Explosive Adventures (3 page)

Then, when everything was ready, Lucy, Hermione, and Sam set off for the harbour, wearing their new sailors’ outfits and carrying their bags of provisions.

“Welcome aboard!” said Captain Foster from the top of the gangway. Biscuit, who was standing beside him and who was very pleased at the prospect of more company on the voyage, gave a loud bark of delight.

The whole island had turned out to wave them goodbye, and as the ship slipped out of the harbour, the three children stood on the deck and waved and waved until their arms could wave no longer. The people on the shore were smaller now, and soon they were no more than dots.

Lucy looked at Hermione. Her friend was always very brave, and this made her
feel brave too, but now, as they faced the open sea, the thought of pirates made her shiver.

“I hope we don’t see the pirates,” she confessed to her friend. “I’m a little bit scared.”

Hermione smiled. “So am I,” she whispered back. “But let’s try not to show it! We wouldn’t want Sam to know.”

Sam, who was standing next to Biscuit, turned and whispered into the dog’s ear.

“I’m rather frightened, Biscuit,” he said under his breath. “But please don’t tell the girls.”

Biscuit wagged his tail and gave a bark. He wasn’t in the slightest bit afraid of
pirates, and if they showed their faces around the popcorn ship again, they were going to get a very nasty surprise from him!

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Unwelcome Visitors

They had set sail in the mid-afternoon and by the time they lost sight of land it was almost sunset. They had had a busy few hours, unpacking their bags and slinging up their hammocks down below, and now Captain Foster was telling them their duties.

“The night is divided into watches,” he said. “A watch will be four hours long and you’ll have one watch each. You’ll start, Sam, because you’re the youngest, and then it’ll be Lucy and Hermione, one after the other. That’ll take us through to morning.”

“What do we do?” asked Sam. “Do we steer the ship?”

“No,” said Captain Foster. “I’ll put down the sea anchor later on and we’ll switch off the engine. So all you’ll have to do is keep a good lookout for any other ship. If you see anything, come down and wake me up.”

“It could be pirates, you see,” explained Hermione, making everybody shiver slightly as she mentioned the word.

Sam nodded. If there were going to be pirates, he very much hoped that they would come in somebody else’s watch.

They had dinner together, eating two of the pies which Hermione’s father had made. It was dark now, and everybody felt lonely and far from home. The sea around them was gentle, with only the smallest of waves, and the sky above was a great dome of stars. You feel bigger on land, thought Lucy. Out here you feel very, very small.

The best place for the watch was right at the front of the ship. Sitting there in the darkness, one would see the lights of
any approaching ship and there would be plenty of time to wake Captain Foster. Sam felt very nervous during his watch, but nothing happened while he was up there and eventually the time came for him to go off to wake his sister. He felt very proud of himself, and very pleased that his duties were over.

Lucy took some time to wake up, but eventually she struggled out of her hammock and made her way up on deck. The hours seemed to pass very slowly, but at last she too was finished, and it was Hermione’s turn.

Nothing at all happened that night, and the children were beginning to feel a bit
more confident by the time that Captain Foster got up and started the engines again. Soon they were ploughing through the sea once more, with a fresh wind behind them helping them on their way, and wonderful-smelling breakfast sizzling away on the cooker.

After breakfast, they again took it in turns to sit up on deck and keep a lookout. Other ships were sighted now, but each time that Captain Foster was called he looked through his telescope and shook his head.

“Banana boat on the way from Barbados,” he would say. Or, “Pleasure yacht from Florida, going over to the Caymans.”

There was no sign of the pirates, and everybody began to think that the last time they had struck it had just been bad luck. Perhaps that was the last they had heard from them, and the pirates would just be a bad memory.

Then, shortly after lunch, while Sam was keeping lookout, he gave an excited shout.

“Captain!” he called. “A ship off to starboard, coming our way, I think!”

Captain Foster came out of the wheelhouse and put his telescope to his right eye. Lucy and Hermione strained their eyes to see too, but the ship was too far away and it still looked no more than a black smudge on the horizon.

Captain Foster lowered his telescope and frowned.

“I don’t like the look of that,” he said. “I can’t be certain – it’s still a bit far away – but I’m going to increase our speed a little and change our course by a few degrees. You keep a very close watch on her, will you?”

He passed the telescope to Lucy and pointed in the direction of the distant ship.

“Let me know the moment she does anything unusual,” he said. “I’ll be in the wheelhouse.”

Lucy took the telescope and trained it on the other ship. She could make out a
bit more now, but it was still very far away. As she did so, she heard the note of the ship’s engine change slightly as Captain Foster increased speed.

For the next fifteen minutes, the children kept an eye on the distant ship. It seemed to be on the same course as
themselves, they thought, and very slowly it was getting closer. They were now able to make out its masts, and at one point Lucy thought that she could see one or two people on the deck.

“Go and tell Captain Foster that it’s following us,” Lucy said to Sam.

Sam passed on the message and Captain Foster came up on deck and took the telescope from Lucy. He studied the other ship for a few moments, and then lowered the telescope.

“It’s them,” he said. “I recognise their ship!”

“Can’t we go any faster?” asked Hermione. “Can’t we just sail away from them?”

Captain Foster sighed. “I’m going full speed as it is,” he said. “But they’ve got a pretty stiff wind behind them and they’re gaining ground.”

The children looked at Captain Foster in dismay. Did this mean that the pirates would catch them? And if they did, what then? Would they all be tied to the mast, as the pirates had done to Captain Foster the last time? Or might they even change their minds and make them walk the plank?

Captain Foster saw how worried the children were, and he tried to reassure them.

“We’re not beaten yet,” he said. “You stay up here. I’m going to go down below
and see if I can tinker with the engines to get a bit more speed. Lucy, just take the wheel for me, will you?”

Ten minutes later, Captain Foster came up on deck again. The pirate ship was a bit closer now, and it was possible to make out the rigging on its high masts and see the distant fluttering of its black flag. Captain Foster looked at the approaching ship and herded the children into the wheelhouse. Then he addressed them gravely, as a captain might before his ship goes down.

“It looks as if they’re going to catch us,” he said. “I have a duty to make sure that
you people are not harmed. So what you are going to do is hide, all three of you, and Biscuit too. I don’t want him making any trouble with the pirates.”

“But what about you?” asked Lucy. “We can’t just let you face them alone.”

“It will be far better that way,” said Captain Foster. “They’ll take the popcorn and then they’ll probably tie me up, the same as before. But once they’ve got back on to their ship, you can come out and set me free. It’s the best thing to do, as far as I can see.”

The children had to agree, although they all felt that they were rather letting Captain Foster down. He showed them
to their hiding place, which was at the back of the wheelhouse, under a pile of old popcorn sacks. If they stayed quite still, then none of the pirates would dream of looking in a dusty old pile of sacking. They should be perfectly safe.

“Right,” said Captain Foster briskly. “In you get. Stay absolutely quiet and don’t make any movements, whatever happens. And if anybody wants to do any sneezing, you’d better do it now!”

Lucy and Hermione fitted under one sack, and Sam and Biscuit under another. Then Captain Foster stood back and checked to see that they were properly hidden.

“Good work,” he said. “Now remember what I said about staying still.”

The children did not have long to wait. Ten minutes later they heard a shout from above and a jolt ran through the ship.

“They’re coming aboard,” whispered Hermione. “The pirates are here!”

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