Henry Hunter and the Cursed Pirates

by John

  They didn’t know Henry Hunter. As soon as we were deeply into the jungle Henry dropped back, allowing the rest of our little party to get ahead. At a bend in the path he slipped sideways into the heavy foliage, beckoning me to follow. In fact, the undergrowth wasn’t as impenetrable as it looked, and within minutes we were several feet from the path and well hidden. Henry stopped to wait for me and we both dropped our sacks, which were a bit lighter than everyone else’s thanks to the fact that we were smaller and younger.

  “So what happens now?” I hissed, as quietly as I could.

  “We wait,” said Henry cheerfully, slapping another thirsty bug out of existence. “For whoever it is that’s been following us to put in an appearance.”

  We didn’t have to wait long. After several minutes of listening to the ‘zing’ of insects and the far-off chatter of birds in the canopy of the jungle, there was a rustling sound off to one side and, while I was still wondering what we would do if it turned out to be something big and nasty with razor-sharp claws and pointy teeth, the bushes parted and a face looked through at us.

  I let out an involuntary yell and once again Henry had to shush me. To be fair, even HH looked pretty amazed to see who it was that had been following us. Probably the last person in the world we could have expected – considering that the last time we had seen him he had been falling backwards off the deck of the Moby Dick into the depths of the ocean.

  AN UNEXPECTED MEETING

  “Jake!” Henry and I exclaimed almost in unison.

  “Aye,” answered Iron Jake, actually grinning at us.

  “But… I thought…” I stammered. “I mean… I saw you falling into the sea. How could you have escaped?”

  “Takes more than a bit o’ water to drown me,” Jake answered. “Though I has to admit I did get a bit o’ help, or I might be feedin’ the fishes right now.”

  “Help?” put in Henry. “What kind of help?”

  “Well, that’s a long tale,” said Jake. “But I’ll keep it short, seein’ as we don’t have much time.” He cleared his throat and I thought he looked a bit uncomfortable, as if admitting he’d needed help of any kind wasn’t something he did easily.

  “When I fell off the deck I thought me time’d come. I knew the ocean was pretty deep there, and what with me hand and me leg weighing a bit I didn’t reckon as I’d be floatin’. Nor did I. I sank like you’d expect and began to think I’d be meetin’ Davy Jones a lot sooner than I’d planned.”

  He paused for a moment and looked thoughtful. “I seen a good few strange things in my time but nothin’ like what happened then. Just when I started seeing bright lights and my lungs felt like they was going to bust, I felt meself grabbed and then I was heading back upwards. I broke the surface and took a few lungfuls o’ good clear air afore I looked to see what had rescued me. And blow me down if it weren’t a mermaid.”

  “A what?” I said, probably looking about as disbelieving as I felt. Jake didn’t look like he’d been drinking, but I remembered his liking for rum.

  “Aye,” said Iron Jake. “I weren’t sure if I hadn’t just drowned and were seeing something that weren’t there. But no, sure as I’m talking to you now, it was a real-life mermaid. All fins and scales and long green hair.”

  “But I thought mermaids were imaginary!”

  “Come on, Dolf,” interrupted Henry. “How many times have I got to tell you? You can’t be sure whether a thing’s real or not until you’ve seen it. Didn’t you once refuse to believe in vampires?”

  “But I haven’t seen a mermaid,” I said. “Not yet anyway.”

  “No need to argue, boys,” said Jake. “All ye needs to know is that ’twas a mermaid saved me. Brought me up near where I fell in. I could see everything that happened – the ghostly ship and you two lads being pulled aboard.”

  “But how did you get here?” asked Henry.

  “That were the mermaid again,” said Jake. “Swam after that ghosty ship for four days carryin’ me on ’er back and never once complained.”

  Jake suddenly frowned. “I don’t mind sayin’ as how I got words to say to that nasty lump o’ fish-bait as scuppered my ship – and like as not drowned Joe. I seen him, struttin’ about on the deck like he were something fancy…”

  “You know who he is then?” said Henry.

  “Oh aye, I seen pictures of him enough times to know old Cap’n Teach when I sets eyes on ’im. Ought to have been sent to Davy Jones long since.”

  The old sailor had clearly said all he was going to about his adventures, and right then there wasn’t time to consider the possible existence of mermaids. Instead Jake looked at us expectantly. “So what’s the plan, boys?”

  “Not exactly a plan,” Henry said. “But I’ve got a few ideas.”

  While I was wondering whether this was the only time I had ever heard Henry Hunter admit that he didn’t have a plan, he launched into the story of our adventures since being taken aboard the Destiny’s Wyrd. When he got to the part about my daring discovery of the Sword of Columbus (well, it was a bit daring!) Jake stared at us with disbelief.

  “You mean that sword is on board the ghosty ship?” he said.

  Henry nodded. “The question is, could it be the reason why Blackbeard is still sailing the Caribbean?”

  “Like as not,” nodded Jake. “Like I told ’e, I’ve heard tales about that sword. Seems the hilt were made of gold from the Amazon. Columbus took it from the natives and one of them put a curse on it. Seems like the curse must have been carried over when the gold was made into the hilt of his sword.”

  “So what can we do, then?” I asked, when both the others seemed sunk in thoughts of the sword.

  Finally Henry looked up. “I have an idea,” he said.

  There it was, HH to the rescue!

  “We’ve got to get the sword and send it to the bottom of the sea. Send it to Davy Jones’s Locker.”

  I nodded. It seemed so simple when Henry said it, but I was still a bit confused.

  “Er… how exactly will that help us?”

  “Aye?” echoed Jake.

  “Well, if my theory is right, the pirates and the ship will disappear once the sword has gone.”

  “But what will happen to us?” I had a horrible image of us sinking to our deaths as the ghost ship holding us afloat dissolved into nothing.

  Henry grimaced. “That I’m not so sure about. But as far as I can see, it’s the only way we’ll escape Blackbeard.”

  “How are we going to do it?” I asked, groaning inwardly. “The sword’s hidden away in his cabin.”

  “First we have to get Jake on board the Destiny’s Wyrd. Then we’ll have to see if we can arrange another diversion.”

  “Last time you did that, Blackbeard let you off with a warning. If you try something like it again you might not be so lucky!”

  Henry shrugged. “Has anyone else got a plan?” he asked.

  Neither Jake nor I had anything to say.

  “Right then,” said Henry. “Let’s go. We’ll be missed if we don’t catch up with the rest of the party.”

  We hurried back towards the beach, only pausing long enough to collect the heavy sacks from where we had left them. Jake showed a lot of interest in the story of the treasure chest, which we related as we followed the twisting path back through the jungle.

  “Reckon as I’m owed a bit o’ that gold,” he grunted, as we made the best speed we could. “Payment for the sinking of the old Moby Dick and the loss o’ her first mate.”

  I felt sad for a moment as I remembered Joe, but there wasn’t time to dwell on it. Amazingly, it seemed no one had noticed our temporary disappearance. We managed to catch up with the tail of the party, and Jake joined up with us. For the first time I was really glad that the adult prisoners were so out of it, so that none of them seemed aware of the presence of an extra man. Jake tucked his metal hand inside his shirt and at the last minute Henry gave him his sack of treasure too, while he himself sauntered along holding the
map as if he had never had anything else to carry.

  The pirates were clearly far too interested in the treasure to notice, or to count the number of workers they returned with. After all, no one was missing, and who would choose to go aboard Blackbeard’s ship if they didn’t have to? We rowed across while the two ghostly pirates hovered over us, encouraging us with gestures to make the best time we could.

  MEN OVERBOARD!

  Back on the deck of Destiny’s Wyrd we were instructed to pile the sacks of treasure in a heap. Blackbeard oversaw this himself, with a gloating look in his dark eyes, while all the other pirates watched on, engrossed. When we’d finished, Blackbeard addressed us – hands on hips, with his big beard bristling and enough pistols stuck into his belt to kill a small army.

  “Ye did well today. Soon, there’ll be more o’ ye to help with the diggin’. If ye keeps on bein’ this obedient I might even spare your worthless lives – after I’ve collected all the treasure that lies hid about this ocean.”

  Henry nudged me. “More prisoners coming,” he whispered. “That probably means the Spinnaker will be bringing them. That could be our chance!”

  Suddenly, things didn’t seem quite so desperate. Was Henry right? I really, truly hoped so. At least we had Iron Jake on our side. He had vanished somewhere after we came aboard. Wherever he was hiding I hoped Blackbeard didn’t find him.

  Once we were locked back in our cell Henry outlined his plan.

  “We’ve got just one crack at this, Dolf. We have to get the Sword of Columbus away from Blackbeard and get rid of it, preferably over the side into the sea. Then we can get back on board the Spinnaker and take care of Captain Trueblood.”

  Henry called across to Mr and Mrs Stevens to tell them the plan.

  They nodded vaguely.

  “Be careful, boys,” Mr S told us with vacant eyes. “That Blackbeard is… a nasty piece of work.”

  About as nasty as they come, I thought. But Henry wasn’t fazed.

  “We do this kind of thing all the time, don’t we, Dolf?”

  I nodded, wondering what ‘kind of thing’ he was thinking of. The kind that generally involved us getting into danger, I guessed.

  As it happens, I was right.

  We heard the bumping of the treasure-laden sacks being dragged away below and into the hold. Soon after, the Destiny’s Wyrd set sail again, and soon after that we heard a shuffling in the dark and Iron Jake’s face appeared out of the darkness, grinning at us.

  “OK, boys?” he asked. “Ready fer action?”

  Actually I was feeling very far from ready. Tangling with Blackbeard wasn’t my first choice of action, but Henry clearly couldn’t wait. “Once Trueblood arrives, Dolf,” he said, “you and Jake need to cause enough of a distraction to cover me.”

  “What sort of distraction?” I asked, hoping it wouldn’t involve Blackbeard dangling me over the ocean.

  “Anything will do, as long as you make plenty of noise and keep the crew busy.”

  “I think we can manage that,” said Jake with a conspiratorial wink from his good eye.

  “What about the rest of the prisoners?” I asked.

  “We can’t count on much help from them,” Henry answered. “The best thing will be to wait until we’re all on deck for our exercise and then make our move. Hopefully there’ll be enough confusion for me to get into Blackbeard’s cabin and get the sword.”

  As plans went I thought it wasn’t one of Henry’s best – but under the circumstances there’s wasn’t much else we could do.

  Neither of us got much sleep that night, and for once it had nothing to do with our uncomfortable quarters or the nasty insects crawling over us. All I could think about was the fact that we were taking on the most fearsome pirate who had ever lived. The fact that he and his crew happened to be dead made it worse, as did the fact that I knew we couldn’t count on any help from the rest of the prisoners. I wasn’t even sure Charlie’s parents would be any use now. That left just Iron Jake. I hoped he was good in a scuffle.

  The only thing I could do to make myself feel any better was to remind myself that Henry and I had been in worse scrapes before and survived. (We had, I promise you. Try being shut up in a tomb with a really annoyed Egyptian mummy and you’ll get the idea.)

  The next day, Henry and I waited patiently, albeit nervously. Would the Spinnaker appear? We dropped anchor somewhere in the middle of the open sea, and we both peered through one of many holes in the side of Destiny’s Wyrd.

  Sure enough, a shadow in the mist announced the arrival of the Spinnaker. Huge waves began to batter about us, and we could no longer see what was happening through the spray and the mist. I guessed it was the same thing we had experienced – those on board the Spinnaker were being thrown off and taken onto Destiny’s Wyrd by that slithering, evil tentacle. Finally the rocking of the ship calmed, and we heard the booming voice of Captain Trueblood, followed by the cold, gravelly tones of Blackbeard. Soon after, Pockmark came to unlock our cage and usher us above deck for our daily exercise, scowling all the while.

  The dull circle of the sun, which was all we could see of it through the mist, was already low on the horizon. The Spinnaker rode at anchor alongside us and Blackbeard and Captain Trueblood stood by the wheel of the yacht, deep in conversation. On the deck of Destiny’s Wyrd were two new prisoners, an adult couple who looked bewildered and terrified, pushed and shoved in among us by grinning pirates.

  Henry and I mooched along with all the rest, circling the deck around the main mast, keeping our heads down. I couldn’t see Jake anywhere, but hoped he was hiding close by. As we passed the poop deck for the twentieth time, Henry turned to me. “OK, Dolf, next time we pass this point it’s time to make your move.”

  I’d had a whole day to think of what I was going to do, so I was as ready as I was ever going to be. I began to stagger about and then fell on the deck, clutching my stomach and howling as loudly as I could. It wasn’t my best performance ever, but it got the attention of the pirates. Even Blackbeard turned to look and I saw Captain Trueblood staring over towards me with an annoyed glare.

  Then everything went crazy.

  One of the pirates came across and poked me with his foot. I grabbed hold of it and heaved with all my strength. The surprised man fell back onto the deck with a grunt (I have to admit I was rather surprised, too). I jumped up, swarmed the ladder to the poop deck, then launched myself at Caraway.

  “You scar-faced, evil pirate! How dare you kidnap us and use us for your own treasure-stealing!” I shouted.

  Taken by surprise, Caraway fell beneath me with a yell. I was glad he softened the landing. I heard Blackbeard chuckling with laughter and looked over my shoulder. Somehow he had crossed back from the deck of the Spinnaker and stood, hands on hips, rocking backwards with merriment. Despite the laughter he looked even nastier than when he wore his usual grim expression.

  Of course it only took a few moments for the pirates to grab me. Two of them jerked me to my feet and held me like a sack of potatoes. I stopped howling as soon as I saw that Henry had vanished – hopefully into the captain’s cabin. I wondered what had happened to Jake. Had he been captured, or had he decided not to help at all?

  “Enough!” Blackbeard snarled. “Any more o’ this noise and I’ll see ye all feed the fishes.”

  I’d heard it before, and I was pretty sure the threat to throw us overboard was an empty one since he needed us to dig for treasure, but it seemed no one wanted to risk it. Silence returned.

  Caraway was holding a handkerchief to his nose, which was bleeding from my attack. I couldn’t help but smile – I never thought I could win a fight with someone as big and scary as that. Everyone else just stood there; the prisoners were as bewildered as ever, and the pirates seemed uncertain what to do next, though I could see that some were fingering their cutlasses – probably in the hope that their captain would give them permission to kill someone.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Henry sneak out
of the captain’s cabin, carrying the Sword of Columbus. He made his way towards the side of the ship, keeping to the shadows.

  Unfortunately, someone else saw him too.

  Captain Trueblood.

  The sight of Henry carrying the object he’d been looking for all these years must have come as a horrible shock. Perhaps he had not known the sword was on board Destiny’s Wyrd until that moment, or maybe Blackbeard had promised to show him where it was in return for his help.

  As it was, Trueblood gave a yell that was probably heard all the way back in Barbados. He launched himself across from the Spinnaker and hurtled after Henry. Blackbeard, seeing what HH was holding, also bellowed with fury, drawing one of his pistols. He took aim at Henry and cocked the hammer.

  I had to do something. Henry would surely be killed. With the pirates holding me distracted, I managed to pull free and throw myself at Blackbeard. (I know you’re thinking ‘this is not like Dolf’, but sometimes you just have to do what needs doing. At least that’s what Henry Hunter always does, so that’s what I did too.)

  I’m not sure what would have happened next. I’m not exactly a heavyweight and Blackbeard was huge, but fortunately for me, at that moment Jake chose to make his move. He leapt out from where he’d been hiding and, moving with considerable speed for a one-legged man, he flung himself at the pirate captain, knocking his arm to one side.

  Attacked from two directions at once, Blackbeard was taken by surprise. His pistol went off with a loud explosion and the bullet ploughed a furrow in the deck just a few centimetres from Henry. Blackbeard swung a fist the size of a leg of lamb at Jake, who grunted and fell back onto the deck, out cold.

  Henry, meanwhile, skidded to a stop and everyone on the ship froze. It was one of those moments that seem to go on for a long time but is actually over in less than a nanosecond.

  Everyone’s eyes were on Henry Hunter.