Pirates Past Noon (3 page)

“Find out what's in their house, you dogs,” he said.

“Aye, aye, Cap'n!” they answered. And they started up the ladder to the tree house.

“What do you spy, Pinky?” shouted Cap'n Bones.

“Books, Cap'n!” Pinky shouted down.

“Aghh, books,” growled Cap'n Bones. He spit on the sand. “I want gold, you dogs!”

“Dogs are nicer than you,” said Annie.

“Shhh,” said Jack.

“What about you, Stinky?” Cap'n Bones roared.

“Just books, Cap'n!” shouted Stinky.

“Aghh, books,” said Cap'n Bones. He spit on the sand again. “I hate books! Keep looking, dogs! Find me something good!”

Cap'n Bones grabbed Jack's backpack.
“What's in here?” he said.

“Nothing—” Jack quickly opened the pack. “Just paper, a pencil, a book.”

“Another book!” roared Cap'n Bones. “That's vile booty!”

A gleeful shriek pierced the air.

Cap'n Bones froze. “What's that?” he shouted.

“Look, Cap'n! Look!”

Pinky leaned out the tree house window. He held the medallion. It glimmered in the sunlight.

Oh brother, thought Jack.

“Throw it down!” cried Cap'n Bones.

“It's not yours!” shouted Annie.

Cap'n Bones dropped Jack and Annie. He caught the medallion as it fell.

“Gold! Gold! Gold!” he cried. Cap'n Bones
threw back his head and laughed horribly.

He grabbed two of his pistols. He shot them into the air. Pinky and Stinky howled like wolves.

Jack and Annie watched in horror.

The gold-greedy pirates seemed to have lost their minds.

Jack nudged Annie. Together they started to back slowly away from the pirates. Toward the tree house.

“Halt!” Cap'n Bones shouted. He aimed his pistols at them. “Not another step, lubbers!”

Jack and Annie froze.

Cap'n Bones grinned his black-toothed grin. “Tell old Bones where the rest is,” he
growled. “Or prepare to meet thy doom.”

“What—what rest?” said Annie.

“The rest of the treasure!” roared Cap'n Bones. “I know it's on this island. I have a map!”

He reached into a belt pouch and pulled out a torn piece of paper. He waved it at Jack and Annie.

“Is that a treasure map?” asked Jack.

“Aye, it's the map telling about Kidd's treasure.”

“Which kid's treasure? Not
us
kids,” said Annie. “We don't know anything about a kid's treasure.”

“Why don't you read the map?” said Jack.

“
You
read it!” Cap'n Bones shoved the map in Jack's face.

Jack stared at the strange marks on the paper.

“What does that mean?” asked Jack.

“What does
what
mean?” asked Cap'n Bones.

“Those words.” Jack pointed at the words at the bottom of the map.

“Well, it means … ” Cap'n Bones' good eye squinted at the writing. He frowned. He coughed. He rubbed his nose.

“Aw, leave him alone,” Pinky growled at Jack.

“You know he can't read,” said Stinky.

“Shut up!” Cap'n Bones roared at his men.

“Jack and I can read,” Annie piped up.

“Shhh,” said Jack.

“Cap'n, make 'em read the map!” said Stinky.

Cap'n Bones gave Jack and Annie a dark look. “Read it,” he growled.

“Then will you let us go?” said Jack.

The pirate squinted his good eye. “Aye, lubber. When the treasure's in me hands, I'll let you go.”

“Okay,” said Jack. “I'll read it to you.” He looked at the map. “It says,
The gold doth lie beneath the whale's eye.”

“Heh?” Cap'n Bones scowled. “What's that supposed to mean, lubber?”

Jack shrugged.

“Hang it! Take 'em hack to the ship!” shouted Cap'n Bones. “They can rot there till they're ready to tell us how to find Kidd's treasure!”

Jack and Annie were tossed into the rowboat.

Waves splashed the sides. The sky ahead was dark with thunderclouds. A strong wind had started to blow.

“Row, dogs, row!” said Cap'n Bones.

Pinky and Stinky began rowing toward the big ship.

“Look!” Annie said to Jack. She pointed to the shore.

Polly the parrot was flying over the sand.

“She wants to help us,” whispered Annie.

Polly started to fly out over the waves. But the winds were too strong. She turned around and flew back to the island.

The rowboat tossed from side to side. The waves were huge. Salty spray stung Jack's eyes. He felt seasick.

“Hold 'er steady!” shouted Cap'n Bones.

He pointed at the sea. “Or we'll be meat for those evil brutes!”

Dark fins cut through the water.
Sharks
. One zoomed right by the boat. Jack could have reached out and touched it.

He shuddered.

Soon the rowboat pulled alongside the ship.

The air was filled with wild fiddle music and bagpipes playing. And Jack heard jeers, shouts, and ugly laughter.

“Hoist 'em aboard!” Cap'n Bones shouted to his men.

Annie and Jack were hauled onto the deck.

The ship creaked and moaned. It rolled
from side to side. Ropes flapped and snapped in the wild wind.

Everywhere they looked, Jack and Annie saw pirates.

Some were dancing. Some were drinking. Many were fighting. With swords. Or with their fists.

“Lock 'em in my cabin!” Cap'n Bones ordered.

A couple of pirates grabbed Jack and Annie. And threw them in the ship's cabin. Then locked the door.

The air inside the cabin was damp and sour-smelling. A shaft of gray light came through a small round window.

“Oh man,” said Jack. “We've got to figure out how to get back to the island.”

“So we can get into the tree house and go home,” said Annie.

“Right.” Jack suddenly felt tired. How would they ever get out of this mess?

“We better examine the book,” he said.

He reached into his pack and pulled out the pirate book.

He flipped through the pages.

He looked for information to help them.

“Look,” he said.

He found a picture of pirates burying a treasure chest. “This might help.”

Together they read the words under the picture.

“Captain Kidd!” said Jack.

“So
that's
the
kid
that Bones keeps talking about,” said Annie.

“Right,” said Jack.

Annie looked out the round window.

“And Captain Kidd's treasure is buried somewhere on the island,” she said.

Jack took out his notebook and pencil. He wrote:

“Ja-ack,” Annie said.

“Shhh, wait a minute,” he said. “I'm thinking.”

“Guess what I see?” said Annie.

“What?” Jack asked. He looked back at the book.

“A whale.”

“Neat,” he said. Then he looked up. “A whale? Did you say … a whale?”

“A whale. A huge whale. As big as a football field.”

Jack jumped up and looked out the window with her.

“Where?” Jack asked. All he could see was the island. And stormy waves. And shark fins.

“There!” said Annie.

“Where? Where?”

“There! The
island
is shaped like a giant whale!”

“Oh man,” whispered Jack. Now he could see it.

“See the whale's back?” said Annie.

“Yep.” The slope of the island looked like the back of a whale.

“See his spout?” said Annie.

“Yep.” The palm tree that held the tree house looked like the spout of the whale.

“See his eye?” said Annie.

“Yep.” A big black rock looked like the eye of the whale.