by Susan Korman
Captain Gutt’s face instantly darkened. “Your family?” he spat back at Manny. “That is so sweet. I hope you said good-bye to them because there’s no way back to the continent!”
“Oh yes, there is!” another crew member blurted out. It was an elephant seal named Flynn. “Don’t you remember, Captain? You can sail to Switchback Cove and catch the current back from there!” He tapped his head proudly and grinned. “This noggin is like a steel trap.”
“See!” Manny said to his friends. “I knew there was a way home!”
“Thank you, Mr. Flynn,” Captain Gutt said sarcastically. Then he stomped hard on the elephant seal’s tail, instantly erasing Flynn’s smile.
“There is no home!” Captain Gutt snarled at Manny. “There is only here! And here, your ship belongs to me. Battle stations!” he called to his crew.
With that, several panels slid open on the pirates’ ship and a row of cannons pointed at Manny and his friends.
“Surrender your ship!” Captain Gutt ordered. “Or face my fury!”
“Huh?” said Sid, confused. “Or face your furry what?”
“Not furry,” Captain Gutt corrected him. “Fury.” He barked out another command to his crew. “Fire!”
Manny ducked as several cannonballs made of ice shot toward him. Then the rabbit named Squint began firing off rounds of starfish. The sharp weapons embedded in his tusks.
“Ha-ha!” Squint laughed loudly, imitating a carnival worker. “Hit the mammoth, and win a prize!”
Diego, meanwhile, was trying to reach the vines that the pirates had used to join the two ships.
But Captain Gutt had noticed what Diego was doing. “Fire the starboard cannons!” he yelled.
Raz, the kangaroo, used her powerful feet to kick ice cannonballs at Diego.
“Fetch, Shira!” Captain Gutt ordered.
“Got him, Captain!” Shira answered. She leaped in front of Diego, cutting him off.
“Aw,” she growled. “You almost made it.”
“I don’t fight girls,” Diego snarled.
Shira suddenly grabbed a vine, whipping it in Diego’s face. Swiftly, she knocked him down and pinned him.
“I can see why you don’t fight girls,” Shira replied.
The huge elephant seal had managed to pin Sid, too.
“Sid!” Manny cried when he saw his friend go down. But before Manny could go to Sid’s rescue, Raz cut him off.
“Let’s rumba, Tiny!” the kangaroo goaded Manny. Then Captain Gutt fired a huge ice ball, drilling Manny right between the eyes.
Manny wobbled for a second and then fell down, unconscious. The pirates let out a triumphant cheer.
“Lights out, big fella!” Captain Gutt laughed.
When Manny came to, he heard music. It was Flynn playing the accordion, he slowly realized. “Hello,” the elephant seal greeted him.
Manny tried to move, but the pirates had tied him up. He suddenly felt a shadow. Looking up, he saw that Diego was tied up, too, and hanging overhead from a horizontal part of the rigging.
“Hey, buddy,” Diego said. “Welcome to the party.”
Captain Gutt dropped in front of Manny. “Morning, Sunshine. Let me be the first to extend the hand of friendship.” He reached toward Manny.
“That’s your foot,” Manny muttered.
“Nothing gets by you!” Captain Gutt shot back.
“Where are we?” asked Manny. “What do you want?”
“I bet you’re feeling lost, scared, confused?” Captain Gutt taunted him. “Allow me to explain. I’m a primate pirate pioneer, and these are my brave buccaneers, all of whom were once lost souls like you!”
“We owe our lives to Captain Gutt,” Shira chimed in.
“And assuming he doesn’t kill you,” another crew member called, “you will owe Captain Gutt, too! He’s the Master of the Seas!”
“Kill them? Me?” Captain Gutt laughed and looked at Manny. “No . . . at least not this very large and useful mammoth!”
Manny smirked. “Captain Gutt, really? I have a paunch belly, too, but I wouldn’t name myself after it!”
“Ha-ha! That’s funny!” Captain Gutt let out a loud laugh. “You’re a funny guy. But that’s not how I got my name.” As Gutt held out his deadly claws, an icy shiver went through Manny, and Gutt’s crew instantly stepped back. “These got me my name,” Gutt went on.
Sid was staring at the pirate’s claws, too. “I don’t get it,” he said.
“No?” Captain Gutt said. “Okay.” He sliced the vines holding Sid so that Sid now hung upside down in front of him. “Let me show you.” The pirate placed one of his sharp nails just below Sid’s throat. “I just gently press here and then move my paw down like this.”
“Oh!” Sid giggled. “That tickles! Stop!”
Manny gulped as Captain Gutt pressed his claws into Sid’s stomach.
“And soon your innards become your outards!” Squint chimed in. He let out a menacing laugh.
“Uh . . .” Sid looked confused. “I still don’t get it,” he mumbled.
“Look,” Manny said to Captain Gutt. “As much as I’m tempted to join a monkey, the Easter bunny, and”—he looked at Flynn’s huge and wrinkled body—“a giant bag of pudding, I’ll pass. No one is going to stop me from getting back to my family.”
“I’m going to lambada with your liver, buddy!” Squint cried, lunging at Manny with a knife.
Captain Gutt swiftly grabbed the rabbit and tossed him aside. Then he glared coldly at Manny. “That family is going to be the death of you.” He spun back to his crew and barked out an order to his first mate, Shira. “Jettison the dead weight!”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Shira replied. “Prepare the plank!” she commanded Flynn.
“Prepare the plank!” the other pirates echoed.
Chapter 8
Flynn pushed a plank halfway off the ship while the other pirates cheered. Then Raz grabbed Sid and hopped over to the plank with him.
“What?” Sid blinked in surprise. “You want me to walk into the water? I can’t do that,” he said. “Because I just ate, less than twenty minutes ago, and you know the rule about waiting before you go swimming.”
Raz shook her head. “That’s a myth,” she informed Sid.
“Oh, okay then,” Sid replied. “As long as it’s safe.”
“Wait!” Captain Gutt called out. He pointed at Granny. “Dump the wench, too.”
A fierce-looking boar brought her over to the plank.
“Ladies first,” Captain Gutt said, gesturing at the plank.
“He’s such a nice boy,” Granny said as she brushed past Sid. “Why can’t you be more like him, Sidney?”
“Granny!” cried Sid. “No, wait!”
Manny struggled to break out of the vines. He couldn’t get free, but his movements were shifting the boom arm where Diego was tied. Slowly, the arm inched closer to the vine that held the ship’s mast in place.
Diego had noticed what was happening, too. “Manny! Get me to the vine!”
“Got it!” Manny signaled back. He was already wriggling harder.
Diego began wriggling, too, leaning hard toward the taut vine. Soon the vine holding the mast was just inches away.
“A little more!” he urged Manny.
Manny strained hard, rotating the mast slightly.
By now, Granny was at the end of the plank. A pack of hungry narwhals circled below. “Hey!” said Granny. “Y’all got some ugly goldfish!”
At last, Diego managed to extend his neck so that the tip of one of his sharp teeth touched the vine. Diego quickly sliced the vine, and with a ping, it snapped, unloosening the mast. The mast swung forward and was then pulled back by the vine on the other side.
Now Manny was able to stand up. Moving quickly, he grabbed hold of the mast and ripped it out of the ship.
“No!” Captain Gutt cried, looking up. He grabbed his sword and swung it at Manny. Manny used his tusks to block the pirate’s blows.
Gutt’s crew cheered on the captain. “Yeah! Extinct that mammoth!” called Squint.
“Come on, Manny!” cried Sid. “Kick his monkey butt!”
“Look at you!” Captain Gutt jeered. “Eleven tons of land lubber blubber!”
“Hey, I’m not fat! I’m . . . uh . . . poofy!” Manny replied, offended. The two continued sparring and Manny blocked another swing of Gutt’s sword.
“I could have used you!” the orangutan went on.
“It’s not going to happen, Captain,” Manny shot back. With that, he lunged at the mast, knocking it out of the ship.
Crack!
The pirates leaped backward as their ship began to buckle. Then a tree fell, smashing the deck and sending the pirates flying.
Sid dashed to Granny’s rescue. “I got you, Granny!” he said.
She scrambled up his back, riding him like a horse. “Giddyup! Let’s go!”
There was another violent crack as the pirates’ ship split in two. As the two sections tilted upward, everything on the ship spilled into the sea.
“No!” bellowed Captain Gutt, clinging to the ruined iceberg.
Meanwhile Flynn thrashed about helplessly in the water. “They sank our battleship! What are we going to do? We’re all going to drown!”
Captain Gutt reached out to grab the seal’s snout. “Flynn! You’re a sea creature, you idiot!”
“Oh. Good point, sir,” the elephant seal replied.
Gupta, the badger pirate, was ready to surrender. “Should I fly the white flag, Captain?” He had already started climbing the pole.
“No!” roared Gutt. “I’m going to mount his skull on our next ship!”
“Wait,” Flynn said, looking around and seeing no sign of the white saber-toothed tiger. “What about Shira?”
Captain Gutt yanked the elephant seal closer. “What about her?” he snarled.
“Yeah,” chimed in Squint spitefully. “What about her?”
“Anyone else want to play captain?” Gutt shot back. When no one said anything he slapped Flynn’s side and motioned for him to start moving. “Come on, blubber brain,” he ordered. “Swim!”
As Flynn obediently began swimming away, the other pirates clung to him and swam in his wake.
Chapter 9
Manny and his friends drifted in the water on an iceberg about the size of a lifeboat. The pirates were out of sight when Manny heard a splash in the water. “Hey! Gutt! Flynn! Anyone there?” someone yelled.
It was Shira. The white saber-toothed tiger was paddling in the water, desperately trying to keep her head above the waves.
Manny and Diego rushed to the edge of the iceberg. “Here!” Manny said, holding out a leg. “Grab hold!”
Shira’s face clouded when she saw them. “No!” she snapped. “Go away! I’d rather drown.”
Diego shrugged. “Whatever the lady wants.” But as soon as Shira sputtered under another wave, Diego grabbed her and pulled her onto the ice.
Shira coughed and spat out some water. “I said, I don’t need your help!”
“You’re welcome,” Diego retorted calmly. “So . . . ,” he went on, “care to join our scurvy crew?”
Shira looked at Diego and the others with contempt. “Two sloths, a mammoth, and a saber,” she said. “You guys are like the start of a bad joke.”
“We saved you,” Diego reminded her. “So that makes you the punch line, kitty.”
Shira tackled him. “Don’t call me kitty!” She snarled.
“Okay, I won’t!” he agreed. Then suddenly he flipped her. “Kitty!”
Granny was watching them fight. “If they kiss,” she muttered, “I’m going to puke.”
Peaches moaned.
Ellie looked up from the winding coastal trail. It was sunset and she felt tired. Ahead she could see the land bridge silhouetted against the sky. The mammals had made some progress today for sure, but there was still a long way to go.
“Maybe we should rest for a few hours,” Ellie told the group. Most of the animals collapsed right away, just as exhausted as Ellie.
But Peaches was too upset to sleep. Instead she hung upside down from a tree branch, wide-awake as she stared out at the water.
“I miss you, Dad,” she murmured miserably.
Suddenly, Ethan was in front of her, a quizzical look on his face as he stared at Peaches hanging upside down. “Well, that’s something you don’t see every day,” he said. “I’ve never seen a mammoth sleep like that.”
“Ethan!” Peaches quickly dropped onto the ground, landing clumsily on her face. “It helps me think!” she said, embarrassed. “It gets blood to the old noggin and . . .”
Ethan just laughed as Peaches babbled on. She knew she wasn’t making any sense.
“Uh . . . okay,” Ethan said. “That’s a little weird.”
In the distance they could hear rocks crashing and the earth rumbling.
“So how are you doing?” Ethan asked. “You know, with all this.”
“Honestly,” Peaches blurted out, “I’m a little scared. Okay, I’m a lot scared.” She shook her head sadly. “Everything we knew is gone.”
“Yeah,” Ethan agreed. “I was pretty scared, too . . . I mean, not scared. But ya know, like concerned.” He hesitated for a second. “Hey. Um, do you wanna walk with me tomorrow? Try and get our minds off all this stuff?”
Peaches stared at him in surprise. “You want to walk with me?”
“Well,” Ethan replied, grinning, “you did almost flatten me this morning. So I figure it can’t really get worse than that, right?”
Peaches grinned back. “Yeah.”
“There’s just one thing,” Ethan said. He paused. “You might want to lose the molehog.”
“Oh!” Peaches said, trying to cover her surprise. “Louis? Yeah, sure! Not a problem.”
“Great. See you later,” Ethan said.
Wow! That was amazing! Peaches thought as he walked away.
A minute later Ellie came over with Crash and Eddie. “Someone looks happy,” Ellie said, looking at her daughter’s dreamy expression.
Peaches sighed. “Ethan’s great, isn’t he?”
“I know you like him, baby,” her mother replied. “But just . . . don’t let anyone change who you are, okay?”
“I know,” Peaches said.
With her tail, Ellie grabbed a limb in the tree with Crash and Eddie. “Are you coming up?” she asked Peaches.
“Um . . .” Peaches looked into the darkness. She could see Ethan in the distance, sleeping on the ground. “I think I’m going to sleep down here tonight.”
“Oh. Okay,” Ellie answered. “Good night, baby,” she added softly.
“Good night, Mom,” Peaches called. Then she looked out at the dark water again. “Good night, Dad,” she whispered.
The next day Sid sat on the edge of the iceberg as it drifted along. He was trying to figure out something. “Granny, why didn’t our family want us? What’s wrong with us?” he asked.
Granny was busy trying to eat a huge clam. “They think we’re screwups. Hey,” she added, handing him the clam. “Chew this up a little for me—okay?”
Diego was looking around at their iceberg, which was melting fast in the hot sun. “We’ll never make it home on this thing.”
“Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you capsized our pirate ship, genius,” Shira grumbled.
“I was trying to escape,” Diego reminded her.
“Wimp,” Shira shot back. The two of them kept bickering.
“Whiner!”
“Crybaby!”
“Land!” Manny shouted out suddenly.
“Yeah, land!” Diego echoed. Then he realized what Manny had said. “Wait . . . what did you say?”
“Land! Over there!” Manny pointed to an island that was visible over the waves. “Everyone, paddle!” he ordered. “Paddle!”
Soon they were all staggering onto the island. All Manny could think about was getting home. “We have to build a
raft,” he announced.
“Manny.” Diego just looked at him, exhausted.
Sid was gazing at something in the distance. “Wow,” he muttered. “Shira must really hate building rafts.”
“What do you mean?” Manny asked. Then he turned to see Shira making a run for it.
“Go get her!” yelled Manny. “She can help us get back home!”
“Shira!” Diego took off after the white saber-toothed tiger, catching up to her as she reached the island’s peak. “Gotcha!” he cried, tackling her. They fought as they rolled toward a precipice. Then Diego pinned her.
“Let go of me!” she snarled.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Diego demanded. Before she could reply, he looked past her, over a steep bluff. Down below, there was a cove. He watched as huge ice chunks floated along two channels in the water, and then were pulled rapidly out to sea by the strong current.
“It’s Switchback Cove!” Diego exclaimed, remembering what Flynn had said about the cove. “It’s the way home!”
Suddenly, Diego caught sight of something else: dozens of hyrax laborers. The tiny little, guinea pig-like mammals scuttled around, building something while a large figure bellowed orders at them. Then the voice called out another order: “Raise the mizzenmast, Flynn! Come on! Put your blubber butt into it! I want this piece of ice seaworthy by sundown—I have a date with a mammoth!”
“Oh no!” Diego gasped, a chill traveling up his spine. It was Captain Gutt and he was building a new pirate ship!
Chapter 10
Manny and Diego found a heavy rock and used it block off the opening of a tree. Then they imprisoned Shira inside.
“Is this how you treat all your guests?” she demanded. “Let me out of here.”
“Sure,” Diego said sarcastically. “We totally trust you not to tell Gutt we’re here.”
Back at Switchback Cove, Captain Gutt was still barking out orders at the hyrax. “You call this a ship, you miserable runts? This is nothing. I want a ship, not a floating trash heap! Faster, you worthless, wormy, sorry excuses for shark bait weevils!”
“What did he say?” Flynn murmured to Gupta.