They didn’t have to wait long to find out. Upon boarding the ship, they found another treasure chest sitting on the main deck. Once Doug had it open, they all looked inside and were surprised to find an assortment of clothes, along with another riddle from Lord Dinswood. It read:
After your swim, it’s dry clothes you’ll need,
Wear these and you’ll feel like pirates indeed!
Now that you’re sailors, there’s work to do.
In the captain’s cabin, you’ll find your next clue.
“So, I guess we get into some dry clothes first and then we can see what’s in the captain’s cabin,” Doug said after reading the riddle to the others.
Emma and Martha were already rummaging through the clothes in the chest. There was an assortment of linen shirts and button up breeches complete with sashes, but there were no shoes. When Martha commented on the lack of shoes, Sebastian said, “Well, I guess that sort of makes sense. On a day-to-day basis, pirates didn’t wear any shoes. After all, they spent most of their time on a ship and didn’t really need any.”
Martha shook her head in amazement. Sebastian was turning out to be one surprise after another. The boy was a lot smarter than he let on. At least he sure knew a lot about the things that interested him. Martha realized that she hadn’t really been fair in her treatment of him. She made a vow then and there to be nicer to Sebastian and to have a little more respect for his thoughts and opinions. A moment later, she had to smile to herself, that vow would probably only last until the next time Sebastian did something to annoy her.
“We’ll just have to wear our wet tennis shoes,” Doug said, breaking into Martha’s thoughts.
As she began pulling clothes from the chest, Emma had an idea. “Why don’t we take off our shoes and let them dry out a little bit while we’re here. If pirates can go barefoot on a ship, why can’t we?”
“She’s right,” Sebastian agreed.
“Good idea, Emma,” Doug said with a nod of approval. With that, they all took off their shoes and lined them up on the main deck to dry. Then, with a set of shirts, sashes, and pants each, they split up to get changed, agreeing to meet on the main deck when they were finished.
The girls headed toward the stern of the boat and the boys disappeared down a set of stairs. Once they were out of sight of the boys, Emma and Martha quickly donned the linen shirts and breeches. The clothes were a little big but not uncomfortably so, and having the sash to tighten the breeches helped considerably. Emma was glad to shed her wet jeans and sweatshirt. Now, with fresh, dry clothes on, she felt more than ready for the next challenge. When she and Martha had finished changing, they made their way back to the center of the main deck. Doug and Sebastian were already there waiting for them. Emma had to admit Doug looked very dashing in the pirate garb. There was no time, however, to stand around admiring each other’s new clothes. The treasure still needed finding, and dangerous men were hot on their trail.
Okay, Sebastian. Where’s the captain’s cabin?” Martha asked when they were once again standing around the chest in which they’d found the pirate clothes. In her opinion, the treasure hunt had become too dangerous, and she was eager to get it over with. They’d already had one close call when they thought Doug had drowned, and they had no way of knowing what hazards lay ahead. A worrier by nature, Martha didn’t know how much more she could take.
Totally unaware of Martha’s anxiety, Sebastian thought for a moment and then answered, “It’s in the stern of the ship in the direction you girls just came from.” The others followed as Sebastian led the way past the main mast and down a short flight of stairs. Soon they were all standing in the captain’s cabin. Emma was amazed at the rich furnishings. A king-size bed sat in one corner of the room. The headboard was made of dark cherrywood and had the head of a dragon carved into it. A large trunk sat at the foot of the bed, and when Emma opened it, she saw it contained extra linens and blankets for the bed. A dresser with a mirror above it sat directly opposite the bed and had an old-fashioned pitcher and bowl sitting on it. A brush and comb sat just to the right of the bowl. To the right of the door was a roll-top desk, a blank white paper lay on its polished surface. A small, round table with two chairs sat in the center of the room. It was made in the same dark wood as the other furniture and was bare except for a lovely china cup and saucer designed in a light blue flower pattern. Emma had the strange feeling that someone had been in this room recently.
As if she could read Emma’s mind, Martha said, “I feel like we’re trespassing in someone’s home, and they could come back at any minute.”
“It does look like someone’s been living on the boat,” Doug agreed.
“Let’s just find the clue and get out of here,” Sebastian chimed in. He was beginning to feel a little spooked too. At Sebastian’s reminder, they all spread out and began looking for the clue. After several minutes, they still hadn’t found anything.
“Maybe we’re looking for the wrong thing,” Emma suggested. “Maybe it’s not written on a piece of paper like the other clues. Look for anything that seems out of place or out of the ordinary.” As she said it, Emma spotted a wooden bucket with a mop sitting in the far corner of the room. It looked curiously out of place amongst the other fine furnishings. Going over to it, she peered into the bucket. In the bottom was a fluid that looked like water but had the scent of some type of cleaner. Emma picked up the bucket to get a closer look, and when she did, a piece of paper, which had been stuck to its bottom, drifted down to the floor.
Sebastian grabbed it up triumphantly and said, “This must be the clue!”
“Well, what does it say?” Martha asked impatiently, her earlier vow to be nice to Sebastian temporarily forgotten.
With a frown, Sebastian answered, “It says we’re supposed to swab the quarterdeck.”
“What? Give me that,” Martha said, grabbing the paper away from Sebastian. She scanned it quickly, and then shaking her head in disbelief, she looked up at the others. “That’s what it says. It says to take the mop and bucket and swab the quarterdeck.”
“What does washing the floor have to do with finding the treasure?” Sebastian groaned. “I think old Dinswood must have gone batty in his last days.”
Everyone looked at Doug to see what his take on the clue was. After a moment, Doug said, “It does seem kind of strange, but I think we’d better do what it says.”
“What good is washing the floor going to do?” Sebastian protested.
“I don’t know, but right now it’s the only clue we’ve got.” With that, Doug took the bucket from Emma and grabbed the mop that was leaning against the wall. Without another word, he turned and left the cabin. Like Martha, Doug was beginning to grow weary of all the challenges and clues. He just hoped all their hard work wouldn’t be for nothing. In any case, they needed to hurry before the men who were following them figured out where they were.
Sebastian looked at Emma and Martha with a lift of his eyebrows. Then with an exaggerated sigh and a shrug of his shoulders, he followed Doug, hollering as he went. “Hey, Doug, do you know where the quarterdeck is?”
Apparently, Doug did know where he was going. The quarterdeck was directly above the captain’s cabin. When he got there, Doug immediately wet the mop with the liquid in the bucket, but before he could begin mopping, Sebastian stopped him. “Let me do that, Doug. Up till now, you’ve done most of the work. Now it’s my turn.” Before Doug could protest, Sebastian grabbed the mop and began vigorously swiping it across the deck. The others stood back and watched, not sure of what they were supposed to be looking for. Sebastian continued to mop, working his way out from the center. He was beginning to work up a sweat and still no clue appeared. Just when he was about to give up, he came to the area in front of the stairs. As he mopped, a message began to magically appear on the floor. Re-energized, Sebastian mopped more quickly until the entire clue could be read. It wasn’t very long and simply said, “stow the bucket and mop in the hold.”
Some of Doug’s earlier urgency began to translate itself to the others, because without a word, Martha quickly grabbed up the bucket and started down the stairs leading to the hold. “Come on! Let’s get this over with. This whole thing is starting to give me the creeps.” Then over her shoulder, she added, “Sebastian, bring that mop, we may need it.”
Once in the hold, they found a large, wooden crate, and written on the side of it in big, black letters was the message, “stow the contents neatly in the galley.” When they opened the crate, they saw that it contained an assortment of canned goods, all with future expiration dates, once again leading them to the conclusion that someone was living on the boat and could return at any moment. This time, it was Emma who led the way through the door to the hold and into the neighboring galley. As the crate was fairly heavy, Doug and Sebastian had to carry it together. The galley was fitted with every modern convenience, including a stainless-steel refrigerator and stove and a microwave. Wooden cabinets lined the area above and below the sink. Emma opened one of the cabinets and found more canned goods, boxes of cereal, coffee, and other assorted food items. Curious, Martha opened the refrigerator and discovered it was well stocked with milk, orange juice, butter, bacon, eggs, and lunchmeat. Seeing all the food was beginning to make Sebastian hungry. Fighting the urge to fix himself a sandwich, he looked at Emma and asked, “Okay. What are we supposed to do with the stuff in the crate?”
“I think we should put it away in the cabinet with the other canned goods,” Emma answered.
“Sounds good to me,” Sebastian said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Doug and Sebastian opened the crate and began handing cans of soup, chili, fruit, and vegetables to the girls, who stacked them neatly in the cabinet above the sink. When the crate was almost empty, Doug noticed that there was some writing on the bottom. Once the last can was removed, they could read the next clue. It read, “your last task is to capture the flag.”
“What does that mean?” Sebastian asked.
“I don’t know for sure, but there is a flag hanging from the main mast. I noticed it when we came on board,” Doug answered, already heading toward the stairs as he spoke. The others quickly followed, and soon they were all standing on the main deck looking up in an attempt to locate the flag Doug had described. Sure enough, a pirate flag with the distinctive skull and crossbones was hanging high up on the main mast. Although there was no wind to furl the flag, it was spread out as if there were.
“What do you make of that?” Martha asked incredulously.
“It must be hanging from a dowel rod,” Emma conjectured. When the others just stared at her, she explained. “You know, like something you hang curtains on.”
“Oh, yeah,” Sebastian said. “Good one, Emma. How are we going to get it down from there? It’s pretty high up.”
“One of us will have to climb the rigging,” Doug answered. He had already decided that he would do it, but Emma had anticipated him and was already climbing when he turned around.
“Emma, come down before you break your neck. I’ll do this,” Doug called anxiously.
“I’ll be fine. Besides, you shouldn’t be the only one taking all the risks,” Emma replied as she continued to climb. Soon Emma was level with the flag. The problem was that the ropes she was standing on were too far away to allow her to grasp the flag. To make it even more difficult, the flag couldn’t simply be unhooked; it would have to be taken off the rod. She was going to have to shimmy out on the beam of the topsail and then stand up in order to get the flag.
Emma took a deep breath to calm her nerves while the others watched anxiously from below. Cautiously, she put one foot on the beam and then the other while she continued to hold onto the ropes. Then she lowered herself until she was sitting splay-legged on the beam. Slowly, she let go of the rigging and grasped the beam with both hands. Now she was ready to begin sliding along the beam. The only problem was she was facing in the wrong direction. Reasoning that she could push herself just as easily as she could pull herself, she began pushing herself backward along the beam until she was directly beneath the flag.
Now came the tricky part. She was going to have to stand up and grasp the flag. Once she had a hold of the flag, she would be okay, but getting into a standing position was going to require a great deal of nerve and balance. Emma leaned forward and brought her feet up behind her until the tops of her feet rested on the beam, her knees now pointing at the deck below. Gradually, she pushed her weight backward and brought one foot to stand on the beam underneath her. Then she did the same thing with the other foot so that she was squatting on the beam with one foot in front of the other. Now all she had to do was stand up and keep her balance long enough to grasp the flag.
After making minute adjustments in the position of her feet, Emma took a calming breath and let go of the beam with her hands. Using her thigh muscles, she raised herself until she was standing on the beam like a tightrope walker in the circus. The flag was now directly above her. Reaching up, she grabbed it and began sliding it off the rod. Emma almost had the flag free of the rod when she began to lose her balance. To save herself, she pulled on the flag, but her weight was too much for the small rod and it snapped. The flag came free, and Emma screamed as she began to fall. As she fell, her knee hit the beam and slowed her enough to allow her to grab onto it. She found herself hanging from the beam and watching as the flag drifted to the deck below. Emma felt her grip starting to slip and knew she wouldn’t be able to hang on much longer. Desperately, Emma tried to pull herself up, but she just wasn’t strong enough.
“Hold on, Emma!” Doug called from somewhere to her left. She had been so focused on the flag that she had been totally unaware that he had followed her up the rigging. Hastily, and without concern for his own safety, he climbed onto the beam from which she was hanging and began shimmying toward her. As soon as he got close enough, he reached out with his right hand. “Emma, grab my hand!”
Emma was afraid to let go with either hand, and so she hesitated.
“Emma, please!” Doug pleaded. “Grab my hand. I promise I won’t let you fall.”
The decision was made for her when her left hand slipped off the beam. Emma was now hanging only by her right hand, and it was slipping too. In her panic, Emma threw up her left hand and felt Doug grab it firmly just as her right hand slipped off the beam. Doug strained with all his might to pull Emma up but just couldn’t do it with one arm. His grip on Emma’s hand was slipping too. “Emma, you’ve got to reach up with your other hand!”
Doug wrapped his legs tightly around the beam and let go with his left hand, so he could grab Emma’s other hand. “Come on, Emma. Reach up.”
Emma did as she was instructed, and Doug grabbed her right wrist. As he did so, she wrapped her hand around his wrist in a hold much like that used by trapeze artists.
“Emma, I’m losing my grip on your other hand. You need to grab my wrist like you did with the other hand, and then I’ll have a firmer grip.”
Once again, Emma did as she was told, and now Doug had her securely by both arms. He was hanging from the beam by his legs now and knew there was no way he could pull Emma up. His only other option was to try to swing her over to the rigging. He told Emma his plan and began to swing her. Emma pumped her legs in an effort to help him and when she was close enough to the rigging, she grabbed on with one hand. Then she got a toe in the rigging. Doug didn’t let go of her other hand until he was sure she had a firm hold on the ropes. Once Emma was safe, he grabbed hold of the beam from which he was hanging and began working his way over to the rigging himself.
Emma climbed down, and when she was once again standing on solid ground, she began to shake uncontrollably. The fact that she had almost died was beginning to sink in. Sobbing, Martha rushed over to her and put her arms around her. “Emma, you scared us to death. Please don’t ever do anything like that again. If it hadn’t been for Doug…” Martha’s voiced trailed away. She couldn’t bear to put into
words what would have happened if Doug hadn’t followed her. If Doug hadn’t already been nearby, Emma would have surely fallen and most likely been killed.
At that moment, Doug was climbing off the rigging. He was feeling a little shaky himself. He looked over to where Emma stood, still being fiercely squeezed by Martha. No treasure was worth one of their lives. As far as he was concerned, the treasure hunt was over. From now on, he was just going to concentrate on getting them all out alive. When he expressed what he was feeling to the others, he was surprised to find that it was Emma who disagreed with him.
“I almost died getting that stupid flag. The least we can do is look at it.” Then Emma disengaged herself from Martha, and before she could change her mind, ran over to Doug and threw her arms around him. After giving him a quick squeeze that nearly robbed him of breath, she stepped back and said sincerely, tears glistening in her eyes, “Thank you for saving my life.”
Embarrassed by this mushy display, Sebastian had busied himself by going over to where the flag had fallen. Picking it up, he began to look at it closely. “Hey, look what I found.”
Glad to have the attention diverted from him, Doug hurried over to Sebastian along with Emma and Martha. Sebastian held up the flag and pointed to a gold skeleton key that had been sewn onto it.
“Why didn’t Dinswood just give us the key? Why did we have to do all that other stuff?” Sebastian asked in frustration.
“I think he wants us to work for the treasure,” Doug answered.
“Well, we’ve certainly done enough work and almost gotten killed in the process!” Martha said angrily.
“But we’ve come too far to give up now. Remember we’re doing this for the school.” Emma wasn’t ready to give up. It was true that she’d almost been killed, but if they quit now, it would have all been for nothing.
The Secret of Dinswood Page 31