Free Mutiny! by Jim Ladd Page A

They’re lucky we’ve found them; I’ve heard of castaways going mad from loneliness, or getting so hungry they’ve been reduced to eating their own socks.”
    Sam gulped as he thought about his own parents stranded on the distant Planet X.
But they 
wouldn’t
have to eat their own socks,
Sam thought
to himself
. They’re both botanists, and they know everything there is to know about planets from all over the galaxy. They’ll definitely be able to find food, even on a barren planet that’s supposed to be made of gold. Won’t they?
    Comet rose from the bench and interrupted Sam’s thoughts. “Let’s go and see who it is,” he said.
    Sam trooped up to the main deck with the crew, all eager to catch a glimpse of who it was the lookout had spotted. In the distance they could see someone waving from a large asteroid.
    “Set a course for the asteroid please, Mr Pegg and Mr Legg,” Comet called to the two-headed first mate who was steering the
Jolly Apollo
. Legg, the happier head, saluted sharply, while Pegg concentrated on the wheel.
    The asteroid was small and round, barely big enough for a bowling lane, and piled high with suitcases. The castaway didn’t seem too upset about being stranded. Leaning against acouple of his suitcases, he calmly waved to the approaching ship as if he didn’t much care if they stopped or not. Sam frowned as he looked at him. The stowaway didn’t look like he was marooned and desperate. He was wearing a gold-coloured cape over some pretty fancy pirate clothes and had a gold peg leg.
    As the
Apollo
pulled alongside the stranger he tossed his head, flicking his wild black hair away from his face.
    “Ahoy, me hearties!” he shouted in a deep voice. “What took you so long?”
    “Ahoy!” called Comet. “Stand back, I’m coming down.”
    He dropped a rope ladder down to the asteroid and turned to Sam. “Rule fifty-six, paragraph three of the pirate code,” he explained. “You always pick up a castaway. Now just watch his face when he realises he’s been rescued by the famous Captain Joseph Hercules Invictus Comet!”
    Sam held back a laugh. Comet rushed to puton his formal hat, the one with the extra-large feather, then perched on the side of the spaceship and gave a nonchalant salute to the crew before throwing his feet over the ship’s rails. Unfortunately his foot caught on the top rung of the rope ladder and instead of climbing down, he tipped over headfirst, and ended up dangling from the ladder by his feet, swinging over the asteroid.
    “Ahhhhhhhhh!” he yelled as he untangled himself and landed in a heap.

    The stranger reached down, grabbed Comet by thescruff of the neck and hauled him to his feet.
    Comet’s hat was wedged down over his head and he wobbled around the asteroid as he struggled to get it off – much to the castaway’s amusement. With one last mighty heave the hat flew off and Comet fell on his backside. The captain sat there blinking his one good eye in befuddlement. The stranger stared with a wry smile at the three-eyed pirate.
    “There you go, Patches! Right way up again,” said the stranger.
    “Ah, erm, thank you,” Comet replied, looking a bit flustered. He took a deep breath and puffed out his chest. “I’m Captain Com—”
    “Be a good fellow,” the stranger interrupted, “and grab those bags for me, will you? Getting up the ship’s ladder is going to be a struggle with this.”
    He motioned to his golden peg leg, then gave Comet a wink and a pat on the cheek. “Make way, boys!” the stranger called up to the
Apollo
. “I’m coming aboard!”

Chapter Two
GOLDSTAR !

     
    T he stranger climbed easily up the ladder to the
Jolly Apollo
and vaulted athletically over the rail, landing nimbly on the deck.
    “Ahoy there!” he called, his hands on his hips and his chin jutting out proudly.
    He breathed in deeply and started to wander about. “Hah, it’s good to be back on the deck of a pirate ship again!” he exclaimed, slapping