HOOOOOOOONNNNKKKK!!!
Neville woke with dishcloths tangled round his arms and legs. What was that sound?
HOOOOOOOONNNNKKKK!!!
He sat up and looked around the kitchen. Canker was nowhere to be seen, so it must have been either very late or very, very early.
HOOOOOOOONNNNKKKK!!!
Suddenly the door burst open and in ran Canker, panting and banging his pan-ladle hands together.
‘Quick!’ Canker wheezed heavily.
Neville just stared. ‘What?’
‘Quickly, boy! They’ve spotted Great Gurty!’
Neville jumped out of his sleeping pile and ran to the door. He followed Canker along the corridor and up the stairs to the top deck, jumping two or three steps at a time. This was it. This was the moment he’d finally have to outsmart Lady Jaundice if he wanted to save himself and his family.
Outside, crew-members were running or wheeling this way and that as Jaundice stood on the poop deck above her cabin shouting orders. She saw Neville and smiled. Neville scowled back.
‘Ah, there you are, my little truccaneer,’ she beamed. ‘What did Grandmooma promise?’
Neville felt like screaming, THAT YOU’D USE ME AS BAIT AND THEN LEAVE ME INSIDE THAT THING!, but he knew he mustn’t let on that he’d rumbled her secret. Instead he just pulled a confused face and said, ‘What, Grandma?’
‘Look for yourself, boy.’
Neville ran to the ornate wooden railing and looked out over the water. There in the distance was the unmistakable stalk with the giant light bulb on the end, rising out of the water. All round it the sea glowed orange as the gundiskump lurked just beneath the surface.
‘Now all we have to do is get its attention!’ Jaundice shouted over the hubbub.
All the hairs on the back of Neville’s neck stood up.
He knew exactly what that meant.