The Palace Library by Steven Loveridge Page B

worth.”
    The
Captain could not be sure what Harry meant by ‘navigator’ Grace, but did not
question it and said, “Thank you.”
    While
Eleanor and Eloise went off towards the front of the boat, the bow, to find the
injured and some supplies, Harry and Grace turned towards the stern, to look at
what was left of the chart room and cabins.  Before they did that, they
went up to the poop deck to look for the compass box.  They had seen it
earlier in front of the great tiller that steered the boat, mounted on a pillar
and protected from the elements.  It had not been protected enough. 
It had gone.
    Harry
was distressed and said, “We’ll never find our way now, not without a compass.”
    “Yes
we will,” said Grace confidently.
    “How?”
replied Harry.
    Grace
looked around.  She was still nervous about being accused of being a
magician or worse a witch.  “Come down to the chart room and I’ll show
you.”
    So,
this time, it was Grace’s turn to lead Harry.
    The
chart room was in chaos.  The chart table in the centre of the room had
been bolted to the floor, but all the drawers were thrown open.  The
Captain’s cot had been thrown across the room, and his spare clothes were all
over the floor.
    Harry
smiled.
    “What
is it?” asked Grace.
    “It
looks just like your room at home that time we visited!”
    “No
it doesn’t!  Anyway, I’ve no one to help me tidy up at home and now you’re
going to help in here.”  She stuck her tongue out at him.
    “Oh,
all right,” Harry answered.  “Now what were you going to show me?”
    Grace
pulled the watch and chain from under her neck.  First of all, she opened
the watch.  “I couldn’t wind it up last night.  I hope it still
works.”
    She
held the watch to her ear and gratefully heard the sound:  “Tick, tock , tick, tock , tick, tock ,” before winding it carefully.  “That’s good.”
    “But
how is a watch going to show us where to go?” asked Harry.
    “Here’s
how.”  Grace opened the back of the golden pocket watch and held it in the
palm of her hand.  There, beautifully engraved with north, east, south and
west around the side was a tiny compass.
    “Now,
if we can find some maps and my star chart, we can work out where to go. 
Easy!” she added confidently.
    “Cool. 
You really are a navigator!”
    Grace
suddenly looked a little uncertain.  Her eyes began to fill with
tears.  “I don’t think I am,” she said.  “Do you think we’ll ever get
home?”
     “Of
course we will,” he said cheerfully, but quite uncertain himself.  He
hugged her and then added, “Now shall we clear up?” knowing the best thing for
both of them would be to be busy.
    It
took them three or four hours.  Once Eloise came in and brought them a
beaker of murky water and some very tough and salty meat to chew.  But the
salt in the meat made them want the water, however murky, and the meagre meal
revived them.  They wanted to ask how things were going, but of course
they wouldn’t understand the answer.  In any case, Eloise did not hang
around long enough.
    After
they’d finished tidying, the little chart room looked almost normal - except
for the pile of the Captain’s clothes on the cot.  They both agreed it was
not their job to clear up his clothes, however busy he was.
    Then,
they began to look at the charts.  Some had great stains of water all over
them, but others were quite clear.  They looked different to any maps they
had ever seen before.  Even where places were marked that they recognised,
the coastlines were different.  Harry said they looked like Roman
maps:  all wobbly and wrong.
    Eventually
Grace said, “I think this is Cornwall on this one, with the sea all around, but
the Scilly Isles aren’t marked.”
    “The
Scilly Isles?” asked Harry.
    “Yes,”
said Grace.  “I’m sure that’s where Hell’s Bay is.”
    Harry
stared at some rough marks on the map. “Maybe it’s here.”
    “They
just look like