The Island of Dr. Libris (12 page)

The crowd cheered.

“You there!” called the sheriff. “Come, noble archer, claim thy prize. For well and fairly hast thou won it.”

Tucking his chin to his chest, hiding under the brim of Tom Sawyer’s hat, Billy followed Robin as he proudly marched to the sheriff’s reviewing stand.

But when Robin held out his hand to accept his trophy, the sheriff plucked the golden arrow out of his reach.

“Before thou claimeth thy prize, good sir, tell me—art thou not that cowardly knave known high and low as Robin Hood?”

“Robin’s not a coward!” shouted Hercules, tearing off his robe to reveal his tight green tunic and leggings.

Now Robin threw off his disguise, too. “And I shall dash to pieces any who dare say that I am!”

“Ah-ha!” shouted the sheriff. “Seize him! Seize Robin Hood!”

The musketeers drew their swords.

“All for one, and one for—”

Hercules grabbed the nearest tent pole, which made the canvas collapse.

“By Zeus,” cried Hercules, “I will smite
all
of you!”

He swung the pointy-tipped post like a mighty baseball bat and knocked the four swords out of the musketeers’ hands with one swoop.

“Ah-ha-ha-ha!” laughed Robin. “There shall be no smiting here today, my good friend.” He snatched the golden arrow from the terrified sheriff. “But mark my words,
Sheriff: Shouldst thou ever attempt to trap me again, Hercules shall knock thy noggin into the next county. Come, good friend. Let us flee!”

“Follow me to my cave, boys!” shouted Tom Sawyer. “It’s a bully hiding place!”

“Huzzah!” cried Robin.

“Hey nonny-nonny!” added Hercules.

Tom Sawyer raced across the meadow and headed toward the craggy mountain on the horizon. Robin Hood and Hercules raced after him.

Billy and Walter were all alone.

Except, of course, for the Sheriff of Nottingham and the four musketeers.

“Chase after those scoundrels!” cried the sheriff. “Seize them!”

The four swashbucklers leapt off the platform to collect their fallen weapons.

They were only ten feet away from Billy and Walter.

“Wait!” yelled Billy, hoping to buy his friends a little time. He even took off Tom Sawyer’s hat to reveal himself. “Stop!”

“Ah-ha!” cried the sheriff from the reviewing stand. “It is the traitorous Sir William of Goat! Arrest him!”

The four musketeers pounced forward.

Billy flew back.

Up came the four swirling swords.

Billy took another step back.

“Billy?” wheezed Walter, who was hiding behind him.

“Yeah?”

“This isn’t fun anymore.”

“Tell me about it.”

Billy could feel his heart racing. He had never been so afraid in his life. He and Walter were a long way from the lagoon and the rowboat.

“Some Sunday school picnic this turned out to be,” mumbled Walter.

And that gave Billy an idea.

“If you arrest me,” he said with all the courage he could muster, “then you have to arrest yourselves.”

The sheriff chuckled.

“Arrest ourselves? What foolishness. Musketeers? Haul him away!”

“On a Sunday?” demanded Billy.

“Pardonnez-moi?”
said Athos.

“You would dare break the church’s number one rule and arrest me on a Sunday?”

“Is today Sunday?” muttered Aramis.

“Uh, hello. This is a
Sunday
school picnic, isn’t it?”

“Billy?” whispered Walter. “It’s actually Tuesday.”

“Not here it isn’t,” Billy whispered back.

“Oh. Okay. Parallel universe. Gotcha.”

The sheriff stomped his feet.

“Curses and foul language! Sir William speaketh most true. Today is indeed Sunday. Therefore, we may not arrest him nor hunt down those other cowardly scoundrels. We cannot do anything until tomorrow!”

The sheriff stepped to the edge of his platform to make a pronouncement.

“Hear ye, hear ye, loyal citizens of Missouri. At noon-tide tomorrow, Sir William of Goat; that rogue known as Robin Hood; his merry man Hercules; and their newest accomplice, the local scallywag Thomas Sawyer, shall be dragged to the gallows tree, where I shall settle my score with them once and for all. Come, royal deputies!”

Trumpets sounded with a fanfare.

The sheriff and the musketeers marched away.

Well, the musketeers marched. The sheriff limped and said “ouch” a lot.

“That’s it?” said Walter in utter disbelief.

“I guess,” said Billy.

“We can go home?”

“Yup.”

They were both quiet for maybe fifteen seconds.

Then Walter practically erupted with joy. “That was amazing!
You
were amazing! What a story you made up, right on the spot. That bit about this being Sunday? Incredible, Billy. You’ve got a gift, my friend. A gift.”

Billy just laughed. “Come on, Walter. We should leave.”

“We’re going home, right?”

“Definitely. First we’ll find a book to help us save Hercules, Robin Hood, and Tom Sawyer. Afterwards, Tom can help us find the treasure.”

“Before we leave,” said Walter, “I want to say a quick good-bye to Pollyanna. Maybe try some pie.”

“Go ahead. It’s Sunday. The sheriff can’t bother us anymore. Not today, anyway.”

“Incredible!” said Walter. “Absolutely incredible.”

Billy agreed. This might turn out to be the most incredible summer of his whole entire life.

That afternoon, Billy and Walter carefully examined the spines of all the books lined up in Dr. Libris’s special bookcase, trying to pick the perfect one to resolve all the problems on the island.

“Maybe,” said Walter, “you should read
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
and have her give that bottle of shrinking potion to the Sheriff of Nottingham.”

“Not bad,” said Billy. “But we might end up with the Queen of Hearts screaming, ‘Off with their heads! Off with their heads!’ ”

“You’re right. I’m pretty sure getting your head chopped off is worse than being hanged. Okay, I have another idea.”

“What?”

“Well, while you and your mom had lunch, I went home and took a look at
our
copy of
Robin Hood.
I wanted to
see if anything we did out on the island changed anything in the story.”

“Oh. Good thinking. Did it?”

“Nope. Everything’s the same. The Sheriff of Nottingham doesn’t limp and he doesn’t have four French deputies. The book is fine. It’s just the island that’s kind of screwy.”

“Good.”

“So
maybe
,” said Walter, “we don’t have to do anything.”

“What?”

“Our world is okay. We don’t have to worry about theirs.”

“Um, yes we do.”

“Nuh-unh. We can read new books and have new adventures and find the hidden treasure with somebody besides Tom Sawyer. The people on the island right now really aren’t our problem.”

“Yes they are. We can’t abandon them just because they aren’t fun to play with anymore.”

“Well,” said Walter, “we
could.
”

“But it wouldn’t be right, and you know it.”

“Yeah. I do.” He waited a second. “And when we find the treasure, splitting it fifty-fifty, that’ll be the right thing to do, too, correct?”

“Definitely. Unless Tom Sawyer wants to take a cut.”

“True. Fair is fair.”

Around six, they finally found the one book they both hoped would scare off the sheriff and stop the musketeers from bickering with everybody else without adding too many new complications:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
by Jules Verne.

Walter went home and Billy settled into the comfy chair to start reading. He didn’t hear any sounds but that didn’t surprise him.

Most of the action took place underground.

Billy made it all the way to Chapter 40, which was set in a rugged cavern with prickly stalactites dripping down from the ceiling. The subterranean tunnel was filled with “monsters of the deep” and “gigantic fish and animals.”

Billy had been reading so long his eyes became heavy.

At two in the morning, he woke up with drool dribbling down his chin.

Half-asleep, Billy put the book away, headed upstairs, crawled into bed, and prayed that some of the prehistoric monsters from the Jules Verne book would stay home at the center of the earth.

No way could they all fit inside Tom Sawyer’s cave.

The next morning, Billy slung his backpack over his shoulder and hurried to the Hodgepodge Lodge.

Walter was sitting on the back steps. He was frowning. Alyssa was sitting next to him. She was smiling.

She was also wearing a life jacket.

“Um, what seems to be the problem?” asked Billy.

Walter jerked his thumb at his sister.

“I want to see the island,” she whined.

Walter heaved a huge sigh. “I told you, Alyssa. You can’t.”

“Yes, I can! Mommy said so. She said I could go if I wore a life jacket.” She held up her pink backpack. “She even made me a snack.”

“Look, Alyssa,” Walter pleaded, “not today, okay?”

“Things are a little crazy out there,” added Billy. “Tomorrow would be better.”