“Do you think someone is lost at sea?” Spike asked, his voice shaking with fear.
The flashes of light continued.
• • • /— — —/ • • •
• • • /— — —/ • • •
• • • /— — —/ • • •
Over and over again, the signal came.
“How are they doin’ that?” Captain Red Beard asked, scratching his ear. “How are they getting the sun to talk for them?”
“They must be using something shiny to reflect the sunlight,” Curly said.
“Something shiny?” Red Beard barked. “Maybe the sun is reflecting off a pile o’ gold coins!”
“Are we going to help them?” asked Wally. “We can’t just ignore a call for help.”
“We’d have to steer off our course…,” Curly said, frowning.
In the center of the deck, Einstein laid out a pile of maps. The little wiener dog studied his compass and marked notes on a map. Then he pulled out his spyglass and looked toward the horizon. “Uh, Captain? A word, sir?”
“Speak up,” Red Beard ordered. “What is it?”
“If we sail toward the flashing light,” Einstein said quietly, “we’ll be sailing into the center of the Triangle.”
“Nooooooo!” Spike moaned.
“No way,” Leo the black Lab said. “You promised we would sail around the Triangle—not through it.”
“It sounds dangerous,” agreed Wayne the Great Dane.
“Don’t be silly!” snarled Curly. “The legend of the Triangle is just that: a legend. These are all made-up stories meant to scare pups.”
“I’m not so sure of that,” said Captain Red Beard. “It does sound scary.”
“Nooooooo!” Spike wailed again.
“All of you are being goofy,” Curly snipped. “Scared of a bunch of stories!”
“Enough!” Old Salt barked, stomping his peg leg. “You are all arguin’ about the wrong thing. We shouldn’t be talking about whether the Triangle really is dangerous or not. The important question is, are we willing to risk danger in order to rescue those brave sailors?”
“I don’t like danger,” Spike barked nervously.
“No one likes danger,” Old Salt said firmly. “But sometimes we have to face it anyway. Those sailors out there are asking for our help. We have to give it to them. It’s the code of the sea.”
Wally considered Old Salt’s words: the code of the sea. What did that mean? Wally wasn’t sure. But he was sure that Old Salt was right about one thing. If he or any of his friends were in trouble, he would want someone to help. If everyone turned their back on those who needed help, the world would be a much scarier place. The rest of the crew was nodding. Wally could tell that his friends all thought the same thing: like it or not, they had to sail straight into danger.
But it was Captain Red Beard’s decision. The crew waited to see what he would say.
“I think…” The captain scratched his beard. He looked at Einstein’s maps, then out to sea. He scratched his beard again. When the captain thought, he thought hard. Finally, he gave his decision. “Old Salt is right,” Red Beard said with a brisk nod of his head. “Puppy pirates must be brave. We’re sailing into the Triangle!”
Wally held his breath as the ship turned slowly toward the Triangle. He couldn’t believe they were going to find out what was inside.
“Here we go,” Einstein whispered. “If I’m reading my maps correctly, we are passing into the Triangle…right now!”
As soon as Einstein said the word now, Wally felt a blast of cool air hit him square in the face. He shivered, waiting for something horrible to happen. He held his breath.
And waited.
And waited.
But the ship carried on, easily cutting through the deep blue waters.
Wally let out his breath. Maybe all those stories were a bunch of silly nonsense. Surely there was nothing special about this patch of sea. He couldn’t believe he had been so worried about sailing into the Triangle.
Turning away from the sea, Wally raced across the deck. It was time for him to take his turn in the crow’s nest. Long ago, Wally was scared to go onto the little platform that was used as the ship’s lookout. But now he loved climbing up to keep watch. He felt like a bird when he was perched so high in the sky.
Wally raced up the rope ladder. He had just settled in on the wooden platform when thunder boomed. It sounded close. The strange thing was, the skies were sunny and cloudless. But all sailors knew that sound well. Thunder was a warning of stormy skies and a rough sea. “Storms ahead!” Wally cried.
The thunder echoed and cracked around them. Still, Wally couldn’t see any clouds for miles. He was stumped. Suddenly, a wave of fog flowed over the Salty Bone’s rails. The thick mist rolled in out of nowhere, covering the ship completely.
In the crow’s nest, Wally felt like he was sitting on top of a cloud. The whole ship below him was wrapped in the soupy fog. But the crow’s nest was sticking up into clear blue skies. Wally gazed down from his lookout. The fog was so dense that he couldn’t even see the pups moving about on the deck! He felt very alone and very far away.
The foghorn sounded from inside the steering cabin.
Toooot!
Toooot!
Toooot!
Wally could hear the captain shouting orders. The puppy pirates had sailed through fog before, of course, but it had never been like this! Wally knew his role as lookout pup was more important than ever. Captain Red Beard would need him to keep his eyes open for other ships or obstacles in the sea ahead of them.
Fixing his sights past the ship’s bow, Wally noticed something strange. The fog was only around their ship. The rest of the Triangle was sunny. “Clear skies in view!” he called to his mates below.
But almost as soon as he said that, Wally spotted something else. Another patch of fog had formed. It hung low over another part of the water. As Wally watched, the fog grew and shifted. It almost looked as if the fog was turning into giant tentacles, snaking out of the water. The fog arms reached for the Salty Bone, curling and bending as they got closer, closer….
Wally gulped and closed his eyes tight. “Avast!” he cried. Maybe all the stories about the Triangle weren’t so crazy after all! “FOG MONSTER!” he howled. Wally felt a little silly yelling something so strange. But he had to make sure the crew was ready for whatever might be sneaking up on them.
“The Triangle is attacking us!” Spike wailed. His voice was loud enough that Wally could hear him easily. “Thunder, fog, now a monster? It’s telling us not to go any farther.”
“Enough nonsense,” Curly yipped. “It’s just fog and some stray thunder. There’s no such thing as fog monsters. Stop letting your eyes play tricks on you, Wally!”
Wally opened his eyes. The fog was gone. Their ship was sailing through bright, clear, sparkling seas again. He was embarrassed. Had he let his eyes play tricks on him? No, Wally was pretty sure of what he had seen. The fog had looked like a monster. But then Wally thought about how the clouds sometimes looked like animals, too. He was letting Old Salt’s tale get the best of him.
Moments later, a horrible sound rang out from somewhere nearby: Yeeee-ow!
The hair on Wally’s neck lifted. The thunder was scary. The fog had been spooky. But this sound? It was even worse.
The screeching yowls echoed all around them. Yeeee-ow! Yeeee-ow! Yeeee-ow!
Wally spotted a small lifeboat straight ahead on the horizon. The boat was flashing the SOS signal. These were the sailors they had come to save! The puppy pirates all gave a cheer. They had done it! They had saved the day! Wally felt very proud of himself. Sometimes it was fun to be brave.
The Salty Bone sailed closer and closer to the stranded sailors. Soon they would be near enough to pull them onto the ship. But there was somet
hing strange about the lifeboat. Wally peered down at the creatures inside it. They almost looked like—
“Is that,” Captain Red Beard howled, “a CAT?”
“What in the name of Growlin’ Grace is that?” Captain Red Beard barked. “I must be seein’ things, because that sure looks like a boat full o’ stinky kitten pirates. Tell me I’m seein’ things!”
No one could tell him that. Because there was no doubt about it. The boat bobbing on the waves was full of cats.
The puppy pirates and the kitten pirates had been enemies for as long as anyone could remember. Their two ships had crossed paths many times while they were racing for the same treasure, battling each other, or hunting the famous Sea Slug. Once, Wally and a few of his mates were taken prisoner on the kitten pirates’ ship, the Nine Lives. That was a day he would never forget.
Wally raced down from the crow’s nest to join the others. They had to talk about what they were going to do. As the lifeboat drew closer, Wally spotted Moopsy and Boopsy, the naughty Siamese cats. Fluffy the Claw, the kitten pirates’ first mate, stood at the bow. All the cats bobbing in the little boat looked wet and skinny and a little scared.
Wally could see that there was also a girl sitting in the middle of the small, crowded lifeboat. A tiny gray kitten was perched on her shoulder. The girl was Ruby, the only human who lived on the kitten ship. The kitten was Ruby’s best mate, Pete the Mighty. The girl was wearing a big, round, shiny necklace. That’s what the kittens were using to reflect the sun and send out their SOS signals.
“Shiver me timbers,” Henry cried. “Is that you, Ruby?”
The girl scowled back. “Aye. It’s me.”
Henry waved. “Looks like you and your mates could use some help.”
Ruby crossed her arms over her chest. “We don’t want any help from the likes of you.”
A chorus of hissing and howls rang out from the lifeboat. “We can’t afford to be picky!” one cat hissed.
“But they’re dogs!” Fluffy the Claw screeched.
“We won’t survive out here much longer,” a soft voice argued.
On the puppy pirate ship, Captain Red Beard was fuming. “This is an outrage!” he barked. “We risked our lives to sail into the Triangle for a bunch of kittens?”
“Sir,” Spike said, his voice shaking, “do you think this could be some sort of trap?”
“A trap?” Red Beard howled. He stomped his paw on the deck. “Of course it’s a trap. Those furry scalawags tricked us into sailing into the Triangle. Now they’re probably going to try to sneak on board our ship and steal all me loot!”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Curly said. “How could this be a trap? The kitten pirates had no way of knowing the Salty Bone would be sailing by. If you ask me, these cats look like they’re in real trouble.”
“That’s one wet pile of kittens,” Henry added. “Don’t look so fierce when they’re all soaked with water, do they?”
“Henry has a point,” Wally said. “They don’t look very fierce.”
“How much of a threat could a handful of soggy cats really be?” Curly asked.
“Are you sayin’ you want me to invite our enemy to board this ship?” Red Beard howled.
Curly cocked her head. “We can’t just leave them out here.”
The rest of the crew grumbled their agreement.
Captain Red Beard shook his head. “Unbelievable. I’ve got a crew full of softies.” He leaned over the ship’s rail and shouted, “What are you doing out here in the Triangle, kitten pirates? And what am I supposed to do about it?”
“Are you going to help us or not?” Ruby snapped.
“How did you end up stranded in that junky little lifeboat?” Henry asked.
The puppy pirate crew watched with great interest as Henry and Ruby stared each other down.
Ruby put her hands on her hips and glared at Wally’s best mate. “The story of how we got here is none of your business.”
“Okay, then,” Henry said, waving. “See ya! Good luck out there!”
“Wait!” Moopsy the Siamese cat cried. “I’ll tell you.”
All the pups hung over the edge of the deck, waiting. Moopsy went on, “We were sent on a special mission by our captain. Lucinda the Loud heard a story about an old ship that disappeared in the Triangle long ago. The ship was filled with hardworking sailors traveling to far-off places. That ship’s captain was the legendary Dread Pirate Wrinkles. We are on a quest to find his ship, to see if we can find its treasure.”
Wally exchanged nervous looks with some of the other puppy pirates. This sounded an awful lot like Old Salt’s story.
Boopsy took over for her sister. “But as we rowed through the Triangle in this lifeboat, we were hit by a storm and lost our oars. We have been stranded ever since. We were starting to lose all hope.”
“You’re not really going to ditch us here, are you?” Ruby asked.
“Just admit that you need our help!” Henry shouted.
Ruby looked furious. But she also looked like someone with no other choice.
“We need to get back to our ship,” she finally admitted. “It’s waiting for us on Clawfish Island. That is just outside the Triangle. Will you take us?”
Captain Red Beard and Curly talked it over quietly. It was agreed. They would drag the boatload of kittens and their human onto the Salty Bone.
The kitten pirates tried to paddle toward the puppy pirate ship. But since none of the cats wanted to get their claws wet, it was a long process. Finally, Red Beard grew impatient and tossed the kittens a rope.
Ruby tugged.
Henry tugged.
Ruby tugged harder.
Henry tugged even harder.
Finally, the little lifeboat clunked against the side of the Salty Bone. The kitten pirates climbed on board. They stared in wonder.
“Well, shiver me timbers,” Fluffy the Claw whispered. “I never thought I would set paw on the Salty Bone.”
For a few moments, the two crews stared each other down. Finally, Red Beard ordered his crew to set a course to sail out of the Triangle as quickly as possible. “Let’s get rid of these cats as fast as we can,” the captain barked, “and never set paw or tail in this creepy Triangle again!”
The ship cut through the water, zooming toward Clawfish Island. “In case you were wondering,” Henry announced loudly, “if we catch the winds just right, we should be safely out of the Triangle in less than half an hour.”
Behind him, Ruby shivered. “Good. I don’t usually believe silly old legends. But I’ve got to admit, the Triangle gives me the creeps. I don’t like this place at all.”
Just as Ruby said that, another loud clap of thunder boomed overhead. The sun dipped behind a wall of low clouds. Lightning streaked the sky. Wind tore at the Salty Bone’s sails. Rain poured down.
“I don’t think the Triangle likes you very much, either,” Henry said, grinning.
Then, just as suddenly as it had come, the rain stopped. Around them, the sky was now green and murky. The wind died down and the ship’s sails sagged.
“This feels like the eye of a hurricane,” Ruby whispered. “It’s eerie.”
The ship bobbed calmly on the sea. “In case anyone was wondering? We’re not going anywhere,” Henry announced. “The wind is gone.”
“Is it just me,” Spike whimpered, “or does it almost seem like now that we’re here, the Triangle doesn’t want us to leave?”
“I blame this on you!” Captain Red Beard growled at the pack of cats.
“Us?” hissed Fluffy the Claw. He and the rest of the kitten pirates were huddled together, licking their paws and trying to get warm under a pile of blankets. “How can you blame us for the weather?”
“He has a point,” Curly said. “Cats can’t do much—”
“Hey!” Boopsy yel
ped, cutting her off. “Anything dogs can do, cats can do better!”
“Pups can do everything better than you,” Red Beard snapped back.
“No, you can’t,” Moopsy said.
“Yes, we can!” Red Beard woofed.
Old Salt cleared his throat loudly. “Last time I checked, neither cats nor dogs can control the weather.”
“Exactly!” Curly yipped. “There’s no one to blame for this. It’s just bad luck.”
“Looks like we have no choice,” Henry said. “We’ll have to wait out the storm.”
Spike whined and hid his face in his paws. “We’re never going to get out of here,” he panted. “We’re going to be stuck in the Triangle forever. Is our ship going to disappear?” He raced to the port-side rail and looked down into the water. “If our ship disappears, we’ll all fall into the sea. I don’t know how to swim and I’m going to sink and then the Fog Monster will get me and—”
“Enough!” Curly snapped. “There is no sense getting yourself worked up. It’s just unusual weather. It will pass.”
Millie and Stink offered to sing a few songs to help pass the time. Einstein studied his maps. Captain Red Beard worked with a few of the larger pups to adjust the sails to see if they could catch even a little gust of wind.
As soon as everyone was busy, the pugs trotted over to Wally. “Psst,” Piggly said with a naughty gleam in her eye. “Wally!”
“Aye?” Wally said.
“Snack time!” Puggly told him.
Wally loved the sound of that. He tugged at Henry’s shirt. Then the two friends followed the pugs down the stairs to the ship’s galley. They snuck past the ship’s cook, Steak-Eye, who was growling about having to feed a bunch of cats. They made their way past bubbling pots of stew. The pugs led them toward the crates of treats hidden in a back corner of the galley. “Yummy yummy yummy,” Piggly said, her tongue lolling out of her mouth.
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