The Pirates! by Gideon Defoe

the deck of the
Barbary Hen
they both waved at the pirates anxiously waiting on the
Lovely Emma
.
    â€˜He’s going to help!’ she said, hugging Black Bellamy. She ignored the immature pirates who went ‘woooooo!’ when they saw the hug.
    â€˜Thanks, Black Bellamy!’ said the scarf-wearing pirate, helping Jennifer back across the plank. ‘We won’t forget this in a hurry!’
    â€˜It’s nothing,’ shouted Black Bellamy, as the
Barbary Hen
began to sail off. ‘It’s just so awful to hear that the Pirate Captain has gone a bit mental. When I think of his poor little mad face, I feel quite emotional.’

    The pirates barely had time to get even halfway through an exciting game of Scrabble before the
Barbary Hen
sailed back into view. They all crowded around the boat’s telescope and fought to see what was going on.
    â€˜He’s back already!’ said the albino pirate.
    â€˜He can’t be!’ said the pirate in red.
    â€˜He is! I don’t believe it! And he’s got the whale!’ exclaimed the pirate with a scarf.
    As the
Barbary Hen
came closer they could see Black Bellamy leaning nonchalantly on the ship’s wheel, steering with one hand and examining the nails of his other. And there behind him, sat right in the middle of the deck, was a gigantic white whale strapped down by hefty nautical ropes. The whale flapped its tail and a steaming jet of spray erupted from its blowhole, catching the sunlight in a rainbow haze. It was an impressive-looking creature, thought the pirate with a scarf. He remembered how Charles Darwin, the young naturalist they had encountered on their previous adventure, had told him that if you got yourself twelve sets of pirate lungs and then stitched them all together, disgusting though it would be, they would still have just half the lung capacity of one of a whale’s lungs. That wasn’t the kind of statistic to be taken lightly.
    â€˜That Black Bellamy,’ said the pirate with a hook for a hand. ‘You’ve got to hand it to him, he’s pretty good at stuff.’
    Jennifer clapped her hands. ‘Somebody go and get the Captain! He’ll be over the moon!’
    The pirate with a scarf ran down the stairs and came back a few moments later, followed by what the crew at first glance thought must be a dirty old tramp. The pirates all gasped when they realised that the shuffling, shabby mess wasn’t a tramp – it was the Pirate Captain, wearing only a pair of grubby pyjama bottoms. His eyes were wild and staring, his face was anything but pleasant or open, and his beard was ratty and unmanageable. Blinking at the light, the Pirate Captain stared uncomprehendingly about. But as the
Barbary Hen
pulled up alongside the
Lovely Emma
, he spotted the whale and his mouth fell open.
    â€˜The white whale!’ he croaked. Then he saw Black Bellamy. ‘And you, you scoundrel!’
    â€˜Pirate Captain!’ said Jennifer crossly. ‘I’m so sorry, Mister Bellamy. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.’ She turned back to the Pirate Captain. ‘You’re being very rude to Mister Bellamy.’
    â€˜No, no,’ said Black Bellamy. ‘It’s quite understandable.’ He looked sadly at his shoes. ‘I knowwe’ve had our ups and downs, Pirate Captain. And I know that I’ve not been entirely honest with you in the past. But I’d just like you to think of this as a favour from an old friend. Your men told me that you were having a tough time of it and this seemed the least I could do.’
    The Pirate Captain was really very touched. It was all he could do to try to stop his voice sounding too emotional. ‘I don’t know what to say,’ he said.
    â€˜Then don’t say anything at all, Pirate Captain,’ said Black Bellamy, putting a finger to his lips. ‘Except,’ he added, ‘there is just one small matter.’ Black