The Princess Bride

Chapter Twenty-Two: Becoming Dread Pirate Jackson

"I fail to see how that is possible, since he has been marauding for twenty years and you only left me three years ago."

"I myself am often surprised at life at life's little quirks," Jack admitted.

"Did he, in fact, capture you when you were sailing for Carolinas?"

"He did. His ship 'revenge' captured the ship I was on, 'The Queen's Pride', and we were all to be put to death."

"But Jackson did not kill you."

"Clearly."

"Why?"

"I cannot say for sure, but I think it is because I asked him not to. The 'please,' I suspect, aroused his interest. I didn't beg or offer bribery, as the other were doing. At any rate, he held off with his sword long enough to ask, 'Why should I make an exception of you?' and I explained my mission, how I had to get to America to get money to reunite me with the most beautiful woman ever reared by men, namely you. 'I doubt that she is as beautiful as you imagine,' he said, and he raised his sword again. 'Hair the colour of snow ,' I said, 'and skin like a wintry cream.' 'wintry cream, eh?' he said. He was interested now, at least a bit, so I went on describing the rest of you, and at the end, I knew I had him convinced of the truth of my affection for you. 'I'll tell you Jack,' he said then, 'I feel genuinely sorry about this, but if I make an exception in your case, news will get out that the Dread Pirate Jackson has gone soft and that will mark the beginning of my downfall, for once they stop fearing you, Piracy becomes nothing but work, work , work all the time, and I am far too old for such a life.' 'I Swear I will never tell, not even my beloved,' I said; 'and if you will let me live, I will be your personal valet and slave for five full years, and if I ever once complain or cause you anger, you may chop my head off then and there and I will die with praise for your fairness on my lips.' I knew I had him thinking. 'Go below,' he said. 'I'll most likely kill you tomorrow'" Jack stopped talking for a moment, and pretended to clear his throat, because he had spotted the first R.O.U.S. following behind them. There seemed no need yet to alert her, so he just continued to clear his throat and hurry along between the flame bursts.

"What happened tomorrow?" Elsa urged. "Go on."

"Well, you know what an industrious fellow I am; you remember how I liked to learn and how I'd already trained myself to work twenty hours a day. I decided to learn what I could about piracy in the time left allotted me, since it would at least keep my mind off my coming slaughter. So I helped the cook and I cleaned the hold and, in general, did whatever was asked of me, hoping that my energies might be favourably noted by the Dread Pirate Jackson himself. 'Well, I've come to kill you,' he said the next morning, and I said, 'Thank you for the extra time; it's been most fascinating; I've learned such a great deal,' and he said, 'Overnight? What could you learn in that time?' and I said, 'That no one had ever explained to your cook the difference between table salt and cayenne pepper.' 'Things have been a bit fiery this trip,' he admitted. 'Go on, what else ?' and I explained that there would have been more room in the hold if boxes had been stacked differently, and then he noticed that I had completely reorganized things down there and, fortunately for me, there was more room, and finally he said, 'Very well, you can be my valet for a day. I've never had a valet before; probably I wont like it, so I'll kill you in the morning.' Every night for the next year he always said something like that to me : 'Thank you for everything, Jack, good night now, I'll probably kill you in the morning.'

"By the end of that year, of course, we were more than valet and master. He was a scrawny tall man, not at all fierce, as you would expect the Dread Pirate Jackson to be, and I like to think he was as fond of me as I of him. By then, I had learned really quite a great deal about sailing and hand fighting and fencing and throwing the long knife and had never been in as excellent physical condition. At the end of one year, my captain said to me, 'Enough of this Valet business, Jack, from now on you are my second-in-command," and I said, 'Thank you, sir, but I could never be a pirate,' and he said, 'You want to get back to that snow-haired creature of yours, don't you?' and I didn't even have to bother answering that. 'A good year or two of piracy and You'll be rich and back you go,' and I said, 'Your men have been with you for years and they aren't rich,' and he said, 'That's because they are not the captain. I am going to retire soon, Jack, and the 'revenge' will be yours.' I must admit, beloved, i weakened a bit there, but we reached a final decision. Instead, he agreed to let me assist him in the next few captures and see how I liked it. Which I did." There was now another R.O.U.S. following them, Flanking them as they moved.

Elsa saw them now. "Jack-"

"Shhh. It's all right. I'm watching them. Shall I finish? Will it take your mind off them?"

"You helped him with the next few captures," Elsa said. "To see if you liked it."

Jack dodged the sudden burst of flame, shielded Elsa from the heat. "Not only did I like it, but it turned out I was talented, as well. So talented that Jackson said to me one April morning, 'Jack, the next ship is yours; let's see how you do.' That afternoon we spotted a fat Spanish beauty, loaded for Madrid. I sailed up close. They were in panic. 'Who is it?' their captain cried. 'Jack,' i told him. 'Never heard of you,' he answered, and with that they opened fire.

"Disaster. They had no fear of me at all. I was flustered I did everything wrong, and soon they got away. I was, do I have to add, disheartened. Jackson called me to his cabin. I slunk in like a whipped boy. 'Buck up,' he told me, and then he closed the door and we were quite alone. 'What I am about to tell you I have never said before and you must guard it closely.' I of course said I would. 'I am not the Dread Pirate Jackson,' he said, 'my name is Hiccup. I inherited this ship from the previous Dread Pirate Jackson just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited from was not the real Dread Pirate Jackson either; his name was Manny. The real original Dread Pirate Jackson has been retired fifteen years and has been living like a king in Patagonia.' I confessed my confusion. 'It's really very simple,' Hiccup explained. 'After several years, the original Jackson was so rich he wanted to retire. Clooney was his friend and first mate, so he gave the ship to Clooney, who had identical experience to yours: the first ship he attempted to board nearly blew him out of the water. So Jackson, realizing the name was the thing that inspired the necessary fear, sailed the 'Revenge' to port, changed crews entirely, and Clooney told everyone he was the Dread Pirate Jackson, and who was to know he was not? When Clooney retired rich, he passed the name to Manny, Manny to me, and I, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, of Burk, now dub thee, Jackson, the Dread Pirate Jackson . All we need is to land, take on some new young pirates. I will sail along for a few days as Hiccup, your first mate, and will tell everyone about my years with you, the Dread Pirate Jackson. Then you will let me off when they are all believers, and the waters of the world of yours.'" Jack smiled at Elsa. "So now you know. And you should also realize why it is foolish to be afraid."

"But I am afraid."

"I will be happy at the end. Consider: a little over three years ago, you were a milkmaid and i was a farm boy. Now you are almost a Queen and I rule uncontested on the water. Surely, such individuals were never intended to die in a Fire Swamp."

"How can you be sure?"

"Well, because we're together, hand in hand, in love."

"Oh yes," Elsa said. "I keep forgetting that."

Both her words and tone were a trifle standoffish, something Jack surely would have noticed had not a R.O.U.S. attacked him from the tree branch, sinking its giant teeth into his unprotected shoulder, forcing him to earth in a very unexpected spurt of blood. The other two that had been following launched their attack then too, ignoring Elsa, driving forward with all their hungry strength to Jack bleeding shoulder.