Explosive Adventures Read Free

all this with interest. Nobody had asked him, but he was determined that he would not be left out.
    “Oh, I couldn’t,” said Captain Foster. “It’s far too dangerous.”
    “But we’d be able to get away from the pirates,” Lucy said. “You said that they only had a sailing ship. You’ve got an engine on your ship.”
    Captain Foster stroked his beard and looked at Lucy’s parents, who were whispering quietly to one another.
    “We’ll let them go,” said Lucy’s father. “That popcorn simply has to get through. If the children can help, then I think we should let them.”
    Captain Foster still looked doubtful, but he realised that there really might be no other way, and so eventually he agreed.Now all that remained to be done was to ask Hermione’s parents, and when they heard what was planned, they agreed to let her go.
    “Remember your toothbrush, though,” said Hermione’s mother, who tended to fuss a bit. “And if you do see any pirates, I don’t want you to pick up any rough manners from them. Do you understand?”
    There was not much time left for preparations. While everybody else helped to load the popcorn on to the ship, the three children packed their bags and made sure that they had everything they needed. Hermione’s father spent the whole day making pies for the voyage, and Lucy’smother, who was the quickest sewer on the island, made three splendid sailor suits for the children to wear.

    Then, when everything was ready, Lucy, Hermione, and Sam set off for the harbour, wearing their new sailors’ outfits and carrying their bags of provisions.

    “Welcome aboard!” said Captain Foster from the top of the gangway. Biscuit, who was standing beside him and who was very pleased at the prospect of more company on the voyage, gave a loud bark of delight.
    The whole island had turned out to wave them goodbye, and as the ship slipped out of the harbour, the three children stood on the deck and waved and waved until their arms could wave no longer. The people on the shore were smaller now, and soon they were no more than dots.
    Lucy looked at Hermione. Her friend was always very brave, and this made herfeel brave too, but now, as they faced the open sea, the thought of pirates made her shiver.
    “I hope we don’t see the pirates,” she confessed to her friend. “I’m a little bit scared.”
    Hermione smiled. “So am I,” she whispered back. “But let’s try not to show it! We wouldn’t want Sam to know.”
    Sam, who was standing next to Biscuit, turned and whispered into the dog’s ear.
    “I’m rather frightened, Biscuit,” he said under his breath. “But please don’t tell the girls.”
    Biscuit wagged his tail and gave a bark. He wasn’t in the slightest bit afraid ofpirates, and if they showed their faces around the popcorn ship again, they were going to get a very nasty surprise from him!

4
    Unwelcome Visitors
    They had set sail in the mid-afternoon and by the time they lost sight of land it was almost sunset. They had had a busy few hours, unpacking their bags and slinging up their hammocks down below, and now Captain Foster was telling them their duties.
    “The night is divided into watches,” he said. “A watch will be four hours long and you’ll have one watch each. You’ll start, Sam, because you’re the youngest, and then it’ll be Lucy and Hermione, one after the other. That’ll take us through to morning.”
    “What do we do?” asked Sam. “Do we steer the ship?”
    “No,” said Captain Foster. “I’ll put down the sea anchor later on and we’ll switch off the engine. So all you’ll have to do is keep a good lookout for any other ship. If you see anything, come down and wake me up.”
    “It could be pirates, you see,” explained Hermione, making everybody shiver slightly as she mentioned the word.
    Sam nodded. If there were going to be pirates, he very much hoped that they would come in somebody else’s watch.
    They had dinner together, eating