While crew members were loading the ships up with food, tools, and other supplies, a man on the ship waltzed up to the side of the ship and hollowed in a loud voice, "get on the ship you yellow-bellies, unless you want to be fish food to these mermaid waters!" The crew quickly threw the last of the supplies and boarded the ship. When they all got on another man on the ship started to angrily announce, "Alright! My name is Mr. O'Riley and I give the orders around here! You all know your jobs, so let's get the ship movin'!" The men quickly gathered their tools and ran to their positions and set out the sails. "Forward ahead!" Mr. O'Riley yelled. The ship briskly started off with the wind in their favor. Mr. O'Riley had a powerful loud mouth, but his figure was weak. Men larger than him soon became annoyed after many hours of Mr. O'Riley giving orders all the time. They finally stood their ground and began to pushing him around.

They tied him up, kicked, and punched him. They then asked him, "who decided you were in charge of this ship, you weak child?"

One of the larger men then yelled out, "I'll be the captain of the ship, after all, I am the strongest!" This man was average sized, but looked like a scholarly man as well.

An argument broke out about who was going to be the captain of the ship, when suddenly, doors flew open from the ship's main office, and a very large man whose figure could out-do an ox and stood tall as a bear stood in the doorway. In a deep, demanding voice he yelled, "quit!" The whole ship went quiet and only the beating of the waves could be heard. "My name is Captain Ajax, and I'm the captain of this ship."

The men beating up Mr. O'Riley immediately stopped. Mr. O'Riley took advantage of the moment and quickly untied himself, running over and standing by Captain Ajax. "Alright, you rotten scum! Get back to work!" Ajax proclaimed, "If I see anyone hurt Mr. O'Riley again, there will be a man overboard!" He then turned around and headed back inside the ship. Mr. O'Riley began pointing, laughing, and making fun of the bigger guys to warn them about what Captain Ajax said. The sound of doors closing from behind Mr. O'Riley was the moment he knew he was alone again. Without hesitation, of the large men gave Mr. O'Riley one last punch to the face, knocking Mr. O'Riley out. Then all the men returned back to work.

After many days out at sea, the ship had made its way to the designated island to find the treasure, when suddenly a beast of a creature came up from the waters and began attacking the men. Luckily, the men were well-equipped and retaliated and got the upper hand. The menacing beast returned back into the waters and storms appeared. A voice was heard from the clouds, the voice of a woman. "I have underestimated your will power, but that does not mean I will give up. I cast this curse upon you. The people on your ship will age twice as fast and will die of old age." The voice was no longer heard and the storm dispersed. They arrived on the island and stayed for many months. Mr. O'Riley really admired Captain Ajax and knew that the only way the captain could be happy is if he found somebody to love, for he had been scared with embarrassment from his large size. So Mr. O'Riley did the only thing he could do. He set out to find the mysterious woman.

He went far away from the camp site and stated calling out for her, He spent hours yelling and searching for the mysterious woman. He then ran out of hope and started to head back when suddenly the voice was heard. "What do you want?"

"I want to get rid of this horrible curse. My captain is a very respectable man and deserves better than this. What can I do to make this curse go away?" asked Mr. O'Riley.

The voice said, "well... there is one thing I've always wanted to do."

"What's that?"

"The curse will be uplifted if you are turned into a bird forever!" she said.

With a short pause he finally replied, "Fine. I'll do it."

Without hesitation, the curse was gone and Mr. O'Riley was a bird.

Sarafine was the name of the woman with the mysterious voice. She was amused with the fun she had with the crew members, but something was missing. She realized Captain Ajax must not be too bad of a guy if his best friend would sacrifice himself for him. So she had an idea.

Captain Ajax noticed the curse was gone, but so was his best friend. He walked out to the shore in case Mr. O'Riley had tried to escape the island and his body floated ashore. With a glimmer, he noticed something in the water. As he squinted he couldn't believe himself. It was a mermaid! He was so mesmerized he began to swim out to her. The way her beauty reflected off the water was breathtaking. He asked what her name was. "My name is Sarafine," she replied.

"That's beautiful," he said. As they drifted ashore, he noticed her fins turned into human legs. He carried her back to his tent and the gazed at each other all night.

Morning arrived with an annoying sound of a bird chirping. Captain Ajax got out of his tent and immediately saw the beautiful girl he met the night before, along with a strange bird that flew over her head. He and the mermaid had fell in love.

They settled down with a family. Captain Ajax became and accountant to support his children, his beautiful wife, and his pet bird.