Free Legends of the Ghost Pirates by M.D. Lee Page A

lobster claw. On the south
end, it’s narrow and goes quite a ways into the island. It looks
like we should be able to anchor anywhere in the channel, but it
might be best if we go all the way into the cove.”
    There's something she said about the channel that's
nagging at me, but I can't seem to think of it. I suppose we'll
find out soon enough.
    Jo is back on look-out standing up by the mast when
she calls out, “I see the island.” Pointing she says, “It's just
off our port bow. Just keep going in the same direction and we
should be good.”
    I look where she's pointing and I can just start to
see land materializing out of the fog. The breeze is nice and
steady, not too strong, just enough to push us along at a
reasonable speed. I keep thinking about the narrow channel;
something is still nagging me about it.
    I call to Sara and Jo, “Be ready on the halyards to
lower the sails. If the channel is narrow, I doubt we'll be able to
sail all the way in. There are two paddles below under the seat.
Let's have those out and ready to use.” Both girls go below and
rummage around until they're back on deck with two paddles.
    As we get closer to the island I can see just to the
right of the entrance white water splashing into the air; rocks. I
point to them and say, “Let's make sure we steer clear of those.
It'll smash us to splinters.”
    Jo looks back at me. “You're the one steering. You make sure we steer clear.”
    I make a face and give her a mocking salute.
    After a while, when we're a little less than a
quarter of a mile away, with the rocks now behind us, I can see the
water looks calm in the entrance; the island is blocking the wind.
I do my best to sail us in, but the closer we get, the less wind.
The sailboat moves slower and slower. Soon sitting right at the
entrance to the cove we are stopped dead in the water.
    “Looks like I was right,” I say. “Let's drop the
sails and see if we can paddle the boat in.” Sailboats really
aren’t meant to paddle, but this boat is small enough we can get
away with it. Most people never paddle a sailboat, but every now
and then it needs to be done. It'll be slow going, but it's better
than just sitting dead in the water not moving at all.
    Both Sara and Jo are on opposite sides of the mast,
and they begin to paddle. I stay at the tiller and keep steering.
It's not fast, but at least we're moving. And as long as it's calm,
paddling's no big deal.
    Closer to the entrance, I can see a high-tide
waterline mark across the rocks about ten feet above the water;
that means it's low tide and the water should be coming in. Farther
past the entrance I can see some buildings on the left. The
building is quite large especially being way out here on an island.
It's covered in gray shingles. Above its red roof there's a narrow
look-out tower with windows that go all the way around. That'd be a
cool fort.
    Sara calls out and uses the paddle to point, “That
must be the old life-saving station. I read it on the chart. I
believe it's been shut down for a while.”
    They keep paddling, and we slowly get closer to the
old life-saving station. When we float alongside it, I can see
there's a long set of rails like train tracks on the side of the
building that's protected from rough water. The rails run from
inside the garage doors all the way deep into the water. That must
be how they launched their lifeboats when the weather was
rough.
    Looking at the old life-saving station, it occurs to
me we're moving past it a little faster. It's strange because the
girls don't seem to be paddling any harder. In fact, they seem to
be paddling less. What's going on? Suddenly, I get it. I know what
the nagging feeling was.
    The tide's coming in and that means the cove is
filling up with water; a lot of water. The narrower the
channel gets the faster the current is going to run as the water
gets squeezed through. I've never been in this cove before, so I
have no idea what to expect. But the closer we get