“Well, well, well, if it isn’t our old friend - the keeper of the island, as he likes to call himself,” Neil said, crossing his arms against his chest. “Your manners need a whole lot of work, do you know that, mister? And I see you’re still in dire need of a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo, aren’t you?”
“Wha-?” the keeper sputtered, his fury growing by the moment. His chains jangled about his body, and he hobbled to the edge of the deck, his peg leg thunking upon the wood as he went. He leaned over the edge of the ship, placing his hands on the railing and staring down, his eyes burning like the hot embers of a well-stoked fire. “You impudent child, you’ll pay for that! How dare you trespass upon my island, and then set foot within the sanctity of my home, and then... and then, insult me, on top of it all!”
Jack stood beside his friend, his own arms crossed, and the two boys stared up at the pirate. They were not afraid or intimidated, regardless of the fact that they regarded the keeper with a weary respect. They had stood up to bigger, meaner bad guys before, and they weren’t about to back down. Certainly not when the stakes were nothing less than Noodles’ very head!
Nibbler was beside the boys, bolstering their confidence. He stood stiffly, trying his best to make his perpetually happy face look at least a little bit serious. He had mixed results - after all, it was next to impossible for a Labradoodle to look upset.
Murphy, however, was more successful in his attempts to appear stern. He twisted his squirrelly face into a visage of curious rodent fury and squeaked up at the Queen Anne’s Mild Rebuttal. When the keeper spotted the pair of creatures, he gave them a suspicious glower, to which Murphy shook his fist and Nibbler loosed a woof.
The Beans were an odd bunch to look at, but there was no questioning their bravery, their daring, and their loyalty to one another.
“It’s like we told you before. Hand over our friend’s head, and we’ll be on our way and off of your precious island before you know it,” Jack said.
“Mind your tongue, boy! I don’t take orders from any grown man, and I’m certainly not about to take them from a lad! Besides... I couldn’t give you that shiny trinket, even if I wanted to. I’ve got plans for it, you see. It’s already been spoken for, if you will.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Jack, his voice growing with alarm. “What do you mean, ‘it’s been spoken for’? We need it!”
The cavern was largely filled with ocean water, which permitted the keeper’s ship to safely harbor within. The dimensions of the cavern created an oblong body of water that spread far beyond the dock, and there was dry land to either side.
It was within this stretching body of water that there now arose a... disturbance.
The keeper momentarily removed his fiery gaze from the Beans, glancing over his shoulder at the water behind him. When he turned back to face them, his eyes were alive with mischief, and he smiled broadly, revealing the gaps and gold teeth that filled his mouth.
“Not to worry, you hearing-impaired cretins. It looks as though you’ll be finding out for yourself in just a moment. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, for I did warn you - I warned you plenty.”
There was a terrible commotion in the water. It looked as if it was beginning to boil, for it was bubbling and swirling with agitation. Jack and Neil raised their eyebrows as they observed this phenomenon, and Nibbler cautiously chuffed. It was clear that something was under the surface of the water, causing the strange reaction. And it was undoubtedly something big.
“Uh-oh. Is it Pan Gu, mister? Is that what’s in the water?” Neil asked. “I really don’t think you should be messing around with a monster like that. It turned out quite badly for the last two fellows who tried that. Their names are Jasper and Ebenezer and, oh, man - I’m telling you, they really brought a lot of trouble down on top of their heads - literally!”
The keeper’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion, and he snarled down at the Beans. “Pan Gu? What gibberish are you spouting off about, boy?”
“Pan Gu! The great serpent! The dragon!” Jack exclaimed. “Don’t you know?”
“A serpent, you say? A dragon? Nonsense!” the keeper declared. He turned his eyes back to the disturbance in the water, where the emergence of some unfathomable creature was imminent. “No. This is no serpent, you confused wretches. I told you to flee this island, didn’t I? Time and time again, I warned you, but you refused to heed my words. I warned you that to remain here would result in your certain doom. And now… it’s too late for you.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Hail to the King
The Green Beans, Volume 4: Shipwrecked on Smuttynose Island Page 22