Gibbs, an old salt and a fine pirate, was waiting on the Pearl’s deck for Jack’s return. “Not quite according to plan?”Gibbs questioned, staring at Jack, who sat rowing a coffin with a leg bone in his hands. Gibbs helped his captain aboard.

“Complications arose,” Jack said, tossing(1) the leg bone overboard. “But I’ve found if you ask right, there’s always someone willing to give a leg up.”

Gibbs looked over the side of the ship at the one-legged skeleton. “Not in my experience,” Gibbs said, shaking his head. “Can’t go wrong expecting the worst from people.”

Jack sighed. “It probably does save time,” he said as he walked away from Gibbs. As he moved along the boat, Jack took a rolled piece of cloth from his sleeve. He began to examine it very carefully.

“Is that what you went in to find?” a toothless pirate named Leech asked anxiously. Every man onboard was hungry for news of what treasure Jack had found.

“Aye, but I haven’t had time to properly assess the prize,”Jack answered with a sly(2) smile. He did not seem willing to share just yet.

Suddenly, a small monkey swung out of the ship’s rigging(3), landed in front of Jack, and screeched(4) as if he were the devil himself. Jack screamed back as the monkey snatched the roll of cloth and took it up into the sails.

Each time the monkey passed through a shaft(5) of moonlight, it turned into a skeleton from head to tail — the result of a curse that had not been lifted. The monkey was the living dead. The horrible little beast’s previous owner was the cursed Captain Barbossa, who had mutinied(6) against Jack. Barbossa had named the monkey Jack, as a way to add insult to injury.

Jack hated the creature. He drew his pistol and aimed at the cursed monkey. Jack red, but the gun only clicked. His shot had already been used on that blasted pecking crow. Jack grabbed a pistol from the belt of another pirate and red again.

This time he hit his mark. The monkey was blown back, and the cloth dropped from its grasp. But the monkey quickly jumped back up again, grinning.

Gibbs gave Jack a look. “You know that doesn’t do any good,” he told him, pointing to the gun.

Jack shrugged. “Keeps my aim sharp,” he said as one of the pirates on deck scrambled(7) to catch the falling piece of cloth. The monkey continued to screech.

“Why’d that eviscerated simian have to be the only thing to survive Isla de Muerta?” Jack grumbled. Then he saw the pirate who had caught the cloth examining it.

“It’s a key,” the pirate said, cocking(8) his head to the side and squinting(9) an eye.

“Even better,” Jack added, raising a finger. “It’s a drawing of a key.”

The confused crew looked to Gibbs for an explanation.