Chapter 3: The Island of the Pelegostos

Chapter 3: The Island of the Pelegostos

When Will Turner woke up, his hands and feet were tied. The islanders were carrying him toward some wooden houses. Finally, they put him down in front of a large chair.

He looked up… and smiled. A man was sitting on the chair, and it was Captain Jack Sparrow!

“Jack Sparrow,” Will said, “I am very happy to see you.”

Jack didn’t answer.

“Jack? Jack, it’s me, Will Turner. Tell them to free me.”

Jack stepped down from his chair and spoke in a strange language. Will suddenly noticed the dead men’s bones around the chair.

“Jack, listen,” Will said. “I need the Compass. Elizabeth is in danger. We were arrested for helping you. She’s going to die!”

One of the islanders pointed at Will’s leg and hungrily touched his stomach. Jack smiled and the men shouted happily.

“No!” Will screamed. “Jack, what did you say to them?”

But Jack didn’t answer. He climbed back on to his chair and looked over Will’s head.

The men started to pull Will away.

“They’re going to prepare me for dinner,” he thought.

Jack suddenly looked down at Will. “Save me!” the captain said quietly out of the corner of his mouth.

The men threw Will into a cage full of men, chained to a rocky hill. Some of the sailors from the Black Pearl were prisoners in another cage.

“Will, you shouldn’t be here!” Gibbs greeted him.

“Why is this happening?” Will asked. He looked at the sailors. “Jack seems to be the chief…”

“Yes,” Gibbs said sadly. “The Pelegostos made him their chief. And now they want to free his soul from his body. They’re going to cook him and eat him.”

“Where are the other sailors from the Pearl?” Will asked.

“Look more carefully at these cages,” Gibbs said quietly. “The Pelegostos built them after we arrived.”

Will looked at the walls of his cage. They were made of bones. He quickly moved his hand away.

“The meal starts when the sun goes down,” Gibbs said seriously. “Jack’s life will end when the music stops.”

In a small boat near the beach, two of Barbossa’s pirates, Pintel and Ragetti, rowed with their backs to the sun. A dog with a ring of keys in its mouth was sitting at the end of the boat.

Suddenly, the men saw the Black Pearl.

“Look! There it is!” Pintel cried.

The dog jumped into the clear blue water and swam to the beach.

Pintel looked up at the ship’s black sails. “It’s ours!” he said greedily.

Then they heard the sound of music through the trees.

The music on the island grew louder as the Pelegostos prepared their big meal. Captain Jack Sparrow was their special guest-and their main course. He tried to smile.

The islanders placed a long, thin piece of wood above an unlit fire. Jack looked at it and turned away.

“We need a bigger fire!” he shouted in the language of the Pelegostos. “I am the chief. I need more wood! Big fire! MORE WOOD!”

The islanders hurried away in search of more wood. Jack waited until every man was gone. Then he ran and ran.

When he arrived at a small house, a large man opened the door.

Jack stepped back.

“I’m not running away-nooo…” he said.

Soon he was tied to the long piece of wood over the unlit fire. The fire was now very big.

“Nice work,” he said. The Pelegostos smiled proudly. “Too nice,” Jack thought to himself.

On the rocky hill, Will and the pirates waited in their bone cages.

“I must do something,” Will said to himself. “I must save Elizabeth.”

“Try to move your cage!” he shouted to the pirates. “Move it toward the rocks! Then put your feet through the holes between the bones and try to climb the hill.”

Leech and the pirates in the other cage understood and started to move it slowly up the hill. But suddenly, a guard saw them and screamed loudly. The music stopped.

As Will and the men in his cage reached the top of the hill, the islanders ran toward them. They pulled the cage up around their legs and started to run. They had to find the Black Pearl. Fast!

When the guard ran toward them, the Pelegostos were preparing to light the fire under Jack.

“The prisoners are trying to escape!” he screamed.

“Follow them!” Jack ordered .”They mustn’t escape!”

“What shall we do?” The Pelegostos islanders couldn’t decide. “Shall we light the fire or follow the other prisoners? We want to free our chief from his body, but he is telling us to leave.”

Finally, they decided to follow the other prisoners. But one man dropped a piece of burning wood, and suddenly the fire was burning under Jack. There was nothing that Jack could do about it.

“They’re going to cook me-Captain Jack Sparrow!” he said to himself.

Jack finally escaped from the burning wood by throwing his body from one side to the other. Watched by a small boy, he jumped away from the fire and ran into the trees.

The boy also ran into the forest and found the Pelegostos.

“Our chief is running away!” he called.

The islanders shouted angrily. They stopped following Jack’s men and ran after lack.

Will and some of the pirates arrived on the beach and broke out of their cage. They didn’t notice Pintel and Ragetti preparing the Pearl.

“Excellent!” Gibbs shouted. “We can sail.”

“I’m not going to leave without Jack,” Will said.

Gibbs suddenly pointed along the beach and Will saw Jack. He was running down the beach with the Pelegostos close behind him.

“Jack! Hurry!” Gibbs shouted.

Jack ran through the shallow water to the side of the Pearl, and Gibbs pulled him onto the ship.