to you. If I’d lost this, as I thought I had, I’d have lost all the diaries of my pirate past, and I’ve put all the best of my life into this book. It would have been gone forever if it hadn’t been for you.”
“I heard them say they were coming back for it. So I knew it must be here,” said Titty. “And it’s just what pirates always do. They always mean to come back when they bury anything.”
“Like dogs to a buried bone,” said Captain Flint. “Well, they’ve lost this bone, though it wouldn’t have been much use to them. I can’t imagine them settling down to read Mixed Moss .”
“What are you going to do about them?” said Captain Nancy. “Let’s lie in wait for them and catch them?”
Captain Flint thought for a moment. Then he said, “I’m not going to do anything at all. I told the police to inquire at the landing-places, because I wanted to take any chance there was of getting it back. But I don’t want to send anyone to prison.”
“Prison!” said Nancy. “They ought to be hanged in chains at Execution Dock, and rattle their bones in the wind.”
“They only do that sort of thing to Amazon Pirates nowadays,” said Captain Flint. “What did you hear them say, Able-seaman, about fetching their loot away?”
“They said, ‘We’ll come fishing and catch something worth having.’ ”
“And so they jolly well shall,” said Captain Flint. “Let’s see if we can find a bit of wood, a flat bit.”
“We found their pipe,” said Roger.
“Good,” said Captain Flint. “We’ll frighten them off burgling for the rest of their lives.”