Searching for the Morning
Star
by Shelli Jones Baker c 1988
ISBN#0-89274-496-0
All rights reserved internationally
A
parable of faith 'changed from glory to
glory'
FOR
CHILDREN OF ALL AGES!
In the tradition of
Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Pilgrim's
Progress
Chapter 1
linging to the ship's mast, Castigio
shut his eyes, shivering from head to toe! He was too
frightened to move!
Lightnings
flashed! Winds howled! Torrents of rain beat down upon the
sea! Below the murky deep, ancient fountains bubbled and
burst, surging upward to crest against the midnight sky.
Towering waves swelled and broke over the dark waters of the
ocean until its depths shook with their
pounding.
Sailing into its murderous clutches, the Spanish galleon
struggled to stay afloat.
"Batten down the
hatches! Pull in the sails!" yelled a crewman on the ship.
Hatches slammed shut and sails fell flat against the deck.
Everyone was scurrying to and fro except for Castigio who
was hiding behind the masts and rigging. Storms scared him
to death!
Sprays of salt
water rushed over his head, knocking him flat upon his face!
Sliding across the deck, he nearly slipped over the edge
before grabbing a rail just in the nick of time!
"Great fish-flappin
'-belly sprawlers!" he screamed. "We shall all be drowned
alive!"
"Drowned alive!
Drowned alive 'e says! Haw! Haw!" echoed the voices of the
crew as they began to mock him. Their course brawls of
laughter filled the air. Rugged and seafaring were they -
pirates each and every one!
Quickly Castigio
looked for a place to hide from them and from what he feared
worse than the storm! He ducked under a fallen sail. Thunder
crashed, then the rumbling of heavy feet running across the
deck filled his ears. The footsteps stopped. He listened for
a moment. Cautiously, he lifted a corner of the sail
covering him and dared to peek out. A blinding bolt of
lightning flashed overhead! For an instant a fallen sail
hanging suspended above his head became transparent in the
light. Through it Castigio saw the dark silhouette of the
giant man he feared more than the storm
approaching.
Castigio
shuddered. "El Capitan!" he gasped. The hanging sail crashed
to the deck as the ship tossed once more. Standing before
him was the most wicked pirate who had ever sailed the seven
seas!
El
Capitan, large and stout, stood under the creaking mast and
spars. He was dressed in not one, but in two blood red capes
which flapped violently in the fierce wind. His tangled mass
of black hair whipped like a nest of snakes about his face.
Glittering through his hair, an Indian slave's silver ankle
bracelet hung from his ear! With his jaw set, his mouth
fixed in a grimace, and his eyes piercing straight into the
eye of the storm, the pirate looked like a statue carved of
stone. Then he moved.
Anchoring his
spiked heels into the wooden deck, he sliced at the air with
a sparkling jeweled saber as if he alone could frighten away
the tempest. Indeed, El Capitan appeared more permanent than
the ship's own mast. Castigio almost pitied the storm, for
of the two - the storm and the pirate - he was sure the
pirate was the more evil and could outlast El Capitan was
not a man to be crossed.
Lightings flashed around the pirate, setting the
half-lowered sails on fire! Put it out!" yelled the pirate
pointing up. Then with the tip of his saber, he snagged the
belt buckle of a startled sailor and tossed him into the
air! Flying past the flaming sail, the sailor reached out to
grab it. Ripping it clean away, he plunged into the raging
sea! Nervous laughter broke out among the crew as El Capitan
searched for another victim. Castigio dared not
move.
"Who shall
be next? Ye spineless seadogs!" roared the pirate with a
horrible laugh.
Every pirate jumped to attention to appear as fearless as El
Capitan. Stepping back, the captain surveyed the prospects
with a sneer. Quietly, Castigio peeked out from under the
sail which still kept him hidden from view. In horror, he
saw the pirate's boot step beside the very spot where he was
hiding! Castigio held his breath as he felt the point of the
pirate's saber scrape across the sailcloth over his back!
All eyes followed the saber as El Capitan slashed the air
with its razor-sharp edge.
"What are ye gawking at?" thundered El Capitan. "Get to
work! Swab the deck! Wrap up the
sails!"
Crewmen
jumped like whips to obey as El Capitan whirled about in
every direction shouting out commands. Castigio waited for a
chance to escape and when the pirate's back was turned, he
fled for safer
shelter.
"To
the crow's nest!" El Capitan was screaming. Castigio glanced
up at it as he ran by. High above the ship it wobbled in a
gusty gail just as the vessel heaved to one side in the
waves. Slipping and sliding
on the wet deck, Castigio
kept running.
Realizing that he had given out more orders than there were
men to fill them, El Capitan stopped in his confusion. Then
he snickered as one more name came to his fiendish mind,
"Castigio!" he bellowed.
Unnoticed, the scrawny shadow of the man slipped away behind
the pirate as Castigio scurried down to the lower decks as
fast as his legs would take him! With not a moment to spare,
Castigio had escaped the pirate's eye!
"Castigio! You scoundrel! Shake your bones fast and get to
the crow's nest!" Castigio shuddered as he rounded the
corner of the stairs. He leaped down five at a time to get
to the bottom faster!
"Where 'er ye dreamer?" demanded El Capitan, throwing
back the crumpled sail where Castigio had been only moments
before. Fuming and hissing, the pirate tossed sails and
rigging aside looking for
Castigio.
“Ye scallywag! No use to me at all! Shan't it be a good
night this one, if at last we have lost ye at sea and rid
ourselves of the burden of ye!" he threatened as he poked
his saber into the frumpled piles of sails that littered the
deck about him. "Blast my boots! Where 'er ye?"
When no answer came, the pirate became enraged. "Have we a
deserter mates?" Grabbing a crewman by the neck, he sent him
sprawling in the direction of the galley stairs, yelling,
"Find him or ye'll share his fate as well when I get my
hands on him!" Jumping to his feet, the man began the search
calling,"Castigio! Castigio! Castigio!"
Soon all the pirates were looking for Castigio. Where was
he? Down in the darkest part of the ship: its very belly,
the bilge. Among crates and barrels stacked together on top
of boards and ballast stones near a crossbeam under the bow
of the ship, Casfigio found a place to hide.
The mere thought of sitting in the crow's nest made him more
seasick than ever. Each time the ship pitched and fell in
the sea, his eyes rolled around in his head. As he dangled
his legs from a barrel where he was sitting, bilge water
swirled about his ankles. The stench was horrible. But the
pickles inside the barrel had a worse odor of vinegar that
made his head swim. Many times before, he had hidden from El
Capitan in the pickle barrels when they were empty. Only now
there were pickles in the barrels and the ship’s beam had
cracked, so that slowly but surely the sea was coming in to
drown him!
Castigio wondered how much time he had left before either
the sea or the pirates finished him off. Lifting up the tiny
stub of a candle he had grabbed from the stairs, he searched
for the leak.
The crack was bad. Castigio decided to climb up higher on
the barrels. But as he did, his foot slipped on a slimy
patch of barnacles.
“Oh, doomed! Doomed!" he cried as he fell
into a bilge water puddle.
Instantly, it was as if the sea had heard his remark, for
suddenly it tossed the ship again, setting the stagnant
water from the bottom to rolling. Splashing over the pickle
barrels, it put his little candle out!
"Oh, no!" sobbed Castigio. "I didh't really mean what I
said!"
But it was too late.
“Could it get any worse?” he thought. “Oh, dear me, it seems
I've been saying that forever, and,curious1y enough, it does
get worse!” He sighed as he pulled his scrawny knees up
under him and
shivered a little. Yes. “Much worse!”
He sobbed as he sat there in the dark thinking of how he had
come to be in such a miserable state. "Ah, my motherland, my
queen, my dear, dear Spain. How I have failed you. I shall
never be a great conquistador now - no never, not ever.
He recalled the day so many years ago when Spain had sent
her young men away in search of treasure, spice and gold and
the wonderful Fountain of Youth! What a wonderful vision it
was, but alas his youth, how quickly it had passed away!
That day seemed as though it had happened yesterday.
Castigio remembered it as he would have remembered a
holiday.
He could still see himself standing on the docks in a
shining new suit of armor. Waving to the crowds, he had
joined a great parade of brave explorers marching up the
gang plank to their ship. Each had dreamed of returning one
day in victory and wealth!
However; days at sea turned into years, and years into
decades until at last the crew's dreams faded
away and
the ship was lost at sea. Gastigio was quite certain that
Spain had forgotten them all long ago.
Only Castigio continued to dream the old vision. But his
armor did not fit so well anymore, because he had grown old
and skinny. He had lost his courage too. But a dream truly
believed, even in the heart of a coward, can lead a
man into adventure.
One day El Capitan's ship had passed by them. There was
extreme excitement among the crew. The pirate had introduced
himself as a great explorer. Everyone of them believed all
the tales of adventure that he told them except for Castigio
who thought their happening upon him was just too good to be
true.
The crew were too quick to turn their ship over to El
Gapitan and proclaim him their brave new leader. Castigio
protested, but no one listened. Spellbound by the notion of
pirating riches and conquering new lands, the conquistadors
gave up their mission, dusted off their sails from years of
drifting and readied themselves for high adventure. When
Castigio reminded the crew of the glory of Spain and of
their dream to find the precious Fountain of Youth, El
Capitan mocked him for being a dreamer. Castigio became an
outcast!
"We have run aground on an island. We are going to march
against its people and conquer
them.
"Then we'll steal their treasures too!" said a greedy voice
in the dark somewhere.
Castigio squinted and noticed that light instead of water
was coming through the cracked bilge. The voice was right.
The ship had stopped. He heard a shuffling of feet and
ducked behind a barrel.
"Get up, you old coward!" It was the voice of the crewman
who had been searching for him. He had a spear in his hand
and pointed it in Castigio's face.
"Oh, mercy me! Mercy
me! Mercy, sir!" Castigio whimpered.
“I ought to say I found you and win a favor for myself!" the
crewman said, his chest swelling with
pride.
"But now El Capitan is busy preparing for battle, and you'll
not interest him at all till it's done. Lucky for you,
Castigio! Here! Take this, you ol' bag of bones!" he said,
thrusting a spear at Castigio's hand. "Go fall in line, or
I'll drown you right here!
Get!"
Castigio grabbed the spear, slipped through the crack in the
ship and scrambled to shore. He lined up with the others,
soon lost in the crowd.
"Oh, thank you, somebody!" he
said.
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