About a week later, the voyage was ready to start.
The harbor was bustling with activity.
Jim, Calvin, Hobbes, Dr Garfield and Odie walked the decks in new attire that Squire Satchel had bought for them.
"Well, here's the dock," said Calvin.
"Where's the boat?" asked Hobbes.
"We're on a dock? No wonder I'm seasick," moaned Dr Garfield.
"Ahoy!" shouted Squire Satchel, who came running over to them. "Welcome, welcome! Ah, there she is: the Hispaniola!"
Everyone turned and gasped in amazement.
What we had here was a beautiful ship.
"Come on, let's go!" cheered Calvin.
Jim grinned.
It has giant sails, a tall mast, wooden sides…
But the strangest part was on the front.
On the front of the ship were a couple of wooden heads.
It was Roy and Bernie, the two senior citizens from the Marvin comic strip.
"Take a cruise, you said!" Bernie complained. "See the world, you said! Well now look! We've been turned into wooden statues and stuck on this ship!"
"Well, look on the bright side! We could be stuck in the audience!" Roy replied.
They both laughed.
Calvin and Squire Satchel stood on the ship's deck, looking around.
"Well, Mr Bimbo," said Squire Satchel to his finger, "the ship is provisioned, the crew is in place and the captain should be onboard within the hour. You've been a busy little man."
As he walked away, Calvin stared at him and sighed.
Then he joined Jim and Hobbes at a round thing.
"Ooh, look!" he said. "It's the steering wheel!"
"This is called the helm," explained Jim.
"Oh."
"Well," said Hobbes. "How does it feel, Captain Hawkins?"
Jim grinned wider.
"It feels like we're really doing it!"
"It feels…we're finally having an adventure!" added Calvin.
"Yeah," said Hobbes. "I'm starving. Where's the kitchen?"
Hobbes ran off.
Calvin and Jim sighed and followed him.
Jim, Calvin and Hobbes scurried down to the galley.
"Mmm," said Hobbes. "Something smells good."
As they ran down, they heard someone singing.
"Put him in the longboat until he's sober," the voice sang. "Put him in the longboat until he's sober. Put him in the longboat until he's sober early in the morning."
They saw a man sitting at the door to the kitchen.
He was peeling an onion.
Calvin cleared his throat.
"Ahem," he said.
The cook looked up.
"What have we here? Stowaways!"
The cook held up a knife.
Jim, Calvin and Hobbes jumped back.
"I'm afraid we shish-ca-bob and barbecue stowaways on this ship!"
Calvin and Hobbes gulped.
The cook growled, and then started to laugh.
Jim, Calvin and Hobbes loosened up and started to laugh too.
"Wait, I know," said the cook. "You must be the cabin boys! Hungry, lads? Well in my galley, you're always welcome to help yourselves."
"Yes!" cheered Hobbes. "Thank you! Ha, ha!"
Hobbes leapt over the bar and into the kitchen. He screeched in front of a turkey and started to eat the whole thing.
The cook chuckled.
"Well, he's got a healthy appetite, huh?" he said. "Well, how about you, spiky?"
Calvin looked up.
"Huh?"
"Here ya go."
The cook tossed him an apple.
"Oh, well thank you!" said Calvin. "Well, I'm Calvin, and the tiger wiping out that bird is Hobbes."
"Yo," said Hobbes between bites.
The cook glanced at Jim.
"And you must be Master Hawkins," he said.
"Yes, sir," smiled Jim.
The cook laughed.
"Oh, ye needn't be callin' a lowly ship's cook 'sir'. Long John Silver at your humble service."
Jim and Calvin exchanged glances.
"But we're just cabin boys, Mr Silver," said Jim.
"Long John to his friends," said Long John, tapping his nose. "And believe me lad; a friend ye can trust is worth his weight in gold. There's many a dark-hearted scoundrel in these ports."
"What do you mean? Pirates?" asked Jim.
"Shh!" hissed Long John.
Suddenly, a cat jumped onto his shoulder!
The cat was not at all like Hobbes or Dr Garfield.
He didn't look friendly at all.
He was black and white and had one long fang.
"Pirates?!" asked the cat. "What an imagination! Gimme a cracker! Whistle noise!"
Long John grinned slightly.
"Allow me to introduce me pet cat, Bucky Katt."
"Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Braack! Whistle noise!" said Bucky.
"Raised him from a kitten, I did. As fine a feline as a man could ask fer."
"But aren't you supposed to have a talking parrot?" asked Calvin. "That's what I've known to be true."
"Talking…parrots?" asked Long John.
Bucky quickly cut in.
"What an imagination!" he said. "First pirates, now talking parrots? What's next a singing dancing mouse with an amusement park? Whoo!"
"That's enough now, Bucky! Shoo!" said Long John, shoving Bucky away.
Jim and Calvin stared at each other.
"Right, me hearties!" continued Long John. "I'm going to give you a cook's tour of this ship."
By now, Hobbes had completely polished off the turkey. He lay back, holding his stomach.
"Oh, if you're gonna be making the meals, Mr Silver, I am definitely going to need…bigger…pants," he grunted.
Long John chuckled and opened the bottom half to the door as he grabbed a crutch and it revealed…
Jim and Calvin gasped.
…he only had one leg.
They stared at him.
"What's the matter, lads?" asked Long John.
Calvin and Jim stared.
"Oh, that?" asked Long John, pointing at the empty space. "Lost that to timber-fighting brigands off Madagascar under Admiral Hawke. There's many a man lost a leg and worse in the service of the king."
Jim and Calvin gulped.
Long John held up his hand, which didn't have any fingers!
"Why, look what a cannibal took off me in exchange for my own life!"
The two boys grimaced.
Then Long John unfolded his fingers, revealing them to be all there.
Long John chuckled happily.
Calvin and Jim laughed, but uncomfortably.
"Oh, you're a fine pair of lads, that you are," Long John said.
Just then, above them, a bell rang.
"All hands on deck!" shouted a voice.
"Come on then, lads!" Long John ordered, and he hobbled up the steps.
Jim followed.
Calvin helped Hobbes stand up, and then they ran after.
"Chop, chop! Look lively, now!" ordered the first mate. "The captain will be here soon."
Everyone was chattering and scattering.
Jim pulled Squire Satchel aside.
"Who's that?" he asked, pointing at a round man in a yellow uniform.
"Oh, that is Sergeant Arrow," explained Satchel. "He's the first mate. But we usually just call him Sarge."
Off in the distance was a trumpet fanfare.
Sarge jumped.
"The captain approaches!" he said dramatically.
Everyone looked at the dock.
Indeed, they could see two horses pulling a carriage down the road.
"Move aside! Make way! Make ready for the captain!" he ordered. "Lollygaggers will suffer his wrath!"
"Wrath?" asked Calvin. "Is ol' cappy an angry guy?"
"Angry guy?" Sarge said mockingly. "The man is a raging volcano tormented by inner demons mere mortals can not fathom!"
Everyone stared at him.
"I'll take that as a kind of," said Calvin.
Sarge groaned and stalked off.
By now, the horses had brought the carriage to a halt in front of the ship.
Everyone on deck watched anxiously.
The door opened.
It revealed a man standing there with a hard look on his face.
"Ooh," whispered Squire Satchel.
Then the mean-looking man stepped aside to reveal…a beagle dressed in full captain garb.
"Hey, everybody!" said the beagle.
Everyone stared at him.
"What—?" Hobbes stuttered.
"That's the raging volcano?" asked Jim. "He's a dog!"
"Maybe he's got rabies," Hobbes suggested.
As the dog approached, Sarge blew a whistle.
"Piping aboard Captain…Abraham…Snoopy!" he said dramatically.
"Hey, Sarge," Snoopy said.
Snoopy walked past and started to examine the ship.
Sarge stared, and then checked the ship's railing.
It was dusty.
"I knew it! He's furious!" he whispered.
Sarge whipped around and saw a skinny man wearing a green uniform with a green cap over his eyes.
"You there!" he shouted, grabbing him around the neck. "You were in charge of the railing dust. I'm gonna beat the tar outta ya, and then you'll walk the plank!"
Snoopy looked back at him.
"I didn't say that, Sarge," he said.
"I was anticipating your whim, sir," Sarge replied.
"Well, go anticipate it someplace else, huh?"
Sarge snorted, letting Beetle go, and then stormed away.
Snoopy approached Jim, Calvin and Hobbes.
"Ah, you must be the cabin boys," he said.
"Yes, sir!" said Calvin, doing a full salute.
Hobbes rolled his eyes.
"Which of you is the Hawkins boy?"
"I am, sir," said Jim.
Snoopy paused to look at him.
"I knew your father, Jim," he said. "He was a good man. Didn't exactly dress nice, but still a good man all around."
"Thank you, sir!" said Jim.
Snoopy walked away.
Long John chuckled and patted Jim on the back.
"Well, this is shapin' up to be a fine voyage, lads," he said cheerfully. "Oh, yes indeed."
Calvin nodded and chuckled nervously.
"Yeah, ha, ha, ha," he said.
Then he yanked Jim down so they could talk levelly.
"Uh, one leg, Jim," he muttered. "Count 'em. One. Remember what Billy Bones said."
"Oh, Calvin," said Jim. "He seems all right. I mean, Long John's only a cook. How dangerous can he be?"
Calvin shook his head.
"Well, I don't know, but I—" Then he froze. "—wait, why am I the one being skeptical? That's Hobbes' job! And where is Hobbes, anyway?"
Hobbes was standing at a cash register at a plank that led into the ship, and several cats had lined up to climb on board.
Hobbes took some cash from a cat.
"Enjoy your cruise, sir," Hobbes said.
Then he turned to the others.
"NEXT!" he sang.
The next cat came up and handed him some cash.
"All right, folks. Have your checks made out to CAT TOURS LIMITED. Ooh, why thank you, Mr Hairman. Next!"
"Hobbes, what are you doing?"
Hobbes whirled around and saw Calvin glaring at him.
"What?" Hobbes asked innocently.
Calvin pointed at the cash register angrily.
"Oh, this?"
"Yeah, this."
"Well, I figure that if the treasure map's a dud, the trip won't be a total loss…financially speaking, of course."
Calvin groaned.
"Why are you scamming? That's my shtick!"
Hobbes rolled his eyes and resumed.
Fifteen minutes later, Snoopy looked at the sky.
"Ah, the wind seems to be freshening," he said. "The tide is with us. Sarge, we can leave now!"
"This voyage…has…begun!" said Sarge. "Raise the gangplank."
People on the dock removed the plank onto the ship.
"Let go forward line!"
Beetle Bailey pulled a rope holding the ship down free.
"Let go aft line!"
Jeremy Duncan pulled the other rope free.
"Hard to starboard! Any men caught dawdling shall be shot on sight!"
Snoopy sighed.
"You're having another one of those testosterone rushes, aren't you?" he asked.
"I was just paraphrasing."
Snoopy rolled his eyes.
"Sarge, just set the sails."
"SET THE SAILS!" Sarge ordered.
"Quietly," Snoopy hissed, holding his floppy ears.
And once the sails were set, the ship slowly started to sail away.
"We're off!" whooped Calvin.
"Onward to somewhere!" added Hobbes.
And they sailed onwards.