Seven Dead Pirates (22 page)

Lewis turned. A gorilla was walking toward them.

Uh-oh, thought Lewis. He turned again. But not in time to stop Jack, who was running at the gorilla with—yes, a dagger!

Fortunately, Crawley chose that moment to start paying attention. As Jack ran past, he reached out and snatched the smaller pirate right off the sidewalk.

Lewis caught up. “It’s not a real gorilla, Jack! It’s not!”

But the gorilla was a lesson. However well the pirates were behaving, they were still pirates. He needed to get them to the museum quickly, before they could cause
real
trouble.

There were two more dogs on the walk—a growling Rottweiler and a hysterical Chihuahua. Lewis kept the pirates moving. As they neared the municipal
center, his heart began to pound. They were almost there. They were going to make it. He had actually led seven ghosts across Tandy Bay!

Then he remembered. The police station. It was right beside the museum. He should check things out before bringing the pirates any closer.

He led them into the museum parking lot and stopped. As they began to mill about, Crawley joined him in three swift strides.

“We’re here!” said Lewis. “We did it, Captain Crawley. Can you believe it?”

“Aye, lad, we’s arrived. And we thanks you kindly for bringing us.”

“Can you wait here for a minute while—”

“No need for that, lad. We travel alone now.”

“What?”

“You can go.”

“I … 
what
?” said Lewis.

Crawley narrowed his eye. “Yer work is done, young Lewis. Best for you to go home now.”

Lewis was too shocked to speak. After all the work he’d done? The planning, the clothes, the training. And now he was supposed to just … go home? Not even see the pirates board their ship?

“But that’s not fair,” he said. “That’s—”

Crawley’s face grew hard. “This ain’t a right place
for you today. There’s things as may happen—I’ll say no more. Heed my words. Go home!”

“I won’t,” said Lewis. “I’m coming in, too. You can’t stop me.”

The captain glared at Lewis so fiercely, it was like being struck. Grabbing the boy by the shoulder, Crawley hauled him away from the others, behind a pay station.

“I didn’t want to tell you, sonny,” he whispered, “and I didn’t want to tell the boys, neither—not till I had to. But you’ll find out soon enough. Does you remember how I went exploring yesterday? On me own?”

Lewis nodded. “You frightened my father. He said you were angry.”

“Angry don’t half say it. The place I went to yesterday was
right here
—to this moo-see-um. I wanted to reconnoiter. Have a look-see. And what did I find inside these walls? Ah, laddie, it were a foul thing. A foul, repulsive thing!”

“What?” asked Lewis.

Crawley’s hand curled into a fist. “I could
smell
them the second I comes near! I’d know that smell anywhere. The stench of rotting teeth! Maggoty meat! Dying rats!”

“But what?” begged Lewis. “What was it?”

“Putrid flesh! Festering swill!”

“Captain Crawley! Please!
What
did you find?”

Crawley lifted his gnarled fist into the air and shook it.

“DIRE!” he croaked hoarsely.

“Dire?” repeated Lewis. “You mean … Captain Dire? The pirate who stole your ship? Who threw you overboard?”

“Dire, aye! That son of a scab, Dire! Standing there at the helm of
my
ship with his scraggly mane of white hair and those terrible, cold, dead eyes. Those icy blue eyes what can freeze your marrow. It were him, all right. Him and his stinking crew—twelve or more—crawling over the deck like sea lice on a whale. They’re here, lad—right
here
, on our sweet little
Maria Louisa
! They been aboard ship all these many years, while we sat landlocked in a tower.”

Stunned by this news, Lewis tried to take it in. “Twelve of them? But wait—you’re only seven. You’re outnumbered! Listen, Captain Crawley, you can’t go in there. You have to come back to Shornoway. You—”

Crawley seized him by his jacket and pulled him up so they were face to face. “ARE YE MAD?” boomed the captain. “Back to Shornoway? Wash your mouth out, ye pettifogging little gnat! Two hunnert years and more we’ve waited for our ship. Are we to give her
up now? NO! We stays RIGHT HERE, and we FIGHTS for her!”

He released Lewis and glanced around. The other pirates, hearing the shouting, had gathered in a circle.

“Dire?” they repeated. “Here?”

“AYE!” shouted Crawley, throwing caution to the wind. “That son of a bilge rat, Dire! We’re going to toss him into the drink, mates—just as he tossed us. Are ye ready to take back our ship?”

“AYE!” the pirates cried, pulling out their swords. “AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN!”

Crawley yanked out his own sword and brandished it in the air. With an ear-splitting scream, he ran straight for the brick wall of the museum. He hit it—

And disappeared.

The others cheered. In a wild howling rush, they followed. One by one, they hit the wall and faded.

Lewis was left standing there alone.

N
o! Lewis was
not
going home!

Not a chance.

He made his way to the front door of the Tandy Bay Maritime Museum, where a small crowd waited. Little kids, mostly, and a few adults. Lewis edged up closer.

They looked like—yes, they were!—the kindergartners from his school. There was their teacher, Mrs. Sobowski, trying to herd them into a line. A few parent volunteers helped out. The wind was blowing the kids’ hair and flapping their Halloween costumes, making them screech with delight. At the edge of the group, Lewis spotted a familiar face—the little girl with the round red glasses, who had stood
up to Seth. She was wearing a princess costume.

Lewis glanced around the grounds. He hadn’t been here for several years, but he remembered the grassy lawn that sloped from the museum down to the edge of the ocean. It was home now to a couple of replicas of famous historical boats—a Viking longboat and a Haida war canoe.

The big attraction, of course, was the
Maria Louisa
—inside the museum, behind a glass wall, facing the lawn and the ocean.

The kindergarten line stirred as someone came to open the museum doors. The kids edged forward.

Lewis stared at the entrance. A black-and-orange banner above the door read
HALLOWEEN IN THE MUSEUM
. A small sign in the window said
Admission Fees
. Several lines down, he read,
Students: $1.50
.

Money!

His wallet was in his jacket. His
own
jacket. The one he had left at home.

He shoved his hands into the pockets of Great-Granddad’s jacket, hoping to find change. Out came a single green peppermint, fuzzy with lint. He tried his jeans’ pockets. Nothing.

A sick feeling hit his stomach. Why hadn’t he
thought
of this? Why hadn’t he remembered he’d have to pay?

The door opened. With growing desperation, Lewis watched the kindergarten line snake forward.

Something pulled at his sleeve. He glanced around. Then down.

“Hi!” The little girl’s eyes were blurry behind her red glasses. “Did you come to see the ship?”

Lewis stared for a second, then nodded.

She held out her hand. “Come on.”

She pulled him into the line, five kids from the end. With his heart pounding, he shuffled forward. The kindergarten class, which now included him, continued to move ahead.

“Nice princess costume,” he told the girl as they walked through the door.

She let out a snort. “Not a princess. I’m Mary, Queen of Scots.”

“Sorry.”

The cashier was just ahead. She was wearing a fuzzy orange wig and clown makeup. The walls behind her were covered in decorations—fake cobwebs, cardboard ghosts and witches.

Lewis stared at his feet as they walked past. Another step, another …

He was in!

Lewis looked down at the little girl. “Excuse me. I have to do something.”

She glanced around. “It’s over there,” she said, pointing to the men’s room.

A laugh burbled up in Lewis. “Yeah, thanks.”

He walked quickly to the front of the kindergarten line, still threading its way toward the main exhibit hall. When he reached Mrs. Sobowski, she frowned at him, clearly wondering who he was. That’s when he realized that although he hadn’t exactly
planned
to skip school, that’s what he was doing. Mrs. Sobowski started to speak to him, but a little boy in a Batman costume chose that moment to sit on a velvet museum cord, bringing down the metal stand it was attached to. She turned to help. Lewis darted past.

Entering the exhibit hall, he did a quick visual scan. Everything
looked
normal. But he caught a strong whiff of the familiar fishy odor—along with a new pungent, sour smell.

And, listening hard, he was sure he could hear muffled thuds.

He walked over to where the
Maria Louisa
sat still and silent on her wooden scaffold. He stared up at the ship’s hull, its wood gleaming warmly in the sunlight. Above the hull was the deck, and above that, the masts with their complicated arrangements of sails.

The museum was filled with light. In addition to the huge wall of glass at the front, there was another
glass wall at the side, and also a glass ceiling. Looking out the front, Lewis could see—just a stone’s throw away down the slope—the Atlantic Ocean. It was so close to the ship that it was easy to imagine the
Maria Louisa
in her glory days, riding the high seas.

Another thud. Louder. It was coming from inside the ship.

“Crawley?” he whispered, feeling foolish.

The only voice that came back was Mrs. Sobowski’s. “Davie, do you remember how we
act
in a museum?”

“Crawley?” whispered Lewis again. “Bellows? Adam?”

The next thud was strong enough to jolt the ship, and loud enough to catch the kindergartners’ attention. A crash followed. Then a series of thuds.

Suddenly, a voice roared out, “You thinks you can
keep
our ship, does you? Through all eternity? Not while
I
carries a sword, you filth-ridden maggot! You weevil! You bucket of scum!”

Lewis looked around. The kindergartners were crowding into the exhibit hall, wide-eyed with delight. Mrs. Sobowski and the volunteers were smiling, too. They thought the voices came from actors. They thought this was part of a show.

There were yells now from the ship. Shrieks. More crashes. Mrs. Sobowski gave her class instructions that Lewis couldn’t hear because of the noise. The
kindergartners lined up behind her—and started moving toward the gangplank.

They were going on board!

“NO!” howled Lewis.

He launched himself like a missile, reaching the gangplank just ahead of the teacher. Blocking her entry, he shouted, “No! Don’t! Please!”

The noise on the ship was growing louder, but Mrs. Sobowski’s voice carried clearly. “
Excuse
me.” She gave Lewis a look that would have flattened him under any other circumstances. “What’s your name? Aren’t you in Ms. Forsley’s class?”

“You can’t go on this ship!” Lewis spread his arms and grabbed the guide ropes.

Mrs. Sobowski pointed a stern finger. “
You
are getting yourself into serious trouble.”

“I know,” said Lewis. “But you can’t go on.”

A man in a museum uniform appeared. He was wearing a red clown nose, but he looked like he meant serious business. Seeing Lewis blocking the gangplank, he frowned and pushed past Mrs. Sobowski. “Step aside, son. Let—”

“No!” Lewis took a step backward, but held on to the ropes. “You can’t!”

The man shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe his ears. He reached for Lewis. “You come off there. Now!”

“No!” yelled Lewis, dancing backward up the gangplank.

From up on the ship came a bloodcurdling scream, followed by a string of curses. The kindergartners went, “Woooooo!” and clutched each other. The museum man glanced at the ship. Then he frowned again at Lewis.

Suddenly, there was a gasped “Ooohhhh!” from the kindergartners. Looking over his shoulder, Lewis saw the first pirates. There were two of them—Moyle and a stranger. They were dueling with swords up on deck. Moyle stood out in his lime-green Hawaiian shirt and white shorts.

A hand came down heavily on Lewis’s wrist. It grabbed and held on. The museum man! He was pulling Lewis down the gangplank.

Lewis wrenched his arm free. He scrambled back up toward the ship. When his right knee buckled, he hardly paused. Just lurched to his feet and staggered on. He didn’t stop till his path was blocked at the top—by a pair of worn black boots, streaked with sea salt. He looked up.

A tall cadaverous pirate, his eyes sunk into a skeletal face, barred Lewis’s way. The stranger raised a blood-soaked sword. His mouth opened, exposing rotted stumps of teeth.

“Be you one of Crawley’s men?” he cried.

If Lewis had stopped to think, he would have seen that there was a right answer and a wrong one.

“Yes!” he blurted.

Down came the sword! Right where his head should have been. Except that—reacting for the first time in his life at lightning speed—Lewis actually
saw
the sword coming and dodged it, darting under the pirate’s arm onto the ship. Down in the crowd, someone screamed.