so clearly glinting in its eye that Jamie began to wish that his parents had never met How he longed to be back on dry land preferably in Little Snoring with his cousin Trevor Augustus Trout otherwise known as Tat and Tat’s best friend Hetty Hetty was the cleverest girl in the world and would surely know how to cure seasickness and placate a vengeful squid She knew everything Well almost everything since she didn’t know that guinea pigs yawn to show anger or that fleas can survive for over a year without eating She also didn’t know where Captain Syd’s lost treasure was buried in Little Snoring
But she and Tat were working on finding the treasure with the help of the treasure map which had been found in the ancient Little Snoring Castle Jamie was going to help them Jamie knew that it was essential for them to find the treasure as soon as possible because Tat had told him that as usual the Trout family finances were in a very unfortunate state Every time Mrs Trout tried to make ends meet the ends wriggled farther apart like over-excitable worms Mrs Trout had taken on an extra part-time job at the local café and Mr Trout was trying to invent things hoping to add to his meager earnings as Little Snoring’s
lighthouse keeper So far he had invented the wheel electricity ice cream and glow-in-the-dark paint and had been very disappointed to discover that somebody had already invented them all He was now working on a top-secret new invention Tat had told Jamie he thought it had something to do with glue The ship had been due to dock in Little Snoring a few days earlier and was already late because of bad weather Jamie was worried they might not arrive in time for the Little Snoring Junior Costume Dance He already had his costume made and had hidden it under his bunk in his cabin He was planning to go as the vengeful ghost of Captain Syd He hoped to scare everyone witless
But before they reached Little Snoring he was hopeful that he might redeem himself with The Good Hope’s crew So when he heard a strange noise coming from somewhere out at sea he tried to forget his queasy belly and be as alert as possible He looked through the telescope and saw a shark zigzagging its way across the ocean toward the ship The shark appeared to be in some distress but the really odd thing was the noises coming from it Jamie listened hard There was no doubt he could hear it clearly
