August of the Zombies by K. G. Campbell

Author:K. G. Campbell [Campbell, K. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2022-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

SPANISH GOLD

August lowered the flashlight slightly, and the men above lowered the hands that were shielding their eyes.

“Is that…August DuPont?” asked Professor Leech incredulously, his bulbous, pug-like eyes wide with fear and fatigue. “The boy with the butterflies? I thought you…I saw the…I…”

“You thought I’d perished in the wheel of a riverboat,” said August flatly.

“Why yes,” admitted the professor, who then added placatingly, “which caused me the greatest anguish, I can assure you, that someone so young…and all because of our little disagreement.”

“You seemed less than concerned about my well-being when you directed us to Pelican Wharf,” observed August, “knowing well that we might run into a dangerous gang of smugglers.”

“Phfttt!” Professor Leech flapped away the accusation. “How dangerous, I ask of you, can smugglers of chocolate doubloons be? I hoped they might slow you down a little, is all. I can assure you—August, is it not?—that I am mighty glad of your survival right about now. We were attacked, you must understand, by a great white monster. Came out of nowhere. Enormous it was. Teeth the size of ice-cream cones. And so, so many of them.”

The professor paused to swallow and wipe the sweat from his neck.

“Half the boat was gone before we even knew it. I scarcely had time to leap to safety before it came for the rest. I’ve been stranded here for two days. Two whole days. There was a hurricane, a hurricane, I tell you! It is an earthly wonder I still survive. Do you happen to have any water? Perhaps a beignet? Thank the Lord, I am rescued at last.”

The babbling, wild-eyed man shifted forward and braced himself, clearly preparing to drop from the branch.

“Not quite so fast, sir,” said August, gesturing to Marvell, who, discerning the boy’s intention, quickly put the outboard motor into reverse so the deck slipped away from the region below the professor’s feet.

“I know, Professor Leech,” said August, “that you bought it fair and square from Galerie Macabre, but I need you to hand over the Zombie Stone. You used it to take an entire zombie that does not belong to you, and I can’t risk your doing the same again. Or worse. I will pay you back the price of the sculpture when I can. But in the meantime, the stone and the pirate in return for your rescue. Do we have a deal?”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, August wondered if Admiral Gardner would have been impressed by this negotiation.

The professor’s bulbous eyes narrowed, just for a second.

“Now, August,” he simpered, with an oily smile, “be reasonable. Without the stone, I lose the pirate. Without the pirate, I lose the treasure. Come now, you’re a sensible young man. We’ll share the booty, how’s that? Who couldn’t use a little Spanish gold in their pocket, hmm?”

Spanish gold.

Gleaming. Tantalizing. Priceless.

August thought of the look on Hydrangea’s face when she first surveyed the wreckage of Locust Hole after the hurricane. He thought of the guilt and misery in her eyes when she revealed the bank’s plans to repossess their home and turn them out.

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