?'

'I got away from you,' she hissed, glaring at James Norrington as she yanked the door open and strode past him, up to the deck. She glanced about surreptitiously to see if there were any means of escape but the Governor had taken the liberty of bringing some marines on board and Boothe and Hall were watching her closely, so Jenny decided to leave it until a more opportune moment. She looked distainfully at the bosuns chair being rigging up for her and stole a march on the men by shinning down the rope to the waiting boat, smiling to herself at the splutters of shock from those still on the deck.

James Norrington clambered down with the ease of many years of practise and sat next to Jenny, unsure whether to try and be friendly or not. 'I see you learned a few things aboard Sparrow's ship.' He grimaced as he was met with stoney silence then glanced up as Henry Marston joined them in the boat, nearly upsetting it by getting clumsily in.

Jenny watched Port Royal draw ever nearer as the marines rowed them ashore and she bit her lip wondering where Jack was and whether she would ever see him again. She pressed her hand against her hip, feeling the lump of the heart Jack had made still in its hiding place. She ignored all offers of help from the boat and stood tapping her foot impatiently as her father alighted as ineptly as he boarded, her hatred of him growing stronger each time she looked at him and she idly wondered if she would be able to kill him before making her escape.

… … … …

'Port ho!'

The Black Pearl limped slowly towards the port of Sao Luis, the makeshift repairs to the main mast barely holding together. What should have taken a fast ship such as The Pearl less than a day to sail had taken four days and that was after the day and a half spent rigging up a temporary mast then sailing out to the open ocean to bury their dead at sea which meant Jenny had been gone nearly a week. Jack cursed their luck for having lost valuable crewmen such as Paul Rochester, the helmsman and Will Higgins, the carpenter. But there was nothing that could be done for now. His priorities were getting his ship seaworthy again and going after Jenny.

'Eh?' He looked around at Gibbs who had clearly been standing there talking to him for some moments.

'I said, it should not take too long to make repairs. I've been here before and it is a good port, plenty o'tradesmen and sailors.' Joshamee Gibbs sighed to himself. He had seen Jack a little crazed at times but this had made him quite unlike anything he had known before and it worried him. Jack was pushing himself far too hard, not allowing anybody to take the helm from him, even though he was clearly exhausted and in a lot of pain. He barely ate, he did not even drink that much which really had the quartermaster worried.

'Why Port Royal, Gibbs? D'ya reckon Norrington has anything ter do wi'this?'

'I don't think so Jack, it is not his style. Maybe it is just coincidence that the ship was going to Port Royal.

'Then why did they lie to her, eh? Why say it was goin' ter Grand Turk?'

Gibbs shrugged, at a loss for words and he clapped his captain on the shoulder, apologising profusely as his captain winced in pain. 'Sorry Jack,' he smiled, half-heartedly before making a hasty exit.

'Why didn't they want her ter know they were goin' ter Port Royal?' Jack mused, shaking his head to try and dislodge the thought that had been going round and round for the past few days. 'It has ter be Norrington, but why? An' why spin her a tale about her brother?' He was so deep in thought that he never even noticed the ship drop anchor and come to a halt until the wheel stopped responding in his hands.

'Get as many carpenters, caulkers and smiths here as soon as yer can,' he ordered Joshamee Gibbs, not wishing to go ashore himself. 'I don't care how much they cost.'

'Aye Cap'n,' Gibbs deferred, setting off to get a group of men together to go ashore and get the craftsmen they needed.

…

The Black Pearl soon reverberated with the sound of many men working hard on repairing her. The deck was awash with carpenters and smiths, their mates, and assorted tools. Wood shavings, iron pilings were strewn far and wide and the smell of tar pervaded everywhere on board. But progress was slow, far too slow for Jack's liking and he urged and pushed and yelled but it still did not get done as quickly as he had hoped.

John Williams approached his captain with some trepidation. He had just come from below where various cannon shots were being repaired. But now there was a new problem. Some of the wales were badly damaged and would need to be completely replaced which would be a long, hard job.

'What?!' Jack glared at the big man, the anger that was always bubbling under the surface, threatened to spill over.

'I'm just off ter town wi'some o'the chips ter find some timber. Sorry Jack,' John shrugged ruefully then climbed over the side of the ship to the waiting boat and headed for town with some of the carpenters in tow.

Jack looked across the harbour at a couple of the other ships anchored and gave serious thought to comandeering one of them and sailing to Port Royal. But just then The Pearl lurched in the water and he smiled in spite of himself. 'Don't worry luv, I ain't about ter give ya up,' he reassured, his anger starting to disappate. 'I just wish ter God I could go an' get Jenny back.' He glanced again at the ships.

… … … …

Jenny held her head high as she walked in the middle of an escort of marines through the town and up towards the Governor's mansion, ignoring the whispers and fingers pointing at her. Her father and James Norrington were ahead of the group and she concentrated on looking daggers at both their backs, hoping they could feel her gaze burning a hole in them. She gulped as they reached the heavy iron gates and took a deep breath as she cross over the threshold, starting to dread facing the staff once more.

The door of the mansion opened and Rowlands, the butler, stood impassively as his master and guest strode into the hallway but his gaze shifted as Jenny went past and she fought the urge to make a snarky comment. 'Lord, I've been in Jack's company too long,' she thought, smiling to herself, secure in the knowledge that she would soon make her escape in much the same way she had previously.

As if he had read her mind, James Norrington turned and regarded Jenny for long moments before clearing his throat. 'If you have any ideas as to leaving the way you did before, I intend having marines posted outside your door and outside the windows.' He stepped back, fearing she would leap forward and strike him, the anger flared so brightly in her eyes but she looked away quickly to hide the tears and trudged up the stairs, her shoulders dropping dejectedly.

… … … …

'Gibbs, crew meeting, my cabin.' Jack went on to his quarters and paced the cabin until all the senior members of The Black Pearl were gathered there.

'I'm leavin' a skeleton crew here t'oversee repairs an' I'm commandeering one o'the ships in th'harbour wi'the rest o'them.'

'Jack! Ya can't do that,' protested John Williams, looking agast at the idea. 'The authorities'd be all over the rest o'us like a plague. You'd lose th'Pearl.'

'He's right Jack,' agreed Joshamee Gibbs. 'It's far too risky.'

'I've got ter do something,' Jack exploded, banging his fist on the table. 'I can't just sit here an' wait. What if he hangs her, eh?'

'Even if it is Norrington, which as I've said before, I doubt it is, he's not going to hang her. She hasn't been tried as a pirate, she hasn't been caught in the act of piracy, so there is nothing Norrington can do.' The older man laid a placating hand on his captain's arm and squeezed sympathetically. 'The repairs should be finished in a couple of days, the winds look favourable and I reackon we'll make Port Royal within eight or nine days.'

'That's too bloody long Gibbs.'

'It will probably still be quicker than trying ter get there in one o'those,' Gibbs nodded out to the two ships in the harbour.

'Th'way I see it,' interjected Pete Symmonds, who had been standing quietly by the door, 'Norrington had taken a shine ter Jenny, right? Maybe he just wanted her back. He ain't goin' ter hurt her, Cap'n, I'd stake me life on that.'

Jack sighed and leaned on the edge of the table looking defeated then leapt up again and hurried from the cabin leaving bemused looks behind him before the men went to go after him at the same time and caused a jam in the doorway.

'Cap'n? Jack!' Gibbs called to the retreating figure as he sped down to the hold.

They found their captain grabbing an armful of leather pouches from a heavy oak chest then straightening and thrusting the load into the nearest man, which happened to be the cook, John Williams. 'I want every craftsman in th'town workin' on th'ship.'

'But... Jack… It's nearly dusk,' reasoned Joshamee Gibbs. 'Would it not be better to wait until morning?'

'We work by torchlight, I want ter be away by this time tomorrow. Go. Now.' Jack shooed his hands and his senior crewmen disappeared back up the ship leaving him sitting on the now closed lid of the chest, feeling drained.

… … … …

James Norrington had been true to his word and had indeed posted marines outside the door of Jenny's room and in the yard below her window. Even during her meals, which she took in stoney silence with James and her father in the dining room, there would be guards at the doors and windows. The Governor was clearly taking no chances. Jenny wished she could talk to him privately, wanting to try and reason with him, but he was either avoiding her like a plague or else was busier than she remembered from her time in his employment. She suspected the former and it saddened her to think how close they had once been. She looked about the walls of her room which had become her prison and tried desperately to think of a way of escaping for she was to leave in the morning on HMS Sutherland, captained by Charles Gillette who had been promoted from Lieutenant since she had last made his aquintantance.

'The only chance I have will be when I leave this house,' she reasoned, fingering the small heart Jack had made for her. 'If I make a dash for it when we get to the harbour, there are enough places for me to hide…' Jenny smiled to herself, glad to finally be able to make plans after five days of being trapped in the Governors' house. She changed into her nightgown and climbed into the soft bed, falling alseep quickly, still clutching the wooden heart.

…

Authors notes:

A caulker is someone who filled in cracks and seams on a ship using tar or oakum.

Wales is a belt of thick planking going around the ship, giving added strength to the hull.

Chips was/is a nickname for a carpenter.