Strange Creatures of Dr. Korbo (2 page)

“Sure would,” Jake said quickly. “We've got our own bowls.”

The tall man's face was highlighted now by the glow of the fire and by the lamp that hung from one of the rafters. Sarah thought he certainly had a mournful look about him. Partly, she decided, it was the effect of his long nose and jutting chin and the deep creases beside his mouth.

“My name is Gustavian Devolutarian,” he told
them. He picked up a big spoon and reached for the tin bowl that Abbey had fished out of her pack. “But if you forget it, I could always tell you again.”

There were seven hungry visitors, but the cooking pot was large. He ladled out plentiful portions for them all.

Reb said, “I don't think I can handle that whole name of yours. You got anything shorter?”

“Well, you could call me Gus. It doesn't matter much. How's the stew?” He seemed surprised when everyone said it was delicious. Then he stroked his long chin. “I expect you just got nice manners. I can tell you're well-brought-up young people.”

Gus brought out bread to go with the stew. Finally he brewed something that tasted vaguely like coffee. Ordinarily the Sleepers would not have been thrilled with this, but as it was, it tasted very good to them indeed.

“Now,” Gus said. He pulled out a pipe and filled it with black tobacco. He lit the pipe with a coal from the fire and sent forth puffs of foul smelling smoke that wound their way heavily toward the chimney. “You folks are criminals escaping from the law, I suppose.”

“Why, no!” Sarah said quickly. “Not at all. Whatever made you think a thing like that?”

“Oh, I don't know,” Gus said. “Most people who come this way are in trouble some way or other.”

Seeing that Josh apparently had decided not to say anything, Sarah explained that they had been on a long journey. They needed to rest somewhere, she said, before they made the rest of the trip.

“Actually, we could use a ship to continue the journey,” Sarah said. “It would be a lot easier to get home if we could find one.”

Gus puffed at the pipe until it glowed, then took it out of his mouth. “Might find that a little bit hard,” he said. “Unless you've got a lot of gold.”

“We sure don't have much of that,” Josh muttered. He was sitting slumped over with his back against the wall.

Dave said, “It's too late in the day now, but tomorrow we can go try to find a shipowner who would give us some credit.”

Gus said sadly, as he said most things, “Well, I wish you luck. Doesn't seem likely, though.”

For all his gloom, Gus did his best for his visitors. They all had sleeping bags, and there was just room enough on the floor for everyone. Gus even managed to block off a corner with a blanket hung from the rafters to give the girls their own private room. Just before he blew out the light, he said, “In case a wild animal, such as a wolf or something, comes in, it's been good knowing you folks.”

“Gloomy Gus,” Abbey whispered. “I've never seen such a pessimistic fellow.”

“But at least he's friendly, and he gave us something to eat,” Sarah whispered back. “And a place to sleep. Maybe we can get out of here early tomorrow.”

But the next day everyone was so weary that they slept until nearly noon.

 

When the Sleepers finally awoke, Dave saw that Gus had been out hunting. He had brought back some sort of waterfowl and was plucking off the feathers. Sarah and Josh volunteered to help him, while Dave and Jake set off for the village to look for a shipowner.

“Don't tell 'em you're friends of mine,” Gus warned as they left.

“Why not?” Jake asked with surprise.

“The fellows in that village don't like me much.”

“You too cheerful for them, Gus? Is that it?” Dave was standing behind Gus, and he winked at Reb.

“Well, it's partly that. They
are
mournful kind of folks, them folks in town. And they say I do have too much life about me. But the main thing is I'm such a good looking fellow that all the girls like me too much.”

“Is that a fact, Gus?” Dave said with a straight face. “That's a real problem.”

“Yes, it is.” Gus was obviously totally sincere. “It's a burden all right, but us good looking folks just have to bear up with it. Try to get back as early as you can, boys. This is tornado weather. If the house isn't here, we'll be scattered out somewhere.”

As they left, Dave said, “I sure hope the townspeople are a little bit more cheerful than he is.”

“I doubt it.” Jake frowned. “Not from what he said.”

 

While Dave and Jake were gone, the other Sleepers spent most of the day resting. Josh was still downhearted and said he was going for a long walk beside the river. Sarah wanted to join him, but she saw that he wanted no company.

By the time the two boys got back from the village, the girls had managed to roast Gus's waterfowl. Everyone had been eagerly awaiting their return, but as soon as they stepped into the house, Sarah saw the grim expression on their faces.

“No luck, eh?” Reb asked.

Dave burst out angrily, “No luck at all! We talked to every shipowner down there, and not a one of them is willing to trust us!”

“You can't blame them much, I suppose,” Sarah said. “They don't know us. We're strangers.”

“So what are we going to do now?” Dave asked no one in particular.

Silence fell over the room. Everyone looked out of sorts and cross. And then an argument began as to what should be done next.

When the argument was at its peak, Gus said, “Well, I've been thinking, folks. I'd like to take a sea voyage. For my health, you know. I'm not really well. Never expected to live this long. Always heard that a sea voyage would be good for me.”

“What are you trying to say, Gus?” Dave asked, sounding puzzled.

“Well, there's one captain down there that knows me pretty well. Besides, I've got a little stash of money. I can pay him, and you can pay me back when we get to where you're going.”

“Gus, that's wonderful!” Sarah beamed. She went to him and took his hand and shook it warmly. “What a kind thing to do!”

Gus nodded and then smiled a rather ghastly smile. “There must be lots of ladies there that would appreciate me. I'll have to try not to be too attractive, though. That always causes trouble.”

“So when can we leave?” Reb asked eagerly.

“Anytime you like. I'll have to dig up my little stash of gold, then away we go.” He crossed to a cracked mirror on the wall and studied his reflection for a while. Then he nodded with satisfaction. “Yep, I'll have to uglify myself a little bit. It wouldn't do for a handsome fellow like me to be thrust on all those unsuspecting ladies over there!”

T
he
Dragon
dipped down deeply into the pale green waves. Then, when it seemed the small ship would surely be swallowed up, it rose again. From time to time, Sarah and Gus, sitting in the bow, grabbed the belaying pins thrust in the side to keep from being thrown off.

“It's just like a roller coaster, isn't it?”

“Roller coaster?” Gus puzzled. “What's a roller coaster?”

Sarah did not feel up to explaining. She had suffered a touch of seasickness ever since the Sleepers, accompanied by their new friend, had set forth in this ship. Gus had done as he promised. He had produced the gold and convinced Captain Benbow to take them all to their destination.

Gus hung onto the ship until his long skinny fingers turned white. “Shouldn't wonder but we'd go down pretty soon now,” he remarked. “Doesn't stand to reason that a ship like this could take much more of a beating.”

“Gus, why don't you look on the bright side of things?” Sarah groaned.

“The bright side. I guess the bright side is if we all get drowned at sea. Then we won't have to worry about what happens when we get to land.”

Sarah could not help but laugh at him.

Gus suddenly changed the subject. “I hope Josh gets over his seasickness quick. I never saw anybody turn green like he did.”

“I know. I'm worried about him,” Sarah said. She looked up at the sky then and said, “You think it's going to storm?”

That was the wrong question to ask Gus. He always thought it was going to storm. “The question is,” he said sadly, “how
bad
is it going to storm?” He took off his hat, and the wind blew his lank hair. “I'd say, offhand, it's going to be a pretty bad one.”

Gus's words proved to be prophetic. The Sleepers, the crew, and the captain alike all grew apprehensive as the waves grew higher and the sun was hidden for two days.

 

Captain Benbow stood at the wheel, talking to his first mate, a forbidding man with a sour expression. “Never seen it this bad, Asmin.”

“No, Captain. Neither have I. And I've been out in all these waters. I told you it would happen, though. Remember?”

“Now don't start that superstitious nonsense, First!”

“Call it what you want,” Asmin said, and his lips drew into a twisty line. “I told you it was bad luck to take these people on. I felt it in my bones right from the start.”

Deep down Captain Benbow was beginning to agree with his first mate. Their passengers had not been a troublesome lot, though, he thought. No drinking. No loud noise. They kept to their cabins, only rarely coming topside even before the storm began. Now the captain's face grew troubled. “We can't keep up sail like this for long. It'll rip the sticks right out of her.”

 

The storm continued another day and night. It was impossible to eat from a plate. The tables, which were
fastened to the floor, tilted at a right angle. Nothing would stay on them.

Josh, who was stricken the worst with seasickness, could not eat anything. Sarah had taken water to him—or tea, when it had been possible to light a fire. But right now, all she could do was cling to a mess hall table as the ship rolled and tossed, indeed like a roller coaster.

“I don't know what we're going to do,” Dave said soberly. “The ship surely can't take much more of this.”

Reb, who hated ships anyway, said glumly, “I wish we'd never gotten on this ship. I wish we'd gone overland. It would have taken longer, but we wouldn't be in a mess like this.”

Gus was not looking any too well himself, Sarah thought. His long face had turned slightly greenish.

“You see that ring?” he asked, holding up his hand. “I don't suppose I'll survive this voyage. If any of you do and have a chance, I wish you'd get it back to my old mother.”

“Oh, stop it, Gus!” Jake snapped. “We'll get out of this all right.”

He had no sooner spoken than suddenly the door to the mess hall opened, and the captain came in along with the first mate. Behind them were four sailors, for some reason all armed with pistols.

“What's the matter, Captain?” Gus cried out. “Is it pirates?”

“No, it's not pirates,” Captain Benbow said. He bit his lip and seemed reluctant to say more.

“What is it, then, Captain? Is the ship going down?” Sarah asked in alarm.

“It's going down if we don't get rid of you people,” Asmin said roughly.

“What can you be talking about?” Abbey cried. She looked at the sailors. “And they've got pistols in their hands. What is going on?”

“Well,” Captain Benbow said and could not meet her eyes, “it's like this. We sailors tend to be a superstitious lot. Too much so, I suppose. But it comes down to it that none of us has ever seen a storm like this before.”

Dave suddenly said, “Wait a minute! You're not trying to say the storm is our fault!”

“Well, it's not
our
fault!” the first mate growled. “We never had anything like this until you people got on board!”

“I'm afraid we'll have to put you out in the longboat,” the captain said quietly.

“Why, you can't do that, Captain! It would be the same as murder!” Dave said with horror. His eyes were big.

“If we don't do it, all of us are going to perish in this hurricane!” Captain Benbow said. “Arguing about it won't do any good. We'll do the best we can for you. We've got the boat ready, we put food in it, and water. Now get your gear. You can take all you want. The boat's big enough to hold it.”

“But we're not sailors!” Josh protested.

“Then you shouldn't have come to sea!” the first mate said coldly. “Now get a move on!”

There was no help for it. That was evident. The Sleepers saw that the captain could not be moved. When the men were gone, Dave said, “We'd better take all the gear. We're going to need it if we ever make it to land.”

An hour later, the longboat was swung over the side of the Drago
n
and quickly lowered into the water,
where it was immediately tossed about wildly by the wind and the waves.

As the captain cast off the lines, he said, “You'll be all right if you head east. You'll make it.” Sarah thought he was trying to be kind.

“Nice of him to be so thoughtful of us,” Jake growled. Then he looked up at the mast. “Do we put up sails or what?”

“Just a little one,” Gus said. “Otherwise the wind would tear it right off and tear the mast off too. No doubt it will anyway.”

“Are you a sailor, Gus?” Sarah asked him, hopefully.

“Oh, I've made a voyage or two. Not likely we'll survive, but we'll do the best we can until we go down and feed the sharks.”

Reb glared at him but said, “Just tell us what to do. I didn't survive dragons and sabertoothed tigers to drown out in this here ocean.”

Gus proved to be a rather good sailor. He knew which ropes to pull. He knew which ones to release. At last they managed to get up a small amount of sail.

“Now,” Gus said as he seated himself at the tiller. “Might as well settle back. We got a little traveling to do. I only hope a whale don't come up under us and shatter the bottom.”