Chapter 14: 1740 - Hide the Rum!


When Jack woke up the next morning, he felt surprisingly rested. And although the night had been short, the interesting encounters in and around the 'Pirate's Lass' had been more than revealing.

Seeing Anamaria again had dug up some old memories, but strangely, they were all rather pleasant. If he had been told at the time of their first meeting that she would one day elope with a charming Dutch captain with an equally charming Dutch accent - he probably would not have believed it. But as it seemed the pretty smuggler and the humorous and at times almost frighteningly wise van Dijk seemed made for each other.

A thought he liked as he had to admit to himself with a satisfied grin.

And then there was the surprise encounter with James Norrington.

After what the once dutiful soldier with a promising career had gone through, Jack hadn't expected to meet him here in Tortuga. Of course he had known that the hurricane had sealed the fate of the "HMS Dauntless" but that Norrington would voluntarily venture among the pirates...?

A thought he did not like as he had to admit to himself with a frown.

But perhaps at the moment he was tending towards a certain pessimism anyway - and how not!

Davy Jones on his heels!

A scary beast from the depths of the sea on the hunt for him!

A black spot on his hand making him almost as much an outcast as the 'P' Beckett had burned into his skin!

The knowledge that he had been lied to and that this lie separated him from everything he loved and desired!

And to top it all off, the broken compass!

No, he really didn't feel like being the Captain Sparrow everyone thought he was at that moment...

But just as he was pondering all this, a scent hit his nostrils that awakened all his spirits at once: Beside him, on a small bedside table, was a tray with freshly baked bread, golden butter, sweet honey, fresh coconut milk, and steaming tea - and he began to remember that he had not spent the night in one of the island's many brothels, but in one of the small, cosy inns that had gradually sprung up on the outskirts of what was once the heart of piracy.

He looked around the pretty little room, and what at first felt strange and unfamiliar made him suddenly aware that he longed for a few days of blissful solitude in a small cottage high above the cliffs of a small unknown island. And he began to understand what had always drawn Patrick Swallow back to that place although he had loved the sea and his ship more than anything...

It was a promise he made to himself while he was enjoying his breakfast, still sitting between clean linen sheets, fluffy pillows and soft duvets:

Once he would have gotten rid of Davy Jones and their baleful bargain, he would return to his little cottage on Patrick's Island first...


Around noon, just before the "Black Pearl" was about to set sail, Jack was on his way down to the pier, when he met van Dijk, who had just bid farewell to Anamaria. From the dreamy, amorous expression that crossed the Dutchman's face, Jack guessed that these two also must have had a short but all the more satisfying night behind them, before returning to the rough life aboard a ship.

Jack pointed to Anamaria, who was watching them while they now strolled down to the "Pearl" together: "Am I right in the assumption, that Anamaria will remain captain aboard your 'Stella' for a little longer?"

"For the time being!" Van Dijk grinned sheepishly: "At least, as long until we got through this unpleasant business with Davy Jones and I can leave you to your own adventures again in good conscience."

"Sounds like a plan you should pursue! I'm just wondering what false modesty this is, van Dijk! You really don't need to hide from me that you have an eye on our beautiful smuggler - and more! That suits me just fine if I think about it."

"How's that, lad?"

"Well, if she's engaged with you, I'm sure she'll forget one day it's been me who stole and sunk her dinghy and if she forgets about it I'm finally safe from all those slaps, which she uses to remind me of it. Savvy?"

Van Dijk laughed: "Well, when it comes to that, I'll take it upon me willingly to make her forget you! But seriously, I really like her. She's smart, hot-headed, passionate. Everything it needs to turn an old sailor's head like mine."

"Be assured, you have my blessing..."

Before van Dijk could answer him, Gibbs rushed towards them. He looked satisfied: "Captain! We are just about to get the last supplies aboard, then everything is ready for cast off. And after the little incident at the 'Pirate's Lass', I was even able to hire a few more enterprising souls who fear neither death nor devil!"

"I expected nothing less from you, Mister Gibbs! Well then, gentlemen, let's see that we..."

A youthful voice behind them interrupted his chain of thought: "Captain Sparrow!"

All three turned and saw a young man coming down the pier, heading straight for them. He looked energetic and confident, and even though he didn't like that the brat had James Norrington in tow, Jack asked: "Come to join me crew, lad? Welcome aboard."

Without waiting for an answer, Jack motioned for the boy to follow him, Gibbs and van Dijk, but what the lad then said left even him speechless: "I'm here to find the man I love..."

Jack exchanged a confused look with the others, cleared his throat, and replied with obvious discomfort in his voice and posture: "I'm deeply flattered, son, but my first and only love is the sea."

As if to underline his words, Norrington vomited into the dock at the same moment. He looked even worse than the night before. But it was The lad's next answer that surprised Jack even more: "The sea, huh? Isn't it more likely the woman you told me about when we had our last shared adventure? As far as it concerns me, I'm looking for William Turner, captain...!"

"Elizabeth!" Jack seemed to recall something at the sight of her, then turned to Gibbs and told him under his breath: "Hide the rum!"

Once Gibbs was on his way, Jack turned his full attention back to Elizabeth. In her disguise she looked more like a country squire than the pretty governor's daughter who had helped him escape the very day they first met. He hadn't forgotten the thoughts of desire that had come over him while he'd held her close, using her as leverage against her father and Norrington, as he felt the warmth of her body through her thin underdress...

Well, today wasn't then, and today it was not a thin underdress she wore. Hence he remarked: "You know, love, these clothes do not flatter you at all. It should be a dress or," he looked deep into her eyes: "nothing. And I happen to have no dress in my cabin..."

She inwardly rolled her eyes: "That's not why I'm here, Jack!"

"You're not? Then you should probably return to Port Royal, eh?"

"I can't! And I'm sure you know why?"

"I do?"

"Jack! I know Will came to find you. Where is he?"

Ah, so that was where the wind was blowing from...

Jack understood only too well! Also, that it was once again time to adapt the truth to the slightly changed realities: "Darling, I am truly unhappy to have to tell you this but through an unfortunate and entirely unforeseeable series of circumstances that have nothing whatsoever to do with me, poor William has been press-ganged into Davy Jones' crew."

Elizabeth stared at him blankly: "Davy Jones?"

That blankly so that not even Norrington was able to hold his tongue after he vomited a second time into the dock: "Oh, please, Elizabeth! The captain of the Flying Dutchman."

She was about to give him a snippy reply, but Jack forestalled her, looking Norrington up and down: "You look bloody awful. What are you doing here?"

Barely able to stand straight, Norrington still answered with a cynical undertone to his words: "You hired me! Already forgot that?"

"Have I been drunk?"

"No, it just seems your standards are lax, if everyone can sail under your command!"

Elizabeth had already had enough, again, of them bickering: "Jack!"

"Aye, love...!?"

"All I want is to find Will!"

That was the moment Jack needed. The last piece of the mosaic. The only sentence he needed to be all himself again in an instant: All Elizabeth wanted was to find Will Turner - and that was what he doubted: "Are you certain? Is that what you really want most?"

"Of course!" She looked at him as if he should have known this by now: "How can you doubt that?"

"Oh, I don't doubt it, love. I would just think, finding a way to save Will would be what you would want most..."

Elizabeth was sceptical, but at the same time she was only too eager to believe Jack: "And you have a way of doing that?"

Jack considered how best to start and then explained: "Well, there is a chest..."

"Oh my!" Norrington looked at him like: 'You're really trying to tell us something banal like that...?'

"Who asked you," Jack hissed: "Do I look as if I'd be in need of your unhelpful remarks?" With that he turned back to Elizabeth and made a second attempt: "Well, there is a chest... A chest of unknown size and origin..."

But before he got around to laying his story out in front of her enough to get her to believe him, Pintel and Ragetti pushed past them and felt they, too, had to contribute their part to the cause. And so Pintel took the word out of his captain's mouth, without Jack being able to do anything about it: "A chest what contains the still-beating heart o' Davy Jones."

And to complete the picture, Ragetti added the sound of a beating heart, earning both of them a scowl from Jack's side.

As soon as the two had moved on with their crate full of bottles, Jack added: "What they said is true! And whoever possesses that chest possesses the leverage to command Jones to do whatever it is he or she wants, including saving brave William from his grim fate."

Norrington took a few steps in Elizabeth's direction, hoping to talk her out of the idea, even though he himself listened intently to everything Jack had to say: "You don't actually believe him, do you?"

But as always, Elizabeth followed her own path and wanted to know: "How do we find it?"

Jack hesitated. He wasn't sure if he really should have done it but if he wanted to find a way to defeat Davy Jones, there was only one possibility - he had to entrust Elizabeth with his most precious possession: "With this. My Compass... is unique."

"Unique here having the meaning of broken, right," Norrington scoffed.

"True enough," Jack admitted: "This compass does not point north."

Elizabeth caught his eye and couldn't help but ask: "Where does it point?"

Jack suddenly seemed unusually thoughtful and serious: "It points to the thing you want most in this world..."

The young woman in front of him gave him a look telling him that she took him for a hopeless dreamer: "Oh Jack! Are you telling the truth?"

"Every word, love. No need to doubt me! And what you want most in this world is to find the chest of Davy Jones, is it not?"

"To save Will?"

"By finding the chest of Davy Jones."

Another moment's hesitation and Jack surrendered the compass to Elizabeth, lifting the lid of this most precious of treasures and stepping aside to leave her to her thoughts and desires.

At first nothing happened, then the needle began to rotate on itself until it finally stopped and gave a definite direction.

Jack dared a look over Elizabeth's shoulder and a wide grin appeared on his lips: "Mister Gibbs!"

"Aye, cap'n!"

"We have our heading!"