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Authors: Brian James

BOOK: Port of Spies
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Rotten Tooth looked confused. “What report be that?” he asked.
I looked at Vicky and made a silly face.
She covered her mouth to hide a giggle.
“He forgot about the sneaky part of our mission,” I whispered.
Only I didn't whisper it quietly enough, because Rotten Tooth heard me. He had the best hearing on the ship. Sometimes I thought he could hear things that hadn't even been whispered yet.
“Arrr! What's this about a sneaky part?” he asked.
“You told us to keep our eyes and ears open,” I reminded him. “We did! And we saw a lot of suspicious stuff,” I said.
“Aye! We think there are rival pirates on King's Island,” Gary added. “We think they might have followed us around.”
Rotten Tooth started to snicker. He didn't believe us. So Inna pulled the list from her pocket. She stepped up to Rotten Tooth and showed it to him. “Aye, and here's the proof!” she said.
Rotten Tooth started to read the list.
Then he started to laugh. Soon he was laughing so hard, he filled the sails.
“What's so funny?” Aaron asked.
Rotten Tooth folded the list and tried his best to stop laughing. “Ye scurvy litter have a wild imagination,” he said. He said there was nothing suspicious about the stuff on our list.
“Aye? What about the hat store?” I asked.
“Aye! And the map store?” Aaron added.
“Aye, and the mean looks?” Gary asked.
Rotten Tooth laughed again. Then he told us that those stores sell things for landlubbers, not pirates. “And all landlubbers think pirates be a bit dirty. That's why they gave you dirty looks. Ye savvy?”
I thought about that. I reached under my pirate hat and scratched my head. I guess landlubbers wouldn't need pirate hats or treasure maps.
“Soggy sails,” I moaned. “All our spying was for nothing!”
“Stow that talk, little matey!” a voice boomed.
I looked up and saw Captain Stinky Beard standing next to Rotten Tooth. I gave him a quick salute and he saluted back.
“Let me see that,” he said to Rotten Tooth. Rotten Tooth handed the captain our list. Captain Stinky Beard read it very carefully.
We all gave each other nervous looks. We were afraid he would start laughing, too.
“Hmm! King's Island has been known to have its share of spies,” he said after a while. Then he scratched his beard and gave us a serious look. “This is a shipshape list,” he said. “Good work, buckoes.”
We were all so happy that we almost started dancing. But it's not real piratey to dance in front of the captain, so we didn't. We just clapped our hands and smiled.
Captain Stinky Beard folded the list and gave it back to Rotten Tooth. “Arrr! Ye better keep an eye out in case any of these spies try to stow away on board,” he said. “And ye kids can help, too.”
“Aye aye!” we said excitedly. It was our first mission that came directly from the captain.
“Aye, Cap'n!” Rotten Tooth said, only he didn't sound as happy as us.
When the captain left, Rotten Tooth made an angry face and crumpled up our list before shoving it in his pocket. Then he mumbled and grumbled. He thought our list was a waste of time. That was fine with us, so long as the cap'n didn't think so.
As the
Sea Rat
got ready to set sail, we were prepared to take on our new duty. We were going to search the ship for spies!
Chapter 6
Stowaway On Board?
The next day at sea, Rotten Tooth made us stock the storage room with the fresh supplies. He said it was the job of the newest members of a pirate crew. I started to think he was going to use that excuse for every boring job on the ship.
“This stinks!” Vicky said.
Gary made a sniffy face. “I don't smell anything,” he said.
“Arrr! I mean this job is no fun!” Vicky said.
“Aye! You can say that again!” Inna said. She was in a grumpy mood because Gary had spilled a bag of flour. It was all in her hair and on her dress.
“Aye! How are we supposed to search for spies when we're stuck stocking shelves?” Aaron said. Then he folded his arms and plopped down on one of the boxes.
“Maybe if you helped, we'd get done faster!” Vicky said.
“I am helping!” Aaron said.
“Are not!” Vicky shouted.
“Am too!” Aaron yelled back. “I'm supervising!”
Vicky marched right over to Aaron. “Who made you the boss, Captain Big Mouth?”
“I did,” Aaron said.
I didn't like it when my mates fought. I jumped between them just as Vicky was giving Aaron a shove.
I crashed right into the pile of supplies!
Vicky rushed over to help me. “I'm sorry, Pete,” she said.
“That's okay,” I said. “It didn't hurt.”
As I stood up, I saw that one of the barrels of oatmeal was already open.
“Avast! That's a clue!” I shouted.
“A clue that Vicky's just as clumsy as Gary?” Aaron said.
“Blimey! Not that!” I said, and pointed to the open barrel.
“That!”
“Arrr! It might have been made by a pirate spy!” Vicky said.
“Or maybe it's just a mouse,” Gary said.
Inna gave him a mean look. “I told you not to bring up mice!”
Gary scratched his head. “You said not to bring up snakes.”
“Same thing! They're both icky!” Inna shouted.
“Shh! I think I heard something,” I told them. There was a creaking sound by the door to the storage room.
“Arrr! Maybe one of the spies from town followed us on board,” Vicky said.
We all crept toward the door.
I took a peek into the hallway and thought I saw someone. I held up my hand for everyone to stop. “On the count of three, we'll jump out,” I whispered.
“Aye aye!” they said.
Then we all counted quietly.
“One. Four. Three!”
We all jumped out into the hallway. And we came face-to-face with . . . Clegg!
“Ahoy there!” Clegg said.
Clegg was the oldest pirate on the
Sea Rat.
He was also our friend. He always told us great pirate stories. But right now, we didn't want to hear a story. We just wanted to know if he saw anyone snooping around.
“Ahoy,” I said. “Did you see anyone else out here?”
“Arrr! Just ye little shipmates. But I don't see much,” he said, tapping his eye patch. Clegg only had one good eye.
I made a frowny face.
“Who are ye looking for?” he asked.
“A stowaway,” I told him.
“Aye?” Clegg asked.
“Aye! A sneaky, spying stowaway!” Vicky said.
“Or a mouse?” Gary said. Then he covered his mouth real quick as Inna glared at him.
“Well, I'll be sure to keep one eye out for the critter,” Clegg promised.
“Thanks,” I said.
Then we went back to stocking the shelves. We stocked them as fast as we could. As soon as we were done, we were going to look for the stowaway. If there was one on board, we'd find him!
Chapter 7
Pillow Proof!
Searching for spies was hard work. After the shelves were stocked, Rotten Tooth gave us the afternoon off. He said we could do whatever we wanted as long as we stayed out of his way. So we searched the ship for spies.
We searched above deck and belowdecks.
We searched the cargo hold and all the cabins. We even searched Captain Stinky Beard's cabin by peeking through the windows at the back of the ship.
We searched the crow's nest and the quarterdeck. We even searched the poop deck. That was the hardest searching, because we couldn't stop giggling. That deck is one funny deck.
We searched all day long, and by bedtime, we were really tired.
“Arrr! I'm tuckered out,” I said as we headed to our quarters.
“Aye, me too!” Aaron said. “I just hope Inna doesn't keep us awake with her snoring!”
“I do
not
snore!” Inna said.
We all rolled our eyes. Inna might be one of the smallest members of the crew, but she was the loudest snorer on the ship! But we were all too sleepy to argue with her.
Vicky jumped onto her bunk and put her head down. Aaron climbed onto the bunk above hers and did the same. Inna had her own bed and she climbed into it.
I had the other top bunk, and Gary's was under mine. He used to have the top one, but he kept rolling off, so we switched.
“Good night, mates,” I said as I climbed up.
“Good night,” they mumbled.
I put my head down on my pillow and closed my eyes. I was just about to set sail for dreamland when Gary's head popped over the side of my bed.

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