Seven Dead Pirates Read Online Free PDF

shivering. He, too, had missing parts—two fingers on his left hand.
    Last of all, and slowest to manifest himself, was Adam.
    “Why, look at these two,” said Moyle, glancing back and forth between Adam and Lewis. “They’re the same age, ain’t they? Two young lads as could be born the same day.”
    “Excepting,” said Jack the Rat, “that young Adam here was born in 1786, if I recalls right.”
    “You recalls right,” said Adam, staring at Lewis.
    The boys
did
appear to be the same age. Adam was shorter, and his long fair hair was tied back in apigtail. But Lewis could recognize a sixth-grader when he saw one.
    Except, he remembered, that Adam was …
    A ghost?
    He still couldn’t believe it. But what other explanation could there be?
    “Adam’s our ship’s boy,” said Crawley, “and though he be young, he’s as stalwart in battle as any.”
    Adam, meanwhile, was studying Lewis’s face. “Did you have the pox?” he asked finally.
    Lewis blinked back, confused.
    “Naaaahh!” said Crawley. “Those marks ain’t pox scars. Them are just
freckles
! The lad’s got freckles like a dog’s got fleas.”
    This got a huge laugh from the pirates, all except Adam, who was staring now at Lewis’s green T-shirt and khaki shorts. When he got to Lewis’s shoes, his eyes widened. “Oooooh,” he said. “Boots for a prince.”
    Lewis looked down. “They’re just … running shoes.”
    “Running,” repeated Adam. He knelt for a closer look. “Aye, a boy could run far in such boots.”
    At that, all the pirates became transfixed by Lewis’s shoes. Even Barnaby Bellows glanced down, relaxing his grip on Lewis’s shoulders.
    It was like a signal.
    Lewis bolted!
    But when he reached the door, Crawley was there, blocking his way. “Not so fast, laddie. We won’t hold you long, I promise, but we needs you to hear us out.”
    “Aye,” chorused the others. “Hear us out!”
    Lewis tried to stop his knees from quivering. “Just tell me what you want,” he begged.
    Crawley smiled his gap-toothed smile. “We wants you to help us get our ship back.”
    It was like a horrible riddle.
    “I don’t understand,” said Lewis.
    Crawley pointed at the bottle on Lewis’s shelf.
    “You want me to … get your ship out of that bottle?”
    The pirates shouted with laughter, slapping their thighs.
    “Nay,” said Crawley with a final guffaw. “That’s just a model, boy. Our ship—our
Maria Louisa
—she’s sitting in a little house, down by the bay. Your great-granddad told us so. Four years ago, they brought her from some other place—”
    “Halifax, it were,” said Moyle.
    “Aye,” said Crawley. “And a miracle, by thunder, to hear of her after so many years. They took her to that little house—”
    “It were called a moo-see-um,” said Moyle, nodding wisely. “That’s what the granddaddy said.”
    Lewis blinked in comprehension. “You mean the Maritime Museum?” The Tandy Bay Maritime Museum was one of the town hall buildings, right beside the ocean, at the center of town. “They
did
bring a ship there. I saw it on a school trip.”
    “Aye,” said Jonas, in a voice filled with pride. “And that ship? She’s ours!”
    Barnaby Bellows thumped his huge fist on the desk. “Ours!” he yelled.
    “She
was
ours,” said Crawley, his voice rising with anger, “until she were stolen from us, in dead of night. Attacked, we was, by that son of a dogfish, John Edward Dire! He
could
have put us ashore. It were only fair and right. But, oh, laddie … he were the devil’s spawn, that Captain Dire, and so were his crew. They laughed as they kilt us. Laughed!”
    “K-killed you?” repeated Lewis.
    “Aye,” growled Crawley. “Tied us up, hand and foot, all together with the one rope. Hurled us overboard. We was helpless as babes.”
    “Sank like stones!” muttered Moyle.
    “Dropped to the bottom with nary a bubble,” added Skittles.
    “But at least,” said Adam, “we washed up here