The Quaint and Curious Quest of Johnny Longfoot, The Shoe King's Son - Catherine Besterman (best summer reads of all time TXT) 📗

Captain Cat, disgusted as he was, couldn't suppress a smile. "You are an odd sort of miser," he said. "But I will allow you to see the treasures. It will be a way to punish you. You will remember all your life that this immense treasure doesn't belong to you. Follow me."

That's the idea, thought Uncle Lucas, joyfully. I'll find where the treasure is hidden and later... We'll see.

Captain Cat pushed three times on a button hidden in a huge coral rock. A narrow passage opened up suddenly.

"This leads to the treasure room. Go and have a look."

Breathless from excitement, Uncle Lucas entered a big square cave. In neat piles, hundreds of bars of gold were lying on clean sand. Baskets full of the most wonderful emeralds, rubies and diamonds were standing around. The gems threw glittering lights all over the walls. Heaps of snow-white ermine completed the enchanting picture.

"There are no greater treasures anywhere in the world," said the cat seriously.

"Why didn't Barnac transport them to his estate?" asked Uncle Lucas in a trembling voice.

The cat shook his head. "It took pirates years to accumulate these treasures. The price paid for them was innocent lives and blood. That is why Barnac doesn't want them. The precious gems are cursed; the gold is cursed; the furs are cursed. The very walls are cursed."

"I'm not afraid," said Uncle Lucas. He puffed out his chest. "I'm willing to take them."

"Oh, of course, I don't doubt that," said Captain Cat severely. "But you may take only ten gold coins. I doubt that they will bring you luck. That's not my business, however. The only thing Barnac wanted was the seven-league boots."

There they were, enormous boots, leaning up against the wall.

"If Johnny were here," said the cat sadly, "he'd alter them to fit Barnac. Then Barnac could walk all over the world, visiting foreign lands. But Johnny is dead and now the boots will rot. That's very, very sad." He wiped his tear-filled eyes and added: "But you can't understand what I'm talking about. Here is your gold. Now go!"

Uncle Lucas trembled with rage while listening to Captain Cat's disdainful words, but he kept silent.

They left the cave. Captain Cat pushed the hidden button again. The entrance disappeared. No one would have thought there was a cave hidden inside the rock.

Uncle Lucas spent the day pretending to work. He seemed to be very busy. He cut wood, drew plans, assembled materials for a raft. But if anyone had noticed him closely he would have realized that Uncle Lucas was not working at all.

The cats, the dogs and Fuzzy were so busy themselves that they didn't pay any attention to him. The barge was in bad condition after the storm. There was a great deal of repair work to be done. At nightfall all the animals went into the shelter of the woods. They fell asleep immediately on the soft moss.

"Captain Cat, may I stay on the barge for the night?" asked Uncle Lucas. "It's so much warmer and so much more comfortable than the forest."

Captain Cat was surprised by Uncle Lucas' soft voice and polite question. Could it be that his lectures were at last making an impression on the unpleasant man?

"Of course you may," answered the cat, with equal politeness. "I hope you'll be able to leave tomorrow. I'm glad to grant you this last request."

"I will leave.... Of course I will leave," mumbled Uncle Lucas to himself. "Little you know, miserable cat, how soon I will leave! But you'll be here a long time. A very long time!"

It was a quiet and beautiful night. Moon and stars shone brilliantly in a cloudless sky. It was as bright as daylight. Gentle breezes murmured through the trees. Quiet reigned over the island.

But if some of the animals had awakened and come to the seashore they would have seen an incredible thing. Uncle Lucas crept up to the coral cliff, pressed the button, went inside the cave and started dragging the treasures to the barge.

"These treasures are all mine! Mine!" he whispered to himself. "And the seven-league boots, too! Everything is mine! I would rather lose my life than give up these wonderful gems and this beautiful gold. I will spend my life counting it night and day, day and night, every day of my life. I will enjoy the glittering brightness and this wonderful tinkling for years to come!"

Bending under the heavy load, he carried the treasures from the cave to the barge, going back again and again for more. Sometimes he fell down, he was so tired, but at last the cave was empty.

Uncle Lucas went on board the barge. He unfurled the sails with great difficulty, and untied the boat. Gentle winds soon blew the barge away from Coral Island.

By the time they get up, I'll be far away, he thought. I'll manage all right even if the journey takes ten years. I'll stop on other islands. I'll ask the seafolk for directions. It won't even matter if I have to spend the rest of my life on a desert island. I'll hide with my treasures in a cave. I'll have a wonderful time just counting the gold and looking at the gems and feeling the ermine.

Uncle Lucas took the helm. He was a sight to behold -- skinny, his sack suit in shreds, his eyes shining like burning coals. Nothing in the world mattered to him. Nothing but the cursed pirate treasure.

He stood at the helm until dawn, sailing to an unknown destination.

MEANWHILE, Johnny got up after a good night's rest and, stretching in the bright morning sun, said to himself, It's so sad to be without my friends. I have to think about how to find them. The little whale could do a lot for me, if he wanted to. But he's such a lazy and flighty creature. Let's see what kind of mood he's in today.

The rising sun threw fresh, bright rays on the shore where the baby whale lay on his belly. He was playing with the water. He drew it in and then blew it out in a mighty stream which shone in the sun like many-colored crystals.

"Hello, you boy with the needle!" he exclaimed. "Did you have a nice sleep? Are you now as dry as a chip? I got all the sleep I want in one night. A sea crab was here a moment ago and brought your Sea Passport. It's from the stitched shark, and it's valid for shallow, medium and deep waters. It's a great honor and may be of great value to you. All the seafolk are obliged to help you. Everybody, from the largest whale to the smallest clam."

There, indeed, was the passport. It was lying on the whale's back, a snow-white, flat shell with odd signs written on it.

"Here it is," said the whale. "Keep it carefully."

Johnny put the precious passport into his pocket and said, "Now I'll hurry and fix you the new rainbow skin I promised you. And then I'll have to ask you many favors."

"I will be of help with great pleasure," answered the whale graciously.

Once again Johnny sat on the whale's back with his red box and started to work. He put square pieces of mother-of-pearl into the whale's skin. He matched it and polished it nicely until it looked like a glittering chessboard in the golden rays of the sun.

"Finished," said Johnny. He looked at his job proudly. "You are beautiful now, my dear whale. I can't put this mother-of-pearl too high or it would feel like a stiff collar around your neck. But believe me, there is no whale in the whole world with such an extraordinary ornament."

"I imagine it must be gorgeous," answered the whale. "I'm sorry I can't see it myself. Trying to see it, I could easily sprain my neck."

"I can help that, too," said Johnny with a smile.

In the pocket of his long coat he found a mirror. He broke it into two and put each part on the cliff in a different place. The whale was then able to look into one part and see his back reflected in the other. He snorted delightedly like a horse.

"I am entirely pleased," he spoke out at last. "You have my lifelong gratitude. How can I reward you? Maybe you'd like some whale oil. The Eskimos do. I can give you a hundred barrels that I have stored in my sea basement. Or perhaps you'd like to wear a corset. Your coat would fit much better then. I can give you twenty pounds of the best whalebones. Your every wish will be granted."

Johnny thanked him politely for the offer of the oil and whalebones. "I have a personal and urgent matter to settle on the deep waters. As the holder of Sea Passport Number Seven, I call on you for assistance."

The whale immediately came to attention and put his tail to his head in salute. "At your command," he said. "Your orders, sir. I obediently and attentively listen."

What an excellent passport, thought Johnny. Now I'm sure I can find my friends.

"I want to cross the sea immediately, lengthwise and crosswise, to the north, east, south and west. I must travel fast and comfortably."

"Oh, that's easy," said the whale. He knocked with his tail on a rock. "These are signals to the seafolk," he explained to Johnny. "They are whale signals, speed signals, multidirectional, wavy, slanting and zigzag."

A few minutes passed. Then there was a great movement on the surface of the sea. Big sea crabs swam up and down; octopuses circled around; oysters opened and shut their shells with a crash.

Suddenly Johnny saw a huge tortoise shell coming toward him rapidly. It was big enough for ten boys Johnny's size. Powerful sea crabs, their claws covered with barnacles, pulled it along by strong seaweed ropes. They were assisted by long-tentacled octopuses and slim, strong fish.

"This is your multidirectional ship," said the whale. "The crabs will pull the shell in a straight direction, the octopuses in a round direction, and the fishes in a zigzag direction. By combining these directions you can go in other directions -- slanting, spiral, wavy. For your protection, twelve sharks will swim ahead, and twelve behind. Moreover, snow-white sea gulls will soar overhead. If there's any danger they'll immediately send word to our sea police, the swordfish. Stand by, all you seafolk, in the shallow, medium and deep waters! We need patrols over the whole sea."

"What a ride!" said Johnny joyfully. He shook the whale's tail in thanks.

"Oh, that's only our usual sea hospitality," said the whale matter-of-factly. But he noticed Johnny's appreciation with satisfaction.

"In which direction are we going?" asked the helmsman.

"We are going in all directions," said Johnny very positively.

The poor crab wrung his pincers in despair. And Johnny, reading his thoughts, smiled. "But of course not in all directions at the same time," he said.

"Giddap," ordered the crab. He flicked the right octopus with the seaweed rein.

The tortoise shell moved forward swiftly. Ahead and behind, the sharks watched the seas carefully. The oysters opened their shells to trumpet the announcement: "Here he comes! Here he comes!"

Obeying the command to fall in,