The Dragon's Eye (14 page)

At that, we looked at each other.

“Will you come?” asked Dr. Drake. “I would be glad of your assistance, at any rate.”

“I don't see that we can do anything else,” said Beatrice.

I agreed. I felt that if we would be safe with anyone, it would be with Dr. Drake. On our own, or in the company of people like Uncle Algernon, who wouldn't understand the danger, we would be in much greater peril.

Although it was the evening, Dr. Drake decided that we should leave immediately. We would stay overnight in Horsham and catch the first available train to Portsmouth. From there, we would travel by boat to Cornwall, to the grave of the last Dragon Master and, we hoped, to some clues about the location of the Dragon's Eye. Soon Beatrice and I had packed our things and were ready to leave.

“Some people have all the luck,” said Billy.

“You call this luck?” said Beatrice incredulously. “To have our lives threatened, and all because your father and Mr. Tibbs don't know how dangerous Ignatius Crook is and chose to believe him rather than Dr. Drake?”

“They won't believe Ignatius anymore, when we tell them what happened,” said Alicia.

“Good luck,” said Darcy. “If you get separated from Dr. Drake, make your way back here.”

Soon a carriage had arrived.

“Never forget Q.T.B.!” said Beatrice to Alicia before leaving. “Tell your friends. Spread the word: Quicker than boys!”

Billy smirked.

“Good luck,” he said.

We all solemnly shook hands, then Beatrice and I said good-bye to Emery and Mademoiselle Gamay and got into the carriage with Dr. Drake.

We soon arrived in Horsham. The next morning, Dr. Drake bought us tickets for the Portsmouth train.

“Isn't it much simpler just to take a train to Cornwall?” I asked.

“Indeed,” said Dr. Drake. “But you will see that I have very good reasons for taking a ship there. Before we go to Bodmin, I need to try and find the dragon dust.”

And he would say no more, except to warn us that Mr. Lubber, who was his agent in Portsmouth, knew nothing of dragons and that we must keep the reasons for our journey secret.

When reached Portsmouth Harbour, Dr. Drake took us down to the harbourmaster's office, where we waited while Mr. Lubber was sent for.

When he arrived, he seemed to be in very much of a fluster.

“If only you had contacted me in advance,” he exclaimed.

“Is the
Hydra
not ready, then?” asked Dr. Drake. The
Hydra,
Dr. Drake had told us, was a small ship — more like a large yacht — that belonged to the S.A.S.D. and was sometimes used for scientific investigations. But the
Hydra
was not only not ready; it was not there at all. Mr. Lubber explained that it had been taken the evening before by a man, “who had your own papers, sir, with your own badge and signature and everything. He had a woman with him and he was in a terrible hurry. He didn't even wait for the crew to show up, but said that he had his own. I didn't like the look of them much when I saw them, I can tell you.”

“Hmm,” said Dr. Drake, frowning. “Is there another boat or yacht we can hire at short notice?”

“There is one other boat I could suggest,” said Mr. Lubber, “I fear you will not like it, or its captain, very much and nor do I. It is called the
Sea Snake.
”

“Then let us go and see this captain,” said Dr. Drake. “In case you had not noticed, I am in somewhat of a hurry myself.”

We went down to the waterfront, where the masts of so many ships — frigates, yachts, liners, cargo ships, fishing vessels, and many others — was certainly a sight worth seeing. It did not take us long to find the captain — whose name was Hezekiah — aboard a dirty sloop that was crewed by some of the crabbiest-looking sailors I had ever seen.

“Cornwall, is it? So this is what we're reduced to,” said Captain Hezekiah when Dr. Drake explained that he would like to hire the boat for a “pleasure trip.”

“I'm sure you'll not get much pleasure aboard the
Sea Snake,
” said the captain. “Why, the quarters have nearly all been converted to take cargo. But as you are in such a hurry, then if you can see your way to paying this sum. . . .”

Here he showed Dr. Drake a slip of paper, at which Dr. Drake raised his eyebrows, but then shrugged and nodded, saying. “As long as you have at least one cabin fit for a young lady, Captain, then needs must. Mr. Lubber, would you do the honours?”

Mr. Lubber went off to fetch some money and to get a man to bring up our luggage. Dr. Drake turned to us: “Now I would much rather have had you aboard the
Hydra,
but since the trip will only take a couple of days, I think we will manage. But you must take care, of course, not to talk to the crew at all about our trip, and you must not mind anything that you see on the voyage.” And, with that, he stepped aboard.

It did not take long for us to install ourselves on the
Sea Snake.
Captain Hezekiah rather reluctantly gave up his cabin for Beatrice, while Dr. Drake and I made do with two hammocks out by the galley. But for some reason, the weather or tides were all wrong, and we could not leave until the following morning.

By then, even though we had not actually been to sea, Beatrice was looking pretty green. When we sailed out of Portsmouth Harbour, she soon took to her cabin, where she stayed for most of the voyage.

I was very excited to be on a ship — however dirty and untidy — and I managed to ignore the crew, who mostly seemed to spend their time lazing about or checking to see whether the sun had gone down over the yardarm. Meanwhile, Dr. Drake spent a good deal of time with me, explaining the names of all the different sea birds that flew above us, pointing out a school of dolphins, and teaching me the names of all the promontories and lighthouses we could see along the south coast. At about four o'clock in the afternoon, just as we were about to come into sight of Portland, a storm began to blow up and we had to head farther out to sea. But the storm did not last long, and as the light faded, I was just beginning to think about taking to my hammock for a second night, when Dr. Drake drew me to one side.

“Daniel, there is something I want to show you,” he said. “It is the reason that I have come to Cornwall by sea. I would have shown it to Beatrice as well, but she is still sleeping off her seasickness.”

“Does it have something to do with dragon dust?” I asked.

“Indeed,” said Dr. Drake. “But we must be very careful not to let the sailors see what we are up to or things could turn out badly. Meet me by the starboard bow at midnight.”

“All right,” I said. “But isn't there a chance Ignatius may have found the dragon dust first?”

“There's a chance,” said Dr. Drake. “But fortunately my diary gives only very general clues as to its location. With any luck, it will take Ignatius quite some time to find the right spot.”

At ten minutes before midnight, as I waited for Dr. Drake, I looked towards the distant shore. Since it was a clear night, I could see enough to make out that it was mainly made up of rocky cliffs dotted with small sandy bays. There was the occasional light from a house at the top, a distant lighthouse away to the left, and another light that seemed to be was moving slowly between the
Sea Snake
and the cliffs. It was not very bright, and I wondered if it was the light from another boat.

“I don't think the sailors can see us from here,” whispered Dr. Drake when he arrived, looking around him to see if we were being spied on. “We have passed Plymouth and are quite near a town called St. Austell. Very few people know this, but it was not just Sir Francis Drake's fire ships and terrible weather that helped defeat the Spanish Armada when they tried to invade England, you know. Watch.”

And before my wondering eyes, he took out a small packet of powder.

“This,” he said, “is serpent bait. Ignatius didn't have time to find it at my house. It is very rare, but it is not magical. It merely consists of the powdered horn of a narwhal, mixed with powdered bone from a whale and a leopard seal, and the dried tentacle of a giant squid. These creatures are the chief prey of the beast I am about to try to attract, which has a very good sense of smell.”

At that, he leaned over the rail and sprinkled the powder onto the surface of the sea, whispering:

For a while nothing happened, but then as I looked far out, I saw a movement on the surface of the sea. At first it just seemed to be eddies on the water, reflected under the bright light of the moon. But soon the eddies grew bigger and bigger as though they were being made by some huge beast. Indeed, within moments a monstrous grey snakelike head with huge spines on the top reared out of the water. It looked directly at Dr. Drake, who signalled to it by covering his face with his hands, then bunching them into fists, with the index fingers pointing up.

“This is the serpent sign,” he said.

Finally, he leaned over the rail and whispered something to the serpent in a language I could not understand. And what happened next was quite amazing. The serpent disappeared beneath the waves and, after a short time, returned with a small box in its mouth, holding it as gently as a mother dragon holds a chick. Then it reached the box up to Dr. Drake, who spoke to it again.

“This,” said Dr. Drake, showing me the box, “is the box of dragon dust. I have been friendly with that serpent for a good many years, and I was with Ebenezer when he consigned his last quantity of dragon dust to its care.”

“Can it speak English?” I said.

“Not exactly,” said Dr. Drake. “But it can understand some Dragonish. If you like, it will tell you its name. Lean over the rail, and say,
‘Ivúwan tünomineh milseh yít.'
”

I leaned over the rail and said the words.

“Quietly, Daniel!” whispered Dr. Drake. “And don't forget to write this down in your record book when you get home. Now, can you see what the serpent is trying to tell us?”

And as I looked, I could see that the swirls seemed to be forming into letters.

“First there's an
L,
” said Dr. Drake.

“Yes, and is that an
E
?” I asked.

“It is, and then a
V.
”

“And then another
L
!” I cried.

“No, no wait. It is not an
L
but an
I
!” said Dr. Drake.

“Yes,” I said, “And the next letter seems to be an
A.
”

But we could look no longer, for suddenly a lantern shone behind us and a voice cried, “Captain Hezekiah! They are summoning the sea worm! They are witches! They have called Leviathan!”

We turned and found that most of the crew had sneaked up on us, brandishing all sorts of knives and pistols.

“I am sorry, Daniel,” said Dr. Drake. “I rather fear that the crew is unhappy with us.”

“Indeed,” said Captain Hezekiah, arriving with Beatrice, whom he had pulled from her cabin, and who had turned from looking sleepy, angry, and indignant to looking terrified in an instant.

“Foolish man,” said Hezekiah. “Raising monsters! That is bad luck in any sailor's book.” He turned to the rest of the crew. “We were right to be suspicious, but now we see that it was for the wrong reasons. We thought that this man had come aboard to investigate those cargoes we bring ashore free of taxes. Smuggling, they call it. Bah! But this is much worse. He is a sorcerer!” Then, shoving Beatrice towards us, where she clung to Dr. Drake, he cried, “Come on, lads. If they can raise a worm, it's time we raised an old custom. Make them walk the plank, and it will be grog all round! But first I shall take that box. Who knows what sum it will bring or what is inside?” And he grabbed Ebenezer's box from Dr. Drake and took it inside.

A plank was swiftly lashed to the foredeck under the rails, and we were made to walk out onto it. When I reached the end, I looked down at the ocean beneath me. Then I looked back at the smugglers with their sharp knives. I heard a splash. Dr. Drake had jumped in. Beatrice and I followed him, hitting the water together. As I reached the surface, I saw that Captain Hezekiah had returned. He didn't look very happy.

“Fools!” he cried. “Idiots! You should have tied their arms. They will swim away. Fetch the harpoons!”

Even though our situation was pretty desperate, to see poor Dr. Drake floundering and flailing about with his arms as he tried to swim lightened the gravity of the whole scene somewhat and probably saved his life. For between laughing and being unable to aim accurately at Dr. Drake as he zigged and zagged away from the boat in the darkness, Hezekiah and his crew of would-be pirates missed shot after shot. Between each shot, they needed to haul the ramshackle harpoon they had erected back in on its line. Meanwhile, Beatrice and I, who could both swim very well, had found a piece of driftwood and were kicking gamely towards the shore.