11 Ten Unlucky Pirates

CHAPTER 11 TEN UNLUCKY PIRATES "Open up!" yells Captain Woodenhead, pounding on the door. "Sorry," I say. "Members only!"

"Now, come on, Andy," says Captain Woodenhead. "Let me and my crew in. I promise nothing bad will happen. Forgive and forget, that's my motto." "But what about that stuff you said on the beach about 'making us pay' and how you were going to claim our treehouse for yourself?" Captain Woodenhead roars with laughter. "Oh, don't take any notice of that!" he says. "That was just silly pirate talk! All we want is to come in, take off our boots, rest our weary, waterlogged bones for a couple of days, and then we'll be on our way."

"Sorry," I say, "but I'm afraid the answer is still no." "All right, then you leave me no option—we're going to blast our way in!" says Captain Woodenhead, suddenly turning nasty again. "Men, prepare the cannon!"

"Oh no!" says Terry. "What are we going to do?" "Let them in," I say. "Are you crazy?" says Jill. "You're just going to let them in?" "Yes," I say. "I know it sounds crazy, but I just had an idea. Do you remember that nursery rhyme where all the pirates get killed one at a time?" "Of course!" says Jill. "Ten Unlucky Pirates is one of my favorites. But how is a nursery rhyme going to help us now, even if it does have ten pirates in it?"

"Well," I say, "even the craziest nursery rhymes have a grain of truth in them. Take Hey Diddle Diddle for instance. Everybody thinks it's just a made-up story about a cow jumping over the moon, but in 1864 in Dorset, England, a cow really did jump over the moon." "Really?" says Terry.

"Yes!" I say. "And in Rock-a-Bye Baby, there is a baby in a cradle in the treetops and when the wind blows, the cradle falls down. Well, scientific studies show that if you put a baby in a cradle in the treetops and the wind blows, the cradle—and baby—really will fall down." "That's incredible!" says Terry. "Who would ever have thought that?"