“Forget the apple, Scroup. Let’s go up and have a look!”
I breathed a sigh of relief as I heard them tramping up the steps to the deck above. It was some moments before I dared to raise my head. When I did, the kitchen was empty.
I’ve got to warn the others, I thought.
“Pirates?!” exclaimed Orde. “On my ship? Mark my words, they’ll all hang!”
“Ha!” retorted the doctor. “Ve are a mere handful and they are nearly whole crew! Ve’re doomed, doomed…” he moaned, helped little by the two polar bears whimpering in the corner of the cabin.
“I’m afraid he’s right,” the squire concurred. “We can’t hope to defeat that many.”
“Oh yes we can!” snapped the captain. “We just need to plan. Now, let me think.” He sat down on the bed and propped his chin on his hand for a moment. “Balto, how much did you hear?”
I thought back. “Well, they haven’t won over the whole crew yet. There are one or two Steele must have picked off the street to fill in for members who were dead, or whom I might recognize. He’s hoping to discreetly persuade them to join, and dispose of anyone who won’t.”
Orde nodded. “So, Steele is the ringleader. I might have known, he was the one who helped our good squire select the crew.”
Squire Trelawney shifted uneasily. “Anything else?” he prompted me, obviously anxious to change the subject.
I thought for a moment. “He said he wanted to wait until we were headed home.”
Boris looked hopeful. “Then ve have time?”
“If the crew doesn’t turn on him,” I replied. “They want to get rid of us now.”
Orde nodded. “Division among them. That might be trouble, or it might be a chance to save our skins if we use it right.”
“What should we do?” asked Muk.
“For now,” answered the captain, “We’ll have to keep our eyes and ears open and our mouths shut. Our only advantages are control of the weapons, which they know about, and the fact that they don’t know we know about them.”
“Perhaps we should arm ourselves,” offered the squire.
“And anyone else still loyal,” I volunteered.
“Yes, but we’d better be quiet about it. Balto, how many are still on our side?”
“James,” I answered right away. “He’ll side with us, that’s for sure.”
“You’re sure of this?” asked Boris. “James, he seems a little strange to me.”
“Trust me,” I replied. “James is my friend.”
“You thought the same about Steele,” answered the squire.
I shook my head earnestly. “Not the same,” I insisted. “He wasn’t with the pirates, and they definitely talked about dealing with him. Steele said he wouldn't have the stomach, and he's right about that.”
“Right,” agreed Orde, reaching into the weapons cache and pulling out several pistols and a handful of ammunition. Loading two and tossing them to me, he instructed, “Balto, arm yourself and James, since he seems to trust you most on this ship. Who else did they mention?”
I had to inform him regretfully that I had no idea. The captain frowned. “In that case we'd best be on guard,” he decided. Personally, I'd already figured out that much.
Nimbly I climbed up to the crow’s nest, rapping out a signal of knocks we had arranged.
She turned around, looking surprised and a little pleased to see me. “Balto,” she asked, “What are you doing up here?”
“Captain’s orders again,” I replied grimly. “And this time we’re not trading watches.” I reached under my shirt and pulled out one of the pistols. She gasped, her one visible eye wide with surprise.
“We’ve got trouble with the crew,” I explained, making sure she knew how to load and fire as I quickly filled her in on the situation. She was a bit clumsy with the thing, and I could tell she’d never held a gun before and didn’t want to start now.
“Looks pretty bad,” she muttered.
I tried to reassure her. “Don’t worry, we’ll be OK. The Captain will figure out what to do.” Impulsively I laid a paw over the one in which she held the gun. “And no matter what happens, we’re in this together like crew mates. Right?”
Her voice quivered slightly as she answered, “Right.”
It wasn't long before the crew became anxious to get on shore. Were it not for the tension of the situation, I would have felt the same. Captain Orde agreed to allow most of them shore leave, only keeping a few behind to mind the ship. Steele quickly took over arranging the boarding parties, and I noticed with some dismay that he left a handful of pirates behind while bringing some of the crew still undecided ashore. I had been entertaining the thought of sending all the pirates ashore and then leaving them stranded so we could come back with reinforcements. From the disappointed look on Captain Orde's face, I suspected he felt the same way.
It occurred to me that someone should keep an eye on the pirates. So when no one was looking, I slipped into one of the boats and hid under the back seat board, concealing myself with a sheet of canvas in hopes that they would get in it without noticing me. My hopes were not in vain. Soon a half-dozen sailors climbed in and the boat was lowered into the water. I raised my head to see who was there, and I heard a shout from the boat behind us. “Balto! Is that you?”
My blood ran cold. Steele had spotted me! I wasted no time. The moment the boat touched shore, I jumped up and was away like a shot into the jungle. I fought my way into the undergrowth until I could hear no more voices, then waited for my heart to stop pounding before I started to explore. I saw birds, snakes, and other animals, none very large, wandering around. I ran into a wild goat, which ran off. Then I heard voices close by. Peering through the greenery, I saw Steele talking to another sailor, a badger. I soon realized that this was one of those not with the pirates, and he would have no part of their scheme.
“Mutiny I'll have nothing to do with,” he was saying. “I'm an honest beast, God knows it, and I curse the day I joined this crew.”
Steele seemed to be making every effort at persuasion. “Come on, don't ye see I'm only trying to save yer hide? It's because I think gold dust of you that I'm warning you. There's no changing the course now, riding it out's the only chance.”
Just then a cry of anger sounded somewhere off to my right, followed by a terrible scream. “What was that?” asked the sailor.
Steele leered. “That was your friend Joseph, another who wouldn't go along with my plan.”
“Joseph!” cried the badger. “Well, God rest his soul. And as for you, Long John, I'll have no part with you or your crew. If I die, God help me I'll die doing the right thing. Kill me too if you dare, but to the devil with you!”
He lunged for Steele, who spun nimbly aside on his one leg and drew a knife in the same motion, slashing the badger a gash across his arm and drawing a bellow of pain with the blood. The two faced off again, and a moment later heard approaching footsteps. Eyes widening, the badger realized he would soon be overrun and made a break for the beach. Before he got ten yards, Steele had grabbed a branch overhead and whipped his crutch through the air and into the sailor's back. I couldn't see the impact from where I lay, but from the sound of the blow and the groan that followed I think he must have broken the poor fellow's back. Whatever the extent of the injury, Steele was on him in a flash and I could hear him grunting as he and his knife did their terrible work. Surrendering part of my breakfast, I turned and ran, knowing that if the pirates caught me I'd soon be as dead as that brave sailor. Behind me, like the ominous cry of a banshee, screeched the voice of his parrot. “Dead dogs don't bite! Dead dogs don't bite!”
I plunged headlong through bushed and ferns, around pine trees and over or under fallen logs, until I had no idea where I was. Suddenly the world turned a complete flip-flop. A pressure on my ankle, a yank and a rush, and the next thing I knew I was about twenty feet off the ground dangling from a branch. “Hey!” I yelled without thinking. Then I slapped myself in the forehead.
Wonderful, I thought.
Now the pirates are sure to know where I am.
I considered my options. Could I cut through the rope? I reached for my knife and discovered it wasn’t there. I looked down and saw it lying on the ground. Must have fallen out of my belt when the snare got me.
I considered trying to shoot through the rope, but I was still swaying too much to have a chance at a decent shot. And even if I did manage to hit it with all my blood rushing to my head, I wasn’t very
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