From time to time he would realign the rudders and the remarkable craft would sluggishly change direction. Once, they soared close by a thousand-foot-high spire of ocher chert, and even Chaz had to marvel at the stately beauty of the encounter. His spirits rose, if not quite as high as the sky boat itself, at least to a level approaching that of the excited struthies. He didn’t even panic when the gondola, heeling over to starboard, scraped its port side against the sheer stony needle.
Who knows, he told himself jauntily as he tried to put the best possible face on the situation, we may even be lucky enough to find a soft place to crash.
XXII
sheeting rain followed by brief, fitful periods of calm slashed at the line of pirates as they emerged from the mouth of the canyon onto the Northern Plain. There was much relieved cheering and shaking of rifles in the air. Not everyone participated. After the long, tense march many of the men were too tired to contribute to the celebration.
Starting down the easy slope that fronted the canyon, they soon found themselves on perfectly flat lowland, unable to see over the trees and palms. Somewhere ahead, their vessel rode safely at anchor, holding shipmates long unseen and the promise of fresh victuals from the galley’s stores.
Between tree and sky lay an unbroken line of cloud black as night, thick with foreboding, and riven by lightning. None chose to comment on this ominous sight. They were just happy to be clear of jungle and canyon.
It was only a short, easy hike to the beach that fringed the lagoon, Blackstrap assured them, and none among the crew desired to believe otherwise. Not with hundreds of pounds of gold and jewels chafing the skin on their backs. Each man carried a fortune beyond his wildest dreams, along with the promise of returning for more.
“Straighten up, there, lads!” Blackstrap moved among them, cajoling this one here, encouraging that one there, booting those he thought weren’t pulling their weight in their sweaty, bent-over backsides. “’Tis only another day or so and we’ll be back at the boat.”
Fate, however, cared nothing for Brognar Blackstrap’s urg-ings. As it happened (and it happened very quickly indeed), they never even made it back to the mangrove forest.
Will didn’t have the sharpest eyes among the party, but unlike the others he was the only one looking for what he finally found.
“There, look there!” With his wrists bound behind his back he was unable to point, and so could only nod westward.
“What ails the boy?” Mkuse looked to Johanssen.
“Don’t know.” The tall American strained to see. “There’s a big dust cloud off to the west. Not surprising, what with this crazy wind blowing every which way.” His gaze lifted. “Don’t like the look of this sky, Zulu man. I don’t like it at all.”
Suarez overheard. “The ship, she’ll be fine inside the lagoon. She can ride out any storm there.” He gestured at Blackstrap’s broad back, rising and falling like a swimming whale among the leaders. “I see the captain ride out meaner storms than this. Can’t be worse than the weather that blew us all the way here from the Indies.”
“I dunno.” Johanssen blinked away sudden rain. “See how dark the horizon is. Blacker than night it be, only without stars. There’s something unnatural about it.”
“Then it fits with what we’ve seen these past several days,” Mkuse observed. His companions nodded their agreement.
Only Will knew what the cloud of mist portended. It arose not as a consequence of wind but of feet. Big feet. They’d have to be, to stir up so much soil and water amid the all-pervasive dampness and driving rain. Though still a long way off, it was clearly headed in the pirates’ direction. Only when the party surmounted a low, sandy hill overgrown with coastal vegetation did the source of the mist cloud reveal itself.
Could anyone else make out individual shapes ? Will wondered. Surely they had to. The rescue team was coming straight toward the travelers.
“Lord almighty,” Thomas murmured as he pointed to the west. The cloud had subsided, revealing its cause for all to see. His gaping shipmates packed in next to him, forming a line atop the provident hillock. Uneasy mutterings filled the air.
Advancing in their direction was the most beautiful sight Will had seen in a long time. A dozen giant sauropods carrying riders and extensive equipment packs shuffled effortlessly through the swampy vegetation. There was no question that the intruders had been spotted. Even at the still considerable distance that separated them, Will thought he could see light flashing from the lens of a telescope. Seated just behind the brachiosaur’s head, the rider would have a commanding view of the surrounding countryside.
They were a grand sight: pennants streaming from their long necks, tassels hanging from backpacks and harnesses, the light reflecting off the gold filigree that decorated their equipage. The occasional flush of rain could not dim their magnificence.
Rising on tiptoes, he started to yell. Immediately there was a pirate in his face and a dirk at his throat.
“Let’s have none of that, now, boy.” Guimaraes glared at him, his hate-filled face inches from Will’s.
“It doesn’t matter.” Smiggens looked glum. “They’ve obviously seen us and are coming this way.”
“Mountains on feet.” Like his companions, Samuel was thoroughly awestruck. “No way can we outrun them.”
Old Ruskin’s words were tinged with grudging admiration. “I know a Raj in Lahore who’d trade twenty of his best elephants for one of those, just for the chance to ride it in the yearly procession honoring Ganesha. What a howdah it could carry!”
Blackstrap raged among them with slaps and rebukes. “Why are you all standing about like gawping children? These be not Arabian thoroughbreds threatening us.” He raised a burly arm. “The beach be that way. Surely the beasts cannot swim.”
Actually, brachiosaurs and apatosaurs and diplodocids were quite at home in deep water, Will knew, but he sensed that to dispute Blackstrap at that moment would be to invite disaster. The captain might shoot him simply out of frustration. So when the group hurried down the far side of the little hill, Will increased his hobbled stride and did his best to keep pace.
They hadn’t traveled more than a couple of hundred yards
before Treggang, gasping under his heavy load of treasure, stopped and pointed. “It is no use, Captain. See how they come faster now! ”
Probably someone in the rescue party had identified Will through a scope. Whatever the reason, the sauropods had broken into a run. It was a sight Will had only seen once before, when he’d encountered a group of children playing with a pair of Diplodocuses on the beach. Formidable as the stupendous sauropods appeared when striding along at a normal pace, they were infinitely more impressive when bearing down at a gallop. Even at a distance, the earth shook beneath them.
The muffled rumble set pirate hearts to pounding, as well it should.
Despite his present unpleasant circumstances, Will couldn’t help but recall his history lessons. What might such a cavalry have done against Caesar at the Rubicon, or the British at Waterloo? Such notions were pure fantasy, of course. Even if the opportunity to do so somehow presented itself, no sauro-pod would think of engaging in such an enterprise. Inherently aware of their capacity to wreak havoc, they were among the most pacific of all dinosaurs.
Not knowing that, more than one seaman was shaking in his boots. “Look how fast,” stammered Chumash. “Cut us off from beach for sure.”
“Not so fast,” O’Connor corrected him. “But look at the length of those strides!”
“Right!” Blackstrap drew himself up behind a cluster of ivory palms. “Form a line, then. Flold your fire till I give the signal. We’ll turn these same as we did the first monster that dared challenge us.” He smiled ferociously. “Aim for their riders!”
Will started toward the captain and stumbled. “No, you can’t!”
His plea proved unnecessary. Though valiant and experienced brawlers, none of the pirates had the gumption for a fight with an an
imal the size of a railway station, much less twelve of them.
“What’s wrong with you?” Blackstrap roared. “Fire at will, then, if you won’t form a line.”
One of the pirates threw his gun into the bushes and turned to flee.
Chumash showed no inclination to participate in the futile fusillade. “Might as well try to bring down a grizzly with spit,” he commented phlegmatically.
An assortment of frightened cries and wails rose from the assembled.
“They be trying to cut us off from the beach. We’ll fool ’em, we will.” Waving his cutlass over his head, Blackstrap beckoned for them to follow. “This way, men! Discard your treasure.”
Samuel gaped at him. “Discard it, Captain?”
“Aye! There’s plenty more to be had. We’ll retreat back into the canyon, where the great beasts cannot follow, and either wait them out or find a way to circle ’round whatever position they take up. If their riders dare pursue, we’ll cut them down like dogs.”
Reluctantly, the seamen let sacks of gold and silver slide from their backs. A few furtively shoved handfuls of choice jewels into their pockets, so that their hips and chests bulged as if afflicted by some intractable disease. Which was, in fact, not far from the truth.
“They’re coming!” howled Samuel. “We’ll all be crushed!”
“No,” Will insisted as he was swept up in the panic, “don’t worry! It’ll be all right. Just stand your ground and nobody will be hurt, I promise! ” No one was paying him any attention.
“Run!” screamed Andreas as fresh rain struck the party.
“Wait!”
Will whirled on the speaker. He’d been wrong: at least one member of the crew had been listening.
All the uncertainties, all the confusion and troubled thoughts that had been boiling in the first mate’s mind, had finally come to fruition. Slowly removing his pistol from his belt, he let it slip indifferently from his fingers. It landed in a shallow, rain-spattered puddle. He looked hard at Andreas, then turned to regard the rest of his shipmates.
“Why should we run? We’ll only keep running for the rest of our lives. Do any of you really think we can get off this island, for an island it surely must be, without the permission of the people and dinosaurs who live here? They’re the masters of this land, not we. Why should we not take the only chance that’s been offered to us? Listen to the lad!”
The men hesitated. Exhausted and fearful, they were ripe for reason.
Something of an ambulatory mountain himself, Blackstrap strode back and forth among them. “What’s the matter with you lot? Move your cowardly arses! Back to the canyon!” “No.” Astonishing himself, Smiggens gazed unafraid at his companion of many difficult years. “I’m tired of running, Brognar. I’m tired of being awakened in the middle of the night to stand to arms just in case the next vessel we encounter might turn out to be a patrolling warship. I’m tired of sneaking ashore for a few nights of drunken revelry only so I can sneak back to the ship and out of port. I’m not a young man anymore. Piracy’s a dying profession whose boldest practitioners can only look forward to a short and furious life at best.” “Have a care, Preister,” rumbled Blackstrap warningly. Smiggens was not to be denied. Addressing the attentive seamen, he pleaded his case. All the while the sound of the approaching sauropods grew louder.
“Mind what the lad has been telling us. Ponder well its meaning if he speaks the truth. We’ve none of us a record here in this ...” he glanced at their captive, “what did you call it, Will Denison?”
“Dinotopia,” Will replied softly.
“Yes, Dinotopia. We’re all free men here with the promise of a fresh start. A new life for each and every one. Who among you wouldn’t gamble to lose the weight of his past? You, there, Mkuse. What were you before you became a brigand?”
“When I was not fighting in an impi, I was a river fisherman,” the Zulu replied pensively. “But we’ve seen only small streams here.”
“There are rivers!” Will leaped to the first mate’s aid. “Big, fast-flowing, game-filled rivers. Wait until you see the fish to be had in the Polongo!”
“You see?” Smiggens moved from man to man, peering deep into their eyes, taking those who seemed uncertain or benumbed by their surroundings by their collars and shaking them gently. “Why compound our guilt by running? As yet we’ve injured no one here. Let us cast ourselves at the feet of the local inhabitants and perhaps in their mercy they will welcome us among them.” He spun to face Will.
“That’s what you said would happen, wasn’t it, lad? That we could become citizens of this country?”
Will nodded vigorously, trying to keep one eye on the seething Blackstrap. “All who are cast up here leave their previous lives behind them. Dinosaurs and humans alike will make you welcome.”
Ruskin took a step forward. “I’ve been three times ’round the Horn, and each time it was because I was running from something. I say now, I’ll run no more.” He smiled at Will, displaying a distinctive dearth of teeth. “I believe the boy.” “Used to train horses before I went to sea.” Andreas was gazing westward to where the rescue party had been slowed by a rain-swollen, soft-bottomed stream. “Liked to feel the wind in my hair.” He examined the gigantic sauropod in the lead, noting its massive legs, the long muscular neck, and the rider swaying in his saddle forty, fifty feet up behind the large intelligent head.
“What must it be like to ride such a beast at a gallop?” “You could find out,” Will assured him. “Every sauropod has a favorite human groom. They gladly trade rides for personal care.”
“What’s all this?” Stepping into the circle, Blackstrap swung his cutlass freely, forcing several of the men to duck out of the way. Rain trickling down his face and spilling from his great mustache, he turned angrily on the mate.
“We’ve been through a lot together, Mr. Smiggens. All the way from the hell of Hobart, we have. Be you, now, after all this, counseling mutiny?”
The first mate stood fast. “This is no mutiny, Brognar,” he replied tightly. “We indeed have seen much, you and I. More in the last year than most men will in a lifetime. But ...” he hesitated, “I’m tired of running.” Looking past the captain, he gestured at Will. “The lad offers us a better end than any I thought I’d meet. It’s a chance, Brognar, a chance for all of us.” “And if he’s lying, Mr. Smiggens? What of that, eh?”
The first mate shrugged. “As well a dinosaur’s foot as a hangman’s noose, I reckon.”
Blackstrap’s face contorted into a grotesque scowl. “Why, you lying, traitorous, backstabbing, mutinous spawn of a jellyfish.”
“I’m with Mr. Smiggens.” A determined-looking Watford crossed to the first mate’s side.
“And I.” Mkuse joined them.
Quickly the cry was taken up by all the rest of the crew save two. Davies and Copperhead, two of the most murderous of the lot, moved to flank their captain.
Blackstrap glared menacingly at the men who’d joined Smiggens. “You slimy, scurvy, useless lot of sun-baked trepang. You be not men but babes, bawling to be wet-nursed. So be it!” Glancing to his left he saw that the sauropods and their riders were starting to emerge from the streambed. Reaching into a pocket, he scornfully flung a king’s ransom in gems into the sullen, defiant faces of his former crew. Suarez started to make a dive for the jewels, only to have Smiggens grab him by his shoulder and his dignity, paining the former while preserving the latter.
“Come on, then,” Blackstrap told his remaining companions. “We’ll outrun ’em to the canyon and find a place to hide out. Paradise, is it? Har, we’ll see about that! Every land has its lice and crabs. I’ll raise a new crew from among them, a true crew, and we’ll pillage and plunder this stinking country from one end to the other!”
He spat contemptuously in the direction of the oncoming rescue party. “I be Brognar Blackstrap, and I ain’t afraid of nothing on the face of this earth. Neither man nor beast, no matter how bold the man or large the beast.�
� He favored them with a last, venomous snarl. “I’ll be seeing every man-jack among you again, and when I do, you’ll find yourselves sorry you chose to cast your lot with this coward and this boy.” Replacing his cutlass in its scabbard, he drew both pistols. “There be but one thing left to do.”
So saying, he turned to face Will. Those in his immediate vicinity hurried to take themselves elsewhere. Will was left standing alone, hands bound behind his back, legs hobbled. Prettykill thrashed wildly at her restraints, unable to intervene.
Blackstrap stood silently for a long moment, watching his
young prisoner’s eyes, which had grown very wide. Methodically he checked first one revolver, then the other.
“You’ve cost me me crew, boy. I can’t let that pass.”
“Not me, it’s not me.” Will looked frantically from left to right. It was clear that, willingly as they had sided with him in the matter of no longer running, none of the men was about to interfere.
“Circumstances cost you your crew, Captain Blackstrap,” Will continued desperately. “Events, happenings. Not me. Listen, there’s a new life here for you, too, if you’ll have it. There’s always work for an experienced seaman.”
“Doing what?” Blackstrap let out a terse, humorless snigger. “Running a ferry back and forth across a river? Navigating grain barges? Guiding tourists? No, boy, that not be for Brognar Blackstrap.” He raised one of the revolvers. Smiggens’s mouth tightened, and several of the other sailors inhaled sharply. A couple of the men looked as if they were thinking of jumping in, but the presence of that second, always accurate revolver gave them pause.
Will closed his eyes. Good-bye, Father, he thought. Goodbye, Nallab and Cirrus and Bix and all my friends. I never thought it would end like this. But I did what I had to do to help others. If making me a better person is what Dinotopia has done to me, then I guess it’s for Dinotopia I’ll die.
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