School Ship Tobermory

  “Yes,” said Shark.

  Using Morse code, Hardtack flashed out the warning in short and long bursts of light. “Short, long, short, short; long, long, long; short, short, long; long,” he began.

  Powerless to do anything to stop him, Angela followed the code. She had been on the Tobermory for a year already, and she knew exactly how each letter was encoded. That first signal, sent so quickly, spelled LOOK. Now he would move on to OUT, and he did: “Long, long, long; short, short, long; long.”

  Hardtack completed his message and then, from over the water, a dot of light in the distance brought an answer. “MESSAGE RECEIVED. THANK YOU.”

  “Hah!” said Hardtack. “That’ll sort them out.”

  Down below deck on the Albatross, Matron had split her party into two. In the first group, that she led herself, were Fee and Thomas Seagrape. In the second, led by Poppy, were Ben and Badger.

  “Now, we don’t have much time,” Matron told them, keeping her voice down as she spoke. “So I’m going to go for’ard with Fee and Thomas, while you, Poppy, will take Ben and Badger aft. Keep away from the cabins, as there will be people inside them, but look everywhere else.”

  “Do you know what we’re looking for, Matron?” asked Fee.

  Matron shook her head. “No idea, Fee. But that’s what makes a search so exciting, isn’t it? You never know what you’re going to find.”

  They agreed to meet again at the bottom of the companionway in ten minutes. Then, with Matron giving them all a good luck handshake, they set off. Fee kept close to Matron, and Thomas followed close on Fee’s heels. As they made their way down the long passageway, Matron peered through any doorways that were open, flashing her torch into the darkness once she was sure there was nobody about.

  At the end of the passageway they were about to turn back when Fee noticed something odd. Reaching for Matron’s arm, she pointed to a trapdoor in the floor. “Look,” she whispered. “Look down there, Matron.”

  Matron shone her light on the trapdoor. “Interesting,” she said. “Well spotted, Fee.”

  Thomas bent down to open it. The trapdoor was heavy, but when Fee gave him a hand, they both succeeded in pulling it up.

  “Careful not to fall in,” said Matron.

  “I’ll try not to,” said Fee.

  Matron leaned over Fee’s shoulder and shone the torch into the darkness below. Clearly revealed by the beam of light was a ladder leading to the deck below.

  “Follow me,” said Matron, beginning to climb down the ladder. “But be careful. Hold onto the rungs as tightly as you can.”

  Slowly and very cautiously the three of them made their way down to the bottom of the ladder. It was dark down there, and the batteries of Matron’s torch were beginning to weaken. But there was enough light for them to see that they were in a large compartment – as big as the mess hall on the Tobermory – and that the walls of this compartment were lined with large glass tanks.

  It was Thomas who saw it first. “Look over there!” he said.

  They moved forward, the beam of light moving across the glass surface of the tank. And then they saw what Thomas had seen. He had noticed only a movement in the darkness, but now they saw much more than that. It was a great black shape, and as the light penetrated the tank, they saw a long body, a great fin, and a wide, open mouth.

  “A basking shark!” said Fee. “They’ve captured a basking shark!”

  Matron drew in her breath. “Look at its mouth!” she whispered. “Look at the size of it.”

  “I’ve seen a picture of one of these,” said Thomas. “I’ve never seen a real one, though.”

  But Fee had. “We went to photograph some of these,” she said. “My parents were doing research on them and they needed photographs. We actually swam with them while my father operated the camera.”

  “Swam with them!” exclaimed Thomas. “But look at its mouth. You wouldn’t get me in the water with one of those things around.”

  Fee assured him that basking sharks were quite harmless. “They don’t have any teeth,” she said. “That great big mouth just has a sort of sieve in it. They use it to strain plankton out of the water. That’s what they eat – tiny little sea creatures, so small you can’t even see them.”

  They moved over to the other tanks. In one of them, swimming about in a lonely, morose way, was a giant ray, a strange-looking fish with great flapping wings and a long whip of a tail. In another, also frightened and confused in their glass prison, were two young otters. These playful creatures, who like nothing better than to romp about in the water and who can become fond of human company, were clearly pleased when they saw the visitors.

  “They want us to help them,” said Fee.

  “We can’t do anything right now,” said Matron. “We need to get back to the others. Then we can report all this to the Captain so that he can do something about it.”

  On the deck of the Albatross it all happened quickly. When the men on watch saw the signal from Hardtack, they immediately made their way back down below. They had intended to warn the director, but before they could reach their cabin they saw Matron and her party meeting up with Poppy, Ben and Badger just as they were about to make their way up the companionway to the upper deck.

  “Intruders!” shouted one of the men. “Stop where you are!”

  Matron froze.

  “Put your hands in the air!” shouted the other man.

  Matron hesitated, but then she gave a loud cry. “Hurry, go! Make a dash for it, everybody!” she shouted.

  No-one needed any urging. Leaping up the stairs, the Tobermory party pushed past the two men, knocking one down as they did so and causing the other almost to lose his balance. Then, with Matron waiting to bring up the rear, they ran across the deck to where their boat was tied to the prow net. Bundling one another over the edge, they scaled their way down to the boat and prepared to set off. They all did this – except Matron, who waited up at the top to see her students safely over the side before beginning her own descent. It was the right thing for her to do, of course, but also the wrong thing, as the delay gave the two assailants the chance to recover. Pounding across the deck, they seized Matron as she started to climb down.

  For a moment it seemed as if she would escape their clutches, but they were just too strong for her. Hauling her up, they manhandled her back over the side and onto the deck. Matron struggled as best she could, but to no avail. She did manage, though, to call out to the boat below. “Head back!” she shouted. “Row as fast as you can! Send help!”

  Down in the rowing boat, with Ben and Badger at the oars, confusion reigned.

  “What should we do?” wailed Fee. “We can’t leave her.”

  Poppy hesitated for a moment. They could climb back up in an attempt to rescue Matron, but if they did that they would probably all be taken prisoner too. And if that happened, then it could be some time before Angela realised something was wrong and raised the alarm.

  It was a difficult decision, but Poppy had to take it. And she did.

  “Cast off!” she called. “Ben and Badger – row as fast as you possibly can. We’ll send help.”

  They did not question her order. Into the sea dipped the oars and swiftly the rowing boat cut through the water. Some distance away, Angela Singh, who had heard the sound of shouting drift across the water, peered anxiously into the night. Hardtack, Shark and Flubber were there too, although they were ignoring Angela and talking as if she were not there.

  “I hope they caught them,” said Hardtack. “Serve them right.”

  “Yes,” said Shark. “They’ve asked for trouble – and now they’ve got it.”

  But then in the darkness they could just make out something moving through the water. As the rowing boat neared the Tobermory, the three boys realised that everybody was returning to safety.

  “Oh no,” said Flubber. “MacFish and the others are coming back. And they will have seen us signalling to the Albatross.”

  Shark loo
ked nervous. “What can we do?” he asked.

  “Make ourselves scarce,” said Hardtack. Cowards never like to be outnumbered, and so they did what cowards almost always do – they sneaked away.

  Now Angela was by herself – or almost by herself. In her excitement she had not noticed the arrival of Henry, but now she was aware of him beside her, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, his nose sniffing the air. He had heard the voices on deck and had come up to see what was going on. When the first of the party started to climb back up onto the deck of the Tobermory, Henry became excited and let out a welcoming bark. In his eagerness to see what was happening, he suddenly jumped up onto a railing, teetered there for a moment, then lost his balance, falling headlong over the side, uttering a long howl of alarm as he plummeted down.

  “Look out!” shouted Angela.

  Down below, Fee and the others looked up to see Henry plunging down towards them. For a moment Ben thought that the dog was going to fall into the sea, but at that moment a wave passed underneath the rowing boat and pushed it forward exactly to the point where Henry was about to hit the water. So instead of a soft, watery welcome, Henry ended up at the bottom of the rowing boat, landing with a loud and painful thud.

  Poppy carried him up to the deck. He lay in her arms, whimpering, his body shaking with fright and pain.

  They were all now on deck. Poppy laid Henry down and turned to Ben. “Could you go and fetch the Captain, Ben? Tell him what’s happened.”

  Ben shot off, and while he was down below, Poppy bent down to examine Henry. As far as she could make out the main injury had been to his right front leg. The lower half was hanging limply, as if not really connected to his body. Poppy knew what this meant: the leg was obviously broken.

  “What are we going to do?” she asked Fee. “Henry’s leg will need to be bound up and set – and we must be days away from the nearest animal clinic.”

  Fee reached down to comfort Henry. As she did so, she remembered something.

  “Do you remember what Tanya said to us?” she asked.

  Poppy looked at her with annoyance. “This is no time to talk about Tanya,” she said. “Henry is badly injured …”

  “But that’s exactly why I’m talking about her,” said Fee. “Remember she said she had worked in those kennels? Remember she said that she had nursed dogs when they were hurt?”

  Then Poppy did remember, and lost no time in doing what she knew had to be done. “Please get her,” she said to Fee. “I’ll stay here and look after Henry; you go and get Tanya.”

  “But the Captain’s coming,” said Fee, thinking of what would happen if the stowaway were discovered. “He’ll see her and there’ll be trouble.”

  “There’s already plenty of trouble,” said Poppy. “Matron has been captured and Henry is seriously injured. Another bit of trouble isn’t going to make much difference.”

  It was as she said this that Poppy saw something that made her blood run cold. Over on the other boat she saw lights on deck. Then she heard the sound of an anchor chain being wound in. The Albatross was about to set sail – with Matron a prisoner on board.

  A chase at sea

  After a few polite knocks at the door of the Great Cabin had failed to wake the Captain, Ben resorted to thumping. This quickly had the desired effect, and a bleary-eyed Captain appeared at the door in his blue naval dressing gown. A glance at Ben’s expression told him this was an emergency.

  “Give me two minutes,” snapped the Captain, leaving Ben standing at the door. But it was sooner than this when he reappeared fully dressed and ready to rush up on deck.

  As they raced up the companionway, Ben breathlessly told the Captain what had happened.

  “We went over to the Albatross,” he said. “Matron came with us. She found what they were hiding – and so did Fee and Thomas. But just when we started to leave they grabbed Matron. She told us to come back.”

  “Where is she now?” shouted the Captain.

  “They’re holding her prisoner,” answered Ben.

  They had now reached Poppy and the others.

  “The Albatross has weighed anchor,” said Poppy to the Captain as he arrived. “They’ve set sail.”

  The Captain peered into the darkness. It was difficult to make anything out, but Thomas, who had been watching the departure of the other ship, was able to point in the direction in which she sailed. “Their course was North-by-North-west, Captain,” he said.

  The Captain gave orders. “Poppy,” he said. “Go and call Mr Rigger. Tell him to report to me and then sound the alarm. All hands on deck! We’ll set sail immediately.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” said Poppy, starting to move away. But then she stopped. “There’s another thing …” she began.

  The Captain had already seen Henry, though, and now he bent down to examine his dog. “What’s happened here?” he asked.

  The person who answered was at Henry’s side, tightly binding the injured leg in a strip of cloth. It was no-one the Captain had ever seen before, and for a moment he looked confused.

  “The dog’s leg is broken,” said Tanya, carefully attending to her task. “I’m putting on a temporary binding. I’ll have to make a splint.”

  The Captain frowned. “Good,” he said. “You obviously know what you’re doing, but …” He paused. “But who exactly are you?”

  It was Fee who answered. “This is Tanya, Captain. She’s been on the ship since we left Tobermory. She had to run away from her uncle and aunt …”

  Ben took up the story, “… who treated her badly.”

  “… and made her work for nothing,” added Fee.

  The Captain pursed his lips. “We’ll talk about that later,” he said. Turning to Tanya, he continued, “Can you look after Henry?”

  “Yes,” said Tanya. “I’ve taken care of many dogs before.”

  “Good,” said the Captain. “You and Fee take him down to the Great Cabin. Stay with him there. Let me know if you need anything.”

  Tanya lifted the injured dog and began to carry him away. He did not growl, nor did he whimper, but licked her hand gratefully. He could tell – as any animal can – that this was somebody who meant him no harm.

  The Captain took up his position at the helm. All about the deck, recently woken people took up their positions. Training paid off – everyone knew exactly what to do in an emergency like this – and within minutes the Tobermory had weighed anchor, spread her sails, and was moving away in the breeze.

  At the Captain’s invitation, Ben and Badger stood behind him at the helm, watching the compass and acting as lookouts. Poppy was a member of a sail crew; they were pulling on the ropes that would tighten the sails and give the ship the speed she needed.

  Mr Rigger paced the deck, his moustache blowing in the wind, checking that everybody was doing his or her job correctly and making sure the ship was taking maximum advantage of the wind. He knew it would be difficult to catch up with the Albatross, as she was a fast cutter that could outpace a heavier ship like the Tobermory. But he also knew that in a race like this sailing skill counted for a lot, and there was nobody with greater knowledge of the sea than the Captain.

  “We’ll get them,” he said to Poppy. “Don’t worry, Poppy. As long as they don’t give us the slip in the darkness, we’ll catch up.”

  Poppy tried not to worry, but could not help being concerned that the Albatross would get away. She did not say anything about this out loud, though, as she always thought there was no point in giving up before you start.

  They sailed through the night, keeping strictly to the course that Thomas had seen the other ship adopt. They had little visibility, but by looking up at the stars with his sextant the Captain was able to tell exactly where they were.

  “You’re never alone at night, you know,” he remarked to Badger. “You always have a set of friends up above your head.”

  Badger looked up at the sky and saw the great constellations dipping and swinging above him. It took him a m
oment or two to orientate himself, but then he saw the familiar shape of the Plough and there, in exactly the right position, was the Pole Star. He looked at Ben. “I hope Matron’s all right,” he said.

  “She will be,” Ben said. “Matron is tough.” He paused. “Have Fee and Thomas told the Captain yet?”

  “About what?” asked Badger.

  “About what they saw.”

  Badger shook his head. “Go and get them,” he said. “They can tell him while we’re giving chase.”

  Thomas was busy with the sails, so Fee came by herself and reported their discovery to the Captain. Ben and Badger listened attentively as they described the tanks and the sea animals kept captive inside them. The Captain shook his head sadly. “Poachers,” he said. “That’s what those people are. They steal these poor creatures from their natural habitat and sell them off to unscrupulous collectors. It’s a big problem.”

  He congratulated Fee on her bravery. “You and Thomas did very well,” he said. “There’ll be extra pizza for the two of you tomorrow – if this all turns out as I hope it will.”

  When the first glimmers of morning light appeared in the sky, Angela Singh, who was a good climber, worked her way up to the crow’s nest. This was a small platform, a bit like an oversized basket, at the top of the mast. From there she had the best view of anyone, and was able to look out over the sea in every direction.

  “See anything yet?” shouted the Captain from the helm.

  Angela gazed out over the wide expanse of water. Although there was enough wind to fill the sails, the sea itself was calm, and there were few waves. At first she saw nothing – and signalled this to the Captain down on deck – but then, far away on the horizon, she thought she saw the outline of a ship. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Yes, there was a sailing ship.

  “Ten degrees off the port bow,” she called to the Captain. “A ship.”

  “Is it the Albatross?” shouted the Captain.