Seven Dead Pirates Read Online Free PDF Page B

together.”
    “Aye,” agreed Jonas, “we did. Except for Laughing Harry.”
    At that, the pirates went glum and silent.
    Lewis was almost afraid to ask. “Who’s Laughing Harry?”
    “Our navigator,” said Crawley. “And a finer man never lived! Until he were keelhauled by Dire.”
    “Keelhauled?”
    “Aye,” muttered Crawley. “Keelhauled, laddie, is when they ties you to a rope and drags you under the ship’s bottom from one end to t’other. Does you know what’s on the bottom of a ship? Barnacles sharp as razors, that’s what. Shells as will rip your skin off—if you survive the haul, that is. Most men don’t. Poor Harry! He vanished forever under the
Maria Louisa
. Never even come up.”
    “Only the rope,” sighed Skittles, “all ragged and torn.”
    “Sharks!” said Jack the Rat. “They smells blood, even through the water.”
    “A nasty end,” said Moyle. “Can’t even be a ghost! Not after the sharks gets you.”
    “He weren’t laughing
that
day,” added Jonas. “Poor, poor Harry.”
    The pirates lapsed into reverent silence. But for Lewis, the story hadn’t ended.
    “And then … then you moved in here?”
    “Nah,” said Moyle. “This house weren’t built yet. We lived in a cave, them first years. It were down the beach, half mile north.”
    “You haunted a cave?” said Lewis to himself. At least, he
thought
he said it to himself.
    “We don’t calls it haunting.” Crawley gave Lewis an irritated glance. “Me and the boys, we don’t go around clanking chains or moaning or all that bilgewater. We just … what you would call, makes ourselves to
home
.”
    “It were
terrible
nasty and cold in that cave,” said Jonas, shivering fiercely at the memory. “Especially in winter! And we was there for many a year. So when this big house were built, this Shornoway, we was glad to come inside and make ourselves a nice, cozy place here.”
    Watching Jonas shiver, Lewis couldn’t help wondering if he had
ever
gotten over the effects of the cave.
    “Aye,” said Crawley, as if he were reading Lewis’s mind, “that cave were a misery, especially for our Jonas, being used to a warmer clime. And all these years since—”
    “Centuries!” said Moyle.
    “All these
centuries
,” repeated Crawley, “we’s been glad to have a home here with your family. Part of thefamily ourselves, you might say. Still, we knows where our
real
home is—on our ship. The
Maria Louisa
! Ever since we heard from your great-granddad that our ship were found and stowed in that little moo-see-um, why, we’ve been aiming to get ourselves there.”
    “It’s where we belongs,” said Moyle. “Your granddaddy, he promised to take us to that moo-see-um himself. But he were just too old! Couldn’t do it.”
    “We’s been waiting for
you
, lad,” said Skittles softly. “You’ll help us, won’t you?”
    The pirates all turned plaintive eyes on Lewis.
    “Me?” He shrank back. “Why do you need
my
help? Why can’t you just go there if you want?”
    The pirates looked suddenly uncomfortable.
    “Well, me and the boys,” said Captain Crawley, glancing around at his crew, most of whom were staring at the floor, “we been here a long time.”
    “We doesn’t get out much,” mumbled Skittles.
    “That’s not true,” said Moyle, giving Skittles a cuff. “We went to that picnic, didn’t we?”
    “You mean the church picnic?” said Skittles. “The one where we scared that poor skinny preacher fellow off the bridge? Why, that were back in 1902.”
    “Were it really?” said Moyle in amazement. “That long ago?”
    “Aye, it were a fine day in—”
    “Stow it!” roared Crawley. He turned to Lewis with a sickly-sweet smile. “You see, lad, we needs your help because some of us have, well … settled in. Gone soft, like.”
    Lewis tried to understand. “Are you saying you’re … scared?”
    The gasp that followed came from every pirate in the room.
    “Scared?” snarled Jack the