Explosive Adventures (7 page)

“There she is!” shouted Sam. “I’m sure it’s the popcorn ship.”

Lucy swung the wheel round and Hermione and Sam adjusted the sails. There was a better wind in that direction, and the ship shot forward like a rocket. Soon they were close enough to confirm that it was indeed the popcorn ship, and a few minutes after that they lowered the sails and glided slowly up to the drifting ship. Biscuit, seeing his master’s boat, was almost hysterical with excitement, and it was as much as the children could do to stop him from jumping overboard and swimming the last
little distance. Then at last they were there, and they gently nudged up to the popcorn boat and tied their ship to its side.

Captain Foster was very tired, and very thirsty. “Quick,” he said weakly, as they untied the rope around his chair. “Get me some lemonade from the cupboard.”

He drank and drank, and then ate the ship’s biscuit that they had saved for him.

“My goodness, I’m glad to see you,” he said. “I had almost given up hope.”

As the Captain recovered, they told him what had happened and revealed that the pirates were all safely tied or locked up on the ship next door.

“Well done,” said Captain Foster. “Now all we have to do is to sail back to the island and tell them that all is well.”

The last leg of the journey was not difficult. Hermione went on board the popcorn ship and Lucy and Sam stayed on the pirate ship. Biscuit, of course, stayed with his master, and kept a very close eye on him.

They sailed through the afternoon, and into the night. During the night, Lucy and Hermione flashed messages through the darkness to one another. This was very useful, as in this way Captain Foster was able to tell Lucy what to do.

“Captain Foster says you should pull your foresail in a bit,” flashed Hermione.

“Aye, aye!” Lucy flashed back.

And then, when they were nearing the island harbour, and it was still dark, Hermione was able to flash the detailed instructions on how to make their way through the tricky channels that marked the harbour entrance.

Flash
,
flash
, she signalled, which meant, “Go a little bit to starboard.”

Or,
Double flash
,
flash
,
flash
,
half-flash
, which meant, “Captain Foster says you should look out for rocks on the port side.”

Lucy made no mistakes, and when she finally brought the pirate ship safely into the harbour, Captain Foster and Hermione let out a great cheer from the popcorn
ship. Then they tied up their boats, and stepped out on to dry land.

“We’re home,” said Lucy. “I can hardly believe it, but we’ve made it.”

That morning, the news of what had happened spread round the island within minutes of sunrise. It also spread to the smaller islands, and soon people were flocking across by boat to see the captured pirate ship.

The children were terribly tired, but they were determined not to go to sleep just yet, and so they stayed down at the harbour to give their statements to the island policeman and to watch the pirates being arrested.

The pirates made a sorry spectacle. All of them, except for Ed, were covered in bits of popcorn and looked thoroughly miserable. The island policeman looked at them sternly, wrote their names in his notebook, and then put handcuffs on them to prevent them from running away.

“What will happen to them now?” Lucy asked Captain Foster.

“They’ll go to jail,” said the Captain. “And they’ll stay there until Christmas. Then, if they promise to give up piracy and take an honest job somewhere, they may be allowed to go free.”

*

And I’m happy to say, that is what they did. Every single one of them, including the dreadful Stinger, became very sorry for what they had done, and all of them got honest jobs and became decent citizens. Bert was given a job as captain of a pirate ship in a theme park (not a real pirate ship, of course), and Mrs Bert took a job making hot dogs for the visitors. Bill, Ed, Charlie and Tommy all got jobs in Hollywood as actors in pirate films, and indeed they became quite famous for this. But they never forgot their promise to be good, and in fact they gave quite a lot of money to build a home for old sailors.

And as for Stinger, well nobody thought he would ever succeed in keeping an honest job for long, but he did. He became a shark scarer at a famous beach. Whenever a shark was sighted getting too close to the swimmers, Stinger would go out in his little boat and then jump into the sea near the shark. At the sight of the dreadful Stinger, with his frightening face and his mean look, the shark would usually turn tail and flee. It was a job that suited Stinger perfectly, as he was always happy when snarling, and snarling at sharks is as snarly a job as anyone can imagine. Of course it was possible that one day he might meet a shark who wasn’t frightened of him, but
then that’s another story, and no job can be perfect in all respects.

But what about the Popcorn Islands? Well, life there returned to normal, and Captain Foster continued to carry the popcorn off to market and the islanders continued to grow it. There was one change, though. At the trial of the pirates, which took place on a much bigger, more important island, the judge declared that under the law of piracy, a pirate ship belonged to the person who captured it!

“So,” said the judge, “I now declare that the pirate ship currently lying in
the harbour of the Popcorn Islands is the property for all time, and forever hereafter and theretofore, and all the rest, of those three brave children, namely, to wit, those herewith described.”

Judges have a very grand way of speaking, and what he really meant to say was that the pirate ship now belonged to Lucy, Hermione and Sam.

They were delighted by this, and they spent a great deal of their spare time polishing the decks and making sure that everything was in good order. Then, when visitors arrived, which they did from time to time, they were given a marvellous tour of the islands by the
three children on their pirate ship. And when he had his holidays, which he now always spent on the Popcorn Islands, Captain Foster would give sailing courses in the pirate ship for all the local children.

These were great fun. At the end of each day – after a busy sail in the great ship – the children would sit on the deck with Captain Foster, and Biscuit of course, and drink lemonade. Then popcorn would be served – crisp, delicious Popcorn Island popcorn – of which no one ever gets tired. And as the sun would sink over the horizon into the sea, Captain Foster and the children would often chat about
their adventure with the popcorn pirates, and agree that it would make a wonderful story, if somebody ever cared to write it all down …

THE BUBBLEGUM TREE

1

In the Bubblegum Works

Have you ever visited a bubblegum factory? No? Neither had Billy, even though there was one right on the edge of his town. There it stood – the Better Bubblegum Works – with its tall chimney and its two very grand gates, both painted bubblegum pink.

This factory was run by a man called Mr Walter Alliwallah Pravindar Gopal, usually just called Mr Gopal, or even Walter. Mr Gopal was a well-known man in the town, and very popular with everybody. As he walked down the street, people would say, “Good morning, Mr Gopal. Fine day, isn’t it?”

Mr Gopal would beam at them in a very friendly manner and say, “Excellent day! Oh, yes it is! Very fine indeed!” And as often as not, he would reach into his pocket and offer them a stick of Gopal’s Best Pink Bubblegum, wonderfully fresh from the factory. People liked this.

Billy and his sister, Nicola, always greeted Mr Gopal very politely, and were usually rewarded with a stick or two of bubblegum. They thought Mr Gopal was quite the friendliest person they had ever met and were both very proud that he had chosen their town in which to build his famous factory.

Then, one day, Billy saw Mr Gopal walking down the street, shaking his head and looking rather sad.

“Good morning, Mr Gopal,” said Billy. “It’s a nice day, isn’t it?”

Mr Gopal looked at Billy sadly. “I am sorry to say, Billy,” he began, “that even if it’s a nice day, I’m not enjoying it at all. Dear me!”

Billy was astonished. Nobody had ever known Mr Gopal to look sad. There must be something very seriously the matter.

“Is there something wrong at the factory?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Mr Gopal, shaking his head again. “There is something very wrong at the factory, and if you come along with me I shall show you exactly what it is.”

Billy was excited to be going into the bubblegum factory, even if Mr Gopal seemed in such a sad mood. As he accompanied Mr Gopal through the front door, he smelled the wonderful smell of
bubblegum – a smell like no other smell. It was a pink sort of smell – a smell that seemed to get bigger as you smelled it and then burst, just like the popping of a bubble.

“This way,” said Mr Gopal. “We shall go to my office.”

Billy followed Mr Gopal past the great bubblegum-making machines, all humming and whirring away in a most energetic fashion. It was all very interesting to see, but Billy was worried and could not enjoy himself as much as he would have liked.

Mr Gopal showed Billy into his office and sat him down on a chair.