from smooth gold with a large diamond set in it. I would have liked nothing better than to search for the rest then and there, but I had to get to the others. I stuck it in my pocket, thinking it would be nice to show them. As it turned out, however, things would soon be too wild for showing off a trinket like that.
I got lost searching for the stockade, and the moon was above the treetops by the time I came out in a clearing surrounding it. The fort stood on a little hill in the middle of a clearing which I would later learn was some hundred feet across, and the fort itself was a wall of upright logs in a circle at the top, about thirty feet across and ten feet high, sharpened at the top to deter enemies from trying to get over. Casting my eyes in every direction for pirates, I crept up and tried to climb the wall. I was just wondering how to get over the tops of the sharpened tree trunks without stabbing myself when a metal tube thrust its way through a gap and pressed against my forehead. “Who goes there?” came a voice.
I gasped. “James?”
Jenna hesitated. “Who is that?”
“Jenna, it’s me.”
“Balto?” she asked, dropping her falsetto and her weapon in surprise. “Where have you been?”
“Everywhere,” I replied. “Can you let me in?”
“Sure, the gate’s about five yards to your left.”
I ran to the gate and waited until she opened it, slipping inside and pulling it shut as soon as the gap was wide enough. “Thanks.”
“Where have you been?” she demanded, taking me by the arm. “Everyone’s been so worried about you!”
“I slipped into a boat and followed the pirates ashore,” I admitted. “But what are you doing here?”
“Never mind,” she replied. “You'd better get inside. Everyone thinks you're dead.”
I nodded. “How long have you been out here?” I asked.
“Quite awhile,” she replied. With a yawn, she added, “I think it’s about time for the end of my watch.” So she came along with me.
We crept up to a crude cabin in the middle of the stockade. “Has there been any trouble from the pirates?” I asked.
She nodded. “When the captain realized you had gone ashore with them, he and Hunter, the one who told him you had gone, decided to go ashore and see that you were alright. When they made it to shore, they heard screams and knew the pirates were killing off those who wouldn't agree to side with them. Captain decided they must have caught and killed you too. They returned to the ship, where they and the rest of us held the pirates at gunpoint. Hunter, Gray, and Joyce agreed to help us and were ordered to stock the lifeboat with supplies, and then they locked the pirates in the foredeck and made for shore with as many weapons and other equipment as they could carry.”
“They planned to fight it out with the pirates?” I asked.
She nodded. “I was so afraid, especially when, looking back, we discovered the pirates had broken out and were getting ready to fire the cannon at us. The squire managed to pick one of them off, but they still damaged our boat badly enough that it sank by the time we reached shore. All we could salvage were an armload of the guns. So, we took shelter here in the stockade.” She paused to take a lantern that was hanging outside the door. Then we went in.
The place looked in good condition despite being out of use for so long. Jenna took two steps and stopped with a gasp. I looked too and saw a snake curled up next to the motionless figure of Boris.
I bent forward, causing the snake to raise its head and hiss. The hiss was accompanied by the sound of a rattle. I stepped out of striking range and glanced around before picking up a ramrod sitting next to the door.
“What are you doing?” asked Jenna, paralyzed in terror.
I took her hand and drew her back to where I stood, then waited until the snake had settled down again. Warily, I brought the rod over the snake, pausing every time it moved or hissed. Then with a lunge, I pinned its head to the ground. I grabbed it just behind the head and threw it out the door.
Jenna breathed a sigh of relief. “I didn’t know you could do that,” she whispered.
I wiped the sweat from my brow. “Neither did I,” I admitted. I had heard about those kind of snakes from a sailor once, who told me that sometimes on islands they would curl up next to a sleeping person and then bite him when he woke up.
Boris suddenly became aware of our presence and sat up. “Who are you?” he asked.
“It’s us,” I replied, relieved to see he was unharmed.
I decided not to mention the snake. I wouldn’t have had the chance, for Boris hollered at the top of his lungs, “Balto’s back!”
That woke everybody up in a hurry. Muk and Luk tumbled out of their hammocks to greet me with the usual hugging-and-licking routine polar bears always seem to do. Captain Orde and the Squire sat up in their hammocks and swung their feet to the ground. “Mr. Hawkins!” exclaimed the captain. “Where have you been? We thought the pirates got you.”
“Never mind me,” I was all set to exclaim before I remembered my manners. I stopped myself and answered, “I slipped ashore hidden on one of the boats to spy on the pirates, then ran away from them hoping to hide. I got caught in a snare set by a dog named Ben, who says he’s been marooned on this island for years.”
Squire Trelawney was immediately all business. “Is this Ben friend or foe?” he asked.
“Friend,” I answered without hesitation. “He knows Flint’s crew and is scared to death of them, but he’s promised to help us if we help him.”
The Captain put a paw to his chin. “What sort of help does he ask of us?” he inquired.
“Transportation back to England and a share of the treasure,” I answered.
“How much?” the squire wanted to know.
I searched my brain for a moment. “Seventeen hundred pounds sterling,” I replied.
Squire Trelawney seemed a bit uneasy about giving that much to a stranger, but Doctor Boris cut in, “That sounds qvite fair to me.”
“Done,” agreed Captain Orde, slapping a fist into his open palm. “If he’ll help us beat these bloody pirates and make it off this island with the treasure and our lives, he can jolly well have a share of the bounty. Did he say how to let him know we agree to his terms?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Perfect,” Jenna put in. “So our best chance against these pirates is a dog we can’t find.”
“He seemed to know his way around,” I replied in Ben’s defense. “I guess he’ll just find a way to tell us when he’s ready.”
Luk mumbled something, which Muk translated, “Luk wants to know what we should do until then.”
“Sit tight,” Squire Trelawney offered. “Pray for a miracle. That’s all we can do.”
The captain nodded. “Sage advice, my friend. Sage advice.”
The next morning, the pirates attacked. Running out of the woods literally armed to the teeth, they swarmed the fort from the east side in an attempt to overwhelm us. At the same time, gunfire opened from the woods and a rifle shot sang through the doorway, splintering wood from the back wall. Fortunately, the captain had anticipated such a move and had all the guns ready and loaded inside.
The pirates swarmed over the wall like monkeys, nimbly avoiding the spiked top or cutting the sharp tips off with their cutlasses, and forced in the cabin door we had just shut and bolted. It was such an intense fight I can't remember much of what happened, but Muk, Luk, and the doctor scrambled for cover as the rest of us opened fire or grabbed up swords. One of the pirates appeared in the doorway only to be run through by the Squire. I snatched up a saber and began exchanging thrusts and parries with a weasel who was missing several teeth and whose breath stank of rum. He knocked my sword aside and was all set to run me through when a rifle butt slammed into his temple and brought him down. I looked in the direction of the attack and saw Jenna looking grim even through her disguise. "Thanks," I managed to say.
With the squire holding the door, the rest of us finished those who had gotten through and crouched behind him with rifles, picking off any pirates we could spot. I advised Jenna to stand guard where the doctor and the two bears were hiding, and she didn't seem at all reluctant to do so.
After a brief but intense skirmish, the pirates had retreated or been rendered immobile, either wounded or dead. We made for the fence and peered through gaps, waiting for their next move while Jenna, Boris, Muk and Luk ventured to the doorway of the cabin to watch. After a moment, Captain Orde spied something in the woods. “A white cloth,” he observed in labored words, and I noticed when I looked at him that his left shoulder was a ragged mess, apparently torn apart by a gunshot. He was grimacing in pain,
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