Pirates of the Caribbean 03 The Pirate Chase (2 page)

"And now she enjoys eating live mice," Jack muttered, slurping a spoonful of gumbo. "Quite the refined palate."Constance's tail twitched. Hurriedly, Jean fed her a bit of crabmeat from his bowl, and that seemed to make her happy for the moment. In fact, during the few minutes it took them to eat their meal, all of them were happy--or, at le
ast, so relieved to have good,
warm food in their stomachs that they couldn't worry about any of the many other problems they had to worry
about. Jack
looked mournfully at his empty bowl. "Can't you refill this for me, Arabella?"

"Is yer leg broken?" Arabella kept right on eating. "Fill yer bowl yerself."Jack decided that though he was hungry, he wasn't hungry enough to serve himself. And already his mind was turning back to the difficulties of their situation. "Something's amiss in this town.""Ye think so?" Arabella said sarcastically."He states the obvious," Fitzwilliam said, nodding. "Nevertheless, something extraordinarily odd has taken place here in Puerto San Judas."Arabell
a folded her hands beneath her
chin, and began to muse. "The townsfolk could be in hiding from Louis. Even before the Cutlass sailed in, a lookout might've spotted his scarlet flag. If they saw that, they would have been frightened for sure--and with good
reason. “Jean
shook his head. "If they saw him so far away, they would have had time to prepare their escape. They'd have put out the fires in the stoves; taken meat, bread, and ale with them.""So," Jack said, pacing up and down the tavern's dirty floor, "we find ourselves in a peculiar situation."Tumen sighed. "As usual.""I've never heard a sailor tell a story anything like this one. We have to find out what happened, and we can't do that unless we investigate," Arabella said decisively. "We should
search the island. Spread out.
Someone must still be out there, and maybe that person could explain. If we break into groups, we could cover more ground--""Excuse me." Jack stood up, hitting the table and making the bowls and spoons clatter. "I'm the captain here. That means I make the plans.""Captain? Ha!" Fitzwilliam
scoffed. Jack
sneered and then continued, "So, here is what I command: We must find out what happened, and that means an investigation's in order. So we will search the island. Spread out. Find somebody who can explain. We should break into groups so we can cover more territory. Savvy?"Tumen rolled his eyes. Jean shook his head wearily. Arabella crossed her arms, but she said only, "Well, Jack, I don't see how anyone could arg
ue with such a sensible plan."

"Exactly." Jack grinned. "What say we start right away?"They walked out into the empty and eerily quiet town square and split into groups. Jean and Tumen chose to go with one another, best friends that they were.Fitzwilliam stepped up and said, "Arabella, I shall accompany you.""And why is that?" Jack demanded to know."Why ever not?" Fitzwilliam
countered. This
was an incredibly rude question, Jack thought, especially considering that he had no good answer for it. "Arabella ought to come with me. For protection," Jack finally said."I assure you that I am quite capable of protecting a lady," Fitzwilliam countered, his chest swelling up like a
peacock’s. Arabella
st
epped between them. "I hate to
interrupt yer rare display of chivalry, but as it turns out, I can protect myself." She made her point by holding up a pistol. It looked comfortable in her hand.Jack had forgotten she'd tucked that into her skirt pocket back in Tortuga, but he didn't feel better. "Right. Splendid. So then, Arabella, you can come with me for my protection. Being that you're the one who is carrying a firearm.""Ah." Arabella laughed. "The thing's not even real." She bent the handle back and it opened, revealing hairpins and coins and that sort of thing. It was more a purse than a weapon. "It's a fancy little pillbox of sorts. I used it back at the Faithful Bride to scare away unwelcome customers," she explained. "Now," she continued, "we should break up into parties of two. Jack," she said, "ye clearly need
no protection. Yer bloody well
capable of getting
yourself
out of a mess all your own, as we've seen. So Fitz should walk with me, because I have the means to protect him," she said waving the pistol she hoped would be convincing enough to scare away any would-be attackers. Fitzwilliam looked aghast. He began to open his mouth in protest, but Arabella continued her lecture to Jack. "Besides," she said, "ye already have a
companion. “What
?" Jack said. But then he looked down to see Constance, still only inches from his foot, blinking up at him with loving yellow eyes. Jack sighed. "Oh, great. I've got the bloody cat."Jean came to his side, and for one hopeful moment Jack thought maybe he'd insist on traveling with his "sister" himself. Instead he whispered, "Jack, with Constance by your si
de, you must be very careful!"

"Not to worry, mate." Jack stared pitifully at the cat. "Like Bell here said, I am at no risk of danger whatsoever. Savvy?""I'm not worried about you, Jack . . ." Jean bent down and stroked Constance's ears. "When Constance scratched Louis across the face, leaving the scars the pirate is now marked with, he vowed that the next time he saw her, he would skin her! So you must stay far from him, Jack.""Yes, yes. Very well," Jack said dismissively. "Cat, Louis: keep away. Got it. Okay, crew, shall we be on our way now? We shall convene again in port alongside the Barnacle at high noon.""Not long," Tumen pointed out, one hand toward the sky. He had learned back home how to tell the time by the sun's position. "Half an hour, no more."Jack no
dded. "Puerto San Judas is not
such a large town. Besides, the townsfolk didn't perform this cruel disappearing act more than a half hour ago. We can tell from the fresh things in the shops. If they're on foot, we'll find them by then. If not--we wouldn't find them in a century.""High noon, then," Fitzwilliam said, squinting into the sun. "But what shall we do if one of our parties has not returned by that time?"Silence befell the crew."Nonsense," Jack said. "The crew of the Barnacle is the most cunning in all the Caribbean. I will see you all here at noon, with or without th
e people of this island."

CHAPTER THREE

On the Caribbean, every saint's feast day was a reason for celebration--fine food, finer wine, and dancing into the night. As a rule, Jack was strongly in favor of feast days. So he knew that Dominic de Silos was the patron saint of mad dogs and pregnant women, Mary Magdalene the patron saint of apothecaries and hairdressers, and Jude--for whom this town had been named--was the patron saint of desperate situations.Jack
stood before the small wooden
church that had been built in
honour
of Saint Jude--who was also the patron saint of this town. A town full of desperate situations, Jack guessed, especially now that the townspeople had all vanished. The church stood on a small hill surrounded by sparse grass and at the foot of a long and winding crude dirt road."Impossible causes and desperate situations. So--that's your game, isn't it?" Jack said to the saint, or at any rate to the church the townsfolk had built in his honor.Constance, who trotted along beside Jack's feet, mewed loudly, as if questioning him."Wasn't speaking to you, love," he snapped. The cat's mangy head drooped so sadly that Jack almost felt bad for her. Almost. Jack still thought Jean was barking mad
to believe that his sister had
been transformed into a cat. But he had to admit, Constance behaved just like a girl. Temperamental, flirtatious, sometimes savage. With the cat, or sister, or 'whatever it was, Jack walked up to the doors of the Church of San Judas and stepped
inside. Like
the rest of the town, the church appeared to have been recently--very recently--and very suddenly--abandoned. Candles flickered alongside each wall. Incense still burned on the altar, and the air was heavy and sweet with its scent. Shafts of sunlight were tinted blue and green and gold by the stained glass of the windows. Jack walked slowly up the aisle.Constance mewed again, a tiny, frightened sound, and crept along a few paces behind Jack, looking over her shoulder every now and th
en to be sure they were alone.
Jack made his way toward the altar--then felt a soft breeze tickling his face. After another few steps he could see the source of the draft: a small door at the far corner of the church had been left open.Then Jack heard a loud voice yell, "Dig faster,
curs! “Unless
Jean or Tumen had suddenly grown up, Arabella had become a man, or Fitzwilliam had learned to swear loudly-- which was the least likely of the three scenarios--that voice didn't belong to anyone Jack
knew. He
crept to the edge of the doorway and peered outside. Alongside the church was the town's small graveyard, and in this graveyard, two brawny men were digging. An even larger man stood nearby with his hands on his hips, watching them. Jack realized that
they were unearthing a grave.
Then Jack realized something else, something far worse. The clothing these men wore--kerchiefs around their heads, swords at their sides, and bandoliers across their shoulders--didn't look like the kind of thing the friendly citizens of Puerto San Judas would be sporting."Pirates," Jack whispered to himself. No doubt these were crew members from the Cutlass, taking advantage of the deserted town to do some looting. Dirty, stinking, thieving cowards, the lot of them. Of course, Jack, too, was often dirty, occasionally borrowed useful items, and thought Arabella was a little too particular about body
odour
to ever be a true sailor. But he was no coward, and he was no pirate.The two diggers cast aside their shovels, then began working with ropes, pulling hard--and lift
ing the coffin to the surface.
As the grimy lid appeared, the biggest pirate, who had his back to Jack, laughed loudly. "Pity that Francois never told me he had the parchment--"One of the other pirates, panting from the effort of lifting the coffin, asked, "You wouldn't have killed him, then?""Are you mad?" the largest pirate boomed. "I'd have been even quicker in killing him. And then I'd search him thoroughly before I left his body behind. Might have gotten the parchment there and then."Jack frowned, confused. A whole empty town, ripe for the picking--and the pirates were only after a scrap of parchment? When they could have stolen every bit of gold in Puerto San Judas--on all of Isla Fortuna, in fact--without any difficulty at all?Then Jack realized that this parchment, whatever it might be
, was important enough
to have been buried with the man whose remains lay in that
coffin. The
biggest pirate continued--more quietly, as if to himself--"I'll soon have the parchment back in my hands. Already got the Sword. Once I have the scabbard, the power of all the gods is
mine! “He
had the Sword. He now had the parchment, too, whatever power that might hold. And now, he only needed the sheath. The large pirate could only be one man--
Left Foot
Louis! As
the pirates pried off the lid of the coffin, Jack started to retreat. He needed to tell his crew he'd found Louis,
and about this new development
the parchment. Jack stepped backwards carefully. But not carefully enough, and his foot came down hard onto Constance's
tail. The
cat screeched an incredibly loud
hiss
which echoed throughout the church. Jack jumped up, stumbling in a panic. He tried to think of a way to quiet the cat, but it was no use; Constance's yowl had already startled the pirates. One of them wheeled around, and Jack gaped as he locked eyes with Louis. The pirate had bright red hair, a gold tooth among his rotten set of choppers, and three pink scars scratched across his face--scars that looked as if they'd been left by a cat's claws."Well, well, well. What have we here?" Louis grinned. "Looks like that mangy cat that scratched my face. And she's brought along a mangy friend." His rotten, gold
toothed grin spread even wider. "So, tell me--which one of you will I be skinning
first? “A
charming invitation," Jack said, "but I fear we must decline.
Pressing engagements
elsewhere. Ta now." Jack ran as fast as he could toward the door at the other end of the church, Constance at his heels. But when Jack was just a few steps away, the front door swung open to reveal Left-Foot Louis's two men, each of them brandishing a dagger. Jack skidded to a stop against the church's planked wood floor, then he whirled around in the other direction--only to see Louis advancing down the aisle toward
him. The
pirate's steps were awkward and strange. Jack realized that at least some of the outlandish stories were true; Left-Foot Louis really did have two left feet. They both turned toward the right, which gave him a limping gait. But that didn't slow him down much. In fact, as far as Jack could tell, it didn't slow him down at all.

This would be a
marvellous
time for one of my brilliant plans, J
ack thought. Ideal. Surely one
will come along any second now. Any second.
Surely. Constance
cringed at Jack's feet, wrapping her tail around his
ankles. Louis
cackled and drew a sword. And at that moment, any brilliant idea that might have been lurking in Jack's mind, waiting to hatch, was instantly obliterated. So did all the many ideas that weren't brilliant at all. That's the Sword of Cortes! Jack thought.It was unmistakable. The markings on the jeweled hilt were an exact match to the scabbard! It could only be the Sword of Cortes. Only that sword would ever fit in the sheath Jack had found--the sheath that Louis was now staring at with the same disbelief that had Jack gaping at the
Sword! “What’s
this?" The pirate hooked his free hand into his belt and rocked back and forth in satisfaction.
"Thought after retrieving the
parchment, we'd have to go searching for the sheath for the Sword of Cortes. And now the scabbard's walked right in here on its own.""Not quite," Jack retorted. "The sheath's not a free agent, you see. It walked in here with me, because it's mine."Louis swung his blade once, getting ready for battle. "And you'll be leaving it to me in your will. They'll be reading that will of yours soon, probably in the next few moments actually. Then I'll have my sword, my sheath, and my parchment--and finally ultimate power, too, will be all mine."Again with the parchment. Jack decided that the first thing he'd do after he quickly defeated Louis would be to find that parchment for himself. And then find out how it related to the Sword.This was assuming, of
course, that he survived.