"Neither - oh, it's huge!"
"Where, you idiot - where is it? " Skipper Fry fought to keep the panic from his voice.
Jakey watched a long, dark red shape come up from the depths. He had never ever seen a fish of that size - or that shape. The shape traveled smoothly under the boat toward the Light, and Jakey looked away. "It's gone!" he yelled. "I think it were a whale!"
"Idiot boy!" shouted Skipper Fry. "There's no whales 'round here."
Suddenly a yell came from Thin Crowe.
"What?" Skipper Fry, so near to his goal, was twitchy.
"There's some more bloomin' kids!"
"Where?"
"On the Pinnacle, Skip. Where you wanna put the Light."
"I know perfectly well where I want to put the Light, thank you, Mr. Crowe,"
Skipper Fry growled. "And I shall be putting it there very soon, kids or no kids."
"No kids is best," said Thin Crowe. "Yer want me ter remove 'em?"
"Lurker!" yelled Jakey.
Skipper Fry yanked on the tiller. "Where?" he shouted. "Port or starboard, boy?"
"Starboard," yelled Jakey.
Skipper Fry shoved the tiller away from him and the Marauder sailed past the jagged rock lurking below.
Jakey Fry looked up at the Pinnacle. They were getting closer. He thought it looked like Lucy on top, though he didn't see how it could be. But if it was Lucy, he hoped she got out of the way pretty quick. In fact, he hoped whoever it was got out of the way pretty quick.
With carefully engineered shouts of "Lurker, port!" and "Lurker, starboard!" Jakey Fry made sure the Marauder sailed out of the line of sight of the Pinnacle in the hope that Lucy Gringe - if it was her - had time to disappear.
In the excitement of nearly reaching their destination, Skipper Fry had forgotten something that all sailors know - sound travels loud and clear across water. Beetle and Jenna had heard every word from the Marauder, and they were not about to wait around to be "removed." They clambered down the Pinnacle and quickly made their way back across the stepping-stone rocks to the shore. Once on the rocks they ran, dodging for cover, toward a sweep of sand dunes below the wooded hill. By the time the Marauder came back into view the Pinnacle was once again deserted.
They threw themselves into the soft sand of the dunes and caught their breath.
"They can't see us here," Beetle puffed.
"No," said Jenna. "I wonder what they're doing?"
"Nothing good, that's for sure."
"That boat coming here," said Jenna, "it's horrible. It feels like...like..." She searched for the words.
"Like we've been invaded," Beetle supplied.
"Exactly. I wish they'd go away."
Beetle did too.
They watched the Marauder's approach. The boat was a dark, fat shape against the sparkling blue water. Its two triangular foresails billowed gently, its huge mainsail was out at right angles and its little staysail stuck out at the stern on a spar like a stubby tail. Behind it followed a great ball of Light, which competed with the afternoon sun - and won.
The Marauder finally made it to the Pinnacle, which stood out like a dark finger, taller than ever against the retreating tide. Jenna and Beetle watched a hefty figure clamber onto the landing platform and secure the boat to the iron ring. Then the Marauder swung around behind the rock so that they could see no more than the bowsprit and foresails jutting out from one side and the brilliance of the Light on the other.
For the next hour, Jenna and Beetle watched, through half-closed eyes, a bizarre operation from behind their sand dune. They saw a ball of brilliant light being laboriously winched up the Pinnacle until finally, secured by a web of ropes, it balanced precariously on the flat top.