Just a quick one, my apologies. I have a cold, so lots of pain and general crabbiness. Words do not make sense to me at present. Hopefully there's not too many mistakes in this one, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were. I'll come back and re-edit when I feel better.
The remainder of the trip to Tortuga's port was uneventful, as Jack appeared the next day as if nothing had happened, and all the crew obligingly followed his orders without complaint, as they had sworn to do.
"Miss Alex, he woulda had his reasons." Gibbs had explained as he and Jimbilly Jackson were showing Alex the finer points of the working of the ship, and attempting to repair the ship and bring her into Tortuga at the same time. "It's always a difficult crossing for him, this one. I haven't gotten much out of him, but I'd say before he was Captain of the Pearl, he had himself a bonny-lass." Here Gibbs sighed. "And lasses on board always lead to no good."
"Why?" Alex questioned, stung.
"'S just, Jack, he feels things more deeply than most. From what I've gathered, things didn't end well for Jack and his bonny-love. Pirating ships are dangerous places, Miss Alex; don't be fooled inta thinkin' they be anything else. The first time I met Jack was when he was on a small runner called the 'Persephone.' Attacked by pirates it was, and they be after one thing; booty. Jack's bonny lass was included in the haul. I don't know exactly how she died, but Jack, he blames himself, I can tell. We found him - when I was crewing on a small merchant runner meself - 'alf drowned he was, floating in the shoals off this little tropical island all the rest of his crew was marooned on. We dove in and pulled him out, but he caught one of those tropical diseases, like so many of the crew did – only, I reckon he caught it on purpose so he could join his Cassie in the afterlife. But I nursed him back – took me a full month – coz he's a handy lad to have about, that Jack, and I didn't want him throwing his life away like that, when he was so young. I told him that's what Cassie would have wanted likewise, and he just went all quiet for days. Never quite been the same since; sticks only to fast women and loose cannons. He can't stand to be close to anyone else. He blames himself, and has learnt the hard way that the sea and lasses just don't mesh." Here Gibbs glanced pointedly at Alex, "So, just go easy on him, Miss Alex. There's a lot about Cap'an Jack you don't know." He adjusted the Fore-top sail as if it settled the matter.
Alex decided not to question Jack's actions any further, as Joshamee Gibbs was the most senior member of the crew who had been on Jack's crew since Jack first became a pirate. But Alex still regarded Jack warily when she saw his silhouette at the wheel, the sun setting poetically behind him.
NB – the 'Persephone' ship is named after the Greek Goddess of the same name. I was looking up the history behind this goddess, and it's eerily fitting to the story. Persephone is often referred to simply as "The Maiden," or mistress of the underworld. I sort of wish I knew that before I named "The Drifting Maiden." Another story is she fought Aphrodite over the possession of a man (hint – plotline).
In response to reviewers, I concede: perhaps I was too harsh on Dead Man's Chest. It's just, the first movie was sooooo good, and I think it will take me some time to warm up to this one. But it just annoyed me how they recycled the same characters, jokes etc. The plot was really good, however.
Next chapter: More set-backs - reintroduction of an afore-mentioned bad-guy.