The Plug at the Bottom of the Sea (8 page)

‘In a globe?' asked Craig from on top of the whale.

‘That's right. Everything. Strange how I should find these but not the ship.'

‘What do you keep in there?' asked Craig.

‘Oh, trinkets to trade with the savages. My ribbons and medals.'

‘Well, we're no savages, but we're glad to see you,' said Craig.

Moses gave the captain a hand as he pulled his chest up to the fire where the sled and bags were. ‘Come on over here and have some breakfast, Captain. I was a captain myself,' said Moses.

‘You were?' said the tiny captain, looking at the red beard and the enormous man suspiciously.

‘Captain of the
Lucy Home,
best frigate, till she sank, of any ship upon the seas,' answered Moses, cutting some cheese for the tiny captain and handing it to him on the knife. The tiny captain, somewhat frightened, took the speared cheese off the knife as if it were a human. Moses pointed the blade at him. ‘Yours was a naval ship?'

‘The best till those penguins took over,' said the tiny captain eyeing the knife as if he were in the company of pirates.

‘Penguins took over?' asked Craig. ‘How could penguins take over a ship?' Craig was folding the sail and tying it to the sled.

‘Ha, that surprises you? These were no ordinary penguins. No, not at all. These were from the isle of Tierra del Fuego, the lowest point of land towards Antarctica, at the bottom of the great Horn.'

‘The Horn?' asked Craig.

‘Sailing around the bottom of South America is called “going round the Horn,” for South America looks like a horn.'

‘Oh, I see,' said Craig, not really seeing, but anxious to know how the penguins had taken over his ship.

‘Well, the penguins had swum or floated on a chunk of ice over to South America from the South Pole. The Indians saw them arrive on a chunk of ice floating into the shore. They had never seen penguins before, so they thought they were gods and they bowed down on their knees and worshipped them and made thrones for them to sit on. They even taught them special tricks and how to work together to build things and climb things, paddle boats. And taught them how to count and speak so I'm told, although they never said a word I could understand.' The tiny captain had been speaking all this time between munches, so that everyone had pressed very close to understand him.

‘But how did you happen to find them?' asked Moses.

‘Find them indeed. I didn't find them. They found me. I was coming round the Horn in a terrible storm, my ship crashed with another. Our whole crew trying to save the other crew. Suddenly found we too were sinking, so had to abandon ship. Then, in the midst of the storm, this boat full of penguins paddles up and starts to rescue the men. Well, I'd never seen anything stranger in my life. Next thing I know they'd landed me on some island with the savages all bowing to these birds. Well, I can tell you, I didn't know whether I was going into the pot for the birds' supper or the savages', but I was scared.'

The tiny captain paused to take another piece of cheese and put it on a piece of bread. Everyone was very impatient as he slowly arranged the cheese in the centre of the bread before taking a bite.

‘Well, where was I?' asked the captain a bit confused.

‘You were getting ready for supper.' Moses laughed.

The captain eyed him suspiciously, not finding this at all funny. ‘Oh yes. Well it just so happened my ship had been on an exploration for strange animals for the navy, and these savages had found the ship the day after the storm with all my animals in it. Well, any savage that was going to take a penguin for the Almighty was quite ready to take other animals for the angels. They wanted to keep my whole boatload. Well,
they agreed to let me go with my men. But since we had come out to get animals, we couldn't return without some. I had to think of a way to get them back. So that night we started a fire at one end of the village, and when all the men had gone to put it out, we made off with the animals and took some of the performing penguins too.

‘Well, of course we were chased all the way out to our boat and we were still pushing them off when the sails were filled.

‘Now, just at that moment another storm began, far more frightening than the one the night before. We couldn't steer the boat, the tide pulled all one way faster and faster so we were almost flying across the sea. I've never gone so fast in my life. At the same time there were thousands of other boats flying at the same speed. The pride I had felt a moment before in my skill with the boat disappeared and my terror grew, for fish and logs, birds and boats, were all flying across the sea in one direction.

‘Well, my boat started to go faster and faster leaving all others behind. I was going in a circle, round and round like in an enormous whirlpool with the water walls around me getting higher and higher. Well, since I had broken nearly all of the ten commandments that night, I didn't have to think very long to understand what was happening. Down and down I went. Just then I remembered what my mother had said,
It's never too late.
I rushed to my cabin and got out my chest and globe and dragged them out on deck, pulled out my Bible and began to read.

‘Now it may seem surprising that someone like me, who in life and in the navy has always gone up, should be so certain of entering the hereafter by going down, but that's how I had always been. So I closed my eyes to the whirling water and prayed. Now, just before everything went black. I looked at the wheel and saw it was not one of my men steering the boat, but one of the penguins. Well at that moment everything was clear to me—except at the same moment everything went black.

‘In the morning I awoke in the mud, only my neck above
the ground held up by this life preserver. I still wear it for I've learned my lesson, and that,' he said with another bite of cheese, ‘is the end of my story.'

‘Well, Captain, that was quite a tale and I think you may like to be introduced now. This is Craig, and Cindy, and this is …'

‘Oh no, it's one of my penguins!' cried the captain, jumping up.

‘Now, don't be frightened, Captain.' Moses laughed. ‘He's as gentle as a lamb.'

‘Bah,' said the captain, bowing on his knees. You'll see what happens to you if you don't start praying any second now.' Craig and Cindy and Moses all laughed to see the tiny captain down on his knees before this black and white bird. The penguin looked as confused as the captain looked terrified.

‘If you aren't scared of him, take off that label we put on him when we took him on the ship.' Craig went over, still laughing, and untied the string.

‘How did you find him?' asked the captain, as he got up from his knees. The penguin was waddling over to the pond. He hopped in and swam, flapping his wings, all around the great whale.

‘In a seaweed tree. We gave him some food and decided to take him to the Queen ourselves,' said Moses.

‘Well, you're welcome to him—' Captain Tiny grunted— ‘but why are you down here on the sea bed?'

‘To find the plug,' answered Craig.

‘The what, ha ha, the plug in the …Ha, ha,' he laughed.

‘That's where we're going.' Cindy nodded.

‘That's where the water is,' agreed Craig. The captain laughed again. ‘All right,' asked Craig, ‘if you're so smart, where has the water gone then?' The captain stopped laughing.

‘How do you know about this plug?' the captain asked.

‘There's a legend. Oh,' Craig remembered that it was Moses' secret and he might not like it told.

‘It's all right.' Moses smiled. ‘The cat's out of the bag now. No use tryin' t' stuff it back in! You tell Captain Tiny the legend while we get the things ready.'

Cindy and Moses collected their things as the sun rose and when they had finished, Craig had finished the legend. ‘And so you see, that's why we're going to find the plug.'

‘All set?' shouted Moses.

‘How much gold did you say was down there?' asked the captain, the sunlight reflecting from the pond and dancing over his face, dazzling him.

‘I didn't say 'cos I don't know,' said Moses, ‘but you're welcome to come along to find your boat and the rest of your animals. But if you want to, we can point the way back home.'

‘Now just a minute,' said the captain. ‘If there's all that gold down there like you said, then I'd better come along. Besides, my ship and my animals and …' He tried to think of more reasons why he should come along and dropped his globe. It bounced down the rocks and splashed in the mud.

‘You'll need to make some mud feet,' said Cindy.

‘Mud feet?' he asked, and she pointed at her feet.

‘Do you need to take all that?' Moses pointed at his luggage.

‘Of course, I always need my papers and my globe.'

‘Well, it would be a lot easier if you left them.'

‘Oh, I couldn't think of that, the chest must come.' He reached up to pat its top.

‘Well, you'd better make a sled for it out of those long pieces of seaweed.'

‘Seaweed?' asked the tiny captain.

‘Like this,' said Moses, his red beard tossing around as he showed him how to tie it.

‘How's that?' asked the captain. ‘Like this.'

‘And where do you tie it?'

‘Right here like this.'

‘Oh, fine.' The captain smiled. ‘I think I can do that.'

‘I've just done it for you,' said Moses, fuming from his pipe and from his eyes.

‘Oh, so you have.' The captain slapped his hands as if he had done it and said. ‘Well, let's be going,'

‘Now, wait a minute,' said Moses. ‘I'm the captain here.'

‘So you are, so you are, and I obey. It's just difficult for a captain to stop giving orders.'

‘Well, let's be off then,' said Moses.

‘Would you lift that chest onto the sled?' the tiny captain asked Craig. Craig lifted the large chest, which was twice as big as himself. ‘Now right, now down, easy,' ordered the captain. Craig was amazed at the weight of the chest. He could hardly lift it. But he did not say anything.

‘Now, little girl, could you pull that sled over to your brother?' Cindy did, but she was angry that this little man, not even so tall as herself, was making them work for him. Moses didn't ask them to do things for him, but this man acted helpless.

‘There,' said the captain, ‘now,' as Craig let the chest down. His face was red and he looked at the little man with his wide moustache twirling out on either side of his face, lifted up at the ends like wings. Smiling, Captain Tiny called, ‘Now, you just pull it along, that's a good girl.'

‘No,' said Cindy. ‘Captain Tiny, you pull it yourself. If those papers are so important you can pull them.'

‘Now, son,' said the captain, turning to Craig, but Craig shook his head. ‘Now, children,' begged the captain and he turned to Moses, but Moses just smiled.

‘Come on. It's time to leave. Ready, Captain?' He laughed. The captain pulled the ropes over his shoulder and buttoned his captain's jacket, twirled his moustache, and nodded. They all began to move. They waved good-bye to the whale as they pulled the sleds between the rocks, out of the little rock hole in the mud.

Craig looked behind to where the whale stuck up above the rocks. Their tracks in the mud were the only signs of life
around. As Craig looked at the whale he wondered where all the fish were. Could they all be inside the earth or on the other side? Maybe they were all in the rice paddies of Japan and China—or packed like sardines in the caves inside the earth. We must do something for the whale, he thought as he saw the last spurt of water rise from behind the rocks, as if to say ‘Remember me.' The whale must not die.

‘We must hurry,' said Cindy, starting to run.

Windmill circled around the hill in front of them and then came back. ‘
Skee skee,
' he cried and hopped wildly up and down on their heads.

‘Windmill's seen something up there,' shouted Cindy. ‘Do you think it's dangerous?'

They all stopped. ‘Well, it could be an animal or a fish, but we have to go that way,' said Moses, pointing to the large rope going round the hill. ‘Let's sneak up and take a look around the corner of that rock,' he suggested.

They stuck their heads around to look, and there, a few feet away, was a beautiful woman in a pool washing under a fountain of water. She splashed under the shower, which fell over the rocks, and her long hair hung over her shoulders down to the water. ‘Look!' cried the tiny captain. She turned around, startled, and disappeared beneath the water. Just behind her a green and silver fish's tail disappeared without a ripple. ‘It's a mermaid. And she's shy.'

‘They're all shy,' added Moses. ‘Sailors sneak up on them and so they learn to disappear. We'd better tell her we're friends. Oh, Miss Mermaid, we're friends.' There was no answer. ‘We're trying to find the plug.'

Not a sound. They looked at the pool wondering how she could stay underwater so long. Finally Cindy saw two eyes staring at them from under a seaweed bush like an animal in a cage. Then they watched as the mermaid swam underwater in the clear pool to the edge, her tail splashing slightly, her hair streaming behind. ‘Beautiful,' muttered the captain. And just as he said this her head appeared above
the water. She climbed on a rock and sat up, squeezing her hair.

‘We're friends,' said Moses for the second time. ‘We're looking for the plug. Miss Mermaid …'

‘Mrs Mermaid,' she corrected him.

‘Mrs?' repeated Captain Tiny, shocked. ‘You mean you're married?'

‘Yes. But I lost my husband and my ten children in the storm, and when I woke up there was no water. So I crawled to this pool across the mud and rested here all night, till I could go on.'