Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight.

 

 

The boatswain is where Cabin Boy expects to find him: in his hammock, fast asleep. Cabin Boy knows that waking a pirate is as smart as waking a bear, but it is important that Cabin Boy talks to him, as sunset is not all that far away.

Cabin Boy thinks furiously for a moment, before hatching a plan. Picking up a loose boot, he retreats around the corner, and drops it. The boot strikes the floor loudly. Cabin Boy waits a good while, and then strolls from his hiding place.

“Why, ‘ello, Mr Marshall,” he says to the sleepy boatswain, who has turned in his hammock and has opened his eyes. “I hadn’t expected to find you here. It’s a fine thing I did though, because I have something to ask you.”

“Just a second, kid. Let me find me sea legs.” The boatswain swings his legs over the edge of the hammock. “Now, where’s me other boot?”

“I may have seen it over there,” Cabin Boy says weakly. He walks to where he had dropped the boot and returns it to its owner.

Mr Marshall tugs on his boot, yawns and stretches. “So, what is it ye want to know, kid?”

Cabin Boy has not thought as far ahead as actually asking the boatswain about the missing bloomers. He doesn’t want the man to think he is being accused in any way, so as casually as he is able, Cabin Boy says, “Queen Anne’s bloomers are missing. Would you have seen them anywhere?”

A friendly, tinkling laugh emerges from behind the boatswain’s scruffy beard. “The cap’n has lost his precious undies? That’s a right old laugh! Have you checked to make sure he’s not wearing ‘em?”

Cabin Boy feels a little slighted for the Captain’s sake, but Mr Marshall’s manner quickly puts him at ease. He senses the boatswain is not a man to hold a grudge for long. No, if Mr Marshall has the bloomers, it would be because he finds it amusing to hide them from the captain. Cabin Boy frowns. Is there any way he will be able to get the truth out of the boatswain, without insulting the man?