The Monster Hunter Read Online Free PDF

drunken wreck of a man hurling precious carrots at seagulls.
    â€˜I was reading Treasure Island to him, Captain,’ said Ben carefully, as he scrubbed the floor clean of the spilt cocoa, trying hard not to look into the Captain’s squinting eyes.
    â€˜Damn it, lad! Do you not know the power of words? We’re at sea – you don’t introduce anything you can’t control while surrounded by water.’ Captain Dante limped over to a barrel of preserving salt and sat down hard. He never stood for long on account of a wound on his leg that had never healed properly. ‘That man has carried a copy of that book with him for close on three years, since its publication, and not once has it been read to him. Do you not think in that time I wouldn’t have perhaps read the man’s book myself and seen how it cast his name in a far from favourable light?’
    Ben hung his head. He had long known that Silver was the villain but he had not thought once how that might affect the mind of a man who believed himself to have been immortalised as a hero.
    â€˜Listen, boy,’ continued Dante ‘I know you mean well and I can see you’re a hard worker but you just don’t get people, and those who don’t get people should avoid them. That’s why I came to sea – you get to keep your crowds small, bite off bits when you’re ready to deal with them. Take your time to get to know folks, Master Gaul, don’t just rush in and think their minds work like yours; you’ll always be disappointed when they don’t.’ Dante stood and walked to the door, reaching in his pocket as he went. ‘You’ll be down a book I’m guessing.’ And with thishe took a book from his pocket and threw it on to Ben’s hammock, which bounced under the considerable weight. ‘That should keep you out of my crew’s way for a while; it’s about a chap called Gulliver who goes on lots of sea journeys. It gets me through the long nights. You can return it when you’re done.’ He paused. ‘Don’t go reading it to Silver. I’d like to keep it out of the ocean if that’s OK with you.’ With this, Captain Dante limped off to calm his drunken cook, leaving Ben to clear up the remaining mess and look forward to reading the new story.
    The incident, however, had longer consequences. It was certainly not Ben’s fault that his reading of the book had ruined Silver’s life; there was always a question over the truth of Silver’s story anyway. Silver, though, turned even more to the drink after finding out about his villainous namesake, whereas previously he had spent his free time telling others of his literary fame. The drinking affected his cooking and this in turn affected the mood of the crew. Ben had never really been an eater so he still felt quite happy, but the other crew members were starting to get smaller portions or meals that were practically inedible; in one instance, a meal even caused several seamen to fall sick.
    One day while Ben was lying in his hammock in the galley doing some long overdue reading, the door opened and in came one of the crew, a young seaman by the name of Dawson. Dawson was around fifteen but had been at sea for four years now, making him tough and sinewy to look at. He had a salt- and wind-weathered skin, and this, together with an unfortunate skin condition, made him look rough and scaly and had saddled him with the nickname of Gator. Fortunately, it was a name he loved and it had prompted him to get a large alligator tattoo across his back, where the creature curled almost into an S-shape and appeared to be clinging on to the skin itself.
    Gator Dawson moved silently across the galley to the crates and started rummaging among the food stocks, driven by his hunger to find more than the slop he was now being served by Silver. He must have thought himself alone because the act of stealing food on a travelling