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Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Martin Chatterton

Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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A Random House book

Published by Random House Australia Pty LtdLevel 3, 100 Pacifc Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060 www.randomhouse.com.au

First published by Random House Australia in 2012

Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012

Te moral right o the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part o this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any personor entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any orm or by any means,electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptionsprovisions o the AustralianCopyright Act 1968 ), recording, scanning or by any in ormationstorage and retrieval system without the prior written permission o Random HouseAustralia.Addresses or companies within the Random House Group can be ound at www.randomhouse.com.au/o ces

National Library o AustraliaCataloguing-in-Publication Entry

Author: Chatterton, Martin. itle: Mort / written and illustrated by Martin Chatterton.ISBN: 978 1 74275 315 7 (pbk.) arget Audience: For primary school age.Dewey Number: A823.4

Cover illustrations and design by Martin Chatterton ypeset and internal design by Anna Warren, Warren VenturesPrinted in Australia by Gri n Press, an Accredited ISO AS/NZS 14001:2004Environmental Management System printer.

Te paper this book is printed on is certifed against the ForestStewardship Council Standards. Gri n Press holds FSC chaino custody certifcation SGS-COC-005088. FSC promotes

environmentally responsible, socially benefcial and economically viablemanagement o the worlds orests.

Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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To Dave & Vera

Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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A word fromthe author

Since Mort contains a few

real-life historical gures, weve

put a handy guide at the back

of the book for those of you too

lazy to use Google.

Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Unk Island is not a place that gets many

visitors. Shaped like a broken co n, itsquats at the very back end o nowhere, andis said by those who have seen it to be theugliest lump o land to be ound in all the

seven seas. On days like today, cloud-hungand rain-lashed, it was about as welcoming asa bucket o rotten fsh guts.

Yet, vile as the island might appear, sixnautical miles away a ship was heading in its

direction through the slab-like waves o anink-black sea.

Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Someone, it seemed, wanted to be there.

At an almost impossible angle, the ancientUnk erry wheezed pain ully up the sheer cli

ace o a mountainous wave be ore teeteringon the crest and then plunging like a runaway rollercoaster back down, down, down into thegloomy depths, to start the whole terri yingprocess all over again. Nigel Spalding, hisstomach jostling or space somewhere near hisears, clung to his seat, his fngernails digginginto the varnished wood.

Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Hed already checked the position of the

lifeboats, memorised the instructions forusing the lifebelts, and sent a tearful goodbyeto his mother via text message. Tere wasnothing he could do now except hang onand pray. He hadnt known before this ferry trip that he actually believed in God, but he was in no doubt now. A fresh blast of icy rainsmashed against the glass of the ferry lounge window and, as the boat juddered and buckedunder Nigels clenched buttocks, he squealedfor the hundredth time.

It was surely, he calculated, only a matterof seconds before they sank to a cold and watery grave.

His pupils like pin marks against the white of his eyes, Nigel glanced at his bossto see how she was dealing with this voyageinto hell.

You know, I had heard this ferry crossing

could be quite rough, said Ms PatriciaMolyneux, glancing up from her laptop, but

Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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it looks like weve got of lightly, eh Nige?

Nigel stared at Trish. A slim, neatly dressed woman o around thirty, she sat com ortably

Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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upright, her computer balanced on her knees,

a slight rown on her pleasant, i slightly orgettable ace.

Lost the wi-f connection though, shesaid, tapping a red nail against the laptopssteel casing. Damn. I was hoping to fnishthat racking ruancy presentation onthe way over. Oh well, Ill just have to dosomething else. rish shut the laptop with acrisp snik and placed it back inside its sleek protective case. She took out some paperwork and began making notes in the margins.

Shed gone completely mad, that was it,thought Nigel. Te sheer terror o the erry crossing had pushed her over the edge. It was

the only explanation. Nigel orced his aceback to the window and was con ronted witha vast wall o water rearing up above the erry as i it were an angry sea monster.

Mummy, whimpered Nigel, and puked

his morning muesli all over his knees.

Copyright Martin Chatterton 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,