The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey

“My problem,” Risker growled, “is I’ve had nothing but misery since I got back. I wish I’d never met Benedict, I can tell you. And if you meet that fellow” — he jerked his thumb in the direction of the dock entrance, where the Ten Man had stood guard — “you’ll be wishing the same thing soon enough.”

Reynie was growing very angry. “What did Mr. Benedict do, offer to pay you more money once we arrived safely?”

“Not enough for this!” Risker snarled. He pointed to the empty rectangle of water. “My rental boats sunk in twenty feet of water! And my yacht engine sabotaged! And here I sit with no business whatsoever, trapped in my own boathouse with nothing to eat but soup and beans!” In a fit of fury, Risker swept the canned goods from the table. The cans tumbled noisily over the floorboards and splashed into the water.

Reynie tried to master his anger. This man was obviously in a pitiful state; provoking him would only make things worse. “We’re sorry for your trouble,” he said in a calmer voice. “But things will be better for you now, and we really need your help. Our friends are in danger, and —”

“Join the club,” Risker said with a sneer. He squinted out the window, craning his head this way and that for a better view in each direction. “Two more minutes and I’m gone.”

“But all we want is information!” Reynie said. “Just tell us where the island is and what Mr. Benedict told you. Then we’ll leave you alone. Is that so hard?”

“Don’t you get snippy with me! You don’t know what I been through, do you? The last time I gave out that information I got myself electrified and cheated all at once! ‘Big reward,’ they said, but I never saw any reward, did I? This is my reward, boy!” Risker waved his arms about, indicating his boathouse prison. But even as he did, the fury seemed to pass from his face, his shoulders sagged, and he returned to staring out the window and muttering to himself. “Held out a long time, too. Even with those shockers. I held out.”

Reynie bit his tongue. Risker was clearly ashamed, but he was the sort of person whose shame made him bitter and resentful. Saying the wrong thing would only set him more deeply against them. Reynie tried to find the right words . . .

“So you betrayed them,” Kate said, glancing over her shoulder at the filthy man. “Why not make up for it now and tell us what we want to know? Then you can stop feeling so bad about being a traitor.”

Risker stared at her, trembling violently, his red eyes bulging from his head. “I’ll tell you nothing!” he shouted, and this time he grew so furious he overturned his table. It toppled into the water and drifted to the other side. Risker looked around at the children, his chest heaving. He shook his head and moved toward the door. “No . . . no, I’m not even going to bother with you. Now’s my chance, and I’m taking it. You can wait and find out what’s happened to your friend. I’m leaving, and there’s no —”

“Let’s try it this way,” Reynie said, taking something from his pocket. “Risker, do you want this or not?”

Risker froze and fell silent, gaping at Reynie’s outstretched palm, upon which rested a brilliant diamond. Even in the murky boathouse the diamond twinkled like a dime-sized star.

Sticky gasped and put his hands to his head in disbelief. “How did you get that, Reynie?”

“Captain Noland gave it to him,” said Constance with a knowing expression.

Kate was opening and closing her mouth in shocked indignation. “Reynie!” she said at last, in a severe tone. “You can’t give that away! It doesn’t belong to you!”

“Maybe I will and maybe I won’t,” Reynie said, watching Risker’s face. The other children’s reactions were not lost on the man, whose eyes glinted hungrily as he stared at the sparkling stone. He stepped forward, but Reynie stepped back, and staring directly into Risker’s eyes he held the diamond out over the water.

“Tell us what we want to know,” he said firmly, “and I’ll give this to you. Hesitate five seconds and I’ll drop it into the water. Your choice.”

Risker was taken aback. “No! Surely you wouldn’t . . . can it possibly be real?”

“Of course it’s real,” Reynie said, and it was clear he meant it. “And now I’ll begin counting. One . . .”

“Hold on!” Risker said. “Don’t be hasty now, boy! I can tell you mean what you say. It’s real, and you’ll hand it over to me if I tell you everything, is that right? We’re in agreement?”

Reynie nodded.

“Good, then! Fine indeed. There’s not so much to tell, anyway. Why don’t you just step away from the water first? Don’t want to risk an accident, right? Don’t want to drop —”

“Three,” Reynie said. “Four.”

“I was to take you to the island and give you a message!” Risker said quickly. “I can’t take you there now, of course, but I can tell you where it is. I can tell you the exact place we were to land — the place I dropped your friends off — and the message is this: ‘Follow the wind.’ That’s all, I swear it. ‘Follow the wind.’ The rest is just details.”

“I happen to be fond of details,” Reynie said. “Now draw us a map.”

“I’ve got nothing to draw it with.”

Kate gave him pen and paper from her bucket, then hurried back to the window. It seemed to her that too much time had passed, and her face was taut with worry.

Risker drew a hasty map. “I’m putting down the longitude and latitude, and I can sketch the eastern part of the island as I saw it, but I never went beyond the shore. I helped them unload their supplies — they brought enough for the lot of you — and then I left. I don’t know anything else about it.”

“That’s a good start,” Reynie said. “Now give us the details, and do it quick. Someone will be here soon — either the man in the suit or our friend. Either way, you’d better talk fast.”

Risker did. Their friends, he said, had come to him some days earlier. After a long conversation (during which he got the impression he was being evaluated), Mr. Benedict had asked for passage to the island, and he and Risker had come to terms. Risker would take Mr. Benedict and Number Two, then return and wait for Mr. Benedict’s friends to arrive. He would reserve his yacht for their arrival and speak to no one about the trip or the island. If all