The Pirates in the Deep Green Sea (16 page)

‘You won't find it easy to persuade him,' said Darby Kelly.

‘I've got a silver tongue in my head,' said Inky Poops complacently, ‘and I know how to use it.'

Dingy in his whimpering voice interrupted them. ‘He's coming, sir. Here's Captain Scumbril now, sir.'

‘Split my liver with a brass harpoon!' roared a fine brazen voice that echoed round the shell. ‘What paltry sort of party is this? Here's parsimonious company! Why, a brace of pale, pettifogging parsons would do better than sit with one poor mug of rum between the pair of them, and a little boy to boot! — A little boy to boot! Ay, that's the word!'

Seizing poor Dingy by the scruff of the neck, Captain Scumbril kicked him out into the darkness and shouted after him: ‘Quart cans and a puncheon of rum! There's a new brat of my own, skulking in the shadows there — take him to help you. I drink more rum than one small boy can carry.'

‘Good evening, Dan,' said Inky Poops. ‘I'm sorry if you're disappointed by these humble surroundings, but seeing as how we're met together for a great purpose, and difficult times lie ahead of us, I thought it would be out of place to sit down to a banquet as if I was the Lord Mayor of London and you were — well, you were a gentleman of almost equal importance coming to visit me. But I hope you've had a good voyage, Dan, and that all your preparations have been nice and tidily
made, and that you yourself are in good health, Dan.'

‘I heard a little word that I didn't much care for,' growled Scumbril. ‘You used a little word, Inky, that I didn't like at all!'

‘And what was that, Dan?'

‘Almost
is what you said, Inky. A visitor of
almost
equal importance is how you described me — and roast my pluck on a Guy Fawkes bonfire if I'll stand for that!'

‘Now you don't mean to say, Dan, that you think I was trying to belittle you, surely? I'm the last man in the world to underrate your importance, Dan. Why, just before you came in, Darby Kelly and I were thinking of the old days on the Spanish Main, and talking about you, and saying as how there hadn't been a taller and handsomer pirate to be seen from Barbados to the Dry Tortugas.'

‘True, true! That's very true,' said Scumbril.

‘And if anybody had ever thought of giving a first prize for being ferocious, why, you'd have won it every year, Dan!'

‘Many a time,' said Scumbril, ‘have I dyed the whole sea scarlet, like a stormy sunset, with the bubbling blood of my vacillating victims! Ay, and made the Gulf Stream a stream of gore!'

‘You were a terrible man, Captain Scumbril, there's no doubt of that,' said Darby Kelly.

‘Were!
' cried Scumbril. ‘You pumpkin! You pot-bellied pompoleon, d'you say
were
to me? I
am
a terrible man!'

‘Why, of course you are,' said Inky Poops. ‘You're the most terrible man in the ocean. Oh dear, oh dear, shall I ever forget the sensation you made, that day in Campechy, when you came in with three-and-sixty Spanish sailors hanging from your yard-arms?'

‘'Twas a glorious sight, was it not? My ship looked like an orchard, so I thought — for at such moments, Inky, I am something of a poet, as you have no doubt perceived — an orchard heavy with ripe fruit. Ah, the good old days, the days of auld lang syne!'

All this time, in the dark part of the shell, Timothy had been lying very quiet and still, for no one who was not used to it could hear Dan Scumbril's voice without feeling extremely frightened. But now curiosity got the better of his fear, and he felt that he had to see what this man looked like, who talked so monstrously of blood and orchards. So, moving as softly as a cat stalking a blackbird, he crept forward till he could see the lighted part of the shell — the soft-heads were still glowing brightly — and there, sitting on Inky Poops's stool while Inky stood before him, was a tall broad-shouldered man with a great copper-coloured beak of a nose, a pair of black moustaches as big as bananas, and pale eyes like gooseberries under ragged brows. Like Inky Poops, Dan Scumbril wore a short cape, and across his knees he held a brass-hilted cutlass. His vest was crimson, his short trousers were purple with ragged edges, and on both hands he wore several large gold
rings. He had dark curly hair, and his expression was both fierce and jocular. He looked much more dangerous than Inky Poops.

While Timothy watched them, they had a little argument — but in quite a friendly tone — about the most convenient way to deal with prisoners. Scumbril had always hanged them at the yard-arm, but Inky Poops had preferred to make them walk the plank. ‘I used to enjoy waiting for the splash,' he said. ‘To sit on deck, in the golden light of the setting sun, and hear them go
plop!
one after another, was quite a treat.'

Dingy returned with another stool for Captain Poops, and behind him came a boy who carried on his shoulder a small barrel of rum. Another Cabin Boy, thought Timothy, but as he came into the light he saw to his utmost astonishment that it was Hew. He could by no means understand how his brother came to be in Captain Scumbril's company, nor why — as it appeared — he was in his service. For a moment he had the wild idea of rushing out and greeting Hew, for he was overjoyed to see him again. But quickly he realised how foolish that would be, and lay as still as he could. He saw that Hew had a black eye. He was so surprised, and his mind was so much occupied with the mystery of his brother's present employment, that for a moment or two he failed to realise that the pirates were talking about him. Captain Scumbril, it appeared, had found him lying asleep a few miles away, and had taken a fancy to him. But who he
was he did not know and could not discover, because the boy, he said, was dumb.

‘As dumb as a rock or a clod of earth,' he said, ‘but what his tongue lacks he can make up for with his fists. I asked him if he could fight, and he understood me well enough; so I matched him with the Cabin Boy I had before — a rambling, shambling fellow I had grown tired of — and this dumb boy set about him like a master, and though he took some punishment, left the other lying like a wreck on a lee shore. So I brought him with me, and if he serves me well I'll keep him.'

Then Captain Scumbril drank a can of rum from the cask which Hew had brought, and, holding it out to be refilled, exclaimed, ‘And now to work! What's your plan, Inky, for the conquest of the sea? My three hundred men are sleeping on the sand a cable's length away, and my lieutenant — if he's doing what I told him — is counting your company to make sure you brought the same and no more.'

‘You never suspected that I'd deal unfairly, did you?' cried Inky Poops. ‘I've never dealt unfairly in my life, and never shall! No, no, Dan, we must trust each other, and have no secrets from each other, and deal honestly in all things, for that's my nature, Dan, and I can't deal in any other way. We ought to be like brothers, and behave as such.'

‘I had three brothers,' said Scumbril, ‘and I behaved to all of them in the self-same way.'

‘And how was that?' asked Inky Poops.

‘I hanged them,' said Scumbril.

Ah, well,' said Inky, ‘I've no doubt they deserved it. One's own family is often very trying. Very, very trying. I had an uncle, I remember — but no matter, he's of no importance now. He made a lovely
plop!
when he went in. — But we've no time to gossip, Dan, no time to talk about all those little details of domestic life that are so pleasant to remember in idle hours. No, no, we must be serious. We must discuss our plans. And here's what I suggest. We must divide our forces, Dan, for we have two objectives. We must take control of the Northern Parallels, and we must capture Davy Jones and all his court.'

‘Agreed,' said Scumbril. ‘So far we're in accord.'

‘Now the important objective' said Inky, ‘by far the most important, the most dangerous, and the most difficult objective is, of course, the Northern Parallels; and though I don't distrust your ability, Dan, I think I had better look after that myself.'

Darby Kelly showed great surprise when he heard this, and Dan Scumbril immediately became most indignant.

‘Mince my muscles for a sea-cook's pie!' he roared. ‘If ever I saw an argument that came in like a man standing on his head, it's that argument of yours.
You'll
take the difficult task, you say, and leave the lesser task, the easy one, to
me
! You can pluck out my eyes and play marbles with them before I consent to that.'

‘Now be reasonable, Dan,' said Inky Poops. ‘Don't spoil discussion with a show of naughty temper like a little boy who can't get his own way———'

‘I always get my own way,' interrupted Scumbril.

‘And once or twice in your life,' said Inky Poops, ‘you've wished that you had listened to others and taken their advice instead. Now I'm not arguing for my own sake, I'm arguing for the common cause that we're both interested in, and I've given this matter a lot of thought, Dan. It's very important — oh, it's very, very important! — that we should capture Davy Jones and take the treasure-chest that he never lets out of his possession. That's something we must do without delay, and make no mistake about it either. And it won't be a difficult thing to do. It's going to be quite an easy task, Dan, because I happen to know that at this very moment Davy Jones hasn't got more than two or three score of his own sailors to guard his court. And so I thought it would be a nice occupation for you, Dan———'

‘For me!' shouted Scumbril. ‘Am I a puppy dog in a basket? Am I an infant in pink ribbons and a perambulator that you think I want a toy to play with? Keep the little tasks and the easy ones for yourself, you lemon-coloured, limp and lackadaisical loblolly-boy! But if there's something hard and perilous to be done, why, that's my pigeon and none shall take it from me. I'll seize the Northern
Parallels, and you'll look after Davy Jones!'

‘It grieves me to hear you going on like that,' said Inky Poops, and shook his head as though he were the saddest pirate in the sea. But Timothy, watching from the inner part of the shell, saw him wink at Darby Kelly, and saw that Darby Kelly was now beginning to understand the means that Inky Poops was using to get his own way. For the more he protested that he must undertake the difficult adventure in the north, the more determined Dan Scumbril grew that that was the proper task for him; and after a great deal of argument Inky Poops at last gave in and said that he would make himself responsible for the capture of Davy Jones. Which was what he had intended to do from the beginning.

Timothy listened with great admiration to Inky Poops's cleverness, but it seemed to him that Scumbril had been clever too, in a way that Inky Poops did not suspect. For Scumbril said nothing about the pirates whom Sam Sturgeon had discovered in the wreck off Popinsay, though they were certainly two of Scumbril's men. He pulled a chart from the satchel at his belt, and unrolled it, and said that he had been studying the situation and had decided to start operations
there.
— ‘There,' he repeated, pointing to the chart with his blunt forefinger, ‘by 59 North, 4 West, where there's an old wreck lying off the island of Popinsay, that'll serve me for my forward headquarters for a little while.' — But still he said nothing about the two
pirates whom he had already sent to occupy the wreck.

‘That'll be very convenient, Dan, my dear,' said Inky Poops in his softest voice. ‘But how did you come to hear about the old ship that's lying there?'

‘One of my men told me,' said Dan. ‘An old lean scarecrow of a man who was carpenter aboard her when she struck upon a reef, and was lost on her way home after a seven years' voyage. And because she was a pirate ship he must have been a pirate too — and that's why I believe him, Inky, just the same as I believe you!'

‘Ay, ay,' said Inky. ‘It's a good thing to have friends you can trust. Oh, a very good thing! I was just wondering, Dan, if you'd made any other plans that you haven't yet told me about?'

‘Stuff my gullet with hot buttered barnacles!' roared Scumbril. ‘What do you hint at? Are you suspicious now? Do you insinuate? D'you think I'm working to windward of you?'

‘I was just wondering,' said Inky.

‘Then belay your wonder, for I'm an honest friend. As honest as you are, Inky, and there's my hand on it!'

‘I'm very glad to hear it, Dan, for we couldn't get on without honesty, could we?' — But Inky was looking very thoughtful and rather worried as he took Dan Scumbril's hand in his, and pressed it affectionately.

Timothy, however, could watch them no longer;
for he also was beginning to feel worried. Hew, in a very dignified and patient manner, was still standing beside Dan Scumbril and filling his can whenever Scumbril required him to do so; but Dingy, the Cabin Boy, had grown tired of so much talk, and was opening and examining the several cupboards on the walls of the shell, one after the other, and gradually he was coming nearer to the inner part where Timothy lay hidden. Now Timothy had to retreat again, and very carefully he crept backward a few inches at a time. He drew back a little more, wondering how far he could go — for he had not explored the narrowest part of the shell — when suddenly he felt a violent pain in the calf of his left leg, and before he could control himself, he uttered a shrill cry. The pirates stopped their argument and Inky Poops uneasily exclaimed, ‘Now, what was that? Was that you screaming, Dingy?'

At the same moment Timothy heard beside him a grave voice whispering, ‘My dear boy, I do apologise! It was quite by accident that I bit you — you startled me and without thinking I gave you a little nip — but there's no time for explanation. Come quickly, or you'll be discovered. No, don't turn round, I'll guide you — this way, this way — I'll let you out by the back door.'