Captain Roger's Birthday

**Captain Roger's Birthday** Is a LEGO Pirates Book released in 1990. By John Grant and illustrated by Sara Silcock published by Ladybird.

## Plot

Captain Red Beard is annoyed at his crew, as none of them appear to be at their posts. Little does he know that they are crowded in the hold, planning a surprise birthday party for their Captain! Of course, they are also anticipating the wonderful food and drink at the party.

A few days later, Will and Rummy visit the Keg and Cutlass to get the supplies for the Captain’s party. Unfortunately, Bessie informs them that Foul and his crew cleaned her out while having their own celebration not long ago. They visit Magpie’s General Store, hoping to buy some food, but Foul has emptied Magpie’s shelves too.

Will comes up with another idea: Governor Broadside is greedy enough that he’d be sure to have plenty of supplies for a party. All they have to do is trick Red Beard into going to Port Royal, and then they can sneak ashore and nab the goods.

The pirates tell Red Beard that a treasure ship is due at Eldorado Fortress, and the Captain orders the crew to get underway. The Barracuda lurks off Sabatina for three nights waiting for the fictitious treasure ship, and Red Beard’s mood turns bad.

The next night, Will, Rummy, and Jimbo row ashore and creep up to the Eldorado Fortress. They smell delicious turkey, but can’t climb up the walls. Jimbo decides to send Popsy up to take a look, and the bird overhears de Martinet’s report to the Governor.

Reinforcements have arrived: including Dragoons with (of course) their horses. Broadside notices Popsy, and angrily closes the window. She repeats what she was able to hear to the pirates: barrels are waiting on the quay with enough food to feed a hundred. Will decides that this must mean supplies for the Governor’s birthday party—coincidently, Broadside and Red Beard were born on the same day!

The pirates return to their ship, where Will informs the captain that the treasure ship has been and gone, but its cargo is still sitting on the quay. Will, Rummy, and twelve other pirates go ashore armed and ready to take the cargo. The soldiers guarding the supplies surrender after realizing they are outnumbered. (By two!)

The pirates quickly take stock of the supplies, which have been loaded into wagons. They find one box for the Governor…but the others are full of shirts, boots, and boot polish. Will finds the next group of wagons are loaded with something else, but before he can tell Rummy, Captain Foul and his crew spring an ambush—Foul had followed them from Shipwreck Island!

Will calls a retreat back to the boats, and the puzzled pirates abandon the wagons. Foul and his men find only hay in the wagons…and barrels full of tar, which they soon end up covered in.

Back on the Barracuda the pirates reveal everything to Red Beard, who is angry that the treasure was a lie, but laughs at Foul’s mistake. Red Beard is presented with a birthday present: a specially carved wooden leg, which he promises to wear only on special occasions. And as it turns out, the box for the governor contained a large birthday cake—as it turns out, Red Beard has the nicest birthday any pirate could wish for!