by Tony Main
‘I’ve been looking for one of these,’ she said, and struck the trunk several times with the machete. Low booms reverberated through the forest.
‘I’m telling Kgochu we’re on our way,’ she explained.
Watching the sun climb higher, Kgochu heard the distant sound floating through the trees and punched the air with relief.
‘It’s Inti! She’s found them! You’ll be safe on board your ship this afternoon,’ he announced, as Ruth and Ryan hugged him with delight.
Misty’s crew fretted all the more as the morning wore on. Preparing the ship for sea had occupied them the previous day, but they had spent much of the night prowling the deck, straining to catch the first sound of Inti’s canoe. All the provisions had been loaded despite the delay of attending to Doc. Now there was nothing to do but wait.
Doc had missed breakfast and was still sleeping when Skeet and Waff called to see how he was feeling. Waff frowned and gently shook the owl awake.
Doc struggled to sit up. ‘I’m so sorry! Trust me to make a mess of things,’ he whispered.
‘On the contrary,’ replied Skeet, ‘you saved us a lot of meals.’
Waff inspected Doc’s rapidly swelling eye and felt his fevered brow. ‘And taken some nasty punches doing so,’ he added.
‘The fact is I cause you nothing but trouble,’ murmured Doc, and fell asleep again.
‘I’ve never heard Doc apologise for anything, let alone for something that actually wasn’t his fault,’ said Skeet as they closed the cabin door.
Waff nodded. ‘I don’t like it,’ he said. ‘Something’s wrong.’
The Cook served lunch at noon, but despite the luxury of fresh food, little was eaten. Skeet pushed his plate aside impatiently and strode to Capt. Albern.
‘Can I ask one of the locals to take me up river? At least I might learn something,’ he begged.
The sea otter continued to pace the deck. ‘Patience! Mr. Skeet,’ he eventually replied, rubbing his eyes after a sleepless night. ‘We must hold our nerve and give them time.’
Skeet stared up the river, then yet again set to checking Misty was ready to sail, though it was the third time he had done so that morning. Along the waterfront, lounging groups of men eyed the ship curiously, wondering why, though freshly provisioned and the crew waiting to sail, she remained at anchor. Outside the “Golden Nugget”, Pablo Martinez slumped in his deck chair squinting at Misty’s crowsnest, where a small boy and a harvest mouse stared up river. He thought he knew who they were looking for. He shrugged, and fingering the coins in his pocket, pulled the brim of his hat over his eyes.
Kgochu ran into his sister’s arms the moment she pushed through the trees, closely followed by Chad. Ruth and Ryan stepped forward to greet the first of their rescuers, but Chad, after dubiously eying the branches overhanging the canoe, shot straight past them and into the boat. Ancell limped towards them.
‘I don’t know who you are or why you’ve come, but thank you,’ said Ruth.
‘He’s a dreaming hedgehog who gets lost in jungles,’ volunteered Chad from the bottom of the canoe.
‘You were leading!’ retorted Ancell, climbing in beside him.
‘Can we get out of these trees and into open water?’ Chad implored Inti.
Ruth and Ryan climbed into the bow with Kgochu, and Inti pushed off, only needing her paddle to steer as the fast running water swept them down river.
Chad relaxed. ‘Am I glad to be back on a boat again! How long to Misty?’
‘Only an hour with the stream’ said Inti. ‘When will you be leaving?’
‘Will you and Kgochu be safe now?’
‘I’ll make sure of that.’
‘Then we’ll sail right away,’ said Chad with a sigh of relief, and closed his eyes.
Ancell glanced to the bow where Ruth and Ryan were chatting to Kgochu. He could hardly believe that the rescue had been a success. Just an hour and they would all be safely onboard Misty. He turned to congratulate Chad, but cradled in the gently rocking canoe, the rat was already snoring. Resisting the temptation to dig him in the ribs, he eased his aching leg and dozed.
Inti smiled as she listened to Kgochu telling Ruth and Ryan about what he was looking forward to now he was free, then tensed as they swept round a sharp bend, narrowing her eyes at a rowing boat pushing off from the far shore.
‘Get down! Lay in the bottom of the boat!’ she ordered them urgently. Chad and Ancell started awake.
‘What’s happening?’ grunted Chad.
‘Laughing Jack’s men,’ said Inti grimly, and Ancell’s heart sank.
Chad cursed. ‘Of course! He’d know our only way of escape was down the river.’
‘If we can get to the bank we could hide in the forest,’ suggested Ancell.
Chad peered over the side. There were two men rowing hard and they were closing fast.
‘We’d never make it,’ he said, ‘and anyway I’d rather fight than step in there again.’
Ancell felt Ruth trembling and saw the fear in Ryan and Kgochu’s eyes.
‘It’s me Laughing Jack most wants,’ he called to Inti. ‘If I give myself up maybe they won’t bother with the rest of you.’
‘Don’t talk rubbish. We fight together,’ muttered Chad.
Inti ignored them. ‘We still have one advantage. I know the river and they don’t. All of you lay quiet. Stay down, Kgochu, but have your paddle ready.’
Kgochu nodded and Inti paddled slowly towards the shore where the river swirled and eddied. The pirates drew within hailing distance.
‘Stop paddling! We want to look in your boat,’ one shouted.
Inti glanced toward the shallows and allowed the canoe to drift.
‘There’s only me and a few fish,’ she replied with a shrug.
The men rowed close alongside. Inti waited while they shipped their oars and one reached to grab the canoe.
‘Go!’ she shouted to Kgochu and paddled hard.
Kgochu jumped up and paddled with all his might as the cursing pirates, fumbling for their oars, gave chase.
Chad peeped up. ‘You’ve got twenty yards start on them, but they’re catching up,’ he warned.
Inti measured the distance to the turbulent water ahead and glanced behind her.
‘Stop paddling and lay down!’ she shouted to Kgochu, and rested her paddle.
Chad stared at her in dismay as, rowing hard, the pirates closed fast. The canoe picked up speed as it neared the rapids. Inti suddenly plunged her paddle deep in the water. The canoe slowed, slewing dangerously and nearly turning over. Chad glimpsed the rowing boat race past them, one man ceasing to row and grabbing a musket.
‘Get down!’ he yelled at Inti.
Inti sat firm, steering the canoe through the seething waters. Then the rowing boat hit the mud bank. It lurched violently as the marksman fired and the oarsman screamed as the shot ripped into his shoulder. Ancell glanced up to see the boat tossed along the riverbed and eventually capsize. Two heads floundered in the water.
‘You can get up now,’ said Inti, calmly paddling to safety.
Chad stared at her admiringly. ‘You can sure handle a boat,’ he said.
‘As no doubt you can your ship,’ Inti replied.
Chad laughed. ‘We don’t steer into rapids or at mud banks. That’s scary!’
‘I expect the ocean can be frightening.’
‘It can be dangerous, but given proper respect it will serve you well.’
‘Same as our forest then. You would not fear it if you understood it. It provides all we need – food, medicines, protection, and it is very beautiful.’
‘Not to me!’
Inti smiled. ‘If you spent a week sleeping out in it with Kgochu and me we could teach you all about it,’ she teased.
Chad shuddered. ‘Just get me to Misty
and my comfortable bunk before a hungry anaconda swims alongside,’ he pleaded.
Ancell listened to their chatter, his heart still pounding, astounded at their composure. He pointed to the two heads increasingly disappearing below the muddy water.
‘What about them?’ he quavered.
‘Looks like they’re drowning,’ said Chad without a trace of compassion.
‘And when they do, the piranhas love meat,’ added Kgochu cheerfully. ‘They hunt in packs, so if you see the water boiling with blood you’ll know they’ve found them. Nothing cuts like a piranha’s teeth. We use them to sharpen our darts.’ Ancell hastily looked away.
The river swept round a long bend and Inti pointed. ‘There’s your ship,’ she said.
Ruth and Ryan quickly scrambled to the bow as Misty came into view.
‘She’s lovely,’ murmured Ruth.
‘None better!’ said Chad proudly.
Merrie and Truename’s vigil in the crowsnest was rewarded when they spied Inti’s canoe and yelled the good news. Within seconds both the children and the crew were climbing the rigging to see for themselves. Skeet resisted the urge to follow and remained at Capt. Albern’s side.
‘Are you certain it is Inti?’ called the captain, ‘and how many on board?’
‘Certain!’ shouted Merrie. ‘There’s a boy and a girl in the bow and another small boy standing up who’s…’
‘Can you see Chad and Ancell?’ interrupted Skeet
‘They’re sitting with Inti.’
Skeet whooped and jigged about the deck while Capt. Albern bowed his head in a silent prayer of thanks. ‘Prepare to sail Mr Skeet. We need to get out of here fast,’ he instructed.
Ruth and Ryan climbed aboard and Truename joyfully introduced them to Max, Sassy and Chantal, then they all leaned over the rail shouting their thanks to Inti and Kgochu.
Ancell interrupted Capt. Albern’s steady stream of orders. ‘Inti’s done so much for us. Can we give her something, maybe some money?’ he asked.
The sea otter frowned. ‘Money would be discourteous, even insulting, but she and Kgochu might like some books. Ask Doc.’
After searching the deck, Ancell eventually found the owl dozing on his bunk.
‘What are you doing down here?’ he demanded. ‘Don’t you realise we’ve rescued the children and we’re about to sail?’
Doc rose stiffly and Ancell noticed the bandage and his badly bruised face.
‘Whatever happened to you?’ he asked.
Doc shrugged. ‘It was my own fault.’
‘Have you some books we could give to Inti and Kgochu?’
‘I suppose they could have this,’ muttered Doc glumly, handing over a volume. ‘It’s of no interest to me now that I’ve been denied an opportunity to see for myself. Do you realise I’m the only explorer to have stood within yards of that magnificent rain forest and not been allowed inside? I suppose you didn’t think to bring me back some interesting specimens?’
Ancell glanced at the cover. ‘As they live there, I don’t think “The Flora and Fauna of the Amazon Basin” will be of much interest to them.’
‘If the skipper stopped off in Africa I could look for some specimens there,’ mused Doc.
Ancell impatiently picked a large illustrated encyclopaedia from Doc’s trunk. ‘Can I take this?’
Doc sighed. ‘If you must, but tell them to look after it,’ he grumbled.
Ancell carefully lowered the book in a bucket. Kgochu immediately opened it and looked up with delight.
‘A token of our thanks,’ Ancell called.
Inti smiled. ‘And we thank you. At last Kgochu and I are together again.’
It was a delicate manoeuvre easing Misty round to face downstream without the river sweeping her backwards and out of control, but at last the sails were unfurled, and at the helm Tam smiled as she gained steerage. Inti and Kgochu called their best wishes for a safe passage home and the crew joined the children at the rail to wave goodbye. Then Misty picked up speed, and hard as Kgochu and Inti paddled, left them far behind.
Washed along by the current Misty soon covered the distance it had taken her days to battle upstream. She heeled to a sudden gust of wind and Ancell, still standing at the stern waving goodbye, glanced aloft to see brooding clouds massing and behind them the sky turn black. Chad leaned on the rail beside him as lightning flashed above the forest and thunder rumbled.
‘Laughing Jack’s getting wet,’ mused Ancell.
‘We won’t!’ answered Chad. ‘Forget Laughing Jack and look ahead.’
Ancell looked over Misty’s bow. The Amazon estuary was opening into the sea. Sunlight bathed the horizon and in the distance the blue Atlantic sparkled.
Laughing Jack listened to the rain drumming on the camp roof and watched the trees bend under the onslaught of the deluge. The eerie boom of Inti’s signal echoing through the jungle had sounded ominous and he stared into the deepening gloom with an increasing sense of unease. The children had escaped, and he had failed to kill Ancell and Chad. There was no report from the men sent downriver, two of his crew were dead, four barely able to move, and Scarletta had mysteriously disappeared.
‘Get the crew on board. We’re sailing,’ he snarled at his first mate.
The man hesitated. ‘What about the wounded ones?’ he dared to ask.
‘Get them on board or leave them,’ snapped Laughing Jack, ‘we won’t be coming back.’
The storm intensified as “The Executioner” nosed downstream. A bolt of lightning ripped into the trees close by and the crew threw themselves to the deck, covering their ears at the simultaneous crack of thunder. Laughing Jack stood at the helm staring seaward through the curtains of rain. Water streaming from his contorted face, he raised his fist to the heavens.
‘Rage all you will,’ he screamed. ‘Blow me to Albern’s ship, and if that dreaming hedgehog is on board so much the better, for I’ll scour the oceans until I hunt them down. And when I do, Albern will feel the pain of my lash. And when I’ve flogged the life out of him I’ll send his ship and all who sail in her to the bottom. No one defies Laughing Jack!’
He regained his breath, then ordered the crew to set more sail, and laughed.
Chapter 12
Ruth and Ryan’s first day at sea was one of such wonder and excitement they did not even notice the coast of Brazil dip below the horizon. The Cook slid a second fried egg onto their breakfast plates in celebration of their escape. Skeet whisked them to Capt. Albern’s cabin, where Misty’s master formally welcomed them on board. Then Truename, Sassy, Chantal and Max led them round the ship to meet every one of the crew. Pickle offered to recite his epic poem, but Jobey said it was of no interest to anyone not named Pickle. Chips cautioned them to keep upwind of Waff’s pipe, and Waff warned them not to believe a word of the tales Chips told. Tam and Thom stood awkwardly while Sassy introduced them as the two best helmsmen in the world.
‘She’s a good ship,’ said Tam.
‘Sails herself,’ said Thom.
‘And I’m your tutor,’ announced Doc, barging in on the conversation. ‘Classes from tomorrow.’
Ryan frowned. ‘Classes?’
‘You never had the opportunity to go to school, so the skipper asked me to teach you the little I can,’ explained Doc. ‘And now if you’ll excuse me I must prepare your next lessons.’
Merrie watched the chattering group move from one member of the crew to the next. It seemed he counted as neither crew nor classmate. ‘I don’t care,’ he muttered, and climbed to the crowsnest where he stared fixedly at the horizon through watering eyes. However he quickly returned to the deck when Truename joined him to explain that they wished to present him last because he was the only stowaway on board and was therefore of special importance.
Ancell joined the crew gathering round Skeet as he unrolled a chart on t
he quarterdeck one evening to show the children the course they would be sailing.
‘This is where we are now, and this is where we’ll make landfall,’ he said, pointing to Misty’s position and to the English Channel.
Ryan looked up at the sails barely filling in the faintest of breezes.
‘How long will it take?’ he asked. ‘There’s not much wind.’
‘Fifty days, given a decent passage. You’ll feel some wind once we pick up the northeast trade winds, then we’ll work our way through the calms of the horse latitudes and past the Azores to meet the westerlies which will see us home.’
‘Azores?’
‘Islands off the coast of Portugal.’
‘Which is where we’ll probably suffer the same fate as the “Mary Celeste”, added Jobey darkly.
‘A ghost ship that sails thereabouts,’ Chips informed the children.
Sassy laughed. ‘Is this another of your “Flying Dutchman” stories? We never saw him.’
‘Lucky for you! He probably sailed by in the night,’ retorted Chips.
‘So, what’s this story?’ demanded Max.
‘No point in telling you if you’re not going to believe me,’ grumbled Chips.
‘But he’s going to anyway,’ said Waff with a sigh.
‘It is well documented,’ emphasised Chips, ‘that in 1872, the brigantine “Mary Celeste” was found abandoned, all sail set. Her rowing boat was missing, and her crew never found.’
‘It’s true. What happened remains a mystery to this day,’ confirmed Skeet.
‘And I knew a sailor who had seen her apparition,’ continued Chips, ‘a hollow-eyed wretch who never got a wink of sleep to the day he died.’
‘Which is open to debate,’ suggested Skeet.
Chips ignored the interruption and eyed the children sombrely. ‘So, should she appear one moonlit night, avert your eyes unless the same fate befalls the lot of you.’
‘I know what happened,’ said Waff. ‘The ship’s carpenter would never stop talking and the crew were so maddened by his incessant chatter they threw themselves overboard.’
