Rachel, who had realised in the meantime that she was alone and thus hopelessly lost, was now looking in vain for a way back to Jack and Pintel.
After about a quarter of an hour, she gave up in frustration. Patience had never been her strong point, and her sense of direction had never been pronounced or even existent. So why go on running around pointlessly when it was no use anyway?
If – and she didn't even want to imagine the alternative – the pirates were looking for her, then it would be advisable to stay in one place.
A rustling sound behind her made her sit up and take notice. She turned around and saw herself face to face with a strange pirate. He pointed his pistol at her and grinned insidiously.
"Woman, you come with me, if not …"
In the next moment, too many things happened at once for her to notice everything properly. From a shadow, Jack stepped out.
"Not the way to speak to a lady," Jack said.
The stranger whirled around and now pointed his pistol at Jack. The latter noticed just in time how the pirate's finger slowly moved to the trigger.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rachel, still staring transfixed at the buccaneer with the gun, saw something whirring through the air. Jack's dagger found its target in the man's throat. But before he fell to the ground gasping, he pulled the trigger.
The bullet fired grazed Jack's left arm. With a veiled look, the lifeless body now lay on the floor. Rachel looked at him as if mesmerised – she had never seen a person die before. The sight sent cold shivers down her spine and she backed away from the dead man.
Then her gaze wandered to Jack, who stood strangely still. His once white sleeve was now soaked in blood, she noted in shock.
"Oh my God," Rachel whispered, stunned.
She tripped over a root and almost fell. Jack watched her attentively and completely without mockery.
"It is quite enough if you call me Jack. But we should hurry back to the Pearl. The others on the island must have heard the shot. They will come here."
"You killed him!" she groaned in a thin voice.
Jack frowned.
"And you are wounded," she remarked incomprehensibly and more quietly.
"I'm aware of that. All the more reason to get out of here."
When Rachel still made no move to leave, Jack grabbed her without further ado and dragged her along.
"Let go of me!"
She pushed away from him and braced herself with her feet in the ground.
Trying to keep his patience together, Jack took a deep breath. He stopped and jerked the hand in the air that had just gripped her upper arm.
"Then what? Do you want to process it on the spot? Meanwhile, should we wait for his friends to come over and help us with the eulogy?"
Jack made an effort to speak very clearly and calmly to her, even if the questions did not convey that.
"How can you be so emotionless? So cold?" she asked with disbelief, the trembling of her body making her voice vibrate.
"This is not what should be on your mind right now. We're going to move on, savvy?"
Although she nodded hesitantly, Rachel did not move a step forward. Jack stepped up to her and grabbed her arm again, but she avoided him. Her shock-like state made her slow, and Jack had no problem going faster.
With his guidance, they soon found themselves back on the beach.
Jack hurried directly towards the sea. When the water reached his belly, Rachel wriggled out of his loose grip.
"What?" he asked, annoyed.
"I can't swim," she said tonelessly with her eyes downcast, and walked back to the beach.
She was infinitely sorry to cause him so much trouble, and the scene just now had her still completely under control. Rachel could not stop the trembling.
"Bloody hell!" cursed Jack, and it came back to him too.
He thought frantically. Then Barbossa's dinghies came to his mind. Could he dare to seek them out? Only to run straight into Barbossa's arms? After much toing and froing, he decided to do it after all.
Just as he and Rachel had covered some distance and caught sight of two boats, three men came rushing towards them. Jack, who was running ahead of Rachel with larger steps, stopped abruptly.
"What?" she wanted to know.
"Problem! Away!" he shouted over-nervously and ran towards her.
"Where to?"
If the situation hadn't been the way it was, Rachel would have laughed out loud at Jack's way of running. It just looked too funny the way he flapped his arms around.
"Get in the water!"
"I told you just now – you may remember – that …," she started to reply.
But Jack grabbed his delightful companion, who was slowly but surely running out of patience with this haphazard pirate, and dragged her into the water despite her recalcitrance. She tried to free herself from him, his hand closing tighter around her upper arm. Furious, she complied with him, since he was stronger anyway.
Then, when they were both so far in the sea that they could no longer stand, Jack pulled them along. Even surprised that it worked with only one uninjured arm, he grinned victoriously.
Relieved, he noticed the Pearl gliding quietly to their left.
His open wound burned like hell in the salt water.
Gibbs had long recognised his captain and steered the ship towards them. When they reached the two in the sea, he threw a rope down to them.
Jack grabbed it and let it pull him and Rachel out of the water. When Jack no longer had the strength to hold on to it, they both fell ungentle to the deck.
"Jack! What happened?" Gibbs inquired immediately.
"Nothing."
Without looking at any of the pirates, Rachel got up and went to her cabin below deck.
Done, Jack leaned against the railing. Now that he finally came to rest, he noticed the stabbing pain in his arm. He ran his right hand under his sleeve and carefully felt the injured area. When he pulled it back again, blood wetted his fingers.
Gibbs looked at him in disbelief.
"Gibbs, it's nothing. Really. Let's just move on quickly," Jack tried to reassure his first mate.
Unsuccessfully, however. Gibbs was now pacing nervously around Jack.
"How could this happen? You are wounded."
"Shut it already! I'm beginning to know that too," the captain said, rolling his eyes in annoyance.
Why did everyone seem to think it would help him to keep mentioning that he had been shot? Groaning, he stood up to his full height.
"Whose hare-brained idea was it to welcome Barbossa on this island, anyway?" asked Jack to the group as he resumed his place behind the wheel.
"That was yours," Ragetti announced, proud to be able to say something.
"Ah," was all Jack said.