Captain Will Turner took the telescope from his first mate and peered through it, a worried frown on his face. In the year he'd been sailing his trading ship, the Inspiration, between Port Royal and Porto Bello, he had yet to come across any real danger or cause for alarm. There were storms now and then, of course, but the golden days of rampaging pirates seemed to be over, and Will had found, much to his disappointment, that the seafaring life was surprisingly dull and routine. Sail west, drop the cargo, sail east, pick up more - though he had no real desire to face pirates to earn his living, he was finding that "the sun on your face and the wind in your sails" wasn't much better than being cooped up in the forge all day. Still, one thing he had always enjoyed was being very good at whatever he did, and that meant keeping his ship and crew out of danger. As such, it was with no small amount of concern that he looked off in the direction Jeffries pointed with trembling fingers.
"That's not a Spanish ship, is it?" Will squinted into the telescope, his frown deepening. The ship was still a good distance away, but the Inspiration was loaded down with cargo and running on a short crew. If they needed to outrun anything, they'd have a hard time of it.
"No, and it's not one of ours, either. They're flyin' the red flag, Captain, and we're in no condition to be fighting."
"We're only an hour out of Porto Bello - we shouldn't need to." With a snap, Will returned the telescope to Jeffries and strode across the deck to address the crew. "Look lively, men! Pick up the pace and keep us moving any way you can - I want this ship to fly into port!" He watched his men bustle on deck with a sense of pride - this may not have been the life of excitement he'd been expecting, but it did beat being nothing but a landbound blacksmith, pining away for Elizabeth. In fact, Will's change of career had made an impact on both their lives; Will couldn't imagine his wife being happy as simple housewife in Port Royal, and he was glad to have her with him, superstition be damned. From the beginning, he'd made it perfectly clear to the crew of the Inspiration that whispering about "bad luck" while she was aboard would mean a hasty dismissal from the crew.
As if summoned by his wandering thoughts, Elizabeth's head rose up from below decks. She caught Will's eye, smiled at him, and finished her climb, brushing herself off briskly when she reached the top. She had taken to wearing simple shirts and breeches while traveling, in lieu of the extravagant dresses her father continued to send her, the gifts being his not-so-subtle way of urging her to stop acting in what he considered an immature and rash manner. Will thought the change of clothes suited her, but then again, she could be wearing rags, and he'd still have thought she was beautiful.
"What's going on?" she asked, following Will as he walked back over to Jeffries and held out his hand for the telescope once more. "I heard you telling them to pick up the pace - is something wrong?"
Jeffries swallowed nervously as Will took another look at the approaching ship. "If you'll forgive me for saying so in front of the lady, Captain, it looks like pirates to me." Elizabeth's hand rose to her mouth in shock, and she squinted at the small dot on the horizon. "They're catching up fast, and unless we catch one hell of a wind, we're going to be in big trouble."
As the ship came into focus, Will's face broke out into an unexpected grin. He recognized that shipin fact, he'd been hoping to catch sight of it every day for these last three years, ever since he'd watched it sail off into the distance from a stone balcony in Port Royal. "No," he said triumphantly, "that's the Black Pearl." Turning again to address the crew, he shouted, "Run up the white flag, men! You're all about to meet the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow."