They sailed east through calm waters. Soon Wally spotted the hulking outline of Clawfish Island in the distance. When they got a little closer, he could also see the Nine Lives anchored just offshore. The kitten pirate ship looked a lot like the Salty Bone from a distance—but Wally knew it was very different on the inside!
“Home, sweet home,” Ruby said, grinning at the kitten ship. Then she yelped in alarm as a hair ball flew straight toward her! Ruby ducked just in time, and the hair ball landed with a pluffff on the deck. Cat hair exploded into the air. More hair-ball missiles followed. The puppy pirates were under attack!
“Ready the water cannons!” Captain Red Beard barked into his megaphone. “Prepare to fire.”
“Hold your fire!” Ruby called into the night.
“It’s us, Captain!” shouted Boopsy.
“Who is us?” screeched the kitten pirate captain, Lucinda the Loud. “Announce yourself.”
“Your missing crew!” Fluffy the Claw shouted back.
“Fluffy?” Lucinda the Loud wailed. “Is that you? We’ve been waiting forever for you!”
“Aye,” sighed Fluffy the Claw. “ ’Tis me. The pirate called Fluffy the Claw. Also Moopsy, Boopsy, the girl, and—”
Lucinda the Loud interrupted him. “What are you doing on a puppy ship?”
“It’s a long story,” Fluffy the Claw cried. “Permission to board our ship?”
“Who’s asking?” she screamed.
Fluffy the Claw sighed again. “It is still I,” he said loudly, “your first mate, Fluffy the Claw.”
“You may board,” the kitten pirate captain called.
The Salty Bone drew up beside the Nine Lives. The kitten pirates were carefully moved from one ship to the other. Ruby glanced back at Henry as she left. Pete the Mighty meowed at Wally. “Thanks,” Ruby said with a shrug. “It doesn’t smell half as bad on this ship full of mutts as I would have expected.”
As the cats left the Salty Bone, Red Beard and Lucinda the Loud stared each other down. It looked like they were both expecting the other to pull a dirty trick. But the two captains honored their agreement, and all the kittens made it safely back to their ship.
Lucinda the Loud stood at the rail of the Nine Lives. “Captain Red Beard,” she shouted, “to thank you for helping my crew, I would like to offer you a reward: the promise of a temporary truce. We will not attack. Instead, we will allow you to sail away safely.”
“You will allow us to sail away safely?” Red Beard laughed. “That is not much of a reward. Those are usually shiny or golden or fancy.”
Lucinda the Loud nodded. “Fair enough. Lower your sails so that I might send over a small gift to show our appreciation.”
The promise of treasure was enough to convince Captain Red Beard. He sat and waited, while Lucinda the Loud and Fluffy the Claw prepared their gift.
A few minutes later, a small group of kitten pirates rowed back over to the Salty Bone to deliver the package. In the dinghy were Moopsy, Boopsy, Ruby, Pete the Mighty, and an old matted cat who looked like she had sailed around the world three hundred times.
Red Beard tore open the gift. Inside was a new compass. It was crusted in rubies and emeralds that shone even in the dim light of the moon. Captain Red Beard sighed happily. “This will do,” he said. He licked the compass to claim it as his own. Then he gently carried it in his mouth to the steering cabin.
Before the kitten pirates could return to their ship, Old Salt stopped them. “I think we also owe you a thank you,” he said. “We couldn’t have gotten out of that Triangle without some very good advice.” He looked at the old cat and cocked his head.
She flicked her tail at him in response. Her gaze shifted to the homemade compass that was still sitting in the center of the Salty Bone’s main deck. “I see you were paying attention to what I taught you,” she said, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Old Salt nodded. Then he lowered his head in a bow. “Aye,” he said. “That I did, Snarlin’ Sue. It’s been a long time, but there is much that I remember from your teachings.”
Wally looked from Old Salt to the old cat, Snarlin’ Sue. “Is this…,” he began. “Is this the cat who rescued you from the Triangle, Old Salt?”
“Were the two of you on a crew together when you were little?” Frosty asked eagerly.
“What happened to your ship?” wondered Spike.
“Do you know anything more about Dread Pirate Wrinkles or the ship that disappeared in the Triangle?” Recess asked Snarlin’ Sue.
Snarlin’ Sue coughed up a laugh. “Have you been telling your mates some tall tales?” she asked Old Salt.
Old Salt laughed, too.
It was strange, Wally thought. Even though Old Salt was a dog and Snarlin’ Sue was a cat, their laughter sounded exactly the same.
“Ah, they all know you shouldn’t believe anything an old pirate has to say!” Old Salt said. He winked at Snarlin’ Sue.
She winked back. Then the old cat strutted toward the ladder. “Come along, mates,” called Snarlin’ Sue to the kittens. With a farewell flick of her tail, she meowed, “There are some adventures that will have to remain our little secret…for now.”
It was an ambush! The entire kitten crew was crawling over the hillside. The cats were clearly angry, all hisses and claws. The town pups ran off, but the puppy pirates prepared for a fight.
Most of the puppy pirates, anyway. Not Spike. He just roamed in circles, shaking with terror. “What do we do? What do we do-oooo-ooooo?”
Captain Red Beard pushed to the front of his crew. He went nose to nose with the kitten captain. “We had a deal, Captain Lucinda the Loud! We no attacky you, you no attacky us.”
Lucinda the Loud hissed. “We had a deal…until your pugs broke the rules. Bad dogs! You should know better than to play catnip pranks on Moopsy and Boopsy.”
“Uh-oh,” Piggly squeaked. She and Puggly quickly backed away from the face-off. They ducked beneath a leafy bush.
“Moopsy and Boopsy?” Puggly snorted, once they were safely out of sight. She tried to hide her giggles inside her cape. “The Siamese cats are named Moopsy and Boopsy?” Laughing and sneezing, she poked her sister. “Piggly, come with me. I’ve got an idea!”
No one but Wally noticed the pugs sneak away. All eyes were on the two pirate captains.
“You’re outnumbered!” Lucinda the Loud yelled. “You have no choice but to surrender.”
“Never!” Red Beard barked. “Puppy pirates, prepare for battle!”
Erin Soderberg lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband, three adventure-loving kids, and a mischievous goldendoodle named Wally. Before becoming an author, she was a children’s book editor and a cookie inventor, and she also worked for Nickelodeon. She has written many books for young readers, including the Daring Dreamers Club and the Quirks series. Erin writes the Puppy Pirates series for her own kids, who love to read and are a big help when it comes to writing the funny stuff. Visit Erin online at erinsoderberg.com.
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Puppy Pirates #7 Page 4
