Benny packed his flashlight in his suitcase the next morning. “I guess I don’t need it anymore on this trip,” he said. “We had two adventures: the big storm and finding that old postbox.”
“Don’t forget about seeing all those whales,” Henry said.
Benny tossed his clothes into his suitcase. “Whales are fun, not an adventure. I wish we’d seen that ghost ship.”
“And I’m glad we didn’t,” Violet said, carefully tucking a small bag of beach glass and shells into her tote bag. “I only wish we had time to look for Miss Coffin and say good-bye to her.”
Mr. Pease overheard Violet when he came up to the Crow’s Nest to give the children a message. “If you want to see about Miss Coffin, you do have time. Your grandfather is delayed. There are quite a few other people who would like to see Prudence too. The police can’t seem to crack the museum robbery without her.”
“Then let’s go look for her,” Jessie suggested. “I’d like to find out what happened at the museum.”
“Good luck to you,” Mr. Pease said.
The Aldens stopped at the beach to take one last look at the ocean.
“Look, I think that’s Spooner Cooke rowing in,” Violet said. “He’s going to be late opening his shop.”
The children jumped up and down and waved at the small boat out on the water, but the boater didn’t wave back.
“’Bye, Ragged Cove,” Violet said, still waving. “I’m going to make a beach in a jar when we get home with some of the sand and shells I collected.”
The children left the beach and headed into town. Out of habit, they stopped to look in the shop windows.
“Let’s go by Mr. Cooke’s shop later on our way back from the museum,” Violet said. “I want to thank him again and say good-bye. I wish he were at his shop already.”
Jessie grabbed Violet’s arm. “He is!” she cried. “Look, there’s a light on.”
Henry cupped his hands over the window to get a better look. “That can’t be Mr. Cooke. We just saw him in his boat. It must be somebody else. Whoever it is just went upstairs.”
Violet knocked and turned the doorknob. “It’s us, Mr. Cooke. We came to say goodbye,” she yelled through the glass door.
There was no answer, just a light that suddenly went out in the shop.
“Maybe he hires somebody to clean the shop and they don’t want to bother with customers so early,” Henry said. “We can try later.”
When the Aldens reached the Sailors’ Museum it was locked tight. A yellow plastic banner across the door said: Crime Scene. Off Limits.
Violet shivered. “Poor Miss Coffin. She must still be missing.”
Henry led his brother and sisters away from the museum. “We have to talk to Spooner Cooke. He’s her oldest friend. Maybe he has some idea where she might be. He said he was going to look for her.”
“What about Captain Bob?” Benny asked. “He’s the only one besides us who saw what was in the postbox. He acted funny when we said we wanted to bring it to Miss Coffin for the museum. What about him, Henry?”
Jessie spoke up before Henry could answer. “Now, now. We mustn’t get too many ideas yet, Benny. After all, Captain Bob and Mr. Cooke and even Miss Coffin have been nice to us—not at all like people who would steal things or hurt anyone.”
Violet looked upset. “But . . . but, Jessie. What about the old diary that fell out of Captain Bob’s cabinet on the Jonah? I don’t want to think that someone who loves whales so much could be hiding something, but he was.”
Henry took Benny and Violet by the hand. “‘First things first,’ Grandfather always says. Let’s see about Spooner Cooke, then we can look for Captain Bob.”
Mr. Cooke’s shop was still closed when the Aldens arrived.
“That’s funny,” Jessie began. “We saw Mr. Cooke coming into shore in his boat. He should be here by now.”
Jessie went up to the window and looked inside. The store was dark again. “Whoever was in there before must be gone. I don’t see anyone inside now.”
While the older children were talking, Benny went around to the side of the building. “Hey, wait a minute. There is somebody in there now, Jessie! Two somebodies just came down the stairs.”
“It’s Mr. Cooke and Miss Coffin!” Henry said when he saw what Benny saw. “They just went into the storage room behind the shop.”
“Mr. Cooke! Miss Coffin!” Jessie shouted as she rapped on the back door. “It’s the Aldens.”
Slowly, the back door opened. The children stepped inside. Sitting at a cluttered work table was Miss Coffin. And spread out in front of her was the postbox along with the scrimshaw and a pile of old papers and books.
“Miss Coffin!” Jessie cried. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”
But Miss Coffin wasn’t all right. She looked frightened and upset.
“Why are you here?” Violet asked in a gentle voice. “We were worried about you.”
Miss Coffin tried to speak, but no words came out.
“That’s okay, Miss Coffin,” Jessie said before turning to Spooner Cooke. “Can you tell us what happened, Mr. Cooke?”
Mr. Cooke didn’t speak right away. He just pointed to a book that said: Logbook: The Flying Cloud. Jessie recognized the old leather book that had been in the barrel. “Read the entries on the last page,” he whispered in a shaky voice. “Then you’ll know why Prudence took these things away from the museum.”
Jessie began reading:
“November 4, 1869: Captain Coffin sick for ten days with malaria. Ordered crew to go back to open sea.
“November 5, 1869: Captain’s condition very grave. Crew met to discuss situation. Supplies low. Captain wandered on deck, confused by fever. Again ordered crew to return to sea. Decision made to lock him in cabin for safety. Crew appointed first mate, Eli Hull, as new leader until Captain Coffin recovers. Captain kept screaming: ‘Mutiny! Mutiny!’ All medical supplies gone. Decision made to head for Ragged Cove. Captain feverish and crying over and over: ‘Emily! Emily!’ Storm clouds blowing from northeast.
“November 6, 1869: Captain Coffin died at 10:00 P.M. last night. Will send cabin boy to put papers in coast postbox before storm hits.”
“That’s all there is?” Violet asked in a whisper.
Mr. Cooke took the logbook from Jessie. “November sixth is the day the Flying Cloud burned and sank. This was a terrible shock for Prudence. Now you know why she wanted to keep this logbook hidden from the public.”
Spooner Cooke sat by his old friend and took her hand. “There, there, Prudence. I told you that what your great-grandfather did is no disgrace. Malaria is one of the worst sicknesses a sailor fears. It clouds the mind.”
“That’s what Gabby the parrot said— ‘capsick, capsick’!” Benny cried.
“Yes, I suppose you’re right.” Miss Coffin looked up and spoke in a faraway voice. “He was a hero, I know he was. That’s what my grandparents and parents always told me. That’s what I put in my book. But I was wrong.”
Spooner Cooke tried to comfort Miss Coffin. “It’s not wrong if you don’t know all the facts. Your great-grandfather was heading to safety when sickness took over his mind. There’s nothing shameful about that.”
Miss Coffin looked around the small room at everyone standing there. “But there is something shameful about hiding this logbook, Spooner. I took the scrimshaw pieces so everyone would think there had been a robbery and that everything inside the cannon barrel was stolen too. I have disgraced our wonderful family name after all. And I even involved you by coming here, Spooner. I should have stayed out on Plum Island where I had taken everything in my old motorboat.”
“Now, now Prudence,” Mr. Cooke said. “You’re safe and sound here, and so are all the missing things now that we got them back from Plum Island.”
“Not all the missing . . .” Benny started to say.
Jessie took Benny’s hand before he finished his sentence. “I just remembered there’s something we have to do,” she said. “Thank you for showing that to us. We’ll leave you two alone now.”
“Whew, Benny,” Henry said when everyone was outside. “You got us out of there just in time, Jessie.”
Benny looked up at his older brother. “Just in time for what, Henry?”
“Just in time to keep you from telling Miss Coffin that Captain Bob might have her great-grandfather’s diary,” Jessie explained.
“Yes, we don’t want to upset her even more until we find out about it,” Violet added. “Poor Miss Coffin.”
The children were halfway down the street when they heard a voice behind them.
“Benny! Aldens! Wait!” The voice belonged to Captain Bob. “You left your horseshoe crab shell on the Jonah, Benny. Here it is.” The captain handed the shell to him. “Hey, what’s the matter? I thought you’d be glad to get this.”
Benny stared down at his sneakers. “You can keep it.”
The captain looked at the Aldens. “All of you seem upset. Is something wrong?”
Jessie couldn’t bring herself to look at Captain Bob. “Maybe you should go to Mr. Cooke’s shop. Miss Coffin is there too.”
Captain Bob seemed confused. “As a matter of fact that’s just where I was going. I wanted to show Spooner the old diary I found in the cannon barrel. I figured he could take it to the museum when Miss Coffin gets back. I knew she wouldn’t want to see me,” he said in a sad voice.
“So that diary was in the cannon barrel!” Henry said. “We spotted it when it fell out of a cabinet on your boat. Why did you hide it?”
Captain Bob pulled out the old leather diary from the other shoebox. “When you read this, you’ll find out. It’s Captain Coffin’s diary. It was the only thing I had time to look at the day I opened the cannon barrel down in my boat. I tried to find out what else was in the cannon barrel after you children took everything to the museum, but I decided not to.”
“We thought somebody came in,” Henry said. “We heard the door bang.”
“I changed my mind,” Captain Bob said. “I couldn’t take something that rightfully belonged to the museum. That’s why I want to return this diary to its proper place. You’ll know everything about the Flying Cloud when you read what’s in it.”
When the captain and the Aldens got to the shop, Miss Coffin was closing up a box she had packed with the missing items. Her whole face darkened when she saw the children with Captain Bob.
“I have something else to put in that box.” Captain Bob handed Miss Coffin the diary.
“What is this?” Miss Coffin asked.
“Your great-grandfather’s diary. I guess you were right. My great-great grandfather, Eli Hull, did try to take over the Flying Cloud from Captain Coffin just as you said in your book. That’s what your great-grandfather wrote in here anyway.”
“Now, now, young man,” Miss Coffin said in a steady voice. “Eli Hull did take over the Flying Cloud, but only because my greatgrandfather was not in his right mind owing to a terrible sickness. He probably wrote the diary when his mind was confused by his illness. The last account of the Flying Cloud is in this logbook. It proves your great-great- grandfather, Eli Hull, was the real hero.”
Captain Bob took the logbook and read the last page. His voice was quiet when he finally spoke up. “All these years I’ve been looking for something like this. After every storm I would go up and down the coast near where the Flying Cloud went down. I just had to know that my great-great-grandfather didn’t start a mutiny. When I saw the diary in the cannon barrel, I hid it away without looking at the other things in there.”
Miss Coffin stood up. “Well, that just goes to show that you and I don’t make very good thieves, do we now?”
“That’s for sure,” Benny said. “If Captain Bob had had the logbook, and Miss Coffin the diary, then everybody would’ve been happy.”
They all smiled at this.
“Well, everybody is happy now,” Spooner Cooke said.
“Not quite,” Miss Coffin said. “Don’t forget, my book is all wrong now. Why, everybody will be talking about nothing else but that!”
Benny went up to Miss Coffin. “Not if you write a new book.”
Miss Coffin gave Benny a friendly tap on his nose. “And I know just what I’ll call my new book.”
Benny wanted to hear the title. “What?”
“Benny: The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Talking.”
“I’ll want to read that when we come back to Ragged Cove someday,” Jessie said, laughing with everyone.
Benny had one more thing to talk about. “We have to come back to find out about those lights we saw and those voices we heard at Howling Cliffs. Did anybody find anything about that in these old books and papers?”
Captain Hull and Miss Coffin both shook their heads.
“Not a thing,” Spooner Cooke said. “That will always be a mystery.”
“Goody,” Benny said. “Now I’m sure we’ll be back!” |