8 Ships in Bottles

8. SHIPS IN BOTTLES Half an hour later, the two sisters had just finished explaining to Matilda which tea which witch liked to drink at which particular time of day. "When I fancy something a little more potent than peppermint tea, you can't beat a hot frog-spawn infusion," said Pipweed as she slurped the dregs from her cup. "More cake, dear?"

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"Oh, no, thank you," said Matilda. "I'm quite full." She'd eaten a substantial amount of sponge cake and two thick slices of banana bread, washed down with blackberry tea, but she hadn't liked the look of the slug torte. The hags had told her that it was a special treat for Dabberlocks's three hundred and forty- fifth birthday. Matilda was pretty sure they had lost count. "Dabberlocks was much cheerier before she was three hundred!" said Pipweed, pulling a stretchy piece of slug from between her teeth. "Now she's all grumpy and bossy and dabbling in darkness all the time."

Matilda had enjoyed her tea and cake, but the whole time she had been worrying about the Jolley-Rogers, bewitched in the cave beneath the house, and how she was going to rescue them. And what would Jim Lad think when he came back from the ship and she wasn't there? But the hags were actually very nice once you got know them. They seemed to like Matilda too. Matilda finally plucked up the courage to say something. "Um... Excuse me, but why do you want the pirates?" she asked. "The ones in the cave?" "Ooooh, we'll show you our collec- tions!" they chirped.

They took Matilda to Pipweed's bedroom. Every inch of wall space was decorated with pirate flags. Hundreds of Jolly Rogers filled the room. The bed had a patchwork skull blanket, there was an armchair upholstered in flags, and the curtains were a great long flag cut in two. "I DO LOVE A NICE JOLLY ROGER!" said Pipweed, clenching her palms together.

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