ed between finger and thumb. Chris was tearing
with his beak at the silk cord on his foot, raking at it between every
look he sent towards Claggett Chew. Chris knew that if the pirate
touched Osterbridge Hawsey, or worse, fell, the touch or the noise
would succeed in awakening the heavily sleeping fop and the parakeet,
exposed, would be an easy prey for Claggett Chew.

The Captain of the _Vulture_, sweat rolling down his tortured face,
his eyes starting from their deep-sunk sockets with the strain of
keeping himself on his feet, began roaring at Osterbridge once more.

"Osterbridge! Scummy no-good! _Wake!_ That parrot has a scar on his
jaw such as I once gave a boy! _Osterbridge!_" he roared with a final
terrible effort.

Then everything happened at once. Osterbridge Hawsey was aroused at
last and sat up abruptly, heavy-headed and bleary, thickly asking:
"Claggett! What a _noise_! Cannot a man be allowed to doze in peace?
Where _are_ your manners?"

In the same instant, Claggett Chew reached out to pluck the parakeet
from behind the sheltering head and neck of "the fashionable." Chris,
with a superhuman effort, changed himself to a mouse, tearing his
foot from the frayed cord that held it, and leaped into the air.
Simultaneously, Claggett Chew, overcome by the approaching blackness
he had been fighting, crashed to the floor unconscious.

CHAPTER 27

A mouse streaked out the door of the Captain's cabin and did not stop
until it reached the farther end of the _Vulture_, where it hid
quaking behind someone's old shoe. The little creature, quieting down
at last and feeling its heart regain a more familiar rhythm, sniffed
distastefully at the shoe. It was plain to see, it thought, that the
_Vulture_ was an untidy, ill-cared-for ship. Old shoes were never left
lying about on the _Mirabelle_.

The thought of the _Mirabelle_ brought Chris's mission on the pirate
ship into sharper focus. He glanced up at the sky; there was little
time left in which to work safely, for Claggett Chew's sharp eyes had
noticed the infinitesimal scar on his cheek and his astute brain had
put two and two together. Chris wondered, with a new start of horror,
if Claggett Chew could read his thoughts, and if this was why he had
stared at him with such intensity.

Well, he shrugged, he knew what had to be done and if he worked
quickly, and Claggett Chew's swoon lasted long enough, not even he
could stop him. Looking about to make sure he