Colin and the Magic Bookmark Read Online Free

Captain Twitch was stunned. No one had ever been nice to him before, not even his daughter. He twitched uneasily on his chair, unsure what to do or what was going to happen, and he had already knocked over two rum bottles with his twitches. Electra just glowered silently.
    â€œGather round again”, called Colin. “As this is the captain’s birthday, we are going to have a real celebration, a proper party, and we are going to play a game. It’s called Little Mary. First we need to divide you into two teams.”
    All the crew were chattering in amazement. They had never played a game on board ship before.
    â€œListen carefully,” shouted Colin, as Sammy woofed happily. “Quickly line up in twos. That’s right. Two lines equal in number.”
    The crew shuffled into two lines. They waited expectantly.
    Colin continued, “As there is not a lot of room on the deck and there are too many things lying about that you could stumble over…”
    â€œAye. Bosun Buller,” yelled someone, and everyone laughed, except the Twitches of course.
    â€œSo…,” Colin paused. “The race will be up and down the rigging. All of you sit down on the deck now please. Good. Thank you. Now each of you look at the person sitting next to you. In the game the two at the front will be Little Mary. These two tough-looking men were somewhat taken aback. One of them blushed bright red above his black beard, but his friend laughed and said, “It’s only a game.”
    Colin went on. “The next two people in the line are Mummy and Daddy. All the other people in the line are the animals.” Colin walked along the deck, telling each pair of crewmen which animal they were in the game. “Now, I’m going to tell you a story,” he said. “If you hear yourself mentioned, you stand up, race up the rigging, touch the yardarm and return to sit in your place. On getting back to your places Mary must say, ‘Thank you, Mummy and Daddy’, Mummy must say to Daddy, ‘You scurvy knave!’, Daddy must say to Mummy, ‘Yes, dear,’ and the rest of you, the animals, must make the correct noise of your animal. If you forget to touch the yardarm, if you forget what to say or if you cheat, a point is given to the other team. You must make the right noise for your animal. For example cows don’t say, ‘Cluck! Cluck!’ Jakie will keep the score. Ready? Then let’s play. One day Little Mary…,” At this point one of the men at the front stood up and started climbing fast up the rigging. Suddenly the other Little Mary realised that he had been slow and raced to do the same, but he could not catch up and sat down in his place well after Big Lennie, alias the first Little Mary, had shouted, “Thank you, Mummy and Daddy!”
    Colin continued his story. “Yes, one day she asked Mummy and Daddy, if she could go to the farm.” Before he had finished the sentence all four of the right crewmen leapt to their feet and raced up the rigging. All of them jumped nimbly down on the deck, sat down and in chorus shouted, “You scurvy knave!” and “Yes, dear!”
    â€œTwo points each,” announced Colin. Jakie was busily keeping the score. Sammy was yapping excitedly. Captain Twitch, still sitting on his chair, could not take his eyes off what was happening. Even his evil daughter was smiling and once was seen to clap her hands. The bookmark continued to glow in Colin’s pocket.
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    As Colin told the story of Little Mary’s visit to the farm to see the animals there, all the crew except Bosun Buller thoroughly enjoyed themselves and tried to outdo each other with their moos, oinks and other animal noises. It was a very silly game, but it was a lot of fun.
    At last Colin came to the end of the story, saying, “And so Little Mary, Mummy and Daddy said goodbye to all the animals.” At that moment everyone except Colin,