Many waters.
The seas were restless. Jack could feel it. From his berth on the Pearl he could feel the water level dropping, the ship sinking into the trough, the breathless silence in the air that comes before the sea shows her volatile strength.
He slid out of bed and staggered up to the deck to find Will doing the same thing. In the distance the sea was in turmoil, a wall of water rising up out of it like some mystical beast, looking as if it would swallow the Pearl and everything on her.
The first wave hit.
The ship pitched and tossed, cresting and then plummeting, nearly keeling over on her side, and the pirates raced about her decks to keep her steady. "Cut her loose!" Jack yelled, in a sudden wild burst of inspiration, and Will looked at him as if he had never realised before that Jack was mad. But he trusted his Captain--which might have just proved he was mad too-and did.
The ship wallowed in the the small, choppy waves that followed, riding low from the extra water it had taken on riding the first big wave. Will looked at Jack, half hanging from the mainmast, seawater streaming from his hair, running down his face. "We're too heavy, Jack! We need to toss out what we can!"
And so they did that too, plundering their own hold for things they didn't need, tossing out treasures and trophies and bits of old sail, Will tugging at the lines and Jack holding tight to the helm. Sailing the Black Pearl was a task for six men, not two, but they sailed her all the same.
The second wave hit, larger than the first, tossing the Pearl along its crest like a kitten with a mouse. Somehow the two men managed to keep the ship from rolling end over end down the far side of the wave as they washed further and further from the island. Jack's compass tumbled to the deck, and as he picked it up he could barely make out the needle pointing firmly, staunchly westward.
When they found themselves in calmer waters at last, Jack and Will could not see the island at all.
He slid out of bed and staggered up to the deck to find Will doing the same thing. In the distance the sea was in turmoil, a wall of water rising up out of it like some mystical beast, looking as if it would swallow the Pearl and everything on her.
The first wave hit.
The ship pitched and tossed, cresting and then plummeting, nearly keeling over on her side, and the pirates raced about her decks to keep her steady. "Cut her loose!" Jack yelled, in a sudden wild burst of inspiration, and Will looked at him as if he had never realised before that Jack was mad. But he trusted his Captain--which might have just proved he was mad too-and did.
The ship wallowed in the the small, choppy waves that followed, riding low from the extra water it had taken on riding the first big wave. Will looked at Jack, half hanging from the mainmast, seawater streaming from his hair, running down his face. "We're too heavy, Jack! We need to toss out what we can!"
And so they did that too, plundering their own hold for things they didn't need, tossing out treasures and trophies and bits of old sail, Will tugging at the lines and Jack holding tight to the helm. Sailing the Black Pearl was a task for six men, not two, but they sailed her all the same.
The second wave hit, larger than the first, tossing the Pearl along its crest like a kitten with a mouse. Somehow the two men managed to keep the ship from rolling end over end down the far side of the wave as they washed further and further from the island. Jack's compass tumbled to the deck, and as he picked it up he could barely make out the needle pointing firmly, staunchly westward.
When they found themselves in calmer waters at last, Jack and Will could not see the island at all.