The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate Quotes

“As Mother headed the car for the highway, she said, "You two sure got quiet in the back seat. I thought you'd be telling Jo Dee and Brian good-bye all the way across the bridge."
Michele and Michael giggled. "We are," they said, as they perched on their knees facing out the back window. They each gave the skull and crossbones sign and Jo Dee and Brian returned it.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“And we had seen a man at the amphitheater dressed as a pirate—the same day the prop room keys disappeared," Brian said.
"Yeah," moaned Michele. "The same day we were looking in the trunk where the head was!"
Mother gave John a stern look.
"And you saw another pirate in the graveyard that night," said Jo Dee.
Now Mother really glared at John who looked like he wondered if these were the same kids who had stayed with him all summer.
They all grinned at John and giggled.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Of course, he didn't know four kids were going to show up and show off their detective skills," said John.
"Even when they weren't supposed to," Mother added and Michele was relieved to see she was smiling.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“And nobody wanted to come to Bath," reminded Mother. "It was going to be an awful, terrible, boring summer," she teased.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“The hot lights made Michele's skin sweat and mosquitoes attacked the back of her neck. You can't even scratch on center stage, she thought.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Michele didn't think she was allowed to cry on center stage—or scream which she thought about as Ormond handed her the ugly head.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Michael stuffed a fistful of popcorn into a yawn. How could he eat at a time like this, Michele wondered.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“When they reached the theater, Mr. Tankard greeted them grouchily. "The rain's stopped just in time. Full house tonight, kids. Do you know what evil eyes I've gotten trying to save four seats on the front row for you? Where in the world have you been?"
The four of them coughed and stuttered and mumbled at him.
"Oh, tell me later," he said exasperatedly.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“They didn't bother to explain to Ray about the mystery and how they had thought he was the one who had caused so much trouble. Michele just couldn't think of a way to explain all that fast enough.
So, with a mumble of "thank you's" and "play," they hustled Jo Dee and Michael through the wet bushes toward the theater.
"Play?" Ray called after them in a baffled voice. "Is that all you kids think about—playing?”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“As Michele lifted one bare-toed foot over the side she squealed. A crab had escaped from one of the pots and was scurrying around the bottom of the boat. "Super choice," she said to Brian. "Stranded on a pirate island or eaten alive by a crab.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“You'd better come back to Bath with me. It can be right spooky here at night when the moon is out, much less in a snarling storm."
"Have you spent the night on Plum Point before?" Brian asked, suspiciously.
"Sure, some college buddies of mine came down one weekend and we brought our sleeping bags out here. One of them told us a lot of good pirate stories. I'm afraid we were lazy and didn't even look for treasure. I do enough digging all day as it is."
Visions of gravediggers ran through Michele's mind.
"Dig?" she repeated.
"Yes. My name is Ray Whitley. I'm an archaeologist. I've seen you kids around town when I was coming back in after a digging expedition. That'll make you dirty and tired, especially lugging all my tools around half the night."
"In a brown bag?" asked Michele.
"Yes," he answered, looking at her as though he were very puzzled at the question.
"Why did you come to Plum Point tonight?" Michele asked, still suspicious.
"The man I rent a room from wasn't feeling well. I offered to check his crab pots," he said, nodding toward his boat which was floundering in the tumbling waves.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Brian! Brian!" Michele screamed into the dark jungle of green behind her.

Holding her stomach with one hand, Jo Dee propped herself up to see what Michele was hollering about.
Brian streaked out of the woods, the oar raised menacingly over his head. He looked like a pirate was chasing him.
"Snake?" he asked.
"No, yuck!" Michele said. "Look! Look . . . the clues make up a map!"
"Treasure?" asked Brian hopefully.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Suddenly, she jumped up and waved frantically toward the boat vanishing in the twilight. Dark thirty? She doubted Cap'n would even remember he had brought them, much less to pick them up. And no one, no one knew they were here on this uninhabited island in the Graveyard of the Atlantic.
"Cap'n, come back!" she cried. Her words were lost in the threatening wind. But he just waved, and she figured he thought she was waving good-bye. And she probably was—forever.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Cap'n, who ran the boat dock when he wasn't asleep on the pure with a bottle of beer in his hand, was just pushing off in his dinghy to check his crab pots.
Michele decided he didn't know much about kids or he would have asked them if they had permission to head out to sea at dusk. Of course it was hard for them to ask John when he had gone to Belhaven to pick up some people who had come over on the ferry from Ocracoke to see the play.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Then Brian stopped so quickly that she had to grab her hand brakes to keep from plowing into him."
"Hey, you want me to bump my head against a tree, too?" she asked.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“In their rush to eat breakfast, Michael sloshed cereal down the front of his tee shirt. Jo Dee spilled her juice. Michele just puddled with her grits and eggs, while Brian gobbled his food like he was in a contest.
"What's with you kids?" John asked impatiently.
No one answered.
"After you clean up the kitchen, I want someone to sweep the deck and walk, someone to feed Tideriggings and the other two to go to the store for me."
"We can't," Michael blurted out.
John narrowed his eyes and peered over his coffee cup at Michael's face turning red as he sunk down in his chair. The others studied the food on their plates like it was a biology assignment.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“The legend says a man named Jesse Elliot was horse racing. He must have had a bet or something, 'cause he shouted to his horse, Take me in a winner or take me to hell!"
"You said a bad word," Michael interrupted.
"It's OK when you're quoting someone else, silly," Brian argued.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“The lid slipped off and out popped another slip of paper, along with several small, sticky black circles. "Spots . . . beauty spots!" she cried.
Michael climbed out from under the bed and inspected the black spot on the tip of his sister's finger. "They look like ugly spots to me," he said.
"Ladies used to wear these on their face to be pretty," Michele said.
Jo Dee pressed her finger to Michele's and carefully plastered the spot on her cheek. She picked up the brass mirror and looked at her distorted image.
"It looks like somebody squashed a tick on your face," Michael said.
Jo Dee yanked the spot off and threw it at him but it stuck on the end of her finger which made everyone howl, except for Michele.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Suddenly, Michael, who was leading the way tripped, sprawling across the upstairs landing. His face turned red.
Jo Dee laughed, "It must work!" she said.
"What works?" Michael groaned, rubbing his knee.
"The guide said this little top step was shorter than the rest so that when the men came in late at night from the tavern they would trip and fall and wake up their wife who would know how late it was."
"Good idea," said Michele. "I think some new homes could use those."
"Funny!" said Brian. "It sounds like a sneaky trick to me.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Brian looked at Michele and shrugged. Michele shook her head back at him. They both looked at Jo Dee. Here they were on the verge of finding the head, Michele pondered, and they were at the mercy of a ten-year-old. "Have you got that item covered?" she asked Jo Dee, hopefully.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Is everything ok?"
"I'm getting old and gray trying to keep up with them," John teased with a wink.
"Things are fine," Michele said. "We've learned a lot about Bath and pirates and have been swimming a lot, and they have the neatest little library here, but . . ." Michele stopped and slumped down in a heap on the floor by her Mother's feet.
". . . but they haven't found that missing head yet?" Mother finished.
"Exactly!" Michele said. "Just finding that stupid old head would solve everything, and I would have a chance to be in a real play before I'm old and gray."
"Such ambition!" said Mother. "I was delighted to get published before I was thirty. But I guess your reach should exceed your grasp."
"It seems like my grasp has been at straws so far this summer," Michele said.
A quizzical two plus-two-equals-four look came over John's face. "Just how hard have you kids been looking for that head?" he asked.
"Oh . . ." Michele began, biting her tongue for saying too much. "We've just been keeping our eyes open."
"Hm, I think I'd better keep my eyes open," John said, winking at Mother again. "Lash them to the yardarms!"
"Now, who's acting," Mother said and laughed.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Michael and Jo Dee had given up long ago. They had brought the bottle and clue along and were playing "drop the mystery clue in the bottle." As far as Michele was concerned, they might as well drop it back in the ocean.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“By the way," Ben added with a wink, "I was looking out my window about midnight last night and could'a sword I saw you two running in and out of the shadows like a pirate was chasing you."
"Us?" said Brian, with a nervous laugh.
"You know John wouldn't let us be out that late," Michele assured him in her best acting manner. "Why he'd restrict us for a week," she added for good measure.
"Not if he didn't know . . . not if he didn't know!" Ben bellowed at them.
Michele herded the younger kids toward the door. Brian waved good-bye and followed them as fast as he could.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“The next morning a squawking Fuzzbucket awoke Michele from her tossing and turning. Her head hurt from dreaming a series of chasing, getting-caught, getting-away dreams. She felt exhausted and not ready to hear about anymore crises from the three kids standing at the foot of her bed.
"Michael! Move that drippy bottle," she grumbled.
"It's a clue," Michael told her.
"Big deal," Michele said, feeling ill at her brother and more ill at herself for taking it out on him.
"Sorry, Mike," she added, reaching for the limp note he held out to her. She yawned. Rubbing the sleep from the corners of her eyes, she read the clue in a mumbled monotone:

If not finding the head is what you fear,
You'd better check out the Van . . ."

"What the heck does this mean?" Michele asked irritably. "The rest of the word is washed away. It's just a smear of blue ink." She tossed the note back at them.
"We know what it means!" Jo Dee squealed. "At least Brian does."
Michele rubbed her tangled hair. The top of her head felt like a pile of pinestraw and she wasn't sure she liked Brian seeing her all messy. He just stood there in his neat jeans and tee shirt looking smart.
"Oh, all right," she grumbled. "I give up. What does it mean?"
"Well," said Brian. "I thought at first Van might be the beginning of the word "Vandyke" which is a pointy kind of beard like the artist Van Gogh wore."
Michele yawned again and stretched back on her pillow as though she were bored and could doze off. "I know that," she barked.
Brian sighed and turned on his heels. "C'mon, kids, let's leave Sleeping Ugly alone and start on this clue ourselves."
"Wait!" Michele said, sitting upright. "I'm sorry. My head just hurts," she said, rubbing it dramatically as evidence.
"Throbs—or rings?" Brian asked with a smile.
"Clangs like a bell," Michele said, grinning back at him.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“They both found the pages they were looking for and began reading aloud together at the same time.
"Blackbeard . . ."
Michele laughed, "You go first.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“It's too hot to sit in the glebe. Let's sit over here."
Now it was Michele's turn to look around for something she didn't know what was.
Brian laughed. "That's the glebe," he said, pointing to the house next door to the library. The paint was peeling off the walls in big, ugly blotches.
"Could have fooled me," Michele said, determined not to ask what she hoped he would volunteer.
"A glebe was land set aside by the Lord Proprietors to encourage a minister to settle here," Brian explained.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Can we take these outside under the trees and look at them?" Michele asked. "And let the little ones read in here?" she added in a motherly tone. She could hear Brian groan under his breath at her play-acting. But it worked, she thought, biting her tongue so she wouldn't get tickled.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Michael.
"You to put your clothes on," said Jo Dee laughing.
"Yo ho ho!" Michael jumped up. "Wait for me!”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“Michael had awakened first and raced down to the creek. Now he sat proudly in the center of the others holding a dripping brown bottle in his hands.
"Let me open it," Brian said impatiently, but Michael continued to pick determinedly at the cork.
"Hurry it up brother," Michele urged.
Jo Dee giggled nervously. The cork spurted from the bottle's neck with a wet hiss. The roll of paper inside was twisted tightly and slipped right out. Brian grabbed it greedily and unrolled it.
"Let me read it," said Michael, snatching the note away.
"You can't read yet!" Michele said.
"Oh, yes I can!" he mumbled and handed the note back to Brian.
"Somebody read it!" insisted Michele.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate

“That surely must be what happened," she said to Brian. "A caretaker found the head and returned it and . . ."
". . . and you can be in the play," Brian finished for her. "I sure hope so—then we can quit this wild goose chase and eat lunch. Besides, I wish I could see you stumble around up there forgetting your lines," he teased.”
― Carole Marsh, The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate