After sobbing for an hour, Mariana dared to go back to check out what the pirate king was doing about the cargo, but he wasn't there. Wotsby was standing, slack-jawed, in the pile of cursed gold.
Mariana waved her hand in front of him. She didn't want to step into the pile, after all, Daniel could have been right about the level of danger.
"Ahoy, sailor?" She poked Wotsby with a stick. "Anyone home?"
"He…he gave me to her," the man said, still with the vacant expression of a lunatic.
"He gave you to…who is she?"
But that was all Mariana could get out of the man. The blank expression remained. It seemed like the pirate had slipped into a catatonic state. This could be the effect of the curse.
Mariana went to check out what had become of the imprisoned captain.
