فصل 08

CHAPTER 8

THE FIRE GOES OUT

A QUARTER MILE INLAND FROM the western shore of Mollusk Island rose a ramshackle wall of palm-tree trunks, sharpened to knife points at the top and lashed together to form a respectable fort. At one corner, a live palm towered over the fort with a platform built atop it, creating a lookout. Upon that platform sat a deeply tanned man clothed in what would barely pass for rags, with few teeth in his mouth and hair down to his shoulders. Eagle Eye Potts—so called because he could spot a lizard scratching itself three-quarters of a mile away—spent a good deal of time in the lookout tree, watching for signs of trouble.

But right now he was troubled by something he didn’t see. He’d been thinking hard for the better part of a half hour, trying to figure out what it was. Suddenly it came to him.

“No smoke,” Eagle Eye muttered. Then he shouted it: “Smee! There’s no smoke!”

Below, in the shade of the fort wall, a very round man with a very round, red face jerked awake from his catnap and wiped some drool from his stubbly chin. This was Smee, the captain’s first mate at sea and his lackey on land.

“What?” he shouted up to Eagle Eye.

“There’s no smoke!” repeated Eagle Eye.

“Smoke?” shouted Smee. “Where?”

“No! There’s NO smoke,” shouted Eagle Eye.

“Where is there no smoke?” shouted Smee, confused.

“Anywhere!” said Eagle Eye.

Smee thought about that for a moment, then suddenly understood. He rose and scurried to the captain’s hut, a makeshift affair of stick walls and a palm-frond roof.

“Cap’n!” he said, tapping tentatively on what passed for the door.

“Get in here, Smee!” answered a gruff voice.

Smee stepped into the hut, which was occupied by a tall, gaunt man with long, tangled, black hair and a sharp steel hook where his left hand had once been. He was called Captain Hook by his men, though he had once been known as Black Stache, the most feared pirate on the seven seas. A prodigious display of facial hair sprouted beneath his nose, greased and curved on the ends and stretching nearly ten inches in length when fully extended. His focus at the moment was his long feet, and in particular his thick, yellow toenails, which curved around his toes like claws. He was rubbing the nail on his big toe with a piece of lava rock, attempting to grind it down.

“Cap’n, sir,” Smee said. “Eagle Eye…”

“It ain’t no good, Smee,” interrupted Hook, not looking up. “Either the nail is too hard or the rock too soft, but it don’t answer. Get down on your knees there, and give us a bite.”

“A bite?”

“My toenail, you idjit.”

“But, Cap’n…”

“Now!”

Smee shuddered, edged forward, and went down on one knee. He stared at the grotesque yellowed fang that protruded from the captain’s dirty big toe.

“But, Cap’n…”

“Just give it a nip there on the side. I can tear it off after that.”

Smee closed his eyes, held his breath, and did as he was told. He had five teeth and only two that met. He pressed these together, bit down hard, and heard a click. His mouth tasted like…he couldn’t think about it.

“Splendid!” said Hook, examining and then peeling the excess nail away from his toe. “Fine job, Smee.”

Smee spat onto the sand floor and said, “Cap’n, Eagle Eye says there’s no smoke comin’ from the native side.”

“What?” said Hook, looking up from his toenail.

“The natives has put out their fires.”

“But they never put out their fires,” said Hook.

“That’s the point, I believe, sir.”

“Shut up, Smee!” snarled Hook. “I know that’s the point.” He pondered for a moment, then said, “Send out a scouting party. I want six men who can work the jungle quiet as snakes. They’re to cross the mountain to the other side—”

“But—”

“Don’t ‘but’me, Smee. To the other side. Get as close as they can and find out what them savages is up to. No good, is what I’m guessing. Planning some kind of trap, some raid on yours truly.”

“But—”

“Shut up, idjit.”

“Aye, Cap’n,” said Smee, turning to leave.

“And before you go, Smee…”

Smee turned around to see the captain wiggling his toe talons in the air.

“Nine to go,” said Hook.