The Mousehunter by Alex Milway

Author:Alex Milway
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9780316069977
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2009-01-31T18:30:00+00:00

Emiline clung to a wooden wall in the middle of the Silver Shark’s gun deck, letting each breath slip out as quietly as possible. She was hidden in darkness between thick iron joists, occasional shafts of light flickering across her face with the bobbing movement of the ship. Excitable pirates were everywhere, charging this way and that with cannonballs held firmly in their hands. A line of armored Powder Mice were racing along with them.

Pyramids of cannonballs were built up alongside the guns, which numbered at least fifteen on each side of the ship. Through the wide hatches that opened for the cannons, Emiline could see nothing due to the mist.

It had shocked Emiline to find that there was a girl like herself onboard. She’d spotted the mousebox around her belt, sitting alongside other mousehunting implements, and realized she too was a mousekeeper. The mousekeeper of a pirate: for some reason, Emiline felt slightly jealous.

Scratcher darted up beside her, and slid to a halt.

“I can’t see a clear route out,” he said worriedly. “Pirates everywhere!”

“What can we do then?” whispered Emiline.

A huge blast hit the side of the Silver Shark, punching it over onto its side for a brief second. A terrific whooshing noise followed, and through the gun hatches Emiline saw the unmistakable glow of scorching fire burning the mist away. The navy was upon them.

Pirates were suddenly all around the mousekeepers, tending to the cannons and oblivious to their presence. Within seconds the first volley of cannonfire had been let loose from the gundeck. The smell of battle soon filled the deck, and smoke started to fog the air. The guns fired again.

“Let’s make our move,” declared Emiline. She grabbed Scratcher’s wrist and ran out of hiding. Darting in and out of shadows, desperately avoiding anyone’s sight — as well as the paths of the scurrying Powder Mice — they found a passageway at the stern with stairs leading to the top deck. A metal-edged window threw light over their dirty faces, making them blink and withdraw from the brightness.

The Silver Shark was moving fast in the water, but through the fading mist and smoke, it was clear that the navy had surrounded the vessel. Warships stretched out for as far as the eye could see. Puffs of smoke were flashing out of the ships as their bombardment grew stronger.

“They’re rubbish shots!” said Scratcher, noticing that few were hitting the ship.

“They won’t want to hurt us too badly,” explained Emiline. “Mousebeard has something precious of Lovelock’s.”

Over the deafening noise of cannonfire, Scratcher heard something boom even louder.

“Did you hear that?”

“What?”

Emiline listened harder. The noise boomed out again, rippling the sea and the ships upon it.

“What on earth is that?” she exclaimed.

Cannons on all sides stopped firing. The window went dark, while outside, the sailors watched a shadow spread across the sea and navy.

“Look!” said Scratcher, tapping Emiline on the arm.

His attention had turned to the stairs, where they could just make out a mouse that sat sniffing the air.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.