Back on the deck of Destiny’s Wyrd we were instructed to pile the sacks of treasure in a heap. Blackbeard oversaw this himself, with a gloating look in his dark eyes, while all the other pirates watched on, engrossed. When we’d finished, Blackbeard addressed us – hands on hips, with his big beard bristling and enough pistols stuck into his belt to kill a small army.
“Ye did well today. Soon, there’ll be more o’ ye to help with the diggin’. If ye keeps on bein’ this obedient I might even spare your worthless lives – after I’ve collected all the treasure that lies hid about this ocean.”
Henry nudged me. “More prisoners coming,” he whispered. “That probably means the Spinnaker will be bringing them. That could be our chance!”
Suddenly, things didn’t seem quite so desperate. Was Henry right? I really, truly hoped so. At least we had Iron Jake on our side. He had vanished somewhere after we came aboard. Wherever he was hiding I hoped Blackbeard didn’t find him.
Once we were locked back in our cell Henry outlined his plan.
“We’ve got just one crack at this, Dolf. We have to get the Sword of Columbus away from Blackbeard and get rid of it, preferably over the side into the sea. Then we can get back on board the Spinnaker and take care of Captain Trueblood.”
Henry called across to Mr and Mrs Stevens to tell them the plan.
They nodded vaguely.
“Be careful, boys,” Mr S told us with vacant eyes. “That Blackbeard is… a nasty piece of work.”
About as nasty as they come, I thought. But Henry wasn’t fazed.
“We do this kind of thing all the time, don’t we, Dolf?”
I nodded, wondering what ‘kind of thing’ he was thinking of. The kind that generally involved us getting into danger, I guessed.
As it happens, I was right.
We heard the bumping of the treasure-laden sacks being dragged away below and into the hold. Soon after, the Destiny’s Wyrd set sail again, and soon after that we heard a shuffling in the dark and Iron Jake’s face appeared out of the darkness, grinning at us.
“OK, boys?” he asked. “Ready fer action?”
Actually I was feeling very far from ready. Tangling with Blackbeard wasn’t my first choice of action, but Henry clearly couldn’t wait. “Once Trueblood arrives, Dolf,” he said, “you and Jake need to cause enough of a distraction to cover me.”
“What sort of distraction?” I asked, hoping it wouldn’t involve Blackbeard dangling me over the ocean.
“Anything will do, as long as you make plenty of noise and keep the crew busy.”
“I think we can manage that,” said Jake with a conspiratorial wink from his good eye.
“What about the rest of the prisoners?” I asked.
“We can’t count on much help from them,” Henry answered. “The best thing will be to wait until we’re all on deck for our exercise and then make our move. Hopefully there’ll be enough confusion for me to get into Blackbeard’s cabin and get the sword.”
As plans went I thought it wasn’t one of Henry’s best – but under the circumstances there’s wasn’t much else we could do.
Neither of us got much sleep that night, and for once it had nothing to do with our uncomfortable quarters or the nasty insects crawling over us. All I could think about was the fact that we were taking on the most fearsome pirate who had ever lived. The fact that he and his crew happened to be dead made it worse, as did the fact that I knew we couldn’t count on any help from the rest of the prisoners. I wasn’t even sure Charlie’s parents would be any use now. That left just Iron Jake. I hoped he was good in a scuffle.
The only thing I could do to make myself feel any better was to remind myself that Henry and I had been in worse scrapes before and survived. (We had, I promise you. Try being shut up in a tomb with a really annoyed Egyptian mummy and you’ll get the idea.)
The next day, Henry and I waited patiently, albeit nervously. Would the Spinnaker appear? We dropped anchor somewhere in the middle of the open sea, and we both peered through one of many holes in the side of Destiny’s Wyrd.
Sure enough, a shadow in the mist announced the arrival of the Spinnaker. Huge waves began to batter about us, and we could no longer see what was happening through the spray and the mist. I guessed it was the same thing we had experienced – those on board the Spinnaker were being thrown off and taken onto Destiny’s Wyrd by that slithering, evil tentacle. Finally the rocking of the ship calmed, and we heard the booming voice of Captain Trueblood, followed by the cold, gravelly tones of Blackbeard. Soon after, Pockmark came to unlock our cage and usher us above deck for our daily exercise, scowling all the while.
The dull circle of the sun, which was all we could see of it through the mist, was already low on the horizon. The Spinnaker rode at anchor alongside us and Blackbeard and Captain Trueblood stood by the wheel of the yacht, deep in conversation. On the deck of Destiny’s Wyrd were two new prisoners, an adult couple who looked bewildered and terrified, pushed and shoved in among us by grinning pirates.
Henry and I mooched along with all the rest, circling the deck around the main mast, keeping our heads down. I couldn’t see Jake anywhere, but hoped he was hiding close by. As we passed the poop deck for the twentieth time, Henry turned to me. “OK, Dolf, next time we pass this point it’s time to make your move.”
I’d had a whole day to think of what I was going to do, so I was as ready as I was ever going to be. I began to stagger about and then fell on the deck, clutching my stomach and howling as loudly as I could. It wasn’t my best performance ever, but it got the attention of the pirates. Even Blackbeard turned to look and I saw Captain Trueblood staring over towards me with an annoyed glare.
Then everything went crazy.
One of the pirates came across and poked me with his foot. I grabbed hold of it and heaved with all my strength. The surprised man fell back onto the deck with a grunt (I have to admit I was rather surprised, too). I jumped up, swarmed the ladder to the poop deck, then launched myself at Caraway.
“You scar-faced, evil pirate! How dare you kidnap us and use us for your own treasure-stealing!” I shouted.
Taken by surprise, Caraway fell beneath me with a yell. I was glad he softened the landing. I heard Blackbeard chuckling with laughter and looked over my shoulder. Somehow he had crossed back from the deck of the Spinnaker and stood, hands on hips, rocking backwards with merriment. Despite the laughter he looked even nastier than when he wore his usual grim expression.
Of course it only took a few moments for the pirates to grab me. Two of them jerked me to my feet and held me like a sack of potatoes. I stopped howling as soon as I saw that Henry had vanished – hopefully into the captain’s cabin. I wondered what had happened to Jake. Had he been captured, or had he decided not to help at all?
“Enough!” Blackbeard snarled. “Any more o’ this noise and I’ll see ye all feed the fishes.”
I’d heard it before, and I was pretty sure the threat to throw us overboard was an empty one since he needed us to dig for treasure, but it seemed no one wanted to risk it. Silence returned.
Caraway was holding a handkerchief to his nose, which was bleeding from my attack. I couldn’t help but smile – I never thought I could win a fight with someone as big and scary as that. Everyone else just stood there; the prisoners were as bewildered as ever, and the pirates seemed uncertain what to do next, though I could see that some were fingering their cutlasses – probably in the hope that their captain would give them permission to kill someone.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Henry sneak out of the captain’s cabin, carrying the Sword of Columbus. He made his way towards the side of the ship, keeping to the shadows.
Unfortunately, someone else saw him too.
Captain Trueblood.
The sight of Henry carrying the object he’d been looking for all these years must have come as a horrible shock. Perhaps he had not known the sword was on board Destiny’s Wyrd until that moment, or maybe Blackbeard had promised to show him where it was in return for his help.
As it was, Trueblood gave a yell that was probably heard all the way back in Barbados. He launched himself across from the Spinnaker and hurtled after Henry. Blackbeard, seeing what HH was holding, also bellowed with fury, drawing one of his pistols. He took aim at Henry and cocked the hammer.
I had to do something. Henry would surely be killed. With the pirates holding me distracted, I managed to pull free and throw myself at Blackbeard. (I know you’re thinking ‘this is not like Dolf’, but sometimes you just have to do what needs doing. At least that’s what Henry Hunter always does, so that’s what I did too.)
I’m not sure what would have happened next. I’m not exactly a heavyweight and Blackbeard was huge, but fortunately for me, at that moment Jake chose to make his move. He leapt out from where he’d been hiding and, moving with considerable speed for a one-legged man, he flung himself at the pirate captain, knocking his arm to one side.
Attacked from two directions at once, Blackbeard was taken by surprise. His pistol went off with a loud explosion and the bullet ploughed a furrow in the deck just a few centimetres from Henry. Blackbeard swung a fist the size of a leg of lamb at Jake, who grunted and fell back onto the deck, out cold.
Henry, meanwhile, skidded to a stop and everyone on the ship froze. It was one of those moments that seem to go on for a long time but is actually over in less than a nanosecond.
Everyone’s eyes were on Henry Hunter.
The pirates, who were determined to get hold of him…
Blackbeard, who looked about as mad as I’ve ever seen anyone…
Captain Trueblood, who had his eyes on the Sword of Columbus, as though it was the most precious thing in the world…
And me, because I was suddenly afraid that we were in the worst mess ever…
Then everything started happening at once.
Blackbeard rushed at Henry waving a very large cutlass. Captain Trueblood stood there as if his feet were glued to the deck, his eyes almost popping out of his head.
Then Henry did something very silly. He raised the Sword of Columbus and swung it at the pirate captain.
Blackbeard turned the blow aside as easily as if a wasp had tried to sting him. Henry fell backwards and the sword flew from his hand, curving into the air, where it seemed to hang still for a moment.
Henry somehow recovered his footing, jumped up onto the rail of the ship, and caught the sword as it fell, holding it up triumphantly.
Captain Trueblood, finally released from his rooted-to-the-spot state, gave a desperate high-pitched cry and leapt at HH, closely followed by Blackbeard.
They all arrived at exactly the same moment, and for a second I saw all three locked together in a kind of mad bundle with too many arms and legs. Then, just as quickly, they were gone. A loud splash followed, and everyone, prisoners and pirates alike, forgot they were enemies and rushed to the rail to look down.
All we could see was a spreading circle of ripples where the two men and Henry Hunter had hit the water.
