Benji Yahoo and Friends , livre ebook

Benji Yahoo and Friends Treasure Bay
Donal Magnier
Austin Macauley Publishers
2022-01-04
Benji Yahoo and Friends Treasure Bay About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgements Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine
About the Author
Donal Magnier was born and still lives in Cork City, Ireland. He was educated at Sunday’s Well National School before studying at Cork’s College of Commerce. Donal’s passion was music and sport. He played drums for various rock and cabaret bands and played football for a number of clubs in the Cork leagues. Donal now enjoys golf, reading, writing and is a regular visitor to the cinema.
Dedication
To Jacob Lynch
May your life be fruitful and full of adventure
Copyright Information ©
Donal Magnier 2022
Illustrated by © Jayne Magnier
The right of Donal Magnier, Maria Hernandez and Jayne Magnier to be identified as author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781788236218 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781788236225 (Hardback)
ISBN 9781528953597 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published 2022
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd ®
1 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5AA
Acknowledgements
Editors and illustrators at Austin Macauley, To Jayne Magnier (Aged 13) for the book illustrations. To CopyPrint Cork, Cathedral Credit Union. To Pat Murphy. To the pleasant staff of Ryans Bar in Cork City. To Maria Hernandez and finally, to the Apple 6s.
Chapter One
When a great storm destroyed the town of Plimsborough, Marge Berkshire decided to help her dearest friends, and four orphan boys who were left homeless. Marge and her husband Oswald invited all of them to come and live at their farm in Dashbourne, an area of the town of Qualham, on the south coast of England.
Their house in Dashbourne was called the Honeybarn. Situated on a crop farm, it became the home of Benji Yahoo and his friends.
On this very hot summer day, farmer Oswald Berkshire and farmhand Barney Velder were already hard at work in the fields tending the crops. On this farm in Dashbourne, they grow all kinds of vegetables and fruit, which they sell in their store in the town centre. The store is simply called ‘Qualham Fruit and Veg’. Three sisters, Gertrude, Molly and Sally Rosecomb, along with their flamboyant friend, Lydia Charbray, work in the store. The Rosecomb sisters lost their own farm in the Plimsborough storm.
In the orchard, directly out the back of the Honeybarn, Harold Herwick was mowing the lawn. In the afternoon, he would attend to the array of berries which grew around the perimeter of the orchard. The berries were blossoming so beautifully, their radiant colours were so wonderfully aglow in the summer sunshine. They truly made the orchard look ever so vibrant and attractive.
Inside the Honeybarn, Marge and her best friend Betty, the wife of Harold, were busy with their daily chores. Taking care of the housekeeping; the cooking, the cleaning and the shopping, with so many living in the Honeybarn, nine adults and five schoolchildren, they really do have a very tiresome daily routine.
The five schoolchildren are, Benji Yahoo, Denny Kinder, Quarter Quack, Quincy Quiaga, better known as Qui Qui, and Millie Herwick. They went to spend some time on Qualham Strand. It was such a glorious, sunny afternoon, perfect weather for the beach and a splendid time to be on their school summer holidays.
Benji is a mild mannered, intelligent and athletic young fellow, he excels at a variety of sports in school. Denny is a quirky character, sometimes clumsy, but he is a pleasant, good-humoured friend. Quarter is neat, cheerful and an enthusiastic fellow, always loves an adventure. Qui Qui is the jester, full of energy and quick with a joke. Millie is a sporty, tireless, young girl. She is the daughter of Harold and Betty.
After hanging around for a while on the Idle Pier, so called because rarely any ship or boat moored there, Benji and his friends decided to go a little further up the beach to an old pirate shipwreck called The Thirsty Raven. The ship, a brig, tall ship, washed ashore many, many years ago. It belonged to Captain Mariana Crowe. She was an evil pirate, who was feared by every sailor across the seven seas.
Today, The Thirsty Raven looks a run-down old wreck and far from the magnificent craft of yore. This ship was triumphant in many ferocious sea battles and countless, rewarding, plundering adventures. It was of its time the proudest pirate ship of the oceans and seas. But still today, for many a Qualham Strand dweller, The Thirsty Raven is a cool place to play, or hang out with friends.
Benji, Denny, Quarter, Qui Qui and Millie were themselves set on playing pirates aboard The Thirsty Raven. Armed with their home-made wooden swords, Benji led his friends to the ladder of the ship, and one by one, they climbed on board.
“Yarrrh! I be Captain Benjamin G. Darkbeard! And I order thee to set sail this ship!” Benji cried, in his best pirate voice, charging with his sword aloft to the underway, up front, at the bow of the ship. “Set the co-ordinates for the Caribbean, yarrrh! And let us be on our quest, for treasure!”

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“Aye, aye, Captain!” Quarter replied, tucking his sword in his belt and rushing to take the wheel of the ship. He put both hands on the wheel and began turning it back and forth, pretending to steer the ship through the turbulent sea.
“Ship ahoy, Captain!” Qui Qui cried from the poop deck, looking out to sea through an imaginary telescope.
“Yarrrh! It be a Spanish galleon, roving in British waters!” Benji cried. “Avast, mateys! Hoist the Jolly Roger!”
Qui Qui jumped to the mast and pretended to raise the dreaded pirate flag. “The Jolly Roger is flying proud and proper, Captain!”
“Yarrrh! Ahoy, mateys! Cannons at the ready!” Benji cried, pointing his sword in the direction of the fictional ship.
“Cannon number one, ready to fire, Captain!” Millie cried, standing to Benji’s left, pretending she held a flamed torch overhead, standing over cannon number one.

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“Cannon number two, ready to fire, Captain!” Denny cried, standing to Benji’s right, also pretending he held a flamed torch overhead, standing over cannon number two.
“Fire!” Benji ordered, thrusting his sword forward.
Following Benji’s order, came the cries of ‘BOOM! CRASH! BOOM!’ Each of the crew made their own animated vocal noises of explosions, splashing, crashing, rumbling and whistling sounds of cannonball fire. Captain Benjamin G. Darkbeard and his crew found themselves engaged in a make-believe, but a menacing, sea battle with the Spanish galleon.
Now, these fictional, foreign sailors have drawn their galleon alongside Captain Darkbeard’s brig, then drew their swords and boldly embarked upon The Thirsty Raven, forcing Captain Darkbeard and his crew into a brutal sword fight on board the deck. Honourably, the Captain and his marvellous crew, gallantly fought for Crown and Country, fended off these savage, Spanish raiders, thrusting them victoriously from The Thirsty Raven and drove them back out to sea.
Captain Darkbeard and his crew immediately went in pursuit, and with repeated cannon fire, they set ablaze the Spanish galleon, forcing its crew to jump ship, and from the merciless waters, the Spanish crew watched the blazing galleon twist and turn helplessly, before slowly sinking into the English Channel.
“Hurray!” Captain Benjamin G. Darkbeard and his crew raised their swords in triumph for their heroic victory, and for their amazing courage to the bitter end of battle.
Alas, weary from their sea battle, Captain Benjamin G. Darkbeard and the crew of The Thirsty Raven relieved themselves from duty and decided to rest.