by Chris Kurtz
Flora woke in the night from Sophia tapping on her nose. Flora sat up. “What’s wrong?”
“Shhh. Watch this.” Sophia was looking toward a flicker of light moving about in the shadows. “He’s hunting.”
Sometimes the light would race one way or another, and sometimes the boy’s stick could be heard banging against the floor or the walls of the ship.
“He doesn’t know what he’s doing,” whispered Sophia. “You can’t hunt rats with a lantern. They’ll run and hide.”
It was true. Flora could hear rats at the opposite end of the hold scuffling around in the dark. But the boy didn’t seem to hear a thing.
The next morning, Amos tromped down with a bowl of food and a scowl on his face. He glared at Aleric, who lifted his head from the bottom of the stairs, where he had spent the night. He kicked at Sophia, who scuttled out of reach of his big boots, but he didn’t say a word.
Flora could smell the delicious mixture even before the bowl was set in front of her. The leftovers were still warm. She was hungry as usual, but she wouldn’t eat while her companions had nothing. So she stayed where she was and watched Amos’s face.
“Pig, eat!” he shouted.
The food smells made Flora’s stomach growl and quiver.
“Now everything’s wrong on this boat!” Amos hollered. “Rats and thieves eat the food upstairs. The pig doesn’t eat food downstairs! I’ll never be cook on a boat again.”
As he grabbed the bowl away, a great splash of gravy and food slopped onto the floor. Amos paid no attention. Marching up the stairs, he glared at Aleric again. “You kill twenty rats, I give you another chance.”
As soon as the door closed, Flora followed her nose to the spot where the food had spilled. Sophia was already sniffing the edges. When Flora heard clicking, she whispered, “Sophia, stand clear. It sounds like the rats are ready to try again.”
Sophia slinked out of sight. A crowd of whiskers and beady eyes appeared in the dim light. Noses twitched as the rats drew closer to the delicious smell.
Flora eased herself into position, ready to bring the hammer down on a rat head. Unfortunately, these were the smart ones. They warily stayed at the edges of the shadows.
After a while, Flora slumped down and pretended to be asleep. She made little snoring noises and watched out of the slits of her eyes.
A trio of rats came out of the shadows and began licking the gravy. Flora trembled with excitement, but she waited. Two more rats joined. Flora jumped to her feet and spun around.
Pow! She let loose and felt her hooves connect with a pair of heads.
Slam! She lashed out again.
Sophia flashed from one twitching body to another. Then Flora and Sophia stood back and looked at their handiwork. Three more.
“Wow!”
Flora turned to see Aleric. He had lit the lantern again. Now he stood gazing at them and the rats. “You guys are amazing! What a team.” He reached out and scratched between Flora’s ears. It felt heavenly. Sophia didn’t even bother to say anything about cats and teams. Instead, she rubbed Aleric’s leg.
“Three rats.” Aleric stood up. “It’s a good start.” He reached down again, and Flora thought he was going to give her head another scratch. But instead, she felt his fingers working at the rope around her neck—and felt the weight of the chain disappear.
“Come on, team.” Aleric lifted his lantern to show the way. “Let’s get to work.”
Chapter 21
At first, Flora couldn’t see how they could possibly succeed without bait to bring the rats to them. But Aleric led Sophia and Flora behind a wooden post and put his finger to his lips. Then he slipped away.
From the other end of the hold, a terrific banging began along the wall and floor. The knocking and thumping came closer and closer. Soon they could hear the sound of a thousand tiny feet running toward them.
Flora tensed her muscles.
“Turn around and wait for it,” Sophia whispered. “I’ll tell you as soon as they are in place.”
Flora turned.
“Now!” said Sophia.
Flora fired her back feet behind her.
The rats were thrown into a panic. They ran this way and that. Flora kicked and kicked while Sophia dashed in for the cleanup.
As the remaining rats disappeared in the dimness, the lantern bobbed toward them. Aleric fell to his knees, counting in a low voice.
“Nice work. Four more.” He laid his stick down and scratched both of his teammates on the head. “What would I do without you guys?”
He tossed the dead rats in a pile, and then he was up again. Flora and Sophia took their places for another round.
By the time Big Amos came downstairs with breakfast, Flora was back on her chain. Sophia and Aleric stood behind twelve rats in two piles, waiting for the cook. Flora looked on with pride. The rats had been hunted down with skill and teamwork.
Big Amos peered at the boy and cat as if trying to understand what had happened. “You two wait for me.” After putting Flora’s slops out, he went back upstairs and returned with his hands full.
“Good kitty.” He put a plate down for Sophia and patted the cat on the head. “Food for rat boy too. Fresh biscuits and scrambled eggs above deck. Come with me and throw these overboard.”
Aleric grabbed a bunch of tails in each hand and followed.
He was gone all day, but when he came back with the cook the next morning, he stuck around after Big Amos left. He untied Flora, and all three ran to their places. Flora heard the stick begin knocking at the far end of the ship. She and Sophia smiled at each other and waited for their turn with the rats.
But this time, just as the first wave reached them, heavy footsteps sounded at the top of the stairs. This panicked the rats even more than usual. Instead of simply running from the sound of Aleric’s stick, they began leaping about like fish and scurrying in many directions.
Flora felt a split second of fear. What would Amos do if he found her unchained again? But she couldn’t waste the work that Aleric had done herding the rats. It was too late to hide anyway.
Her body went into a crouch, and when Sophia gave her the signal, she began spinning and kicking.
When the last of the rats had been killed or had escaped, Flora turned to face Amos.
But it was not the cook.
Standing on the bottom step was another man. He took his hat off and smiled. “I wondered what all that banging was down here. Cook told me some good but mysterious work was being done on our rat problem. I thought I should take a look.”
He stepped onto the floor of the hold and walked toward them. “Amos said it was a cat-and-boy operation. But it looks to me as if we have a secret weapon.” He scratched behind one of Flora’s ears and ran his hand down Sophia’s back to the tip of her tail. “If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I would not have believed it.”
“H-hello, Captain,” Aleric stammered.
Flora caught her breath.
“What’s your name, son?”
“Aleric, the cabin boy, sir.” He brought his feet together and made a clumsy salute.
“Well, Aleric, there is no sailor on this boat working harder than you.” The captain clicked his heels and saluted in return. “It seems you have found an unexpected role for the ship’s pig. I don’t suppose the cook knows about this.”
“No, sir.” Aleric looked down at the floor. He shuffled his feet. “The pig is supposed to be chained up, getting fat. Please don’t tell Cook, sir. I’m in plenty of trouble as it is.”
The captain didn’t say anything at first. Then a slight smile tugged at his lips.
“Son, you never know who will step up with the brains and talent in a time of need and be the right one for the job. We’ll keep this between us—”
Shouting from the deck above interrupted the moment. The captain looked up. “I’d better return to topside. We’re closing in on our final destination and we’ve entered iceberg waters, so we need to be on extra aler
t. As you can imagine, the precipitation that falls on these coastal areas is significant and can cause a problem with visibility.” He laid a hand on Aleric’s shoulder. “Carry on, Sailor.”
“Yes, sir.” Aleric saluted again. “But can I ask you a question, sir?”
“If it’s a quick one.”
“What happens to me once we reach our final destination?”
“The Explorer unloads me and the expedition team, then sails away to pick us up on the other side of the continent. You will be a part of that skeleton ship’s crew.” The captain gave him a smile. “Meanwhile, the expedition team and I are going by dogsled across the entire span of the Antarctic, something never done before, journeying from food station to food station. If we are successful, we’ll have made history.”
Flora gazed at him with admiration. Now, there was a born leader. Something about him reminded her of Oscar.
Aleric jumped in boldly. “I was hoping I could go along on the expedition, sir.”
The captain laughed.
Aleric slumped.
“I’m sorry,” the captain said. “It’s much too dangerous for a boy. Besides, the ship needs every available pair of hands it can get for the difficult trip.”
Another shout crackled from the top of the stairs. Loud pounding of boots came from right above them. The captain looked up again.
“More icebergs,” he muttered. “I’d better get upstairs. Keep up the good work, son.”
But just as the captain stepped on the bottom stair, a bone-numbing jolt knocked Flora off her feet. Her ribs slammed into the floor and knocked the breath out of her. The sound of splintering wood filled the air, and, in a single moment, no one, not even the captain, was in control of anything.
Chapter 22
Flora felt herself skid toward one side of the ship. Barrels and boxes tore loose from their ropes and came tumbling across the hold in the same direction. The crunching sound seemed to go on forever. She came to a stop against a post.
For the tiniest moment, nothing moved. Then the ship slowly righted itself. The men above were shouting to one another, but they sounded far away.
Flora scrambled to her feet. A small stream of water—just a trickle, really—came from nowhere and flowed toward her. She couldn’t look at anything else. She just watched the stream as it made its way across the floor.
“Sophia?” Her voice was shaking.
From a corner she saw Aleric stand and run for the stairs.
“Come on!” he shouted.
Flora looked around for her friend. “Sophia!” she squealed. There was no answer.
Instead, the far side of the ship burst open and an icy river washed over her. There was no time to run. No time to scream. No time to even take a breath. The water swept her feet out from under her and carried her, bumping along the floor, until she smacked her head into a floating barrel. It then banged her into the ship’s wall and sent her swirling away toward the other side. When her head poked above the waves, she choked and coughed and tried to call out, but the cold water had locked up her lungs.
Now the water began to rise and foam. Flora was not bumping along the floor any longer, and her feet couldn’t touch except when her hooves hit underwater boxes. Flora tried to swim to the stairs. Impossible—the freezing current took her wherever it wished.
She was not the only one struggling. Rats were paddling for their lives all around her. Some tried to climb on her, but the water turned her end for end until she didn’t know up from down.
Finally, her hooves touched something solid. She hoped it was the stairs. Her head broke free of the foam, and she gasped for air. The water tried to pull her away again, but she scrabbled and fought to keep her footing. It was the staircase, she was sure. The rats found the same escape route. They swarmed up toward the light and through the open doorway.
Flora struggled to climb onto a dry step. Just then, something grabbed one of her hind legs.
“No!” She desperately tried to pull away. But the thing kept hold of her, tugging her into the seawater once again.
Flora panicked. An octopus must have had one giant arm wrapped around her, taking her under.
Kick, she told herself. Kick with your other leg!
She turned her head to aim, but before she could lash out, she saw a face. It was not an octopus. It was the captain. His arm came across her back and held on. His face was gray, as if the water had washed the color from it, but his eyes were clear and questioning.
In answer, Flora focused on getting to the next dry step. It was a good thing she had practiced pulling that big box around the hold. The weight of the captain’s body drove her down into a crouch. She straightened her legs slowly and towed her load upward.
But it was no use. The water was rising faster than she was. She could escape the captain’s grasp by kicking him off, and in her panic she considered it for a second. Then she gathered her hooves under her and pulled up again and again.
Don’t ... give ... up.
She was able to climb four or five steps, until the captain’s arm slipped off her back. She looked behind her. The man’s head rested on a step, and water was already bubbling around his chin. A pair of swimming rats found a toehold in his shirt, scrambled over his shoulders and up the stairs. Flora turned around, took the captain’s shirt collar in her teeth, and pulled. The captain lifted his head and helped by pushing with his hands. Step by step, the two of them began to move out of the rising water, but it was still swirling as high as his waist.
Flora felt faint. She couldn’t take in air fast enough. Her legs were trembling now from fear, from cold, and from the weight of the captain. She didn’t dare let go. She was sure if she did, she would lose him. But she could hardly stand up—and he was starting to slide back.
I’m sorry, she wanted to say. I failed.
A shadow fell over her.
Hands reached down to drag the captain up the last few stairs.
Flora let go of his collar and stepped aside. Aleric was not a big person, but by sitting on the top step and heaving his whole body backwards, he was able to slowly haul the captain through the door, onto the deck.
Flora scrambled after them. The sea had almost filled the hold now.
Aleric tried to lift the captain to his feet but failed. “I have the captain!” he shouted over his shoulder. “Don’t leave yet!”
Two sailors ran up. Together they lifted the man up by his feet and shoulders and hurried to where the last lifeboat was bobbing next to the ship’s rail. Several men reached out to take the captain into their arms and lay him in the bottom of the boat. The two who had carried the captain followed. Aleric helped Flora into the boat, climbed over the rail, and stumbled aboard last.
They pushed off, and a few men paddled hard with oars to create a distance between the small craft and the ship. Flora looked back when she thought she heard barking coming from the deck, but she couldn’t see anything.
As Flora felt the lifeboat find its own rhythm against the waves, the Explorer groaned and twisted and tipped over sideways, water streaming down its rounded boards. A wave rose from its roll and clawed at the side of the lifeboat. Flora found her feet knocked out from under her once again, but this time she landed on something soft.
It was the captain. He moaned as Flora struggled off him. She found her footing, climbed onto one of the bench seats, and looked out at the waves.
The Explorer was still drifting on its side, sinking lower and lower. Then a puff of air bubbled out as if the ship were breathing its last breath. The men stopped rowing, and everyone turned to watch.
The ship was there one moment, and then suddenly it was not. No big wave followed this time, no white foam, no sign to mark where it had gone down. It was just gone. Bobbing wooden boxes, barrels, and bits of ship parts were all that was left. The iceberg they had struck towered above them like a silent ghost ship, and the men with the oars paddled clear.
Flora shivered; she didn’t know if it was from f
ear or cold.
She spotted a small brown shape floating near their boat. It was a stouthearted rat, paddling hard with its long tail streaming out behind. For the first time, Flora felt sorry for her old enemy. The rat’s head was swallowed by a small wave. When it popped back up, it seemed less strong, less brave. Flora knew from her own short swim that no land animal could last long in these freezing waters. When the rat went under again, she quickly looked away.
On board the lifeboat, some men sat with their heads in their hands, and some rowed. No one spoke. Soon they were pushing through a thick soup of ice and ocean. It was hard to see where the sea left off and where the land, if one could call it that, began. Ahead of them another lifeboat was fighting to find a way through, a tiny leaf in rough water. The only sound was the knocking of ice against the sides of the boat.
Wait. Where was Sophia?
Flora looked for a spark of orange in the icy water all around. Had she made it onto the other lifeboat by some chance? Flora didn’t see how. The frenzy of the past few moments had been terrible. But the picture in Flora’s mind of Sophia fighting the freezing water and going down with the ship was even worse.
Chapter 23
The first thing Flora did when she scrambled off the boat and onto solid ground was to look for her friend. A few dogs had made it to safety. Oscar was one of them.
“Have you seen Sophia?” she asked him through chattering teeth. Oscar was dripping wet and trembling so hard, it looked as if he might shake himself off his feet. He lowered his head but did not answer. A chain, still attached to a broken piece of wood, hung from his neck.
Another dog was more helpful. Flora found out that only he and four other dogs had been released from their chains in time to jump into the first lifeboat. Oscar had been rescued later from the freezing waters. None of the others had survived.
Flora felt like weeping. Cats were not great swimmers. In her bones she knew that her small friend had never had a chance once the water rushed in. Still, she looked around desperately.