Chapter 7: A Very Important Game

Chapter 7: A Very Important Game

Davy Jones sat on the Flying Dutchman. He was playing slow, sad music on a piano. His eyes filled with tears as he looked up at a picture of a woman with long, thick hair.

The sailors-and Will Turner-were working hard. Will was pulling a chain when suddenly he dropped it.

“Careless!” one of the sailors shouted. “I’ll punish you for that mistake.”

He started to hit Will, but Bootstrap Bill stopped him.

“I’ll punish you, too,” the sailor told him angrily.

“That’s all right,” Bootstrap told him. “You can punish me.”

“Why?” Davy Jones asked. He stopped playing the piano and watched the men carefully.

Bootstrap lifted his hand and pointed at Will. “My son. That’s my son.”

Will’s eyes widened. The old pirate was his father?

Jones smiled. “This is very interesting,” he said. “Do you want to stop this sailor punishing your son?”

“Yes,” Bootstrap answered.

“Then you can punish him yourself! Hit him!”

“I can’t hit my own son!” Bootstrap Bill said.

“Then another sailor will punish him.”

“No,” Bootstrap shouted quickly. He lifted his arm and started to hit Will.

Later, Bootstrap explained his actions to his son. “That sailor is a hard man. I didn’t want him to hurt you.”

“So you saved me,” Will said, thoughtfully.

Bootstrap shook his head sadly. “I can’t save you from the Dutchman,” he said. “You made a promise to Davy Jones. Now you can’t leave his ship. Your body will become part of it. Look at old Wyvern.”

Bootstrap pointed at the side of the ship. An old man hung there. He seemed to be part of the ship.

“But I didn’t make any promises to Davy Jones,” Will said.

Bootstrap looked happier. “Then you must escape.”

“Not until I find this key,” Will said, He showed his father the picture of the key. “It’s on the ship and Jack Sparrow wants it. Maybe it will save us.”

Suddenly, old Wyvern moved and pulled himself free from the side of the ship.

“The Dead Man’s Chest!” he cried.

His arms reached for the cloth.

Will jumped back, afraid. “This is what happens to Davy Jones’s men,” he said to himself. “Soon my father will become part of the Dutchman, too-just one more unhappy soul.”

But Wyvern’s next words made Will more hopeful.

“Open the chest with the key, and cut through the heart with your sword,” old Wyvern cried. Then he changed his mind. “Don’t destroy the heart! The Dutchman must have a living heart or there is no captain! And if there is no captain, no one will hold the key!”

“The captain has the key?” Will asked.

“Hidden,” Wyvern said. He disappeared again into the side of the ship.

But Will had his answer. Jones had the key.

On the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow found Elizabeth filling in names on Lord Beckett’s letters. These letters would free Jack from the English.

Jack immediately took them from her. “These letters belong to me, don’t they?” He looked at the signature on the papers. “Lord Cutler Beckett. Is he the man who wants my Compass?”

“Not the Compass-a chest,” Elizabeth said.

Gibbs heard her words and looked up. “A chest? Not Davy Jones’s chest? If Beckett has the chest, the oceans will be his.”

“So that’s why Beckett wants it,” Elizabeth thought.

Jack looked carefully at the letters. “Beckett will free me and I can work for the English.” He laughed. “I can’t think of anything worse.”

He shook his head and put the letters in his jacket pocket.

“Jack,” Elizabeth said. “Give the letters back to me.”

Jack looked at her. “Take them from me,” he said, smiling.

Elizabeth turned away from the pirate.

Norrington was standing near them, listening. As Elizabeth passed, he stopped her.

“Ask yourself a question,” he said. “Who sent Will onto the Flying Dutchman?”

On the Dutchman, some of the sailors were playing a numbers game. Will watched the game and tried to understand it.

“What are they playing for?” Will asked Bootstrap. The old sailor was standing behind his son.

“The only thing any of us can offer” Bootstrap told him. “Years of service on this ship.”

“Can anyone play?” Will asked his father slowly.

“Yes,” Bootstrap replied.

“Then I want to play with Davy Jones,” Will said loudly.

The sailors went silent. Suddenly, Jones stood in front of them.

“I accept,” he told Will. “But I’ll only play for the thing that is most important to a man’s heart.”

“I’ll offer one hundred years of service on your ship,” was Will’s reply.

“I’ll offer one hundred years of service on your ship.”

“No!” Bootstrap cried.

“And I’ll free you, if you win,” Jones said.

“I’m already free,” Will thought. He didn’t know about Jack’s trick.

“No, I want you to free my father,” he said.

“I agree,” Jones answered. He sat down opposite Will. “You’re a crazy young man,” Jones said. “You want to get married and you will get married-to this ship.”

They began to play. Will won the first game. His father was free, but Will wanted more.

“Another game,” he said suddenly, to the surprise of the sailors.

“You can’t win again, son,” Jones said, and stood up.

Will smiled. “Then why are you walking away?” he asked.

Jones looked very angry. “What will you play for?” he asked, and sat down again.

“My soul,” Will answered. “If I lose, I’ll work for you until the end of time.”

“And if you win?” Jones asked.

“I want the thing that is dearest to your heart,” Will said. “I want this.” He showed Jones the cloth with the picture of the key.

Jones lifted his head. “How do you know about the key?” he asked sharply.

“I don’t have to tell you. That’s not part of the game, is it?” Will asked.

Jones reached into his shirt and pulled out the key. It hung on a chain around his neck.

“Now I know where it’s hidden,” Will thought.

Bootstrap stepped between them. “I want to play,” he said. “If I lose, you can have my soul too. If I win, I get the key.”

“Don’t do this,” Will said.

His father was now free. Will didn’t want him to lose and be a prisoner on the Dutchman again.

But Bootstrap didn’t listen to him and the three men began to play. Very quickly, Bootstrap lost the game.

Jones put the key back inside his shirt. “Bootstrap Bill, you will stay on this ship in my service until the end of time. William Turner… you are free to leave at the next port.”

Jones laughed and moved away.

Will was very angry. “Why did you do that?” he asked his father.

Bootstrap dropped his tired head. “I didn’t want you to lose,” he said sadly.

“The game was never about winning or losing,” Will said.

Bootstrap looked at him and then suddenly understood. “The game was about finding the key,” he said slowly. “And now you know where it is.”