“All right,” grumbled DeWulf, rising to his feet. “But I don’t see how—”
“They’re coming!” shouted McPherson, soaking wet, running around the rocks from his lookout post on the beach. “I saw ’em just now in a flash of lightning, riding a wave over the reef. Looks like they’re struggling.”
O’Neal was on his feet, running around the rock, followed by the others. In a moment they were on the beach, surf surging to their knees, then waists, almost knocking them over. They peered into the driving rain. There was a flash of lighting.
“There!” shouted McPherson, pointing.
The others saw the boat then, sliding down the face of a huge wave, its oarsmen rowing frantically. Then the lightning was gone, and the boat disappeared.
“This way,” shouted O’Neal, running toward the area of the beach where the boat had been headed. Another flash, and he picked it up again; it was riding the last push of the wave surging onto shore, spinning sideways and leaning, but still upright.
As he sprinted toward it, O’Neal smiled grimly. He’d been right.
Nererzza had made it.
CHAPTER 57
PRISONERS
SHINING PEARL CLUNG TO THE white starfish wrapped in wet seaweed as she and the others struggled through the mud, which was ankle-deep and getting deeper every minute in the torrential rain. She followed Nibs, who led the way; behind them came Slightly, Little Scallop, then Curly, Tootles, and, well back, the twins.
It was very dark, and the windblown rain was coming down so hard that the fat drops actually hurt. The children held banana leaves over their heads, but these gave them little relief from their misery as they slogged along the water trail toward the place where it met the mountain trail.
Nibs stopped so suddenly that Shining Pearl nearly bumped into him.
“What is it?” she said.
“I heard shouting ahead,” he said. “Maybe the shipwrecked sailors. Everybody keep quiet.”
“What are we going to do?” said Slightly.
“You’re all going to stay here while I go have a look,” said Nibs.
“I’m going with you,” said Shining Pearl.
“Oh, all right,” said Nibs. He tried to sound reluctant, but Shining Pearl could tell he was glad to have company.
The others huddled under a tree as Nibs and Shining Pearl crept ahead. Now they could both hear shouting over the sound of the rain and crashing waves. They rounded a curve; the trail now overlooked a beach, but they couldn’t see anything in the darkness.
A bolt of lightning struck the jungle nearby, and suddenly the beach was filled with brilliant light. It lasted only two seconds, but that was long enough for Nibs and Shining Pearl to see the boat rocking in the surf, with men struggling to hold it steady. Other men were unloading a large, obviously heavy crate. Three other crates sat farther up the beach.
The lightning flickered out. The two children stood for a moment in stunned silence, broken by Shining Pearl.
“We need to tell Father,” she said. “He’ll want to know about this. I wonder what’s in those boxes.”
“Maybe we can find out,” said Nibs. “Let’s get a little closer.”
Shining Pearl thought about that. Maybe if she found out what the men were up to, her father wouldn’t be so angry at her for leaving the village at night.
“All right,” she said. “But be careful.”
They crept closer, reaching a clump of trees just above where the boxes sat. They waited in the rainy darkness for another flash of lightning.
When it came, they both gasped. They could see some of the men clearly now, and three of them were castaways—the same men who had boarded Hook’s ship and sailed off.
Another lightning flash. Shining Pearl grabbed Nibs’s arm and pointed. Farther down the beach, two men were talking. One of them was the huge African, Cheeky O’Neal. The children looked at each other.
All four castaways had returned to the island.
Why?“We need to tell Father now,” whispered Shining Pearl.
They were about to leave the protection of the trees when there was another flash of lighting.
“Oh no!” whispered Shining Pearl, pointing. Little Scallop and the other children were coming toward them, the lightning making them clearly visible on the path.
“What are they doing?” whispered Nibs.
“They must have gotten worried about us,” said Shining Pearl. “Let’s just hope we can get to them before …”
Too late. A series of brilliant lightning flashes turned the nighttime into daylight. From the beach, a man shouted, then another. The children had been spotted. Suddenly a half-dozen men were sprinting toward them. The children turned to flee, but it was too late. Shining Pearl started toward them, but Nibs gripped her arm, keeping her hidden behind the trees. She watched helplessly as the men pulled her sister and the others off the path onto the beach, prisoners now.
The children were dragged up to Cheeky O’Neal and Nerezza. They recognized O’Neal from his stay on the island, but recoiled when a lightning flash revealed Nerezza’s face, and the wooden beak strapped to it. Peter had told them stories about a vicious sea captain with no nose.
O’Neal scowled at the children. “You should have minded your own business,” he said.
“You know them?” said Nerezza.
“I do,” said O’Neal. He pointed at Little Scallop. “That’s one of the chief’s daughters.”
Nerezza thought about that. He stepped toward the soaked, terrified children. “I should kill the lot of you right here,” he snarled. “But you might come in handy. Especially you.” He pointed at Little Scallop. “Tie ’em together!” he barked. “Then hide the boat. We’d best get off the beach before more trouble shows up.”
The crew made quick work of it. They tied the children together, then hauled the launch up the beach and concealed it in a ravine. They checked to make sure the rain had erased all traces of their activities from the sand. Then they lashed the crates to poles and headed off, two men per crate, and two more herding the string of children. Nerezza and O’Neal walked in the lead.
From their hiding place, Shining Pearl and Nibs watched the caravan head into the jungle, in the direction of the mountain trail. When they were sure the men had gone, they stepped out.
“We should have done something!” said Shining Pearl.
“Such as?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted.
“Well, I do,” he said. “We get to the village and tell your father. They’re heading for the mountain. We can take the shortcut to the other side of the mountain trail. From there, there’s nothing between us and the village. They’ll be well behind us.”
Shining Pearl knew this was a good plan, though she didn’t want to say so.
“All right,” she said, starting for the jungle. At the very least, she intended to go first.
CHAPTER 58
VISITORS
FIGHTING PRAWN PACED ANXIOUSLY around the fire ring. The hot rocks steamed from the rain.
“Did you check the food cave?” He spoke in the Mollusk language, grunts and clicks that could convey many subtle meanings.
“We did.”
His son, Bold Abalone, did the talking for the group of six warriors, all nervously watching their angry chief.
“The mermaids?” he snapped.
“Have not seen either of them.”
“The boys?”
“They are also missing. Their hut is empty, and so is their underground hideout.”
“Which means they’re probably with the girls, leading them into mischief.”
Bold Abalone said nothing. Everyone knew it was usually Shining Pearl leading the boys into mischief, but Fighting Prawn wouldn’t want to hear that right now.
“If I might speculate, Father?” he said cautiously.
“Yes?”
“It being your birthday tomorrow, I think it’s possible they went off in search of a gift to please you.�
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“They would have pleased me much more by obeying the rules.”
“They might have been caught in the storm,” Bold Abalone said quietly.
Fighting Prawn softened, his anger at his daughters’ disobedience far outweighed by his concern for their safety.
“Whatever they’ve done, we need to find them,” he said. “In this rain …”
He didn’t finish, but they all knew what he was thinking. When the rain was heavy, it caused problems for the wild boars that roamed the central part of the island, slowing the usually nimble creatures down, sometimes trapping them in mud holes. This in turn attracted Mister Grin, the monstrous crocodile, who in heavy rains ventured much farther inland than usual. He loved the taste of boar almost as much as he loved the taste of Captain Hook. During the last rain he’d gotten four of the creatures, their skeletons found by the Mollusks a few days later, stripped of all meat.
Mister Grin would be out hunting again tonight.
“Search the island,” Fighting Prawn said grimly. “Three groups. One on the mountain trail, one on the north water trail, one on the south. You’ll meet on the far end, by Skull Rock, and then come back up the center, if necessary, taking the smaller trails. If they show up back here, we’ll sound the conch.”
Bold Abalone stepped forward and placed a hand on his father’s shoulder.
“We will find them, Father.”
Fighting Prawn grabbed his son’s forearm with an unusually strong grip.
“You will,” he said, his voice catching in his throat.
“Chief!” a voice called out. “A ship!” Fighting Prawn turned and saw Wandering Crab, a tall warrior currently on beach watch, beckoning urgently.
With a nod Fighting Prawn sent Bold Abalone off to organize the search. He followed Wandering Crab out of the village and down onto the beach. Night and fog still shrouded the coast, but in the distance he could make out the running lights of the ship.
“It may just be a passing freighter,” he said, although he knew this was unlikely. Big ships never came near the island, which was far from any shipping lane and guarded by treacherous reefs.
“I thought so at first,” said Wandering Crab. “But it’s not passing. It’s going back and forth, just outside the reef.”
“For how long?”
“That’s its fourth pass.”
Fighting Prawn frowned. Ordinarily he would challenge any ship that came so close to the island. But he didn’t like the idea of sending out canoes in the dark, and in a storm like this.
“Perhaps it’s looking for the men who were here,” Fighting Prawn said. “The castaways. That might explain it. Maybe some of their men were picked up by this ship, and now it’s searching for other survivors.”
“Then why stay offshore?” said Wandering Crab. “Why not send a landing party?”
Fighting Prawn nodded. He didn’t like visitors in any event. He especially did not like visitors whose intentions were not clear.
“Double the watch on the beach,” he said. “If this ship is still there at first light, we send canoes. With weapons. If anything changes, I want to hear about it immediately.”
“Yes, chief.” Wandering Crab loped back toward the village to get the additional men. Fighting Prawn trudged behind, thinking about the ship, and the missing children. At the moment he could see no connection between the two. It seemed to be a coincidence.
In his long life, Fighting Prawn had learned to be very suspicious of coincidences.
CHAPTER 59
THE CAVE
CHEEKY O’NEAL STOPPED in front of the cave. Water gushed from the mouth and tumbled down the mountainside.
“It’s in there,” he told Nerezza. “About a hundred feet. The stream curves to the right, and then there’s a pool. It glows. It’s at the bottom of the pool.”
Nerezza nodded. “We’ll set up here,” he shouted to his men, the hole beneath his wooden nose whistling. “Put the crates over there. You two, put on the suits. Make sure every inch of your skin is covered, if you want to come back out of the cave.”
The men, though exhausted from climbing the mountainside in the mud and rain, set to work.
“The pool is deep,” O’Neal said quietly to Nerezza. “Fifteen, twenty feet.”
“We have rubber hoses,” said Nerezza. “They can breathe through those.”
“It won’t be easy for them, working in those suits,” said O’Neal. “And if a hose kinks while they’re down there …”
“We have more men,” said Nerezza.
“What about the children?”
Nerezza turned his attention to Little Scallop, Slightly, Curly, Tootles, and the twins. They were wet, mud-covered, exhausted, and thoroughly miserable from being half dragged, half shoved up the mountainside, tied together like mules.
“They could still be of value to us. Have the men tie them to that tree over there. Nice and tight. That way, they’ll be close at hand if we need them. If we don’t, we can deal with them later.”
“You mean let them go?”
Nerezza looked at O’Neal.
“I didn’t say that,” he said.
CHAPTER 60
ANOTHER WAY
“I DON’T THINK I CAN KEEP GOING” Shining Pearl said.
Nibs hated to admit it, but he felt the same way. The trail was a river of muck. They were sinking up to their shins; each step was an exhausting effort. In the last few minutes they hadn’t gone more than ten feet. At this rate, they could take days to reach the village.
“And,” said Shining Pearl. “There’s that.”
She pointed to a pile of brown lumps at the edge of the path. Fresh boar dung.
Nibs nodded. He’d been noticing it, too.
“If Mister Grin gets a whiff of that,” said Shining Pearl, “he’s going to come hunting.”
Nibs shuddered, thinking about the massive beast with jaws that opened wider than a man was tall. If it came prowling down this trail, with the two of them stuck in the muck …
“Father says Mister Grin can smell it for miles,” said Shining Pearl.
“Really?” said Nibs.
“Really. And he’ll come looking for it in the rain, because he knows the boars move slowly.”
Nibs stared at the dung for a moment. Then he turned around.
“What are you doing?” she said. “The village is that way.”
“Yes, but those men took our friends—and your sister—back that way, up the mountain trail.”
“Which is why,” she said, “we’re headed that way, to the village, to get help.”
“But we’re not making any progress, are we.”
“No,” admitted Shining Pearl.
“So,” said Nibs, “maybe we can get help another way.”
And then, to Shining Pearl’s horror, he bent down and scooped up a lump of boar dung.
CHAPTER 61
THE SANDAL
BOLD ABALONE STOOD ON THE BEACH, staring out into the foaming sea, holding a woven grass sandal. It had been brought to him by one of the warriors searching the edge of the jungle by torchlight.
Bold Abalone recognized the sandal. It belonged to his sister, Little Scallop. His heart was knotted in his chest. He prayed that his sister was safe on the island somewhere, not out in the raging water. He could not bear the thought of having to tell his father.
He was interrupted by a shout from one of the warriors, waving at him from down the beach. Bold Abalone sprinted to him, hoping for word of his sisters. Instead, the man told him that the searchers had found a boat.
“Show me,” said Bold Abalone.
They ran along the beach to the mouth of Fire Creek. Bold Abalone waded up the creek bed to where some men were waiting. They showed him the launch, partially covered with leaves and ferns; the rain had washed some away, enabling the searchers to spot it. It was a good-sized boat, capable of carrying a dozen men. It had obviously taken a lot of effort to drag the boat into the creek. Whoever had put it th
ere clearly did not want their presence known.
Bold Abalone ordered his men to search the jungle nearby. Then he stared at the launch, his mind swarming with questions. Who had brought the boat, and where were they now? Did this have something to do with the strange ship patrolling offshore near the village? Was it connected to the disappearance of the children?
A shout from the jungle; his men had found tracks. Bold Abalone ran to look. Like all Mollusk warriors, he was expert at reading tracks. A glance by torchlight told him that a large group had passed through recently. It included men, some of whom were carrying something heavy, causing their shoes to sink deep into the mud.
The group also included children, one of whom was missing a sandal.
Bold Abalone shouted orders. Two men were to stay and watch the launch. Two others—his fastest runners—would return to the village to inform Fighting Prawn. Bold Abalone would take his best tracker and follow the intruders up the mountain trail. As they started into the jungle, Bold Abalone thought about his sisters somewhere on the mountain, and about Mister Grin, who was likely to be prowling tonight.
Bold Abalone clutched the sandal tightly in his hand, and quickened his pace.
CHAPTER 62
THE CAVE
THE CREATURE WAS RIGHT BEHIND THEM.
Nibs and Shining Pearl could hear him coming through the jungle, his giant tail swinging back and forth, taking down full-grown trees with a single swipe.
Sometimes he roared, a sound that froze the children’s blood.
They were on the mountain trail, following the track of the men who’d come ashore on the boat. Mister Grin, in turn, was following Nibs and Shining Pearl—or, more accurately, the scent of the boar dung they were carrying. They’d each started out with an armful of the smelly lumps; Shining Pearl had tucked her precious white starfish into the pocket of her dress. They’d been hoarding the dung carefully, dropping a lump here and there, just often enough to keep the gigantic crocodile coming. The roars meant Mister Grin was getting frustrated—tired of finding boar dung, when it was flesh he craved.
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