The Inventors and the Lost Island Page 9

  Ada steered the whale as close to the rocky shore as she could without puncturing the ship. As soon as they breached the surface of the water, George raced to the hatch and climbed out into the warm, salty air with Ada trailing close behind. He already felt lighter and happier, knowing that in a few moments, he would see Oscar’s smiling face.

  “Oscar! Ooooscar!”

  The shore was strewn with gray and green-pocked boulders where the narrow beach met the water. Above, the edge of the cliff sheltered the beach like a massive overhanging porch. It was an alien landscape built for giants, and George had never felt so small. He picked his way over jutting rocks to the entrance of the caves, wading through the shallow waters until they reached the spot where the small rowboat was anchored—but the boat was empty, save for the worn-down nub of a pencil.

  “Look, Ada! This must be theirs!” Cupping his hands around his mouth, he called, “Oscar! Ruthie!”

  The cave answered with an echo: Oscar, Ruthie, Oscar, Ruthie, Oscar, Ruthie.

  An orange flash caught his eye.

  “I see Ruthie! Ruthie!” he shouted, flapping his arms wildly to attract her attention. The little orangutan shot out from the cave, climbing down the sheer wall of white limestone. Her fur was hard to miss as she swung like a pendulum from rock to rock, screeching loudly. At first, George thought this was some dream, that he couldn’t possibly have been right. But then the orange blur scampered across the shore, flung herself onto George’s back with a happy grunt, and wrapped her hairy arms around his neck.

  “Hello, Ruthie,” George said into her fur. Her arms were longer and her grip tighter than the last time he’d seen her, though she was still about the size of a human toddler. He’d never thought he’d be so happy to see an ape. “Where’s Oscar?”

  Ada wheeled her arms around to speak to Ruthie in semaphore, the language Oscar had taught her. Ruthie stood up with one foot on each of George’s shoulders and responded.

  “He’s in the cave, looking for rocks,” Ada interpreted.

  “Just as I suspected,” George said. “We’d better go in there and rescue him. We need to get Captain Bibble’s help as fast as we can.”

  Ada and Ruthie had another short exchange of hand waves. “Ruthie will stay here. She says there are bats in the cave. Lots of bats. She doesn’t like bats.”

  “On second thought, maybe it would be faster if we shouted to Oscar to see if he can come to us,” George said. He hadn’t traversed the sea just to be devoured by an army of bats.

  They moved cautiously into the mouth of the cave. The fissured entrance grew smaller as it tunneled deeper into the rock, but it was still larger than a cathedral doorway. Ahead, George could see only blackness. “Oscar! Are you in there? Oscar! It’s George and Ada!”

  George, Ada, and Ruthie waited. There was no response.

  “Are you sure he’s in there?” George asked.

  Just then, a dust-covered figure emerged from the cave, lugging a lantern in one hand and a heavy, lumpy bag in the other. His fingers were covered with chalky white powder and his legs were smeared with something that looked like mud.

  George’s heart leapt. Even under the layers of filth, he recognized his friend. “Oscar!”

  Oscar blinked in the sunlight. He looked confused and a little sad. But a second later, his face broke into a broad grin. “Ada? George!”

  He ran to them, falling into an embrace as soon as he was close enough.

  In a tumble of words, Ada and George told Oscar the story of the last three days. Just as Ada was describing George’s spoon fight with Cabeza de Perro, the crisp, clear sound of a ship’s bells clanged over the water. All four of them turned to see where the noise had come from. A small boat with a single sail appeared from behind a rocky outcropping that jutted into the sea.

  “OSCAR!” a familiar, booming voice called. The new boat sailed into the shadow cast by the enormous cliffs onto the choppy water. As it neared, a figure dressed all in gold waved furiously. It was Captain Bibble the Beastly (Junior), the Bane of Britain, Oscar’s father, who had accidentally abandoned him as a baby and then miraculously returned just in time to save all of their lives.

  Oscar smiled tightly in response.

  After he dropped anchor near the mechanical whale, Captain Bibble jumped out of his boat and splashed through the shallow waters toward his son.

  “I came as QUICKLY as I COULD,” he said, alternately shouting and speaking as if he lived inside an invisible swirling hurricane that sometimes muffled his voice, even though everyone else could hear him perfectly well at a normal volume. “And—if it isn’t the LORD of Devonshire and ADA Byron.”

  “Nice to see you again, Captain,” George said, hunching his shoulders uneasily. Bibble was Oscar’s father and was a trustworthy ally, but he was still a pirate. George couldn’t shake his first memory of the fearsome captain. Only months ago, Bibble had threatened to kill George multiple times after finding out that George was partly to blame for allowing the Society to kidnap his son.

  “I wish I could SAY the SAME,” Captain Bibble roared. “I’m having a TERRIBLE week. My new ship was STOLEN, and my crew was ATTACKED. I had to steal this FISHING BOAT to go rescue my SON from these BLASTED caves.”

  “Yes, I heard there were quite a few bats. Bats carry horrible diseases,” George said politely.

  Oscar pulled away from his father. “Rescue me from what? You stole that ship? Are you going to give it back?”

  “It’s hardly a SHIP. I’m EMBARRASSED to be SEEN in such a state. What sort of PIRATE doesn’t have a pirate SHIP?”

  “A land pirate?” George suggested.

  “It was a RHETORICAL question,” Bibble shouted. His left leg, which was an oar, slipped on moss-covered driftwood. He regained his balance with a string of salty curses. “I told you, SON, to stop WANDERING off. Now let’s get off this CURSED rock. I need to get my SHIP back.”

  “It’s not a cursed rock.” Oscar folded his arms. On his shoulders, Ruthie folded her arms as well. “I will not stop wandering off, and I’m not getting on that ship. You stole it. I told you how I feel about you stealing things from people.”

  “I’ll give it BACK once I have MY ship back,” Bibble said, his single eye throwing a frustrated glance at his son. He stumbled. “BLAST this leg. It’s broken AGAIN.”

  Ada stepped into the middle of the group, warily glancing from Oscar to Bibble and back again. “Why don’t we all take a moment to compose ourselves before we make any decisions about who is going where with whom? Captain Bibble, I’d be happy to fix your leg for you if you let me take a look at it. In return, I would be very obliged if you would take charge of one of my passengers.”

  “I’ve no ROOM for an extra crewman. I have enough MOUTHS to feed,” Bibble grumbled. He glared pointedly at Ruthie, who had wandered away to munch on a fistful of yellow flowers she had plucked from the cliffside. Oscar glared back.

  Ada leaned in conspiratorially. “What if I told you he’s a captive member of the crew that stole your ship?”

  Captain Bibble’s eye gleamed fiercely at the mention of a captive. He sat down on a boulder and removed his leg with his one arm, then handed the golden oar to Ada. “Very well.”

  With Oscar’s assistance and an elaborate pulley system, George and Ada hauled the sleeping Cabeza de Perro out of the whale and onto the shore, laying him out on a flat stretch of sand. All the while, the pirate’s head lolled back and forth, his chest rising and falling in a gentle snore.

  Ada knelt in the sand next to Captain Bibble so that she could ratchet the joint of his wooden leg while Oscar watched. A few feet away, George tightened the ropes around Cabeza de Perro’s wrists, working up the nerve to ask Captain Bibble for help. It would be easier if Captain Bibble were in a better mood. The friction between Oscar and his father was rougher than sandpaper. Finally, George said, “Captain Bibble, we’re glad to see that you and your crew are safe—but we were hoping to ask you for a favor. Have you heard of
someone named Don Nadie?”

  Captain Bibble stood up in shock but, without his left leg, ended up hopping wildly before plopping down on the rock again. “Have I HEARD of HIM? Every pirate CAPTAIN has heard of him. He’s a LEGEND, a GIANT, famous among pirates for stealing CREW MEMBERS.”

  As if in response, Cabeza de Perro began murmuring between his sharpened teeth.

  “Stealing crew members? What do you mean?” Ada asked.

  “He’s spent the last FORTY years in PRISON, where he built up a MASSIVE following with his SILVER tongue. His LACKEYS are everywhere,” Captain Bibble said, jutting his chin toward Cabeza de Perro.

  Bibble’s eye moved uncertainly to George. “Surely your GRANDFATHER, Lord Devonshire, told you about him?”

  George’s heart leapt into his throat. “He never said a word. But I wish he had, because Don Nadie hasn’t forgotten me. I think my grandfather was trying to protect me.”

  “He came after George in London,” Ada explained.

  The color washed from Captain Bibble’s face. “Do you MEAN to say that the BEAST is out of its CAGE?”

  Ada nodded grimly. “It seems so.”

  Bibble winced. The wind suddenly changed direction, gusting against the face of the rock and whipping the sea into choppy waves that crashed against the boulders at the cliff’s base. “Children, the world today is a GARBAGE heap. The best times are behind us. The seas used to be aflame with glorious battles. Pirates PILLAGED. Navies pursued. Cannons BOOMED. Those were the days when men were free to ROAM as they pleased and there was treasure to be found for those who DARED to seek it. Heroes and villains were EQUALLY matched. They fought each other with HONOR. Except ONE. One particular PERSON gave the REST of the villains a bad name. That person was Don Nadie. I know, because my FATHER met him once, in prison long ago.”

  Ruthie climbed down from the rocks and joined them. Bibble leaned forward, bringing his face so close to George that he could count the flecks of green in his wild blue eye. “My father was no SAINT. He was a pirate, after all. But even a PIRATE knows there are SOME men who shouldn’t be crossed. He said Don Nadie was CONSUMED by the desire for REVENGE. REVENGE is a road best walked ALONE.”

  Ada clamped Captain Bibble’s golden leg onto his stump. He stood up and flexed his leg, then tested it by splashing around in the shallow water.

  “THANK YOU,” the captain said.

  George followed Captain Bibble down to the water. “What did my grandfather take from Don Nadie to make him so angry? It’s not fair. My grandfather was a hero. He was only doing his duty.”

  Bibble’s face fell. “Well…”

  George’s pulse raced as he prepared to hear the story his grandfather had kept from him. “Go on.”

  “Don Nadie told my father that Lord Devonshire destroyed his family,” Bibble said softly. “I ASSUMED he meant he killed them. By throwing them in JAIL to ROT. To DIE.”

  The air left George’s lungs. Ada dropped her small wrench in shock. Oscar inhaled softly. Ruthie, glancing at all of them in turn, loped over to George and climbed into his arms, nuzzling into his chest. For a long moment, the only sound was the wind howling through the caves.

  “Impossible,” George said, shattering the silence. He squeezed Ruthie fiercely.

  “Naval officers did TERRIBLE things in the name of JUSTICE,” Bibble said sagely.

  “It’s not true,” George couldn’t help but shout. Tears pricked his eyes. “Of course it’s not. My grandfather was a hero. Don Nadie told your father lies. He wouldn’t—he wasn’t capable—”

  “Sometimes a HERO is only a HERO to some,” Bibble said, eyes darting at Oscar. “My FATHER was a HERO to ME, but your GRANDFATHER would have called him a SCOURGE and a SWAB—”

  “Stop,” George said. Anger had crept into his voice. “Just stop.”

  After a few moments, Oscar broke the silence. “What if he wants the Star of Victory? We can give it back, and everyone will be happy.”

  George pulled the Star out of his pocket and waved it angrily in the air, clutching it so tightly that the metallic rods dug into the skin of his palm. “We already thought of that. But they don’t want this. They want the map. It has to be hiding something dangerous. My grandfather must have hidden it to keep it safe.”

  “I only know ONE thing for sure. If Don Nadie is FREE, then no one except those who are LOYAL to him is SAFE. Forget about the MAP and find somewhere to hide before he FINDS you. Start a NEW life somewhere.”

  “No. I LIKE my life,” George bellowed, drawing himself up to his full height before realizing that he was doing so. “My grandfather saved the world from this villain once. It’s my job to do it again.”

  Oscar, who had been listening intently to the story, jumped to his feet. “I thought you’d say that,” he said. “Father, they’ve come for our help.”

  “Have they?” Captain Bibble asked, his voice suddenly quiet.

  “Yes, Captain Bibble,” Ada replied.

  Bibble averted his eyes as he brushed dried seaweed off his shirt and pants. “Well, I’m sorry to say that I don’t have a ship to run off to battle with. As you saw yourself, mine’s been stolen from me, and the new one’s not yet equipped for fighting.”

  “I have a solution for that,” Ada said. She gestured to where the mechanical whale bobbed above the water. The burnished metal hull glinted in the sun, as if winking at them. “My ship can comfortably hold eleven fully grown adults. Since three children and one juvenile orangutan equal the weight of two adults, that means we can take nine of your crew, given you’re all the median height and weight.…”

  “Batten down the hatches!” Oscar whooped. He splashed into the water toward the whale.

  “Stop, son. We’re not going,” Bibble said.

  “What?” All of George’s hopes came crashing down. What chance did they have against the Society of Nobodies without Bibble’s help? Ada’s lips parted in shock. She looked as stunned as George felt.

  Oscar waded back to his father, wearing the expression of someone who’d just had the air knocked out of him. A spotted lizard darted across the rock inches away from his hand and he didn’t even notice. “You’re not going to help my friends?”

  “I made a promise to stay away from Don Nadie. I intend to keep that PROMISE,” said Captain Bibble forcefully, the volume returning to his voice.

  Oscar clenched his fists. “But you fought them before! When they kidnapped me, you came to save me!”

  “I didn’t KNOW they were NOBODIES,” Captain Bibble bellowed. “Now that I DO, I want to get us as FAR away from them as possible. Let’s GO, Oscar.”

  “I made promises, too,” Oscar said. “I made promises never to abandon my friends the way my father abandoned me.”

  “That was an ACCIDENT. I’m here now,” Bibble roared.

  “Then you can stay here, but I’ve made up my mind. I’m helping my friends.” Oscar hoisted the rock-filled bag over his shoulder. “Ada and George, I’m coming with you.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  George felt whole again.

  Nothing that had happened in the last three days compared to the riotous joy George felt when Oscar climbed down the whale’s ladder with Ruthie atop his shoulders. It would have been even better if Captain Bibble had agreed to help, and he felt very sorry that Oscar and his father had parted on bad terms… but the four of them were together again. Even without Bibble’s crew, George felt invincible alongside his friends.

  By the time Oscar got settled in the cabin that Ada had designed for him—with a hammock with a built-in nest for Ruthie, a desk filled with art supplies, and even a small box for his rock collection—she had already set a course for Il Naso’s last known whereabouts according to Ada’s sources in Spain: Granada, which, George knew from his extensive studies of his grandfather’s map of Andalusia, the southernmost region of Spain, was only a few hours away by sea, then another few hours’ journey inland.

  While they sailed east by northeast across the warm
Alboran Sea, George and Ada told Oscar everything that had happened since they’d last seen him. They introduced Oscar to Patty and reenacted their epic capture of Cabeza de Perro. Ada chatted about C.R.U.M.P.E.T.S. and how she hoped she could convince her mother not to send her to the Somerville School for Ladies of Substance. When they ran out of things to say, George asked Oscar to draw him a picture of the children in the portrait at No. 10. Don Nadie knew too much about George, so it was only fair that George collected every scrap of information on Don Nadie that he could. Using only the details from George’s memory, Oscar began to draw an eerily accurate picture of the girl. As her round face and pointed chin appeared line by line, George pressed Oscar for details about his last two months on the pirate ship with his father.

  “I thought I’d be spending more time with my father. But he was always ordering me around: hoist this, swab that. Or he was busy shouting and eating and sailing and pirating… he didn’t even have the time to teach me about coral.” Oscar paused, eyes swimming with unspilled tears. “You were right, George. I’m not a pirate. I don’t belong with my father’s crew.”

  A pang of guilt moved in George’s stomach. When they had first met, he’d told Oscar that his dream of reuniting with his pirate father was silly and naïve. But he had been wrong. More than finding half of the Star of Victory in Ruthie’s belly, discovering Captain Bibble in the middle of the sea was nothing short of a miracle.

  George swept his arm around Oscar’s shoulder and squeezed. “Don’t say that! Your father loves you. He searched the world to find you. He never stopped looking.”

  Grunting softly, Ruthie ambled toward them and slung her arm around Oscar’s other shoulder, a mirror image of George’s embrace.

  “Only after he abandoned me,” Oscar added glumly.

  “He’s made some mistakes, but that’s no reason to give up on him. No one is perfect. Take me, for example,” George said. “I was a disaster before I became friends with you and Ada. I couldn’t even leave my house for fear of something awful happening. But look at me now, sailing the open seas like my grandfather! My luck is improving by the day. I won’t let you and your father lose each other again. As soon as we get the map back from Il Naso, we’ll find Captain Bibble and fix whatever’s gone wrong between you.”