Father fired his pistol when Tim didn’t answer the door to the Ruby Palace. The bullet blew the bolt half out of the jamb. He reached into the splintered mass of wood and wrenched it the rest of the way, then kicked the heavy frame. Slivers of split wood and bent metal jammed the door, but another kick swung it open.
Tim lay on the floor of the den. Father rushed into the enclosure, and I followed with Zargo Hunt. Manray Lightfoot was keeping the Bradshires outside—they had insisted on coming with us—and I could hear him saying something in Arawak.
Was Tim crying? I couldn’t be sure. He buried his face in his shoulder and clutched an open wound on his forearm. Cloth and flesh mixed in a bloody pulp. I had to look away.
The Jaguar paced his cage, breathing heavily. As he walked, red prints came off his forepaws.
The rifle was lying halfway inside the Jaguar’s cage, the barrel pointed toward him. The bayonet had snapped off and lay bloodstained at the Jaguar’s feet.
Father was at Tim’s side. “What happened?” he shouted. Tim didn’t respond but only buried his face farther in his shoulder.
“Help me!” Father commanded, and Zargo went to his side. I hovered over the three of them, unsure of what to do.
“Let me see the wound,” Zargo said.
“Keep off me,” Tim snarled.
“We need to see it,” Father said. Tim unclenched his hand from the wound, and Father probed it with his finger. Tim cried out in pain, but Father didn’t stop. I suppose he realized what had happened before I did.
“You’ll live,” he said taking off his over shirt and wrapping it round Tim’s arm for a tourniquet, “but with the doctor gone, you’ll need to go to Georgetown.” Tim groaned as Father yanked the knot tight. “Maybe you’ll meet a girl there. Tell her you almost killed a jaguar.”
“. . . Marlin’s fault,” Tim moaned. “. . . left the cage open . . . I had to fight him. . . .”
Father glanced at me, and I panicked. The Jaguar asked me to let him out, of course, but I never did. Could I have done it without remembering?
“How could he do that when I’ve got the only key?” Father said gruffly, and pulled a brass key off his belt. “How is the jaguar back in the cage? Why’s the gun in there with him?”
“The . . . the workers . . . ,” Tim said weakly.
Father pulled me to him and put his hand in my shirt pocket. He pulled out the Paw and turned Tim’s face toward him with his boot.
“This is what you’re after?” he yelled, his eyes burning.
I looked again at the rifle with the twisted bayonet, and it came clear to me. That’s why Tim had changed the guard early and wanted me to leave. He’d planned to kill the Jaguar and say I’d left the cage open, forcing him to defend himself—or else that I’d abandoned my post and left the Jaguar to our superstitious employees. Either way, I would be the worthless little brother again. But the plan hadn’t worked.
Father and Zargo lifted Tim by his armpits.
“It hurts!” Tim screamed. But they already had him up.
“If you can try to kill my jaguar, then you can walk,” Father said to him.
With Tim in Zargo’s arms, Father went to the Jaguar’s cage, picked up the damaged rifle, and slammed the butt against the metal door.
The Jaguar leaped back, hissing.
“You’re no curse,” Father said. “You’re just a bloodthirsty animal.”
They stared at each other across the bars. Father pointed the dented rifle barrel at the Jaguar. I didn’t know if it could still fire.
“T-ttt-TT-Tim!” I managed, and broke the standoff.
“We’ll take him to the boat,” Father said.
We took off toward the dock, Tim yelping all the way.
Father laid Tim in a guest cabin on Saint of the Animals and told the captain, an Englishman called Reese Mundy, to sail to Georgetown and deposit Tim at Victoria Hospital in the High Quarter. Charro, our healer, would make the journey with him. Father ordered Mundy to depart as soon as we were off the ship.
“There might be a problem with that,” the sailor replied.
The gangplank, our bridge between the ship and solid ground, was packed with guests. Sailors were struggling to stop them from boarding.
The Duke of Bradshire stood at the front of the mob, arguing with a sailor. “I could have you hanged for this!” the duke was saying. Then he spotted my father. “Captain Rackham! We demand to be heard!”
Father looked nonplussed. “Your Grace, what is this?”
“Your zoo is dangerous, that’s what!” the duke bellowed. The assembled guests called out their agreement. It was a throng of about twenty, a fifth of the guests in this week’s group. Some had luggage in their arms. “We will not let this ship leave.”
“It’s my boy.” Father took in the crowd. “He’s hurt. He needs a hospital.”
“That may be true.” The duke turned from Father to the crowd. “But it is my sacred duty to protect my countrymen, and this resort puts English lives in danger.”
The crowd sounded a note of agreement and panic. They were being turned into a mob by the duke. When Father had first said the duke had bribed our employees to strike, I hadn’t believed it. But now it seemed clear to me that Olivia’s father was trying to destroy our resort, though I still didn’t understand why.
“Yesterday’s fire was nearly deadly, and now your animals are making attacks,” the duke continued. “I demand that you refund these citizens’ fees and allow them to return to Georgetown this afternoon.”
“Refund!” shouted a man in a souvenir safari hat.
“Take us home!” yelled a woman with a parasol.
We had to get Tim to Georgetown or his wounds could become infected.
“Your Grace and guests, please.” Father tried to calm the crowd. “The zoo is safe; this week’s accidents were flukes. The ship must leave now. It will be back to pick you up tomorrow evening. There is plenty more to see, and—”
“A refund!”
“Let us go!”
The duke stood at the front of the mob, entirely satisfied. The duchess and Olivia finally squeezed through to stand next to him. Olivia’s brow was knitted with worry. She mouthed, “I’m sorry,” to me from across the distance. I tried to summon a reassuring look for her but couldn’t. I turned away bitterly.
“All right,” Father relented. “You may have your refunds, and you may leave. But hear me.”
The duke smugly motioned for the crowd to listen.
“This has been a trying week,” Father said. “I understand your frustrations. Two new attractions have not gone as planned. I’ve never seen anything like it in all the years I . . .”
Father trailed off. His eyes searched for a solution that wasn’t there. Refunding the guests would cost a fortune, and loading them all onto the ship would take hours. We didn’t have that long.
“But—this is an extraordinary land.” Father slowly raised his finger in the air. “And you have accepted an extraordinary challenge in coming here. Every adversity you have faced you conquered bravely and with dignity. Now let me give you one last challenge.”
Zargo and I exchanged glances behind Father’s back.
“My boy is injured, and I am sending him back to the city on this boat. Any guest who can be ready to go within the hour may join him and will be in Georgetown by midnight. Because you would be leaving one day early, I will grant each guest who elects to leave a full refund.”
A sound of agreement issued from the crowd, but Father gestured to quiet them.
“But anyone who elects to stay, completing their full week at the resort, will be returned to Georgetown tomorrow night, just a few hours past their scheduled arrival, to allow the boat time to return to the zoo. And anyone who stays will be invited to a special event.”
With this Father smiled for the first time, and the duke’s smile began to fade.
“Tomorrow morning, before breakfast, the jaguar will be executed in the Sky Shrine. All remaining guests are invited to watch this dangerous animal meet his end. That is my offer.”
The Saint of the Animals departed ten minutes later. Tim and the crew were the only ones on board.