Aloha, Lugosi! The Gretch Bayonne Action Adventure Series Book #4

by Steven M. Thomas

  “They are just looking for a lost man,” the Professor explained.

  “This is your island?” I asked. “Do you live here?”

  “Of course I don’t live here!” the man yelled. “I hunt here! And today was not a good day!”

  The man stormed off ahead of us, followed by the tall gentlemen in the blue uniform.

  “Who the hell was that?” I asked the Professor.

  “He is one of our sponsors,” the Professor answered as we followed him down the hill towards the beach.

  “Never mind him,” I said. “What the hell was that back in the bushes?”

  “A lion,” he replied. “He was hunting the lion but ran out of time.”

  “There can’t be a lion here!” Crumby replied. “There aren’t any lions anywhere near this place!”

  “It was shipped in from Africa,” the Professor replied. “For the sole purpose of being hunted.”

  I couldn’t walk and take this all in at the same time, so I made everyone stop and sit down for a minute.

  “If he wants to hunt lions,” I asked, “why doesn’t he just do it in Africa?”

  “You don’t understand,” the Professor explained. “This is Bob Johnson we’re talking about. He used to hunt in Africa, but got into a row with Sir Lloyd Harrell on one of their safaris.”

  “I’ve never heard of either one of them,” I replied.

  “Hunter Bob owns most of the farms in Missouri and Arkansas,” the Professor said. “And he spends a great deal of his time and money hunting.”

  “I’ve heard of Sir Harrell,” Crumby said. “One of the richest men in Great Britain, I’m told.”

  “That’s right,” the Professor answered. “The long and short of it is that one day, while hunting lions in Africa, Bob accidentally shot Sir Harrell in the leg. He was forever banned from hunting in Africa again.”

  “So he has the damned things shipped here so he can hunt them?”

  “Exactly,” the Professor replied. “And at considerable expense I might add.”

  “That’s the craziest damned thing I’ve ever heard,” I said.

  “You obviously don’t know Hunter Bob,” he replied.

  “No,” I said, “And I don’t think I want to.”

  We caught up with Crazy Bob on the beach just as he was getting ready to take off in the seaplane.

  “Next time, I want gorillas!” he yelled. “And keep that damned lion here, too!”

  As the seaplane took off, I turned and looked up towards the hill.

  “He funds our project,” the Professor said.

  “That lion is not going to survive on this island,” I said. “There are no other animals for him to feed on.”

  “Yes, there are,” he replied. “One hundred goats were brought in with the lion just in case Hunter Bob missed his deadline. He gives himself just three hours to make the kill. That is how he plays the game. He will be back eventually.”

  “I didn’t see any goats,” I said.

  “They are hiding in the caves,” the Professor replied. “The lion will find them when he gets hungry.”

  “Lions eat fish too,” Sharkey said. “He will probably eat those giant shrimp before he eats the goats.”

  I’d forgotten about the damned shrimp that were pumped up on growth hormones. But as soon as Sharkey mentioned the lion eating them, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

  “Professor?” I asked. “Have you considered that the growth hormones in these animals might be passed on to those who consume them?”

  “It doesn’t work that way,” he replied.

  “Then you have tested it?” I asked. “And you are certain?”

  “Well, no,” he replied. “It has not been tested but the hormones would not be in large enough doses to affect the consumer.”

  “And you are sure of that?” I asked.

  The Professor nodded his head “yes” but didn’t speak another word.

  As we left the island, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen there next. If a shrimp the size of a match head could become three feet in length, what would it do to a four hundred pound lion? I could only hope that it would eventually consume everything on the island, and eat Hunter Bob when he returned for the kill.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  A boat appeared out of nowhere a few miles behind us. Speck said it looked like a small military vessel and it was flying a Japanese flag, so we didn’t feel it was of any threat.

  “They will catch up to us shortly,” the captain said. “Maybe they can tell us something about your friend.”

  “I doubt that,” I replied. “They are behind us. Lugosi is ahead of us by days, maybe weeks.”

  The boat swung in close to us. It was about the size of our vessel, maybe seventy-five feet long. There were half a dozen men on the deck, waving and smiling at us. We waved back as they passed.

  “That seems odd,” Crumby said. “I’ve never seen a Japanese military vessel this close to the rocks.”

  “We just saw a man hunting a lion on an island with three feet shrimp in a pond,” I replied. “And the Japanese boat seems odd to you?”

  “Maybe we should have talked to them,” Barber said. “They might have been able to help us.”

  The captain climbed on top of the pilot room and began blowing his whistle loudly and waving to the Japanese boat with both hands. They must have gotten the message because they stopped for us to catch up to them.

  Two men boarded the Eclipse and introduced themselves as Japanese Navy. I didn’t catch their names, but it didn’t really matter.

  “We are looking for my friend,” I explained, showing them a photo of Bela. “Have you seen him?”

  “No,” one of them replied.

  I didn’t expect a different answer but thanked them just the same. I figured we were wasting their time, not to mention ours. But Crumby wouldn’t let it go at that.

  He began asking them if they’d seen the ghost ship. They replied to the negative. Then he asked if they’d witnessed the ghosts on the island where we’d found the gold coins, the little girl in the blue dress on the hill, and so forth. They continued to shake their heads “no” and looked as confused as a cat on a subway.

  “How about the submarines?” Crumby continued.

  “Yes!” the men replied. “We have seen them several times!”

  The captain looked at me contently. “You see, Bay,” he said, “they saw something!”

  “Why do you think they would be here?” I asked.

  The men looked at each other in befuddlement. “We do not know. It is very strange.”

  “Well, you boys are a long way from home yourselves,” I replied. “What brings you to this neck of the ocean?”

  “Two of our vessels went missing somewhere around these islands,” one of the men replied. “They vanished without a trace over a week ago. We are searching for them.”

  “I guess we are all looking for something,” I replied. “Well, good luck and sorry to have taken up your time.”

  “About the subs,” the captain said as the sailors were getting ready to leave, “did you talk to anyone onboard?”

  “No,” one of them answered. “We didn’t see any of the crew. Each time we saw one of them, they would quickly disappear into the ocean, as if they were hiding or running away.”

  It was fishy to say the least. Crumby was paranoid that they were all looking for his treasure. The Japanese sailors said their goodbyes and we watched their boat slowly go on ahead of us.

  “Do you buy their story about looking for the missing boats?” Sharkey asked.

  “Sure,” I said. “Why would they lie about it?”

  “To cover their true mission,” Barber replied. “They could be looking for the treasure.”

  “That’s preposterous,” I replied. “Do you really think the Japanese government would send a military vessel on a wild goose chase to look for a treasure that may not even exist?”

  “We’ve seen stran
ger things on this voyage,” Crumby said. “Now, haven’t we, Bay?”

  “I don’t know how many times I have to reiterate this,” I yelled. “I do not care about your treasure! That is not why we are here!”

  Hiwanda was becoming upset at our arguing and pulled me away from the others. I followed her to the back of the boat where we sat down on a blanket. After a few minutes, I felt calm again. If she hadn’t been there, the situation probably would have gotten uglier.

  “Let me tell you a story,” Hiwanda said.

  “It’s not going to be another one like Shark Man, is it?” I replied.

  “No,” she answered. “Just listen. When I was a very little girl, I saw a rainbow over the mountain for the first time. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen! And I wanted to capture it for myself. So without anyone knowing, I climbed the mountain. Before long, I realized that most of the village was behind me. I realized that they too were after the rainbow, so I began running. I wanted to get there before they did. When I reached the top the rainbow appeared to be within grabbing distance. I held my hands up as high as I could, but still was unable to capture the rainbow. So I climbed to the highest rock on the mountain. It was barely big enough for my little feet to stand on. As I stretched my arms up to grab hold of the rainbow, I lost balance and fell. I was caught by the people who were just below me. And I realized then that they were not there to chase the rainbow. They were there to save me.”

  We sat in silence for a moment as I contemplated the significance of Hiwanda’s story and how the hell it related to what was going on with me, the treasure and this crazy mission.

  “That is a beautiful story,” I finally said.

  An explosion in the distance ahead of us shocked me back into reality. We ran towards the front of the ship, where the crew stood in total shock. Speck was peering through his heavy binoculars. He took them away from his face and looked at me in disbelief.

  “The Japanese boat!” he yelled. “Someone just sank her!”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  By the time we caught up to where the Japanese boat went down, there virtually were no signs that she’d ever been there except for the crap on top of the water.

  Debris floated all around us but we couldn’t tell what it was. The water was deep. She was down there somewhere, but we never saw her.

  “They must have hit an old land mine,” Speck said. No one else spoke a word. “Had they not gone ahead, it could have been us,” he said.

  “Back up top with you then!” the captain said. “Had you been up there where you’re supposed to be you might have seen what happened to the Japanese ship!”

  “It had to have been a land mine,” Speck replied. “It came from under the water. I was watching!”

  “Or a torpedo,” Barber replied.

  “Maybe we should turn around,” Sharkey suddenly blurted out.

  “Can’t stop now!” Crumby said. “In my estimation, we are almost to the end.”

  “Do you think so?” I asked excitedly. “We are almost at the last of the islands?”

  “No,” Speck said. “We have about four hundred miles to go.”

  “Shut up, Speck!” the captain yelled. “You don’t know a foot from a yard! Now back up, I said!”

  “With all due respect, Captain.” Sharkey said, “if they are blowing up ships in these waters, we may never make it to the end of the alley!”

  “It does seem to be getting more dangerous,” Barber chimed in.

  “We’ve come too far to turn back now,” Crumby replied. “Back to work, and that’s an order!”

  “It’s been cursed since the beginning,” Barber said under his breath.

  “Gentlemen!” I said loudly. “If you want to turn back, I say we put it to a vote! Right here, right now! But consider this! When this voyage is over, you will most definitely tell stories about it to whoever is willing to listen for the rest of your lives! This is an historic trip! It is important! And when you talk about it in the future, do you really want to say that we were almost to the end, then turned back? That we gave up in the face of danger and turned around? I sure don’t want to tell that as an ending to this story! Do you? But that is your personal decision. So you tell me! All those who want to turn back now, raise your hands, and I swear to God, I will go along with the majority!”

  Everyone stood in silence and stared at me. Not a single hand went up.

  “All those who vote to continue on,” I said, “raise your hands!”

  Crumby, Hiwanda and Speck immediately stuck their hands in the air, followed quickly be Barber and Sharkey. They were all smiling from ear to ear.

  “What about you, Bay?” Sharkey asked. “You didn’t raise your hand.”

  “I didn’t have to,” I replied. “I got the majority vote. The election is over. Besides, I’m not registered to vote in Hawaii.”

  Barber followed me and Hiwanda to the back of the ship. I knew he had something to say, but he wasn’t coming out with it quickly enough.

  “You want to change your vote?” I asked him.

  “No,” he said. “It’s not that. But if it’s okay with you, I would like permission to load the cannons. Just in case we need them.”

  “Load every damned weapon on this boat,” I replied.

  I had no idea how much gunpowder we had left in storage. I knew we’d shot off a hell of a lot of cannon balls at Grass Man and his lot early on in our voyage. And we’d used quite a bit on Pig Man Island to sicken the hogs. I was almost afraid to ask what we had in reserve. So I didn’t.

  “You are a wise chief,” Hiwanda said.

  “I am not a chief,” I replied. “I am just a man.”

  “Oh, but you are!” she answered. “You made these men see the right thing to do, but you did so in a way to include them and make them see that they are special. My father is like that. You have the gift, like he does.”

  “It’s just reverse psychology,” I said. “It’s pretty common knowledge, really.”

  Hiwanda looked confused for a moment, then smiled.

  “You have different words for it, then,” she laughed. “I have many words in my language that you do not know, but the meanings are the same.”

  “Hiwanda,” I said. “Those boats you saw on your island, the ones that came from under the water. How long had they been there? How many moons?”

  “I do not remember,” she replied. “Not too many. Why?”

  “Did you ever hear stories about the World War?” I asked her.

  “No,” she answered. “What is war?”

  “It’s a bad thing,” I said. “Where the major countries of the world fight with each other. That is why they make weapons like boats and airplanes. And boats that go under the water, like you saw.”

  “They are fighting now?” she asked. “That is why the boat we saw was destroyed?”

  “There is no war going on now,” I answered. “Not that I know of, anyway. But there may be one again someday. I don’t know for sure, but I think the Japanese boat was sunk by men who are preparing for war.”

  “Who would do such an awful thing?” she asked.

  “If I am right, it was some bad men from Germany,” I replied. “God help us all if this continues.”

  “If these men are bad, then they must have a very bad chief,” she said. “What is his name?”

  “Adolph Hitler,” I replied.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  We probably passed right over the sunken Japanese boat. At one point, I thought I saw a body floating in the water, but it turned out to be a big fish. Speck thought it was a body too, but then again, he can’t see too well.

  “There’s a man on this island!” Speck shouted from the crow’s nest. “And there are a lot of trees!”

  I hurried up to take a look. He was right about the trees, but I didn’t see any man.

  “What did he look like?” I asked.

  “He had a large brown hat on,” Speck replied. “And light colored clothes
. He was right there by the beach a minute ago.”

  Crumby and I decided to go alone this time. Hiwanda wanted to join us as usual, but she seemed to finally get the idea that it wasn’t always the safe thing to do. If there were natives there, that would be a different story. But this island looked deserted.

  We didn’t see any animals, but we did pass several small pools of fresh water. I decided to get a drink, and started walking through the sand towards the small pond. I quickly sank up to my waist in muddy water.

  “Damn it!” I yelled. “Crumby! I’m sinking!”

  “Stay still!” he yelled. “Try not to move!”

  “I can’t move!” I replied. “That’s the problem!”

  I was holding my rifle over my head as if I were trying to save the damned thing’s life.

  “I will find something to pull you out with!” the captain said.

  “Hurry!” I pleaded.

  A few minutes later, Crumby extended a long branch to me. I dropped the rifle and grabbed the branch with both hands. The captain pulled me onto solid ground in no time.

  “Thank you!” I said. “You saved my life!”

  “And you owe me a Winchester,” he replied.

  As we walked away from the pond, we noticed a small sign on a post in the ground. It read “Quicksand!”

  “I didn’t see that earlier,” I commented.

  “Whoever is here had the common courtesy to put it there,” Crumby said.

  “I guess that means they don’t want to kill anyone,” I replied.

  “You better hope they don’t,” Crumby said. “You don’t have a rifle.”

  We continued up the hill, figuring we could get a better look at the entire island from that vantage point. Suddenly, we came to a clearing that apparently was someone’s camp.

  There was a fairly large make shift house there surrounded by all sorts of bizarre looking things. There was a round pit made from stones that appeared to be a stove. Various chairs made from wood and rocks circled the pit. There were clay sculptures of airplanes everywhere. This was obviously someone’s home. And it looked like they’d been there awhile.