Balto's Treasure Island Part Four: Unmasked

“Vhat are ve going to do?” asked Doctor Boris.

“Well we can’t give them the map,” said the captain. “If we do, they’ll just take the treasure and kill us or leave us stranded here. I hate to say it, but we're in a bit of a spot here.”

Jenna’s face was grim. “I know another solution,” she answered. All our eyes turned to her as she slowly unwound her bandanna and revealed her entire face. “Me.”

“What in blazes…?” asked Squire Trelawney.

The captain was stunned. “You’re a girl?” he asked.

“That’s what I said,” I chuckled before realizing how foolish that was.

Now everyone stared at me. “You knew this?” asked Boris.

“Never mind!” snapped Jenna. She quickly re-wound the bandanna and walked over to the wall.

“Now hold it!” I protested, grabbing her by the wrist a little more roughly than I meant to. “Jenna, if you’re doing what I think you’re doing, you’re out of your mind.”

“It’s the only way,” she insisted. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

“Young miss,” the captain added, taking my side, “If you're thinking of offering yourself to those pirates, I'm afraid my honor as a gentleman would sooner have me order you bound to the flagpole for your own safety.”

“Don't worry,” she insisted. “I'd be dead before I let them touch me, but this is the only way to stall for time.”

I hesitated, then let go. “I hope you’re right,” I said softly.

She stood on top of the log pile and shouted, “Steele, I have an offer for you!”

There was a pause before the pirate answered. “Stay down, you little pup! I’m talking to your captain, not you.”

Jenna stood there defiantly. “Before you left, you were offered a girl’s hand in marriage. She hated you, but you managed to get her father’s favor by talking about great riches and bragging about your pedigree.”

I couldn’t see over the wall, but I could imagine the look on the pirate’s face. “How do you know that?” he demanded.

Jenna rubbed at her uncovered eye, then whipped off her bandanna and dropped it behind her. “Recognize me now?” she asked, abandoning her fake male voice.

“Jenna?” Under any other circumstances, I might have doubled up just thinking about the look on Steele’s face. “What are you doing here?!” he demanded.

“Standing by my captain and crew mates,” she answered. “Now, I have a deal for you and your beasts.”

“Why should I make deals with you?” he demanded. “You’re already as good as mine!”

Jenna’s voice hardly wavered as she reached to her belt and pulled out a knife, which she held up for him to see. “If you want me alive, you’d better listen up.”

Even at that distance I could hear his growl. “What’s your offer?” he asked.

“If you and your crew let us leave the fort with the map and move to another place safely, I’ll marry…” she hesitated. “I’ll marry the first dog to put a ring on my finger.”

There was a lot of commotion among the pirates before Steele snapped, “Quiet!” Then to Jenna he demanded, “Why should I make deals with you when I can have you and the map?”

Jenna responded tensely, “I’d rather kill myself than marry you. Take me by force and I’ll do it, and the map will be destroyed long before you get it. Let us go peacefully, and I’ll marry you as long as you’re the first to put a ring on my finger. But if we lose the map, you lose me. And I know how much you hate to lose.”

There was a long silence before he finally said, “It’s a deal.”

“I hope she knows vhat she is doing,” whispered Boris.

“So do I, Doctor,” I murmured. “So do I.”

“Tell your captain he has until noon tomorrow to leave the stockade,” Steele’s voice rang out. “But if you’re not out by then, I’ll set it on fire and blast anyone who comes out.”

A moment later Jenna came down. “He's leaving,” she reported.

“Young girl, that was the bravest and most foolhardy thing I've ever seen anyone do,” said Orde in a voice that sounded half a commendation, half a rebuke.

“But vere can ve go?” asked Doctor Boris nervously. “Is there anyvere safe on this island from those killers?”

Jenna hung her head. “I'm hoping Ben will show up. He's been here this long, he must know a place.”

“Vell ve're betting our lives on it now!” snapped Boris irritably. Jenna's ears went down, we all gave the doctor a look, and he closed his beak.

“It may not be an excellent plan,” said the captain, “But I'm afraid for the moment we have no choice.”

I looked around at the group. “So now what?” I asked.

The Squire put a hand to his chin. “We still haven't heard from this Ben fellow. If we don't hear from him by tonight, we'll set out an hour before daybreak.”

It was a tense day waiting for Ben to appear. Doctor Boris patched up our side and the pirates who remained alive inside the palisade. Star had taken a bullet through the leg, but once he recovered from the wound itself he'd be able to walk. A brown fox, in more serious condition, had taken a nasty hit over the head and seemed to have a cracked skull. Doctor Boris patched him up and, on Orde's instructions, Tied him by the wrists to a post inside the cabin where we could tend him without risk of any treachery. Star, as soon as he showed signs of recovery, was put outside. Before long he had staggered back to the woods. Sadly, a fox on our side had been cut down by a sword, and Hunter had been rammed in the forehead with the butt of his own rifle. Doctor Boris did the best he could, but the poor dog never woke up. Orde's shoulder, the doctor said, would heal, but he'd have to keep it still or the bones would be crooked and leave him crippled. Worse, a broken end could damage his lung.

It seemed like sunset would never come, but it finally did, and there was still no sign of Ben. “He'll probably come during the night,” I said to the captain.

“I hope so,” he agreed, reclining by the door. “But if he doesn't, we're going. Either way, let's get what we have ready for travel before we bed down. And as for Jenna,” he added, looking me in the eye, “Set up a curtain of some sort in the corner to give the young lady some privacy for the night.” Looking into the distance again, he murmured, “Just as well I had everyone sleep fully dressed last night in case of attack.”

I nodded and went to make arrangements for her. The captain wasn't the only one worried. Now that her identity was known to everyone, she had abandoned her disguise. Without her head covered and her eye blackened, she was... well, beautiful. And as I set up her curtain, made from some old canvas that was lying about, I knew the pirates would think so as well, which meant that from now on Jenna would have a lot more at stake than any of the rest of us.

She came up to me as I was setting up the barrier. “Thanks,” she said.

“It's no trouble,” I replied. “And the captain asked me to.”

“I don't mean about the curtain,” she said. “I mean everything else you've been doing. Just being there on the ship, and now...” she trailed off. “It's nice to have someone I know around,” she admitted, her eyes lowered. “Someone I can count on.”

“You can count on all of us,” I said. “But I won't let you down. We'll figure out how to stop Steele.”

She looked up at me and smiled. “Thank you.”

I noticed her bandanna hanging from her pocket. It struck me that the piece of cloth seemed somehow tied to her personality as much as Steele's missing leg, but as a complement to beauty, not to evil. It seemed wrong that it should be tucked in her pocket and ignored like that. “Can I see your bandanna for a minute?” I asked.

Her face puckered slightly in confusion, but she took it out and handed it to me. I took the opposite corners, raised it over her head, and brought it down, tying a knot in front of her throat so that it hung loosely around her neck. I smiled. “Much better,” I said. It looked like a badge almost, like a flag displaying her courage.

She touched the knot, then looked at me. “I'd rather you wear it,” she said. “I don't know why.” And she slid it off and held it out to me.

I took it with some uncertainty. “Are you sure?” I asked. “I mean...”

She sighed. “We're going to be in a lot of trouble soon, I can feel it. Everyone's going to be watching my back, but you'll be on your own. This bandanna kept me safe through the voyage, so maybe now it can keep you safe.”

I shook my head. “Jenna, please. I'll be fine; it's you I'm worried about. All the pirates are going to be after you now. If this thing could keep anyone safe, you'd need it most.” And I held it out to her, looped over my open palm.

She looked at it and closed my fingers over it gently. “Please, Balto,” she said. “You were there for me on the ship. Let me return the favor.”

I shook my head, wondering if I would ever understand the female mind. But, if it would make her happy... “Alright,” I said, sliding it over my head.  “I'll wear it... for you.”

I thought about Jenna all night. I had never given much thought to girls, although I appreciated a pretty face. But Jenna was like no one I'd ever met before. She had more courage, I decided, than all the rest of us put together.

As I was thinking of her, lying peacefully behind the canvas, I resolved that I myself would go out and find Ben. I didn't trust those pirates not to ambush us the next day when we left the fort, but with a mind like Ben's we might have a chance.

I started to head out, then stopped and looked back at my friends. But mostly, I looked at the curtain. “Jenna,” I whispered. Part of me wanted to stay behind and protect her. She had trusted me, even given me a piece of herself in case something happened; I'd feel as vile as the pirates themselves if I just walked out on her. True, if the pirates attacked, I wouldn't be able to do much, only buy her some time...

And then it dawned on me. I could buy her some time, but I had to do it quickly. Tiptoeing up to the curtain, I eased it aside and slipped in. There she was, sleeping peacefully in her hammock. I felt some reluctance about what I was thinking of, but it was for her sake, not mine.

When I had done my task, I slipped back out, and into the night.

There was no moon that night, only the light of the stars to walk by. But I was part wolf, and could see well enough to find my way through the jungle by that. I stuck to clear paths whenever possible, keeping my senses tuned for any sign of snakes or pirates.

I soon found the clearing, and a boulder which, with a little imagination, looked like a whale swimming through the grass. I made for it. “Ben?” I whispered. There was no sign of him except his boat, crudely shaped but well-constructed and quite seaworthy. It wasn't made from planks, but wooden poles over which he had stretched tanned goatskins, and sealed the seams with pitch he must have gotten from somewhere.

Then it dawned on me: the ship! There were three keys to winning this standoff: Jenna, the map, and the ship, the only one we didn't have. If we could get the ship from the pirates, we'd be able to get away and leave them helpless. I hefted the boat and found it light enough to carry, so with no further delay I headed toward the sea.

In very little time I made it to the shore, and there out on the water lay the Aurora, perched like a great swan on the waves. I slipped the dinghy into the water and rowed as quietly as I could out to the ship. Securing the boat to a rope someone had left dangling over the side, I climbed up that same rope onto the deck. There was no one in sight up on deck, but dried blood on the deck told me of the struggle there had been when the pirates left on board took the ship. I was looking for cover and was just about to duck inside a coil of ropes when I realized it was already taken... by a dead fox! I remember now, though I'm surprised I ever did, that he wore a black vest and a red cap. My stomach lurched at the thought that this might be one of the honest crew, but then a second look told me that it was one of the pirates. Still, I had to force myself not to throw up. Why was there a body on deck, anyway? I would have thought even pirates would be decent enough to at least throw them overboard like most sailors would.

Then I heard a groan nearby, deep and throaty. I knew and dreaded that voice. It was Scroup the wolverine! Casting a furtive look around I spied him, lying prone on the deck. A dark patch around his right leg testified a wound.

Picking up a sword that happened to be lying on deck, I approached and extended the point toward his barrel chest. “Surrender,” I said, sounding braver than I felt.

He looked up and lurched in surprise. “The wolf pup!” he exclaimed. “What are ye doing here? They thought ye were dead.”

“We wolves have a knack for getting out of messes,” I said. “Now, where are the rest of the pirates aboard? Tell me the truth or it will be your last lie.”

He coughed. “I be the only one,” he rumbled. “They all went ashore t' storm the blockade and left me 'n Scragg over there...” he pointed in the direction of the dead fox, “T' mind the ship.”

“So you got drunk and fought, and you won,” I surmised.

“Aye,” he agreed, “Though 'e got me a pretty nasty stab, 'e did.” He pointed to his leg.

“Well,” I said, “I'm taking the ship right now. If you help me, I'll bandage your leg and get you some food. Otherwise, you can just stay there.”

He rasped a bit. “Throw in some brandy fer the pain and yer talkin' square.”

“The captain ordered no alcohol on board except for the wine we used to purify water supplies,” I replied.

“Aye, but as ye sees, we smuggled some aboard anyway. There was plenny in the hold, and if 'tain't there, ye'll find it hidden in most of our bunks, usually under the pillas.”

I made a face at these conniving sneaks. But, I knew I couldn't handle the ship alone, so I agreed. Inside the forecastle, I discovered, was a scene of chaos. Every locked place had been torn open in their search for the map, and I guessed they had done the same in the cabins. A surprising number of empty bottles rolled back and forth, clinking together. None of the pirates, I guessed, stayed sober long after we left the ship. But there were no full bottles of anything in there, so I went down to the hold and managed to find one half-full of brandy, along with some water, cheese, raisins, biscuits, and pickled fruit. I also found a pistol, checked to see it was loaded, and stuck it in my belt under my shirt. With Scroup around I had a feeling I'd need it. I brought the food and drink up, along with a roll of bandages I fetched from what were left of Doctor Boris' things.

Only after I had set down my share of the food and had a long drink of water did I give him the brandy, which he guzzled dry and then tossed aside. “Ah, that's the stuff!”

I gave him water, which he declined, and food, which he greedily devoured, and then he made a weak effort to rise to his feet.

“Now,” I told him, wanting no mischief, “I'll have you know I've armed myself, and I'll be captain until we get Captain Orde back on board. We're taking this ship up to the North point. Alright?”

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and nodded. “Right enough,” he said. “I see I've had my bit, and now I'm done. I'd sail 'er up to Execution Dock on your order, so I would!”

I wasn't buying it, but I nodded. “Right,” I said. “And first I'm getting rid of those colors up there,” I added, pointing to the Jolly Roger on the mast. “Better no flag at all than that one. I'll tend to that, and you get the ship ready to sail as best you can.”

He saluted unsteadily. “Aye, Cap'n,” he rumbled.

I climbed the rigging, keeping an eye on Scroup down below as he followed my orders. Once at the top, I ripped the skull and crossbones from the pole, rolled it up, and tossed it out as if I were heaving a log into the fireplace back at the Admiral Benbow. It fluttered open and waved back and forth on its way down into the sea. “God save the king,” I said, “And good riddance to Long John Steele.”

As I looked out over the island and saw the stockade's clearing from my swaying perch (the treetops hid my view of the stockade itself), I suddenly realized how foolish my actions had been. True, I had the ship under my command, but what would the others think of my disappearance? The squire and doctor, my good friends? Muk, Luk, and the other honest sailors who remained, my ship mates? Captain Orde, who tough as he was I had almost viewed, albeit distantly, as a surrogate father? And what about Jenna? I had promised her I would never let her down, and now I had disappeared on her. She had no way of knowing what I had done the night before, and Heaven only knew how she'd respond if she found out. My heart felt as heavy as the ship's belly as I thought of it, but there was nothing to do now except get the ship to secluded harbor and hope to make amends later.

The winds were blowing west, which worked just fine since we were on the north-east side of the island. Scroup told me how to steer the ship, and after a few false starts I succeeded. We reached the north end of the island, where we had to wait for the tide so we could beach her. Neither of us had been strong enough to haul up the anchor back where I took the ship, so we'd had to cut the rope, and now the only way to dock was to beach. Scroup explained to me that the trick for this was to wait for high tide and then bring her up close to shore. Then it was a matter of running a good, strong rope out to one of the trees, and the Aurora would stay put like a leashed puppy when the tide went out. Then, in order to sail, we needed only wait for high tide again. As we sat waiting for the right tide to beach, another problem dawned on me: who would stay with the ship? I had no intention of leaving Scroup unsupervised. His eyes were treacherous enough when I was watching him. And I had to get back to the others, especially Jenna, wherever they had gotten to by this point.

As we ate and I mulled this over, Scroup spoke up. “Cap'n, mind I ain't a dainty beast, but Scragg o'er there ain't too ornamental, is 'e? Supposin' you was to pitch 'im overboard, eh?”

I shook my head. “I respect the dead, even pirates,” I said. I had covered Scragg with a loose bit of canvas, meaning to arrange a proper burial for him later on the island. “I'm not going to pitch him over, even if I were strong enough.”

Scroup smacked his lips. “Well, you spoke up free, and you be the cap'n now, sure 'nough.”

I was suspicious of his sudden agreeability, especially when he asked me to go down and fetch him some wine, claiming the brandy – he was now on his second bottle that day – was suddenly too strong for his head. But I decided to play along for the moment and find out what I could, so I agreed. I went down as loudly as I could, slipped off my shoes, and ran along the forecastle gallery, up the forecastle ladder, and popped my head out of the fore companion. I knew he wouldn't think to look there, but I was careful anyway. My suspicions paid off as I saw him painfully make his way to the covered body, pull the cloth aside, and remove a dagger, red to the hilt. This he concealed in his shirt and crawled back to his place after putting the cloth back so I wouldn't suspect anything.

My blood ran cold, for now I knew I was in a bad spot. He could kill me now anytime he wanted, although what he intended to do after that was impossible to guess. And desperate as I was, I really didn't want to use that pistol. Hastily, I hatched a plan, knowing he would get rid of me as soon as I turned my back to him. I went back down and grabbed a random bottle of wine along with some rum, the strongest I could find. I hid the rum in my pocket, tugging my shirt out to cover it, and almost as an afterthought took off Jenna's bandanna and stuck it in my pocket where I thought it would be safer. Then I retrieved my shoes and came back up as he expected. I found him laying in his spot, feigning weakness. I gave him the wine, which he drank with his favorite toast, “Here's luck!”

We went back to waiting for the tide, and I began to grow agitated. Anxious for Scroup to make his move, anxious for Jenna and the others back on shore, anxious for something to happen.

At last the tide was at its peak, and I ran the ship up as close to shore as I could without trapping her there. As I did, Scroup remarked, “Cap'n, I'm thinkin' you be off tae see yer frien's, I'll be mindin' the ship. But don' lay me too many supplies; I'm not gonna be much longer fer this here world.”

“I'd pray for God's mercy, then, with a conscience like yours,” I told him.

His voice grew rougher. “Oh, you'll be prayin' alright.” And I turned to see him staggering toward me, knife in his hand and murder in his eyes.

Sidestepping to make more room, I slipped the rum from my pocket. “Then let me drink a toast to you before I go!” I yelled, wrenching the cap from the bottle. I gripped it by the bottom end and swung it like a sword, splashing the liquid in a wide arc across his eyes.

“Aaarrgh!” he bellowed as I ran for the rigging. It was the best place I could think of at the moment to get out of his reach. I made it to the side of the ship and jumped to the ropes as he stumbled after me, listening for my footsteps. The rum had left his eyes red, and he moved hesitantly up the ropes after me with the bloody knife gripped in his teeth, slowed by his blurred vision and wounded leg.

“Scroup!” I called down to him, “I don't want to fight!”

“Well, that's too bad,” he growled. “'Cause I be wanting to kill ye!”

I reached the top of the rigging and stood with my back to the mast. I hastily pulled the pistol out of my belt and pointed it at him, but I didn't cock it. “Don't make me shoot you!” I called.

He stopped near the top and pulled the knife from his teeth, drawing it back. “Yer ain't got the guts,” he bellowed. “But I does!” And he flung the knife.

It would have stuck me through if I had stayed put, but instead I jumped from my perch, through a hole in the netting of ropes, caught hold of the rigging, and swung my feet into his chest. The wolverine wasn't ready for that, and with his arms flailing he fell off the rigging.

“Scroup!” I cried. I hadn't wanted to kill him, but now I could only hang there and watch as he fell, bounced once off the rigging, and hit his neck on the rail before plunging into the sea. I winced. Even Scroup couldn't survive a fall like that.

As I dangled there, I found myself hoping for mercy on the wretched beast's soul if he had one. Then I clambered through the ropes and made my way down to the deck of the ship. There was much to be done before the tide ran out.

I managed to get a rope tied onto the prow of the ship with a slip knot, throwing it out to the end of the pole and then jerking it tight and throwing a loop or two more around it just to be sure. Then I swung down and out over the shallows so low my boots skimmed the water, then let the rope slide through my hands as I reached the peak of the swoop. My landing wasn't the best, but at least I made it in one piece as I struck the water and the sandy bottom with a splash. Knowing I didn't have much time, I ran to a good stout tree and looped the rope three times around its trunk. I added a knot, as Scroup had instructed, then ran back out to the ship. I tossed the end up over the front of the ship so that it hung down, pulled it tight, and brought it over the line leading to shore. A few repetitions of this and I had a good, solid knot with the remainder of the rope hanging there as a way to get aboard. I dog-paddled to Ben's boat where it was still leashed to the ship, untied it, and headed back for shore.

As I walked, a dismal feeling came over me. I had captured the ship, and certainly the pirates would never find it. But what now? I had no idea where my friends were, and they had no idea where I was. For all either of us knew, the other could be dead in one of who-knew-how-many ways. I had no companions, no direction, and no idea what to do next.

After thinking hard, I headed for as near as I could guess to the direction of the clearing. At least I could return Ben's boat.

Carrying the boat was much harder in the heat of the day than it had been in the cool of the night. I finally lifted it upside-down over my head to serve as a sort of umbrella, but even so the air was hot, and I was soon panting hard. So hard that I didn't even hear the approaching footsteps until a voice cried, “Get him!”

I lifted the boat higher and saw the pirates about twenty yards away. Terrified, I dropped the boat and ran. I only made it a short distance before one of them tackled me and knocked me down flat. “Grab him!” he barked to another pirate. I recognized the voice as Star. A moment later Kaltag's muscular arms wrapped around my right arm, and Star took my left.

“Bring him here!” came Steele's harsh tone.

“Let me go!” I cried as they dragged me to my feet. I twisted and struggled, but it was no use. Kaltag alone could have held me prisoner easily. Against two, it was no contest. And the other pirates gathering around me now? That just wasn't fair.

“Look, Balto, just stop struggling and it'll all be over soon,” Star said. “I don't know what Steele's gonna do to you, but we gotta do what he says.”

Kaltag agreed. “He is the most malicious, the most unmerciful, the most hard-boiled...”

“He's heartless,” finished Star. Kaltag released me with one arm and bopped Star over the head. Seizing the chance, I twisted, spun, and tore free of their grasp. I tried to run, only to crash head-on into Nikki's tankard-sized fist.

“Youse shoulda stayed wherever your friends went,” he muttered as he, Kaltag, Star, and one other pirate took my arms now. For good measure, I felt a sharp point pressing into my back. I turned my head and saw a red fox, his head wrapped in a cloth and his long, narrow sword pointing my way.

“Bring him to me!” ordered Steele. And they did, dragging me up to him as he leaned on his crutch and drew a pistol from his belt. I wanted to struggle, but with a pistol to my front, a sword to my back, and pirates on every side, where could I run?

At last the pirates stopped and there I was, Steele and his pistol not three feet away, and the parrot on his shoulder.

“Keel-haul the swab!” squawked Captain Flint.

I glared at the bird. I hope a cat eats you, I thought.

Steele hobbled a step forward on his crutch and held the gun to my chin. “Where did they go?” he growled. “Tell me, wolf-dog, where are the others?”

I gulped, and I could feel the gun move down and up with the contracting muscles. I could see in his eyes that he wanted to kill me. “I don't know,” I admitted. “I wasn't with them.”

“He wasn't, boss,” Nikki agreed. “We looked very closely when dey left de stockade. He's wasn't dere.”

Steele looked at him, then looked back at me and pressed the gun barrel into my throat until I had to twist my neck to keep breathing. “Do you know where they went?”

“No,” I said. “No, I was...somewhere else when they left the stockade.”

“Yeah, some friends you've got there, Balto,” cracked Kaltag. “Left you to fend for your-”

“Quiet!” Steele ordered. He looked hard at me again and growled. “If you weren't with them, then where were you?”

I thought of lying. It would be foolish to tell them the ship was gone, but Mother always disciplined me very firmly to never lie, even if my life depended on it. “Stole the ship,” I said, trying to sound bolder than I felt. “I killed Scroup and sailed the ship somewhere you won't find it.”

There was a moment of silence, and then everyone, including Steele, broke into laughter. “A pup like you killed him?!” asked Kaltag, slumped over my arm in hysterics.

“Nobody could kill him!” giggled Star. “Even Flint himself couldn't kill that wolverine!”

Steele gave me an amused look. “I do love a good sense of humor,” he rumbled. Then he pointed the gun at me again. “But I never did like liars much. I ought to blow your brains out here and now.”

I just glared at him. I knew all I needed to know. If Steele didn't know where the others were, they must be alive. And Jenna wasn't here, which meant that she was safe at least for the moment. “Go ahead,” I said. “I'm not afraid to die.”

His eyes widened a moment, and then he withdrew the gun. “I'd kill you here and now if your friends weren't still on the loose,” he said. “But I never trust a beast that ain't dead, not even my own crew. So you'll be my protection from now on. And if, by some chance, you are telling the truth about my ship, you'll tell us where it is once we catch the rest of your pesky lot. If you don't, I'll kill 'em all one by one until you do.”

“Keel-hauuul!” screeched Flint.

Looking grim, Steele put the gun away and spun on his one leg. “Back to the fort, lads!” he barked sharply. “Tomorrow, we'll go hunting.”

We returned to the stockade, and they proceeded to tie my hands so far behind my back, I thought my arms would break. Then, as if they thought I might slip out of that, they wound several coils of rope around my arms and chest until I couldn't move a muscle between my neck and my waist. I barely had enough room in those ropes to breathe.

“Hold it,” Steele growled, raising a hand. He trumped over to them and took me by a loose end of rope. “Stay here. I'll be back after I have a talk with this wolf. Nikki, shoot anyone who leaves the palisade and anyone who comes near it 'cept for me and our little insurance policy.”

I was confused, and more than a little uneasy, as Steele led me on that leash well away from the stockade. Once we were out of sight in the jungle, he hefted me with surprising strength in one arm and sat me down on a rock. He then proceeded to lean back against a tree and regard me with a forlorn expression on his face. “Sorry about all this, lad,” he said.

I was baffled. “You?” I asked. “You're sorry? You had those pirates kill several fine sailors, you tried to kill us, you're after Jenna, and you tied me up, and now you're sorry?”

“Balto,” he said, his face deeply contrite, “I didn't want any of that. I never even wanted to be a pirate. But I was taken by Flint's crew when I was only your age, and once a pirate joins, he's never allowed to leave. Lord knows I've tried, but if I did, even if I let them think I was getting soft, they'd have gutted us both, you and me, in a heartbeat.”

He sounded so sorry it was hard not to believe him. “What about the badger I saw you murder?”

He hung his head. “A sacrifice, to be sure. But it was me or him, and if I go, there's no one to keep them in line. You saw me try to give your crew mates a chance to get out of this alive.”

He was right. I had seen that, but then... “What about Jenna?” I asked.

He sighed and shook his head. “Lord forgive me the way I've treated her,” he murmured. “My crew mates put me up to that as well, I fear. Oh, they were subtle about it, but I knew if I didn't go after her, they'd finish me off faster than you could say 'knife.'”

“Walk the plank,” squawked Captain Flint from his shoulder, and I think even the bird sounded sad.

Steele then looked up at me, his face like that of a beggar on the brink of starvation pleading for a bowl of stew. “I'm telling you, pup, I don't want this at all. I don't even want Jenna. I'd much rather you have her; I could see well enough you got along when we were on the ship.”

I nodded. It was true, Jenna was a good friend. And a beautiful girl, too. “I'd rather she decide,” I said, as if it made any difference at the moment.

“Well, I'll tell you what,” he said. He tapped his temple with a finger. “This could be the chance for both of us. I've got a way out of this figured, and if we play our cards right, we'll both walk away rich as kings. Your crew mates'll be safe, and the pirates'll be no one's worry anymore. And not only that, but the little lady will be free to choose any chap she wants, no matter what that snub-nosed pa of hers says.”

I could hardly believe it. It was completely ridiculous; he might as well have claimed to be my brother. And yet it made so much sense. What if he really was just a prisoner of the pirates, bound by their lifestyle as I was by their ropes? And anyway, what choice did I have? If he was lying, I'd be dead either way. Better to go along with it for now. “How?” I asked.

“You and me,” he said. “When these swabs have dug up the gold for us, ye tell me where the ship is. To save your friends, o' course. Do it good and loud so ye can be heard a ways off, because I've a feeling your friends are keeping an eye on us. Once the ship is found, I'll order the gold brought aboard and let everyone get drunk. Then you and me will shove 'em off, hail your crew, and be away for England scot-free. What do you say?”

It sounded like a trap to me. If I cooperated with his plan, he could kill me any time he wanted, especially once I told him where the ship was. But as long as I went along with it, I reasoned, I could keep him busy and hopefully buy the others more time. “Alright,” I said, “But as a gesture of trust, do you think you could ease up on the ropes a little?”

He grinned. “Of course, of course. But not just this moment. We've got to keep them convinced that I ain't going soft on ye. But on my oath, I'll do what I can when I can, and ye may lay to that.”

I nodded. It seemed I had no choice.

Whether or not Steele would keep his promise, I wasn't sure. But when we got back to the stockade, we found the other pirates gathered in a bunch. There were five of them, now that I had the presence of mind to notice: Nikki, Kaltag, Star, and two foxes – the brown one we'd had bound up at the fort, and a red one as well. I remembered they'd been so hostile to me on the ship that I'd never learned their names, and by the looks on their faces now, I was worried Steele might not get a chance to keep or break his promise.

“What are ye all staring at?” Steele demanded.

The other pirates seemed to push Nikki forward. He seemed nervous, but he held out a fist with the palm down. Steele extended a hand, and Nikki put something into it. I knew before I saw what it was: the black spot.

“Youse gotten us nowhere,” said Nikki. “Wese coulda just finished dem off on duh ship and had no more trouble, but youse said to wait, and now dey got away. We sent a lookout up duh flagpole, an' he says duh ship ain't nowheres in sight.”

I was getting worried that the pirates would kill Steele, who at least for the moment was the only thing between them and me, but another part of me was relieved I had beached the ship somewhere with lots of tall trees to hide it.

“So wese got no ship, no map, and duh rest uh duh crew is out dere somewhere, all because of youse. Now dere's dis her pup yuh won't let us gut neither. We want George Merry as our captain now,” he pointed to the red fox, who drew himself up proudly, “So if youse don't resign as cap'n now, we'll make yus.”

This last statement was emphasized by the whole crew drawing their knives.

I was terrified, but Steele seemed as calm as anything. He took a piece of dried fruit out of his pocket and fed it to Flint as if the pirates weren't even there. When the bird was done eating, Steele stroked his head and looked back to the crew. “So, that's how ye wants it, eh?” he asked. “Well, here's my answer. Yes, I wouldn't let ye kill those sailors before, and if ye had listened to me like I said, we'd all be right fine, back aboard the Aurora and on the way to more plunder. Remember, lads, it was me that got us here at all, me that found out about this voyage and the map. And I've got us here our safety guarantee,” he added, picking me up and holding me aloft. “They won't try anything fancy while we've got their pet wolf along. What's more, he's the only one that knows where the ship is hid, so how do ye expect to get her back without his throat in its proper place?”

The pirates started murmuring among themselves, and several lowered their weapons.

Steele put me down and reached into his coat pocket. “But if ye don't like my leadership, fine. Choose yerselves a new leader, an' let him be the one that takes this from me!” And he raised his hand, clutching...

The map?

No! It was the map! How had he gotten that? Now I could see my plan to turn this mess around turning on me. They had the map, and I had no way of knowing whether I was dog (or wolf) enough to keep from telling them where the ship was if they tortured me.

The pirates did not share my concern. They began chattering excitedly as the swarmed around us for a look at the map.

“Be that the map?” asked one of them.

“It must be!” another cried. “I can see Flint's own handwriting, clear as day!”

“Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!” cried the parrot.

Steele smirked as the other pirates began a chant. “Captain Silver! Captain Silver!” they cried with fists raised in the air. Even George, though a little displeased at first, quickly joined in the chant.

All night I sat, propped in a corner of the stockade and feeling like a useless fool. It seemed the pirates now had two out of three, and who knew where Jenna was or how long she could stay free?

Or again, what if Steele was telling the truth about not wanting her and lying about the rest? These cutthroats could sail off with me any time, and leave Jenna and the rest here to die. The only hope as far as I could see was that Steele might be telling me the whole truth. And from the rope encircling my feet and leading to Kaltag's wrist lest I try to escape, I doubted that.

The following morning was a bustle of activity. Pickaxes and shovels were gathered up, along with hatchets for breaking the locks off of chests filled with treasure. Also, they rounded up salted pork, bread, and brandy to carry along for the midday meal, although the amounts were easily five times what we would need. They were terribly wasteful, as I had seen the night before then they cooked an unthinkable amount of meat and carelessly threw the leftovers into the fire. They all gathered in the courtyard of the stockade now, with me beside Steele, a rope leash around my neck and tied around his waist to leave his hands free. I rubbed my wrists, glad at least that he had kept his promise about that.

“Why'd you untie the wolf pup?” asked Star.

Steele laughed coldly. “He is tied up, can't ye see that?” he asked, lifting the leash so high that the collar bit into my neck like a hangman's noose and I had to stand on the tips of my toes in order to breathe. “He'll be faster walking and less dead weight if he can move his hands proper. And now,” he said, releasing the rope and pulling out the map, “Which shall we seek first? Flint's gold at 'bulk o' treasure,' the weapons at 'arms,' or the bar silver?”

“Gold!” the pirates shouted, lifting their tools in the air and shaking them wildly.

Steele grinned. “Gold it is, but keep yer eyes peeled for those lubbers. I reckon they ain't done with us yet, so look sharp and mind yer weapons! Half again a share to whoever brings me one dead, and double to anyone who brings me them alive for leverage on the wolf! But if ye kill the lady, I'll kill you painfully slow, and ye may lay to that!” And he proceeded to unfold the map and read the directions to “Bulk of treasure,” which read,

Tall tree, Spy-glass shoulder, bearing a point to the N of N.N.E.

Skeleton Island E.S.E. And by E.

Ten feet.

The directions were somewhat hard to decipher, and the X on the map was far too large to be much use as a marker, but I had no time to worry about that. They would take me wherever they wanted whether I liked it or not, and I had more than enough to worry about already. Steele was a good actor, one way or the other, and he had either me or the pirates at least partly fooled. I was glad that he had taken steps to encourage them to spare the honest crew's lives at least for the moment, and happier still that the pirates were buying it. But I also knew, given a choice, he'd take plundering on the high seas with the pirates over a narrow escape from the gallows, which was the best he'd get from us. My only hope was that the honest crew would stay away altogether and perhaps find the ship and escape. I couldn't help thinking how ironic it was; dogs always tried to say that us wolves and half-breeds were cunning and untrustworthy, and here this back-stabbing purebred was using me as insurance.

We set out with the pirates chanting and Captain Flint squawking, but both soon tired and decided to save their breath for the hike. I took some satisfaction in the endurance given by my wolf's blood, but even so it was a grueling trek to take with experienced sea dogs. The pirates fanned out, meandering slightly but staying more or less in formation, with Steele and I more or less at the middle and a little way behind. He had a rough time keeping up on his one leg, and many times I had to stop and help him on the loose gravel or he would have fallen backwards down the hill. For his part, he instructed me to take the rope which was around my neck and wind a loop around my wrist so he wouldn't choke me, and we kept on like that. I was so occupied with being a second crutch that I scarcely had time to notice my surroundings. That was too bad, because from what I did have time to notice, and what I would see later, it was one of the more pleasant parts of the island. Grass gave way to flowering shrubs with their pleasant aromas. Nutmeg trees stood here and there in thickets among the tall red-trunked pines, producing a mingled scent not unlike mother cooking in the kitchen. I sighed, missing her deeply. Some son I was, going off with promises of money and then disappearing without a trace to leave her, heartbroken and alone, to fend for herself. Just like my father.

We had gone about half a mile and were getting close to the ridge of a plateau when Star, a way off to the left, began to scream like he was being murdered. He screamed over and over as the others began to run toward him.

“He can't 'ave found the gold yet,” said Nikki, running past us. “It's s'posed to be higher up.”

Nikki was dead right, for when we got up there we found the other buccaneers gathered around something far different from any treasure. At the foot of a good-sized pine, surrounded by creeping vines which had begun to lift some of the smaller pieces, were the bones of a dog, still clothed in some scraps of fabric. I almost threw up, and I think the others were all similarly disturbed. Even Long John Steele grew strangely quiet.

Kaltag began to ramble as he often did. “This is the most gruesome, the most revolting, the most unthinkable-”

“It's not good!” Star blurted. Kaltag swung a fist to Star's skull, knocking him flat.

Nikki knelt by the bones and examined them. “He was a sea dog,” he said. Tugging at the cloth, he added, “At least dis is sum good sea-cloth.”

Steele snorted, though it sounded more forced than derisive to me. “Of course he was a sea-dog,” he snarled. “Who did you think you'd find out here, a bishop? Take a look at the way those bones are. That's not natural, I'll be bound.”

Sure enough, now that I thought to notice it, the bones weren't in a natural position. Aside from some minor disarray, probably thanks to birds and the vines, the skeleton lay perfectly straight – footpaws pointing in one direction, hands raised above him like a diver's pointing exactly the other way.

“W-w-what do you think it means?” asked Star.

“I'll tell ye what it means,” growled Steele. “There's the bones, and there's the tip of Skeleton Island, sticking up like a tooth. Someone take a compass and do a reading on this dog.”

Merry did, and the body pointed exactly in the direction of the island. Lined up with it, the compass read E.S.E, and by E.

“Ha!” laughed Steele. “I thought so. These bones 're a pointer to the gold, and make no mistake on that.”

Brown fox coughed. “It still scares me thinking of Flint, I don't mind saying it.”

Steele nodded. “This is one of his jokes, I'd swear on it. Six he brought with him, and killed them all, and left this one for a compass, shiver my timbers! See how long those arms are? That'd be Allardice. Remember him?”

“I do,” said Kaltag. “He owed me money, and took my knife ashore with him.”

“I'll tell you this,” said Steele, “If Flint still walked, we'd be in a bad spot. There were six of them, and six of us, and bones are all that's left of them.”

“But I saw him dead with dese same eyes,” rumbled Nikki. “Bones took me in, and dere he laid, with pennypieces on his eyes.”

“Y-y-yeah,” stammered Star, back on his feet, “But if there were ghosts, Flint would be one!”

“He went down with a fight,” agreed Kaltag. “Raging, calling for rum, and singing in his last hours. 'Fifteen Men' was the only song for him, and I never liked it since.”

“Ha!” snorted Steele. “He's dead, and he's no ghost, least not by day. Of that you can be certain. Move along, it's gold we're after, not bones.”

“Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!” screeched Flint.

We did move on, following the line marked by the bones, but no longer did the pirates spread out or chatter. We stayed in a tight group and spoke almost entirely in whispers. The terror of the dead buccaneer had fallen on all their spirits and mine like a collapsed house. I reached into my pocket to rub Jenna's bandanna, hoping to find some comfort in it, and had to struggle to hide my dismay when I found it was gone. It must have fallen out who-knew-where.

I never would have thought they could, but things got worse still after that.

It must have been the dampening of their spirits that prompted the whole crew to stop as soon as we reached the top of the ascent. The plateau we were now on tilted slightly west, giving us a good view of everything in that direction and much to the east, clear out to open sea. Not a sail nor living soul was to be seen.

Steele took some bearings with his compass and grinned. “Three tall trees about in the right line from skeleton Island,” he said. “Spy-Glass shoulder must be that lower point there.” He inhaled deeply and smacked his lips. “I can almost smell that gold right now, but let's eat first.”

The others lacked his enthusiasm. “I don't want anything,” said Star. “It's Flint, that's what it is.”

As if on cue, a ragged voice like a pitted sword blade cut through the solitude, seeming to echo from everywhere at once.

“Fifteen men on a dead man's chest,

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!”

Every one of those pirates went down like they'd been shot. Even through their fur I could see the blood drain from their faces like juice squeezed from a grape, and their tails went straight between their legs as if to never come out again. Nikki and Kaltag leaped to their feet, looking so terrified they didn't know which way to run. The two foxes clawed at each other and then clung to one another in stark fright, and Star huddled on the ground, hands over his head and every inch of him shaking, chattering something about having been brought up well before he fell in with bad company. Steele sat in bewilderment, unable to rise.

Come to think of it, I wasn't that brave either. I stared around, expecting at any moment to see a face like that of the skeleton right up in mine. I have a feeling if I had gotten a lock on the song I would have torn off in the other direction, leash or no leash, even if the other way was right off the edge of the plateau.

Thankfully, the song stopped in mid-note, as suddenly as if a hand had been clapped over the singer's mouth.

“It's Flint!” cried the brown fox with the bandage.

Steele shook his head and raised himself on his crutch. “Belay that. It's someone skylarking, someone flesh and blood, and ye may lay to that. Can't name the voice, but it must be one o' them lubbers trying to scare us. Look sharp to your weapons and let's be off.”

We did, although now the pirates were even more wary than before. Each had a gun or sword in each hand, and Star had a knife in his teeth, either to look tougher or stop them from chattering. Kaltag and Nikki kept looking this way and that, and the two foxes stayed in the middle of the group.

“Enough!” Steele bellowed. “It's daylight, you clods! Everyone knows ghost don't walk by-”

“Darby McGraw!” It was the voice again, wailing now rather than singing. “Darby McGraw! Darby McGraw! Fetch the rum, Darby!”

The brown fox's eye bugged so far I thought they'd fly right out of his head. “I remember that!” he cried. “Calling me to fetch the rum!”

“Them was his last woids above board,” rumbled Nikki.

By now I was praying fervently inside. Surely a ghost would be stopped from hurting someone innocent. Someone would stop it – God, a guardian angel, I didn't know. But at that moment, I would have clung to anything that might protect me from this spirit.

“That fixes it!” echoed the red fox. “Let's get out of here!”

Steele whirled around, pointing a pistol at the dissident. “Stow yer gab!” he bellowed. “Nobody on the island knew o' the name Darby 'cept us. He used a different name on the ship.” He panted briskly and added, “Shipmates, I'm here for the gold, and nobody's going to stop me from getting it, living or spirit. I never feared Flint in life, and for seven hundred thousand pound that's ahead of us I'll face him dead! When did a gentleman of fortune ever show his stern to that much over a boozy sailor with a blue mug, and him dead at that?”

“B-b-but Steele,” Star stammered, “You shouldn't cross a spirit, especially one like Flint's.”

“Spirit, huh,” snorted Steele. “Lemme ask you something. You ever heard of a spirit that cast a shadow?”

The pirates all looked at each other.

“No.”

“Never.”

“Don't see how it could.”

Steele grinned. “Well, neither have I, but I heard that voice echoing. So if a spirit doesn't cast a shadow, then how do you suppose one could echo?”

It seemed pretty weak to me, but those pirates were a superstitious bunch, and they bought it wholesale.

“Dat makes sensh,” said Nikki. “Yous pretty smart dere, Steele. And y knows, dere's somethin' else. Dat voice sure sounded like Flint, but dere was somethin' off about it. It was more like, uh...”

“By the powers, Ben Gunn!” laughed Steele, clapping Nikki on the back.

“Yeah, yeah, that was it!” echoed Kaltag. “That voice was precisely, exactly, absolutely...”

“It had to be-” Kaltag didn't even let Star finish, just knocked him out again.

“But Benn Gunn's no more alive than Flint,” Darby reasoned. “I saw him jump over myself, and there's not a chance on earth he coulda swam here, nor anywhere else 'cept Davy Jone's Locker.”

“Deh, who cares?” asked Nikki. “He was chicken hearted anyways. Nobody minded him dead or alive.”

“No, no they didn't,” agreed Steele.

I held my tongue, wondering what they would say if they knew who had spiked their crew mates while they slept. It was extraordinary how their faces brightened and their spirits seemed to revive. Soon they were chattering at length with intervals of listening. Then, hearing no more from the trees, they shouldered their tools and headed out.

We soon reached the first of the tall trees Steele had spotted, and by the bearing it proved to be the wrong one. So did the second. The third was the biggest tree I had ever seen; a giant pine towering two hundred feet over a clump of underwood, with a trunk as big as a cottage and a shadow like a mountain's. It was big enough to be noticeable from the sea east or west.

My captors were oblivious to its size, though. All that occupied their minds was that somewhere in its spreading shadow lay seven hundred thousand pounds of gold, along with some precious gems most likely. Their eyes seemed to burn and their steps sprang like a gazelle's. Avery fiber of their souls seemed bound up in the treasure, the lifetime of extravagance before them.

Steele was the worst of them all. He cursed at the flies buzzing around him and jerked on the line so hard I thought he was going to break my neck. I knew now that once he found the treasure, he would slit every honest throat on the island, starting with mine. Just like Captain Flint, that scoundrel who had on this very plateau murdered his six accomplices.

We reached a clearing, and the whole crew broke into a run. But after about ten paces they slowed in disbelief and came to a stop at the edge of a pit littered with broken, rotted boards and lined in places with moss.

It was as clear as anything. The treasure was gone.

The pirates stood there, staring as dumbly as if they had been struck. For Steele, it seemed to pass instantly. His very soul had been bound on this treasure, but now he pulled up short and changed his plan before the others had enough time to realize the disappointment.

“Balto,” he whispered, slipping me a double-barreled pistol, “Take that, and be ready for trouble.”

There was no time for anything else to be said. The buccaneers, full of oaths and curses, began leaping into the pit to dig with their fingers, tossing aside the boards in their haste for some trace of the gold.

George found a piece and held it up with a string of words my mother would have cracked his skull for. The coin passed from hand to hand as Steele edged himself and me northwards, to what seemed a more defensible position. “Two guineas!” the fox shouted up at Steele. “There's your seven hundred thou, you wooden-headed fool!” He turned to his crew mates. “He knew, he must have known, all along!”

“Still angling for captain, are you?” grumbled Steele. “You're persistent. I hate persistent.”

But now the crew seemed entirely in George's favor. They all climbed out of the pit and drew their weapons, though I saw with some hope that they did so on the far side of it from us.

“Now, mates, let's...” but as the fox raised his arm, apparently planning to lead a charge, crack! crack! crack! Three shots rang out from the woods. George Merry fell headlong into the pit, and Star went down clutching his leg. At the same moment, shouts began to sound all around us. The other three pirates took off running as fast as their feet would go, more shots firing as trees splintered and dirt exploded around them.

“After them, lads!” cried a welcome voice. I could mistake that deep voice for no one else: the Squire!

“Forwaaarrrd!” cried the doctor in his grating Russian accent. He, the captain, and two other sailors charged after the pirates, who quickly disappeared into the trees. My own shipmates returned to us, and Steele at once set about trying to butter them up.

“Ah, gents,” he said. “Looks like you showed up just in the nick for Hawkins and me. Don't think I could have held the pirates off with this here pist-” he stopped suddenly and looked down. Every weapon, right down to the pistol he'd had in his hand, had been stripped off without his notice, and lo and behold! in the bedlam of gunshots that had gone on before, the rope between us had been cut clean through.

“You wouldn't be looking for these, would you, Captain Silver?” asked a taunting voice behind him.

He and I spun around to see a grinning sea-dog behind us twirling the pistol on his right index finger and clutching all the other weapons with his left arm.

“Ben Gunn!” we both cried.

“Aye, it's me alright. I take it you two missed me, though it's been a sight longer since you've seen or thought of old Ben, hasn't it?” He caught the pistol by the grip and glared at Steele.

The buccaneer laughed sourly. “To think of you,” he chuckled. “I never knew ye had it in ye. You would have made a good pirate, shiver me timbers.”

“Aye, that I would,” Ben agreed. “But a better sailor. I'm with Captain Orde, now.”

Steele jerked as the squire seized his coat from behind. “And you, Long John Steele, are under arrest.”

The pirate chieftain stiffened briefly, then sagged. “Aye, suppose I am,” he confessed. “I did my bit, now I've got to pay.”

I almost felt sorry for him.

“Right,” declared the squire. “Now, let's be off for a bit of a victory celebration, shall we?”

“Wait,” I asked, “Where are the others? Jenna, Muk, Luk, and the captain?”

“The captain is vell,” Doctor Boris reported, “But I had to insist he remain somevhere safe until the fighting vas over. His arm must not be moved. And the others I sent around the coast to take care of the pirates' boats. Ve should go to meet them now.”

As we set off through the woods for the rendezvous point, the doctor fell to the rear with me and I felt him slip something into my dangling paw. I looked at it. Jenna's bandanna!

“Ben found it vhile he vas following you,” he whispered. With a wink, he added, “I do not think it vould go vell if Miss Jenna knew you lost it.

“Ben was following me?” I asked. And so the whole story was explained to me, rather jumbled at first. And that half-crazed sailor Ben was the hero of it from start to finish.

To begin with, Ben had never been a willing member of Flint's crew. He had been captured, and given the choice to either serve with Flint or die. He had agreed, a choice he often regretted, and after some years (during which Flint had buried his hoard on the island) he had jumped ship and would have drowned if not for some dolphins that swam him to foreign shores. Peniless, he signed on for work on a merchant vessel bound for his home country. But while passing the island, he told them Flint's treasure was buried there. They found nothing, and after six days they marooned him with a spade, a pickaxe, a musket and some shot, and told him he could hunt for the treasure the rest of his life. It was he who had found the skeleton, then the gold, and then on many laborious trips he had carted it back to his cave.

Knowing this, he had met up with the honest crew on their way away from the fort the day after I disappeared. He told them the map was useless, and so when some of the pirates chased them against their treaty, the squire dropped the map. Steele had taken the bait and called his crew off, giving them a chance to escape. Once they were settled in, Ben had left them safe in his cave with stocks of fruit he had dried and meat he had salted himself, and doubled back to spy on the pirates. His discovery that I had been captured put a hole in their plans to let the pirates find the pit and then kill each other with their squabbles, so the following day, they had set out into two teams. Jenna, Muk, and Luk had been sent around by the coast with ropes and a pickaxe to steal back the pirates' boats if they could and sink them if they couldn't. Ben had brought the rest to the pit to wait in ambush, and then sneaked up on the pirates and me to keep track of our progress. Sure enough, it was he who had harassed them with the ghostly voice, playing their superstitions like a musician.

“So if we hadn't caught the Hawkins pup, you would have just let them run me through, eh?” asked Steele almost cheerfully.

“Without a pang,” agreed the squire.

I gave Steele a doubtful look. His calm attitude was just a little too relaxed, and something told me he had already devised some kind of backup scheme.

It didn't take us long to reach where Jenna and the others were. Several boats sat on shore, torn or broken by the polar bears' strength or stoved in with a pickaxe that must have been Jenna's. The saboteurs sat out on the water a ways, bobbing on one boat while two others trawled out behind them on lines. As soon as they saw us, they let out a cry of excitement and began rowing toward us. They fairly lunged out of the boat as they hit the sand, and before I could so much as cry “Help,” Muk and Luk were subjecting me to the classic polar bear welcome, complete with bone-cracking hugs and embarrassing licks all over the face. After the doctor had chased them off of me and they promptly turned on him, Jenna came up and gave me a somewhat shy (and much to my relief, far more gentle) hug. “Balto, what were you thinking?” she asked.

The stupidity I'd been feeling since I stood at the top of the Aurora's mast came over me all over again. “I'm sorry,” I said. “I wanted to go find Ben, and then I thought if I stole the ship from the pirates we could all have a better chance to escape. I shouldn't have done it, I know.”

“Stow the apologies,” Ben cut in. “You did a marvelous job getting that schooner back, and none's the worse for the wear 'cept the pirates, 'specially this one here,” he added, gesturing to Steele with a musket. Now, let's make back for the cave, eh?”

We all piled into the boats. Steele, hands bound and with the squire and another sailor to keep an eye on him, went in one. Muk and Luk rode with the other sailor in the second boat, and Ben rode with Jenna and me in the last, saying that after so many years with bristly old sailors or no sailors at all, he wanted some younger sailing companions for a change of pace. The doctor chose to follow us via the water, saying that after an ordeal like that ambush, he needed a nice cool swim.

It was smooth sailing the entire way to North Point, where we beached the boats at high tide as I had the ship. Ben led us aon a short, easy walk through the woods to a place where another level of the plateau came up like a lean-to, forming a rock wall about twenty feet in height. In the rock wall was a jagged opening with smoke drifting out at the top.

I had been prepared by Ben's story, or so I thought. But nothing in the world could have prepared me for the spectacle within. The cave had rugged walls about twenty feet apart going thirty feet back, and the ceiling was roughly fifteen feet. Chests and crates sat around stacked as high as my head, along with bags so old that many had rotted and split, spilling gold and silver coins and mingled gems into piles big enough for a dog to lie on. A crackling fire burned in the middle of the cave, casting dancing orange light upon the heaps of treasure and the granite walls. And there on a bed of heather by the flames lay none other than Captain Orde.

“Captain!” I barked with delight.

He looked up and smiled, propping himself on his good arm. “Master Hawkins!” he called out, his crisp tone and formal British a sound for sore ears. “How good to see you again! None the worse for the wear, I take it?”

“None, sir,” I replied, rapidly approaching. “It takes more than being kidnapped by pirates to finish me off.”

He laughed. “Perhaps you should have told us that before you went gallavanting off like some fool hero.”

I hung my head at this. “I'm very sorry,” I said truthfully.

I felt an elbow in my ribs and heard the squire at my side. “He just called you a hero,” he said in what passed for a whisper with his deep voice.

“Quite so,” the captain replied. “A reckless hero, but then the two often go together. As it is, no harm done. You've escaped with your life, and the Aurora besides. I'd say a pardon's a fair trade for that.”

I smiled as I, and then the rest, sat down around the fire. Ben, who was still a little unused to company, volunteered to tie Steele to a tree outside and then stand guard against the unlikely event of an attack.

The next day, it being a Sunday by Orde's reckoning, we rested. The only work anyone did was Ben going around to disarm his goat traps, reasoning that if it was alright to get a donkey out of a well on this day, then it should be acceptable to keep a goat out of a snare. Orde agreed, and gave him leave to go. I opted to accompany him. I don't know why, but there was something about him that drew me. His ease and familiarity with this place, his cunning and adaptability, were almost wolf-like. He was pure dog, and yet his ways were purely lupine, as if he bore within him the essence of both.

As we walked, he pointed out several places he'd grown fond of. He had placed trail markers that seemed ordinary enough, and yet once one looked at them it seemed silly that they could be missed. These markers led to many places: a clear spring running over rocks, where he claimed if you stood very still and learned to filter out the sound of the water, you could almost hear the trees growing. A clear ledge where one could watch the sun rise and set. A rock pool where he'd often found crabs and trapped fish, which he caught by hand or with crude spears to supplement his diet of goat.

We enjoyed the rest of our stroll, on which we saw quite a few different animals. Ben seemed delighted to show off his skills, from shimmying up trees to find eggs in birds' nests to sneaking up on unwary wild goats until he could take them by the legs. It was not long after he showed me this trick that we heard voices.

“I still says it was yous who got us into dis here mess,” came Nikki's familiar grumble.

“Me?” demanded Kaltag. “That is the most ridiculous, the most nonsensical, the most impossible...”

“It's not your fault!” added Star, followed by a klunk.

Ben placed a paw on my shoulder. “Ye wait right here, matey,” he hissed with a finger to his lips. “I'll go'n see what they're up to.”

He slipped into a nearby bush and disappeared. A moment later I heard him cackle with glee about ten yards ahead. “Well looky here, Balto! I fancy meself a fine catcher, but this is the first time I ever got three goats at once!”

I guessed even before I came in sight what he had found. There, swinging from a grass rope suspended between two bent pines, were the dog trio themselves.

“You think we should let them down?” I asked.

“Yes,” begged Star. “Please, my head feels like it's about to explode!”

“I dunno,” Ben mused with a hand to his chin. “I be not so sure we can trust these rascals. Maybe we ought ter leave 'em fer the beast what lurks 'round this island.”

“No!” cried Nikki. “Get us down! We surrender, really!”

“Completely, unconditionally, unreservedly...” Kaltag rambled again.

“Without a fight!” blurted Star before Kaltag kicked him with his free leg.

I looked at Ben and smiled, knowing the beast part had just been one of his games. “Come on, Ben,” I cajoled. “Let's cut them down.”

He sighed. “Well, I suppose,” he conceded with a show of false reluctance. “we be needing that rope they're swingin' from fer haulin' the treasure tomorrow, an' a couple o' sturdy backs fer doin' it wouldn't hurt either.”

We tied up Nikki and Kaltag and fashioned a sort of hammock from branches and other forest debris to hang between them for Star to ride on. They had bandaged his leg, mostly a flesh wound, and cleansed it with brandy, but he still claimed it hurt too much to walk on. Back at the cave, Doctor Boris examined the wound and said it would not get infected so long as it was kept clean and not walked on for a few weeks. Star was tied to his stretcher, and Nikki and Kaltag were bound to a tree near Steele's where they spent several hours verbally abusing their washed-up captain before they grew tired.

It took a week to get the treasure on board the ship. Ben, the doctor, and I were sent to bring the Aurora to a closer anchorage the first day while the rest were assigned to transport the treasure to shore at the same spot. Nikki and Kaltag were put to work as well, in exchange for food, water, and the captain's promise that we would all put in a good word for them with the judge. We finished loading the treasure, along with Ben's stores of food and all our water barrels re-filled from the springs on the island, at sundown a week after the day we started. Nikki, Kaltag, and Star were locked in the brig, although Doctor Boris made regular visits to tend to the recovery of his patient. Steele was locked up in private quarters for his own safety, and Jenna was given the captain's quarters while the captain bunked with us in the forecastle. Also moved in there was a small trunk she had brought which, she said, contained some things she had brought from home in the hopes of starting over in another land.

I couldn't sleep that first night, tossing and turning in my bunk, and finally I slid out of bed and wandered onto the deck, where the light of a full moon outlined most of the deck except for the yawning shadows of the sails, and moonbeams danced upon the waves. To my surprise, someone else stood there as well. “Ben?” I asked.

He looked my way with a cheery expression on his face. “Balto!” he greeted brightly. “What brings you out here?”

I yawned. “Couldn't sleep,” I admitted. “You?”

His smiled dropped a notch, although I saw it less by his mouth than by the abundant hair on his upper lip. “Thinkin',” he replied. He turned his gaze toward the island. “It's strange t' think of, boyo. I've been livin' here all these long years, an' day after day I prayed God would let me off the blasted rock. But now I c'n hardly believe I'm actually goin' home.” He paused, then added ruefully, “Funny thing is, I can't recollect-”

Just then a scream split the night, like someone being murdered. I recognized the pitch right away. “Jenna!”

 To be continued...