Chapter Two

Chapter Two.

 

 

The pride of the Jigswiggle fortune is a pair of bloomers that once belonged to Queen Anne. The tale of how Queen Anne lost her bloomers is a long one, so I will not bore you with it here. Let me just say it is a tale of great cunning, a melon, and a long piece of string. Amongst the crew, the bloomers are known as Annie’s Undies.

Cabin Boy scratches his elbow. He rubs the back of his neck. He thinks of where the bloomers may be.

Maybe Captain Jigswiggle had them washed, in which case they would be with the laundry. Then Cabin Boy remembers that aboard The Belching Barfsniffer, laundry is washed and returned on a Monday. If the bloomers had been with the laundry, they would have been returned with the captain’s clean clothes.

Cabin Boy goes carefully through all the clothing in the captain’s wardrobe, starting with his underwear. He does not find the bloomers. Biting his nails, he wonders if the undies have been returned to another pirate by mistake.

There is only one pirate aboard The Belching Barfsniffer likely to mistake the bloomers for her own - Missy McMicky.

Missy McMicky is the only female pirate aboard the ship. Only, she does not like to be called a pirate. She says that if a female on stage is an actress, and a female waiting on tables is a waitress, then she should be called a piratess. She has written two letters to the pirate committee about it, but they have not yet got back to her.

If Cabin Boy is to return Annie’s Undies before the captain misses them, he must do it before sundown. When the sun retreats from the sky, Captain Jigswiggle retreats to his cabin. Some even whisper he is afraid of the dark - not that Cabin Boy believes them.

The Belching Barfsniffer is a big ship. Finding Missy will take hours if Cabin Boy roams the decks looking for her. Licking his dry lips, Cabin Boy thinks that maybe he should be looking for a good hiding place instead. Yes, he could jump ship at the next port, and -

Even as he is thinking it, Cabin Boy knows he will not be hiding, and that he will not be leaving the ship. The Belching Barfsniffer is a jolly fine ship, and Captain Jigswiggle is a good captain, as far as pirate captains go.

Then an idea snaps into Cabin Boy’s head. With a flutter in his belly, he weaves his way around barrels and over boxes to a small room under the stairs.