Chapter 1
The Ship
There was an old, ruined ship in the harbour. Nobody was on deck. Torn sails hung from its masts like dead skin. It looked like a wreck but it was still floating.
Mr Blood put his spy-glass down.
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âHow long has the ship been there?â Mary asked Tom, the old harbour master.
âWe saw it at dawn two mornings ago,â said Tom. âIt must have come in during the night.â
âAnd nobody has left the ship, or come on shore?â asked Mr Blood.
âThatâs right,â said Tom. âIâve watched it. No one has come up onto the deck.â
âMaybe itâs just a wreck. Maybe it just drifted into the harbour,â said Edgar.
âThat canât be right,â said Tom. âLook, it has an anchor.â
Edgar looked through the spy-glass. He could see a chain running down into the water from the front of the boat.
Old Tom was right. Somebody must have let down the anchor.
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âAnd thereâs something else I have to tell you,â said Tom. âThis isnât the first time that ship has come here.â
âGo on,â said Mr Blood. âTell us the story.â
âWell, itâs a sad tale,â said Tom. âThree years ago, the same ship came here, just like this. We woke up one morning and there it was. The harbour master then was a man called Pete. He rowed out to the ship, and he went on board to take a look around.â
Old Tom went on. âPete went below deck and we heard him shout. Before we knew what was going on, the anchor came up and the ship headed out to sea by itself.
âSome of us got in a boat and chased after it, but it was too fast. I donât know how a ship with no crew could sail out to sea. But thatâs what we saw.â
Old Tom paused and looked out to sea. âWe always wondered what happened to poor old Pete. We never saw or heard of him again. But none of us wanted to see that ship come back. We called it the Ghost Ship.â
âAnd now it has returned. So we need your help, Mr Blood,â said Tom.
Chapter 2
On Deck
Old Tom rowed them out into the harbour in a small boat.
âDo we
all
need to go on the ship?â Edgar moaned. He felt ill. His face was a strange shade of green.
âYouâre not going to be sick, are you?â teased Mary.
Edgar just groaned and stared ahead.
When they were close enough to the ship, Tom stopped rowing. They all stared up at the ghost ship.
The black paint on the side was cracked and peeling.
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âAhoy there!â called Tom. âIs anyone aboard? Are you there, Pete?â
There was only silence.
âWell then,â said Mr Blood. âLetâs go and have a look.â
Tom threw a rope ladder with hooks up onto the shipâs deck. He tugged at the ladder and it stayed in place. They all climbed up.
In a few moments, the four of them stood aboard the ghost ship.
Up close, the ship still seemed lifeless. Everything metal was covered in rust. The deck was caked in salt. The torn sails flapped limply.
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âThereâs nothing to see here,â said Mr Blood. âWeâd better go and look down below.â
Mr Blood strode across the deck to the main hatch. He opened it and climbed down inside the ship.
Chapter 3
Inside the Ship
Edgar and Mary could hear Mr Blood moving around below deck, opening and shutting things.
Then he called up to them.
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âGet down here,â he shouted. âAnd bring something we can use to break down a door.â
Edgar looked around the deck and saw a small axe. Its blade was rusty, but it was all he could find. He picked it up.
Mary and Tom had already gone down the hatch.
Mr Blood was looking at a closed door near the front of the ship.
âI had a quick look around,â he said. âThere is no one here. Then I found this door. Itâs locked and I canât find a key. I want to break it
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