Tales of Terror from the Black Ship (22 page)

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The men walked towards the door and opened it. The first inkling that dawn was about to rise was in the chill night air that entered. At the threshold, Montague turned and, tipping his hat, said quietly, ‘Goodbye.’ Then the door was closed and we were alone once more. Cathy was the first to speak.

‘I think we have waited for Father long enough,’ she said. She sounded older somehow.

‘Yes, Cathy,’ I answered with a sigh. ‘I think perhaps you are right.’

‘Shall we go up to sleep, then?’

‘Yes,’ I said, turning to her with a smile.

And so we walked upstairs, hand in hand, the gauze that had once covered our eyes now lifted, and we could see the stars through the holes in the roof above our heads and an owl hooted loudly from the chimney.

We stood together and looked out across the bay, and there in the distance was an inky presence, all black, like the shadow of a ship, and a light winked once from its stern.

‘Goodbye, Thackeray,’ said Cathy.

‘Aye,’ I said. ‘Goodbye, one and all.’

Cathy lay down on her bed.

‘Do you want one last story?’ I asked her.

‘No,’ she said. ‘No more stories. I feel so very tired all of a sudden.’

And I felt that tiredness too; it was like the heavy-limbed weariness after a hard day’s toil. Sleep seemed like a friend to me now and I was happy to close my eyes and let myself sink into its dark, unfathomable depths.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Chris Priestley is the acclaimed author of the spine-tingling collections
Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror
,
Tales of Terror from the Black Ship
and
Tales of Terror from the Tunnel’s Mouth
, all published by Bloomsbury. Chris is also an illustrator, painter and cartoonist. He lives with his family in Cambridge and is currently writing a novel called
The Dead of Winter
.

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ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

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David Roberts is an award-winning illustrator who has worked with a huge variety of authors, including Philip Ardagh and Georgia Byng. He is the creator of the Dirty Bertie series. David lives in London.