I thought that the rogues might proceed to loot our cabins, and thus find several items that would be dangerous in their hands. The Djinn, for instance. Mrs. Bamfield admitted her fear that they might steal her first edition of the " Moonlight " book she had been reading. It was a rare edition, and signed by the author. Everyone at once assured her that her book( however treasured by herself) would be quite safe from the company of pirates. I resisted stating that they might have more use for it than me, however. Instead of looting our quarters, the pirates immediately ransacked the kitchen where they discovered various types of alcohol and proceeded to inebriate themselves. They were, I fear, foreigners.
Percy tapped me on the arm, then indicated one of the portholes.
" Did you not," he said. " Fit through one of these before? You could come around to the door, and release the rest of us."
Looking at the dimensions of the porthole, I could see the proportions of my wardrobe were too great! I knew at once that I must change outfits! Luckily, I had rescued just such a thing from the blob! With some help from Missus Mister and Brunhilde, who guarded my noble changing from the prying eyes of men, I managed to slip into something more squeezable.
" You must give me a hand up," I told Percy, opening the porthole and bracing my hands on the edge. He did so, with rather more vigor than I had prepared for. Instead of balancing upon the porthole edge, and then taking a moment to decide my next action, I went sailing clean through. And landed, not upon the decking as I anticipated, but the collapsed and mangled remains of the walkway! I knew at once that the blob had been nearby, for the outer edge of the ship was corroding.
Struggling in the wind, I managed to scurry back through an exit door. I released the captives from the library and we began to head towards the bridge.
" Most inconvenient," Captain Hammerhorn grumbled.
We made it successfully to the bridge, only to discover the reason why the rest of the ship had seemed so empty of invaders. The pirates, apparently preferring their debauchery with a view, had taken over the bridge itself. Drunken pirates were draped across flat surfaces; their Captain, with his long, red goblin nose, looked up at us.
" You knave!" Captain Hammerhorn shouted, staring indignantly at the bottle still clenched in that pirate ' s hand. " You have drunk my best bottle of rum! We are taking back my ship, now!"
Throwing back his shoulders, Captain Hammerhorn shifted a step to the right and laid his hand upon one of the many levers on the panel beside him. " You, sir, will immediately vacate my ship."
I saw immediately that the pirate understood the meaning of Captain Hammerhorn ' s threat, even though I, myself, did not. The pirate straightened out of his easy slouch, and a wary alertness came into his eyes. I will admit Sir Hammerhorn looked quite magnificent with his great mustache billowing in the wind and his hand firm upon the mysterious lever. I quite believed he would actually do it; whatever it was he meant to do!
" You wouldn ' t dare," the pirate captain said. He put his hands on his hips and stared arrogantly down from his great height. Captain Hammerhorn and the pirate stared at each other, the blood rising in Hammerhorn ' s face until it quite matched the nose of the pirate.
The subtle throb of the engine immediately sputtered and went out. For a moment, there