The Ghost Ship Mystery Read Online Free Page B

Violet said proudly. “But maybe we can get some ideas from your museum.”
    The woman liked Violet’s idea very much. She waved the children inside.
    Henry spoke first. “We’re the Aldens, Miss Coffin. We’re staying at the Black Dog Inn with our grandfather. The Peases told us about you. This is Jessie and Violet and Benny, and I’m Henry.”
    The woman seemed curious and turned to Jessie. “I see. Tell me how you happened to be reading my book, young lady.”
    “Well, first I read a story called ‘Watery Grave: The Wreck of the Flying Cloud. ’ ”
    The woman stiffened and looked angry. “That! I thought you meant the true history I wrote. That other story is just a lot of lies and gossip!”
    Jessie wasn’t quite sure what to say next. She didn’t want to upset Miss Coffin. “Oh, but then Mrs. Pease gave me your book, and I read some of it last night. It’s so sad.”
    Miss Coffin got a faraway look. “Yes, it is a sad story. So many died, so close to home. But there’s something worse than that.”
    “What could be worse?” Violet asked.
    “Humph,” the woman began. “What’s worse is what caused the tragedy of the Flying Cloud. There was an attempted . . . well, never mind.”
    “Mutiny?” Benny asked, proud to show off his new word.
    “Yes, but it was just that crazy Eli Hull,” Miss Coffin said. “Why, my great-grandfather was one of the most beloved sea captains in these parts. He treated his crew like his own family. Anybody who knows anything knows that! His crew would never have turned against him.”
    “Of course not,” Violet said softly. She was reading the sign on a glass cabinet filled with carvings. “Anybody can see that Captain Coffin’s crew loved him. Look at all this scrimshaw his sailors carved for him. Were all these pieces in your family, Miss Coffin?”
    Violet’s question perked up Miss Coffin right away. “Why yes—yes, they were. You see the crew made these carvings for my great-grandfather to give to his wife and children. Aren’t they the prettiest things? Here, let me unlock the cabinet so you can see how clever these carvings really are.”
    Miss Coffin fished into her pocket and pulled out the key to the cabinet. “Which piece would you like to look at first?” she asked Violet.
    Violet pointed to a whale tooth about six inches tall. On it was a parrot carving that was colored in with blue ink. “That one.”
    “That’s my favorite, too,” Miss Coffin said. “It’s a picture of Gabby, the pet parrot my great-grandfather rescued on a voyage to South America. Its wing was broken, and he nursed the bird back to health. Gabby traveled on many of my great-grandfather’s voyages.”
    Violet and Benny looked upset, remembering what had happened to his last voyage.
    “There, there,” Miss Coffin said, “believe it or not, we think somebody freed Gabby from his cage right before the Flying Cloud went up in flames. Gabby flew right back to my great-grandparents’ house. And, believe it or not, I remember Gabby myself. He lived a long, long time after my great-grandparents died. We think Gabby was nearly sixty years old when he died of old age.”

    Benny was amazed. “Sixty! That’s almost as old as our grandfather.”
    “Did Gabby talk?” Jessie asked.
    “Did he talk? Why he never stopped talking!” Miss Coffin answered proudly. “He said: ‘Cap Coff, Cap Coff’ over and over every day until he died. He meant Captain Coffin, of course, my great-grandfather. Anyway, one of my great-grandfather’s crew carved this piece of scrimshaw in happier days, when the Flying Cloud was the most successful whaling ship in these parts.”
    “Did the parrot know how to say anything else?” Benny asked. He was still amazed that parrots lived such a long time.
    “‘Hardtack, hardtack’ was something else he was always shrieking. Do you children know what hardtack is?”
    Jessie smiled. “I do. It’s dried, hard-baked bread that sailors took on long