Two minutes later, Emily had reluctantly followed Will down to the jail to find Sparrow lying lazily in his cell. There was an enormous hole in the wall, presumably from the pirate attack the night before, but, fortunately, it wasn’t big enough for Sparrow to fit through. Will was doing the talking; Emily would have none of it.

‘You! Sparrow!’ Will commanded.

‘Aye?’ came the lazy, slurring drawl from the straw-littered floor.

‘You are familiar with that ship, the Black Pearl?’

Sparrow repositioned his shoulders. ‘I’ve ‘eard of it.’

‘Where does it make berth?’

‘Where does it make berth?’ Sparrow repeated incredulously, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. ‘Have you not heard the stories?’ Neither Will’s nor Emily’s expressions changing, Sparrow continued, ‘Captain Barbossa and his crew of miscreants sail from the dreaded Isla du Muerta. It’s an island that cannot be found, except-’ again with the odd hand gestures, ‘-by those who already know where it is.’

Will figured Sparrow had gone a little crazy in his cell. ‘The ship’s real enough, therefore its anchorage must be a real place. Where is it?’

Jack lay back down and studied his nails, looking like he had naught but a care in the world. ‘Why ask me?’

Will’s eyes hit the floor. ‘…Because you’re a pirate.’

‘And you want to turn pirate yourself, is that it?’

Will leapt at the bars. ‘Never!’ Sparrow seemed uninterested now, so Will continued, reluctantly, ‘…They took Miss Swann.’

‘Ah, so it is that you’ve found a girl!’ Sparrow grinned, sitting up, obviously pleased with himself for finally getting the truth out of Will. ‘I see. Well, if you’re intending to brave all, hasten to her rescue and so win fair lady’s heart, you’ll have to do it alone, mate. I see no profit in it for me.’

‘I can get you out of here,’ Will offered.

‘How’s that? The key’s run off.’

‘We helped build these cells. These are half-pin barrel hinges.’ Will suddenly grabbed a wooden bench and placed two of its legs through the bars of Sparrow’s cell in the fashion of a lever. ‘With the right leverage, and the proper application of strength, the door will lift free.’

Emily noticed that Sparrow suddenly seemed to be intensely interested in the conversation. ‘What’s your name?’ he asked, curiously.

‘Will Turner,’ replied Will, just as curious.

‘That would be short for William, I imagine? Good, strong name. No doubt named for your father, eh?’

‘…Yes.’

‘Uh-huh.’ Sparrow pondered something for a moment, then seemed to come to a decision. Standing up, he said, ‘Well, Mr Turner, I’ve changed me mind. If you spring me from this cell, I swear on pain of death, I shall take you to the Black Pearl and your bonny lass. Do we have an accord?’ Sparrow held his right hand out to Will through the bars.

Will shook it. ‘Agreed.’

Sparrow turned to Emily, who had been standing in the corner with her arms firmly folded across her chest for the entire conversation. ‘And you, luv?’

‘What about me?’ Emily still had not forgotten the wound on her arm.

‘Do we have an accord?’

Emily frowned at him, then looked at Will. He nodded, so Emily sighed, and half-heartedly took Sparrow’s hand and shook it, muttering, ‘Agreed.’

‘Agreed,’ Sparrow smiled. ‘Get me out!’

Will and Emily pulled as hard as they could on the bench and, sure enough, the door of the cell lifted off its hinges immediately. It crashed to the floor and Sparrow pranced out.

‘Hurry – someone will have heard that,’ Will warned.

‘Not without my effects!’ the pirate slurred, grabbing his effects from the wall and running out the door, Will and Emily on his heels.

* * *

Tramping through muddy water, Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Emily Sharpe stopped under a bridge to observe the pier where the navy ship the Interceptor was docked. Jack eyed it almost lovingly, and Will voiced his worry.

‘We’re going to steal a ship. …That ship?’

‘Commandeer,’ Jack corrected him. ‘We’re going to commandeer that ship – nautical term,’ he pointed out another ship anchored further out in the bay – the Dauntless. Turning to Will and Emily, Jack continued, ‘One question about your business, children, or there’s no use going – this girl; how far are you willing to go to save her?’

‘I’d die for her,’ Will stated defiantly, and Emily nodded in agreement.

‘Oh, good. No worries then.’ Jack turned back around to observe the port.

‘But how are we supposed to get on the ship?’ Emily asked, utterly confused by Jack’s plan.

‘Ah, that’s the beauty of it, luv,’ Jack smiled, spinning around again to face Emily. ‘Now, if you’ll follow me…’

They snuck out from under the bridge in Jack’s wake and along the edge of the beach, all the while using foliage as cover. ‘Just follow me, mates,’ Jack repeated, and, when he was sure nobody was watching, he darted out from the bushes and hid underneath an upturned rowboat. Will and Emily had to act quickly to copy Jack and avoid being seen at the same time, but managed it nonetheless.

Hiding under the boat was an extremely uncomfortable experience, and also exceedingly difficult whilst wearing a dress, as proved by Emily’s efforts to crouch down but not tread on her dress either. Jack quickly shushed her and the trio sat in silence, listening to the footsteps of the guards outside.

‘Okay,’ Jack whispered. ‘When I give the command, we stand up and run into the water as quickly as your skinny little legs will carry you, savvy?’

‘What?’ Emily asked, bewildered. ‘Jack, we’ll drown!’

Jack simply grinned, then returned to listening to the guards’ footsteps. After a moment’s silence, Jack said, ‘…Now!’ and they were off.

Running with a rowboat on your back proved to be no more fun than hiding beneath one. It was awkward and clumsy, and Emily was sure someone would spot them. Nevertheless, they made it to the water and within minutes they were walking along the bottom of the ocean towards the Dauntless, the rowboat over their heads trapping an air bubble for them to breathe in. Emily was glad for the relative weight of her dress; combined with the water, it kept itself down.

‘This is either madness… or brilliance,’ Will mused. True, neither Emily nor Will could quite believe that Jack’s plan was actually working.

‘It’s funny how often those two traits coincide,’ Jack replied from the front, and kept walking.

Will suddenly felt his foot land in something. He abruptly looked down and found that his foot had become trapped in a lobster cage. As he tried to shake it off, Emily, who was behind him, tried to grab the rope connected to it and pull it away. Neither managed to remove it, but they soon found the cage to be useful.

When Jack, Will and Emily finally arrived at the Dauntless, they let the rowboat float away and surfaced behind the ship. Tossing the lobster cage up onto it, the three of them used the cage’s rope to scale the ship and arrive onto the upper deck, where Jack, Will and Emily drew their swords in unison and proceeded towards the lower deck and the unsuspecting crew.

‘Everyone, stay calm, we are taking over the ship!’ Jack announced.

Will proved he knew almost nothing about pirates. ‘Aye! Avast!’

The crew burst out laughing. Jack rolled his eyes and glared at Will, while Emily scrunched hers shut. She could feel Will burning with embarrassment.

When the laughter died down, the Captain stepped forward and told Jack, ‘This ship cannot be crewed by two men and a girl,’ he sneered at Emily on the last word. ‘You’ll never make it out of the bay!’

‘Son,’ Jack grinned, cocking his gun in the Captain’s face, ‘I’m Captain Jack Sparrow. Savvy?’