On the trip back to Port Isabel Harry learned what he could of Flossy’s adventures. For one so young, she had managed difficulties remarkably well. He had never before met a human but if Flossy was anything to go by, he would like to meet more. He could see that she faced every challenge with great courage and fortitude.
Flossy told Harry and Larry as much as she knew about her abduction.
‘I was asleep when they struck the HMAS Enterprise,’ she said.
‘What does h-m-a-s mean?’ asked Harry.
‘HMAS? H is for His. M is for Majesty’s. A is for Australian and S is for ship. HMAS: His Majesty’s Australian Ship. The Enterprise is an Australian ship far from home.’
Harry turned to query Larry who was trimming the mainsail. Larry shrugged.
Harry asked: ‘Where’s Australia? And who is “His Majesty” at the moment?’
Flossy laughed. ‘It’s a long way from here, Harry. Australia’s a long thin island with lots of volcanoes, glaciers and icefields.’
‘How far?’ asked Harry, one paw resting lightly on the tiller. The Windrush was making good time. The weather was closing in but he guessed they would make landfall before the evening fog made navigation difficult.
‘I don’t know. There are no maps and we had to navigate around a million icebergs to get here. We didn’t even know if there was anything out this far, or any people. We were exploring.’
‘How long have you been at sea?’
‘Three years and about five months.’
‘Three years at sea!’
‘It’s a long time, isn’t it? Home’s just a dim memory.’
‘What are volcanoes?’ asked Harry.
‘Oh, you don’t have volcanoes? Melted rock spews from the ground out of volcanoes. They’re like big smoking mountains running with rivers of melted rock.’
‘And you live near these?’ asked Harry, amazed.
‘Yes. That’s how we keep warm.’
‘Facinating! I would love to see them, and Australia.’
Harry noticed that Flossy’s blond curly hair got curlier as it dried. Her clothes, however, were still dripping wet. It was a shame that humans had no fur and had to wear clothes instead.
‘How did you fall afoul of Pirate Pratt?’ Harry asked.
‘Well, we finally made landfall and once we’d resupplied made our way north and over the equator. In six months bouncing up the coast we didn’t see any other people or ships, so were off our guard.’
Flossy arranged her hair. Her hands were like a monkey’s but creamy pink with long, thin fingers. Even the fingernails were pink rather than black like a chimp’s.
‘Equator?’ asked Harry.
Flossy looked surprised. ‘Yes, the equator.’
Harry looked at Larry who was stowing the sea anchor. Larry shrugged.
‘Let’s see, picture the poles,’ Flossy explained.
‘Poles?’
‘Yes, the north pole at the top of the planet and the south at the bottom. The equator loops round the middle.’
‘Planet?’ Flossy was using words with which he was not familiar.
‘Yes, the planet. Earth.’
He looked blankly at Flossy.
‘It’s where you live.’
‘Is it your name for the land?’ Harry asked, puzzled.
‘No. Oh, yes. But more, much more. The oceans too. Everything. The land, oceans and sky make up the planet Earth. A giant ball spinning in space, going round and round the sun.’
At first, Harry thought she was joking. ‘Are you saying you think we live on a big ball going around the sun?’
‘Well, yes. That is what I’m saying,’ said Flossy, frowning.
Harry had to turn away to hide his smile. It was clear Flossy believed what she was saying so it would be impolite to laugh. And he could hear Larry supressing a giggle. He would have to change the subject.
‘So how did you end up on the Interloper?’ he asked.
Flossy grew serious. ‘They struck at night. At first I didn’t know what was happening. I was woken by an explosion and then the captain’s call to arms. I heard the clash of steel as I hurriedly dressed. I was almost ready to join the fray when a pack of dogs smashed through the door of my cabin. I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t put up much of a fight. I wasn’t even able to draw my sword before they had me bound and bagged.’
As Flossy talked, Harry took notice of her strange clothing. She wore a burgundy vest with three bright silver buttons over a cream shirt, collar open. A broad belt with a fat brass buckle was slung diagonally from her left shoulder to her right hip. Hanging from this was a scabbard holding a pirate’s cutlass; a sword with a wide and gently curving blade. Her cotton pants were held up by a rope tied at the side, two tasselled ends hanging free. They came to just below her knees, the hems trimmed with lace—the only feminine affectation on an otherwise very practical sailor’s costume. She had dropped her sodden jacket in the bottom of the skiff along with her wet tricorne; a pirate’s three pointed hat. Her bare feet had toes were far too stumpy to be useful for anything but walking.
‘The Enterprise is a frigate, just like the Interloper. I don’t know how they were able to get aboard undetected. The Enterprise outmatched the Interloper twelve guns to six, could travel faster and had twice as many men on board as the Interloper had dogs. My memory after I was bagged is patchy.’ Flossy frowned with concentration. ‘I couldn’t see anything as I was carried away. There were screams and a few more explosions, and a great deal of clashing steel.’
The glorious sun was falling towards the horizon in musky orange splendour. Harry had pushed up his sunglasses and now wore them high on his forehead.
Flossy looked at the setting sun. ‘I haven’t seen my parents since.’ She sniffed and wiped away a tear. ‘I don’t know if they’re still alive. I think they might be. I don’t know the fate of the Enterprise. I don’t know whether they’re searching for me or whether they’ve returned to Australia for help, or because they think that I’m dead. If they’ve returned home, it will be months or years before I’ll see them again, if ever.’ Flossy smiled grimly as she turned back and faced Harry. Her eyes were grey-blue, like the ocean in a storm. Her blond curls bounced in the wind. ‘I wish I could have done more. I’ve gone over those last minutes over and over in my mind. Perhaps there was a way to fight off the dogs long enough for help to arrive? Perhaps I should have drawn my sword before getting dressed so I was ready, and fought in my pyjamas. If I hadn’t turned in early that night I might have seen them coming and raised the alarm. We could have then fended them off.’ She sighed.
Harry could understand her dilemma. There was just no way to know whether things would have worked out differently.
‘And then you saved me, Harry. And you too Larry.’ Her smile was grateful and the sky behind her was orange.
When they made landfall, the sky was dark because there was no moon and thick fog rested on the water. Harry could only just make out the lighthouse as the Windrush passed between the Heads standing sentinel over Lunar Bay.
‘What’s Pirate Pratt like?’ Harry asked.
‘I’ve never actually met him. I was only able to confirm he wasn’t on board today when I risked using his cabin to escape. I got some of my gear back too.’ She rested her hand on the pommel of her sword.
‘Not on board? Then who’s captain?’
‘Oh, Pratt’s the captain alright. He just wasn’t on board. In his absence the captaincy fell to his first mate, Fang. I called him that because…’ She smiled and tapped one of her teeth.
The jetty soon loomed up out of the night. Larry jumped first. Flossy threw the painter, which he caught dextrously and tied off the Windrush. Nobody emerged to greet them. It was dark and the fog was probably already too thick for anyone to have noticed them cross the bay. Harry preferred this to answering a hundred questions about where he had gone, and what had ha