CHAPTER THREE:

If you think you can hold me down

I beg to differ

If you think you can twist my words

I'll sing forever

My heart was made to be filled up with love

Not to be ordered or broken or shoved

My hands were made to hold other hands

Not to hold swords in faraway lands

"Bosun! On watch!"

Tumblebrutus looked longingly at the docks as the other four members of the crew raced away to hunt. As bosun, it was his duty to guard the ship. It was so boring, though, and he hadn't been hunting for so long! The others were supposed to bring him back a share of anything they caught, but most of them either forgot or didn't want to bother, so Tumble was almost constantly hungry. Besides, it was the thrill of the chase that he missed. Nothing ever happened on watch. Tumble leaped up onto the top of the cabin and curled up around the hatch trapdoor, gazing up at the crescent moon. He knew he wasn't like the other pirates, but he didn't know why. For one thing, he hated killing, and violence didn't seem to be part of his nature, yet all the other Cats didn't mind, and some actually liked driving innocent victims off the plank. Tumble ruefully remembered the time he had first realised that when they did that, the captured Cat actually died. He had earned himself a few sore bruises that day!

'Why am I different?' Tumble thought to himself. 'It's not like I've ever known anything except life on the barge. I was born to it.' With that thought, Tumblebrutus realised with a shock that he wasn't actually sure about that fact. He had never considered it before, but he suddenly knew that somewhere, he must have parents. But Tumble hadn't ever given them a thought. 'I wonder who my parents are. I'd like to meet them, someday.' He thought. He tried to think back as far as he could ever remember. He didn't usually think back, so he was surprised at the earliest memory he could uncover.

"Hsss! Kitten!" Tumblebrutus turned, and saw a huge Cat leap from the silent boat and land on the dock. He stared up in awe. He'd never seen a Cat as big as this one, except Old Deuteronomy!

"Hey, kit," The Cat said, kneeling down, "My name is Growltiger. I saw you looking at my boat. Would you like to see it?" Tumblebrutus grinned in excitement.

"Yes, yes please!" He said happily. Growltiger smiled.

"Good! Come with me," He said, and took the tiny kitten's paw. "After three, jump. One, two, three!" They leapt, and landed on the boat. Tumblebrutus stared around in amazement. The first time he'd ever been on a boat!

"Now, I'll tell you a secret," Growltiger said. "I'm a pirate!"

"A real pirate!" Tumblebrutus breathed, staring with shining eyes at the big Cat.

"Yep. And I can make you a pirate, too. Would you like to be a pirate?" He asked the kitten.

"Yeah! I want to be a pirate!" Tumblebrutus cried, bouncing with excitement.

"Well, you can! Come with me," Growltiger offered, opening a door in the cabin.

That was where the memory stopped. Tumble sat up in surprise. So he hadn't been born on the barge, after all! And there was a name he remembered. Old Deuteronomy. Who was that? He thought harder than he'd ever thought before, but all he could manage to remember was a faint, fuzzy vision of…what was it? A place full of old, abandoned things, piled high in every-which-way. He remembered a soft, comforting presence, snuggling up to a warm body…and nothing more. 'Maybe that was my mother,' Tumble wondered. He sighed, wishing Grumbuskin was here. He was the only crew member likely to know where Tumble came from, except Growltiger, and Tumble certainly wasn't going to ask him! Thinking of Grumbuskin and his escape, an idea struck him. Why should he stay on the barge? Growltiger was a tyrant and an awful captain. They didn't call him the Terror of the Thames for nothing! He was very mean to all his crew, and to Tumblebrutus it seemed that the captain often singled him out and picked on him.

Why hadn't he thought of this before? He would go!

In one of his amazing leaps, he launched himself from the barge onto the dock. He took a few steps, then looked back. It was going against all he'd ever been taught to leave the ship unguarded……but why did that matter? Tumblebrutus shrugged to himself. Growltiger had killed his best friend, the only Cat he'd ever known to be nice to him. It wasn't Tumble's nature to be vengeful, but the thought did cross his mind that it would serve Growltiger right if his precious barge were taken! Without another thought, Tumble scampered across the dock and into the streets of London.