Jack opened his eyes. He had a pounding headache from two lumps on his head and seemed to be in a sort of makeshift cage.
"Captain? Are you all right?" came a voice.
Jack was about to say, "Fine, Mr. Pullings, and you?" but he suddenly realized that the voice was not that of his First Officer.
He turned around and gasped. "Mr. Mowett! What in blazes are you doing here?"
Mowett was beaming despite several gashes on his arms and face and a black eye. "Same as you, sir, I fell overboard and washed up here with four other men from the Surprise. That bloody cannibal tribe captured us before we got four paces down the beach. But we never hoped that'd you and Mr. Pullings would be here too, sir!"
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Well, we didn't exactly come to rescue you, seeing as we're prisoners too."
Mowett shrugged, as if it didn't matter. "But still, you'll be able to get us out, sir. This tribe respects authority, and if you were to say that you were a very powerful person where you come from, they would most likely let you go."
Jack gave a grim smile. "Brilliant, Mr. Mowett, but then again they already do know who I am. I mean my name and rank, and the name of my ship. They also know how to speak French, and apparently are going to give us over to the French, who are on the other side of the island."
"But we're not going to let them, sir," said a weak voice from one side of the cage. Jack turned around to see Mr. Pullings propped up against the bars.
"Tom! Are you all right?" he asked as he crawled over to his First Officer.
Pullings shrugged. "I think so, sir. My head hurts somethin' awful, though, but I'll be all right. Where are we?"
Jack and Mowett jointly explained what had occurred and where they were now. Suddenly, a thought struck Jack. "You said you were here with four other men, Mr. Mowett. Where are they now?"
Mowett sighed. "Well, they haven't been eaten by cannibals, if that's what you mean, but the leader of the tribe, nasty fellow by the name of Karrak, is threatening to do so if I attempt to escape. They're on the other side of camp."
"Who are they?"
"Er, that new midshipman, Mr. Parker, and four other sailors, I don't know their names," Mowett said.
Jack put his head in his hands. "This is an absolute disaster. How could I have been so stupid?"
Mr. Pullings attempted to comfort his captain. "It's not your fault, sir, it was an accident. No one can predict someone falling overboard, or an enemy attacking when there's not supposed to be anyone in the area."
Mowett looked thoughtfully. "So that's what it was-an attack. I thought I heard cannons before I fell overboard. Maybe it was the French ship that we're going to be prisoners of."
"Well, they didn't say it was a French ship, Mowett," observed Tom. "It might be a colony we didn't hear of-"
But he was cut off as a cannibal (Jimjara) walked up, followed by several others. Pullings immediately shut up and glared at him, as did Mowett and Jack. Jimjara leered at them and said to Jack in bad French, "We take you now to Frenchmen, you be sorry!"
They tied the three men together by their hands on a long vine and nodded up at the mountain. "That way."