Not giving my knickers a second thought this time, I scrambled up the first ladder I came to.
As I emerged on deck, I took great heaping gulps of air, grateful to be outside at last. To my left lay the bow. Nothing there but anchor chains and vents. Certainly no means of escape.
I charged right, toward where the sailors had been lining up for inspection. Safety in numbers, I hoped.
The deck between the forward gun turret and the edge of the ship was relatively narrow, so I crept carefully, hugging the base of the tower as I went.
Once clear, I raced toward the bridge. As I ran, I glanced up at the chart house. Was that a flicker of movement I saw? I blinked against the bright sky, bringing my vision into sharper focus, but no, it had just been wishful thinking. There was no help from that quarter. All the officers who normally served on the bridge were down in the wardroom.
There was a shout behind me as Admiral Sopcoate and von Braggenschnott emerged on the upper deck.
I scrambled down the ladder that led to the level below. In front of me, two burly sailors were headed my way. My first thought was of rescue, until I heard Admiral Sopcoate shout out, "Squidge! Farley! Seize her!"
There was no place left to go. The smooth steel wall of the ship loomed on my left, the railing and the river on my right.
I glanced back at von Braggenschnott and Sopcoate, who were now coming down the ladder. Squidge and Farley were seconds away.
I decided I'd take my chances overboard.
Holding on to the top railing, I put my feet onto the bottom rail. It was wobbly and precarious, and I'd be lucky if I didn't end up going into the river headfirst. But surely the dark, foul water of the Thames was better than capture? Especially since I'd foiled Chaos's plans twice now. As Bollingsworth had said, they had a debt to settle.
I lifted my right foot to the top rail. I would have to push off hard to avoid hitting the side of the boat on the way down. I took a deep breath.
There was a flutter of blackness off to my right—between Sopcoate and me—as a great black shape swooped out of the sky in my direction.
An arm came around my middle, knocking a gasp of surprise out of me. My feet left the railing, and my heart, which had been lodged up in my throat, took a nosedive down toward my toes as the deck swayed sickeningly beneath me.
We landed with a bone-jarring thud (of which the cloaked figure took the brunt, I might add). My rescuer released me and I stumbled, then bent over to catch my breath. "You've simply got to find a better way to—you!"
The sight of Clive Fagenbush had me gaping in shock. "What are you doing here?" Honestly! Is no one who they seem anymore?
"Run, you little fool." He whipped a pair of pistols out from under his cape.
Shouts and yells from the officers' mess let me know that Chaos would be following, so even though I loathed doing anything Fagenbush told me to, I hightailed it out of there. With Fagenbush watching my back, I made my way aft, where, by the shouts I heard, the jackal had been spotted.
When I arrived, all the sailors were standing on the dockside, shouting encouragement to a handful of men who were chasing the jackal down the boarding plank. I breathed a sigh of relief. The staff would be out of Chaos's reach, at least for now.
Fagenbush was right on my heels. "What happened to the others?" I asked.
"They changed their minds and returned to the front of the ship," he said.
"But that means they're escaping!" I said in dismay. I started to run back, but Fagenbush reached out and grabbed my arm.
"No! We've got to get off this ship before Chaos decides they'd rather have revenge than a clean getaway. Besides, I was ordered to rescue you, not chase them down."
"Ordered?" I asked, momentarily distracted by this revelation. "Who ordered you to rescue me?"
"Wigmere," he said. "Now move."
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Unexpected Friends in High Places
CAPTAIN BACON APPEARED ON DECK just then and gave the order to locate the Abyssinians. While everyone was busy with that, Fagenbush herded me down the gangway to the dock. I must say, my shock at Fagenbush working for Wigmere had me at a bit of a loss.
As Fagenbush led me toward a waiting carriage, we saw a small crowd gathered near the water's edge of the docks. "Haul him up!" I recognized Turnbull's booming voice and altered my direction.
"Where are you going?" Fagenbush asked. "Come back!"
Just because Fagenbush claimed he was working for Wigmere didn't mean I was going to start listening to him.
I reached Turnbull and his crowd of men just in time to see them pull a wet, bedraggled, shivering Grim Nipper from the foul water. His black and green blisters had subsided, so now he just looked like a week-old bruise. Turnbull scowled. "What happened to you?"
"A mummy's curse! Gave me a mummy's curse!" The old pickpocket was babbling and hardly making any sense. He caught sight of us watching. "Her!" He pointed directly at me. "She gave me the curse!"
Everyone turned to look. The minute Turnbull's eyes landed on me, he strode in my direction. "Where's Bollingsworth? You better not have been pulling my leg, because then I'll have reason to put two Throckmortons in jail."
"He's down in the wardroom on the HMS Dreadnought."
"That doesn't mean he's the one behind all this."
"Oh, I think you'll find that he is, Inspector. I think he may even have some of the stolen goods on him."
Still watching me, Turnbull called over four of his constables. "Go see if what she says is true, and if so, bring him down with you."
They took off at a trot, but the inspector stayed focused on me. "What makes you so sure he's guilty?"
Remembering Will's story, I said, "For one, we've located all the missing mummies. They are over at the Salty Dog tavern, in the cellar, I believe. You'll find that Bollingsworth has been staying there, although I'm not sure he's been using his real name."
Turnbull looked grudgingly interested. He called two more constables over and gave them instructions to get themselves over to the Salty Dog and see if all that was true. Once he'd sent them on their way, he gave me his full attention. "And how exactly do you know all this, miss?"
Oh dear! How much to tell him? I needed to stick as close to the truth as possible but not mention Will's or Snuffles's or even Wigmere's involvement!
Behind Turnbull, I saw Wigmere's carriage pull up. I needed to hold out for only a few more moments. "Well, I was desperate to get help for my father, you see, and Admiral Sopcoate had told us he would help, but he was busy today with a delegation he was taking on a tour of the Dreadnought. As I was rather anxious, I came down here to wait, so I could find him as soon as he was done."
Behind the inspector, I saw Wigmere, Thornleigh, and Bramfield get out and begin to make their way over to the ship.
"I happened to see the Grim Nipper, whom I recognized from the picture you'd been showing around the museum—"
"But I don't remember showing it to you!"
"No. You didn't, but I was, er, saw anyway."
He raised an eyebrow but said nothing further, so I rushed on. "When I saw him, I tried to think of a way to keep him here until you arrived, so I pushed him into the water, hoping he would never have had the chance to learn how to swim. And he hadn't."
"How did you know Bollingsworth was going to be down here?"
Oh dear. How was I going to explain that?
"Excuse me, Inspector." Fagenbush gave a short, formal bow. "If you are looking for a witness, I would be glad to offer up my services."
"You? You're the Second Assistant Curator over at the museum, aren't you? What are you doing here?"
"I saw the child leave this morning. Knowing her father was absent and her mother busy with her work, I set out after the girl thinking to catch up to her and escort her back home."