Robber Crabs Page 5

died!”

  “Exactly,” said Wiki. Still the steward didn’t move, so he said warningly, “I promise you I’ll tell the captain.”

  “He won’t believe it.”

  “He will after he has counted the bottles.”

  A pause, then a whimper. When Wiki kept his intimidating silence, the steward crawled out of the berth, and tiptoed aft.

  When he came back he was carrying the box. Wiki took it, and was surprised by its weight. All those little bottles added up, even when half of them were empty.

  The steward whispered, “What are you going to do with it?”

  Wiki paused, thinking. He certainly couldn’t take the box with him, as not only was it cumbersome, but explaining it away would be difficult. Dropping it overboard was not an option, either, as it would make a lot of noise, and could be easily retrieved, as the water was so clear.

  Then he grinned to himself, and said, “I promise you it will stay on board this ship.”

  “But where?”

  “It’s better if you don’t know. Just say that you were asleep when the box was stolen,” Wiki said, and then, without another word, he took the box forward, where he clambered down the nearest hatch into the hold.

  It was very dark down there, and very dusty. There was a smell of sacks, and salt, and crabs, and coconuts. Wiki bit back a yell as spiny feelers explored his hands and legs, realizing that contrary to hopes robber crabs did not sleep at night. There was also another kind of furtive scuttling, and an occasional glimpse of glittering red eyes to prove that the rats had re-established themselves down there since the dog had been banished. Altogether, getting the box buried in the gravel ballast took much longer than hoped, along with the inconvenience that Wiki received a couple of nasty nips before he made it back into the cool night air, and dropped stealthily down into the boat.

  “What the hell were you doing?” said the second mate of the Mandarin, after they had scrambled onto the deck of the whaleship.

  “Nothing much,” said Wiki.

  “You’re going to tell me about it?”

  “I’m sorry, sir, but no,” said Wiki — and remained adamant, because it was much too complicated to try to explain that he had just saved Captain O’Malley’s life.

  And, as he thought to himself, no one would believe him, anyway.

 

  The Beckoning Ice

  A Wiki Coffin Mystery