Explosive Adventures (4 page)

Biscuit’s Mistake

It was difficult trying to keep still under those old popcorn sacks. Lucy’s legs were in an uncomfortable position and she would have loved to be able to stretch them, but she couldn’t, of course. For Hermione, the worst part about it was
not being able to see what was happening. If only she had had a little hole in the sacking to peer through, she would have felt much better. There’s nothing worse, she thought, than being hidden and not knowing whether somebody is standing right next to you, or even looking down at you, wondering what those peculiar shapes under the sacking might be.

And as for Sam, he was busy trying to keep Biscuit still. The little dog had started off being quite happy under the sacks, but now he was showing signs of having had enough of this peculiar game and wanting to get out. So Sam had to stroke him and tickle him under his hairy chin to keep him amused.

After some time, the sound of thumping and bumping from the hold came to an end. The sacks must now have been unloaded, and, with any luck, the pirates might sail away.

“Only a few more minutes,” Lucy whispered to Hermione. “Then we can get out and –”

She was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. They heard the door of the wheelhouse open and there were voices.

“So where do you keep your money?” asked a rough voice.

“There isn’t very much,” came Captain Foster’s voice. “I keep telling you that. Anyway, it’s not here – it’s
down below. There’s nothing in here for you.”

“Oh, yes?” came another voice, a cruel, horrible voice that sent shivers down the spine. “You seem very keen to keep us out of the wheelhouse, doesn’t he, Bert? So what are you hiding in here?”

“Nothing,” said Captain Foster quickly. “Nothing at all.”

“We’ll be the judge of that,” said the first voice. “I think that we might take a little look round, just to be sure. What do you think, Stinger?”

The pirate called Stinger grunted his agreement. “Why not, Bert? You never know your luck. That’s what I always say.”

Lucy reached out and gripped Hermione’s hand. This is the end, she thought – they’re bound to find us.

They felt the vibration of footsteps through the planks of the deck. Then they stopped.

“What’s in those sacks?” asked Bert.

“Nothing,” said Captain Foster, his voice almost breaking with fear. “They’re just old popcorn sacks.”

Bert snorted. “You should keep your ship tidier,” he said. “Just like us.”

Then Stinger spoke. “Come on, Bert,” he said. “We can’t spend all day heve. Let’s go.”

And at that point, Biscuit barked.

You couldn’t really blame Biscuit. He had been very good until then, but at last it was just too much for a dog to bear, and he barked. He had recognised the voice of one of the pirates, and he was filled with indignation. How dare these people come back on to his ship? No self-respecting dog would allow them to get away with it.

“Ah!” shouted Stinger. “I suppose you’ll be telling us that that’s the ship’s cat! Well, let’s just take a look.”

The sack covering Sam was torn off and the boy and the dog were exposed. Then, with a deft flick of the wrist, Stinger pulled the sacking off Lucy and Hermione,
and they too were revealed, crouched on the floor.

“Ah ha!” crowed Bert. “So, what have we here? Are these stowaways, my good Captain, or was you just lying to us all along?”

“Just leave them alone,” said the Captain. “You’ve got what you came for. Now leave us alone.”

Bert shook his head.

“Oh, no,” he said. “I think that we might go away with rather more than we’d expected. What do you think?”

He turned to Stinger, who was a mean-looking man with a narrow face and lips that curled downwards in a constant snarl.

“We could do with a couple of extra hands in the galley,” he said, pointing to Lucy and Hermione. “And as for that young man, he’d do fine for climbing up to the topsail. Boys like that can get places we can’t get. They loves high rigging!”

“Good idea,” said Bert. “Now let’s just tie up the good Captain here. We don’t want him getting any funny ideas about chasing us, does we?”

The children were powerless to help and Captain Foster, who did not want to do anything which could endanger the children, had no choice but to allow himself to be securely tied to his chair in the wheelhouse. Then, with a shout to the other
pirates, Bert and Stinger led the children off to the side of the ship and tossed them, as if they were sacks of popcorn, on to the deck of the waiting pirate vessel.

The children huddled together miserably on the deck while the pirates busied themselves with getting their ship under sail. Then, when they were on their way, and pulling away from the sad sight of the drifting popcorn ship, the children were led by Stinger to Bert’s cabin. Bert, it appeared, was the chief of the pirates, and he had the best cabin on board.

“Right,” said Bert, in a businesslike voice, pointing to Lucy. “You two girls are to report to the galley. You tell Mrs Bert
that you’re her assistants. It’s your new job. Now, let me see, what about pay? You always gets told your pay when you gets a new job. So, what are you landlubbers worth, eh? Ten hours work a day, at … oooh, nothing an hour, makes …”

“Nothing, boss,” said Stinger, laughing.

“Well done, Stinger,” said Bert. “You was always very good at arithmetic. Pity you’re so stupid at everything else.”

Stinger laughed. “You’re the one with the brains, Bert,” he said cheerfully. “I always knew that.”

“Thank you, Stinger,” said Bert. “That’s how I got where I am today. Brains. There’s no substitute for brains, I say.”

He turned to Sam, whose knees were knocking with fear, although he hoped it didn’t show.

“Now you, young man. What’s we got for you? Got a head for heights, have you? I hope so, because if you hasn’t, then I’m
afraid you’re going to fall in. And pirate ships never goes back. If a man falls in, then it’s the sharks for him, I’m sorry to say. I’ve seen many a man eaten by sharks, hasn’t I, Stinger?”

“Oh, yes,” said Stinger, smiling at the thought. “Old shark likes nothing better than a boy for breakfast. Or lunch, come to that.”

“So you hold on to those ropes as tight as you can,” said Bert. “Because if you doesn’t, then it’ll be as our friend Mr Stinger here says. Sharks.”

Their interview with Bert at an end, the children were led off to their new jobs.
In the galley, Lucy and Hermione met Mrs Bert, who was a large lady in a striped apron. She had false teeth, which she kept in a glass beside the pots, and whenever she wanted to taste anything, she would have to put her teeth in first. She was not unkind to the girls, and told them that if
they worked hard she would give them a piece of cake at the end of the day.

Sam was taken by one of the pirates to the mast and told to climb up and tighten some of the ropes. It was hard work, and the pirate in charge kept shouting at him when he made a mistake, but what was worst of all was the way the ship rocked backwards and forwards. When he was out on one of the cross-spars that held the sail, he could find himself dipping down towards the water at an alarming rate, only to be tipped heavenwards again before he knew where he was.

At the end of the day, Mrs Bert gave the children their meal at a table in the
galley. They were almost too tired to eat, and Lucy and Hermione were longing for the hammocks which they had been given in a little cabin off the galley. Sam had not even been given a hammock; he had been told to sleep under a table in the galley, and a blanket had been placed there for him.

“Do you think we’ll be rescued?” asked Hermione. “I can’t bear the thought of being here for the rest of my life.”

“I don’t know,” said Lucy. “I’m worried about Captain Foster. Will anybody find him in time, or will Biscuit know how to save him again? What if Biscuit can’t get into the wheelhouse – what then?”

Hermione could not answer these questions, and nor could Sam. He had fallen asleep in his chair, and it was left to the two girls to lift him up gently and put him down on his blanket on the floor.

6

Stowaway

The children were all woken up at six o’clock the next morning and set to work. Lucy and Hermione were ordered to sweep out the galley and polish all the pots and pans. Sam was set to scrubbing the deck, a
back-breaking job that seemed to go on forever.

The pirates were delighted to have somebody to do this work for them, as they all seemed to be rather lazy. Bert sat in his cabin all day giving orders, Stinger walked around checking up that everybody was carrying out these orders, and the other four pirates, who were called Bill, Ed, Charlie and Tommy, liked nothing more than to lounge about on deck, whittling pieces of wood and spitting over the side of the railings.

They were a dreadful lot, thought Sam. Charlie had scars all over his face and arms – each of them from a different fight,
he explained – and Tommy had a mouthful of blackened teeth and spiky stubble on his chin. This made him look as if he had swallowed a cactus, which wouldn’t have surprised Sam, as the pirate was always eating whatever he could lay his hands on – sugar cane, liquorice ropes and large pieces of fudge specially made for him by Mrs Bert. Bill and Ed did not look as bad as the other two, but they both had six or seven large gold rings in each ear, and this made them rattle when they walked.

Sam was allowed to take a break from his deck-scrubbing every now and then, especially when Stinger was down below and could not shout at him to work
harder. It was while he was having one of these rests, leaning against a large coil of rope, that he heard the sound that made his heart leap. It was not exactly a bark, but it sounded rather like one.

Sam turned round sharply. The sound seemed to be coming from the middle of the coil of rope and when he stood up and looked into it, his heart gave another leap. It was Biscuit! Sam put a finger to his lips and told Biscuit to keep quiet. The little dog seemed to understand, as he stopped his whining and lay down quietly where he was.

“Stay there!” Sam whispered to him. “Don’t make a sound.”

Sam looked around him. Stinger was nowhere to be seen and the other pirates seemed quite uninterested in what Sam was doing. Charlie was sharpening a knife, whistling cheerfully as he did so, and Tommy was sitting contentedly at the prow, eating a large piece of cake.