Chapter 2: The Search for the Black Pearl

Chapter 2: The Search for the Black Pearl

Two guards took Will Turner into Lord Beckett’s office.

“Are you going to free Elizabeth?” Will asked.

“If you help me, I’ll free her,” Beckett answered. “We want you to find Captain Sparrow. I want you to get something that belongs to him.”

“You want the Black Pearl?” Will said.

Beckett was surprised. “The Black Pearl? No, I want something that’s smaller and much more important. Something that Sparrow carries at all times. A compass. Bring back the Compass-then I will free Elizabeth.”

Will Turner angrily left Beckett’s office and went to Elizabeth’s room in the prison building. Governor Swann followed him and heard them talking.

“Jack’s Compass? Why does Beckett want that?”

“His reason isn’t important,” Will said. “I’ll find Jack and bring him back to Port Royal. Then we’ll both be free.”

“How are you going to find him?” Elizabeth asked, worried. Her voice showed her fear.

“Tortuga. I’ll start there. I won’t stop until I find him. Then I’ll return and marry you.”

Will Turner started his search immediately. He went to Tortuga because Jack often stayed there. It was the dirtiest port in the Caribbean, a place for drunken pirates who wanted adventures.

When he arrived, Will saw a friend of jack’s; a woman with red hair and a red dress. Her name was Scarlett.

“I haven’t seen him for a month,” Scarlett said angrily. “When you find him, give him a message.”

She lifted her hand and hit Will across the face.

“I don’t know about Jack, but there’s a ship with black sails at an island south of here,” said an old boatman. “Give me some money and I’ll take you to it.”

The boatman took Will to the island and there they found the Black Pearl on its side on the beach. The boatman refused to go closer, so Will jumped into the water. He swam to the beach and then, very wet, walked across to the ship.

There was nobody there, but he found an old fire in the sand. The firewood was still warm. Jack was near!

“Jack!” Will shouted. “Jack Sparrow! Mr. Gibbs!”

He pulled out his sword and went into the forest. There, he noticed a small red bottle on the ground.

“Gibbs…” Will thought. “That’s his bottle!”

He picked it up. A fishing line was tied to the bottle and Will put his hand on it. Then, suddenly, he noticed two eyes in a tree- and an arm that pulled the line hard!

Will was pulled off his feet. As he hung by his leg from a tree, he saw a group of islanders. They had bite marks on their faces and bodies and they were wearing bones around their necks.

The islanders ran toward Will and he kicked some of them to the ground with his free leg.

“Come here and fight!” he shouted at one of the men.

The man quickly shot a drug into Wills neck. Will stopped moving and the men cut him down from the tree.

In her small room in Port Royal prison, Elizabeth waited. She was tired and closed her eyes. Then she heard the sound of keys and a guard opened the door.

“Come quickly!” her father said, stepping out of the shadows behind the guard.

“What’s happening?” Elizabeth asked.

“You can return to England,” Governor Swann said. “I’ve found a ship for you. Hawkins, the captain, is an old friend of mine.”

They ran quickly out of the prison.

The governor took Elizabeth to a waiting vehicle pulled by two horses, but she refused to get in.

“I’m waiting for Will,” she said.

“We can’t wait for Will’s help,” the governor said. “I’m not going to watch my daughter die.”

He pushed her inside and put a gun in her hand. Then he shut the door and quickly drove the vehicle to the ship.

Near the port, the governor slowed the horses. Two men were waiting in the shadows. One of them wore a captain’s hat.

The governor jumped down from his seat and hurried to the men.

“Captain Hawkins!” he said, happy to see his friend.

But Hawkins didn’t answer.

The captain fell to the ground, covered in blood. The governor realized that the other man in the shadows was holding up the captain’s dead body.

“Good evening, Governor,” the second man said, slowly cleaning blood from his knife with a cloth. Swann knew the man: Mercer, Beckett’s assistant.

Governor Swann ran back to the vehicle.

“Elizabeth,” he shouted.

Mercer called some soldiers. He smiled as he opened the vehicle door.

It was empty!

“Where is she?” Mercer said angrily.

“Who?” Swann asked nervously.

Mercer pushed the governor against the vehicle and shouted, “Elizabeth!”

“She never listened to me,” the governor said, and smiled.

“Take him away!” Mercer ordered the soldiers.

Lord Beckett walked into his dark office and stopped.

“There’s somebody here,” he thought.

Elizabeth stepped out of the shadows and lifted her father’s gun.

“I have information,” she said. “You sent Will to find Jack Sparrow’s Compass. But it won’t help you. I saw the treasure on Isla de Muerta and you need to know something.”

Beckett smiled. “You think that the Compass only points to Isla de Muerta. You’re wrong, Miss Swann. The cursed gold is not important.” He pointed to a big world map. “There is more than one treasure chest in these oceans,” he said.

Elizabeth pointed the gun at Lord Beckett’s head.

“These letters on your desk will free Will Turner,” she said. “Sign them.”

Beckett stopped laughing and signed the letters.

“I want the Compass,” he said.

Elizabeth took the letters, turned, and disappeared silently into the dark night.

The following morning, the Edinburgh ‘Trader sailed from Port Royal. One of the sailors was Elizabeth. She was dressed in sailors clothes, and none of the men on the ship noticed her.