Free Elspeth Hart and the Perilous Voyage by Sarah Forbes

Tunnock. Hewas short and plump and smiley.
    “I shall settle you comfortably in my hotel until your Mr Tunnock collects you. He has instructed me not to let you out of my sight!”
    “I told you it’d all be fine,” Rory said to Elspeth as they clambered into the taxi. “I was never really that worried about any of it.”
    Elspeth knew that wasn’t quite true, but she smiled and didn’t say anything. She didn’t dare to think how things would have turned out without Rory to help her.
    As they drove off, Elspeth gazed back at the HMS Unsinkable , enjoying the sound of the rain drumming on the roof of the taxi. She touched the top of her trainer and felt the folded-up recipe there. She’d done it. The recipe was safe once more.
    And then something caught her eye.
    At the side of the HMS Unsinkable , she spotted a small splash as a little boat hit the water. It looked as though someone was rowing away in one of the lifeboats.
    Elspeth strained her eyes to see better. Yes, someone was rowing away in one of the lifeboats. In fact, there were two people. It looked as though one very tall person and one short dumpy person were rowing away as fast as they possibly could.
    Elspeth gulped.
    It couldn’t be … could it?





1
Another Horrible Tuesday
    It was three o’clock on a Tuesday, and Miss Crabb was picking her nose. She was digging her long, pointy finger right inside her nostril and pulling out the most awful strings of green snot.
    Elspeth Hart was staring at her in horror. She didn’t want to watch, but she couldn’t help it.

    “Gah! What are you staring at, you little ratbag?” shouted Miss Crabb, when she realized Elspeth was watching. “Can’t a body pick her own nostrils in peace? Gerroff down to the cellars and sweep up the mouse droppings! I might need them as an ingredient in the stew I’m making. Get to it!”
    Elspeth hurried off. She had only lived with Miss Crabb for a year, but she already knew not to cross her. Miss Crabb wasElspeth’s aunt. She had a nasty temper and a never-ending list of disgusting chores she could make Elspeth do.
    Elspeth and Miss Crabb didn’t live in a house like most people. They lived in a boarding school. Miss Crabb was the Chief Cook at the school and she lived in a very small attic right at the top of the building. So when Elspeth moved in, there wasn’t much space for her. She had to sleep in a wardrobe.
    Yes, dear reader – a wardrobe! It doesn’t seem very fair to me, either. That was bad enough, but the school itself was even worse. It was a drama school called the Pandora Pants School for Show-offs and it was a dreadful place. You could only study there if you were really, really good at showing off, or your parents were very rich.Hundreds and hundreds of film stars, TV stars, people in adverts – they had all been to the Pandora Pants School for Show-offs, once upon a time. And some of the students were nastier than a mouthful of mouldy cabbage.
    The Pandora Pants School for Show-offs was not a place you would want to visit. Ever. Unless you, dear reader, are a show-off. Are you?
    I thought not. And nor was Elspeth Hart.
    Elspeth Hart was a bit shorter than you are, and a bit shyer than you are. She had green eyes and fuzzy dark hair that was hard to control. She had lived a normal life until she was ten, when her parents disappeared in a flood and were never seen again. That was when she had come to live with Miss Crabb.
    “More mouse droppings,” Elspeth muttered, as she stepped into the dark cellar. “I can’t believe she gets away with putting them in the food. Evil old woman.”
    She moved sideways in the dark, feeling around for the light switch, and bashed her knee hard against the wall. Tears came to her eyes, but Elspeth blinked them away.
    She switched on the light, looked around the stinky, dripping cellar and started sweeping very slowly. Elspeth could hear Miss Crabb upstairs, crashing and banging around the kitchen in a rage, and she