Hunt for the Panther 3 (9781101610923) (10 page)

The crowd murmured. Josephine opened her mouth to speak, but Scarlet raised a finger to her lips. That voice was familiar…

“They say ye can wrestle a smelly wild pig,” another pirate shouted. “That true?”

“With one hand tied behind my back,” came the reply.

Now it was Scarlet’s turn to gasp. It was Lucas Lawrence. She’d know a boast coming out of his big mouth anywhere.

“What’s the matter?” Josephine whispered, but Scarlet shook her head. Lucas sounded like he was recruiting new men. For the
Dark Ranger
, maybe? Or…

“Blimey!”

“Cousin!” Josephine whispered, shocked.

But Scarlet waved her off.
No,
she told herself.
That’s not possible.

“Look!” someone yelled. And the entire crowd turned at once to look in Scarlet’s and Josephine’s direction. Scarlet grabbed her cousin’s arm, dragging her to one side of the dock. But the crowd of pirates didn’t even notice them. They were looking past the girls, at two men who’d just appeared at the end of the dock, looking like the sea had just spewed them up. Their shirts and trousers were barely more than rags, and their skin was so sunburned it hurt to look at it. One wore a filthy bandana around his head, and the other had made a hat out of seaweed to protect himself from the sun.

“Sink me,” Scarlet whispered.

“What?” Josephine asked. “Who’s that?”

“You’ve got to be joking…”

For a moment, the pirates stared, wide-eyed, at the Dread Pirate Captain Wallace Hammerstein-Jones and
his right-hand man, Iron “Pete” Morgan. Then suddenly, all together, they began to chortle. The chortling soon escalated into guffaws, then hoots of laughter.

Lucas Lawrence stepped out of the circle, meaty hands on his hips, and drew himself up tall. “Wallace!” he shouted. “You’re here!”

He didn’t call him “Captain,”
Scarlet thought, feeling dizzy.
Does it mean what I think it means? Scurvy, what if—

“You… you…,” Captain Wallace sputtered, staggering forward on feet that obviously hadn’t touched firm ground in weeks. “You
scalawag
!”

Lucas laughed, and the men echoed him.

“You traitor!” Captain Wallace continued, staggering closer. “You think you can cross me? You think you can steal my men and my ship and get away with it?”

Lucas folded his arms across his chest. “Looks like I did.”

Captain Wallace looked like he could breathe fire. “You think you’ve got what it takes to take over the tropics? You? A mere…
child
!”

“Blast!” Scarlet whispered.
Lucas
was the Rebel. “Bilge and blimey!”

“Cousin!” Josephine gasped.

Lucas narrowed his eyes at Captain Wallace. “Just watch me,
Wallace
.”

Captain Wallace let out a strangled cry and stumbled forward, but two enormous pirates stepped out and blocked his way. A cloud of curses filled the air, and the pirates began to shift and surge.

Scarlet shook herself out of her stupor and grabbed her cousin’s hand. “Come on,” she said, pulling Josephine away from the rowdy crowd. “We should go home.”

“Well,” Josephine said as they walked back. “That was certainly… interesting.” She reached into a pocket and drew out her pink fan, fluttering it in front of her face.

Scarlet took several deep breaths, trying to get the hurricane of thoughts in her head under control. Lucas had mutinied against Captain Wallace. And now he was bent on being the most powerful captain in the tropics. Part of her wanted to pull out her hair, while a larger part wanted to run back to the docks and pull out his.

Did the crew know about this? With so many miles between them, who could say? But until she could be back with them, she had to do what she’d promised: find out more about the Rebel’s—Lucas’s—plan.

Not to mention Captain Wallace’s plan for revenge.

“Hold it still,” Jem called, giving the nail a final whack with his hammer. “There!” He stepped back to admire his handiwork. “Not bad, right?”

Kapu tested the door, swinging it back and forth. He nodded.

“Come on, it’s good, isn’t it?” Jem tested the door himself. “It’ll keep out the panther.” He turned to the younger boy and bared his teeth—an expression that had become their sign for “panther.”

Kapu looked at the door, then gave Jem a look that said, “If you say so.”

Jem frowned. They’d been at this door for two hours and still had three more to install. “What’s wrong with it?”

Kapu got down on all fours. Obviously pretending to be a panther, he skulked toward the door, gave it a sniff, then lowered his shoulder and shoved it, hard. The door swung right open, and Kapu turned to Jem with a look that said, “See?”

Jem bit his lip. “All right, so we’ll put a lock on it. We’ll secure it.”

Kapu raised his right hand and curled his fingers, as if showing off some sharp claws.

“Oh.” Jem sighed. “You think he can tear right through it. I didn’t think of that.” He set his hammer
down on the tree house floor and folded his arms across his chest. “Well then, do you have any better ideas?” He tapped his head.

Kapu rocked back on his feet and thought for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers.

“You’ve got something? What?”

Kapu got back on all fours, pretending once again to be the panther, skulking through the jungle. Then suddenly, he let out a howl and flipped onto his side.

“What?” Jem cried. “What happened?”

Kapu pointed to his foot, which he kept glued to the floor while flailing all his other limbs.

“Oh! A trap!” Jem exclaimed, pausing to congratulate himself on how good he was getting at communicating with the Islanders.

Kapu sprang to his feet, nodding.

“Right. We can’t do that.” Jem shook his head. “Ronagh would slay us all.” He swiped his hand across his throat.

Now Kapu’s shoulders sagged.

“But good idea,” said Jem. “Got anything else?”

They swung down to the jungle floor and surveyed the situation. Jem still couldn’t help thinking that the doors weren’t altogether useless. At least they’d give the panther some kind of obstacle in his path toward dinner. He shuddered at the thought. “What about—”

“Jem! Jem!”

Jem whirled around. “What on earth?”

“Jeeeeem!”
Ronagh came tearing across the clearing, her face the color of an extraripe grapefruit.

“Now, stop right there!” Uncle Finn was hot on her heels, his own face shiny with sweat.

“What the flotsam?” Jem cried as the hefty explorer and the tiny girl slid to a stop in front of him.

“Your uncle is being
horrible
!” Ronagh shrieked. “You’ve got to—”

“Don’t listen to her,” Uncle Finn huffed. “She just—”

“You
are
horrible! You’re—”

“STOP!” Jem bellowed, once again feeling like he’d channeled Scarlet. “What’s going on? Ronagh, you start.”

Ronagh gave Uncle Finn a poisonous look. “Uncle Finn is… is
experimenting
.”

Jem and Kapu exchanged a glance. “Experimenting?” Jem repeated.

Ronagh nodded. “The scoundrel.”

Jem crouched down and put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Ro, you know he’s a scientist, right? That’s what he does.”

“I
know
.” Ronagh shrugged his hand away. “That’s the problem.”

Jem stood back up. “I think you need to explain some more.”

“I’ll explain,” Uncle Finn cut in. “I
have
been experimenting. And with great effect! Nine of the last ten samples I tested produced a full head of hair on a specimen lacking one! This is it, my boy! The experiment is—”

Ronagh shrieked and lunged for Uncle Finn.

“Ro!” Jem caught her by the arm before she could pummel his uncle.

“And
you
are making a big deal over nothing!” Uncle Finn cried, stepping out of Ronagh’s way. “I thought your vegetarianism was crazy, but
this
!”

By now, a few other Lost Souls had gathered to watch.

“Jem!” Ronagh yanked her arm away. “He’s using the animals! For
science
!”

Jem looked up at his uncle. “You’re what?”

“Just a few tests,” Uncle Finn huffed. “Nothing that will harm them long-term. You see, I ran out of humans to test my plant samples on.
I’ve
already got a full head of hair.” He tossed it for effect. “As does Thomas.”

“So he’s using the monkeys!” Ronagh yelled. “He’s feeding them plants and making them all…
hairy
!” She lunged again for Uncle Finn, this time slipping past Jem.

“Which means it’s working! Ow!” Uncle Finn cried as she pounded his stomach with her small fists. “They don’t mind a little more hair. Who wouldn’t want more hair?”

“Look!” Ronagh stopped pounding and grabbed Jem by the wrist, pulling him over to a tree. Uncle Finn and the Lost Souls who’d stopped to watch followed. “There!” Ronagh pointed high up into the branches. “See?”

Jem squinted. “Where?”

Ronagh whistled, and a few seconds later, a small black monkey came swinging down to see her.

Except he couldn’t see her, with all the hair in his eyes. He vaulted off a branch, but instead of landing on Ronagh’s shoulder, he crashed right into the dirt. Ronagh rushed over and pulled him up, pushing his hair out of his face. It promptly fell back over his eyes.

“See?” Ronagh yelled.
“See?”

Jem groaned. “Uncle Finn! You can’t do that. It’s wrong.”

“No,” Uncle Finn replied, “it’s
science.
Look at the hair on that creature! It’s beautiful!”

Jem smacked his forehead.

“And who else am I supposed to test on?” Uncle Finn looked around at the Lost Souls. Several ducked and covered their heads.

“How about some pirates in port?” Elmo suggested. “Lots of them could use some more hair.”

“Yeah,” said Charlie. “Go to port and feed ’em your plants, then go back a few days later and check up on ’em.”

That, Jem had to admit, was a pretty good idea. Even Ronagh looked somewhat appeased as she began braiding the monkey’s hair away from his face.

Uncle Finn twirled a lock of hair around his finger. “You think I should go to port?”

“Yes.” Jem sighed. “You should. Go test your plants on the pirates.”
Maybe that will keep them away from Island X for a while longer,
he thought. He suddenly felt very, very tired.

“Hmph.” Uncle Finn tossed his hair over his shoulder. “Well, all right then. From now on, I’ll test on pirates. Happy?” he asked Ronagh, who ignored him.

Uncle Finn marched back to the clearing, and the other Lost Souls began to wander off, leaving Jem and Kapu alone again.

“If only all problems could resolve themselves so easily,” Jem said.

Kapu nodded and bared his teeth.

“Right, like the panther.” Jem sighed.

Kapu pretended to unsheathe a cutlass and wave it around.

“And Lucas.” Jem sighed again. “Don’t remind me. If only there were some way to protect ourselves from both at once.” He leaned back to look up at the trees, as if the answer might fall down from them into his lap.

Kapu yelped and tugged on Jem’s sleeve.

“What?” Jem looked back down, into the boy’s excited eyes. “You have an idea?”

Kapu nodded, throwing himself down on all fours again. He began to crawl across the jungle floor, then made a big show of stepping on something with his right hand.

“Another trap?” Jem asked. “I don’t think—”

Kapu shook his head and raised a finger. Then he went back to being the panther, stepping on something with his right hand. Suddenly, he sprang to his feet.
“Crash! Clang! Aaaa!”
he yelled.

Jem jumped back. For a moment he wondered if Kapu had gone off the deep end. Then it occurred to him. “A trap that sets off noise!” he cried. “A trap that doesn’t hurt the panther, but scares it off and wakes everyone up!”

Kapu nodded, dancing a joyful jig.

“I like it!” Jem jabbed a finger in the air. “Good thinking.”

Kapu took a small bow, then ran off into the trees.

“This is great!” Jem said, heading back to the center
of the clearing, where he’d left most of his tools. “A noisemaker trap. We’ll need some rope. And wire. And maybe some tin plates from the
Hop
? And… and hollow sticks that knock together.” The possibilities for noisemakers were endless.

About fifteen minutes later, Kapu appeared, holding three small gourds, which must have come from Sina’s garden. He held a finger up to his lips and wiggled his eyebrows as if to say, “Don’t tell.” Then he grabbed Jem’s knife, cut the top off one, and proceeded to hollow it out.

“Oh, I see,” said Jem. “You’re going to make a big rattle. Will you fill it with rocks? Or seeds?”

Kapu nodded, concentrating on his handiwork. Jem grabbed another gourd and followed his lead.

They worked for over an hour, constructing all the noisemakers they could think of, while Jem praised Kapu’s idea at least a half dozen more times.

“If this works, maybe we can make more than one of these traps,” he mused. “And what do you think of—”

“Jeeeeem!”

“Not again!” Jem dropped his gourd and turned to see Tim running toward him, his face roughly the same grapefruit color as Ronagh’s had been. “What
now
?”