The Pirates in the Deep Green Sea (17 page)

Timothy had no idea who was speaking to him, but he obeyed the voice without hesitation, and a moment or two later wriggled feet first through a little opening in the shell that was just big enough
to let him out. Beside him he saw a large and elderly Crab, who closed the door behind him and fastened it with a whale-bone latch.

‘Now follow me into the weeds,' said the Crab, ‘and there, I hope, we shall be fairly safe, and I can give you some very interesting news.'

About forty yards away the seaweed grew as thick as a jungle, and the Crab and Timothy, moving very quickly, were able to gain its shelter without being seen, though pirate sentries were guarding the shell on either side.

‘And now,' said the Crab, ‘let me apologise once again for hurting you. I really had no intention of doing such a thing, but, as I have already explained, you startled me, and before I realised what was happening, my claw, I'm afraid, gave you a little pinch on the leg. I hope you are no longer suffering?'

‘Oh no,' said Timothy, ‘at least not much.'

‘It's a great relief to me to hear that,' said the Crab in his most serious voice. ‘I am the caretaker of the sleeping-shell, and I was hurrying back to it in the expectation of company when I happened to meet a friend of mine, a most charming young female octopus called Miss Dildery Doldero Casa-diplasadimolodyshenkendorf Rustiverolico Silvery-splash.'

‘An octopus?' demanded Timothy. ‘And her name is Dildery — oh, I can't remember the rest of it?'

‘Miss Dildery Doldero Casadiplasadimolodyshenkendorf Rustiverolico Silverysplash,'
the Crab repeated.

‘But I've heard about her!' said Timothy. ‘She's a friend of a very great friend of mine called Cully. His proper name is Culliferdontofoscofolio Polydesteropouf, but we call him Cully.'

‘So the lady is not entirely unknown to you?' said the Crab. ‘That is interesting indeed, and she will be most gratified; for she has heard of you! Her friend, whom you call Cully, had told her quite a long time ago of his meeting with you and your brother in the South Atlantic Ocean, and when she encountered, earlier to-day, two Powder Monkeys who were searching for a couple of lost boys, and heard a description of their character, she at once decided they must be her friend Cully's old acquaintances; that they, in fact, must be
you.'

‘The two Powder Monkeys!' said Timothy. ‘You mean William Button and Henry String? Are they here too?'

‘They're not very far away,' said the Crab. ‘They're in hiding, of course, because the pirates have assembled in great numbers, and if William and Henry were discovered, the consequences for them might be most unfortunate.'

‘How did you know that I was in the sleeping-shell?' asked Timothy.

‘Miss Dildery had learnt that too, from some small fish with whom she fell into conversation. She herself had been on her way to the shell to tell
you where to find the Powder Monkeys, but Mr. Poops arrived before her, and she judged it best to wait for my return and let me convey her news.'

‘My brother Hew is still there,' said Timothy. ‘He must have been captured by Dan Scumbril.'

‘How unfortunate,' said the Crab. ‘How very unfortunate!'

‘I don't know what to do,' said Timothy. ‘I don't like to go away and leave him.'

For some minutes they sat together in the black shadow of the seaweed, and neither spoke. Timothy, thinking hard, was trying to make a plan to rescue Hew. But the Crab was no longer helpful. He was an amiable old crab, and his manners were perfect; but it was a long time since he had had any new ideas. While Timothy was thinking, indeed, he fell fast asleep; and when Timothy suddenly discovered a brilliant device to save Hew, he had to shake the Crab quite hard to wake him up.

‘How far away is Dildery?' he demanded.

‘You mean Miss Dildery Doldero' — he yawned half-way through the name, but spoke it in full —' Casadiplasadimolodyshenkendorf Rustiverolico Silverysplash?'

‘Of course, I do,' said Timothy.

‘She likes to be treated with proper courtesy,' said the Crab. ‘I advise you not to be too familiar with her.'

‘Where is she?' demanded Timothy again.

‘In her own home,' said the Crab, ‘about two
hundred yards from here. She has a very snug, secluded, and commodious little house, not easily found unless you know the way to it.'

‘Can you take me there?' asked Timothy.

‘Certainly, certainly,' said the Crab. ‘Follow me closely, and if we keep within the shelter of the weed we shall avoid, I hope, all those detestable pirates. They're rude fellows, and I wish we were rid of them. Their manners when they come to my shell are often abominable, and they never remember to make their beds. Miss Dildery, who has been nurtured with the greatest care, cannot abide them.'

‘I'm sure she can't,' said Timothy. ‘But do let us hurry!'

Then the Crab set off by a path through the densely growing weed which only he could have discovered, and Timothy followed close behind.

When Hew, being sea-sick as a result of his wild ride on the porpoise, at last had fallen off, he had lain, like Timothy, on the floor of the sea feeling lost and bewildered and utterly wretched. Then he had risen to the surface to look for his friends, and after swimming for a long time and finding no one, he had grown tired and gone to sleep. He was lying afloat on the calm sea, fast asleep, when Dan Scumbril's pirate army came in from the west, on their way to the meeting with Inky Poops and his men. Scumbril's pirates were mounted on very large basking-sharks which they rode, not in howdahs, as Hew and Timothy had ridden, but on benches that looked rather like garden seats, and were lashed on either side of the sharks. Each shark carried ten men, five on the one side, five on the other. The pirates were well armed, and the sharks swam in good order in three long columns. The fleet was moving about six feet below the surface, and its centre column passed directly under Hew.

He was wakened roughly from sleep when a large hand grabbed him by the ankle and dragged him down. The pirates who had captured him wheeled about and headed back into the centre of the fleet, where Captain Scumbril sat in a large and comfortable howdah on a shark driven by a tall, shambling, sulky-looking Cabin Boy with ginger hair and large red ears, who was called Foxy. Hew was thrown into Captain Scumbril's howdah, and the fleet continued on its way while Captain Scumbril asked him a great many questions and tried to find out who he was. But Hew would answer none of his questions. At first he did not reply because he could not decide what it would be safe to say; and then he decided that it would be best to say nothing at all. So he pretended to be dumb, and though Captain Scumbril pulled his nose and twisted his ears and pinched his cheeks he remained obstinately silent. But his expression showed that he was growing angry, and this surprised Captain Scumbril because very few people ever dared to become angry in his presence. So he said to Hew, ‘I knew a pirate once who was as dumb as you, but his fists could play a very pretty tune. And yours, it may be, are also better than your tongue?'

Hew was so angry after having had his nose pulled and his ears twisted that he wanted very much to relieve his feelings by hitting somebody. So he nodded his head, and his eyes sparkled in a way that showed clearly what he was thinking. Then Captain Scumbril shouted loudly to the pirates on either side of him, and they passed on his orders to the whole fleet, which quickly halted and formed a great circle round their leader's shark; and Scumbril told them all that they were going to see some sport.

He had with him, he said, two of the liveliest little boxers on the bottom of the ocean, and they were going to fight to a finish for a prize of great value. On his left was Foxy the Cabin Boy, whom they all knew, and on his right there was someone whom none of them knew. The boy on his right was a stranger who could not speak, but looked as though he could fight. They could call him, said Scumbril, the Dumb Boy of Mystery! And as to the prize for which they were going to fight, he must admit that although Foxy knew how to use
his fists, he was perhaps the worst Cabin Boy in the sea; and for a long time he had been looking for an excuse to get rid of him.

‘But I've always been a kind-hearted man, and a generous master with a fine sense of justice,' said Scumbril — and here the pirates, sitting on their sharks, leant back and laughed uproariously — ‘and so I've decided to give poor Foxy one more chance. If he can beat the Dumb Boy of Mystery he will continue to serve me in his present honourable capacity. But if the Dumb Boy beats Foxy, then the Dumb Boy will become my Cabin Boy, and that's a prize to make any boy fight like a lion!'

While Scumbril had been talking the fleet had dropped down to the floor of the sea, and now on a level open space the pirates formed a ring, and Hew found himself in the middle of it with the tall, shambling Cabin Boy called Foxy. Foxy was a head taller than he, and in a very bad temper because Scumbril had spoken so unkindly of him. The pirates, pressed close together and eager for the fight, were shouting and cheering and making bets. Never in his life had Hew seen such a throng of cut-throats, and to be surrounded by them was rather like being in the middle of a pack of wolves. But he had no time, he realised, to worry about that, for Foxy was already squaring up to him and waving his fists about in a very threatening manner. So Hew stood on guard in the way Sam Sturgeon had taught him, and decided to do his best.

Foxy hit Hew on the forehead, and Hew hit Foxy twice on the ribs. Then Foxy rushed at him, and seizing him round the neck with his left hand began to punch very quickly with his right at whatever parts of Hew he could reach. It seemed to Hew that this was not the art of boxing as Sam Sturgeon had taught it, but he realised that he could not complain because he was supposed to be dumb. So with all his strength he punched Foxy several times just under the ribs, and Foxy with a gasp released his hold and staggered back. Hew quickly followed him, and before Foxy could recover his balance, landed a very nice upper-cut on Foxy's chin. Foxy fell flat on his back, and half the pirates — those who had bet on the Dumb Boy — raised a great cheer, while the other half — those who had bet on Foxy — shouted angrily at Hew and still more angrily called on Foxy to get up and fight.

Foxy was in no hurry to rise, and when he did he hung his head and his guard was low and he looked very unhappy. Hew thought he was already beaten, and stepped rather carelessly towards him to punch him again. But Foxy was by no means beaten, and after retreating for two or three paces he suddenly leapt forward and hit Hew twice on the head. Now it was Hew's turn to lie on his back and hear half the pirates shouting at him, while the other half cheered Foxy. He got up with his head ringing, and defended himself against Foxy's furious attack. Because Foxy was so much taller Hew found it difficult to reach his chin, but
punched steadily at his long thin body, and after some little time Foxy lost his temper and kicked. This was certainly not in the rules of boxing, but the pirates thought it funny and laughed; and Hew, of course, could not complain because he was supposed to be dumb. But the next time Foxy kicked, Hew was ready for him. Catching him by the heel, he tipped him off his balance, and jumping upon him before he could get up, sat on his chest. He came down so hard on Foxy's chest that he knocked all the breath out of him, and the Cabin Boy either could not or would not fight any more.

Now the pirates began to quarrel among themselves, for half of them said that the Dumb Boy had won by a foul, while the other half said that to jump on your opponent's chest was no foul at all, but a very sensible thing to do. So to avoid a lot of trouble Dan Scumbril ordered them to remount their sharks, and then made a little speech in which he said that he knew more about fouls than anyone else in the sea, and the Dumb Boy had done nothing which he, Scumbril, would not also have done in the circumstances. And therefore the Dumb Boy was the winner, and henceforth would be his Cabin Boy.

Then the fleet moved forward again, and now Hew rode with Scumbril in the middle of it while Foxy sat unhappily on a shark crowded with pirates in the rear. It was fortunate that Scumbril's shark had been well trained, for Hew was not an experienced driver. More than once he
pulled the reins in the wrong way, but the shark paid no attention, and they got on well enough.

Then they arrived at the sleeping-shell where Inky Poops was waiting for them, and Hew did just what he was told and brought Scumbril his rum, and refilled his can whenever it was empty, and all the time he listened carefully to what the pirates were saying, and tried not only to understand their plans but also to devise some means of escape from them. He had been wondering, while he was driving Scumbril's shark, what had happened to Timothy; and still with half his mind he wondered, while the other half listened so busily to the conversation. He could not guess that Timothy was lying hidden within a few feet of him, and it was a very good thing that he did not see Timothy peeping out from the darkness; for if he had, he might have forgotten that he was supposed to be dumb.

After the pirate captains had made their plans and Scumbril had drunk a great quantity of rum — and this was after Timothy had made his escape from the back door of the shell — Inky Poops proposed a game of cards; and Scumbril said that nothing would please him better. Inky Poops had an old pack in his satchel, Dingy the Cabin Boy went to fetch another stool to serve as a table, and Darby Kelly, who was feeling sleepy, said good-night and went off to find a bed among the pirates outside. Dan Scumbril and Inky Poops began their game, and beside them stood Hew and Dingy ready to
fill their cans as often as was necessary. Hew watched the cards with interest, for the pirate captains were playing a very simple game called Strip Jack Naked that he and Timothy had often played.