In the Belly of the Bloodhound

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the Belly of the Bloodhound
Author Louis A. Meyer
Cover artist Cliff Nielsen
Country United States of America
Language English
Genre(s) Young Adult's, Historical novel
Publisher Harcourt Children's Books
Publication date October 1, 2006
Media type Print (Hardback)
Pages 528 pages
ISBN 9780152055578
Preceded by Under the Jolly Roger
Followed by Mississippi Jack

In the Belly of the Bloodhound is a historical novel written by L.A. Meyer surrounding the adventures of a young girl named Jacky Faber, alias Bloody Jack, set in the 18th century. It is the fourth installment in the Bloody Jack series and follows the heroine as she returns on land from her adventures on the seas in the previous novel, Under the Jolly Roger.

[edit] Story

This Novel follows Jacky Faber upon her return to Boston. In her small ship, the Morning Star, She sneaks into port past two British ships. When she is out of sight, she finds a young boy to watch her ship for her. She goes into town to talk with her lawyer Ezra Pickering. They decide it is best for Jacky to Return to the Lawson Peabody school for young girls. The school is being rebuilt with bricks after a certain fire caused by a certain someone. The next day, Ezra, Jim, and Jacky take the Morning Star to Dovecote to see Amy. Jacky surprises her by bringing her lunch to her. She tells Amy her story and then the two of them join Ezra and Randall for lunch.

The months pass after that through Christmas. When School starts again, Jacky greets her old friends. Her old enemy, Clarissa, has brought a slave back with her, and Jacky is outraged. After about a month, Higgins comes to the school and becomes head of the serving staff.

Months go by, and classes too. One day, all the girls, except Amy, go on a trip to the shore. Jacky is surprised that Mistress Pimm does not come, and is even more surprised when she realizes that Higgins is not there either. The girls are then taken onto a ship and thrust down into the hold. They are soon told that the ship is called the Bloodhound, and they are to be sold as slaves in Africa. All the girls are too scared to take charge, so Jacky becomes the leader of the group. She divides the girls into three groups and assigns a leader to each group. The three leaders are Jacky, Dolley Madison, and Clarissa. They make plans to widen a rat hole they found with Jacky's shiv to escape through.

There is a guard at the door to the girls prison that the crew calls Dummy. Jacky soon finds out that he is actually Hugie from her gang on the streets of London.

After a week, someone rats Jacky out as the leader of the girls. Jacky then gets a lashing with the cat-o-nine tails.

Soon, the hole is big enough to escape through. The girls create a 100 second fuse to burn the ship when they escape. They all make it out the Hole and make their escape, into the lifeboat, with the help of Jackys old friend, Hughie from the Rooster Charlie Gang. Shortly after there escape onto the life boat, Hughie dies from an injury he reseived while protecting Jacky on the ship and Jacky falls ill from a wound on her leg.

Jacky wakes up on a Navy Ship, the Juno, which is taking the girls back to Boston. Before they get to Boston, the Juno has to make a quick stop in New York, were they meet up with Henry Hoffman, the schools stable boy and onee of the girls' love. That girl rides back to Boston with Henry ahead of the others.

When word of the girls rescue and survival comes everyone is excited and prepares for their return. When the Juno gets there, parents and loved ones, including Jaimy are waiting. The Juno docks and the girls step off. The last three to get off are Dolley Madison, Clarrissa, and Jacky. But before Jacky can step off two marines stop her and tell her she is under arrest for piracy. And the book ends.

[edit] External links