Snake Bite by Andrew Lane Read Free Book Online Page A

story, once,’ Gittens confided. ‘Old sailor. He’d been on a ship that got boarded by Chinese pirates. They were ransacking the place and they believed the
captain had hidden some jewels from them, so they tied him between the masts, a rope tied tight around his right thumb and a rope tied tight around his right toe, and they hauled him up between the
foremast and the mizzenmast. Then they took turns riding on him like he was a swing.’
    ‘Ah,’ Sherlock said simply, but inside he was sickened at the casual brutality that Gittens had described.
    Gittens grinned, revealing a mouthful of blackened teeth. ‘They normally start with the youngest,’ he said. ‘That’ll be you, then.’
    ‘And you next,’ Sherlock pointed out.
    He glanced over to where Mr Larchmont was standing by the rail, telescope to his eye. Larchmont turned, and his expression was as black as the storm they had only recently escaped.
    ‘Sails on the horizon,’ he confirmed. ‘It’s pirates, lads, and we’re in for a fight!’

CHAPTER THREE
    Larchmont passed by and clicked his fingers at Sherlock and Gittens. ‘You two,’ he snapped. ‘Look lively now, and break out the weapons from the armoury.
Spread them among the crew.’ He slipped a rusty key from around his neck, where it was hanging from a cord, and handed it to Gittens. ‘Get on now – quickly. I’ll send
sailors down to collect them. When you run out of weapons, start issuing belaying pins. When you run out of belaying pins, issue hooks and chains.’
    ‘Armoury?’ Sherlock questioned as Larchmont stalked away to shout at another sailor. ‘I didn’t even know we
had
an armoury.’
    Gittens laughed bitterly. ‘Don’t start getting ideas,’ he said. ‘It’s not like this is a Naval warship. The armoury is just a cupboard near the Captain’s
cabin, and the weapons are things that’ve been collected on various voyages over the past couple of years. There’re some swords, some knives, and a couple of muskets and rifles so
rusted they’ll probably explode in a man’s hands as soon as the trigger is pulled. There’re also the axes that we use to chop timber up an’ splice ropes, and there’re
rumours that the Captain has an Army revolver that he picked up in a bazaar somewhere which he keeps under his pillow in case of mutiny.’ He laughed again, but there was no humour in the
sound. ‘Oh, and I suppose we can count Wu Chung’s cooking knives as well. Let’s hope he’s been sharpening them regular-like.’
    ‘It’s not a lot to fight off pirates,’ Sherlock said anxiously. ‘Don’t we have any cannon, or anything like that?’
    ‘This is a trading ship. We carry cargo. Cannon are heavy, and they take up space that could be used for stacking crates or sacks. No, our best chance is to pile on full sail, and hope we
can outrun them.’
    Sherlock frowned. ‘But the hold is
full
of cargo. That’s going to slow us down.’ He looked around. ‘Mr Larchmont needs to order the crew to throw the crates
overboard! We need to be as light as possible – that’s the only way we can get up enough speed!’
    He made to move off towards where Larchmont was shouting at the sailors to unfurl all the sails and tighten all the ropes, but Gittens caught at his arm.
    ‘Don’t be stupid,’ he hissed. ‘We didn’t sail halfway around the world so we could dump our cargo at the first sign of trouble. That’s where the Captain makes
his money. He’d rather order half the crew to jump in the sea than throw the cargo overboard. Sailors are ten a farthing. They can be picked up at any port. Losing cargo means losing
money.’ He glanced out towards the sea. ‘An’ based on what I’ve heard about Chinese pirates, I’d be first in line to jump. I’d rather take my chances with the
sharks, I surely would.’
    Gittens pulled Sherlock with him towards the nearest hatch. They made their way rapidly down into the inside of the ship, and Gittens led the way to an