The Secret Invasion of Port Isabel (11 page)

‘But the
Throwback probably won’t be by now,’ another Rhino said, grinning.
The others sniggered.

‘Do you mean
Sergeant Boar? How do you mean?’ asked Flossy, turning to face
them.

The rhino told
Flossy what Sergeant Boar had done and how the Mayor had reacted
when he found out. Larry had been setting a trap to stop the
pirates before they could leave with Harry and Sally and the boar
had stopped him. But not only that, the boar had bound and gagged
him and when he struggled had thrown him to the ground again and
again to subdue him. Then, when he was unconscious, he had carried
him back to Town Hall like a trophy.

‘But the Mayor
had wanted to honour Larry for bravery,’ said Flossy,
dumbfounded.

‘Yes, but the
boar said he didn’t know that, that orders were orders, and that
the monkey looked suspicious, like he was trying to escape on a
boat. The Mayor roared, and I don’t blame him.’

For a moment
Flossy was silent. Then she stamped her good foot hard on the floor
and roared too, so that everyone took a step back. ‘That stupid
pig!’

There was a
sharp squeak and a shuffling noise behind her. Flossy picked up her
sword and unsheathed it. The bright, curved blade flashed.

‘Who’s
there?’

She stared
into the gloom at the back of the shed. There was a long workbench
scattered with tools and wood shavings and a curved timber beam
held by clamps next to a neat stack of coiled rope.

‘Just m-m-me,’
replied a terrified voice from under the bench.

‘Don’t make me
come in there and get you!’ said Flossy.

Nothing
happened for a few seconds then a tortoise, its shell a composite
of differently-sized brown tiles, waddled out from the shadows. It
was shaking so much she was amazed it could walk at all. It looked
up at Flossy, then at her sword, then across at Stanley’s confused
and angry face, then past him to the herd of rhinos that filled the
shed to bursting. The tortoise’s face flushed with terror and it
retracted into its shell like an overwound spring and fell with a
clatter to the floor.

Flossy pointed
her sword at the creature. ‘Who are you?’

‘Assam
T-T-Tortoise, Miss Human. I work here.’

‘Assam, are
you going to tell me that you were back there all along and you
didn’t help Stanley?’

‘Please spare
me,’ said Assam, whimpering.

_CHAPTER
12

_COURAGE

Larry’s head was sore
where it had been repeatedly bashed against the boards of the quay
by Sergeant Boar, and again in the Hall of Greeting. He rubbed it
gingerly where blood had tried, matting his fur. His wrists and
ankles still hurt were he had been tied but otherwise he was
unharmed. Reginald arrived as he was being dragged into the Hall of
Deliberation. He trumpeted under the vaulted dome as he thundered
towards the black boar. All the figures of animals in their golden
niches watched silently as the boar was hurled aside by a
well-timed flick of the big elephant’s trunk. Reginald quickly
untied Larry, some of the gorilla-guards assisting.

There was a
great commotion as Reginald thundered into the Hall of Deliberation
with Larry riding on his back. Reginald told the Mayor what the
black boar had done and how Larry had been treated. The boar whined
that he didn’t know; that orders were orders; that the monkey had
looked suspicious. The Mayor roared so loudly that Larry feared the
stained glass window, the one showing monkeys at play in banana
palms, might shatter and rain down on the Mayor’s head. Half of
those gathered, and there were many in the hall, were laid out flat
as if the Mayor had issued forth a hurricane rather than of a roar.
Sergeant Boar, who was the cause of the Mayor having lost his
temper, lay so flat on the floor it was as if he wanted to become
part of it.

As the Mayor
ordered a squad of rhinos to go to the quay with all haste to see
what might be done, Larry climbed down from Reginald’s back,
dropped to the floor and slipped behind one of his tree-like legs.
He was glad he didn’t have to stand on the dais where everyone
could see him. He wouldn’t know what to say or do. And there were
so many animals, more arriving all the time. He didn’t like
crowds.

‘Today we have
lost but we have also gained,’ said the Mayor, once he had regained
his composure. ‘Would those Town Councillors present please join me
on the dais. There are great deeds to acknowledge before we deal
with… less savoury matters.’ He frowned at the boar, still lying
prostrate on the floor, trotters covering his eyes.

A bear climbed
the short stairs, balancing on its hind legs. Next a large
alligator waddled up, its armoured tail dragging behind. A water
buffalo had to mind she didn’t gorge the Mayor with her long horns
as she passed. Last, not bothering with the stairs at all, a lemur
with a black and white striped tail leapt onto the dais like a
grasshopper and took his place beside the buffalo.

When the
councillors were arranged behind the Mayor in a rough crescent, he
turned and looked directly at Larry. Larry looked away pretending
not to notice, his heart pounding.

‘We still have
a hero to honour,’ said the Mayor. ‘Larry Monkey, would you please
also join us on the dais.’

Larry snapped
stiff with fright and stepped deeper into Reginald’s shadow. There
was no way he was going up there in front of all the people.

‘Please
forgive Larry, Mr Mayor. He has never been comfortable in a crowd,
certainly not one as large and as distinguished as this,’ said
Reginald. He looked down at Larry and smiled like a proud
parent.

‘Oh, I see,’
the great lion said, nodding. The Mayor lifted his head and
addressed the crowd. ‘There are many kinds of courage and the
greatest kind is also the rarest. Larry Monkey has this kind in
abundance: courage for the sake of others. Courage in front of a
crowd is not really courage at all, it has more to do with egotism;
the love of oneself. Many of us find crowds easy but who among us
would dare to take on pirates single-handedly?’ The hall was
silent. ‘Who among us has the skill and strength to strike with a
harpoon, at a hundred yards, a sailing ship under full sail, in
just the right place, then climb the trailing rope with enormous
cheese wheels strapped to his or her back?’ The hall was silent
except for the sound of hooves and claws shuffling on the hard tile
floor. ‘It took a rare kind of courage for Larry Monkey to jam
tight the
Interloper’
s rudder, causing it to run aground on
Kidney Reef. It took a rare kind of courage to twice save the life
of Flossy Fairweather Human. First, when she leapt from Pirate
Pratt’s cabin window—he saved her despite the very real risk she
was in fact a pirate. And then last night he saved her from us by
escorting her safety across dark and slippery rooftops—regrettably,
we had become a mindless mob. Now we learn he was courageously
preparing to rescue Harry Possum, Stanley Horse and Sally Sloth
from pirates who had secretly invaded our town.’

The big lion
tipped forward his head in gratitude. The Town Councillors behind
him bowed, and so everyone in the Hall of Deliberation bowed; each
in the manner of his or her own species.

‘Larry Monkey.
This town is forever in your debt,’ said the Mayor. ‘Your courage
and imagination are an inspiration to us all. You saw clearly when
our minds were clouded by prejudice and poor judgement. And you
acted decisively without any regard to your own welfare. You showed
the greater kind of courage; courage in the service of others.’

The hall
erupted with heart-felt applause accompanied by hoots, howls,
squeaks and whistles that seemed to go on forever. Those that stood
on four legs, stamped enthusiastically. Others cheered.

When the noise
died down, Larry peered out with round eyes from behind one of
Reginald’s thick legs. His heart was racing and his palms,
sweating. The Mayor was still looking at him.

‘Please
forgive us for the way we treated you this afternoon, Mr Monkey. We
upset your plans to stop the pirates and rescue your friends. We
failed to give you a chance to explain what you had in mind. And we
treated you with great disrespect, binding you like a common
criminal rather than aiding you as we should have.’

The Mayor
leapt lightly from the dais and approached Sergeant Boar. The black
boar, who was now standing on shaky trotters, took a step back and
looked nervously left and right.

‘I asked you
to bring Larry Monkey so we might thank him for his courage in the
service of our town. But instead you bound and gagged him, and as
has been told by Mr Elephant, you even mistreated him in the hall
outside. Is this true?’

‘But I didn’t
know! I didn’t know and I didn’t know he was trying to stop them.
He looked like he was trying to run away on a boat. I didn’t know.
You didn’t say…!’

The Mayor
growled. The black boar fell silent instantly, his beady black eyes
wide with terror. He trotters clattered nervously on the hard tile
floor as if fighting an instinct to flee.

‘You think a
show of strength will make people respect you? It won’t. You want
to be respected so much you forget how to show common courtesy, how
to be decent, how to be noble. And so you lose the respect of all.
Do you understand, sergeant?’

‘Ah…,’ said
Sergeant Boar, desperately looking about for support. But the crowd
had drawn around him like a noose and were staring at him blankly
or scowling.

‘I asked you
to fetch Larry Monkey so we might honour him.’ The Mayor sounded
like teacher reprimanding a pupil. ‘Everyone here knew of Larry
Monkey’s bravery. As an officer of this court, if you didn’t know
you should have. But
even
had you not, you should have
extended to him the same courtesy owed to all citizens of Port
Isabel: the presumption of innocence.’

The lion
stepped forward, looked over the sergeant’s head and raised his
voice as he addressed the crowd.

‘Simply
following an order is no excuse for failing to understand the
spirit in which it is given.’ He looked down at the boar, his stern
face tempered by pity. ‘When you receive an order, you are
empowered to act with the authority of this office. Authority
wielded without understanding has the potential to do great harm.
You didn’t care to understand the intention of the order you so
blithely followed. Because of this, you did great harm. The lives
of Port Isabel’s finest are now in peril. Do you understand?’

Sergeant Boar
nodded vigorously.

‘So this is
our decision. You will leave us now and the Council will meet later
to discuss your continuing role as an officer of this court. You
are dismissed.’

‘Thank you, Mr
Mayor for your generous words and sentences. I will depart
forthwith as you say,’ said the Boar. Then he turned and trotted
out of the hall.

Some of the
animals in the parting crowd jeered but most just looked the other
way.

_CHAPTER
13

_{COWARDS AND FOOLS}

Flossy and Stanley
arrived at Town Hall only a little ahead of the rhinos. Assam
Tortoise, tucked up tight in his shell and whimpering, was tied
upside down to Flossy’s back like a dome-shaped backpack. Having
just come in from the rain, the dapple-grey horse left a wet and
muddy trail on the tile floor. The golden figures of animals in
their niches seemed to jump with surprise as Stanley
clip-clopped
loudly across the Hall of Greeting. The hollow
dome high above, with its rainbow windows and detailed frescoes of
humans cavorting with owls, resonated with the news of their
arrival and the tall doors leading to the Hall of Deliberation
began to swing ponderously open, as if they were expected.