Commandeering Commodore
Chapter 61
As Teague watched Elizabeth walk away he was pretty sure her mind would be on his little joke with the pistol and not on what they had been discussing. He felt satisfied he had not raised her suspicions enough to cause her to re-hide the documents. Now all he had to do was find the right loose board, and not get caught as he was doing such. He didn't foresee he would have trouble with either of those.
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"So what kind of exciting adventures have you had Commodore?" Josette asked as she and James sat together and ate their oranges.
"None that bear repeating I'm afraid." James said in a depreciating manner.
"Captain Sparrow and Captain Teague had quite a few exciting adventures they told Mr. Bergeron and me about."
"I'm sure they did." James said with a snort, "However Miss Josette, you should keep in mind they tend to embellish their tales in a most disreputable manner with each retelling, ergo the facts become highly suspect so to speak. I would take anything they might have told you with a grain of salt."
"You mean they were lying?" Josette said with a frown.
"I'm sure they would be more apt to call it piratical privilege rather than outright lying, no matter that the outcome differs little." James replied with a hint of a smile playing across his lips.
Josette pondered this for a few minutes, shrugged her shoulders a bit, then smiled at James and asked, "Are you sure you don't have any stories to tell? I'm sure Commodores have adventures too, maybe not quite like pirates do but surely something exciting has happened to you sometime or another. Your career with the Navy hasn't been all dull and boring has it?"
"You could tell her bout the undead pirates Commodore. Without any of the disreputably piratically embellished and influenced privileges added of course." Jack said with a flourish of fingers as he took a seat by James and Josette.
"I hardly think that is a story fit for the ears of a young girl Captain." James said a bit huffily, "That subject would, no doubt, cause all manner of unrest and disruption when the young lady retires for the night."
"You were involved in that? Oh please tell me Commodore! Captain Sparrow has already told me his part in the story; I would really like to hear your part Commodore." Josette said with an enthusiastic tone as she scooted closer to James and put her hand on his arm, "I just knew you had to have something exciting happen to you."
"Indeed!" James said with a raise of his eyebrow.
"Please?" Josette said as she looked up at him, a hopeful expression on her face.
"Go on Commodore, I'm sure your version of the events would be causin a lot less unrest and disruption than mine, seein as you'll not be doin any of that aforementioned piratical priviledgin in the sayin of it. Probably turn out dull as paint and put poor Josette ta sleep right here with none of the doom and gloom ya predicted." Jack said with a smile and a flop of his hands towards James.
"Oh really Sparrow, I am capable of telling an interesting tale if I am of a mind to." James said a bit affronted.
"Go on with it then Commodore. Might be wantin a bit of this afore ya start." Jack said holding out his bottle of rum towards James then withdrawing it a second later as he continued, "On second thought perhaps me and the young missy should be the ones partakin of it seein as we're the ones gonna be listenin to ya."
"Sparrow, I can not believe even you would go so far as to offer spirits to a child!" James said aghast. When he saw Jack smile and realized he was pulling his leg he continued in a snappish tone, "No one is forcing you to stay and listen Sparrow. I have no doubt your company would be much more appreciated somewhere else."
"Ah good point Commodore, but then who'd be around ta set the lass straight when ya made an error in your drab and desolate tellin of the tale?" Jack said with a glittering smile and an outspread motion of his arms.
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"Elizabeth, is something wrong?" William said noting the look on her face as she approached him.
"I'm not really sure Will. I just wasn't expecting him to do what he did." Elizabeth answered vaguely, still thinking about what had just happened.
Will stiffened his posture and his tone turned serious as he looked at Elizabeth and then around the area, "Who did what Elizabeth? Did someone do something to you? What did they do? Who did what Elizabeth?"
"Oh William, I don't think it was meant to be threatening, he just got carried away with his story." Elizabeth answered.
"Who Elizabeth? And what did he do?" William said, his voice starting to rise a bit in pitch.
"I'm sure it was nothing William, now help me drag some more wood over to the fire, Josette and I need to start cooking something for everyone to eat."
"Elizabeth!" Will said, "Tell me what happened!"
"It's nothing to worry about William Turner! Now do what I told you!" Elizabeth said with a glare, she had come to the conclusion she had over reacted to what Teague had done, at least she hoped that was what she had done. She glanced over to where Teague sat and he gave her a friendly gesture with his bottle as he raised it to take a drink. She must have just blown things up out of proportion. She gave him a weak smile and a half raised hand in return before turning her attention back to the task at hand. One of the crew had caught and cleaned quite a few fish and she figured those would make a good meal. She looked over at Josette and saw her raptly listening to something James was saying. She decided not to interrupt them as Josette was clearly enjoying what ever James was saying and James, by the look on his face, was clearly enjoying telling what ever it was he was telling. She smiled as the thought crossed her mind she couldn't remember when the last time was she had seen James look so stress free and happily animated as he sat there talking and gesturing with his hands and arms. His posture was relaxed, his expression was relaxed, and everything else about the man was relaxed. As Will approached with an armful of wood she decided he could help instead of Josette. "Just put them down over here Will, then grab some sticks and start putting the fish on them and lay them over the fire."
"You want me to cook?" Will said disbelieving.
"No, I want you to help me cook." Elizabeth answered.
"Where's Josette?" Will asked looking around for the girl.
"William, Josette is occupied with other things at present." Elizabeth replied.
"Looks to me like she's just sitting there talking to Jack and the Commodore." Will said as he spotted the three of them.
"William, you are going to help me not Josette. Now get busy with those fish." Elizabeth said in a tone that allowed no further dispute on Will's part.
To Be Continued
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