"We're going to do what?" She watched Jack incredulously as he carved a little bit of wood into a wicked looking hook.
"We're going to catch us our dinner. What, did you expect there to be a cook hiding down with the rhum?"
Elizabeth just stared at him. She'd seen whole fish, down at the docks, but she'd never seen them caught or prepared. How they came from the sea to her plate was a mystery to her. Jack, on the other hand, seemed perfectly sure that he'd be able to catch something with that sharp, yet innocuous looking bit of whittling.
"If you're just going to stand there, you might as well dig up some bait."
"Bait? How?" She continued to just stare at him. He threw down the hook in frustration and lunged for her foot. He forced her toes into the sand, making her root around until her toes scraped against something hard.
"Jack... Jack! I've hit something. Please! Stop!" His hand released her foot, fingers continuing to probe below before coming up with a tightly closed clam.
"Ah, perfect!" he exclaimed. "I'll need you to find a new more of these. Here, now," he pointed to a few holes in the sand. "Look for these holes. It's where the siphon is. Use your toes to root them out. If I don't catch enough fish, we'll eat these."
Elizabeth scowled, but set to work digging through the sand. He'd been so sweet, earlier, but now he was cross and seemed to be tired of her inadequacies at being marooned. She'd never felt so incredibly useless before, not even in a house full of servants. Her sulking, however, was interrupted when her toes brushed the rough edge of a clam. She dropped to her knees, digging it the rest of the way out. Gleefully, she clutched it and brought it to Jack, who was threading a length of vine through a hole he'd carved in the top of the hook. He barely looked up at her.
"You're a good girl, Liz'beth, and a quick study. I don't mean to be so harsh with you," he said softly. "It comes from years of captaining."
She nodded, sitting down next to him. "I know." She fingered the length of ropey vine he wasn't actively using. "When you fish, will you let me watch? Perhaps show me how?"
"Aye." He got up and pulled her to her feet. "We're going to swim out a bit and you'll have to hold still once we're there. Your slightest movement could startle the fish." He picked up her clam and thrust the knife between the two halves. With a quick twist and a crack, the shell popped open, revealing the clam inside. He plucked it out with his fingers, running them over the slimy meat.
"Ah, here we go!" He plucked something from within the fold of the clam. Elizabeth leaned in to see what it was. In the palm of Jack's hand lay a small, irregularly shaped black pearl. "Bit far from the South Seas, aren't you?" he whispered to it. He dropped it in Elizabeth's hand and she stared at it. "Gift for you, m'lady governess; something to remember your stay."
He left her standing, baffled, and speared the meat on the hook. He wrapped the other clam into his scarf, then tied the line onto another longer bit of wood and strode out into the sea. Elizabeth hesitated, still looking at the tiny pearl in disbelief.
"C'mon, luv, you've got all night to dig up clams with those pretty little feet of yours if I don't catch anything."
She followed without question.
Jack, whether through luck or being an expert fisherman, managed to catch two good sized, silvery fish. She had no idea what they were and Jack hadn't offered a name, but she presumed they were edible and she was starving. As the old saying goes, any port will do in a storm.
"Do you want me to show you how to gut them or would you rather I just do it quick and be done with it?"
"Gut?" Elizabeth turned a bit green at the mention of it. "I'm not quite sure I'm ready for that."
"Right then," He gestured over his shoulder to the palm trees. "In that case, would you be so good as to fetch a couple of leaves to cook these in?"
Elizabeth stepped to and headed away from the light of the fire that Jack had built. There were a few fronds on the ground that seemed fairly green. She knew enough that the foliage had to be fresh in order for them to work to cook the fish in. She had watched Jack kindle the fire with the dry leaves earlier. It hadn't been such a bad day and Jack was pleasant... at times. His presence was comforting though, and she was quite sure she wouldn't have survived on the island alone.
"Oi! Do you want to eat sometime tonight, or after the fish rot away?"
"Coming!" she called down the beach as she headed back to the fire. Perhaps being marooned with Jack wouldn't be as bad as she thought.