The Aldens spent the next morning at the beach. Benny hunted on his hands and knees for sharks’ teeth. Violet searched for pretty beach glass and unbroken shells, while Jessie and Henry scouted for driftwood. The whole time the Aldens were on the beach, they kept an eye on the Jonah.
“It looks like Captain Bob is going out on his boat again,” Jessie sighed. “I wonder why he isn’t taking anyone with him. It’s another perfect day.”
“It sure is,” Henry agreed. “At breakfast Grandfather and Mr. Pease said maybe we could go for a boat ride on the Sea Dog when they’re not so busy. But it’s not the same as a whale boat.”
Benny walked up to Henry empty-handed. “I didn’t find one single shark tooth. Just some broken shells and this skinny old gull feather.”
Henry took the feather and stuck it on Benny’s sailor cap. “We’ll call you Macaroni!” Henry joked.
Benny smiled and went over to a bench to watch the boats. Soon the other children joined him. They spread out their handful of sand dollars, shells, and driftwood.
“Maybe this afternoon, we can get some glue and make some pretty things out of what we collected,” Violet suggested.
Henry looked out at the Jonah. “I wish we could convince Captain Bob to take us out on a whale watch.”
“What if I went and asked him about a ride?” Benny asked. “Maybe he’s in a good mood today. I’ll offer him one of Mrs. Pease’s muffins.”
The three older children looked at each other.
“All right, go ahead,” Jessie said with a smile. “But if he gets angry, come right back.”
“I will!” Benny cried before he raced off.
Down at the dock, Captain Bob was untying ropes. The motor of the Jonah was already humming. The captain was so busy, he didn’t see Benny right away.
As soon as the captain looked up, Benny was ready. “I brought you some muffins. You might get hungry wherever you’re going. Here.” Benny held out the napkin-wrapped muffins.
“No, thanks. I’ve eaten,” Captain Bob mumbled.
“You can save them for lunch,” Benny suggested.
The captain shook his head. “No, thanks. I brought my lunch.”
“Where’re you going?” Benny asked. “Whale watching?”
Captain Bob shook his head. “I told you, son, no whale watching for a few days. I’ve got other things to do first.”
Benny finally gave up and turned around. He walked down the dock slowly, one small step after another.
“Hey, Benny,” the captain called out. “Come back!”
Benny whirled around and skipped back to the boat. “What?”
“Listen,” the captain said. “Give me a couple days, then I promise I’ll take you out to see some whales. How’s that?”
Benny wanted to smile, but there was nothing to smile about. “I don’t think we’ll be here. My grandfather is almost finished with his business at the fish-packing plant. Then we’re driving home.”
The captain stared over Benny’s head at the other Aldens. “What are your brother and sisters doing right now?”
“Sorting out stuff we found on the beach,” Benny answered. “I was looking for sharks’ teeth, but I didn’t find any.”
The captain thought for a minute. “Look, run over and get your brother and sisters. I’ll take you out for a quick ride now. Can’t get in much whale watching, but maybe we can go out looking for wreckage.”
Benny’s big blue eyes got even bigger. “Is that the same as treasures?”
“Kind of,” Captain Bob answered. “I’m headed out to Howling Cliffs. Lots of things wash up there after big storms.”
Benny’s eyes widened when he heard this. “Howling Cliffs? Goody!” He raced off to tell everyone about Captain Bob’s offer.
The Aldens were ready to board the Jonah in no time.
“Climb aboard then,” the captain told the children. “I guess I could use some extra hands where I’m going.”
A few tourists were on the shore, so the Aldens waved to them as if they were going on a long sea voyage.
Ragged Cove grew smaller and smaller in the distance. Overhead, seagulls followed the little blue boat. Benny threw out pieces of muffin for the hungry birds but saved a few pieces for himself.
“Sea air sure makes birds hungry,” he said with a laugh.
“And any kind of air makes you hungry!” Henry joked.
This was the first time the children heard Captain Bob laugh. Now he seemed glad to have the Aldens aboard.
When the muffins were gone, Benny walked to the front of the Jonah to see where they were headed. “Hey, what are all those big gray rubber things up ahead?”
“Whale off! Whale off!” Captain Bob yelled. “Here, take a look through these binoculars, Benny.”
“Wow!” Benny cried. “It’s a bunch of whales!”
The captain laughed. “Not a bunch, Benny, a pod. A bunch of whales is called a pod. And when we see them, we yell ‘Whale off!’ just like in the old whaling days.”
“Whale off! Whale off!” Benny yelled. “Look, some of them are looking above the water.”
Indeed, three or four shiny gray whales seemed to be peeking above the waterline as they swam in their pod.
“Now they’re spyhopping,” Captain Bob told Benny. “That means they’re staying just above the water to keep an eye on us. They don’t want us to get too close. I’m going to steer away so we don’t frighten them.”
The children couldn’t take their eyes off the beautiful creatures, especially Violet. “They’re so graceful for such big animals. I wish it weren’t so splashy, or I’d take out my sketchbook.”
The whale pod swam farther out to sea. Captain Bob piloted the Jonah up the coastline toward some tall gray cliffs. There the wind blew hard against the children’s faces. There were no whales and no other boats to be seen. When Captain Bob slowed down and steered into the wind, the children heard a strange sound.
“Is that crying?” Violet asked.
The children listened and looked up at Captain Bob. His sky blue eyes looked straight ahead as he carefully guided the Jonah through the jagged rocks. The sound grew louder.
“This is Howling Cliffs,” Captain Bob said without once taking his eyes off the dangerous rocks. “The wind always makes funny sounds near these rocks.”
In a whispery voice, Violet spoke up. “Jessie read us a story about that sound. Some people say that’s the sound of the sailors’ voices calling for help when the Flying Cloud went down.”
“Yes, some say that,” Captain Bob answered as he piloted the boat to a small, protected beach.
“This looks like a secret beach. I bet nobody has cleaned it up yet,” Violet said in an excited voice, once they were ashore. “Bring the fishing bags from the boat, Jessie. There are lots of shells and driftwood to collect.”
“Even a horseshoe crab shell!” Benny cried when he spotted one. “Now I have one treasure already. Do you think we’ll find some more, Captain Bob?”
“I hope so,” the captain said. “I like to see what washes up after a storm. I couldn’t get in here yesterday because I missed low tide. I hope nothing valuable was washed away.”
“Me, too,” Benny said. “I’m going to climb those rocks. Maybe that’s where pirates hid their treasures.”
“Go ahead, Benny,” Captain Bob said. “I’ll be up on some of the higher ledges. See you in a while.”
“I think Captain Bob is just shy, that’s all,” Violet said after the captain left.
Henry agreed. “And he’s a very careful pilot. Did you see the way he steered the Jonah right around those sharp rocks? I wonder why Miss Coffin thought he wasn’t a safe sailor.”
“Can I climb these rocks, Jessie?” Benny asked. “There may be some treasures up there.”
“Go ahead, Benny,” Jessie said.
Benny climbed up the rocks to a wide ledge. “I like it up here,” he yelled down. “I can see all over.”
Benny explored the ledge. Overhead a sea bird was screaming. Benny soon figured out why. “Hey, there’s a bunch of nests hidden in these big holes in the rocks. They’re like little caves.”
“Well, come down soon, so the mother bird doesn’t get upset,” Violet told Benny.
“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” Benny said. “I just want to get this piece of wood that’s sticking out from some rocks.”
Benny reached into a hole in the rocks to grab a thick wedge of wood. “Ugh, ugh,” he said, pulling hard. “This old piece of wood is stuck.”
By this time Captain Bob was standing right above Benny on another ledge. “What’ve you got there, Benny?”
“A stuck piece of wood,” Benny said, all red in the face and out of breath. “I want to see what it is. Maybe somebody poked it in here on purpose.”
Captain Bob lowered himself down to Benny’s ledge. “Okay, Benny, you pull that side, and I’ll jiggle this.”
Benny and the captain jiggled the wood back and forth. Finally some dirt and rocks came loose along with a big wooden box.
“It’s a box!” Benny said in amazement.
“Congratulations, Benny!” Captain Bob said. “You’ve got good eyes. This box was so well hidden in the rocks, I probably passed it a dozen times without noticing it. Let’s get it down to the beach.”
“What’s that?” Henry asked when Benny and Captain Bob put the box down on the sand.
“It’s an old postbox,” Captain Bob told the children. “Back in whaling times sailors used to leave mail for each other in boxes they put up around the coastline. Sometimes they sent letters or small scrimshaw carvings for other sailors to send on to their families. A box like this is very rare.”
“What about gold coins?” Benny asked.
The captain pried open the box lid with a knife.
Benny’s face fell. “Just some old stuff,” he said when he saw the blackened spoons and forks and lots of yellowed bone carvings scattered in the box. There was also a small, rusty piece of pipe that was sealed off at both ends.
Violet picked up one of the many carved objects. “Oooh,” she said. “These are scrimshaw clothespins. The sailors used to carve them from whalebone for their wives. I read that on one of the displays at the Sailors’ Museum.”
“Clothespins? Aw shucks,” Benny said.
Captain Bob couldn’t help smiling. “I guess old clothespins don’t seem too exciting, but I’m sure these have some value.”
“What about that rusty iron pipe?” Henry asked.
The captain picked up the length of iron. “It’s the end of an old cannon barrel. Sometimes sailors used to put documents inside for protection, then close them up.”
“Can I see?” Benny asked.
The captain didn’t answer right away. “Yes, uh, sure. But first I have to oil and sand it off on the boat to see if I get it open. Wait here.”
“May I watch?” Benny asked. “Maybe there are pirate coins in there.”
The captain didn’t answer. He headed back to the boat. He didn’t seem to want anyone to come along.
Fifteen minutes went by. Captain Bob still hadn’t returned with the cannon barrel.
“It’s taking Captain Bob an awfully long time to get that barrel open,” Henry said.
“I know,” Jessie agreed. “We should probably head back. I told Mrs. Pease we’d be back by lunchtime. I don’t want her to get worried.”
Violet carefully wrapped up all the other objects in the box. Henry and Benny carried the box onto the Jonah.
“I’ll go below deck and tell Captain Bob we should go,” Jessie said.
“Captain Bob,” Jessie whispered. “Did you get the cannon barrel apart?”
“Hhhh!” Captain Bob said, when Jessie surprised him. “I didn’t hear you come down. Uh . . . go back up. I’ll be there in a minute.” The captain quickly wrapped a rag around the cannon barrel.
Jessie could tell Captain Bob didn’t seem to want her around. “I’m sorry. It’s just that Mrs. Pease is expecting us back at lunchtime, and we don’t want to worry her. The cannon barrel, did you get it open?”
Captain Bob put the barrel behind him. “Why . . . uh—no, I didn’t. The damp air well . . . uh . . . it just rusted the whole thing shut. Now go on back up.”
“Did he find any coins, Jessie, did he?” Benny asked when Jessie returned.
Captain Bob popped up right behind Jessie. “Sorry, Benny. Nothing to report. The thing is stuck good and tight. I’ll bring it home to work on it some more.”
“Can I take it to the Sailors’ Museum?” Benny asked the captain. “The lady there has lots of things like that.”
“No,” said the captain, his voice suddenly turning unfriendly. “It needs to be cleaned. I know as much about these things as Miss Coffin anyway.”
“Doesn’t something like this belong in the Sailors’ Museum?” Jessie asked.
Seeing how sad Benny looked, Captain Bob softened. “Well, you were the one who found the box,” he said. “So if that’s what you want to do, then there’s nothing else to say. Take it to Miss Coffin.” In a few minutes the captain piloted the Jonah through the nearby rocks and out to the open sea. He seemed to want to be alone with his thoughts and the crying sounds of Howling Cliffs.
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