Chapter 4
James smiled, watching Ron dash off, then turned to regard Aunt Katherine, who still stood beside him. He gave her a rather shy look before he spoke. "Er, Aunt Katherine…I, um, need to get over to the Gorine and find me cutlass…just in case," James told her.
Aunt Katherine nodded, understanding. "Go on…you do that, James," she agreed, shooing him on his way. Just as soon as James had disappeared from her view, she sighed---just a bit wearily---and began to sing softly to herself:
(Kanskje)
Maybe.
Maybe I've understood
(Kanskje jeg har forstått)
That you enjoy my company
(at du liker meg godt)
Maybe it's about time
(Kanskje det er på tide)
That you try to say it
(At du prøver å si det)
Maybe I'm wondering
(Kanskje lurer jeg på)
What you really want
(Hva du egentlig vil)
Some of your time,
(Litt av din tid)
That's all I need.
(Det er alt som skal til)
You don't need to do a thing
(Du trenger ikke gjøre det spor)
It hold long with three small words
(Det holder lenge med 3 små ord)
Maybe you are a bit afraid
(Kanskje er du litt redd)
To give me your attention
(for å gi meg oppmerksomhet)
Maybe it's appropriate
(Kanskje passer det best)
To wait with you-know-what
(å tie med det du vet?)
If you only would tell
(Hvis du bare vil si)
What you are thinking about
(hva du tenker på)
You got a friend who can undertand
(har du en venn som kan forstå)
Maybe I'll wait for you
(Kanskje jeg venter på deg)
Maybe my warm smile
(Kanskje mitt varme smil)
Will take away the doubt
(Kan ta fra deg din tvil?)
maybe I´ll soon ask you
(Kanskje vil jeg snart be deg)
to see and hear me
(Om å høre og se meg?)
Maybe I have a dream
(Kanskje jeg har en drøm)
to make you happy
(om å gjøre deg glad)
soon I will say
(Snart vil jeg si)
It is you that I want.
(Det er deg jeg vil ha)
I don't need to lie
(Jeg trenger ikke lyve det spor)
It hold long with three small words
(Det holder lenge med 3 små ord)
As she continued her song, James appeared and moved down from his ship, the Gorine again and headed toward Aunt Katherine. He smiled as she continued her song, silently following along behind her.
Maybe you are a bit afraid
(Kanskje er du litt redd)
To give me your attention
(for å gi meg oppmerksomhet)
Maybe it's appropriate
(Kanskje passer det best)
To wait with you know what
(å tie med det du vet?)
If you only would tell
(Hvis du bare vil si)
What you are thinking about
(hva du tenker på)
You got a friend who can undertand
(har du en venn som kan forstå)
Maybe I'll wait for you
(Kanskje jeg venter på deg)
She just finished her song, when James laid his hand upon her shoulder. Aunt Katherine slowly turned around, blushing rather bashfully.
James smiled fondly at her. "Katherine…I'm not afraid to show you some attention. Aye, you'll soon see that," he declared with a grin. He then leaned over and kissed her softly on the cheek. "However, lass, it don't bear thinking about before we rid ourselves of Captain Drakken."
Aunt Katherine shuddered at that name. "Ooh, that horrible Captain Drakken!" she growled, shivering. "He's got at least nine lives, that one does!"
"Aye, Katherine," James laughed a wry laugh. "I couldn't agree with…" He frowned, then looked curiously down to see the scrap of paper that Jim Pirate found earlier found in the seemingly empty treasure chest. "Walk the plank and jump into the ocean! What's this now?" James asked of no one in particular, picking the note up from where it laid upon the beach.
Aunt Katherine was also puzzled by this latest discovery. "Merciful heavens! Yet another greeting from Gabriel the Horrible then?" she posed, frowning.
"Aye, it certainly looks that way," James admitted. "Now, let's see what it says here, shall we?" He carefully unfolded the bit of paper and began to read its message aloud. "Gabriel the Horrible hid the treasure where the waves brush against the shore. But the gold he painted black as the night and laid it at bay in stone and sand."
"Well, that's certainly strange, James," Aunt Katherine observed, puzzled.
"Aye, you'll get no argument from me," James replied. "Well let's see if we can puzzle it out for ourselves, Katherine," James added, then re-addressed the scrap of paper. "Well, I think we already have figured out what the first lines are about, don't you think?"
Aunt Katherine nodded.
"Ah, but it's these next lines that are excitin', lass! I think it's saying that there's yet another treasure to be found in Middle Cove!" James announced with a grin.
Aunt Katherine laughed aloud. "It does sound plausible, James…but, have you seen any thing that is 'Black as night and lies at bay in stone and sand'?" she mused.
James laughed in reply. "No, of course…I…haven't," he told her…but his statement staggered to a halt as it all suddenly came to him. James then slapped his forehead softly in rebuke.
"James, what is it?" Aunt Katherine asked, curiosity lacing her voice.
"Ah, I've been such a fool, Katherine!" James admitted ruefully. "I know what it is…the treasure I mean! Come with me!" He trotted over to where Gabriel's Anchor stood upon the beach, and much to Katherine's consternation, began scraping at its black-painted surface with the razor-sharp point of his cutlass. After a good deal of effort on James' part, he was rewarded with the first glint of gold beneath the crusty many-layered paint job the anchor sported. "A ha!" James crowed, looking triumphantly over at Katherine.
Aunt Katherine simply gaped, then put a hand over her mouth. "Oh my!" she gasped.
"Much as I thought, lass," James remarked with a grin. "Gabriel the Horrible…why, he apparently had truly exquisite taste in anchors, Katherine,"
"Indeed he did, James," Aunt Katherine remarked with a laugh, which James shared too.
"Aye, you can say that again, Katherine me lass. You and I have just unveiled the biggest secret Middle Cove's ever seen: that Gabriel the Horrible's hoary old anchor is made from solid gold!" James deduced with a grin of deep satisfaction.
Aunt Katherine's expression suddenly turned quite sad. "Um, James…er, what if Captain Drakken figures out that there's another treasure here in Middle Cove? Oh, if he knew, why…why he'd never let us be!" she wailed softly.
James sighed, knowing she was correct. "No, you are right there, Katherine. He'd do his utmost to chase us all away, and then commence to diggin' up the entire bay, he would."
Aunt Katherine sighed at that thought. "Oh, but that must never happen, James! Captain Drakken must never know about the secret too, why---!"
BOOM!
Katherine's statement was interrupted by the resounding boom of a ship's cannon. That retort was the herald for something even more horrific…the appearance of Captain Drakken ship. The three-master was painted a garish blood-red with a long black stripe bisecting the red, conveniently shielding the gunports from the view of the casual viewer. The ship's lower hull and her masts and rigging are a golden brown of varnished wood. The sinister ship's figurehead wasn't something that was even remotely nautical…like a mermaid or such, but was instead a carved likeness of a frightening-looking sabertooth tiger in mid-leap, its hideous jaws agape, huge tusk-like saberteeth easily seen, its murderous paws wide, wicked claws extended. This ship's stern was something out of a nightmare, the sterncastle cunningly wrought in the shape of hideously grinning human skull, its surface painted a cadaverous bone color, its eyes crafted to become the disturbing windows of the savage Captain's own stateroom. Riding the waves into Middle Cove, the bone in her teeth, was Captain's Drakken's nefarious frigate, the Dark Lady!