Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson Page B

lost his ship.
    The Wasp now belonged to Black Stache.

CHAPTER 16
BAD NEWS

    M OLLY CROUCHED ON THE AFT DECK of the Never Land, watching the water, waiting. The hours had crept by with agonizing slowness. But it was almost time.
    At least tonight she didn’t have to worry about the men on watch. They’d found some rum somewhere, and when Mol y crept by them earlier, they’d both been flat on their backs, snoring.
    Heaven help this ship if we ever face any real danger.
    Her thoughts were interrupted by the welcome sight of a dorsal fin breaking the surface, fol owed by the sound of a cheerful chitter. Mol y leaned over the stern rail and, despite her anxiety, smiled broadly as a familiar silver shape appeared.
    “Hel o,” said Ammm.
    “My teeth are green,” replied Mol y.
    “Yes,” agreed Ammm, politely.
    With the formalities concluded, Mol y clicked and chirped the message she’d been practicing al day.
    “Ammm see Mol y father?”
    “Yes.”
    Thank goodness. Careful y, Mol y chirped: “What news?”
    Ammm hesitated, then: “Bad man have father ship.”
    Mol y’s heart froze. “Mol y father…” She struggled to make the sounds. “Mol y father…”
    “In water.”
    Mol y could barely breathe. “Mol y father…” she began, but Ammm merciful y cut her short.
    “We swim Mol y father,” he said. “Swim to island.”
    Mol y almost col apsed from relief. The other porpoises are taking father to land. That’s why Ammm came alone. But…
    “Mol y father message,” said Ammm.
    “What message?” said Mol y.
    “Bad man hunt Mol y ship.”
    Fear stabbed at Mol y. The trunk. Somehow, Black Stache knows about the trunk. Father must know as well, so he…
    Ammm chittered again: “Father come. Soon.”
    But would he be soon enough?
    Mol y took a deep breath, fighting to control her feelings of panic, to form the right sounds.
    “Message father,” she said.
    “What message?”
    “Hurry.”
    “Hurry,” repeated Ammm.
    “Yes.”
    And with a brief farewel chitter, Ammm was gone, leaving Mol y staring at the water, wondering how long it would take her father to reach land, to find a new ship, to set out to find her…
    Meanwhile, the world’s most vicious pirate is hunting us down in the fastest ship afloat.
    Mol y had never felt so alone in her life. If Black Stache arrived before her father did, she had no choice: she would have to deal with the situation herself. She had to. And she could not fail.
    She needed an al y. Someone she could trust.
    She turned from the rail, to go looking for him. As she entered the ladderway, she cast one last glance back at the sea.
    Please hurry.

CHAPTER 17
THE NEXT TARGET

    T HE SEA DEVIL AND THE WASP, tied side by side, roled in the dark waves as Stache’s crew, working by torchlight, finished the hard labor of moving barrels and crates from the conquering ship to the conquered one.
    Belowdecks on the Wasp, Black Stache surveyed the tidy cabin that had once belonged to Captain Scott.
    “A fine cabin, Mr. Smee, is it not?” he said.
    “Aye, Cap’n, it is,” said Smee, thinking, and it smells much better than your old one.
    “Have the prisoners been dealt with?” asked Black Stache.
    “Aye, sir, as you ordered. Captain Scott and the others you wanted kept for ransom and barter are locked below. The rest wil be set adrift in the Sea Devil, once we’ve moved her sails and provisions to the Wasp. ”
    “D’you think it’l hurt me reputation, Smee? Al owing them to die of thirst, rather than slitting their throats?”
    “No, Cap’n,” said Smee. “I think it’s a grand humanitarian gesture.”
    “Wel , tel our boys to hurry, before I change my mind,” said Stache. “It’s turning to daylight, and I want to get after that other ship—the one with me treasure—the . . . what’s it cal ed again?”
    “The Never Land, sir.”
    “Stupid name,” said Stache.
    “Yes, Cap’n.”
    “I don’t much like Wasp, either.”
    “No, Cap’n.”
    “A wasp is