With Nazz and Kevin
The same day Rolf embarked on a ship to the Caribbean seas Nazz and Kevin embarked on a merchant brig to go after the Eds. There was however one thing, the ship was going to the Caribbean seas but not to where the three tricksters went they had to first go to the port of Santiago de Cuba. They talked with the ship's captain to go to the Leeward Islands; Problem was only the fact that the captain has to go to other 2 ports beforehand.
"Man I can't believe that we will have to wait till we capture those dorks." Commented Kevin while walking on the docks.
"Kevin at least we will be getting to the place where they are." Nazz said.
"I just hope that we will not have to wait for too long till we get there."
"Kev, stop worrying if we are here in Cuba let's at least profit from the time that we will be staying here." Commented Nazz, and in a way Kevin accepted. The day there besides from what they have to do as part of the crew they also managed to visit some places till the sun started to settle down when the quartermaster blew his whistle for all to gather and come back.
"Well it wasn't so bad the time here." Commented Nazz but Kevin was more looking to the Spanish señoritas and wasn't paying attention to Nazz which attracter her jealousy, in that moment the sails had been lowered.
"Yeah it really was a good time." Commented Kevin still watching at the girls in the port while the ship was departing.
"And now I am glad that we left." Said Nazz with jealousy in her words, having in mind to give the boy a lesson.
Back at the Leeward Islands
In the local tavern the Eds were having a decent meal thanks to the money they had found in the bags they managed to order some roasted chicken with gravy and bread, while they were eating silently they were talking between themselves regarding their escape.
"All right listen tomorrow we should be granted a day on leave during this time we could go and see the ships and choose which one to use in our escape." Said Eddy.
"Eddy I believe we should also meet with Long John after our meal to also talk regarding our escape he would also know when we should be the right moment." Commented Double D.
"We will go today Double D don't worry but for now let's enjoy the meal. This chicken had managed to wash up the taste of paper we had at the barrack." Commented Eddy resuming back to eating, while Double D was eating his meal silently he started to hear talk from two new sailors that were at the table behind them.
"Man have you heard the news?" Asked one fat sailor.
"What News?" Asked a thinner one
"We rescued a man from the water on our voyage; he was from a three master ship called Avalon, there had been a mutiny there and he managed to escape." He said taking a drink from his mug full of rum. "He said that three pirates were in the middle."
"Three pirates! They must be the ones Long John warned me." Whispered Double D to himself.
"It is said that they are on course to get right here to St. Kitts, they might arrive in three days time starting from tomorrow this an estimate because they had just captured 2 schooners immediately after they took command of the ship." Said the first sailor.
"Eddy, today we must go to Mr. Silver." He said shivering.
"Boy what is the rush Double D?"
"The sailors from behind they told of a mutiny on a ship organized by three pirates. Those pirates are the ones Long John warned me about they said that they might arrive here."
"Trouble, bad, big." Said Ed.
"It means that from today we must start drafting the plans to escape from here and we must leave as soon as possible before they arrive, never imagined that now we will have to avoid buccaneers coming to us."
"Let's talk about this with Mr. Silver, and draft the plan quick." Said Double D, after they finished eating they got out from the tavern and went back in the town. Double D was showing them the house where the sailor Long John Silver was, they arrived at the house of the sailor in no time and Double D knocked at the door and the sailor greeted them inside.
"Ahh so you returned quickly I didn't expect you will bring your friends in the first day we met." He said that to Double D.
"Hallo my name is Ed." Said less intelligent one.
"And I am Eddy."
"Nice to meet you two, now what is the reason for the visit?" Asked Long John.
"Mr. Silver I have to tell you something important, while we were at the inn eating a meal I heard 2 sailors talking, they said about a mutiny on ship led by 3 pirates. We were wondering if they are the same people you spoke of." Said Double D.
"Arrgh, it is possible they are."
"If it is them what should we do?" Asked Eddy.
"All of us must look at thi ships today and tomorrow and choose which one to take. Our best way to escape is only with a fast ship meaning we must take one of thee Sloops of war that are present in the fleet." Said Long John.
"But taking a Sloop of war is difficult not to mention sailing it with only the 4 of us."
"It is the only way a Sloop is fast and very easy to manage and more acceptable then a bigger one not to mention the fact that we must leave during the night and only during the night with all the light out."
"The only thing is which of the sloops should we take Mr. Silver?" Asked Double D.
"Please call me only Long John."
"OK Long John." Said Eddy.
"We must take the last one in the fleet the one that is at the very margin."
"You mean the Seagull that one is at the very margins of the fleet." Said Double D.
"Exactly, aside from that we must make sure we do the next thing. We must get everyone on board off the ship by all means necessary and we must do so without damaging the ship."
"Problem is how?" Said Double D.
"You sure find a way, from what I heard you three were the most ingenious kids in your neighbourhood when it came to mischief."
"We must first analyze the situation to find the best possible solution and hit at the best moment only then we could leave."
"We only have the time, today and tomorrow to figure something out to make all the members of the crew leave the ship in the night when we want to escape. We have to find the perfect excuse or the perfect reason to have them off the ship." Eddy said.
The rest of the day was spent watching at the ships in the docks, in a way they learned that usually, while in port the sailors always want to stay on dry land and in a way only a few people were staying on the ship, during the night the sailors would spent their time drinking while during the day many would stay on board and only at night they would go out. That was the thought for the first day while watching what the sailors were doing they had to see what they do in the next day.
The next day brought the same routine for all three of them; however there was one thing to notice and that was the fact that they had at last received new clothes from the army. Double D was especially overjoyed about that.
"Ahh nothing is better then clean clothes fresh out from both the tannery and been dry." Commented Double D.
"At least this one fits me a bit better than the old one." Commented Eddy.
"Well now our new assignment is next, we must only patrol today in the city the area includes also the docks. So we shall be able to observe the ships and their crews and decided when will be our course of action." Double D informed them.
"Wonderful, I today really will be our day guys. I just hope that we will manage everything before those buccaneers would arrive." Said Eddy.
"Me too I want to stay with my feather friends." Ed said while feeding both his chicken and the parrot.
We shouldn't have problems if the corporal will not interfere. I started to think that he suspects us that we are out to leave the place." Eddy Said.
"The only thing to note is only to watch out for possible problems, this time we should have the telescope at our disposal in order to look for possible uninvited guests like the other kids or the pirates." Said Double D.
"In a way I hope that something might happen to give us an idea on how to solve our problem with how to get the sailors off the Sloop." Said Eddy while preparing some fresh eggs, yes they don't want to eat more portage like yesterday when he wanted to take the silverware he bumped into the wardrobe filled with bottles of rum, he then went to another and find other bottles filled with liquor.
"Man the pirate that stayed here lover rum more than gold or his mom." Eddy commented showing the bottles to the others.
"I really wonder what we could do with them. I am not for the liquor especially not rum." Double D said.
"What else do you think we will make a rum stand, 6 pennies for a cup of rum, and we could sell to everyone around, we shouldn't waste it."
"I really don't know what to say about this."
"What other ideas would you have, there are drunkards all-around the place, almost at every corner." Eddy said.
The rest of the day went without any interruption; all three had managed to find out more about what every crew on the ships were doing and eventually they had managed to draft a plan on how to get the sailors off.
"Well it seems that things don't change over-night or over two days." Commented Double D.
"We have to find a way to get them off the Sloop." Commented Eddy before hearing a noise coming from the tavern.
"What that could be?" Asked Ed.
"Let's see what it could be." Said Eddy and the three went there to notice a full out war between drunken sailors fighting either over money or over a bottle of rum, they were all throwing either money or chairs at one another. The Eds were watching at the scene when the corporal and the captain of a ship came.
"What is going on here?!" Shouted the captain pulling out his pistol and shoot in the air.
"Like I said Double D, drunkards all around." Commented Eddy and then coming out with an idea.
"I do admit that." Said Double D while Eddy got both of them and dragged them to a corner between two houses and close to him.
"I now know what we can do to get the sailors out from the Sloop we will take."
"Really?"
"We shall orchestrate a great drunken brawl between the sailors of the Seagull that are on the shore, we will gather as many of them to one place by a rumour regarding free or cheap drinks, and then we tell the captain and the others that aren't on leave to go there. While they are busy we make our escape." Eddy Explained.
"Do you think it will be a good idea?" Double D asked not knowing how thing will turn out.
"It is our best idea for now. We shall use some of the rum in the house didn't you said you want to get rid of it?"
"Ed likes the idea." Ed said.
"Now let's go and tell Long John. After we finish our shift we go make an inventory of the bottles and tomorrow evening we put the plan at work." Eddy said and went on with the patrolling around.
"Hey, you three again." Shouted the Corporal and the three turned back to him.
"Aaaah, good day Corporal." Said Double D.
"I came to inform you that you must go to the fort to watch for three hours in the horizon."
"Ah, sir did you applies to us because anyone else is busy?" Asked Double D.
"No, because you were the first I put my eyes on. Now go to the fort to begin you shift." He ordered and the three complied.
"I told you he is trouble whenever we met him." Eddy whispered while moving towards the fort. They took position to one of the palisades near the cannons and started to watch in the horizon everything seems going well except from the black clouds that are in the horizon.
"I don't like the sight of the clouds in the horizon, I heard that the worst thing one would experience in the Caribbean sea are the great storms called hurricanes." Double D explained dreading of the thought of a hurricane coming.
"If a storm will come I hope that we will be able to find a place to hide till it stops, and wouldn't start before we finish this shift." Commented Eddy.
"Ship ahoy." Shouted Ed pointing to another brig this time with a Spanish flag, the boys stayed for a time there and as the time passed the black clouds were approaching more and more. Other three soldiers then came to replace them and they went out from the fortress and immediately to Long John's house.
"I can't say much except for the fact that this might be the best way to get the sailors off the sloop however we might have to postpone the escape for the moment." Said Long John.
"Why should we postpone?" Asked Eddy.
"The clouds outside indicate only one thing, a hurricane will be coming and probably hit the island I don't know how hard it will be but it might be a possibility some ships might be damaged and because of that we can't go." Said the old sailor.
"So what should we do, barricade ourselves in our house till the storm clears?" Eddy asked.
"When it came to hurricanes you can't lock yourself in a house. You must go up in the mountains and take shelter in a cave, this is what the Indians are doing whenever a hurricane hits."
"So we have to pack our stuff and go to the mountains in order to escape the storm?" Eddy asked.
"It will also be a good opportunity for you, the soldiers would think that you have disappeared during the storm and might not try to search for you. There are always events when people went missing in those events, ships also if one doesn't know how to main them." Explained the sailor.
"When do you think the storm might start?" Double D asked before noticing that the wind starts to get more and more violent.
"More sooner than expected, we should all prepare for the storm, our best interest to get out of here, will be in three days starting from tomorrow or even sooner if the pirates arrive." The sailor said.
"But how we will not be recognised by the others?" Ed asked.
"Soldiers always get replaced, right now the army tries to recruit others in order to supplement the ones that had been killed, for them other three soldiers that disappeared mean nothing. Now you better go and prepare yourself when you find a suitable cave get into it." Said Long John and the three boys complied and went to the house, they took all their belongings and Eddy took the money bags and went into the jungle outside the town to get to higher ground. While walking the wind was getting more and more powerful good thing that Double D was having a map of the island while Ed aside from the bag he was also holding the two birds.
"So Double D, where are the caverns?" Asked Eddy.
"We shouldn't be far." Said the boy looking at the map they moved forward several steps till they reached a cave.
"We are here at last. Here is the cave." Double D said and they entered the cave one by one just in time when the storm started.
"Long John was right regarding storms here." Eddy commented lighting up a lantern. "Hope we will not have to stay here for too long."
"Probably we will have to stay for at least a night when storm calms down." Said Double D.
"I hope that Long John will be alright guys." Said Ed with worry in his voice.
"Yeah I also hope the same; in a way Double D we will need him to get us off this island." Commented Eddy before hearing a thunder outside.
"I really do hope that he will be all right after this." Double D said.
With Rolf
Rolf's journey to the islands of the Caribbean with Wilfred wasn't too adventurous aside from the fact that he proved himself a very hardworking, loyal sailor to everyone in the crew. When they first stopped at Hispaniola he mainly preferred to stay on board looking in the horizon wanting only to get to the final destination to find the Eds and give them the Wrath of the Son of the Sheppard. At that moment he together with Wilfred were watching in the Horizon at the settling sun thinking how much he came so far.
"We shall get to the ed-boys Wilfred and then we shall be back." He said before a sailor came with a bottle of rum.
"Hey there friend don't you want some rum to pass in the day?" He asked.
"Rolf doesn't drink fire water."
"Too bad." He said taking a drink. "You will be however happy for the latest news, we shall soon set sail for Leeward Islands more specifically St. Kitts and Barbados they had been recently liberated by the army and we will be going to get sugar and spices. From I know the people you are looking are there." He said taking another drink, this information only made the boy to get more interested.
"When the wind will take Rolf there?" He asked.
"We will probably leave tomorrow but we will take a much longer route, the weather is not quit good at the moment." Said the sailor before going back to his rum while the boy turned to the pig.
"Wilfred we will get to our target before the next full moon." He said.
The next day.
All the Eds were sleeping in the caves on separate rafts with them covered, Double D then smelled a hideous stench coming from none other than Ed which woke him up.
"Ugh, oh mine. Well at least I dressed in my old uniform for the night." Double D said to himself before looking up to see that the sun was up in the sky.
"Gentlemen wake up the storm had passed." He said shaking his friends to wake up.
"yawn, well at least we had survived this hurricane although I would have preferred the bed." Eddy said.
"Let's now go back to town I guess we must try to blend again with the troops and look as if we are new soldiers, and of course meet up with Long John to see if he is all right." Said Double D.
"I know and probably eat something when there." Said Eddy.
"Ed would want that." Said Ed while getting on their feet and started to move out of the cave and towards the town, on the road the three saw that the forest wasn't much spared, there were lots of palm leaves left around not mentioning the fact that a whole tree had been brought down.
"Man I don't want to know how the town went through all this." Commented Eddy while going on the road.
"I do hope it isn't too much worst then the forest." Double D said before Ed came up with an idea and jumped up a tree to look in the horizon holding both his chicken and the parrot.
"It is a bit." Ed said and his friends turned to him.
"How bad exactly." Asked Eddy.
"Not too much, but some roofs are loose." He said before they went to the margins of the forest and saw that some of the roofs had holes in them and the streets were full of stuff thrown everywhere while the both civilians and soldiers were trying their best to clean and repair everything. The three went to the house where they were and noticed the fact that both inside it wasn't too much destruction with the exception of the roof that only needed the holes to be covered.
"Well we only have to repair the holes in the roof if we want to go on live here while we can." Double D said.
"It wouldn't be a big deal, from what I know the pirate didn't only had rum bottles all over the place but also tools and materials for possible repair down in the basement." Eddy said.
"So we will continue to live here Double D?"
"Of course we will Ed. We must only do a bit of reorganization to our home." Said Double D.
"That would be until we manage to leave with the Sloop." Came another voice and noticed Long John at the door.
"Long John you are alright."
"It wasn't bad at all plus this wasn't my first hurricane I had to experience." He said.
"Guess while we had been absent the ships were also a bit damaged?" Asked Eddy.
"Just a few scratches to say the least, tomorrow everything will be repaired from what I can tell." He said.
"Guess the plan didn't changed we shall try to leave the island in three days." Eddy said.
"Indeed and from what I can tell everyone starting from today will have a lot of work to do in order to repair everything and usually people tend to celebrate it so all the crews on the ships might be absent in the night when we shall depart. However we must now watch for new coming ship."
"Oh yeah the pirates we remembered what you told us Long John." Double D said.
With Johnny and Plank
Johnny never imagined the fact that he will have for a time work for pirates at the beginning of this endeavour, a lot of thing he didn't thought and just to say that Plank had warned him regarding the pirates. He was now made to wash the ship, clean the potatoes and serve rum to the pirates.
"About time wood boy." Said one of the pirates with an eye covered, whom Johnny served a bottle of rum.
"I now wish to never have left the cul-de-sac." He said.
"Don't go so hard on yourself you will be happy to hear that right now we will be going to where your three friends are, they probably met our men and we will find both them. We shall arrive in three days." Said Morgan.
"Right they are not the main concern for both me and Plank."
"But you were the one who wished to go after them, anyways we don't have anything with them but we might use them to get our target. Hahaha." Said Dick.
"And if you don't manage?"
"We will be using you to track all your friends." Said Yellow Dog.
"The Eds will not come after me and Plank."
"Could be, could they come." Said Morgan while looking at the map.
"But it will not be necessary to look for them since we will arrive very soon and no kid can run too far on an island."