Pyro Watson and the Hidden Treasure (14 page)

There was nothing cosier, Pyro decided, than a sturdy, warm little doggy body. He lifted his hand out from under the sheet and touched Becks to double-check he wasn't dreaming.

She was truly here.

She was going to be here for another whole day, a whole night and then half-a-day Wednesday.

Becks hadn't minded staying at the camper, which surprised Auntie Mor. ‘I reckoned she would've bolted,' she said and fed her another sausage.

‘Perhaps it's your good cooking,' Mr Stig said and gave Becks a bit of a scratch. ‘She's a beaut, though, isn't she?'

Becks was the centre of attention. The park manager said it was okay because Gran Mitchell was an old girlfriend of his and anything he could do to help out. And, he said, the caravan park was allowed to have dogs, he just didn't like noisy ones.

Or noisy boys, he'd added.

Pyro drifted off, letting his dreams weave in and out of the waves and the dog snores at his feet. He wouldn't have to worry about the Worries because he'd be too busy with Becks. And they'd be at school anyway. He hadn't even told Min about their latest encounter, he'd been so excited about Becks.

And now, here, in the camper in the middle of the night with the waves and the moon darkened by thunder clouds and a little dog at his feet, the world felt safe and good and very fine indeed.

San Simeon watched the sky. It was dark and menacing and would keep the moon hidden so ships with evil at their helm would be making their way out of the coves where they'd been hidden.

There'd been no sightings of pirates.

His crew had stayed on shore and the
Olga
, anchored in the sheltered bay on this foreign island, was nearly ready to leave.

There was no rush though. It was only a storm and it would pass. Pirates on their journeys this night wouldn't be seeking them.

‘Permission to speak, Cap'n?' Sneeze the First had wandered away from the campfire to join him.

‘Permission granted.'

‘Does that mean I can talk now?' Sneeze asked. ‘Cause it properly lonely down yonder with me mates all sittin' around and me not able to even say a howdy-do.'

San Simeon looked at his old faithful First Mate. Surely he could trust him. ‘Sneeze,' he said. ‘I'm thinking there's a traitor come aboard.'

‘Never! I's never, ever would've thought! So, who'd you be thinkin' it is then?'

Simeon shook his head. ‘I don't know.' He told Sneeze about the flashing of a mirror that day he'd fought Roaring Roy Bistro. ‘I thought I'd find out if I stopped everyone from talking. I reckoned I'd see who it was sneakin' off.'

Sneeze scratched his whiskers. ‘Where'd they sneak off to then, Cap'n? I'm not doubtin' yer, mind, but I'm just not sure why's anyone here'd want to go anywhere else, if you take my meaning.'

Simeon was beginning to see that he had a point.

‘And,' Sneeze went on, ‘nobody's wantin' to join up with that Bistro! He's never as good a cap'n as you
and we's all know it. So's what you thinkin' they'd be sending secret messages there for?'

Simeon was about to try to find an answer when they were interrupted by the lovely Calamity. She wandered across the beach and up to the little shack that the crew had built for her to protect her lovely soft skin from the midday sun. She was holding a mirror to check the berry red lips that she'd just stained with raspberries and bush blackberries brought back from her walk. And every time the lightning flashed across the sky, the mirror flashed, too.

Simeon started to smile.

‘I think I sees the error of me ways,' he said.

Sneeze, who wasn't sure what that meant, nodded. ‘I'm glad about that then, Cap'n. So's, can we have a bit of a chat again now, do you reckon?'

‘Talk all you like, my good friend!' San Simeon did a little leap, then he did a little jig.
Then he rigga-jig-jigged all the way down to the beach. ‘Speak up, lads!' he cried. ‘The worst of it is over!'

For a few minutes nobody said anything at all. It wasn't often the captain came careering out of the hills doing a dance. Perhaps he was getting a bit touched with too much sun.

‘You feelin' orright then, Cap'n?' asked one.

‘You not got the collywobbles, ‘ave yer?' checked another. The collywobbles were desperate things to have.

‘I've not got anything, my good men!' Simeon cried. ‘Strike up the music and let's all have a dance.'

And dance they did, together and alone, round and round the fire and Simeon wondered how he could ever have thought that keeping his men apart was going to be the best thing for the good ship
Olga
.

Together they would stand … HA HA!

San Simeon danced up a storm and then, when he was taking a little breather, felt himself blush.

Fancy thinking one of his men was not true. His men were true through and through. It wasn't them that stopped trusting everyone else and started sneaking around teaching all tricky codes and signals to try to catch ‘em out. He was the sneaky one! Him. Sad ol' San Simeon.

Someone who was not true was a fraidy-cat as well. Someone, he was sad to have to say, who was a bit like him and had to know where everyone was all of the time, and what everyone was saying about everything.

San Simeon blushed a brighter red.

‘You feelin' orright?' Smit the Cabin's Boy's Father asked.

‘I am now,' San Simeon said. ‘I truly am.'

Having a dog meant a very, very early start to the day. It was a quick start too because everyone had to get out in time to take Becks for a walk so she didn't puddle on the floor. Or worse.

The baker's shop wasn't open and the newsagent was still putting out the boards that advertised the headlines.

‘Early, isn't it?' said Mr Stig.

‘Very early,' said Auntie Mor. She was in her old tracksuit and had tucked her nightie into the bottom, which made her look a bit fatter than usual. ‘S'pose we should've expected it, though. Becks is able to get in and out of his doggy door at his house. Not like us in a camper.'

‘And he's not always on a lead,' Pyro said as he took off again around the block. Becks really loved to check out every post and bush.

‘Don't let him go!' yelled Mor. ‘He'll take off.'

Pyro held him tight. They passed other dogs on their morning walks and everyone said hello and what a nice dog and hadn't they seen him before and things like that. Pyro didn't have time to answer as Becks seemed to have many places she had to be.

He was ready for a rest, though, by the time they got back to the camp with the croissants and the paper and some extra coffee for Auntie Mor who said she thought she might need it if she was going to keep up with the dog-walking.

As soon as the sun was properly up and they'd eaten breakfast and cleaned up and everyone had taken turns to hold Becks while they rushed off to clean teeth and have morning washes and toilet breaks, they
went down to the rock pool for another swimming practice.

Becks and Pyro stayed on the edge. Becks did a bit of diving, trying to fetch rocks from the bottom of the pool and, in between rock fetching, Pyro dug around looking for crabs. He even forgot to be afraid when he found one hidden in a shallow pool and he had to put his hand down and flip over a rock so Becks could see it as well.

Becks did. And finished up in the little pool with the crab and the anemones.

She also found some old fish heads and spent a very happy few minutes rolling about making herself smell a bit like the inside of a garbage can. Auntie Mor took time out from teaching Mr Stig to swim to take Becks in for a bath.

It didn't work exactly and they had to go back to the camper and fill a dish with water and detergent and dump Becks in. She smelt a bit like clean undies when they'd finished but it was better than a garbage bin any day.

Everyone was so worn out by the time they'd emptied the dish and hung up the towels that Becks was locked in the camper in her basket and told to GO TO SLEEP!

She only scratched at the screen door for a little while before she did as she was told and Auntie Mor and Mr Stig settled down in the annex with a cup of coffee and the papers and Pyro sat with his pencils and his pirate map.