Disclaimer in Chapter One
Treasure Chest
Chapter 3
The Pirate Ship
The Indian boy resurfaced. "Do you need help?" he asked.
"I don't like the way you said that." Vidia said. "I never need help."
"I can't understand you." he pointed out, again. "Just nod or shake your head."
Putting her pride away, Vidia nodded, and flapped her wings to show him that she couldn't fly.
"Get on my back." he offered. "I'll swim us back to the island."
"Can you swim that far?" Vidia asked, uncertainly.
"I don't know what you're saying." he said, again.
Vidia sighed, rolled her eyes, and jumped from the rock to his back.
"Hold on tightly." he advised, as he started swimming.
"Onto what?" she demanded, but as he started forward, she snagged a strong-looking lock of hair and held on.
He didn't slow down or stop until suddenly the pirate ship came into view. He turned and swam toward it.
"What are you doing?" Vidia demanded. "Why are you going toward the pirate ship?"
He paused and floated upright in the water. Vidia clambered onto his shoulder and pointed at the pirate ship, then him, and made circles next to her head in the 'crazy' sign.
"They're going to destroy the Indian village." he explained. "I have to find out their plan."
"And what about me? You have a passenger to think of!" Vidia scolded.
"And I'm tired. They'll be taking the ship to the cove, so we can just hide until we get there, then swim only a little way to shore." Somehow he could tell that she was disapproving.
Vidia put her hands on her hips.
"You -" he paused. "What's your name, anyway?"
"Vidia." she replied.
"I'm not calling you Bell, or Jingly." he said, firmly. "And you can't tell me your name, so I'll have to make one for you."
"What name?" Vidia asked, cautiously.
"Indians are named for a skill or characteristic. My name is High Eagle, because I have the sight of an Eagle flying very high in the sky."
"Okay, so I am very fast." Vidia mused. "Wind, Deer, Minnow – no, not Minnow . . ."
"You untied the rope very fast. As fast as . . . a wood chuck."
"What?" Vidia exclaimed, not pleased.
"I think that would make a very good name."
Vidia sighed. "Okay. You can call me Wood. Or even Woody."
"I'll call you Chuck." High Eagle decided.
"What? No!"
"I hope you like the name, Chuck." he seemed pleased.
"No, I don't! I hate it! Take it back! Find another one!" Vidia demanded.
"At least you seem excited."
Vidia huffed, disappointed. "Out of all the names he could have picked!" She ranted.
"We're going to the pirate ship now, Chuck. Hold on." He swam through the water.
"Should've name you Ducky!" Vidia shot back, and even knowing he couldn't understand her, she felt a little better.
Treasure Chest
High Eagle grabbed the anchor chain and pulled himself up it. He climbed into a canoe secured to the side of the ship and let Vidia off his shoulder.
"I can't believe we're doing this." Vidia wrung out her hair.
"Stay here, Chuck. I'll be right back." High Eagle climbed up toward the rail.
"And let you get caught?" Vidia called after him. "You're my only way off this ship! Not a chance!" she followed him, using smaller footholds in the boards of the ship to get a more direct route to where he meant to go. She got up onto the deck and stood, waiting for him. He pulled his head and shoulders up onto the level of the deck and noticed her standing there.
"That was pretty fast." he complimented, then ducked as a couple of pirates walked by.
"Everyone on deck!" A voice roared.
Suddenly the pirates were in a disorganized crowd on deck. The pirate captain, a large, bearded man, stood before them.
"We have a plan." he announced. "Three men will stay on board the ship and sail around the island to where they'll anchor just out of arrow range of the Indian village. They'll fire the cannons into the Indian village, making the redskins think that they're under attack from the sea. They'll scatter and made inland."
"Where will the rest of the crew be, Cap'n?" a pirate spoke up.
"We'll be circling the Indian camp. They'll run from the cannon fire and we'll kill them all!" the pirates laughed coarsely.
"We'll get our revenge and our treasure!" another pirate called.
High Eagle climbed carefully back down into the longboat.
"We have to get to the village and warn them!" Vidia exclaimed.
"I don't know what you said, but we have to get to the village and warn them." High Eagle said, earnestly. "This plan will probably work."
"Raise the longboats!" a voice called from on deck.
"What do we do, High?" Vidia asked, "They'll be surrounding the village, and they'll see us swimming to shore from the boat."
"We need a plan." High Eagle said. "I'm not sure if -"
The longboat lurched.
High Eagle tried to stand, but he shifted his weight and the boat flipped, sending both of them crashing into the ocean.
Vidia used her wings to direct her fall, and she managed to catch hold of a rope hanging from the side of the ship. She flinched away as High Eagle's fall made an enormous splash.
She scanned the water carefully, but he didn't resurface. She could hear the pirates talking worriedly, so she pulled herself close to the boat to make sure she wasn't seen. After a little while they walked away and pulled the longboat up to the deck.
Vidia looked around. "High?" she called, worried.
I apologize for the long wait. I've had drastic computer trouble, and spent all day trying to fix it, but I recovered this chapter. Hope you enjoy it.
M.J.J.