Chad tramped for the distant ridge, feeling very exposed but ignoring the possibility of being seen. Gasping for breath, he stumbled on until at last the ground began to rise, and glancing up, saw a bird gliding above the crag. As he watched, it was joined by another, and then another.
‘Vultures!’ he muttered, and redoubled his efforts. The birds circled slowly lower, biding their time, until the first landed at the foot of the cliff. Chad climbed more furiously.
‘Clear off!’ he yelled, hurling a stone at it. The vulture stood its ground and Chad saw at its feet the twisted body of Larren, his neck clearly broken. Not giving the grey squirrel a second glance, he scrambled higher, and missing a foothold set off a small avalanche of scree. Silently cursing as he paused for breath, he watched the debris tumble down the slope to hit a rounded stone – which twitched.
‘Ancell!’ he cried, and slithered down to the hedgehog.
Ancell stuck out his head.
‘Am I glad to see you,’ he whispered.
Chad held a flask of water to Ancell’s lips. ‘Are you hurt?’ he asked.
‘My leg’s painful. I tripped in the compound. Thanks for coming back.’
‘I assumed you’d do something stupid like falling over.’
‘Have you got Noname?’
‘Thanks to you he’ll be safely on board by now.’
Ancell drank deeply, feeling a little strength returning, and more hopeful now that Chad was at his side. He passed back the flask.
‘Larren’s dead.’
Chad nodded. ‘So I saw. We heard gunfire and thought you’d been shot. Did Laughing Jack kill him?’
‘He fell off the ridge with me.’
Chad stared up at the cliff. ‘You fell from there!’
‘All the way.’
The rat glanced at the body of Larren and spoke gravely with heavy emphasis.
‘Listen carefully. You must understand that you are hurt more seriously than you realise. I’ll go for a stretcher party. Meanwhile, sip the water, try to stay awake, and don’t attempt to move.’
‘Stop wittering and help me up. Hedgehogs bounce – all I’ve got is a few bruises.’
‘That’s not possible!’
‘It’s true. Our spines have a special honeycomb structure which makes them exceptionally strong and flexible.’
Chad looked up at the ridge again and whistled.
‘Some bounce!’ he declared, and carefully lifted Ancell to his feet. They took a final look at the body of the grey squirrel.
‘Take a peck for me!’ yelled Chad to the vultures.
Ancell leaned heavily on Chad’s shoulder as they shuffled for the cool of the forest, Chad telling Ancell what a foolhardy, blithering idiot he was to take such a risk alone, that he could not be left for a moment without finding trouble, and moreover that if he followed his visions with a little more care and a little less fighting it would save them all a lot of bother – and Ancell reminding Chad that he could think of no one less qualified to lecture about getting into fights, that only the most stubborn of fools would risk his life turning back for him, and furthermore that whilst a tail on board a ship was no doubt useful, it hardly compared to a good set of spines when it came to falling off cliffs.
*
Thom watched the last of the daylight fade from above the forest canopy. Beneath the trees it was already dark as she led the way to the edge of the creek. Rising above the forest, the moon bathed Misty in a pool of light, her silhouette stark and clear on the silver water. Anxiously they looked for signs of rescue.
‘Is anyone coming?’ whispered Chantal.
‘Not yet, but they will,’ Thom assured her, but she felt a sense of disquiet as she surveyed the dark outline of the far shore where she was certain the gunmen were watching. A boat would be seen easily, and they stood little more chance of getting on board than in broad daylight.
‘Compliments of the captain to you,’ came a deep voice from the water’s edge.
‘Who’s that!’ stammered Thom, pushing the children and Merrie behind her.
‘And don’t panic and start crashing about or you’ll wake half the neighbourhood,’ instructed the voice.
‘Where are you? Show yourself!’ demanded Thom, staring about.
‘I’ll come ashore then,’ grunted Hector.
The children clasped their hands to their mouths, Merrie uttered a small squeak, and Thom stood transfixed as the crocodile slid from the water, heaved his body clear of the ground, and at a sedate pace, waddled towards them.
‘I’m Hector, and I assume you’re Thom. I’ve already had the pleasure of meeting your brother,’ he addressed the field mouse. Thom blanched.
‘He’s asked me to assure you, quite unnecessarily in my view, that you’ll be quite safe with me,’ added the crocodile.
Thom relaxed. ‘We’re waiting to be picked up,’ she said.
‘Which is why I’m here,’ replied Hector. ‘Now who’s first? The sooner I’ve ferried you on board the sooner I can get some sleep.’
‘I’ll go,’ offered Thom. ‘What do I do?’
‘Just relax,’ yawned Hector, and in a single movement flopped to his belly, picked up the field mouse and slid into the creek. Thom felt Hector’s jaws hold her firmly as the silky water momentarily closed over her. She surfaced with a splutter to find herself propelled powerfully and silently towards Misty. Within minutes Hector was nosing her to the foot of the rope ladder hanging from the ship’s side. She clasped a rung and climbed into the embrace of Tam.
‘Good trip?’ asked Tam with a grin.
‘Amazing! I must speak to the skipper.’
‘Welcome aboard,’ called Capt. Albern.
The crew encircling Thom parted as the captain stepped forward. Thom was brief and to the point. They had rescued a girl and two boys. Ancell was almost certainly dead, and they had lost Chad. The sailors bowed their heads in heavy silence. The death of Ancell would not leave the hole in their lives that Truegard’s did, but the loss of the strange hedgehog they had once considered nothing more than a passenger but had almost become one of them, came as a shock. He was not the sort of animal to die in a fight, and they wondered sadly what accident had befallen him. The probable loss of Chad was devastating. They had always assumed the bosun to be imperishable, often bloodied but always surviving to fight another day. Sailing without him was unthinkable even though they knew they should flee the moment the children were on board.
‘And Chad definitely said he’d be back by nightfall?’ questioned Capt. Albern.
Thom nodded miserably. It was the third time the skipper had asked. She thought the old sea otter looked greyer than ever as he paced the afterdeck, his head bowed.
‘Please can someone give me a hand?’ called Max, clinging to the top of the ladder.
‘Welcome aboard,’ said Thom, hauling him on board. ‘Everyone! This is Max.’
But even as Misty’s crew jostled each other to introduce themselves, Max was running to Sassy.
‘Introductions later,’ Skeet ordered the crew, and ushered the two children to Truegard’s cabin. Leaving them talking excitedly, he paused outside the door. Nobody had suggested or even considered using the empty cabin until now. He missed the red squirrel’s gentle reminders, promptings and cautionary advice as much as ever, and sometimes when off duty, restless and unable to sleep, he had sat there, feeling Truegard’s calm reassurance. He suspected the skipper had too. Through the door he heard Sassy chuckling and a peal of laughter from Max. Truegard, he thought, would be pleased.
Chantal asked Hector to ferry Noname next. He curled between Hector’s jaws and shut his eyes. He only opened them when Tam, hanging at the bottom of the ladder, wrapped an arm round him and lifted him on board.
Chantal and Merrie huddled close, feeling even more isolated. The girl felt Merrie shiver, and although she dreaded the wait alone, told him to go first. Merrie had been imagining a hero’s welcome, but then remembered he would have to face The Cook, and decided the encounter was best delayed for as long as possible.
‘You go, I wouldn’t want to leave you by yourself,’ he replied gallantly. ‘Chantal’s next,’ he told Hector, as the crocodile slid silently from the water.
Hector frowned at Merrie. ‘You’re a problem. There’s nothing of you to get a grip. You’d better lie between my eyes while I take Chantal.’
‘It would be more fun to ride right up front on the end of your snout,’ said Merrie.
‘Certainly not! Do as you’re told,’ grumbled Hector, adding that for an unnaturally small animal the harvest mouse was extremely precocious, to which Merrie replied he was not only that but a sailor and trekker as well.
Truegard’s increasingly crowded cabin was soon filled with excited chatter as Max and Chantal, talking at the same time, questioned Sassy about her time with the Aborigines, and Sassy interrogated them about the fire and their escape. Noname shook Sassy’s hand and retreated to a corner.
It was quieter in the fo’c’sle. Thom added a few cursory details of their imprisonment and Jandamarra’s rescue, confirming, as they all now knew, that they were facing men who would not hesitate to kill. Chips started to tell Thom how Hector had chosen him above all others to demonstrate the rescue, but his heart was not in the story, and lacking even the briefest riposte from Waff, lapsed into silence. They were all thinking of Chad. It seemed Ancell’s fate was sealed, but there was still the possibility the bosun could be alive, and even at that moment struggling for the safety of the ship.
‘I’m glad I’m not the skipper,’ muttered Jobey, and everyone nodded in silent agreement.
Alone in the dark, the sea otter wrestled with his thoughts. The right decision was undoubtedly to up anchor. The remaining hours of darkness offered Misty her best chance of escape and the children their freedom. Even so he was loath to give the order to sail. He made his way for’ard to Skeet and Hector.
‘We’ll wait until the very last moment – just before dawn,’ he informed Skeet.
‘Hector could take me ashore to look for him,’ offered the second mate.
The sea otter shook his head. ‘If I thought you’d be able to see anything I’d send you willingly, but it will be pitch dark under the trees.’
‘I’ll hear anyone a lot easier without you crashing about,’ said Hector, and without another word slipped over the side.
Merrie drew a deep breath and poked his head round the galley door.
‘I’m sorry!’ he said, shifting uneasily from one leg to another.
The Cook paused from stirring a pot – then started stirring again.
‘I left you a message,’ offered Merrie.
But The Cook’s mind was elsewhere. He pushed the pot to the back of the stove and leaned on the ship’s rail, staring darkly at the shore.
‘There’s some soup ready,’ he eventually said. ‘Take it to the children and don’t spill it.’
*
Chad and Ancell, breathing hard, spoke less and less as they journeyed painfully through the evening. Using the rat as a crutch, Ancell trod awkwardly, often causing Chad to stumble, when they would be forced to stop and cling together dizzy with fatigue until they regained their balance. Twice, the legs of the weary rat buckled, and he silently cursed them for giving way. He watched their shadows lengthen, and as he had long feared, knew they would not reach the creek before nightfall. Concentrating on the two tall trees, he staggered on faster, praying his skipper would risk granting him a little more time. The moon rose and they shuffled on through the night, tiring with every step, until at last they collapsed into the forest.
‘Got to rest!’ pleaded Ancell.
Chad glanced back, and realised with a dreadful despair that he could make out the top of the ridge, not by moonlight but by the first light of the new day.
‘No time!’ he urged, and ignoring Ancell’s whimpers of pain, half dragged him towards the creek, only to trip over a log, pulling the half sobbing hedgehog on top of him. They rolled free of each other to look into a reproachful pair of eyes.
‘Amazing! Your shipmates don’t look where they’re going on water, and you don’t on land. I come to look for you and you walk all over me,’ grumbled Hector.
Chad gulped and looked wildly to Ancell, but the hedgehog had already curled into a ball.
‘Is your companion shy or just plain rude?’ enquired Hector.
‘He’s a bit stupid that way,’ stammered Chad, feeling for a stick and poking Ancell hard. ‘Please don’t eat us,’ he begged.
Hector sighed. ‘Eating is all you rodents seem to think about. I need to get you on board before daylight, and that means now. Please tell your friend to unravel himself.’
Ancell, who had gathered the gist of the conversation, risked poking out his nose.
‘Thank you!’ acknowledged Hector with heavy sarcasm. ‘Follow me, and try to make less noise.’
To Hector’s irritation there was further delay at the waters edge, when he explained they were to be transported by mouth. Chad told Ancell he had volunteered him to go first, which Ancell said he did not recall hearing, to which Chad retorted he would have done if he hadn’t rolled up. Eventually Hector lost patience, and with the threat of leaving them where they were, instructed both of them to lie across his jaw. Ancell was additionally informed that if he raised a single spine he would immediately be dropped off. He lay very still.
‘The things I do for you!’ Chad muttered from the corner of his mouth as they cruised through the water, but feeling a warning increase of pressure from Hector’s teeth, said not another word.
Misty’s crew tumbled joyfully from the fo’c’sle as Skeet shouted the news they had hardly dare hope for. Doc hurried from his bunk, and in his excitement bumped his head on the cabin roof. Capt. Albern offered a prayer of thanks and left his lonely vigil at the stern, and The Cook shuffled from the galley with two mugs of hot drink. Disobeying orders to remain below, the children joined in the melee about the two heroes, and Hector added to the confusion by hauling himself on board to take up most of the space on deck. Chad managed a weak grin as Capt. Albern stepped forward.
‘Thanks for waiting, Skipper.’
The sea otter shrugged. ‘You’d better get some rest. We’re sailing this moment,’ he replied. Ancell thought he saw a tear of relief in the captain’s eye as he turned away.
Hector raised his head. ‘As it appears you no longer require my services, and if no one has anything further to say, I’ll be going,’ he sniffed, and turning his back, huffily lurched to the ship’s side.
Capt. Albern acted quickly. ‘Gentlemen!’ he called. ‘We have assembled here, not only to welcome our shipmates aboard, but also to pay tribute to one we hold in high esteem. Hector, you have saved many lives, perhaps all our lives. We applaud your courage, we pay homage to your prowess, and we thank you for your friendship.’
Hector bowed his head graciously to an enthusiastic round of applause, and manoeuvred himself back to centre stage.
‘Thank you indeed! Thank you all,’ he responded, rather more happily. ‘May I in turn wish Misty a safe and speedy passage home.’
‘Come with us!’ shouted Doc from the back of the crowd, causing Capt. Albern a moment of panic. But Hector shook his head and told the owl that the creek had always been good enough for him, and there was a lot to be said for staying in one’s own back yard. Sassy and Chantal ran forward to give him a kiss, and Hector lay for a moment, blushing and displaying a silly lopsided smile, then with a flick of his tail slid over the side. For a brief moment everyone watched an arrow shaped ripple glide through the water, and then he was gone.
Hector’s departure jolted everyone back to reality. The light was fast strengthening and soon Misty would be in full view of the watching gunmen. Chips and Waff slid a screen of planking behind the wheel to protect the helmsman, and the children were sent to their cabin.
‘And you, Merrie,’ ordered Skeet.
Merrie was about to argue, but caught The Cook’s warning eye, and stomped below.
Capt. Albern took the helm, and at his nod the fore-spencer and foresails were hoisted. Then the crew scrambled aft to raise the main and the gaff-topsail, then dashed for’ard again to weigh anchor.
‘Heave, two, three, heave!’ urged Skeet, as he leant his weight to their efforts. Slowly the capstan turned and the chain clanked over Misty’s bow.
‘They’ll hear this!’ grunted Jobey, waiting for the deck to be raked by fire.
‘Heave for your life then,’ puffed Pickle.
At last Misty gave a shiver of excitement as the anchor broke from the mud. They left it hanging above the water and scampered aloft to unfurl the topsail and topgallant, then scuttled under the protection of the bulwarks. In the still of the early morning the sails hung limp, but Capt. Albern waited patiently, glad he had insisted every last barnacle had been chipped from her planking when she was beached. With a clean hull she would soon come alive to the faintest of the zephyrs he sensed moving high above her deck, and already the slight current of the streams tumbling into the creek was drawing her seaward. Skeet scurried aft to join him.
‘So far, so good, Mr Skeet,’ allowed the skipper. Skeet watched the distance from the shore slowly widen.
‘Not a single shot,’ he said. ‘I reckon those gunmen have gone.’
‘It’ll be a while before we see blue water,’ warned the captain. ‘But I must say everything seems very satisfactory, very satisfactory indeed.’