Peter and the Starcatchers Read Free Page A

his hands on a dirty old towel. Mack was looking at him al funny. “Got to gets it off me hands.”
    “Bel s?” Mack teased him, shaking his head. He turned back to the trunk. Alf saw that Mack had slipped the canvas more tightly around the trunk, and the rope around the canvas. A tiny bit of the trunk stil showed.
    “Mack,” said Alf. “I dares ya to touch it.”
    “What?” said Mack. “Me?”
    “Just touch the trunk,” said Alf. “On the wood there.”
    “I’m not messing with no rat poison! You remember what happened to Hungry Bob?” Mack considered himself a cautious man, and the truth was, he was afraid to touch the trunk now. He knew that something had happened when Alf touched it; somehow, he’d felt it. No, Mack had decided there was something strange about this trunk. Why else would Slank be giving special orders and offering two bob? Mack was not going to touch it, thank you very much.
    “It’s not our job to fool with it,” Mack said, pul ing the rope tight. The canvas now covered the trunk entirely. “Slank said put it aboard the Never Land, and that’s that.”
    “But, Mack,” said Alf. “I’m tel ing you, God’s truth, rat poison or not, it felt good. “
    “Let’s just finish the job,” said Mack, pul ing the knot tight, “and take our two bob to the tavern, get our grog quick-like, and forget about this trunk.”
    “Al right, then,” said Alf, though he didn’t think he would soon forget that feeling he’d just had. Maybe once the Never Land was under way he could sneak in and visit this trunk again.
    Grunting, the two men lifted the canvas-wrapped trunk onto a handcart, and trundled it out of the warehouse, onto the wharf. A minute later they passed the Wasp, whose crew was preparing to cast off.
    “She’s a pretty ship, ain’t she?” said Mack.
    “What?” said Alf, who’d been thinking about the trunk.
    “I say, the Wasp is a beauty,” said Mack. “I’d love to sail on her someday. They say she’s the only ship afloat that might outrun the Sea Devil. ” The mention of the pirate ship won Alf’s ful attention. The Sea Devil was the ship of the most feared pirate on the Seven Seas. Sailors said that if you caught sight of the Sea Devil, it was time to make your peace with your maker, because you’d be with Him within the hour.
    “No ship can outrun the Sea Devil, ” said Alf. “Nobody ever has.”
    “Til now,” said Mack. “The Wasp was built for just that, and Captain Scott is as able a seaman as ever sailed these waters. Unlike the idjit in charge of our bilge bucket.” Sneering, Mack nodded toward the Never Land, now just ahead.
    “Aye,” said Alf. “Pembridge could capsize a dinghy on dry land.”
    Cyrus Pembridge, the Never Land’ s captain, was widely regarded as the most incompetent man to command a ship since the formation of water.
    “Who in the name of common sense would put to sea on that ship with that man in charge?” wondered Mack.
    “Wel ,” Alf answered, “we are.”
    “True,” Mack said. “But nobody else’d hire the likes of us.”
    They were alongside the Never Land now. The ship had been loaded and provisioned; the crew was preparing to cast off. Most of the passengers were on deck. Some were looking around anxiously at the decrepit ship, and the scruffy crew in whose hands they were placing their lives. Others were leaning on the dockside rail, watching the cast-off preparations. Among these, Alf noticed, was a group of five boys near the bow. They looked plainly scared, except for one, a wiry boy with bright orange hair—not the largest of the lot, but the one who seemed to be in charge. He had an air about him, Alf thought, the look of a boy who doesn’t miss much.
    “It’s about time,” said Slank, tramping down the gangplank, trailed by two more seamen. “You’re late. Tide’s begun to run.” To the men behind him, he said, “Get this cargo trunk aboard.”
    As the men bent to heft the load, Alf—not