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The Wreck of the Seaslug

Chapter One

“This is the life!” squawked Neptune the parrot.
He perched on top of the mast, swaying happily as the fishing-boat rocked on the

waves. The sun was shining, the fishermen were singing and he had a belly full of

ship’s biscuit.
“Stone the scabby crows, you’re right there, matey!” said Liana, his parrot partner.

She had learnt pirate language from Neptune.
Once Neptune had been a pirate’s parrot, sailing the high seas. Then the pirate

ship, the Seaslug, was hit by cannonballs and went gurgling down to the bottom of the
ocean.

So now he lived on Parrot Island, but he and Liana often went for trips on a

friendly fishing-boat.
Suddenly Afa the fisherman stood up and peered into the distance. “Ship ahoy!”

he called.

Neptune stared.
“That’s a funny ship!” he said. “What are all those strange things on its deck?”

“It’s a salvage boat,” said Liana. “Those are pulleys and winches. They pull up
shipwrecks from the bottom of the ocean.”

“Really? I must go and take a look!” exclaimed Neptune.
He flew across the sea and fluttered high over the salvage boat.

Down below, he saw divers carrying ropes and hooks. They jumped into the

waves and disappeared.
He saw sailors getting ready to wind up the winches.

And then he spotted somebody who made his blood run cold.
Neptune nearly fell out of the sky with shock.

“Pieces of eight!” he gasped. “It’s blinking, stinking Captain Snatchit!”
The Captain looked unusually clean and respectable. He wasn’t wearing his pirate

hat – but it was him all right. He was standing next to a sea-chest full of gold pieces.

“He must have robbed the sailors!” Neptune thought.
But then he heard the Captain bellowing at the salvage crew.