Port of Spies

Table of Contents

 

 

 

GROSSET & DUNLAP
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Text copyright © 2007 by Brian James. Illustrations copyright © 2007 by Jennifer Zivoin. All rights reserved. Published by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. S.A.

 

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007009634

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-50038-5

“Arrr! Last one there's a rotten fish!” I shouted to my mates at Pirate School. Then I held on to my pirate hat as I raced across the deck of the
Sea Rat.

“You better start swimming then, because that's going to be you,” Aaron said.

“Not if you slip on the slimy boards,” I yelled back.

Racing across the deck was dangerous. It was really easy to slip and crash into a really big
ouch
!

But sometimes, being a pirate meant ignoring danger. Even the
ouch
kind of danger!

This was one of those times.

I stuck my hands out in front of me and grabbed the railing just in time to stop myself from sliding overboard. “I win!”

Aaron and Vicky got there next, at the same time. They're twins, so they do a lot of things the same. They even look the same, only Vicky has long hair.

“I'm second,” Aaron said.

“We tied!” Vicky argued.

“Arrr! That's only because I slipped,” Aaron grumbled.

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes Aaron was a sore loser.

Just then I saw the most amazing sight. “Shiver me timbers!” I shouted. “There it is! King's Island, dead ahead!”

King's Island was the most famous port in this part of the sea.

“Blimey! It's the biggest town I've ever seen!” Vicky said.

“Aye!” Aaron shouted. Even though Aaron liked to argue with Vicky, he had to agree about King's Island.

“I've been a pirate my whole life, all nine years and three-quarters, and I've never seen an island like that,” I said.

Just then, Gary came running up. He was my best mate at Pirate School. He was also the clumsiest pirate kid on the seas. He slipped right into me!

“Sorry, Pete,” he said.

“Arrr! That's okay,” I said, helping him up. “If I hadn't stopped you, you would have been shark bait for sure,” I said.

“Aye!” Gary said, putting his pirate hat and his glasses back on. He sure was lucky to have a best mate like me!

We went back to looking at King's Island as the
Sea Rat
sailed closer. The island was polka-dotted with stores and houses. They were all painted bright colors. Some were green and others were purple. Some of them were even pink.

“King's Island sure is one pretty place,” I said.

“Aye!” my friends agreed.

Then I scratched my head and looked around. Seeing all the pretty buildings made me think of Inna. Inna
loved
pretty things. But she was nowhere in sight.

“Great sails! Where's Inna?” I shouted. “I know she wouldn't want to miss seeing this!” I was about to go belowdecks to look for her, when all of a sudden she came walking up the galley stairs. She was wearing a fancy dress and her hair was all shiny. She must have taken a bath, because her face looked squeaky clean.

“Arrr! What took you so long?” I asked.

“I was making sure there were no wrinkles in my dress. And then I brushed my hair twice and tied it with a new ribbon,” she told us.

“Why'd you do all that?” Aaron asked.

Inna made a huffy noise. “Because I want to look my best when I go into town.”

We all rolled our eyes. Inna was the only pirate kid in the whole world who liked to get dressed up.

Inna's big blue eyes got even bigger as she saw the town for the first time. She clapped her hands and shouted, “It's the most beautifulest place ever!”

We couldn't wait until we dropped anchor and got to explore. None of us pirate kids had ever been to King's Island. The ships we had been on before we came to Pirate School never even sailed close to it. But Captain Stinky Beard told the crew that our ship was going to dock there for a whole day to get supplies. Pirates don't get to see big towns very much, so this was going to be a special treat.

“I heard you can get anything you want there,” Vicky said.

“Aye!” Gary said. “I heard they have stores that sell fresh-baked cookies!”

Since the ship was low on supplies, we'd been eating seaweed slop for days. Thinking about cookies made my stomach grumble and my mouth a little drooly.

“Arrr! I heard there's a store that sells shiny jewelry,” Inna said.

“Oh, barnacles! Who cares about that stuff?” Aaron said. “The best sword-maker in all the seas lives there! I can't wait to get my hands on one of those!” he shouted.

Vicky crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. That's the face she made when Aaron acted like a show-off. And Aaron
always
acted like a show-off. So Vicky made that face a lot.

“I just hope Rotten Tooth doesn't make us stay aboard and scrub dishes,” I said.

“AYE!” everyone agreed.

Rotten Tooth was our teacher at Pirate School. He was also the first mate. That meant he was the double boss of us and could give us stinky orders, like making us scrub things.

If it were up to him, we'd never learn any pirate stuff. Good thing Captain Stinky Beard was the boss of him. Pirate School was all the captain's idea, and he made sure ol' Rotten Guts taught us more than just how to be deckhands.

“Arrr! I hope he gives us the day off,” Gary said.

“Aye, me too!” Aaron agreed.

“Aye, me three,” Inna said.

Vicky hoped so, too. But she didn't want it to look like she was agreeing with Aaron, so she didn't say so. She just nodded her head instead.

Soon our ship sailed closer to the harbor. The harbor was crowded with a whole fleet of ships.

“Avast! There are no other pirate ships,” Vicky said.

I took a look around. She was right.

“Arrr! I'm glad!” Inna said. “I don't want any rival pirates messing up my day.”

“But sometimes, it's bad luck to be the only pirate ship,” Gary told us. “I heard that in a pirate tale once on my old ship.”

“Arrr! We don't know for sure if we'll be the only pirates. There might be others on the island in disguise,” I said. “Most towns don't really like pirates. So sometimes pirates need to be real sneaky. It's in the pirate code.”

“Aye?” my friends asked.

“Aye!” I answered.

I knew all about the pirate code. I had learned the whole thing before I ever even came to Pirate School.

“Aye!” a voice boomed over my shoulder. It was Captain Stinky Beard. “Being sneaky is a smart idea,” he said. Then he turned to the crew. “Lower the flag!” he bellowed.

I smiled proudly.

My mates were pretty proud of me, too.

“Good work, me lil' shipmate,” Captain Stinky Beard said to me. “It be better to stay out of trouble. We'll get our supplies and then get sailing!”

“Aye aye!” we said.

I leaned forward and took another long look at King's Island. Even if we weren't going to do any piratey stuff like search for treasure, it sure was going to be a fun place to explore once we weighed anchor.