down. Right below us, I saw an enormouse
ship. As we got closer, I saw it was an
icebreaker. It pushed its way through
the frozen seas.
“Here we are!” Thea yelled. She aimed the
helicopter at the ship’s wide deck. A cold
wind blew across the water, but we landed
safely. When the helicopter blades stopped
spinning, we walked onto the deck.
A rat in a captain’s uniform greeted us.
“YOU MUST BE STILTON, GERONIMO
STILTON
,” he said in acrisp voice. “I AM
NELSON, CAPTAIN OCEANUS NELSON
.
It is a pleasure to meet you.”
I shook his paw. Then he turned to my
sister, Thea. His whiskers began to quiver.
“What a
beautful landing!
” he
gushed. He took her paw and kissed it. “You
should have joined the navy, my dear lady. They
could use a talented and lovely rat like you!”
68
I groaned quietly. Everywhere Thea went,
rats tripped over their tails to get her attention.
It looked like Captain Nelson was no
different!
Pinky stepped forward. She took out her
diary and began to flip through the pages.
“Let’s get busy, crew!” she shouted. “New
Year’s Eve is the day after tomorrow.”
The captain took his eyes off Thea and
turned to me with a serious look.
“MY SHIPPING COMPANY TOLD ME
YOU NEEDED THIS SHIP FOR AN
IMPORTANT MISSION
,” he said. “EXACTLY
WHAT KIND OF MISSION IS IT?
”
“Oh, just wait and see,” Thea piped up.
“Y
e
s,
f
u
n
,” Pinky agreed. But she didn’t
give any details, either.
Captain Nelson didn’t seem to like that.
“
I
t
’
s
g
o
i
n
g
t
o
b
e
f
u
n
.
”
69
He pulled me aside.
“LISTEN HERE, STILTON,” he said. “I HAVE
TWO VERY IMPORTANT QUE
STIONS FOR
YOU. ONE: WHAT KIND
OF MISSION ARE
YOU PLANNING? AND TWO: DOES YOUR
SIST
ER HAVE A BOYFRIEND?
”
I sighed. I might as well tell Captain Nelson
the truth. “I think the special mission is some
kind of party,” I said.
Captain Nelson raised his furry eyebrows
in surprise. “A PARTY? THIS IS A REAL
SHIP! YOU CANNOT HAVE A
PARTY HERE!
” he squeaked.
I decided to change the
subject. “As for my sister,” I
said, “she does not have a
boyfriend. In fact, I am sure
she would love to go to the
party with you!”
70
A SPOOKY SHAPE
IN THE
FOG
Captain Nelson and I were interrupted by
the sound of excited squeaks.
Pinky and Thea were exploring the ship.
“We should have the partyin here,” Thea
was saying, walking around the large galley.
“Right,” said Pinky. She began pointing
around the ship. “The food tables will be
here. We’ll need a lot,because I’m expecting
about five hundred guests. Maybe a
thousand
,even.”
Then Pinky walked over to a door with a
plate that read, captain nelson's
OFFICE. “Perfect!” she said. “The rock band
can go in here !”
Captain Nelson turned pale. I felt sorry
71
for him. I knew just how he felt!
I decided to leave Pinky and Thea to their
plans. I walked up on deck.
The air was bitter cold. I was glad to be
wearing my parka, even if it was pink. I
leaned over the railing and gazed out across
the water.
White foam capped the waves like fluffy
whiskers. It was rather beautiful. The sun
was setting, streaking the sky a lovely shade
of cheddar gold. Maybe this trip would not
be so bad after all!
Then things suddenly grew dark. The ship
had sailed into a misty gray fog.
Boooo- eeeeee. The ship’s fog signal rang
out in the night. But then something
caught my eye.
There was a big, dark shape
looming in front of us in the fog.
Was I seeing THINGS ?
I cleaned my glasses so I could see better.
Then I put them on again.
The shape was still there. Right in front of
the ship. It was getting closer.
I gulped. It looked just like . . .
“An
iceberg
!” I squeaked.
We were about to crash into an enormouse
iceberg ! I had to do something.
“
Help!
” I screamed. “Help!”
I ran around the deck, trying to find my
way back inside the ship. But the fog was
too thick. I could not see a thing.
“Help!” I screamed again. “Is there anyone
out there?”
No one answered.
74
LOST AT SEA
Then I heard a shout. It sounded like
Captain Nelson. The ship made a loud
groaning noise. It sounded like it was trying
to stop.
But the iceberg was getting closer and
closer! I had to warn my family.
I ran across the ship, feeling my way with
my paws. Finally, I found a door. I ran
inside.
The ship’s crew was running around in a
panic. I did not see my family anywhere.
“Thea, Benjamin, where are you?” I yelled.
They didn’t answer me. Instead, I heard
Captain Nelson shout, “LOWER THE
LIFEBOATS!
”
I knew that could not be good!
The next moment, I heard a terrible noise.
It sounded like two mountains crashing into
each other. The ship lurched.
I lost my balance and tumbled across the
floor. The ship rocked again. This time, I
rolled out of the open door onto the deck.
“
Help!
” I screamed. I tried to grab on
to something. Anything.
76
Suddenly, a huge WAVE crashed
over the railing. I struggled against
it, but it was no use. The wave
carried me off the boat and
into the sea!
I gasped. The water
was freezing cold.
Then I felt a firm
paw on my tail.
Someone
pulled me
out of the
water.
“I’ve got
you, Geronimo!” It was Trap! He must have
found his wa
y to one of the lifeboats.
Trap pulled me up next to him. I looked
around, dazed. We were not on a lifeboat.
We were on an
iceberg!
The very same
77
iceberg that had crashed into the ship!
I struggled to my feet, shivering. Trap
was not alone. Thea, Benjamin, Pinky, and
Merry were all on the iceberg. I was happy to
see them safe.
But I was not happy for long.
There was no sign of the ship. The
thick fog did not lift. It wrapped
around us like a cold, wet blanket.
“Let’s dig a shelter in the ice,” Thea
suggested. We dug for hours. Then we
huddled
inside, trying to keep warm. But we
were still cold. Icicles dripped from my
whiskers.
Besides being cold, we were hungry, too.
And Trap kept making things worse.
“Wouldn’ta
hot cheese
pizza be delicious
right now?” he said, licking his snout. “Or
maybe a grilled
cheddar
sandwich.
78
Or a triple-decker creamy cheesecake. Or
maybe...”
Trap went on and on for hours. I was so
hungry, I wanted to eat my socks.
We were lost at sea all night. The next
morning, I was shivering and daydreaming
about CHEDDAR CHEESE when I heard
Benjamin shout.
“Uncle, look! It’s a helicopter!”
We crawled out of the shelter. Benjamin
was right. A helicopter flew in the distance.
The writing on it read MouseTV.
As the helicopter got closer, we heard the
loud whir of its blades. Then we heard
another sound: music.
“
I
t
’s
a
s
h
i
p
!
” Benjamin cried.
It was a ship—-and it was coming to rescue
us!
Thea, Pinky, and Merry let out a cheer.
Then they began to dance.
“Dance with us, Boss,” Pinky said. “You’ll
get warm!”
80
POOR NELSON
Captain Nelson greeted us as we boarded
the ship.
“We thought we had lost you,” he said. “My
crew and I survived the shipwreck. We didn’t
lose a single rat.”
The ship’s crew cheeed and clapped.
Captain Nelson turned to Thea. He fell to
his knees.
“MY DARLING, I HAD LOST ALL
HOPE OF EVER SEEING YOU AGAIN!”
he said.
Thea giggled. She held out her paw for him
to kiss.
“I’m so glad you found us,” she said.
I shook my snout. Poor Captain Nelson! I
had seen this before.Even the toughest rodent
81
will melt like cream cheese in the sun
when my sister is around. It’s too bad she is
such a heartbreaker!
O
h
,
m
y
d
a
r
l
i
n
g
!
82
A MASS OF MEDALS
Thea and Pinky spent all day
getting the new ship ready for the
New Year’s Eve party. It started
at ten o’clock. MouseTV ’s
camera mice roamed around,
filming everything.
A loud rockband started off
the party inside the ship. I went out on deck
to get away from the noise.
Captain Nelson walked up to me. He was
wearing his dress uniform. It was as white
and shiny as a fresh ball of mozzarella. A mass
of shiny medals was pinned to his chest.
“HOW IS EVERYTHING GOING,
STILTON?
” he barked loudly.
“Just fine,” I said. I sighed. Is a little peace
83
and quiet too much to ask for?
Nelson looked around the ship, smoothing
his whiskers.
“THIS SHIP IS QUITE NICE,” he said.
“NOT AS NICE AS MINE, THOUGH.”
“It must be hard to lose your ship,” I
remarked.
Captain Nelson shrugged. “I HAD
INSURANCE
,” he said.
Then Thea walked up to us.Captain
Nelson’s voice suddenly became
“MY DARLING, YOU LOOK
BEAUTIFULL,”he said. “EVEN MORE
BEAUTIFUL THAN THE MOON IN
TH E SKY! ”
“Why, thank you, Captain,” Thea said.
“You look very smart yourself.”
Captain Nelson beamed.“DO YOU THINK
a
s
s
w
e
e
t
a
s
a
c
h
e
e
s
e
l
o
l
l
i
p
o
p
.
SO? ” he asked, puffing out his chest. “I DO
HAVE A FEW MEDALS. I GOT THIS ONE
FOR SAVING A SUBMARINE DURING
THE CHEDDAR WARS. THIS ONE IS
FOR BRAVERY IN BATTLE. AND THIS
ONE ...”
Thea squeaked with delight.
said. “You must tell me
e
v
e
r
yt
h
ing!
”
I groaned. I could
not wait for the
party to be over !
84
85
NEW YEAR’S EVE AT
THE
NORTH POLE
I could not decide what was worse: Listening
to Captain Nelson sweet-talk Thea, or
listening to the loud rock band.
I do not like noise.
I do not like loud music.
But above all, I do not like New
Year’s Eve. Every year, I get dragged to a
noisy, crowded party. All I really want to do
is to spend a quiet evening at home. I like to
curl up in my pawchair, watching aromantic
movie and nibbling on cheese crisps.
But I was far from home. I decided to go
back inside and see what was happening.
Pinky stood close to the band ,squeaking,
“
LOUDER ! LOUDER !
”
86
Thea and Captain Nelson
came in and began to dance.
Pinky started dancing with
Benjamin. Everyone looked
very h ap p y.
Then I heard a small voice
behind me.
“Happy New Year, Boss.”
I turned around. It was Merry.
She looked a little bit sad.
“Why aren’t you dancing
with the others?” I asked.
Merry looked down at the floor. “No one
has asked me to dance yet,” she squeaked
softly.
�
��Really?” I said.“A charming little mouse
like you?”
Merry brightened. “Do you really think I’m
charming, Boss?” she shrieked. “Really?”
87
“Of course you are charming,” I said. “You
are very charming . . . but a little too loud at
times.”
Poor Merry looked so unhappy now. I knew
what I had to do.
“May I have this dance ?” I asked.
Merry squealed with
delight
. Then
we scurried onto the dance floor.
88
THE DAWNING OF A
NEW DAY
I like to thinkI am an honest mouse.
So I will be honest with you now.
I was sure I would have a terrible time at
the party. I thought the loud music would
burst my eardrums. Or that I would sprain
my paws dancing. But I had a wonderful
time! I really let my fur down.
Merry and Pinky taught me all kinds of
dances. We danced to hip-hopand disco
music.We swayed to salsa and did the
merengue. We even slam- danced to
LOUD
r o ck m u sic !
I discovered that potato chips dunked in
ketchup are delicious. And that temporary
tattoos can look very stylish.
89
Pinky did want me to get my tail pierced,
but I refused. I do have my limits!
The mice from MouseTV had organized
a tango dance competition: The last couple
to leave the dance floor would win. Merry
and I entered the contest together. We danced
the tango for eight hours straight! In the end,
we were the only mice left standing. We won
first prize— a trophy carved out of a block of
sharp cheddar! Can you believe that?
The party lasted until the morning. Waiters
walked around, handing out hot chocolate
and cheese Danish. We all walked out on
deck to watch the sunrise.
It was very moving. For me, it felt like the
dawn of a new day, a new year . . .
m
a
y
b
e
e
v
e
n
a
n
e
w
l
i
f
e
!
BACK AT THE OFFICE
When we got back home, I felt like a new