“Well, this was so obvious a child should have seen it, and I hate to say, I almost resented Nicholas for making me look so dumb. But there it was: he knew me better than I knew myself. As long as I’m at sea, I’m happy — which is why this maiden voyage is so important. I can’t afford to lose my reputation as a sea captain. Sending me to shore would be like sending me to my doom.”
“Why did you ever leave the navy, then?” asked Constance.
“I felt I had no choice. They had long wanted to promote me, which seems nice enough until you realize that a promotion would have sent me to a comfortable, highly respected post — on land. Torture! I’d always found a way out of it, but finally they insisted. That was when I left the navy and applied for my current position, which seemed perfect. The Shortcut will be at sea almost constantly — it loads and unloads faster than other ships, so it spends less time in port — and as I told the owners . . .”
Captain Noland trailed off, looking sheepish. “I’ve gone on far too long about your poor old captain. It was Nicholas you wanted to hear about, and rightly so. A better man I’ve never known — and this despite all manner of ill fortunes, as you children know. To lose his parents so young, and then to struggle so mightily with his narcolepsy . . . I don’t mean just the tendency to fall asleep at odd times, but, oh, the nightmares!”
Captain Noland rubbed his bloodshot eyes. He looked as though he had endured a night of bad dreams himself. “Nicholas and I shared a ship cabin more than once,” he said, “and the cries of terror he uttered in his sleep were enough to keep me wide-eyed and shivering for hours. He suffered these visitations from phantom creatures almost every night — the Old Hag, I remember, was the worst, such a dreadful hallucination I hated even to hear about her — yet during the day you’d never guess what he’d been through. Always cheerful, always brave. That’s Nicholas. Still, he did hope that one day — Wait!”
Captain Noland stiffened so suddenly he spilled coffee on himself. “To think!” he cried. “Oh, where has my mind gone? To think I almost forgot!” And looking at the children he said, “Forgive me. I hadn’t realized it until this moment, but we have another clue!”
The Old Hag, the Suspicious Gift , and the Quandary at the Castle
A little over a year before, Captain Noland said, Mr. Benedict had received word from a Dutch science museum about the discovery of certain papers — a journal and a packet of documents — in a secret location. The papers had belonged to his parents. Mr. Benedict, an orphan since infancy, had wanted to see the papers right away, but at the time he was busy investigating the hidden messages that would eventually lead him to Mr. Curtain and the Whisperer. Not until recently had he addressed those more urgent duties enough to take some time for himself — to go on this personal trip.
“So when he called you from Lisbon,” Reynie said, “he was on his way to Holland?”
“Or else he’d just come from there,” said Captain Noland. “I don’t know. I was pressed for time, and we spoke only briefly. I’m sorry to say I don’t know the name of that museum, or even in what city it’s located. But I know he intended to go there on this trip.”
“I know his parents were Dutch scientists,” Sticky said, “but why does the museum have their papers? Shouldn’t they have gone to Mr. Benedict?”
There was a bit of a legal question pertaining to the case, Captain Noland explained. Mr. Benedict’s parents had be-queathed all their papers to this museum, but it was unlikely — at least from Mr. Benedict’s point of view — that these newly discovered documents were meant to be included among those original papers.
“Still, Nicholas was excited,” the captain told them. “Before now, you see, he’d had only a glimpse into his parents’ lives. A few of their early papers had been published in scientific journals, and Nicholas had tracked these down and read them. They were quite sophisticated studies of narcolepsy, he said, which led him to believe his own condition was inherited from one of his parents. Beyond this, though, he’s never known anything about them.”
“I’ve often wondered about that,” said Reynie. “If anyone could track down information about them, you’d think it would be Mr. Benedict.”
“Oh, Nicholas would have loved to find out more if he could,” Captain Noland said. “But as a young man he was much too poor to travel, and then came that awful war. It was years before he had any money to speak of. By then he’d already gotten sidetracked with his investigations into Curtain’s doings, and of course it’s a good thing for everyone that he did. But what a nasty bit of luck it was to learn he had a twin. Separated at birth, apparently, and sent to different relatives — the sort of story that might have made for a joyful reunion. Instead he was devastated to see what a wicked man his brother had become. And who could blame him? After all those years with no family, and then, in effect, to gain a brother and lose him in the same moment!”
At this, the children felt an uncomfortable prickling of guilt. It made sense that Mr. Benedict had been wounded by that discovery. But he had hidden his distress from them, and preoccupied as they were with their own problems, none of them had given the situation much thought. Reynie felt particularly guilty, for Mr. Benedict had mentioned his sadness to him once but had quickly changed the subject — and Reynie had soon forgotten about it.
Captain Noland put a hand to his brow. He looked uneasy. “I shouldn’t have told you that,” he said. “I’m sorry. Nicholas would never have wanted to trouble you. Now here you are, going about dangerous business for his sake, and I’ve only added to your concern.”
“It’s all right,” Kate said. “If something’s important to Mr. Benedict, we all want to know about it — even if he thinks he should protect us.”
This was true enough, yet Reynie couldn’t help but wonder again about Captain Noland’s trustworthiness. There was no denying that Mr. Benedict had kept his feelings from the children, and now Captain Noland had revealed them. He may not have intended any harm, but still . . .
“Well,” said Captain Noland, “speaking of things important to Nicholas, there was something else about these new papers that excited him. He thought they might contain useful information regarding his narcolepsy. He even joked about shaking hands with the Old Hag and sending her packing.”
“What are you talking about, anyway?” Constance asked. “This is the second time you’ve mentioned her.”
“The Old Hag is a notorious hallucination,” Sticky said in an automatic tone, as if reading from a textbook, “occasionally suffered by people with certain sleep disorders. She appears as a figure crouching near the person’s bed, or even sitting on the person’s chest. The experience is supposed to be terrifying.”
Captain Noland raised his eyebrows. “You know a good many things, don’t you, Sticky? You’re exactly right. It is a terrifying hallucination, and Nicholas has experienced it countless times.”
Kate whistled sympathetically. “No wonder he’d like to get rid of her. He must dread going to sleep at night.”
As if on cue, Captain Noland yawned and looked at his watch. “Speaking of sleep, my friends, I should attempt a few hours of it. We have a very big day ahead of us tomorrow. And let’s be optimistic, all right? Your plan is a good one. We’re going to find Nicholas and Number Two — I’m sure of it — and then we’ll contact Rhonda and Milligan. Rhonda will have the best ideas for how to proceed, and if anyone in the world can rescue our friends, it’s Milligan. So chins up, everyone.”