Hunt for the Panther 3 (9781101610923) (13 page)

Ben sat down in an armchair, looking dizzy. “I heard… I heard he was getting a new ship. And calling it the
Panther.
”

She shrugged, not particularly caring what Lucas decided to call his ship. She still wasn’t done with Ben. “You don’t need to tell me anything, Hodgins,” she said. “I’m still living my mission. I haven’t abandoned ship.”

He looked as if she’d hit him, and for a moment she almost felt bad. Then she remembered one more thing.

“And while we’re on the topic, why don’t you come clean? Does your plantation keep slaves or not?”

Deep down, she hadn’t really believed it possible. Ben, her former captain, managing slaves?

So when his face clouded over again, and he stared at the floor, her mouth fell wide open.

“You’ve
got
to be kidding me.”

Just then the door opened, and in walked Humphries, followed by Uncle Daniel and Admiral McCray.

“Ben! Scarlet!” Humphries looked surprised. “What are you doing in here?”

There was a long pause, then Ben said, “Looking for a book.” He turned around to browse the books on the shelf before taking one down and handing it to Scarlet. “About carts. To help Scarlet’s… schooling.”

Scarlet looked at the cover.
A Young Lady’s Guide to Embroidery
. Not even close. But she couldn’t say anything. She was still reeling at what she’d just learned.

Humphries gave them an odd look, then shrugged and walked over to his desk. “Daniel and John and I were just having a fascinating conversation. Did you
know, Ben, that John was married to an Islander at one point? An Islander! Can you believe it?”

Scarlet relieved Ben of her dagger glare and turned it on Humphries instead.

Ben looked from Humphries to John, then back at Scarlet, and she suddenly realized that she’d never told him about her past. Back then, she’d barely remembered it herself.

“I see.” Ben frowned. “I’m sorry for your loss, Admiral McCray.”

Her father acknowledged him with a nod. He looked tired, Scarlet noted. Talking to Humphries for hours probably had that effect on everyone.

Humphries pulled a pipe out of a desk drawer and lit it. “It just astounds me, John, that you would have left port to live in the wilds of some island with those people. Did you actually go barefoot? And wear leaves for clothing?” He laughed. “What a fascinating life you must have led.”

The back of Scarlet’s neck began to tingle, as if somewhere out there, Voodoo Miranda was sticking pins into a wax doll with her name on it. The admiral pressed his lips together and didn’t answer.

“They were indeed fascinating people,” echoed Uncle Daniel. “And such a tragic story. The Islanders knew everything about plant cures, didn’t they? To think, all that knowledge died with them.”

“The Islanders’ demise was tragic for more reasons than that,” Scarlet pointed out, and her father’s eyes flicked over to her. But he didn’t even bother reprimanding her.

And anyway, Humphries didn’t seem to hear. He pointed his pipe at Uncle Daniel. “I never thought of it like that.”

Uncle Daniel nodded. “There are so many undiscovered medicines in the jungle. There might well be something in there that could cure the plague back home.”

Something that could have cured his wife,
Scarlet thought. Then another thought occurred to her:
And maybe keep his daughter safe, too.
Maybe
that
was why Uncle Daniel was so afraid for Josephine’s health.

Humphries puffed on his pipe. “Interesting,” he said slowly. “Can you imagine how much money one could make off a cure like that? I bet it would be a lucrative business.”

Scarlet gagged, then tried to cover it with a cough.

“Scarlet?” Uncle Daniel turned to her. “Are you all right?”

“No,” she replied between gritted teeth. “No, I’m not feeling so well. I bet it was the soup.”

“Would you like to go home now, Scarlet?” asked her father, who obviously wanted to be there himself.

She nodded. “Please.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate,” said Humphries. “We’ll have to continue this conversation another time. I’ll have the butler fetch the girls.”

Scarlet avoided Ben’s eyes as they filed back out to the carriage and drove away. Her brain still reeled at her latest discovery—that her former captain now worked for someone who kept slaves.

Don’t think about it,
she told herself.
It doesn’t matter.
She had bigger things to think about than a family of Old Worlders who thought themselves better than everyone else. If she never saw any of them again, it would be too soon.

“How’s this?” Liam clapped both halves of a coconut shell together.

“Good,” said Jem. He shook the gourd he’d hollowed out and filled with seeds. “Kapu?”

Seated on the jungle floor beside them, Kapu held up his own noisemaker—several wooden pipes that hung from a block of wood and made a hollow chiming sound when shaken.

The boys played their noisemakers all at once, as loud as they could.

“All right, already!” Tim yelled from his seat in the tree above their heads. “You’re giving me a headache.”

Jem set his instrument down and looked up at the quartermaster, who still hadn’t recovered from Uncle Finn stealing the
Hop
the day before. “How’s the wire coming?” he called.

“Almost done. Keep your trousers on,” Tim grumbled. A moment later, he jumped down to the ground. “There.”

Jem stood and squinted up at the trap they’d created thanks to Kapu’s creative thinking. They’d installed it on the narrowest part of the path, so the panther would have to pass over it on his way to the tree houses. A trip wire on the ground would set off the noisemakers in the tree, effectively scaring the beast away. “Think it’ll work?”

Tim shrugged. “You think your uncle will be back today?”

Jem sighed. “I don’t know, Swig. If not today, probably tomorrow.” Of course, he had no idea when Uncle Finn would be back with the
Hop.
And frankly, the ship’s absence hadn’t made much difference to anyone except Tim—they had no plans to go to port until Scarlet was ready to come home, and that wouldn’t be for another few weeks. But that kind of logic would only make the quartermaster even grouchier. So he left it at that.

“It’s just…” Tim took off his spectacles and wiped them on his shirt. “I’m worried he’s not treating her right. Her wheel needs a special touch, and I’m sure Uncle Finn doesn’t have it. See, sometimes she lists to starboard, and—”

“Blimey, Swig,” Liam cut in. “Quit worrying. I’m sure Uncle Finn knows how to steer a ship.”

“I’m not!” Tim pushed his spectacles back on and glared at Liam. “He’s a scientist, not a navigator. And… and he just had no right to take her!” He turned his glare on Jem.

Jem took a deep breath and counted to five. “Swig,” he said for perhaps the tenth time in two days, “if I’d known he was going to take the
Hop,
I would have stopped him. But I didn’t know, any more than you did. And there’s nothing we can do now except wait until he gets back.”

“
If
he gets back,” Tim said darkly. He turned and marched away.

Jem rolled his eyes and turned back to Liam and
Kapu. “All right. Let’s add these to the collection up there.” He pointed to the cluster of noisemakers already suspended from Tim’s wire.

“Kapu!” Smitty came running through the trees, emerging breathless beside them. “Kapu! I heard the news! Is she all right?”

“What news?” Jem and Liam turned from Smitty to Kapu. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Sina,” Smitty panted. “She’s… sick.”

“Really?” Jem looked at Kapu. This was the first he’d heard of her illness.

Kapu shrugged and pointed at his head. Then he put both hands together and used them as a pillow, pretending to sleep.

“She has a headache?” Liam asked. Kapu nodded.

“That’s all?” Jem looked at Smitty, who shook his head.

“It’s terrible,” he said. “I need to go see her. I’ll… I’ll sing her back to health.”

Kapu shook his head violently.

“Don’t think that’s a good idea, Smit.” Liam grinned.

“Why not?” asked Smitty. “I think she needs me.”

Kapu shook his head again, then held up a finger, instructing them to watch. First he pretended to be Sina, sleeping peacefully. Then he pretended to be Smitty, warbling off-key. Then he was Sina again, lunging for Smitty’s throat and shaking him violently.

Jem laughed. “Sounds like she’s a bit grumpy when she’s under the weather.”

Smitty considered this. “Okay, so I won’t sing. I’ll just
bring her some nice flowers. She’ll like that, right?”

Kapu shook his head again. This time he mimed Sina reaching for her bow and arrow and aiming it at Smitty’s head.

“Come on, Smit,” said Jem. “Help us put the finishing touches on this trap for the panther. Then we’ll test it out.”

Smitty looked around at the wires and noisemakers, and he shook his head. “I have a feeling she needs me. I’m going to go check up on her, anyway.”

Kapu shrugged as if to say, “Suit yourself,” and the older boy turned and walked away. As he disappeared, they could hear the strains of his latest song:

Jem sneaked toward the trip wire, pretending to be a panther on the hunt. Gingerly, he reached a “paw” into the pile of leaves he and Liam had used to cover it. All of a sudden, a clatter erupted above him, as gourds shook and shells clapped and hollowed sticks rattled together.

Jem covered his ears until the noise subsided. Then he looked up at Liam and Kapu, who were both grinning.

“Works like a charm,” he said, hopping to his feet. “Nice work!”

They were still congratulating themselves on their handiwork when they reached the clearing, where a few
Lost Souls were dangling their feet in the pool, cooling themselves in the midafternoon heat.

Jem stopped when he spotted Ronagh sitting cross-legged in the grass with a long-haired monkey on her lap. Two other monkeys sat beside her, as if waiting their turn. “Liam, what’s your sister doing?” he asked.

Liam squinted at his sister, then replied, “Looks like she’s giving the monkeys haircuts.”

“Of course she is.” Jem shook his head. At least she was being useful. Or rather, at least she was staying out of trouble.

“Hey, look!” Liam pointed at a person walking across the clearing toward them. “It’s Sina.”

The Islander girl still looked a little tired when she joined them.

“Feeling better?” Jem asked, pointing at his head.

Sina nodded.

“Did Smitty’s medicine work?” Liam laughed, and Kapu translated the question for Sina, who looked confused. She shook her head and said something back. Kapu looked startled.

“What?” Jem asked. “What is it?”

Kapu pretended to be Smitty, delivering flowers and singing a song. Then he shook his head and shrugged, looking around.

“What?” said Jem. “What does that mean? Where is he?”

“I think he means Smitty didn’t go see Sina,” said Liam, and Kapu nodded. “That’s funny. He was so set on seeing her.”

“That
is
funny,” Jem agreed. In fact, it was downright strange.

“Maybe we should go look for him,” said Liam.

“Look for who?” Ronagh asked, joining them. A monkey sat on her shoulder, patting its new spiky hairstyle.

“Smitty,” said Liam. “He was on his way to visit Sina but never made it.”

“Maybe he got lost?” Ronagh suggested.

“It’s a pretty straight path,” Jem said. “And Smitty knows it well.” His stomach began to feel heavy. As far as he knew, only two things could keep Smitty from Sina. One was a pirate. The other was a panther. “Let’s go,” he said.

Sina, Kapu, Liam, and Ronagh followed him to the edge of the jungle, then down the path back to the Islanders’ house.

“Smitty!” Jem and Ronagh called into the trees.

“Milton!” Liam added. “Evander!”

Jem frowned at him. “Is now really the time?”

Liam shrugged. “You never know when you’re going to get it right.”

They moved farther into the jungle, scanning the trail and the trees for clues. Sina fitted an arrow to her bow and moved out in front, ready to shoot if necessary. By now, Jem’s stomach felt like someone had filled it with rocks. He couldn’t help but wonder which would be worse—the pirate or the panther. On the one hand, they knew how to fight off pirates. On the other hand, they’d never had to deal with a pirate who wanted to
enslave them. Suppose that was what had happened to Smitty? Suppose Lucas was holding him captive, forcing him to swab the deck with a toothbrush? Or maybe he’d make him into a powder monkey, the one forced to carry power to the guns. It was the most dangerous job on board a ship, and one—

“Look!” Ronagh cried suddenly, pointing off the side of the trail. The group stopped and huddled around the spot she was indicating. The rocks in Jem’s stomach turned a flip.

There, in the dirt, not three hundred yards from camp, was the biggest, deepest panther print he’d ever seen.