Port of Spies (2 page)

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Authors: Brian James

BOOK: Port of Spies
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Chapter 2
Part of the Crew
The whole crew headed ashore. Just as we were about to step off the ship, Rotten Tooth stepped in front of us.
Our path was completely blocked.
That's because Rotten Tooth wasn't only the ugliest pirate on the
Sea Rat
, he was also the biggest.
He leaned in so close that his pointy green beard almost poked me. “Arrr! Where do ye mangy sea pups think ye be going?” he growled.
Inna stepped right up to him. She was afraid of lots of stuff, like snakes, and getting dirty. But for some reason, she wasn't at all afraid of Rotten Tooth.
“Arrr! We're going into town with the rest of the crew,” she told him.
“Aye? Is that a fact?” Rotten Tooth said.
“Aye! It's a true fact!” Inna said, folding her arms. “The cap'n says you have to treat us like part of the crew, so there!”
“Aye! Inna's right,” Vicky said.
It was true. When the
Sea Rat
was attacked by rival pirates, we saved the day. Even Rotten Tooth said we did a shipshape job. And he promised Captain Stinky Beard that he would treat us like real pirates.
“Aye! I remember,” Rotten Tooth admitted. Then he reached into his pocket and took out a really, really, really long list and handed it to us. “That's why I'll be giving ye the ship's shopping list,” he said.
I gulped.
It was the longest list I'd ever seen.
I started to read it out loud.
“Four barrels of beef. Ten pounds of butter. Fourteen boxes of candles. Twelve barrels of oatmeal. Twelve barrels of seaweed. Three boxes of soap.” I stopped reading when I got to the hog's head because it made me feel sickish. I stuck out my tongue and finally said it out loud.
“Yuck!” Gary said.
Inna's face turned as green as her dress.
“Double yuck!” she yelled.
Vicky grabbed the list from my hand and waved it in Rotten Tooth's face. “Arrr! What's this have to do with being a pirate?” she asked.
“Aye!” Aaron shouted. “Pirates are supposed to swashbuckle, not shop!” Then he started jumping all around and swinging his arms again like he was holding a sword. Only he wasn't watching where he was swinging, and he swung his arm right into Rotten Tooth.
Rotten Tooth picked Aaron up with one hand and growled.
“Uh-oh! I think we're in big trouble,” Gary whispered to me.
“Aye, matey! Really giant trouble,” I whispered back.
Rotten Tooth looked even madder than the time Aaron made him fall into the fish-gut tank. I thought for sure he was going to toss Aaron right into the sea.
But then Rotten Tooth didn't look so mad anymore. He put Aaron down. He took the list back from Vicky and put it in his pocket. “Arrr! A promise be a promise. And I promised to treat ye pollywogs like one of the crew,” he said.
I couldn't believe my eyes and ears!
We were going to be able to explore King's Island after all!
We all smiled. Then we started to walk down the gangway. We got halfway down before Rotten Tooth stopped us again.
“But before ye go, I have a little Pirate School lesson for ye,” Rotten Tooth said. He reached into his pocket and took out the list again. “In a pirate crew, the newest recruits always do the shopping! Now get to it!” he shouted, shoving the list into my hand.
We all moaned and groaned. Sometimes being part of a pirate crew was tough work!
“Arrr! And another thing,” Rotten Tooth said as we headed ashore. “Keep ye eyes and ears open. Landlubbers be very suspicious of pirates . . . especially wee pirate kids.”
Chapter 3
Shop Till You Drop!
“Yo-ho-ho!” I shouted when we walked into the general store. I was really excited. “This is the biggest store I've ever been in!”
“Aye,” Vicky agreed. “We wouldn't even be able to fit all of this stuff on the
Sea Rat
!”
There were rows and rows of shelves stretching from wall to wall. They were piled high with all kinds of food. Some I'd never heard of before, like a giant orange thing called a pumpkin.
“Avast! They even have toys!” I said, pointing to a shelf on the far wall. It was filled with toy ships.
“Gangway!” Aaron shouted, and rushed toward the toy section.
He didn't get very far, though, because Vicky grabbed hold of his belt. “Aren't you forgetting something?” she asked, taking out the shopping list.
“Soggy sails, Vicky's right,” I said. “We have to do the shopping or we'll never finish before it's time to set sail.”
“Then let's hurry,” Inna said. “If we finish early, we might have time to come back.”
“Aye, good thinking!” Aaron said.
We started in the first row of shelves and picked out anything that was on the list. Then we went to the next row and did the same thing. By the time we got to the third row, I started to get the feeling that someone was following us. I was just about to check when Gary got my attention.
“Pete! Do we need any of these things?” he asked.
I turned my head and saw Gary standing next to a stack of oranges. He picked up the top one to show me.
I checked the list.
“Nope, no oranges on the list,” I said. “You can put that back.”
Gary leaned over to put the orange back on top of the pile. But he leaned too far and the oranges started to wobble. I rushed over, but before I could stop them . . .
WHOOSH!
All the oranges tumbled over and rolled across the floor.
“You dirty urchins! Look what you've done!” an old man yelled. He was the shopkeeper, and he didn't look very happy.
“I'm sorry,” Gary said.
“Aye, we'll clean it up,” I promised.
The old man grumbled as Gary and I started to pile up the oranges. “I should throw you out of my store,” he said.
“But we're going to buy all of this stuff,” Inna told him.
The old man looked at the supplies we'd gathered. “That stuff costs money,” he said.
Inna reached into her pocket and took out a bunch of gold coins. The old man didn't seem as mad after that. But he still watched us closely until we were done stacking the oranges. Then we grabbed our stuff, paid, and left.
“Rotten Tooth was right. Some people don't like us pirate kids,” I said to Gary.
“Aye!” Gary said back.
“Arrr! Maybe he just doesn't like pirate kids who knock things over,” Aaron said.
“It's not my fault,” Gary said. “Those oranges were slippery.”
“Arrr! Hogwash,” Aaron told him. “You knocked that stuff over because you're a blunder head.”
Vicky dropped the stuff she was carrying. Then she put her hands on her hips and made a growl. She didn't like it one bit when Aaron acted like he was better than everyone else.
“Arrr! Sometimes you're a blunder head, too!” Vicky said.
“I've never blundered in my life,” Aaron said. Then he lifted his chin and half-closed his eyes to make his know-it-all face. He made that face a lot.
Vicky made a huff. “Arrr! What about the time on our old ship when we were playing and you blundered overboard? Or the time here at Pirate School when you blundered into the fish-gut tank?”
Aaron's face turned a little reddish. “I guess that was pretty daft,” he admitted.
“Aye, that's what I thought, Captain Big Mouth!” Vicky said.
“Quit bellyaching!” Inna shouted at them. Then she went all quiet. “Everyone is staring at us,” she whispered.
I took a look around.
Some of the townspeople were standing around watching us. Other people were watching us from inside the stores. And still more people were watching us from their windows.
“Arrr, everyone act normal,” I whispered.
“Aye aye,” my friends whispered back.
So we started acting normal. We did things that normal, non-pirate people did. I started to whistle and tap my head. Vicky walked in circles. Aaron and Gary put their hands in their pockets and kicked at stones on the dirt road. Inna walked over to the dress shop and smooshed her face against the window to look at all the dresses.
After a while, the landlubbers stopped staring at us.
I wiped my forehead and sighed. “That was a close one,” I said.
“Aye,” Vicky said. “We almost forgot the sneaky part of our mission.”
“What mission?” Aaron asked. “Rotten Face only sent us to get this stuff because he didn't want to do it himself!”
“Aye,” I said. “But Rotten Tooth also told us to keep our eyes and ears open. That means we have to start spying. It's our secret duty.”
“Aye aye!” Gary said. Then he scratched his head. He always did that when he was thinking really hard. “Pete?” he asked. “What are we spying for again?”

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