'For goodness' sake, get up and stop messing about,' said Cornelius as he went running past. 'This is serious.'
'I know that,' snapped Sebastian. 'I just didn't realize that—'
He broke off as he saw Max's huge body come lumbering out of the mouth of the alley, his head now so thoroughly encased in washing that he had no hope of finding his footing. He leaped out into empty space, and for a long time it seemed as though his impetus had given him wings. He soared for quite some distance, his legs pedalling madly as they sought to gain purchase on something substantial. Then his hooves came down onto the slippery edge of a step, his knees buckled, and he was flipped head over heels onto his back.
For a moment he seemed to stop right where he was. But then he began to slide. He came whizzing down the steps like a huge, shaggy toboggan, and Sebastian, transfixed by the sight of him, was unable to scramble out of the way. Max's haunches struck him in the legs, knocking him clean off his feet. He came crashing down, face-first, onto Max's chest, and clung in desperation to the buffalope's front legs. Once again he overtook Cornelius and the Kid, who stared in amazement as he and Max went rocketing past them. Looking back, Sebastian saw that the crowd was now spilling out from the alley and descending the steps in hot pursuit.
'Where am I?' grunted Max's muffled voice, speaking through layers of washing.
Sebastian was about to say, 'On some steps,' when, quite suddenly, Max's progress came to an abrupt halt and Sebastian was flung backwards through the air to some unknown landing place. He steeled himself for a terrible impact but felt only the shock of cold water against his back. His first thought was that he must be in the harbour, but thrashing around, he found that the water only came up to his knees and that he was in the middle of some kind of circular fountain. Standing all around the rim were some surprised-looking women, who had been doing their washing and were now soaked to the skin.
Max's back end had connected with the stone rim of the fountain, but luckily his ample layers of fat had prevented him from doing himself any real injury. He scrambled to his feet, thrashing his head madly, and Sebastian helped him to divest himself of the last of the washing. The buffalope stared around in astonishment, trying to work out how he had got here. Sebastian looked back towards the steps and saw Cornelius and the Kid descending the last of them. Behind them, the angry mob had swelled to a great crowd, all yelling and gesticulating and looking very nasty indeed.
'Where did all that lot come from?' asked Max.
'Never mind,' gasped Sebastian, scrambling over the low parapet of the fountain, hampered by the fact that the women, having recovered from their surprise, were now pelting him with handfuls of washing.
'Stop that!' he protested, but that only made it worse. He and Max joined the other two as they reached the foot of the steps.
'This is no time to go swimming,' observed Cornelius.
'Which way now?' grunted Sebastian.
'Follow me!' yelled the Kid, racing past him across the square. 'It's not far now.'
'I hate running like this,' complained Cornelius, who was sounding a little breathless. His short and rather bandy little legs were not designed for the purpose.
'How would you prefer to run?' asked Max. 'On your hands?'
'You know what I mean! Now we're on open ground, perhaps we should stand and fight.'
'Are you kidding?' gasped Sebastian. 'Have you seen how many of them there are now? Besides, we have to warn Jenna!'
Right on cue, they burst through an opening between two cottages and found the harbour straight ahead of them. They spilled down the slope onto the wooden jetty. Up ahead of them they could see Jenna, standing on the jetty, talking to the ship's carpenter.
'Jenna!' yelled Sebastian. She turned to look at him, a smile on her face; a smile that faded when she registered that he and the others were running at full tilt; a smile that disappeared completely as she looked behind them and saw what now looked like half the town racing in pursuit. She hesitated for only a moment, said something that looked very unladylike and threw the carpenter a bag of coins. Then she turned and began to run back towards the Sea Witch, shouting orders as she went. The ship's crew, already on the lookout for any sign of trouble, reacted promptly and raced up the gangplank onto the ship. On deck there was feverish activity as crewmen heaved on ropes to let out the sails.
The four friends were only a short distance from the gangplank now, and Sebastian was just thinking that they might make it to the ship when something struck him hard between the shoulder blades, pitching him forward and making him lose his footing. He hit the wooden boards, rolled awkwardly and came to a halt, lying on his back, stunned. Beside him lay the heavy cudgel that somebody had thrown with deadly accuracy.
A great cry of triumph went up from the approaching crowd, and Sebastian saw with a jolt of dismay that his friends had not noticed he had fallen. They were following Jenna up the gangplank to the safety of the Sea Witch. He sat up and turned back to face his adversaries. He had lost his sword during the pursuit and could only get wearily to his feet and stand there with his fists raised as the mob closed in on him, weapons at the ready. He saw a rather battered-looking Bones and Sully in the lead, grinning malevolently at the thought of catching at least one of their tormentors.
The mob came to a halt a short distance from him and a terrible silence descended.
'All right,' said Sebastian, trying to sound defiant. 'Who's going to be first?'
And then there was a weird bellowing sound, and something came spinning through the air above his head, a whirling blur of motion that carried a sword in either hand. There were several short, sharp screams as pirates flew in all directions, clutching at their arms, their sides, their faces. The blur stopped spinning and fell to the ground, where it revealed itself to be a little warrior called Cornelius.
He gave a mocking bow. 'That, gentlemen,' he announced, 'was called the Golmiran death leap. It's a speciality of mine.' He stooped, snatched up a fallen sword and threw it to Sebastian. 'And now we've evened up the odds a bit, who's next?' He nodded to Bones. 'You, sir?' he suggested; and then to Sully, 'What about you?'
Bones and Sully began to advance slowly, their faces grim.
'It ain't you we have the argument with,' muttered Bones.
'It's the Kid,' whispered Sully.
'What if you was to hand him over to us?' snarled Bones.
'Then there needn't be any more trouble,' added Sully.
'You can forget all that,' Sebastian told them. 'He's with us now.'
A shout came from behind them: Jenna's voice.
'Hurry aboard! We're ready to leave.'
Cornelius looked up at Sebastian. 'Off you go,' he said.
'But what about you?'
Cornelius smiled. 'I'll be along presently,' he said. 'Now go – that's an order.'
Sebastian frowned, but started to back towards the gangplank. He began to ascend it slowly, keeping his eyes on his friend.
'So,' he heard Bones say, 'it's just you and us now . . . shorty!'
Sebastian winced. Big mistake, he thought.
There was a minute of deep, deep silence. Then Cornelius went into action, his sword arm moving so fast that it became a blur of chain mail and leather. Sebastian didn't exactly see how it happened, but when the arm slowed again, both Bones and Sully were standing there looking quite ridiculous, their clothes hacked to shreds, their breeches around their ankles, Bones's hat crownless and hanging around his neck like a collar.
Sebastian stepped from the gangplank onto the deck and realized that the ship was already moving away from the quayside: that the gangplank was going to collapse at any moment. 'Cornelius!' he bellowed. 'Come on!'
Cornelius gave a mocking little bow to the crowd. 'Gentlemen,' he said. 'Until we meet again.'
Then he turned and made a dash for it, climbing the gangplank as fast as his little legs would carry him. At the last moment it fell away from the hull and Cornelius was obliged to jump, pu
mping his arms and legs to gain extra momentum. Sebastian caught his out-flung hand and hauled him across the divide as the Sea Witch pulled away into deeper water, out of reach of the bellowing crowd on the quayside.
'Wow!' said the Kid. 'You were incredible, Cornelius. You gave them a right good kicking!'
'Oh, I'm full of surprises,' said Cornelius with a grin. 'Pity I didn't have a bit more time to finish off those two rascals.' Jenna came stalking over, looking far from pleased. 'I thought I told you to keep a low profile in Lemora,' she said. 'Not to come back with half the flipping population baying for your blood. It's a good job we'd just finished the repairs when you arrived.'
'They'd heard about the Black Hand,' said Sebastian. 'They were coming down here to try to rescue the crew. We held them up a bit, otherwise they might have got here before you were ready to leave.'
'Well, if that's supposed to make me feel better, I—' Jenna broke off in alarm. The ship had quite suddenly stopped making progress and there was a terrible creaking sound, a shuddering sensation that seemed to travel the length of the hull. 'What on earth . . .?' Her eyes widened in sudden realization. 'The mooring ropes!' she cried. 'Somebody forgot to cast off!' She grabbed a discarded axe and started to run back towards the stern; but in that same instant there was a thunderous roar from behind them as the straining rope refused to stretch any further and simply pulled the side of the wooden jetty clean out from under the feet of the angry crowd. There were cries of panic, a splintering of wood, and then the whole lot of them were tipped into the cold grey water of the harbour.
Sebastian and the Kid laughed delightedly but Jenna lifted a hand to cover her forehead in a gesture of despair.
'Oh, perfect,' she observed. 'Good work, boys. Now every pirate in Lemora will be after us.'
'Load up the cannon,' suggested Cornelius gleefully. 'We'll sink all the other boats in the harbour while we've got the chance.'
'I don't think so,' Jenna told him. 'I vote we simply put as much distance between us and them as possible.' She turned away, shouting to Lemuel, 'Full speed ahead! Put on extra sail if we need to. I want to be far away from here!' She handed him the axe. 'And for goodness' sake cut the mooring rope before we find ourselves towing half of the jetty behind us.'
'Aye, aye, Captain,' said Lemuel, and hurried away.
Sebastian took the opportunity to lean against the rail and get his breath back while he studied the floundering people who were trying to pull themselves back up the tumbled wreckage of the jetty.
'So that was Lemora,' he said. 'Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to stay.' He glanced at the Kid. 'I thought you told me you had plenty of friends back there.'
'I did, until a short while ago. Must have fallen in with the wrong crowd, I guess.' He shrugged. 'I suppose they all think I've gone over to the other side.'
'I rather think they may be right,' said Cornelius with a knowing smile.
'One thing's for sure,' said the Kid. 'Trencherman's an even bigger villain than I thought. It was his idea to get rid of my dad. If I ever see his ugly face again, he'd better be ready to fight. And he'll get no mercy from me.'
'Good lad,' murmured Cornelius. 'You were right to harbour suspicions about that slimy toad.'
Max was gazing glumly over the side of the boat. 'Well, at least they haven't put me back down in that stinking hold,' he said. 'I'm up here breathing the fresh air and everything.'
'Right,' said Sebastian. 'So why the long face?'
Max shrugged his huge shoulders. 'I'm starving,' he said. 'What time's din-dins?'
The Sea Witch sped onwards across the shimmering depths of the ocean, heading due south from Lemora and rapidly shortening the distance between herself and the mysterious island where, according to the ancient chart, the pirate treasure was hidden.
CHAPTER 24
SHIPS IN THE NIGHT
They sailed south for five days and five nights and saw little else but the unending stretch of restless ocean. Occasionally some massive sea beast would rise from the deep, blasting out great plumes of water, then sink back again without a trace. But other than that, life was tedious and Sebastian found himself looking forward to being back on dry land. Every night Jenna would come up on deck to take readings from the stars with the quarterstaff; then she and Lemuel would return to her cabin and huddle over their charts, making intricate measurements and conferring in whispers.
On the morning of the sixth day Jenna called Sebastian and Cornelius down to her cabin and told them that if she and Lem had made their calculations correctly, they should come upon the island by late that afternoon. Sebastian was very excited by the news, though Cornelius played it down, as though he found treasure islands every day of his life.
However, Sebastian noticed that, from midday onwards, the little warrior stationed himself in the ship's prow and didn't budge from there. Down on the main deck, Max, who could usually be relied upon to make irritating conversation at such times, was unusually silent, as though he too was waiting for a glimpse of land. But the afternoon came and went, twilight descended upon the Sea Witch, and still they found nothing. To add to their problems, a thick sea mist rose up around them and they were more or less sailing blind.
Cornelius finally gave up his vigil and announced he was going down to the cabin to study the chart. Sebastian told him he'd be along in a little while, but in fact, the stuffy confines of the cabin were not an option at the moment. A terrible restlessness had come over him, mounting steadily through the day, and he was now in a state of high excitement. So he continued to pace the deck, wrapped in a long cloak against the evening chill. There was a strange calm – hardly a breath of wind – and the Sea Witch was moving at a much slower pace than usual. Everywhere was silent save for the creak of ropes and the faint splash of waves breaking against the prow. He walked along the main deck and climbed the steps to the bow, where he strained his eyes staring into the thick, undulating banks of fog up ahead, but he could see nothing. Looking up, he could just make out the figure of a sailor crouched up in the crow's nest, who was no doubt in a much better position to see something if it was out there. Any moment he might give a cry of 'Land ho!' but the time passed and he remained silent.
Not for the first time, Sebastian wondered if the treasure map that Cornelius had paid five gold crowns for was genuine. Maybe the island was a figment of somebody's imagination. Maybe it was some elaborate practical joke. How long would they go on sailing south before Jenna concluded that the island they were seeking simply wasn't there?
Sebastian was walking back towards the stern when he noticed the big shaggy shape of Max looming out of the fog. The buffalope was backing carefully up against the rails, trying to manoeuvre his huge rear end over the top of them. Sebastian approached, smiling.
'What are you doing?' he asked.
Max looked startled and then vaguely sheepish. 'What do you think I'm doing?' he snapped. 'I'm trying to have a quiet poo. I thought I was alone,' he added primly.
'But why bother?' persisted Sebastian. 'Just do it on the deck – somebody will come along and shovel it over the side.'
Max shook his head. 'I'm not running the risk of upsetting Captain Swift. She's had it in for me ever since I came on board.'
'Oh, Jenna's not that bad. You must admit it is a bit strange having a buffalope wandering around the deck of a ship.'
'What's so strange about it?' persisted Max. 'As a member of this expedition, I feel I have every right to be here.'
'I'm not saying you don't. But you can see her point of view, surely? A great clumsy beast, wandering the decks, getting in everyone's way. It's not ideal, is it?'
Sebastian Darke: Prince of Pirates Page 18
