The Pirates in the Deep Green Sea (13 page)

‘I can hear the murmur of the sea,' said Timothy, ‘but you can hear that in an ordinary shell.'

‘So you can,' Gunner Boles agreed, ‘but no one could say that this is an ordinary shell. So be patient, Timothy, and listen again, and maybe you'll hear something more.'

Then Timothy sat down on a ledge of rock, and held the Shell to his ear, and presently a look of wonderment appeared on his face as if, for the first time in the world, he was hearing the finest story in the world. For now, in the murmur of the sea, he could hear the tale of all who live in the sea. He was told about the mountains and the valleys on the floor of the sea, about coral reefs and the jungles in which great fishes lived. About old ships, all green with age, and the old sailors who looked after the huge cables that held the world together. About pearls and dolphins, and mermaids and Davy Jones's Locker. About the Powder Monkeys who were on the side of the loyal
sailors, and the Cabin Boys who lived with the pirates. About the friendly creatures in the ocean, such as seals and herring and basking-sharks; and those that were unfriendly, such as skate and congereels and the Great Sea Serpent. About tides and forelands, and how to find his way from one part of the sea to another. About what to eat and how to breathe, about the speech of certain creatures that were able to speak, and where to sleep safely in the depths of the ocean. All this, and more besides, the Shell told him; and when he had heard enough, he gave it to Hew.

Then Hew sat with the Shell to his ear, and he was so delighted by what he heard that his eyes grew round as pennies, and his mouth was wide open, and every now and then he laughed aloud with sheer pleasure. But all this time Gunner Boles and Sam Sturgeon sat in utter silence by the side of the round pool where Cully had sung his song to the terns and the oyster-catchers. They sat cross-legged, with their elbows on their knees, and Gunner Boles smoked his pipe; but Sam Sturgeon wore a mournful look, which was most unusual for him, and once or twice he rubbed a tear from his eye.

When Hew had heard all that was necessary, he offered the Shell to Sam, but Sam looked doubtfully at Gunner Boles, and Gunner Boles shook his head.

‘No, Sam,' he said, ‘it's not for you. It's only those who must go down into the green deeps that
can listen to the Shell; and your place, as we decided between ourselves, is here on Popinsay. I'm sorry, Sam, but orders are orders and you've got to abide by them.'

‘That's true enough,' said Sam, but he looked longingly at the Shell as Gunner Boles took it from Hew and put it back into his pouch. Then Gunner Boles knocked out his pipe, and stood up and said, ‘It's time to go, boys.'

Sam went with them to the edge of the sea, and knee-deep into the sea—they found it difficult to walk in their new frog-shoes—and as he said good-bye to them the tears were running down his face.

When they were thirty or forty yards from shore they looked back and saw him, still knee-deep in the water, and looking very lonely. They felt sad to be leaving him behind, and sorry because he was all alone; but they were too excited to think much about anything except their own adventure.

‘He can talk to Mrs. Matches,' said Hew, ‘and he'll have wonderful dinners when she's only got him to look after.'

‘And now,' said Gunner Boles, ‘we'll go down to the bottom and see what it's like there.'

They were in calm water, about half-way between the Hen and the western cliffs of the Calf, and Timothy and Hew had already made several shallow dives, and found that they could swim comfortably under water for two or three minutes at a time. The shoes that made their feet look like frogs' feet were a great help, and the oil from the little brass pot kept them perfectly warm. But the thought of going down to the bottom of the sea was still rather alarming, and when Timothy looked at Hew, and Hew looked at Timothy, each of them thought how solemn the other was looking. But before they could think very much, Gunner Boles exclaimed, ‘Here we go!' and turning himself upside-down like a swan feeding on water-weeds,
swam straight down into the depths. Timothy and Hew followed him obediently, and presently they were all three sitting on a little patch of sand with a ledge of rock behind them and a tall hedge of seaweed wavering in front.

‘And it's not half as bad as you thought it would be, now is it?' asked Gunner Boles.

‘It's rather an unusual feeling,' said Timothy, as a large haddock swam out of the seaweed and looked them over, and swam back again. ‘But it's not really uncomfortable.'

‘I never thought we'd be able to see so well,' said Hew.

‘It's the oil that does that,' said Gunner Boles. ‘The oil with the sixty-nine ingredients that I dropped into your eyes, and down your throats though you didn't like the taste of it. And now let's go for a little walk, just to get accustomed to things, before we swim out and look for your chargers.'

He led them along the open sand that lay like a road beside the seaweed hedge, and then swam through the hedge, which easily divided to let them pass, and into a growth of taller weed that was rather like a little wood. Sometimes they walked and sometimes they swam, and when they came to a reef that stretched far out into the sea they clambered up the rock and down the other side. They remained on the bottom of the sea for about half an hour, and the boys were beginning to feel quite at home there when Gunner Boles said it
was time to look for their chargers. Then they swam strongly through the middle depths of the sea towards the western cliffs of the Calf.

Presently through the green twilight of the water they saw the dark base of the cliffs, and felt the suck of the tide as it drew them to the north.

‘There they are,' said Gunner Boles — and Timothy and Hew, in a sudden panic, headed for the surface and swam as hard as they could towards daylight and the shore. For what they had seen, at the very moment when Gunner Boles spoke, was a pair of enormous grey fish-like shapes in the water, about thirty feet long, which, they were sure, were sharks.

They were on the surface of the sea, and swimming furiously towards the cliffs, when Gunner Boles overtook them and demanded to know what had gone wrong.

‘Sharks!' said Timothy. ‘Didn't you see them?'

‘Two enormous sharks,' said Hew.

‘Sharks, my eye!' said Gunner Boles. ‘They're your chargers, and they're what you're going to ride on to get to Davy Jones's Locker.'

The boys looked at him wide-eyed with astonishment, and Timothy said that he had never heard of anyone riding on a shark, and Hew added, ‘But lots of people have been taken for a ride inside.'

‘Now, now,' said Gunner Boles, ‘don't waste my
time with silly tales that you've learnt ashore. You've been given the freedom of the sea, and landlubbers' tales don't concern you now. And anyway, these sharks that you're frightened of are only basking-sharks, and no more dangerous than an old cow. So down you come again, and meet the boys who are looking after them. There's two Powder Monkeys down there, and they've had orders to go with you.'

Somewhat reluctantly Timothy and Hew followed Gunner Boles down to the bottom, and keeping very close to him swam towards the basking-sharks which lay side by side a few feet from the foot of the cliffs. They were huge creatures, but as the boys came nearer they could see that the sharks' expression was very gentle, and their little eyes were rather like the mild eyes of a cow, and when Gunner Boles patted their heads they quivered with pleasure and said ‘Moo-oo!' just as a cow might have done.

Sitting on a shelf of rock were two boys, perhaps a little older than Timothy and Hew but no bigger, who held the sharks by long reins attached to whalebone rings that had been clipped into the creatures' noses—or where their noses might have been if they had had any. These boys were dressed in the same manner as Gunner Boles, and the nearer one wore on his vest the name of H.M.S.
Téméraire,
the other H.M.S.
Ajax.
They stood up and saluted, but not very smartly; for one of them yawned widely, and the other winked at Timothy.

‘You miserable, naughty, uneducated, horrible little eelskin sacks of vice and idleness!' exclaimed the Gunner. ‘Is that the way you've been taught to salute a superior officer, especially when he's coming aboard with a couple of distinguished visitors? Now stand still with your heels together, and your shoulders straight and a look of respect on your snub-nosed, pig-eyed faces and do it again—and again—and again!'

He made them salute seven times before he was satisfied, and then he told Timothy and Hew: ‘Now these are two Powder Monkeys that I brought with me when I came into these latitudes, and they'll go with you to Davy Jones's Locker and look after your chargers. The one on the left is called William Button, and him on the right is Henry String. They're both of them the wilfullest, laziest, dirtiest Powder Monkeys I've ever known, but if you treat 'em badly and beat 'em twice a week they often behave like good boys who've been well brought up.—Isn't that so, William?'

‘Yes, sir, I mean, no, sir,' said William Button.

‘No, sir, I mean, yes, sir,' said Henry String.

‘Well, they're your companions for the voyage,' said Gunner Boles, ‘and I hope you'll get on together. Now saddle the chargers, boys, and look alive.'

William Button and Henry String set on the sharks' backs a pair of large boxes with seats in them, all made of whale-bone, and fastened them securely with strong girths of plaited strips of
sealskin. These whale-bone saddles looked something like the howdahs that Indian elephants carry, and the passengers seated within them would be protected against the rush of water when the sharks swam swiftly through the sea.

While the Powder Monkeys were busy with the saddles, Gunner Boies took Timothy and Hew aside, and spoke to them very seriously.

‘Now those two boys,' he said, ‘are good boys, but like all the Powder Monkeys they're fond of mischief. They'd rather play than work, and you'll have to keep an eye on them and see they do as you tell them. That's the first thing to remember. And the second is this.—When you get to Davy Jones's Locker, you'll tell him that Gunner Boles, on duty at the Knot Latitude 59 North, Longitude 4 West, has got evidence of a dangerous conspiracy by the pirates Dan Scrumbril and Inky Poops to seize control of all cables north of Latitude 59 and between the coasts of Norway and America. You'll tell him that an attempt has already been made by the pirates to establish a base near the island of Popinsay, but that attempt was foiled by the prompt action of your friend, Mr. Sturgeon, late of the Royal Marines. You'll tell him that I, Gunner Boles, am so far in full control of the sea-floor round 59 North, 4 West, but have no reinforcements in case of a sudden attack. You'll give him my compliments and assure him of my loyal and faithful duty, and ask him to send help as quickly as he can because I don't like the look of things, and no more would Davy Jones himself if he was here in my place.—Now just say all that over again, so as I can be sure that you remember it.'

Timothy and Hew repeated what he had said, and by the time they were word-perfect the sharks had been saddled and William Button and Henry String were sitting in the howdahs with the reins in their hands. Timothy and Hew got in beside them—Timothy with William Button and Hew with Henry String—and Gunner Boles shook hands
with them and told the Powder Monkeys to be sure and behave themselves and waste no time. The sharks said ‘Moo-oo-oo!' in a rather unhappy way as they felt the reins tighten on the rings in their noses—or where their noses might have been—and the Powder Monkeys pricked them two or three times with the short, slender lances which they carried. Then the sharks began to move at great speed, and the Powder Monkeys headed them to the south-west. The rush of water broke over the howdahs like enormous waterfalls, but Timothy and Hew were fairly comfortable inside them, and when they had become used to the rapid motion they began to enjoy their swift passage through the immense deeps of the sea, which grew lighter and brighter as the sharks rose towards the surface.

Gunner Boles swam with them for a little way, but the sharks were far swifter than he, and soon he was left behind in their bubbling wake. His last words, before he left them, were, ‘The best of luck to you all—
and don't waste time!'

The sharks were swimming just below the surface of the sea, and sometimes, when they broke the surface, the boys felt a rush of air and saw a curtain of spray flying over their heads, and their eyes, which had become used to the green light of the sea, were startled by the bright blue of the sky and white clouds shining in the sun.

William Button, sitting beside Timothy, said to him: ‘You're green, aren't you?'

‘I don't think so,' said Timothy stiffly.

‘I mean,' said William, ‘that this is the first time you've ever been down under. And that being so, you're green.'

‘Well,' said Timothy, ‘I've never been under the sea before, but I was once in a ship that was torpedoed, and my brother and I were on a raft in the South Atlantic for quite a long time.'

‘That's nothing,' said William Button contemptuously. ‘Nothing at all! Wrecks and rafts, they're as common as seaweed out here. Everyone's been wrecked sometime or other, I suppose. I was wrecked twice before I was twelve. But what counts is living down below. That's life, that is. You don't know what's worth while, you landlubbers that sit and toast your toes in front of a fire, and catch cold if you get wet! We'll show you how to live, now you've come to join us. But you've got to be careful, mind! You stick to us, and you'll be all right; but don't ever have nothing to do with those Cabin Boys, if you meet 'em. They're poison!'

William Button had a round rosy face, a snub nose, and hair that stood straight on end. Timothy felt a little disappointed when he was not impressed by the story of the raft, but he listened with great interest to William Button's tales of life under the sea—some of which he did not believe—and several hours passed pleasantly enough. Every now and then their shark would stop, and rise to the surface, and say ‘Moo!' in a sleepy sort of
voice. Then William would prick it with his lance to make it swim again.