The Wreckers Page 5

  Lucy starts to explain. ‘You were lucky we were nearby and heard the commotion. We came through that doorway,’ she says, pointing at the small cupboard door in the corner of the room. ‘We found you two hiding under the bed and old Scarface Sid ready to do his worst. That was when Sam, doing his best “King of the Jungle” impersonation jumped on Old Sid’s back.’ ‘Well it certainly worked, it sounded like a demon from hell and it scared the life out of us,’ says Edward. ‘Speak for yourself laddie,’ says Bruce, now fully recovered and horrified that he has been saved by a cat. ‘I was just about to spring into action and launch myself at that big bully when you pipped me to it.’ ‘Was that going to be before or after you fainted?’ asks Sam. This time even Edward joins in the laughter. Bruce looks from Edward to Lucy to Sam and, not being able to take any more humiliation, storms out of the bedroom, making them laugh all the more.

  CHAPTER 15

  ‘But who is Scarface Sid and where did he go?’ asks Edward. ‘Oh he’s a ghost and he rushed off through that door,’ Lucy says, pointing at the small door behind the wardrobe, ‘probably gone to join the rest of his gang.’ ‘A ghost, that horrible man was a ghost?’ asks Edward. ‘He sure was,’ answers Lucy. ‘It worked,’ shouts Edward excitedly, my experiment worked, I found a ghost!’ ‘You certainly did that,’ says Lucy, staring around at the chaotic state of the room. Then Edward realises what Lucy has just said. ‘Gang? What gang?’ Edward asks with astonishment.

  Suddenly a thought begins to dawn on Edward as he stares at the slightly transparent girl and cat in front of him. He then blurts out. ‘You are a ghost as well aren’t you? You both are.’ He looks from one to the other. ‘Yes I’m afraid we are,’ says Lucy, as she makes a humorous ghostly moan and wiggles her fingers. ‘But how, why, who?’ Edward suddenly has so many questions. ‘Woh! Calm down,’ says Lucy. ‘But how come I can see you without covering you in talcum powder?’ ‘Oh that’s just a trick we ghosts learn over time, we can make ourselves more or less visible whenever we want.’ With that, she demonstrates this by first becoming more and more transparent until she totally disappears and then coming back and making herself look completely solid. ‘Wow!’ says Edward, ‘that’s brilliant.’ ‘Yes it can be useful,’ Lucy agrees. ‘It means we can appear to the people we choose and remain invisible to the people who we don’t want to see us.’ Edward digests this information and then continues with his questions. ‘But why are you here?’ Edward asks. ‘It’s a long story.’ ‘That’s OK,’ Edward replies, ‘I have plenty of time.’

  ‘OK, I suppose you deserve some explanation for being scared half to death. Right, here we go,’ begins Lucy. ‘Scarface is, er, was a member of a gang of thugs that sailed into the Pea Haven harbour one day.’ ‘Pea Haven,’ repeats Edward. ‘That’s the name of the village old Harry told me about when we were in the boat on the journey here.’ ‘So you know the story of how the village disappeared into the sea during a violent storm?’ ‘Yes,’ answers Edward. ‘Well as I was saying this gang of thugs turned up in the village one day. They were led by an evil man called Seamus. Everyone knew they were bad news but the people were scared of them; they bullied the villagers and stole from the shops. They spent most of their time in the Half Moon Inn getting drunk.’

  ‘There were rumours that they were up to no good and planning mischief and sure enough this proved to be the case. One night they forced all the villagers to extinguish all the lights in the village – in the houses, the shops, everywhere.’ ‘Why did the villagers go along with it?’ asks Edward. ‘The gang were heavily armed and threatened anybody who did not obey them. The people were frightened. They were just simple village folk, not used to threats and bullying, and besides the lanes to the nearest town were all under deep flood water and the storm was still raging; there was no way of getting through.

  ‘Anyway, that night the village was in total darkness – even the beacon on the tower at the end of the harbour wall was extinguished. Sam and I were sitting on the wall at the end of the harbour, wondering what the gang were up to. Suddenly I saw the lights of a ship appear around the headland, I jumped up; I knew that it was coming in too close. It was heading onto the sandbanks but there was nothing I could do – there was no time to warn them. Sure enough, it ploughed right onto the sands and stuck fast. We found out later that the gang had placed lights further along the bay to deceive the ship’s helmsman into thinking he had safely passed the sandbanks. At daybreak the next day, when the storm had abated a bit, the gang rowed out to the ship, pretending they were going to rescue the crew but instead they suddenly drew their weapons and seized control of the ship. They locked the crew down below deck and then looted all the cargo from the ship.

  ‘Sam and I hid behind some rocks on the beach and watched the gang bring the cargo ashore. They went backwards and forwards to the stranded ship in their boats, bringing back crates and barrels, and piled it up on the beach. Then they carried all the stuff up the beach and into a cave. We crept after them into the cave, they lit torches and we followed them as they made their way along the tunnels deep into the cliffs. They eventually entered a large chamber where they stacked all of the crates and barrels from the ship. We hid ourselves behind a large rock so that we could watch them.

  ‘They were all in pretty high spirits, they were teasing Horace.’ ‘Who is Horace?’ Edward asks. ‘Oh he is another member of the gang, a chubby, jolly chap for a Wrecker,’ Lucy says, ‘then Seamus shouted “enough of this nonsense, let’s see what treasures we have here”. The gang then started to open the crates and boxes. They cheered when they found weapons or rum. When they came across things that did not interest them, they cursed and shouted. Soon they were all drunk and shouting and fighting each other so Sam and I crept away and back to the village; we had seen enough.’

  CHAPTER 16

  ‘The villagers were threatened with death if they told anyone about what had happened.’ ‘What about the crew, what became of them?’ asks Edward. ‘No one knows,’ replies Lucy. ‘They just disappeared.’ ‘But didn’t anyone come to the village to investigate the wreck?’ asks Edward. ‘The gang covered their tracks; during the next high tide they refloated the ship and sailed it out of the bay into deeper water where they scuppered it, sinking it without trace. Perhaps the crew went down with it.’ ‘Oh that’s horrible,’ says Edward. ‘But what are you two and that Scarface Sid still doing here?’ Edward asks. ‘Patience!’ says Lucy. ‘I’m coming to that. I said it was a long story.’

  ‘One day, a short while after the sinking of the ship, I was passing the Half Moon Inn. The storm was raging again even worse than before. Anyway, as I walked past one of the inn windows I heard men talking inside; somehow I knew it was important that I listen to them, so I hid behind a barrel under the window. They were talking about luring another ship onto the sandbanks, then I heard them say that they were going to do it that very night.

  ‘I didn’t know what to do; I was in a right old panic, I can tell you. I decided I had to find my friend Old Jack and tell him as I thought he might know what to do. Jack had been a seaman all his life – he had sailed the seven seas – but he was getting on in years and the only voyages he undertook then was a bit of fishing in the bay. Anyway, I ran to his cottage and banged on his door. He opened it and I blurted out everything that I had overheard outside the inn window. He listened carefully, then he made me repeat everything I had heard. I was right to tell Jack; he soon came up with a plan which he then explained to me. He told me I was to climb to the top of the beacon tower and when I saw the lights of the ship out to sea I was to wave a lantern to try and alert the ship of the danger they were in. Meanwhile, Jack said he would go to the church and when he saw my signal he would ring the church bell for all he was worth in the hope that those on the ship would hear the warning.

  ‘Like before, the gang warned all the villagers that if they cared for their lives they must not show any lights that night. Later, Jack and I lay in hiding, waiting for the gan
g to move. The storm, if anything, was getting worse. Jack said that perhaps the gang would not go through with their terrible plan because of the weather, but just then we saw them come out of the Half Moon Inn. They were carrying large lamps and we heard Seamus order them to take the lamps to the same places as last time and to light them. When they had all departed, we stepped out from our hiding place. Jack headed off towards the church while I made my way to the top of the beacon tower. The rain was torrential and the wind was howling. Later that evening I spotted the lights of a ship rounding the headland so I lit my lantern and started to frantically wave it around. A few seconds later the bell from the church started up – you have never heard such a din, I think they must have heard it in Penzance. Anyway it must have worked because after just a few minutes I saw the boat start to change direction. Gradually her lights became more distant and I knew she was safe and had avoided the sandbanks.

  ‘I rushed down to the harbour and met Jack. We were dancing up and down and whooping with joy when suddenly Jack stopped and pointed. I spun around to see what he was pointing at – it was the gang returning. They must have seen my warning light and heard the bell from their positions on the clifftops. We started to run along the harbour. I stopped and looked back, they were much closer now and I could see Seamus at their front – he was looking straight at us. Fear suddenly gripped me. Jack grabbed me by the arm and forced me to run. We ran as fast as we could but we didn’t get very far; poor old Jack was a bit slow on his legs and they soon cut the distance between us in no time. The sound of their shouts and breathing were right behind us – I knew we were done for. I tripped over and Jack stopped to help, but it was too late; they had caught us. They stopped a few feet from us and Seamus menacingly started to approach us. He was very angry; he said they were going to cut us into bits and feed us to the fishes. They all started to advance and raised their cutlasses, ready to strike us down. Then, just as we thought we were dead, Sam my cat suddenly appeared between us and them. There was a huge flash of lightning and there was Sam, his back arched and his face set in the most terrifying scowl you have ever seen.’ The cat gave a modest smile. Lucy continued. ‘The gang backed away in fear – even Seamus, who is an evil piece of work, stopped and looked uncertain at this unexpected intrusion.

  ‘There was a few second’s stand-off, then Seamus shouted at his men not to be so lily-livered. They gradually started to creep towards us, then there was another flash of lightning – the whole terrible scene was lit up and then there was this huge crash of thunder. But then something strange happened. The noise of the thunder went on and on and it became a deafening roar. Everything started to shake – the ground we stood on, the village, everything. Then, in slow motion, everything started to move, the noise was terrible, the whole village was moving, sliding down into the sea. Things were disintegrating all around us. I thought it was some awful nightmare. The last thing I remember was Seamus lit up by another lightning flash. He held his cutlass above his head; his face was contorted in a hideous mask of rage. He looked mad, evil. He was shouting and pointing his finger at us and even above that awful noise I could hear him. I could hear every word he was saying. I will never forget those words; it was a curse. He said, “curse you, hear this well, the village may be finished and us with it but you will remain here, in this accursed place, until I return to take my revenge,” and then he started to laugh his evil laugh. I turned to look up at the village and then,’ Lucy pauses, a faraway look in her eyes, remembering a scene played out in another age. ‘Then I think I tried to scream. Next I think I remember being tossed around beneath the freezing dark sea water and then nothing only silence and blackness.’

  For a few seconds Lucy is silent and then in a quiet voice she continues. ‘The next thing I knew, I woke up on the beach with Old Jack standing over me, looking concerned, and then I saw Sam – he jumped onto me and licked my face. I sat up and the memory of what had happened started to return. I looked across to where Pea Haven should have been, but it wasn’t there, it had gone. There were the remains of a few buildings and the huge marks cut into the cliffs, like deep ugly scars, but the rest of the village had gone, disappeared into the sea. We guessed that the days of heavy rain had made the cliffs unstable, weakened it somehow, causing a huge landslide.

  ‘Then I started to think how lucky we had been to survive, but it was then that I noticed Jack did not look quite right and neither did Sam come to that. They seemed to be slightly, ah, seethrough.’ Lucy gave a slight nervous giggle and then continued. ‘Then I looked down at my hands and saw that they were the same, I screamed and got a little bit hysterical. I shouted at Jack, “What’s wrong with me, what’s wrong with us.” He was very calm, he placed his hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes and then he told me.’ ‘Told you what?’ said Edward, eagerly. ‘Why, that we were dead of course and that we were ghosts.’ ‘Wow!’ says Edward. ‘That must have been awful.’ He tries to imagine the shock Lucy would have felt. ‘That’s an understatement, it was awful, a terrible shock,’ Lucy says, smiling.

  ‘Anyway to continue, we looked to see if we could find anybody else but there was not a soul living or otherwise anywhere. We were the only ones left; we guessed that Seamus’ curse had somehow trapped us here and we had to accept that everyone and everything had gone. The village was gone, our families were gone. Everybody was gone, gone for good.

  ‘And so it was for a long time, a hundred years to be exact – one hundred years of wandering around aimlessly. It is very boring being a ghost, I can tell you. Anyway, that all changed; something very strange happened.’ Here Lucy pauses for dramatic effect; she is warming to this storytelling business, enjoying the response she is having on her audience. ‘Go on,’ Edward says impatiently. ‘What happened?’ Lucy, teasing Edward, pauses for just a moment longer, then she continues. ‘Well one day Sam and I were walking along the beach when we heard the church bell ringing, I couldn’t believe my ears and we started to run along the beach and when we rounded the cliff head into Pea Haven bay, there it was.’ Lucy pauses once more. ‘What?’ shouts Edward. ‘There what was?’ ‘Across the bay there was this really strange swirling mist. Sam and I just stared at it and then slowly the mist began to drift off the land towards the sea. First the church tower appeared, the bell was still ringing, and then bit by bit, building by building, Pea Haven appeared in front of us until the village was complete. It was back again as if nothing had ever happened to it. There were lights on in the windows; there was even music and singing coming from the Half Moon Inn. It made the hairs on my neck stand up; it was really spooky.’ ‘Even for a ghost,’ Sam added. ‘But how did that happen?’ shouted Edward, wide-eyed. ‘How could that have happened?’

  ‘We didn’t know; we just stood there, staring at the village. At first we were filled with joy. I grabbed Sam and we danced a jig right there on the beach. But then they came back.’ ‘Who?’ shouted Edward. ‘Who came back?’ Milking every bit of tension she possibly can, Lucy continues, ‘As Sam and I were jigging around, I heard the sound of oars dipping in and out of the sea. I spun around in the direction of the sound. The mist was still thick on the water; I could not see anything, but then I heard the sound of men singing. The sound was coming from out of the mist, sometimes loud, sometimes soft – it was a sea shanty. Then I saw their boats, first one then the other emerged from the mist, spectres appearing and disappearing in the swirling fog.’ ‘Who? Who?’ shouts Edward. ‘Why the Wreckers of course. Seamus and his gang of cut throats had returned; he was returning for revenge as he had sworn. He was standing in the bow of the boat with his telescope up to his eye. As I watched him he lowered his telescope, raised his finger and pointed at us and shouted to his crew. His voice carried on the wind to us, “there they are my lads.” It made my blood run cold; at least it would have done if I had any blood. I grabbed Sam up into my arms and said to him that I thought it was time to go and with that I ran as fast as my legs would carry me up the beach away from the
approaching boats.

  ‘I just ran, anywhere, I was so afraid; all I wanted to do was run away as fast as I could. I ran along a path that wound up through the cliffs away from the beach. I could hear them chasing us, I could hear them gaining on us, their footsteps and shouts getting closer and closer. Then just when I thought they would catch us I rounded a bend in the path and suddenly there was Old Jack standing right in front of us. He grabbed me and pushed me into a cave – the entrance was concealed behind a large bush. A few seconds later, we heard the footsteps of the gang go running right past us and off into the distance.