Crown of the Cowibbean Read Online Free

suggest they go back to the Swashclucker when he saw something he couldn’t resist. The tavern just ahead of them had a dirty white sign with a dark black circle on it. Written inside the circle were the words, “The Black Spot.”
    â€œLook!” Chuck said, drawing a circle around the black circle with his hoof. “A ‘circle of darkness!’Just like in the poem!”
    â€œCouldn’t it just be a coincidence?” Dakota asked.
    Chuck reached for the door. Dakota slapped his hand over it. “No! Marco said to stay away from here! Besides, the last time we went into a place like this, it was the Leaky Tiki…and look how much trouble that brought us!”
    Chuck pushed Dakota’s hand aside. “Come on,” he said, opening the door. “How bad could it be?”
    The Black Spot looked nothing like the Leaky Tiki. This place was not warm and cozy. This place was gloomy and cold. The room was dimly lit by ship’s lanterns hanging from the ceiling. The air tasted salty and stale, and the whole place smelled of fish. The windows were covered with brown palmetto leaves that had dried up long ago. A sad-looking octopus served drinks with as many hands as he could spare to a rowdy band of lobsters, crabs, and other shellfish. They laughed loudly as they played cards and slurped plankton at their tables. This place really was a circle of darkness. Chuck and Dakota pulled up two bamboo stools at the counter.

    â€œWhat are we looking for?” Dakota asked.
    â€œWell, the poem says ‘ Circle of darkness, horn of the heavens ’,” Chuck said. They looked at their dingy surroundings. There was nothing heavenly about this place. “There has to be something here,” Chuck insisted. “I just know it.”
    Dakota sighed. “Maybe there is no ‘Horn of the Heavens’. Maybe there is no Coral Crown. I know you want to believe that Marco is a great explorer. But maybe he’s just a great storyteller.”
    Chuck pretended not to hear. “You know what’s weird?” he whispered. “This island is called ‘Cattleena’ but I haven’t seen any cattle.”
    â€œI know,” Dakota agreed. “Other than you, the only cow in this place is that statue over there.” He pointed to a small cow statue on a round black pedestal in a dark corner of the room. They tiptoed over to take a closer look.
    The statue was made of white marble. It was shaped like a cow with angelic wings and an elegant crown. A single horn stuck out from the center of the cow’s head. Squinting his eyes, Chuck read the words engraved on the statue’s base: “Nalani, Heifer of the Heavens.”
    â€œWhat is it?” Dakota asked. “A unicow? There’s only one horn.”
    â€œThis must be it!” Chuck said. “The ‘Horn of the Heavens’!” He peered closer and noticed a very small latch on the back the of the horn. “I think this thing comes off,” he said. He wiggled on the horn.
    â€œCareful! You’ll break it!” Dakota said in a hushed voice.
    Chuck tugged a little harder, and the horn came off with a gentle click !
    The two glanced around nervously but no one in the place seemed to notice them. Chuck and Dakota looked closely at the horn and now saw that it was hollow on the inside. Six tiny holes had been bored through the side.
    â€œHey! It’s not just a horn!” Chuck said. “It’s a horn pipe !”
    Chuck turned the hornpipe flute over, and a roll of yellowed paper fell out from inside. They unrolled the paper to find an odd scale of musical notes that twisted and wound all over the page in the shape of a crown. Below the musical notes was a list of what seemed to be song titles, scribbled in a familiar handwriting:
    The Fishes’ Breath
    Song o’ the Sea-Cow
    Tempest and the Tide
    Fire in the Heavens
    â€œLook! It’s the same handwriting as