by Brian James
“Arrr! Why aren’t ye abandoning the ship like I ordered?” Captain Dagger Dan roared.
“Captain, we lowered the lifeboats, but they were so full of holes that they sank!” Peg Leg Pedro told him.
“Slimy slugs!” Cap’n Dan yelled in surprise. “It looks like our ship is really sunk this time!”
“But Cap’n, we can still save the ship,” Vicky pleaded.
“Aye!” I said. “We have a plan, but we need your help.”
Captain Dagger Dan wasn’t really listening. He just kept pacing back and forth and rubbing his beard. “Sorry, matey! This be no time for wee pirate games,” he said, and hurried away with Peg Leg.
“Arrr, it’s no use,” I told my mates. “We have to figure it out all by ourselves!”
“Aye!” my friends yelled.
Then we put our hands in a circle and said our pirate cheer.
“SWASHBUCKLING, SAILING, FINDING TREASURE, TOO! SAVING THE SHIP IS WHAT WE WANT TO DO!”
There was no time to waste, so we went right to work.
“First, we need something waterproof,” I said.
We all looked around, but there was nothing waterproof anywhere on deck.
Suddenly, I had an idea!
“Inna? Did you bring a lot of clothes like you always do?” I asked.
“Aye,” Inna said. “I brought all my prettiest outfits.”
“Is one of them a raincoat?” I asked.
Inna tapped her chin and thought. Then her eyes got real big. “AYE! It’s my pink one with purple polka dots. It’s my favorite! Oh, and it’s waterproof !” she said. “I’ll go get it!”
“Arrr, now we need a rope ladder, four pegs, and a hammer,” I said.
“Aye!” Vicky said. “I know where the hammers are.”
“I know where to get a rope ladder!” Aaron said.
“And I know where we can get pegs,” Gary said. “I tripped over them on the way over here.”
Soon, everyone was back with the supplies we needed.
“Arrr! Now what?” Aaron asked.
“Now we toss a rope ladder over the railing,” I explained. “I’ll climb down and patch up the hole with Inna’s coat. Then I’ll nail it into place.”
“Arrr, no one said anything about pounding nails in my coat!” Inna growled.
“Would you rather sink?” Vicky asked.
Inna made a frown. “Fine!” she huffed. “But someone is getting me a new coat if we make it out of this mess!”
I raced over to the railing and started to climb down. Aaron and Vicky held the ladder steady. Gary had his head poked over the side to guide me. Inna was supposed to help him, but she was too scared to look.
I took a peek below me. The waves were splishing and splashing all over the place and all over me. I had to wipe the water away so I could see. Then I saw the hole just under the water’s surface!
I climbed down a few more steps and got into place.
“That’s it, Pete! You can do it!” Gary shouted.
“Aye! I better do it fast!” I shouted back. I slipped Inna’s raincoat out from under my arm. I tried sliding it over the hole, but the water was rushing so fast, it almost took the coat with it.
“Hammer the top corners first,” Gary shouted.
“Good thinking,” I yelled. Gary might be clumsy, but he sure was a smart pirate.
I hammered the top two corners in place. Then I pulled the bottom two over the hole.
Then . . . GLUG!
The water stopped rushing in. The sea was pushing the coat so hard that it held tight to the ship. I hurried up and hammered the last two corners before it could slip out of place!
I glanced above me and gave Gary the thumbs-up.
“It worked! It worked!” Gary shouted as I climbed back onto the deck.
I wiped my forehead. “That was a close one!”
“Aye,” Vicky said. “The closest one ever.”
“Arrr, I wasn’t worried,” Aaron said. “I knew the plan would work all along!”
We were all too tired to argue with him. We just rolled our eyes and shook our heads.
“Arrr! I guess we should go find our parents and let them know we’re still sailing,” Vicky told her brother.
“Arrr, and we should let the cap’n know the ship isn’t sinking anymore,” Inna told me and Gary.
“Aye,” I agreed. Then I made a grumpy face. “But I’m going to miss watching all the grown-ups run around like a bunch of monkeys!”
Chapter 9
SOS
“Three cheers for our lil’ shipmates!” the crew hollered once we told them that the ship wasn’t sinking.
“Shipshape work, mateys!” Captain Dagger Dan told us. “I never would’ve thought of using a raincoat to patch up a ship.”
We smiled really proud. Saving the ship was the best thing a pirate could do, besides finding treasure of course.
“There’s still one problem,” I said.
“Aye?” Vicky asked.
“Aye!” I said. “The ship is still STUCK!”
The whole crew made oohs and aahs. They were so happy we hadn’t sunk that they forgot all about being stuck.
The crew all looked toward Captain Dagger Dan. He rubbed his chin and looked out to sea.
Then the cap’n shook his head. “The only way out of this rut is if another ship gives us a tug from behind. And no other pirate cap’n be brave enough to try their luck on Shipwreck Pass,” he said.
“Brave?” Inna whispered in my ear. “Arrr, I think he meant to say ‘crazy’ instead.”
The crew moaned and groaned. It looked like there was no way out of this.
“This stinks!” I said. “We’ll never get to be real pirates if we’re stuck in this floating graveyard forever.”
“Aye,” Aaron said. “I say this stinks worse than sinking.”
“Aye, me too,” Gary said. “It stinks worse than rotting sea slugs!”
“Me three,” Vicky said. “It stinks worse than Rotten Tooth’s breath!”
“We can’t give up yet,” I said. “If we give up, we’ll never see the Sea Rat again. I don’t care what the cap’n says—we should start a signal fire. There’s still a chance a ship will be close enough to see it!”
“ARRR!” a voice roared behind me. I spun around and saw the cap’n staring down at me. “ARE YE QUESTIONING ME ORDERS?” he growled. Captains didn’t like it when pirate kids questioned their orders. If I hadn’t just helped to save the ship, he might have made me walk the plank.
“Aye,” I whispered.
Dagger Dan squinted at me and leaned so close to me that I stumbled backward. When I caught my balance, he didn’t look so mad anymore.
“Do ye know how to make a signal fire?” he asked, and I nodded. “Then by all means, get to work, sailor! I ignored ye runts once—I won’t be doing it again!”
“Aye, Cap’n!” I said. Then I gave him a big salute.
We perked right up and started gathering planks for the fire. Then the cap’n ordered every pirate to help us. Soon, the whole ship was hard at work for the first time since we set sail.
“If we make it out of this, I’m giving ye a rich reward!” Captain Dagger Dan whispered to me.
I smiled really, really, really wide! Then I crossed my fingers and double-hoped that a ship would sail our way. First, I wanted to be saved. And second, I really wanted that reward!
Chapter 10
Safe at Last
I kept watch all afternoon, but I didn’t see any ships.
“Rotten fish guts,” Vicky said. “We’re never getting saved!”
I looked around the deck. Even the bravest pirates on board were moping! “We need some good news to raise our spirits,” I whispered to my mates.
“Aye,” Gary agreed.
I went back to watching the sea. It wasn’t long before something caught my eye way out on the waves. I took out my spyglass and spied through it.
“Blow me down!” I shouted. “A ship! And
it’s heading this way!”
“Let me see!” Aaron shouted. He took the spyglass and peeked through it. “Pete’s right! There’s a ship!”
Vicky took the spyglass from him so she could see for herself. “Great sails!” she shouted. “It’s the Sea Rat!”
“They must have seen the signal fire,” Gary said.
“Yippy skippy! We’re rescued!” Inna shouted.
She was right, too!
The Sea Rat steered into Shipwreck Pass. Soon, it was right on our tail. I saw Captain Stinky Beard on deck and waved. “Ahoy, Cap’n!” I shouted.
“Ahoy!” he shouted back. “Looks to me like ye need a tow.”
“Aye!” I said.
Then I reported to Captain Dagger Dan, and he ordered the crew to toss the ropes over to the Sea Rat. Soon, both ships were latched together.
Then Rotten Tooth and Captain Stinky Beard came aboard.
“Thanks for saving our tails,” I told Captain Stinky Beard.
“Arrr! It be Rotten Tooth ye should thank,” Captain Stinky Beard told him. “He kept us on a close course. He heard rumor of a treasure buried at the bottom of Shipwreck Pass and figured Dagger Dan would try to find it.”
“Aye?” Inna asked. “Does that mean you were worried about us?”
Rotten Tooth turned a little red. “I was worried about my mate Peg Leg, not ye barnacles,” he mumbled, but we could tell he was fibbing. He didn’t like to admit it, but we knew that deep down, he sort of liked us a teeny-tiny bit.
“Arrr,” Captain Dagger Dan said. “Ye were right not to worry about this lot. These pollywogs saved our ship! If it weren’t for them, we’d be at the bottom of the sea!”
“Aye,” Peg Leg agreed. “These runts will make shipshape captains one day.”
“Aye!” Captain Stinky Beard agreed.
Me and my mates smiled and clapped our hands. Hand clapping wasn’t very piratey, but we were too happy to care.
“I only wish we’d found that treasure,” Captain Dagger Dan said. “Then we could pay them back. If ye like, yer welcome to stay on until we find another treasure,” he told us.
“Aye, ye still have a few days of vacation,” Rotten Tooth said.
We all shook our heads back and forth really fast.
“Thanks, but no thanks,” I said.
“Aye,” Inna said. “I think we need a vacation from our vacation!”
Both captains roared with laughter.
We gathered our things as quick as we could and hurried back on deck. Vicky and Aaron said good-bye to their parents. That took a long time because they all started arguing about who was going to miss who the most.
Then Captain Stinky Beard and Dagger Dan ordered both crews to reverse the sails.
The Bone Rattler creaked and squeaked.
Then . . . WHOOSH!
It was sailing once again!
As soon as we pulled away from the rocks, I noticed something shiny in the water. I raced over to the railing and peered at the bottom of the sea.
“AVAST!” I shouted. “THE TREASURE!”
The entire crew ran over and looked into the clear water. There was treasure littered all over the place!
“Looks like we found the treasure after all,” Vicky said.
“Aye! I told you we would,” Aaron said.
The best swimmers on both ships dove in to gather it.
Once all the treasure was safely on deck, Captain Dagger Dan took his share. Then he handed it over to me and my mates!
“I’ll be giving my share to these runts,” he said.
We couldn’t believe our eyes!
A whole captain-sized treasure just for us!
“Blimey! We must be the richest pirate kids on the sea,” Gary said.
“Aye!” I agreed. I’d never had so much treasure in my whole entire life. But that wasn’t even the happiest part of the day. The happiest part was when we set sail again on the Sea Rat and waved good-bye to our new friends!
“Arrr, it’s nice to be rich, but it’s even nicer to be home,” I told my mates.
“Aye!” Gary said.
“Double aye!” Inna said. “Getting bossed around by Rotten Tooth beats sailing in a rickety ship like the Bone Rattler!”
Even Vicky and Aaron had to agree.
“I like the Bone Rattler,” Vicky said, “but Rotten Tooth has a point about keeping up on repairs.”
“Aye,” Aaron said. “Keeping the ship in top-notch shape means the mess hall never floods!”
We all giggled. Then we rubbed our bellies—we were starving! We hadn’t had a thing to eat on that ship! Our next Pirate School lesson could wait until we’d finished stuffing our faces. After all, we were on vacation!