Hunt for the Panther 3 (9781101610923) (6 page)

Captain Wallace opened his mouth to respond but couldn’t seem to come up with a good argument. “Anyway,” he huffed, “Lucas and his crew took off with the ship, leaving us the bloody dinghy and
one
oar. Me! In a dinghy! The Dread Pirate Captain Wallace Hammerstein-Jones! Terror of the—”

“We get it!” the boys cried in unison, and Captain Wallace fell silent with a pout.

Jem turned to his crewmates, who looked as stunned as he felt.

“So Lucas is the new captain of the
Dark Ranger
?” Emmett asked.

Jem nodded, thinking hard. Lucas had taken a great risk, angering Captain Wallace. He must have been confident in his new allies. Or maybe, knowing the boy’s hunger for treasure, he’d just gotten sick of seeing someone else take the lion’s share of the spoils. On most ships, the captain took half of whatever the crew plundered. Either way, this meant big trouble—enormous trouble, even—since Lucas knew exactly where to find the greatest treasure around.

Tim shook his head. “Lucas is the last swab alive who should have control of a ship.”

“Let alone the entire tropics,” Pete added.

All heads swung toward him.

“The…
what
?” Jem said.

Pete took one last swig of his water, draining his canteen. “The entire tropics,” he repeated, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “Surely you’ve heard of the Rebel?”

“Yes, but—” Jem fell silent as he realized what Pete was saying.

“That’d be Lucas.”

“All good pirates come to order!”

The Lost Souls gathered in front of Jem, stopped whispering among themselves, and looked at him expectantly, their faces illuminated by firefly lanterns. All had just learned that their captain would be away for several weeks
and
that their sworn enemy was planning to take over the tropics. A few of them gnawed on dirty fingernails. A few more had eyes the size of guava fruit.

Jem’s knees wobbled. It had been a very,
very
long day. After interrogating the former
Dark Ranger
pirates and learning the terrible news, he and the crew had sailed back to Island X, then slogged through the jungle for five hours to reach the rest of the Lost Souls. Thankfully, no one had been eaten up by a panther in their absence.

While Tim and Smitty spread the news and gathered everyone for a meeting, Jem took a moment to compose his thoughts. Something had been nagging at his brain since they’d set the pirates adrift in their dinghy again. Why
did
Lucas want to be the most powerful pirate in the tropics? He was treasure-hungry, of course, but was that all? Somehow, Jem thought not. He needed time and space to ponder it, though. And just then, he had a meeting to lead.

He sighed. All he really wanted to do was curl up in bed and forget everything that had happened—a
real
bed, with a blanket and pillow. And a good book, too, like one of the adventure novels he used to read back in the Old World. Those were the days—when he could read about adventure without having to live it.

“So the captain’s really staying in port to be with some Old Worlders?” a boy named Monty asked in disbelief.

Jem nodded. “She had no choice. Her uncle’s a high-ranking King’s Man, and they couldn’t have him getting suspicious. If he found out about Island X, there’d be trouble.”

The Lost Souls exchanged uncertain glances.

“It’s going to be okay, though,” he added, assuming a brave face. “We’ll be fine here without her for a few weeks. I’ll be your Deputy Captain.”

“Our what?” asked Gil.

“It’s like a substitute captain,” Jem explained. “Just a title.”

“Oh.”

“And what about Lucas?” Ronagh elbowed her way to the front of the crowd. A small black monkey perched on her shoulder—Jem recognized it as the troublesome one Kapu kept as a pet. Its hands were tangled in Ronagh’s hair, and its eyes were wide like everyone else’s. “Did he really mutiny against the Dread Captain Hammer–What’s-his-name?”

Jem nodded, struggling to maintain his brave face. “That’s what Pete and Captain Wallace told us. He aims to have the biggest ship, the fiercest crew, and control of all the treasure in the tropics. They’re calling him the Rebel.”

“What’s a rebel?” Ronagh wrinkled her nose.

“Someone who won’t listen to authority,” said Jem.

“Well, they got that part right,” Ronagh told the monkey on her shoulder, who tugged on her earlobe.

“But he’s only thirteen,” Elmo pointed out. “Why would they follow him?”

Tim shrugged. “No one in port seems to know that. In fact, Liam and I heard some merchants say that the earth shakes when he walks.”

“A cabin boy told me that if he looks at you, you’d better run and hide,” Edwin added.

“Maybe when they actually see him, they won’t be so scared?” Elmo said hopefully.

Smitty shook his head. “You know Lucas. He could pass for sixteen, maybe even older.” He took a step closer to Sina and tried once again to put a protective arm around her, but she shrugged him off.

Jem wished Scarlet were there to make sure Sina and Kapu understood what was going on. He’d tried his best to act it out for them when they’d arrived for the meeting, but he wasn’t sure how effective his imitation of pirates cowering in Lucas’s presence had been.

“I bet he’ll steal a big old schooner,” said Charlie.

Tim shook his head. “He wouldn’t settle for anything less than a man-o’-war.”

“Bet he won’t even settle for hardtack on board,” cried Sam.

“Yeah,” said Emmett. “It’ll be only roast chicken and pudding for Lucas.”

“Or pudding for every meal!” cried Elmo.

Jem’s stomach growled, and he tried not to think about pudding.

“I’ll bet he gets a real intimidating uniform,” said Smitty, who loved a good uniform. “Something sleek, I bet. Maybe silver or gold,” he added wistfully.

“The Rebel.” Tim shook his head in disgust. “I can think of a better word for him.”

“Yeah!” Liam piped up. “Like—”

“We all know he’s a biscuit-eater,” Jem cut in, although he expected Liam had something worse in mind. “But the fact remains that we’ve got trouble on our hands. We don’t know when Lucas is going to show up with his new crew, but we know he will eventually. Scarlet will be spying in port, learning all she can about his plan. And hopefully, she’ll be back in time for us to scuttle it.”

The Lost Souls nodded.

“I hate to say it, but we’ve got more trouble than that,” Gil spoke up, stepping to the front of the crowd. Never a particularly clean pirate, Gil was now permanently covered in dirt from the garden.

“What now?” Jem sighed. He couldn’t take much more bad news.

“I saw a track this morning, near the squash garden. A big track—bigger than any I’ve ever seen.”

“You mean…” Jem couldn’t even bring himself to say it.

Gil shrugged. “I’ve never seen a panther track before, but this ain’t no smelly wild pig.”

“I heard a howl in the middle of the night,” Sam
added. “At first I thought it was Charlie having a nightmare, but he says it wasn’t.”

“It
wasn’t,
” Charlie insisted.

“Right.” Jem took a deep breath, trying to keep his thoughts straight. “Well, I’m going to start building doors on the tree houses, to reinforce them. Who’ll help me?” Three boys raised their hands, and he nodded, thankful that at least the crew was cooperating with their Deputy Captain. The island was giving him plenty to worry about without them.

“Tim. Liam. You still awake?”

“Mmph,” came the mumbled reply.

“Smitty?”

“No. Go to sleep.”

Jem sat up in his hammock and reached for his lantern. He gave it a shake, and the fireflies awoke, flickering sleepily.
Sorry,
he told them silently.
But this is important.

“I’ve been thinking,” he began.

“Look, Fitz, I know you’re all about this thinking thing, but it’s the middle of the night,” said Smitty. “I barely slept last night, and I can’t keep my eyes open. Can we talk in the morning?”

Liam mumbled in agreement.

“This’ll just take a minute. Swig? You awake?”

“Unfortunately,” Tim grumbled. “What is it?”

“I need you to tell me what you heard people saying about Lucas in port.”

Tim sighed and sat up. “I told you already.”

“Tell me again,” Jem insisted.

“That merchant said that he heard the earth shakes when Lucas walks,” said Tim.

“Mm-hm.” Jem nodded. “What else?”

Smitty flopped onto his side to face them. “I heard an old toothless sea dog say that the captain was sneaky—he’d steal everything you own, and you’d never notice nothing.”

“Anything,” Jem corrected him.

“Fitz, if you’re going to correct my grammar in the middle of the night, I might have to clock you one.”

“Sorry,” Jem said quickly. “But was there anything else? Anything about
why
he wants to be the most powerful captain in the tropics?”

“What captain wouldn’t?” Smitty yawned. “You’d never have to worry about anyone raiding your ship or stealing your men. You’d have all the money you wanted, and no one to answer to.”

“True, but…” Jem tapped the lantern, thinking hard.

“A barmaid in the tavern said he planned to fill his big old ship with servants,” Liam mumbled.

Jem stopped tapping. “What?”

Liam yawned and stretched. “More than just the odd cabin boy, she said. These would be slaves, forced to do all the worst and most dangerous jobs, like scaling to the crow’s nest in a hurricane. And cleaning the long drop for eternity.”

Jem looked up at Liam, then over at Smitty and Tim. “Uh-oh,” they all said together.

“You think…” Tim began.

“That’s us?” Smitty finished.

Jem nodded. “Scarlet shamed Lucas. Remember how she left him on the Island of Smelly Wild Pigs when he stole my knife? This isn’t about the treasure. It’s about—”

“Revenge,” Tim finished.

Smitty gave a low whistle, and even Liam sat up, now fully awake.

Jem nodded. “Lucas is going to make us pay.”

Scarlet awoke to a strange sound. In the darkness of her room, she listened hard for a minute before realizing that what she was hearing was nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

There were no aras squawking good morning. No bugs buzzing around her ears. No sleepy murmurs from Ronagh, one hammock away. She was completely, utterly alone.

Also, she was very warm, flattened between a heavy blanket and a soft mattress. In fact, she was almost… cozy. It felt completely unnatural.

She flung off her blanket and jumped out of bed, feeling her way through the darkness to the small window between the two beds the admiral had set up for herself and Josephine. She’d noticed it when she’d arrived the night before but had been too exhausted to look out. She felt around for the shutters, then yanked them open, flooding the tiny bedroom with morning light.

She’d desperately hoped the window would look out to sea, maybe even give a view of Island X, but no such luck. She could only see the street below, which even now was bustling with merchants heading to the docks to hawk their wares. A horse clopped by pulling a cart full of limes and papayas, its hooves caked with
red mud. A rooster strutted across the street, followed by a maid cursing it for escaping its pen.