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Chapter 15: Saved ... Or Not?
Everyone slept the morning away once again. This was now their third morning on the island. No one had any desire to get up and face another day feeling hungry, thirsty, and helpless. Jack had stayed up half the night watching for passing ships, and Gibbs had then taken over for him. Now everyone slept.
Elizabeth woke up first. She stood up, looked around for ships and saw none, and then began walking sleepily around the island, letting her feet do the thinking.
She came to the place where she had once burned all the rum. She walked among the broken bottles and boxes and came to a tree. She remembered this tree. She knocked on it with her fist, listening to the sound it made. She took a few long strides, smiling at her memories, and jumped up and down. The ground felt odd. She had found it.
She opened the small door and stepped into the dusty old rum cache. She looked around at the broken bottles, thinking of the look on Jack's face last time, when he'd found out all the rum was gone.
Then she saw it, a glint in the dark corner. She walked to it and picked it up. It couldn't be. It was! A bottle of rum. The only one she'd missed when she'd made that signal. She couldn't believe she hadn't seen it before. She examined the area more closely and realized it must have rolled out from a space behind a shelf, and she had not seen it last time.
When Elizabeth returned, the others had woken up.
"Wot's that?" Jack asked when he saw the bottle in Elizabeth's hand.
"The rum that got away," she said, smiling weakly and sitting next to Jack.
"You didn't burn it all last time?" he asked.
"No," said Elizabeth. "Missed this one."
Jack stood up. Elizabeth followed suit, but as soon as she was on her feet, she looked faint and began tipping over. Jack caught her quickly.
"Luv?" said Jack, supporting her under her arms.
"Elizabeth?" said Will, running over to help sit her back on the ground. "What is it? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," she said breathlessly. "Just a bit tired."
Will looked at Jack in a pleading way, and Jack knew what he was thinking. Jack looked around at the exhausted faces of his friends, with the deep circles beneath their eyes, and knew Will was right. They were all suffering, himself included. It was time they made a signal.
"That ought t' do it," said Gibbs, surveying the pile of wood and stuff they had just made. The men had gathered up anything that could possibly be flammable and put it in a large pile. Elizabeth had rested. Ana Maria had helped some, but was soon exhausted. Starvation does nothing for the body's energy.
Jack pulled out his special cloth and fetched two good-sized rocks.
"Won't the rum help as well, Jack?" asked Will.
"Aye, I s'pose it will," said Jack. Elizabeth brought the rum over and handed it to Jack. Jack struck the rocks near the cloth until a flame began, then he stuck it under their woodpile and blew it gently. The others stood around him in order to block the wind from blowing the flame out. Very slowly, the flame grew. Jack held the rum up and looked at it. He was having an internal struggle.
"Put it on, Captain," said Ana Maria.
Jack just stared at it.
"Oh no," said Will, silently guessing what Jack could be thinking. His guess was correct. Jack's mind was whispering, drink it or burn it? Drink it or burn it? Drink it or…
"Burn it, Jack," said Will.
Jack sighed, took a quick swig from the bottle, and threw it on the wood.
"Everybody wins," he said.
"Good man," said Gibbs.
--- --- ---
Elizabeth sat on one side of the island, keeping an eye out for ships. The others were in different places around the island. She gazed out at the blue waves, and a feeling of hopelessness came to her that had been threatening to come for days.
Why would anyone come and look here? Even if the Navy were looking for me, why would they choose to look here, or anywhere near here, of all places? She wondered if the others felt the same way. Elizabeth's hope was strong, but now it was finally beginning to fail her.
I might never see my father again…
Tears welled in her brown eyes. All could not be lost.
Could it?
--- --- ---
Ana Maria sat a little ways away from the fire. Jack was next to the fire to make sure it kept going. They had been watching for ships for a few hours. Soon they would run out of things to burn.
Ana Maria looked out at the sea. She was more than a little worried. What if they were not found? What if no one saw the signal? She didn't want to die this way, who would? She looked over at Jack next to the fire. He too was just staring out at sea, his expression unreadable, though he looked as though he might be nodding off a bit. Ana Maria continued gazing out at the water in a daze, when she saw something. She didn't get her hopes up. It couldn't be a ship. It probably wasn't. Just something floating out at sea. But a short while later, she was still watching it, and it had grown bigger.
Ana Maria's heart began to thump faster. She stood up, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand. She watched the object. It grew larger. She didn't want to sound the alarm, not yet. It was possible that it wasn't a ship. But still, it grew larger. She could begin to make it out. Could it possibly be?
"Jack!" she shouted.
Jack broke out of his daze and looked toward Ana Maria.
"Jack it's a ship! It's a ship!" she was running toward him now, her arms flailing. Jack stood unsteadily and looked out at the water.
"Where?" he asked when she reached him.
"There, just there!" she said, pointing.
Jack looked, and slowly, the corners of his mouth went up into a wide grin.
"Hey!" he shouted, calling the others and waving his arms frantically. "HEY!"
The others ran up, panting.
"What is it?" Will asked.
"A ship!" said Ana Maria, pointing it out for them as well.
"Blimey," said Gibbs, smiling as widely as Jack.
"It is, it is!" said Elizabeth breathlessly. "Will, we're saved!"
Will and Elizabeth hugged each other tightly. Ana Maria was doing a little dance on her feet. Gibbs clapped a hand on Jack's back.
"Never doubted ye for a second, Cap'n," he said.
Jack looked at him.
"O' course you didn't," he said, smiling. They all watched the ship come closer.
"Maybe it's my father!" said Elizabeth happily.
"What!" said Jack, looking at her sharply. Ana Maria and Gibbs had turned to look at her sharply too. Gibbs rubbed his cricked neck.
"Oh no," she said, realizing, "oh no! What if it is? You three have got to hide!"
"Hide?" said Gibbs angrily. "How c'n we get rescued if we're hidin'?"
"You can sneak on," Will suggested. "Sneak on when they're not looking."
"Don't be thick, boy," said Ana Maria, "they'll see us for sure. What if it's the Commodore?" She turned to Jack, whose eyes were wide.
"Wait," he said, "I've got a plan."
"O' course ye do!" said Gibbs happily.
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