The Great Galloon and the Pirate Queen by Tom Banks Read Free Book Online Page A

rattle of paper as Rasmussen began to look through the big book she had found.
    â€˜Do you think that’s really the Grand Sumbaroon we keep hearing on the Examinator?’ asked Stanley. ‘It’s never let me hear anyone but Mother before.’
    â€˜Don’t know – it could be. But it could be a dastardly trick of some kind. Whatever it is, it’s one of the two important things we need to get to the bottom of.’
    â€˜What’s the other?’ said Stanley.
    â€˜This biscuit barrel. Have a Mustard Cream.’
    â€˜Err, no thanks. What else is there?’
    Rasmussen delved deeper.
    â€˜Salted Milk, Indigestives, Farty Rings, Witch Tea, spare door key …’
    â€˜Yuk,’ said Stanley. ‘Grown-ups like weird biscuits.’
    â€˜Yup,’ said Rasmussen. ‘Look here – the Great Brown Greasy Rococo River.’
    She was poring over a page in the atlas. Stanley, absent-mindedly taking a Dead Fly biscuit from the barrel, leaned over to look. He saw a great double-page spread of a beautifully coloured map, hand drawn and covered in the notes and scribbles of a number of previous owners. Here and there were little inscriptions such as ‘Here Be Dragons’, which some stickler had struck through and replaced with ‘There are dragons here’. Elsewhere were equally worrying labels such as ‘The Lost City of El Bravado’. Most of the page was coloured dark green, and labelled ‘The Uncharted Forest’. Through it ran the wide brown ribbon of the Rococo River.
    â€˜This,’ said Rasmussen, ‘is more useful than a doormat.’
    â€˜Yes,’ agreed Stanley. ‘Unless you want to wipe your feet.’
    Rasmussen gave him a Look.
    â€˜It’s got the sea on it too,’ said Stanley. ‘Look, we must be here.’
    He pointed to a line on the map that said ‘The Dumps’ in a curly script. Underneath it in bolder writing: ‘Here Goes Nothing’.
    â€˜I think the Captain would like to see this!’ said Rasmussen. ‘But we’re stuck in here, at the whim of Skyman Abel, unable to get to him, with no way out and no idea where he is! What are we to do?’
    â€˜Use the Squeaking Tube to find out where the Captain is, then unlock the door with the spare key from the biscuit barrel, and go and see him to save our good names?’ said Stanley.
    â€˜Oh, okay,’ said Rasmussen, holding up a little brown stick. ‘I always say that stopping for a biscuit is the best way to get things done. Chocolate Toe?’
    Up in the crow’s nest, Cloudier was looking at the world. The sea was still mirror-calm. Above the Galloon was a cloudless sky. Beside her, the Captain was scanning the horizon with his long brass telescope.
    â€˜Hmmm,’ he said. ‘I’m disappointed, Cloudier. I felt sure that with the sea this calm, we’d be able to see the Sumbaroon if she broke surface anywhere between here and Horizon Island. Maybe she’s better at staying under than we thought.’
    Cloudier was disappointed too. With a hand over her brows, she squinted pointlessly all around.
    â€˜What next then, Captain?’ she said.
    â€˜Well, I wonder,’ said the Captain. ‘Unhook the tube, would ye, and hail the towing party?’
    â€˜I’m not sure how to “hail” anything …’ said Cloudier, feeling young and ignorant.
    â€˜Oh, by Cripes, I’m sorry. “Hail” in this instance just means “talk to”. I don’t know why I didn’t say that in the first place.’ The Captain smiled at her and went back to scanning the horizon.
    â€˜Err … crow’s nest to towing party?’ said Cloudier, uncertainly, into the cone.
    Immediately a distant voice came back up the tube.
    â€˜Towing party standing by, sir. All boats fully manned and womanned. Skyman Kollick reporting.’
    â€˜Oh, er hello, Mr Kollick. How’s