The
The
Beginning of the Adventures
Mike,
Peggy, and Nora were sitting in the fields, talking together. They were very
unhappy. Nora was crying, and would not stop.
As
they sat there, they heard a low call. “Coo-ee!”
“There’s
Jack,” said Mike. “Dry your eyes, Nora. Jack will cheer you up!”
A
boy came running by the hedge and sat down by them. He had a face as brown as a
berry and bright blue eyes that shone with mischief.
“Hallo!”
he said. “What’s up, Nora? Crying again?”
“Yes,”
said Nora, wiping her eyes. “Aunt Harriet slapped me six times this morning
because I didn’t wash the curtains well enough. Look!”
She
showed him her arm, red with slaps.
“It’s
a shame!” said Jack.
“If
only our father and mother were here they wouldn’t let us live like this,” said
Mike. “But somehow I don’t believe they’ll ever come back now.”
“How
long is it since they’ve been gone?” asked Jack.
“It’s
over two years now,” said Mike. “Dad built a fine new aeroplane, you know, and
he set off to fly to
“And
I know Aunt Harriet and Uncle Henry think they will never come back again,”
said Nora, beginning to cry once more, “or they would never treat us as they
do.”
“Don’t
cry any more, Nora,” said Peggy. “Your eyes will get so red and horrid. I’ll do
the washing instead of you next time.”
Jack
put his arm round Nora. He liked her the best of them all. She was the
smallest, although she was Mike’s twin. She had a little face, and a head of
black curls. Mike was exactly like her, but bigger. Peggy had yellow hair and
was a year older. Nobody knew how old Jack was. He didn’t know himself. He
lived with his grandfather on a tumble-down farm, and worked as hard as a man,
although he wasn’t much bigger than Mike.
He
had made friends with the children as they wandered through the fields. He knew
how to catch rabbits. He knew how to catch fish in the river. He knew where the
best nuts and blackberries were to be found. In fact, he knew everything, the
children thought, even the names of all the birds that flew about the hedges,
and the difference between a grass snake and an adder, and things like that.
Jack
was always dressed in raggedy things, but the children didn’t mind. His feet
were bare, and his legs were scratched with brambles. He never grumbled; he
never whined. He made a joke of everything, and he had been a good friend to
the three miserable children.
“Ever
since Aunt Harriet made up her mind that Mummy and Daddy wouldn’t come back,
she has been perfectly horrid,” said Nora.
“And
so has Uncle Henry,” said Mike. “We none of us go to school now, and I have to
help Uncle in the fields from morning to night. I don’t mind that, but I do
wish Aunt Harriet wouldn’t treat the two girls so badly. They are not very old,
and she makes them do all the work of the house for her.”
“I
do every bit of the washing now,” said Nora. “I wouldn’t mind the little
things, but the sheets are so big and heavy.”
“And
I do all the cooking,” said Peggy. “Yesterday I burnt a cake because the oven
got too hot, and Aunt Harriet sent me to bed for the rest of the day without
anything to eat at all.”
“I
climbed through the window and gave her some bread and cheese,” said Mike. “And
Uncle caught me and shook me so hard that I couldn’t stand up afterwards. I had
to go without my supper, and my breakfast this morning was only a small piece
of bread.”
“We
haven’t had any new clothes for months,” said Peggy. “My shoes are dreadful.
And I don’t know what we shall do when the winter comes, because none of our
coats will fit us.”
“You
are much worse off than I am,” said Jack. “I have never had anything nice, so I
don’t miss it. But you have had everything you wanted, and now it is all taken
away from you - you haven’t even a father and mother you can go to for help.”
“Do
you remember your father and mother, Jack?” asked Mike. “Did you aiways live
with your old grandfather?”
“I
never remember anyone except him,” said Jack. “He’s talking of going to live
with an aunt of mine. If he does I shall be left all alone, for she won’t have
me, too.”
“Oh,
Jack! Whatever will you do?” asked Nora.
“I
shall be all right!” said Jack. “The thing is what are you three going to do? I
hate to see you all unhappy. If only we could all run away together!”
“We
should be found at once and brought back,” said Mike gloomily. “I know that.
I’ve read in the papers about boys and girls running away, and they are always
found by the police and brought back. If I knew some place where we would never
be found, I would run away - and take the two girls with me too. I hate to see
them slapped and worked hard by Aunt Harriet.”
“Now
listen to me,” said Jack suddenly, in such an earnest voice that all three
children turned to him at once. “If I tell you a very great secret will you
promise never to say a word about it to anyone?”
"Oh,
yes, Jack, we promise,” said all three.
“You
can trust us, Jack,” said Mike.
“I
know I can,” he said. “Well, listen. I know a place where nobody could find us
- if we ran away!”
“Where
is it, Jack?” they all cried in great excitement.
“I’ll
show you this evening,” said Jack, getting up. “Be by the lakeside at eight
o’clock, when all your work is done, and I’ll meet you there. I must go now, or
Granpa will be angry with me, and perhaps lock me into my room so that I can’t
get out again to-day.”
“Good-bye,
Jack,” said Nora, who was feeling much better now. "We’ll see you this
evening.”
Jack
ran off, and the three children made their way slowly back to Uncle Henry’s
farm. They had taken their dinner out into the fields to eat - now they had to
go back to work. Nora had a great deal of ironing to do, and Peggy had to clean
the kitchen. It was a big stone kitchen, and Peggy knew it would take her until
supper-time - and, oh dear, how tired she would be then! Aunt Harriet would
scold her all the time, she knew.
“I’ve
got to go and clean out the barn,” said Mike to the girls, "but I’ll be in
at supper-time, and afterwards we’ll see about this great secret of Jack’s.”
They
each began their work, but all the time they were thinking excitedly of the
evening. What was Jack’s secret? Where was the place he knew of? Could they
really and truly run away?
They
all got into trouble because they were thinking so hard of the evening that
they did not do their work to Aunt Harriet’s liking nor to Uncle Henry’s
either. Nora got a few more slaps, and Peggy was scolded so hard that she cried
bitterly into her overall. She was made to scrub the kitchen floor all over
again, and this made her late for supper.
Mike
was shouted at by Uncle Henry for spilling some corn in the barn. The little
boy said nothing, but he made up his mind that if it was possible to run away
in safety he would do so, and take the girls with him, too.
“Nora
and Peggy ought to be going to school and wearing nice clothes that fit them,
and having friends to tea,” said Mike to himself. “This is no life for them.
They are just very hard-worked servants for Aunt Harriet, and she pays them nothing.”
The
children ate their supper of bread and cheese in silence. They were afraid of
speaking in case their aunt or uncle shouted at them. When they had finished
Mike spoke to his aunt.
“Please
may we go for a walk in the fields before we go to bed?” he asked.
“No,
you can’t,” said Aunt Harriet in her sharp voice. “You’ll just go to bed, all
of you. There’s a lot of work to do to-morrow, and I want you up early.”
The
children looked at one another in dismay. But they had to do as they were told.
They went upstairs to the big bedroom they all shared. Mike had a small bed in
the corner behind a screen, and the two girls had a bigger bed between them.
“I
believe Aunt Harriet and Uncle Henry are going out to-night, and that’s why
they want us to go to bed early,” said Mike. “Well, if they do go out, we’ll
slip down and meet Jack by the river.”
“We
won’t get undressed then,” said Nora. “We’ll just slip under the sheets,
dressed - and then it won’t take us long to run down to the lake.”
The
three children listened hard. They heard the front door close. Mike popped out
of bed and ran to the front room. From there he could see the path to the gate.
He saw his uncle and aunt walk down it, dressed to go out.
He
ran back to the others. “We’ll wait for five minutes,” he said, "then
we’ll go.”
They
waited quietly. Then they all slipped downstairs and out of the back door. They
ran down to the lake as fast as they could. Jack was there waiting for them.
“Hallo,
Jack,” said Mike. “Here we are at last. They sent us to bed, but when they went
out we slipped down here to meet you.”
“What’s
your great secret, Jack?” asked Nora, “we are longing to know.”
“Well,
listen,” said Jack. “You know what a big lake this is, don’t you, perfectly
wild all round, except at the two ends where there are a few farmhouses and
cottages. Now I know a little island, a good way up the south side of the lake,
that I’m sure nobody knows at all. I don’t think anyone but me has ever been
there. It’s a fine island, and would make the best hiding-place in the world!”
The
three children listened, their eyes wide with astonishment. An island on the
big lake! Oh, if only they could really go there and hide - and live by
themselves - with no unkind aunt and uncle to slap them and scold them and make
them work hard all day long!
“Are
you too tired to walk down the lakeside to a place where you can see the
island?” asked Jack. “I only found it quite by chance one day. The woods come
right down to the lakeside opposite the island, and they are so thick that I
don’t think anyone has ever been through them, and so no one can have seen my
island!”
“Jack!
Jack! Take us to see your secret island!” begged Nora. “Oh, we must go. We’re
all tired - but we must, must see the secret island.”
“Come
on, then,” said Jack, pleased to see how excited the others were. “Follow me.
It’s a good way.”
The
bare-footed boy took the three children across the fields to a wood. He
threaded his way through the trees as if he were a rabbit. The wood thinned out
and changed to a common, which, in turn, gave way to another wood, but this
time the trees were so thick that it seemed as if there was no way through them
at all.
But
Jack kept on. He knew the way. He led the children without stopping, and at
last they caught sight of the gleam of water. They had come back to the
lakeside again. The evening was dim. The sun had sunk long since, and the
children could hardly see.
Jack
pushed his way through the trees that grew down to the waterside. He stood
there and pointed silently to something. The children crowded round him.
“My
secret island!” said Jack.
And
so it was. The little island seemed to float on the dark lake-waters. Trees
grew on it, and a little hill rose in the middle of it. It was a mysterious
island, lonely and beautiful. All the children stood and gazed at it, loving it
and longing to go to it. It looked so secret - almost magic.
“Well,”
said Jack at last. “What do you think? Shall we run away, and live on the
secret island?”
“Yes!”
whispered all the children. “Let’s!”
An
Exciting Day
The
three children thought of nothing else but Jack’s secret island all the next
day. Could they possibly run away and hide there? Could they live there? How
could they get food? What would happen if people came to look for them? Would
they be found? How busy their minds were, thinking, thinking, planning,
planning! Oh, the excitement of that secret island! It seemed so mysterious and
lovely. If only, only they were all there, safe from slappings and scoldings!
The
first time the children had a little time together to talk, they spoke about
the island.
“Mike,
we must go!” said Nora.
“Mike,
let’s tell Jack we’ll go,” said Peggy.
Mike
scratched his curly black head. He felt old and worried. He wanted to go very
badly - but would the two girls really be able to stand a wild life like that?
No proper beds to sleep in - perhaps no proper food to eat - and suppose one of
them was ill? Well, they would have to chance all that. They could always come
back if things went too wrong.
“We’ll
go,” said Mike. “We’ll plan it all with Jack. He knows better than we do.”
So
that night, when they met Jack, the four of them laid their plans. Their faces
were red with excitement, their eyes were shining. An adventure! A real proper
adventure, almost like Robinson Crusoe - for they were going to live all by
themselves on a lonely island.
“We
must be careful in our plans,” said Jack. “We mustn’t forget a single thing,
for we ought not to go back to get anything, you know, or we might be caught.”
“Could
we go over to the island and just see what it’s like before we go to live
there?” asked Nora. “I would so love to see it.”
“Yes,”
said Jack. “We’ll go on Sunday.”
“How
can we go?” asked Mike. “Do we have to swim?”
“No,”
said Jack. “I have an old boat. It was one that had been left to fall to
pieces, and I found it and patched it up. It still gets water in, but we can
bale that out. I’ll take you over in that.”
The
children could hardly wait for Sunday to come. They had to do a certain amount
of work on Sundays, but usually they were allowed to take their dinner out and
have a picnic afterwards.
It
was June. The days were long and sunny. The farm garden was full of peas, broad
beans, gooseberries, and ripening cherries. The children stole into it and
picked as many pea-pods as they could find, and pulled up two big lettuces.
Aunt Harriet gave them so little to eat that they always had to take something
else as well. Mike said it wasn’t stealing, because if Aunt Harriet had given
them the food they earned by the hard work they did, they would have twice as
much. They were only taking what they had earned. They had a loaf of bread
between them, some butter, and some slices of ham, as well as the peas and
lettuces. Mike pulled up some carrots, too. He said they would taste most
delicious with the ham.
They
hurried off to meet Jack. He was by the lakeside, carrying a bag on his back.
He had his dinner in it. He showed them some fine red cherries, and a round
cake.
“Mrs.
Lane gave me those for hoeing her garden yesterday,” he said. “We’ll have a
fine dinner between us.”
“Where’s
the boat, Jack?” said Nora.
“You
wait and see!” said Jack. “I don’t leave my secret things out for everyone to
see! No one else but you three knows about my boat!"
He
set off in the hot June sunshine, and the three children followed him. He kept
close to the lakeside and although the children kept a sharp look-out for the
boat they did not see it until Jack stopped and showed it to them.
“See
that great alder bush hanging over the lake just there?” he said. “Well, my
boat’s underneath it! It’s well hidden, isn’t it?”
Mike’s
eyes shone. He loved boats. He did hope Jack would let him help to row. The
children pulled out the boat from under the thick tree. It was quite a big one,
but very, very old. It had a good deal of water in, and Jack set everyone to
work baling it out. There was an old pair of oars in the boat, and Jack put
them in place.
“Now
get in,” he said. “I’ve a good way to row. Would you like to take an oar, Mike?”
Of
course Mike would! The two boys rowed over the water. The sun shone down hotly,
but there was a little breeze that blew every now and again. Soon the children
saw the secret island in the distance. They knew it because of the little hill
it had in the middle.
The
secret island had looked mysterious enough on the night they had seen it before
- but now, swimming in the hot June haze, it seemed more enchanting than ever.
As they drew near to it, and saw the willow trees that bent over the water-edge
and heard the sharp call of moorhens that scuttled off, the children gazed in
delight. Nothing but trees and birds and little wild animals. Oh, what a secret
island, all for their very own, to live on and play on.
“Here’s
the landing-place,” said Jack, and he guided the boat to a sloping sandy beach.
He pulled it up on the sand, and the children jumped out and looked round. The
landing-place was a natural little cove - a lovely spot for a picnic - but
picnickers never came here! Only a lonely otter lay on the sand now and again,
and moorhens scuttled across it. No fire had ever been made on this little
beach to boil a kettle. No bits of old orange peel lay about, or rusty tins. It
was quite unspoilt.
“Let’s
leave our things here and explore a bit,” said Mike, who was simply longing to
see what the island was like. It seemed very big now they were on it.
“All
right,” said Jack, and he put his bag down.
“Come
on,” said Mike to the girls. “This is the beginning of a big adventure.”
They
left the little cove and went up through the thick trees. There were willows,
alders, hazels, and elderberries at first, and then as they went up the hill
that lay behind the cove there were silver birches and oaks. The hill was quite
steep, and from the top the children could see a very long way - up the lake
and down the lake.
“I
say! If we come here to live, this hill will make an awfully good place to
watch for enemies from!” said Mike excitedly. “We can see everything from here,
all round!”
“Yes,”
said Jack. “Nobody would be able to take us by surprise.”
“We
must come here, we must, we must!” said Nora. “Oh, look at those rabbits, Peggy
- they are as tame as can be, and that chaffinch nearly came on to my hand! Why
are they so tame, Mike?”
“I
suppose because they are not used to people,” said Mike. “What’s the other side
of the hill, Jack? Shall we go down it?”
"There
are caves on the other side of the hill,” said Jack. “I haven’t explored those.
They would make good hiding-places if anyone ever came to look for us here.”
They
went down the hill on the other side. Gorse grew there and heather and bracken.
Jack pointed out a big cave in the hillside. It looked dark and gloomy in the
hot sunshine.
“We
haven’t time to go there now,” said Jack. “But a cave would be an awfully good
place to store anything in, wouldn’t it? It would keep things nice and dry.”
A
little way down the hill the children heard a bubbling noise.
“What’s
that?” asked Peggy, stopping.
“Look!
It’s a little spring!” cried Mike. “Oh, Jack! This shall be our water-supply!
It’s as cold as can be, and as clear as crystal!”
“It
tastes fine, too,” said Jack. "I had a drink last time I was here. Lower
down, another spring joins this one, and there is a tiny brook.”
At
the bottom of the hill was a thick wood. In clear patches great bushes of
brambles grew. Jack pointed them out.
“There
will be thousands of blackberries in the autumn,” he said. “And as for hazel
nuts, you should see them! And in another place I know here, on a warm slope,
you can find wild raspberries by the score!”
“Oh,
do show us!” begged Mike. But Jack said there was not time. Besides, the
raspberries wouldn’t be ripe yet.
“The
island is too big to explore all over to-day,” said Jack. “You’ve seen most of
it - this big hill with its caves, the springs, the thick wood, and beyond the
wood is a grassy field and then the water again. Oh, it is a glorious place!”
“Jack,
where shall we live on this island?” said Peggy, who always liked to have
everything well settled in her mind.
“We
shall build a house of wood,” said Jack. “I know how to. That will do finely
for the summer, and for the winter we will have to find a cave, I think.”
The
children gazed at one another in glee. A house of wood, built by themselves -
and a cave! How lucky they were to have a friend like Jack, who had a boat and
a secret island!
They
went back to the little landing-place, hungry and happy. They sat down and ate
their bread and ham, carrots and peas, cherries and lettuces, and cake. It was
the loveliest meal they had ever had in their lives, they thought. A little
moorhen walked up to them and seemed surprised to see so many people in its
home. But it did not run away. It ran round, pecking at the lettuce leaves;
saying, “Fulluck, fulluck!” in its loud voice.
“If
I could live here on this secret island always and always and always, and never
grow up at all, I would be quite happy,” said Nora.
“Well,
we’ll have a shot at living here for a good while at least!” said Jack. “Now,
when shall we come?”
“And
what shall we bring?” said Mike.
“Well,
we don’t really need a great deal at present,” said Jack. “We can make soft
beds of heather and bracken to lie on at night. What would be useful would be
things like enamel mugs and plates and knives. I’ll bring an axe and a very
sharp woodman’s knife. We’ll need those when we build our house. Oh - and
matches would be most useful for lighting fires. We shall have to cook our
meals. I’ll bring my fishing-line along, too.”
The
more the children talked about their plan, the more excited they got. At last
they had arranged what to bring. They were gradually to hide things in a hollow
tree by the lakeside, and then, when the time came, they could carry them to
the boat and row off to the secret island, ready to set up house there.
“A
frying-pan would be useful,” said Nora.
“And
a saucepan or two,” said Peggy, “and a kettle. Oh! What fun it will be. I don’t
care how much we are slapped or scolded now - I shall think of this exciting
plan all day long!”
“We
had better fix a day for starting off,” said Jack. “What about a week from now?
Sunday would be a good day for running away, because no one will come to look
for us until night-time, when we don’t go home!"
“Yes!
A week to-day!” cried everyone. “Oooh! How happy we shall be!”
“Now
we must go home,” said Jack, setting off to the boat. “You can row if you like,
Mike, and I’ll bale out the water as we go. Get in, you girls.”
“Ay,
ay, Captain!” they sang out, full of joy to think they had such a fine captain
as Jack! Off they all went, floating across the water in the evening light.
What would they be doing next Sunday?
The
Escape
All
that week the three children carried out their plans. Aunt Harriet and Uncle
Henry could not understand what was different about the children - they did not
seem to mind being scolded at all. Even Nora took a slapping without tears. She
was so happy when she thought of the secret island that she couldn’t shed a
tear!
The
children took all the clothes they possessed down to the hollow tree by the
lakeside. Mike took four enamel cups, some enamel plates, and two enamel
dishes. Nora smuggled down an old kettle that Aunt Harriet had put away in a
cupboard. She did not dare to take one of those on the stove. Peggy took a
frying-pan and a saucepan to the hollow tree, and had to put up with a dreadful
scolding when her aunt could not find them.
Jack
took a saucepan too, and an axe and a fine sharp knife. He also took some small
knives and forks and spoons, for the other children did not dare to take these.
There were only just enough put out for them and their aunt and uncle to use.
So they were glad when Jack found some and brought them along.
“Can
you get some empty tins to store things in?” asked Jack. “I am trying to get
sugar and things like that, because we must have those, you know. Grandad gave
me some money the other day, and I’m buying a few things to store.”
“Yes,
I’ll get some empty tins,” said Mike. “Unde has plenty in the shed. I can wash
them out and dry them. And could you get matches, Jack? Aunt only leaves one
box out, and that won’t go far.”
“Well,
I’ve got a small magnifying glass,” said Jack, and he showed it to the others.
“Look, if I focus the rays of the sun on to that bit of paper over there, see
what happens. It burns it, and, hey presto, there’s a fire ready-made!”
“Oh,
good!” said Mike. "We’ll use that on a sunny day, Jack, and save our
matches!”
“I’m
bringing my work-basket in case we need to sew anything,” said Peggy.
“And
I’ve got a box of mixed nails and an old hammer,” said Mike. “I found them in
the shed.”
“We’re
getting on!” said Jack, grinning, “I say - what a time we’re going to have!”
“I
wish Sunday would come!” sighed Nora.
“I
shall bring our snap cards and our game of ludo and our dominoes,” said Peggy.
“We shall want to play games sometimes. And what about some books?”
“Good
for you!” cried Mike. “Yes - books and papers we’ll have, too - we shall love
to read quietly sometimes.”
The
old hollow tree by the lakeside was soon full of the queerest collection of things.
Not a day went by without something being added to it. One day it was a plank
of wood. Another day it was half a sack of potatoes. Another day it was an old
and ragged rug. Really, it was a marvel that the tree held everything!
At
last Sunday came. The children were up long before their uncle and aunt. They
crept into the kitchen garden and picked a basket of peas, pulled up six
lettuces, added as many ripe broad beans as they could find, a bunch of young
carrots, some radishes, and, putting their hands into the nest-boxes of the
hens, they found six new-laid eggs!
Nora
crept indoors and went to the larder. What could she take that Aunt Harriet
would not notice that morning? Some tea? Yes! A tin of cocoa from the top
shelf. A packet of currants and a tin of rice from the store shelf, too. A big
loaf, a few cakes from the cake-tin! The little girl stuffed them all into her
basket and raced out to join the others. Long before Aunt Harriet was up all
these things were safely in the hollow tree.
Peggy
didn’t quite like taking anything from the larder, but Mike said that as Aunt
and Uncle wouldn’t have to keep them after that day, they could quite well
spare a few odds and ends for them.
“Anyway,
if they paid us properly for our work, we would have enough to buy all these
things and more,” he said, as he stuffed them into the tree.
They
went back to the farm for the last time, to breakfast. Peggy cooked the
breakfast, and hoped Aunt would not notice that her long iron cooking spoon was
gone. She also hoped that Aunt would not want to get another candle from the
packet in the larder, for Peggy knew Mike had taken the rest of them, and had
taken an old lantern of Uncle’s too!
The
children ate their breakfast in silence.
Aunt
Harriet looked at them. “I suppose you think you are going off for a picnic
to-day!” she said. “Well, you are not! You can stay and weed the kitchen
garden, Peggy and Nora. And I’ve no doubt Uncle Henry can set Mike something to
do. Someone has been taking cakes out of my tin, and so you’ll all stay in
to-day!”
The
hearts of the three children sank. To-day of all days! As soon as the girls
were washing up alone in the scullery, Mike looked in at the window.
“You
girls slip off down to the lake as soon as you get a chance,” he said. “Wait
there for me. I won’t be long!”
Peggy
and Nora felt happier. They were to escape after all, then! They washed up a
few more things and then saw their aunt going upstairs.
“She
has gone to look out Uncle’s Sunday suit and shirt,” whispered Nora. “Quick!
Now’s our chance. We can slip out of the back door.”
Peggy
ran to the cupboard under the dresser and took out a long bar of soap. “We
forgot all about soap!” she said. “We shall want some! I just remembered in
time!”
Nora
looked round for something to take, too. She saw a great slab of margarine on
the dresser, and she caught it up.
“This
will help us in our frying!” she said. “Come on, Peggy - we’ve no time to
lose.”
They
raced out of the back door, down the path, and out into the fields. In five minutes’
time they were by the hollow tree, well out of sight. Jack was not yet there.
They did not know how long Mike would be. He would not find it so easy to get
away!
But
Mike had laid his plans. He waited for the moment when his aunt discovered that
the girls had gone, and then walked into the kitchen.
“What’s
the matter, Aunt Harriet?” he asked, pretending to be very much surprised at
her angry face and voice.
“Where
have those two girls gone?” cried his aunt.
“I
expect they have only gone to get in the clothes or something,” said Mike.
“Shall I go and find them for you?”
“Yes,
and tell them they’ll get well slapped for running off like this without
finishing their work,” said his aunt in a rage.
Mike
ran off, calling to his uncle that he was on an errand for his aunt. So Uncle
Henry said nothing, but let him go. Mike tore across the fields to the lakeside
and met the two girls there. They hugged one another in joy.
“Now,
where’s Jack?” said Mike. “He said he would meet us as soon as he could.”
“There
he is!” said Nora; and sure enough, there was Jack coming across the field,
waving to them. He carried a heavy bag into which he had crammed all sorts of
things at the very last moment - rope, an old mackintosh, two books, some
newspapers, and other things. His face was shining with excitement.
“Good!
You’re here!” he said.
“Yes,
but we nearly couldn’t come,” said Nora, and she told Jack what had happened.
“I
say! I hope this won’t mean that your uncle and aunt will start to look for you
too soon,” said Jack.
"Oh
no!” said Mike. “It only means that they will make up their minds to whip us
well when we go back this evening, but we shan’t go back! They’ll think we’ve
gone off on our usual Sunday picnic.”
“Now
we’ve got a lot to do,” said Jack seriously. “This is all fun and excitement to
us - but it’s work, too - and we’ve got to get on with it. First, all these
things must be carried from the hollow tree to the boat. Mike, you get out some
of them and give them to the girls. Then we’ll take the heavier things. I
expect we shall have to come back to the tree three or four times before it’s
emptied.”
The
four of them set off happily, carrying as much as they could. The sun was hot,
and they puffed and panted, but who cared? They were off to the secret island
at last!
It
was a good walk to the boat, and they had to make four journeys altogether,
carrying things carefully. At last there was nothing left in the hollow tree.
They need not come back again.
“I’m
jolly glad,” said Mike. “Every time I get back to that hollow tree I expect to
find Aunt or Uncle hidden inside it, ready to pop out at us!”
“Don’t
say such horrid things,” said Nora. “We’re leaving Aunt and Uncle behind for
ever!”
They
were at the boat, and were stowing things there as well as they could. It was a
good thing the boat was fairly big or it would never have taken everything. The
children had had to bale out a good deal of water before they could put
anything in the bottom. It leaked badly, but as long as someone could bale out
with a tin it was all right.
“Now
then,” said Jack, looking round at the shore to see that nothing was left
behind, “are we ready?”
“Ay,
ay, Captain!” roared the other three. “Push off!”
The
boat was pushed off. Mike and Jack took an oar each, for the boat was heavy and
needed two people to pull it. It floated easily out on to the deeper water.
“We’re
off at last!” said Nora, in a little happy voice that sounded almost as if she
were going to cry.
Nobody
said anything more. The boat floated on and on, as Mike and Jack rowed
strongly. Peggy baled out the water that came in through the leaks. She
wondered what it would be like not to sleep in a proper bed. She wondered what
it would be like to wake up under the blue sky - to have no one to make her do
this, that, and the other. How happy she felt!
It
was a long way to the island. The sun rose higher and higher. The adventurers
felt hotter and hotter. At last Nora pointed excitedly in front.
“The
secret island!” she cried. “The secret island.”
Mike
and Jack stopped rowing for a moment and the boat floated on slowly by itself
whilst the four gazed at the lonely little island, hidden so well on the heart
of the lake. Their own island! It had no name. It was just the Secret Island!
Mike
and Jack rowed on again. They came to the little sandy cove beneath the willow
trees. Jack jumped out and pulled the boat in. The others jumped out too and
gazed round.
“We’re
really here, we’re really here, we’re really here!” squealed Nora, jumping up
and down and round and round in delight. “We’ve escaped. We’ve come to live on
this dear little hidden island.”
“Come
on, Nora, give a hand,” ordered Jack. “we’ve a lot to do before night, you
know.”
Nora
ran to help. The boat had to be unloaded, and that was quite a job. All the things
were put on the beach under the willow trees for the time being. By the time
that was finished the children were hotter than ever and very hungry and
thirsty.
“Oh,
for a drink!” groaned Mike.
“Peggy,
do you remember the way to the spring?” asked Jack. “You do? Well, just go and
fill this kettle with water, will you? We’ll all have a drink and something to
eat!”
Peggy
ran off up the hill and down the other side to the spring. She filled the
kettle and went back. The others had put out enamel mugs ready to drink from.
Mike was busy looking out something to eat, too. He had put out a loaf of
bread, some young carrots, which they all loved to nibble, a piece of cheese
each, and a cake.
What
a meal that was! How they laughed and giggled and chattered! Then they lay back
in the sun and shut their eyes. They were tired with all their hard work. One
by one they fell asleep.
Jack
awoke first. He sat up. “Hey!” he said. “This won’t do! We’ve got to get our
beds for the night and arrange a good sleeping-place! We’ve dozens of things to
do! Come on, everyone, to work, to work!”
But
who minded work when it was in such a pleasant place? Peggy and Nora washed up
the mugs and dishes in the lake water and set them in the sun to dry. The boys
put all the stores in a good place and covered them with the old mackintosh in
case it should rain. To-morrow they would start to build their house.
“Now
to get a sleeping-place and bedding,” said Jack. “Won’t it be fun to sleep for
the first time on the Secret Island!”
The
First Night on the Island
“Where
do you think would be the best place to sleep?” said Peggy, looking round the
little cove.
“Well,”
said Jack, “I think it would be best to sleep under some thick trees somewhere,
then, if it rains tonight, we shall not get too wet. But I don’t think it will
rain; the weather is quite settled.”
“There
are two nice, big, thick oak trees just beyond the cove,” said Mike, pointing.
“Shall we find a place there?”
“Yes,”
said Jack. “Find a bramble bush or gorse bush near them to keep any wind off.
Let’s go and see what we think.”
They
all went to the two big oak trees. Their branches swung almost down to the
ground in places. Below grew clumps of soft heather, springy as a mattress. To
the north was a great growth of gorse, thick and prickly.
“This
looks a fine place to sleep,” said Jack. “Look. Do you see this little place
here, almost surrounded by gorse, and carpeted with heather? The girls could
sleep here, and we could sleep just outside their cosy spot, to protect them.
The oak trees would shelter us nicely overhead.”
“Oh,
I do think this is fine; I do, I do!” cried Nora, thinking that their green,
heathery bedroom was the nicest in the world. She lay down on the heather. “It
is as soft as can be!” she said; “and oh! there is something making a most
delicious smell. What is it?”
“It
is a patch of wild thyme," said Jack. “Look, there is a bit in the middle
of the heather. You will smell it when you go to sleep, Nora!”
“All
the same, Jack, the heather won’t feel quiet so soft when we have lain on it a
few hours,” said Mike. “We’d better get some armfuls of bracken too, hadn’t
we?”
“Yes,”
said Jack. “Come on up the hill. There is plenty of bracken there, and heaps of
heather too. We will pick the bracken and put it in the sun to dry. The heather
doesn’t need drying. Pick plenty, for the softer we lie the better we’ll sleep!
Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!”
The
four children gathered armfuls of bracken and put it out in the sun to wither
and dry. The heather they carried back to their green bedroom under the oak
tree. They spread it thickly there. It looked most deliciously soft! The thick
gorse bushes kept off the breeze, and the oaks above waved their branches and
whispered. What fun it all was!
“Well,
there are our bedrooms ready,” said Jack. “Now, we’d better find a place to put
our stores in. We won’t be too far from the water, because it’s so useful for
washing ourselves and our dishes in.”
The
children were hungry again. They got out the rest of the cakes, and finished up
the bread, eating some peas with it, which they shelled as they ate.
“Are
we going to have any supper?” asked Mike.
“We
might have a cup of cocoa each and a piece of my cake,” said Jack. “We must be
careful not to eat everything at once that we’ve brought, or we’ll go short!
I’ll do some fishing to-morrow.”
“Shall
we begin to build the house to-morrow?” asked Mike, who was longing to see how
Jack meant to make their house.
“Yes,”
said Jack. “Now you two girls wash up the mugs again, and Mike and I will find
a good place for the stores.”
The
girls went to the water and washed the things. The boys wandered up the beach -
and, at the back of the sandy cove, they found just the very place they wanted!
There
was a sandy bank there, with a few old willows growing on top of it, their
branches drooping down. Rain had worn away the sandy soil from their roots, and
underneath there was a sort of shallow cave, with roots running across it here
and there.
“Look
at that!” said Jack in delight. “Just the place we want for our stores! Nora,
Peggy, come and look here!”
The
girls came running. “Oh,” said Peggy, pleased, “we can use those big roots as
shelves, and stand our tins and cups and dishes on them! Oh, it’s a proper
little larder!”
“Well,
you girls, get the stores from the cove and arrange them neatly here,” said
Jack. “Mike and I will go and fill the kettle from the spring, and we’ll see if
there isn’t a nearer spring, because it’s a long way up the hill and down the
other side.”
“Can’t
we come with you?” asked Peggy.
“No,
you arrange everything,” said Jack. “It had better all be done as quickly as
possible, because you never know when it’s going to turn wet. We don’t want our
stores spoilt.”
Leaving
Peggy and Nora to arrange the tins, baskets, and odds and ends neatly in the
root-larder, the two boys went up the hill behind the cove. They separated to
look for a spring, and Mike found one! It was a very tiny one, gushing out from
under a small rock, and it ran down the hill like a little waterfall, getting
lost in the heather and grass here and there. Its way could be seen by the
rushes that sprang up beside its course.
“I
expect it runs down into the lake,” said Mike. “It’s a very small spring, but
we can use it to fill our kettle, and it won’t take us quite so long as going
to the other spring. If we have to live in the caves during the winter, the
other spring will be more useful then, for it will be quite near the cave.”
They
filled the kettle. It was lovely up there on the hillside in the June sun. Bees
hummed and butterflies flew all round. Birds sang, and two or three moorhens
cried “Fulluck, fulluck!” from the water below.
“Let’s
go to the top of the hill and see if we can spy anyone coming up or down the
lake,” said Jack. So they went right up to the top, but not a sign of anyone
could they see. The waters of the lake were calm and clear and blue. Not a boat
was on it. The children might have been quite alone in the world.
They
went dovm to the girls with the full kettle. Nora and Peggy proudly showed the
boys how they had arranged the stores. They had used the big roots for shelves,
and the bottom of the little cave they had used for odds and ends, such as
Jack’s axe and knife, the hammer and nails, and so on.
“It’s
a nice dry place,” sa'd Peggy. “It’s just right for a larder, and it’s so nice
and near the cove. Jack, where are we gong to build our house?”
Jack
took the girls and Mike to the west end of the cove, where there was a thicket
of willows. He forced his way through them and showed the others a fine clear
place right in the very middle of the trees.
“Here’s
the very place,” he said. “No one would ever guess there was a house just here,
if we built one! The willows grow so thickly that I don’t suppose anyone but
ourselves would ever know they could be got through.”
They
talked about their house until they were tired out. They made their way back to
the little beach and Jack said they would each have a cup of cocoa, a piece of
cake, and go to bed!
He
and Mike soon made a fire. There were plenty of dry twigs about, and bigger
bits of wood. It did look cheerful to see the flames dancing. Jack could not
use his little magnifying glass to set light to the paper or twigs because the
sun was not hot enough then. It was sinking down in the west. He used a match.
He set the kettle on the fire to boil.
“It
would be better to-morrow to swing the kettle over the flames on a tripod of
sticks,” he said. “It will boil more quickly then.”
But
nobody minded how slowly the kettle boiled.
They
lay on their backs in the sand, looking up at the evening sky, listening to the
crackle of the wood, and smelling a mixture of wood-smoke and honeysuckle. At
last the kettle sent out a spurt of steam, and began to hiss. It was boiling.
Nora
made the cocoa, and handed it round in mugs. “There’s no milk,” she said. “But
there is some sugar.”
They
munched their cake and drank their cocoa. Though it had no milk in it, it was
the nicest they had ever tasted.
“I
do like seeing the fire,” said Nora. “Oh, Jack, why are you stamping it out?”
“Well,”
said Jack, “people may be looking for us to-night, you know, and a spire of
smoke from this island would give our hiding-place away nicely! Come on, now,
everyone to bed! We’ve hard work to do tomorrow!”
Peggy
hurriedly rinsed out the mugs. Then all of them went to their green, heathery
bedroom. The sun was gone. Twilight was stealing over the secret island.
“Our
first night here!” said Mike, standing up and looking down on the quiet waters
of the lake. “We are all alone, the four of us, without a roof over our heads
even, but I’m so happy!”
“So
am I!” said everyone. The girls went to their hidden green room in the gorse
and lay down in their clothes. It seemed silly to undress when they were
sleeping out of doors. Mike threw them the old ragged rug.
“Throw
that over yourselves,” he said. “It may be cold to-night, sleeping out for the
first time. You won’t be frightened, will you?”
“No,”
said Peggy. “You two boys will be near, and, anyway, what is there to be
frightened of?”
They
lay down on the soft heather, and pulled the old rug over them. The springy
heather was softer than the old hard bed the two girls had been used to at
home. The little girls put their arms round one another and shut their eyes. They
were fast asleep almost at once.
But
the boys did not sleep so quickly. They lay on their heathery beds and listened
to all the sounds of the night. They heard the little grunt of a hedgehog going
by. They saw the flicker of bats overhead. They smelt the drifting scent of
honeysuckle, and the delicious smell of wild thyme crushed under their bodies.
A reed-warbler sang a beautiful little song in the reeds below, and then
another answered.
“Is
that a blackbird?” asked Mike.
“No,
a reed-warbler,” said Jack. “They sing as beautifully as any bird that sings in
the daytime! Listen, do you hear that owl?”
“Oooo-ooo-ooo-oooo!”
came a long, quivering sound; “ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!”
“He’s
hunting for rats and voles,” said Jack. “I say, look at the stars, Mike?”
“Don’t
they seem far away?” said Mike, looking up into the purple night sky, which was
set with thousands of bright stars. “I say, Jack, it’s awfully nice of you to
come away with us like this and share your secret island.”
“It
isn’t nice of me at all,” said Jack. “I wanted to. I’m doing just exactly what
I most want to do. I only hope we shan’t be found and taken back, but I’ll take
jolly good care no one finds us! I’m laying my plans already!”
But
Mike was not listening. His eyes shut, he forgot the owls and the stars; he
fell asleep and dreamt of building a house with Jack, a lovely house.
Jack
fell asleep, too. And soon the rabbits that lived under their gorse-bush came
slyly out and peeped at the sleeping children in surprise. Who were they?
But,
as the children did not move, the rabbits grew bold and went out to play just
as usual. Even when one ran over Mike by mistake, the little boy did not know
it. He was much too fast asleep!
The
Building of the House
What
fun it was to wake up that first morning on the island! Jack awoke first. He
heard a thrush singing so loudly on a tree near by that he woke up with a jump.
“Mind
how you do it,” said the thrush, “mind how you do it!”
Jack
grinned. “I’ll mind how I do it all right!” he said to the singing thrush.
"Hi, Mike! Wake up! The sun is quite high!”
Mike
woke and sat up. At first he didn’t remember where he was. Then a broad smile
came over his face. Of course - they were all on the secret island! How
perfectly glorious!
“Peggy,
Nora! Get up!” he cried. The girls awoke and sat up in a hurry.Wherever were
they? What was this green bedroom - oh, of course, it was their heathery
bedroom on the secret island!
Soon
all four children were up and about. Jack made them take off their things and
have a dip in the lake. It was simply lovely, but the water felt cold at first.
When they had dried themselves on an old sack - for they had no towels - the
children felt terribly hungry. But Jack had been busy. He had set his
fishing-line, and, even as they bathed, he had seen the float jerk up and down.
It was not long before Jack proudly laid four fine trout on the sand of the
cove, and set about to make a fire to cook them.
Mike
went to fill the kettle to make some tea. Peggy got some big potatoes out of the
sack and put them almost in the fire to cook in their skins. Jack found the
frying-pan in their storeroom and put a piece of margarine in it to fry the
fish, which he knew exactly how to clean.
“I
don’t know what we should do without you,” said Mike, as he watched Jack.
“Goodness! How I shall enjoy my breakfast!”
They
all did. The tea did not taste very nice without milk. “It’s a pity we can’t
get milk,” said Jack. “We shall miss that, I’m afraid. Now, Peggy, wash up, and
Nora, too. Put everything away - and we’ll start on our house!”
In
great excitement everything was washed up and put away. Then Jack led the way
through the thick willow-trees, and they came to the little clear place in the
centre of them.
“Now,
this is how I mean to build the house,” he said. “Do you see these little
willow-trees here - one there - one there - two there - and two there. Well, I
think you will find that if we climb up and bend down the top branches, they
will meet each other nicely in the centre, and we can weave them into one
another. That will make the beginning of a roof. With my axe I shall chop down
some other young willow-trees, and use the trunk and thicker branches for
walls. We can drive the trunks and branches into the ground between the six
willow-trees we are using, and fill up any cracks with smaller branches woven
across. Then, if we stuff every corner and crevice with bracken and heather, we
shall have a fine big house, with a splendid roof, wind-proof and rain-proof.
What do you think of that?”
The
other children listened in the greatest excitement. It sounded too good to be
true. Could it be as easy as all that?
“Jack,
can we really do it?” said Mike. “It sounds all right - and those willow-trees
are just the right distance from one another to make a good big house - and
their top branches will certainly overlap well.”
“Oh,
let’s begin, let’s begin!” cried Nora, impatient as usual, dancing up and down.
“I’ll
climb up this first willow-tree and swing the branches over with my weight,”
said Jack. “All you others must catch hold of them and hold them till I slip
down. Then I’ll climb another tree and bend those branches over too. We’ll tie
them together, and then I’ll climb up the other trees. Once we’ve got all the
top branches bending down touching one another, and overlapping nicely, we can
cut long willow-sticks and lace our roof together. I’ll show you how to.”
Jack
swung himself up into one of the little willow-trees. It was only a young one,
with a small trunk - but it had a head of long, fine branches, easy to bend.
Jack swung them down, and the girls and Mike caught them easily. They held on
to them whilst Jack slid down the tree and climbed another. He did the same
thing there, bending down the supple branches until they reached and rested on
top of those bent down from
the
other tree.
“Tie
them together, Mike!” shouted Jack. “Peggy, go and find the rope I brought.”
Peggy
darted off. She soon came back with the rope.
Mike
twisted it round the branches of the two trees, and tied them firmly together.
“It’s
beginning to look like a roof already!” shouted Nora, in excitement. “Oh, I
want to sit underneath it!”
She
sat down under the roof of willow boughs, but Jack called to her.
“Get
up, Nora! You’ve got to help! I’m up the third tree now - look, here come the
top branches bending over with my weight - catch them and hold them!”
Nora
and Peggy caught them and held on tightly. The branches reached the others and
overlapped them. Mike was soon busy tying them down, too.
The
whole morning was spent in this way. By dinnertime all the six trees had been
carefully bent over. Jack showed Mike and the girls how to weave the branches
together, so that they held one another and made a fine close roof. “You see,
if we use the trees like this, their leaves will still grow and will make a
fine thick roof,” said Jack. “Now, although our house has no walls as yet, we
at least have a fine roof to shelter under if it rains!”
“I
want something to eat,” said Nora. “I’m so hungry that I feel I could eat
snails!”
“Well,
get out four eggs, and we’ll have some with potatoes,” said Jack. “We’ll boil
the eggs in our saucepan. There’s plenty of potatoes, too. After the eggs are
boiled we’ll boil some potatoes and mash them up. That will be nice for a
change. We’ll nibble a few carrots, too, and have some of those cherries.”
"We
do have funny meals,” said Peggy, going to get the saucepan and the eggs, “but
I do like them! Come on, Nora, help me get the potatoes and peel them whilst
the eggs are boiling. And Mike, get some water, will you? We haven’t enough.”
Soon
the fire was burning merrily and the eggs were boiling in the saucepan. The
girls peeled the potatoes, and Jack washed the carrots. He went to get some
water to drink, too, for everyone was very thirsty.
“You’d
better catch some more fish for to-night, Jack,” said Peggy. “I hope our stores
are going to last out a bit! We do seem to eat a lot!”
“I’ve
been thinking about that,” said Jack, watching the potatoes boiling. “I think
I’ll have to row to land occasionally and get more food. I can get it from
Granddad’s farm. There are plenty of potatoes there, and I can always get the
eggs from the hen-house. Some of the hens are mine - and there’s a cow that’s
really mine too, for Granddad gave her to me when she was a calf!”
“I
wish we had hens and a cow here!” said Peggy. “We should have lots of milk then
and plenty of eggs!”
“How
would we get hens and a cow here?” said Mike, laughing. “I think Jack’s idea of
rowing across to land sometimes is a good one. He can go at night. He knows the
way, and could get back before day breaks.”
“It’s
dangerous, though,” said Peggy. “Suppose he were caught? We couldn’t do without
Jack!”
The
children ate their dinner hungrily. They thought that eggs and potatoes had
never tasted so nice before. The sun shone down hotly. It was simply perfect
weather. Nora lay down when she had finished her meal and closed her eyes. She
felt lazy and sleepy.
Jack
poked her with his foot. “You’re not to go to sleep, Nora,” he said. “We must
get on with our house, now we’ve started. You two girls clear up as usual, and
Mike and I will get back to the house. We’ll start on the walls this
afternoon.”
“But
I’m sleepy,” said Nora. She was rather a lazy little girl, and she thought it
would be lovely to have a nap whilst the others got on with the work. But Jack
was not the one to let anyone slack. He jerked Nora to her feet and gave her a
push.
“Go
on, lazy-bones,” he said. “I’m captain here. Do as you’re told.”
“I
didn’t know you were captain,” said Nora, rather sulkily.
“Well,
you know now,” said Jack. “What do the others say about it?”
“Yes,
you’re captain, Jack,” said Mike and Peggy together. “Ay, ay, sir!”
Nobody
said any more. Nora and Peggy washed up in the lake and cleared the things away
neatly. They put some more wood on the fire to keep it burning, because Jack
said it was silly to keep on lighting it.
Then
they ran off to join the boys in the willow thicket.
Jack
had been busy. He had chopped down some willow saplings - young willow-trees -
with his axe, and had cut off the longer branches.
“We’ll
use these to drive into the ground for walls,” said Jack. “Where’s that old
spade, Mike? Did you bring it as I said?”
“Yes,
here it is,” said Mike. “Shall I dig holes to drive the sapling trunks into?”
“Yes,”
said Jack. “Dig them fairly deep.”
So
Mike dug hard in the hot sun, making holes for Jack to ram the willow wood
into. The girls stripped the leaves off the chopped-down trees, and with Jack’s
knife cut off the smaller twigs. They trimmed up the bigger branches nicely.
Everyone
worked hard until the sun began to go down. The house was not yet built - it
would take some days to do that - but at any rate there was a fine roof, and
part of the wall was up. The children could quite well see how the house would
look when it was done - and certainly it would be big, and very strong. They
felt proud of themselves.
"We’ll
do no more to-day,” said Jack. “We are all tired. I’ll go and see if there are
any fish on my line.”
But,
alas! there were no fish that night!
“There’s
some bread left and a packet of currants,” said Peggy. “And some lettuces and
margarine. Shall we have those?”
“This
food question is going to be a difficult one,” said Jack thoughtfully. “We’ve
plenty of water - we shall soon have a house - but we must have food or we
shall starve. I shall catch rabbits, I think.”
“Oh,
no, Jack, don’t do that,” said Nora. “I do like rabbits so much.”
“So
do I, Nora,” said Jack. “But if rabbits were not caught, the land would soon be
overrun with them, you know. You have often had rabbit-pie, haven’t you? And I
guess you liked it, too!”
“Yes,
I did,” said Nora. “Well, if you are sure you can catch them so that they are
not hurt or in pain, Jack, I suppose you’ll have to.”
“You
leave it to me,” said Jack. “I don’t like hurting things any more than you do.
But I know quite well how to skin rabbits. It’s a man’s job, that, so you two
girls can leave it to Mike and me. So long as you can cook the rabbits for
dinner, that’s all you need worry about. And ever since Peggy said she wished
we had a cow and some hens, I’ve been thinking about it. I believe we could
manage to get them over here on to the island - then we would be all right!”
Mike,
Peggy, and Nora stared at Jack in amazement. What a surprising boy he was!
However could they get a cow and hens?
“Hurry
up and get the supper, girls,” said Jack, smiling at their surprised faces.
“I’m hungry. We’ll think about things to-morrow. We’ll have our meal now and a
quiet read afterwards, then to bed early. To-morrow we’ll go on with the
house.”
Soon
they were munching bread and margarine, and eating lettuce. They saved the
currants for another time. Then they got out books and papers and sprawled on
the soft heather, reading whilst the daylight lasted. Then they had a dip in
the lake, threw on their clothes again, and settled down for the night in their
heathery beds.
“Good-night,
everyone,” said Mike. But nobody answered - they were all asleep!
Willow
House is Finished
The
next day, after a meal of fish and lettuce, the children were ready to go on
with the building of their house in the willow thicket. It was lucky that Jack
had caught more fish on his line that morning, for stores were getting low.
There were still plenty of potatoes, but not much else. Jack made up his mind
that he would have to take the boat and see what he could bring back in it that
night. There was no doubt but that food was going to be their great difficulty.
All
morning the four children worked hard at the house. Jack cut down enough young
willows to make the walls. Mike dug the holes to drive in the willow stakes. He
and Jack drove them deeply in, and the girls jumped for joy to see what fine
straight walls of willow the boys were making.
The
willow stakes were set a little way apart, and Jack showed the girls how to
take thin, supple willow branches and weave them in and out of the stakes to
hold the walls in place, and to fill up the gaps It was quite easy to do this
when they knew how, but they got very hot.
Mike
went up and down to the spring a down times that morning to fetch water! They
all drank pints of it, and were glad of its coldness. The sun was really very
hot, though it was nice and shady in the green willow thicket.
“It
begins to look like a house now,” said Jack, pleased. “Look, this front gap
here is where we shall have the door. We can make that later of long stakes
interwoven with willow strips, and swing it on some sort of a hinge so that it
opens and shuts. But we don’t need a door at present.”
That
day all the walls were finished, and the girls had gone a good way towards
weaving the stakes together so that the walls stood firmly and looked nice and
thick.
“In
the olden days people used to fill up the gaps with clay and let it dry hard,”
said Jack. “But I don’t think there’s any clay on this island, so we must stuff
up the cracks with dried bracken and heather. That will do nicely. And the
willow stakes we have rammed into the ground will grow, and throw out leaves
later on, making the wall thicker still.”
“How
do you mean - the stakes we have cut will grow?" asked Mike in surprise.
“Sticks don’t grow, surely!”
Jack
grinned. “Willow sticks do!” he said. “You can cut a willow branch off the tree
- strip it of all buds and leaves, and stick it in the ground, and you’ll find
that, although it has no roots, and no shoots - it will put out both and grow
into a willow-tree by itself! Willows are full of life, and you can’t stamp it
out of them!”
“Well
- our house will be growing all the year round, then!” cried Nora. “How funny!”
“I
think it’s lovely!” said Peggy. “I like things to be as alive as that. I shall
love to live in a house that’s growing over me - putting out roots and shoots
and buds and leaves! What shall we call our house, Jack?”
“Willow
House!” said Jack. “That’s the best name for it!”
“It’s
a good name,” said Peggy. “I like it. I like everything here. It’s glorious.
Just us four - and our secret island. It’s the loveliest adventure that ever
was!”
“If
only we had more to eat!” said Mike, who seemed to feel hungry every hour of
the day. “That’s the only thing I don’t like about this adventure!”
“Yes,”
said Jack. “We’ll have to put that right! Don’t worry. We shall get over it
somehow!”
That
night there was nothing much to eat but potatoes. Jack said he would go off in
the boat as soon as it was dark, to see what he could find at his old farm.
So
he set off. He took with him a candle, set in the lantern, but he did not light
it in case he should be seen.
“Wait
up for me,” he said to the others, “and keep a small fire going - not big, in
case the glow could be seen.”
The
other three waited patiently for Jack to come back. He seemed a long, long
time. Nora stretched herself out on the old rug and fell asleep. But Mike and
Peggy kept awake. They saw the moon come up and light everything. The secret
island seemed mysterious again in the moonlight. Dark shadows stretched beneath
the trees. The water lapped against the sand, black as night, close by them,
but silvered where the moon caught it beyond. It was a warm night, and the
children were hot, even though they had no covering.
It
seemed hours before they heard the splash of oars. Mike ran down to the edge of
the water and waited. He saw the boat coming softly over the water in the
moonlight. He called Jack.
“Hallo,
there, Jack! Are you all right?”
“Yes,”
said Jack’s voice. “I’ve got plenty of news too!”
The
boat scraped on the sand and stones. Mike pulled it up the beach, and Jack
jumped out.
“I’ve
got something here for us!” said Jack, and they saw his white teeth in the
moonlight as he grinned at them. “Put your hands down there in the boat, Nora.”
Nora
did - and squealed!
“There’s
something soft and warm and feathery there!” she said. “What is it?”
“Six
of my hens!” said Jack; I found them roosting in the hedges! I caught them and
trussed them up so that they couldn’t move! My word, they were heavy to carry!
But we shall have plenty of eggs now! They can’t escape from the island!”
“Hurrah!”
cried Peggy. “We can have eggs for breakfast, dinner, and tea!”
“What
else have you brought?” asked Mike.
“Corn
for the hens,” said Jack. “And packets of seeds of all kinds from the shed. And
some tins of milk. And a loaf of bread, rather stale. And lots more
vegetables!”
“And
here are some cherries,” said Nora, pulling out handfuls of red cherries from
the boat. “Did you pick these, Jack?”
“Yes,”
said Jack. “They are from the tree in our garden. It’s full of them now.”
“Did.
you see your grandfather?” asked Mike.
“Yes,”
grinned Jack, “but he didn’t see me! He’s going away - to live with my aunt.
The farm is to be shut up, and someone is to feed the animals until it’s sold.
So I think I shall try and get my own cow somehow, and make her swim across the
lake to the island!”
“Don’t
be silly, Jack,” said Peggy. “You could never do that!”
“You
don’t know what I can do!” said Jack. “Well, listen - I heard my Granddad
talking to two friends of his, and everyone is wondering where we’ve all gone!
They’ve searched everywhere for us - in all the nearby towns and villages, and
in all the country round about!”
“Oooh!”
said the three children, feeling rather frightened. “Do you suppose they’ll
come here?”
“Well,
they may,” said Jack. “You never know. I’ve always been a bit afraid that the
smoke from our fire will give the game away to someone. But don’t let’s worry
about that till it happens.”
“Are
the police looking for us, too?" asked Peggy.
“Oh
yes,” said Jack. “Everyone is, as far as I can make out. 1 heard Grandchd tell
how they’ve searched barns and stacks and ditches, and gone to every town for
twenty miles round, thinking we might have run away on a lorry. They don’t
guess how near we are!”
“Is
Aunt Harriet very upset?” asked Peggy.
“Very!”
grinned Jack. “She’s got no one to wash and scrub and cook for her now! But
that’s all she cares, I expect! Well, it’s good news about my Granddad going to
live with my aunt. I can slip to and fro and not be seen by him now. My word, I
wished Mike was with me when I got these hens. They did peck and scratch and
flap about. I was afraid someone would hear them.”
“Where
shall we put them?” said Mike, helping Jack to carry them up the beach.
“I
vote we put them into Willow House till the morning,” said Jack. “We can stop
up the doorway with something.”
So
they bundled the squawking hens into Willow House, and stopped up the doorway
with sticks and bracken. The hens fled to a corner and squatted there,
terrified. They made no more noise.
“I’m
jolly tired,” said Jack. “Let’s have a few cherries and go to bed.”
They
munched the ripe cherries, and then went to their green bedroom. The bracken
which they had picked and put on the hillside to dry had been quite brown and
withered by that afternoon, so the girls had added it to their bed and the
boys’, and to-night their beds seemed even softer and sweeter-smelling than
usual. They were all tired. Mike and Jack talked for a little while, but the
girls went to sleep quickly.
They
slept late the next morning. Peggy woke first, and sat up, wondering what the
unusual noise was that she heard. It was a loud cackling.
“Of
course! The hens!” she thought. She slipped off her bracken-and-heather bed,
jumped lightly over the two sleeping boys and ran to Willow House. She pulled
aside the doorway and squeezed inside. The hens fled to a corner when they saw
her, but Peggy saw a welcome sight!
Four
of the hens had laid eggs! Goody! Now they could have a fine breakfast! The
little girl gathered them up quickly, then, stopping up the doorway again, she
ran out. She soon had a fire going, and, when the others sat up, rubbing their
eyes, Peggy called them.
“Come
on! Breakfast! The hens have laid us an egg each!”
They
ran to breakfast. “We’ll have a dip afterwards,” said Mike. “I feel so hungry.”
“We
must finish Willow House properly to-day,” said Jack. “And we must decide what
to do with the hens, too. They can’t run loose till they know us and their new
home. We must put up some sort of enclosure for them.”
After
breakfast the four of them set to work to make a tiny yard for the hens. They
used willow stakes again and quickly built a fine little fence, too high for
the hens to jump over. Jack made them nesting-places of bracken, and hoped they
would lay their eggs there. He scattered some seed for them, and they pecked at
it eagerly. Peggy gave them a dish of water.
“They
will soon know this is their home and lay their eggs here,” said Jack.
"Now, come on, let’s get on with Willow House! You two girls stuff up the
cracks with heather and bracken, and Mike and I will make the door."
Everyone
worked hard. The girls found it rather a nice job to stuff the soft heather and
bracken into the cracks and make the house rain- and wind-proof. They were so
happy in their job that they did not notice what a fine door Jack and Mike had
made of woven willow twigs. The boys called the girls, and proudly showed them
what they had done.
The
door had even been fixed on some sort of a hinge, so that it swung open and
shut! It looked fine! It did not quite fit at the top, but nobody minded that.
It was a door - and could be shut or opened, just as they pleased. Willow House
was very dark inside when the door was shut - but that made it all the more
exciting!
“I’m
so hungry and thirsty now that I believe I could eat all the food we’ve got!”
said Mike at last.
“Yes,
we really must have something to eat,” said Jack. “We’ve got plenty of bread
and potatoes and vegetables. Let’s cook some broad beans. They are jolly good.
Go and look at my fishing-line, Mike, and see if there are any fish on
it."
There
was a fine trout, and Mike brought it back to cook. Soon the smell of frying
rose on the air, and the children sniffed hungrily. Fish, potatoes, bread,
beans, cherries, and cocoa with milk from one of Jack’s tins. What a meal!
“I’ll
think about getting Daisy the cow across next,” said Jack, drinking his cocoa.
“We simply must have milk.”
“And,
Jack, we could store some of our things in Willow House now, couldn’t we?” said
Peggy. “The ants get into some of the things in the cave-larder. It’s a good
place for things like hammers and nails, but it would be better to keep our
food in Willow House. Are we going to live in Willow House, Jack?”
“Well,
we’ll live in the open air mostly, I expect,” said Jack, “but it will be a good
place to sleep in when the nights are cold and rainy, and a fine shelter on bad
days. It’s our sort of home.”
“It’s
a lovely home,” said Nora; “the nicest there ever was! What fun it is to live
like this!”
The
Cow Comes to the Island
A
day or two went by. The children were busy, for there seemed lots of things to
do. The door of Willow House came off and had to be put on again more
carefully. One of the hens escaped, and the four children spent nearly the
whole morning looking for it. Jack found it at last under a gorse bush, where
it had laid a big brown egg.
They
made the fence of the hen-yard a bit higher, thinking that the hen had been
able to jump over. But Mike found a hole in the fence through which he was sure
the hen had squeezed, and very soon it was blocked up with fronds of bracken.
The hens squawked and clucked, but they seemed to be settling down, and always
ran eagerly to Nora when she fed them twice a day.
Mike
thought it would he a good idea to make two rooms inside Willow House, instead
of one big room. The front part could be a sort of living-room, with the larder
in a corner, and the back part could be a bedroom, piled with heather and
bracken to make soft lying. So they worked at a partition made of willow, and
put it up to make two rooms. They left a doorway between, but did not make a
door. It was nice to have a two-roomed house!
One
evening Jack brought something unusual to the camp-fire on the little beach.
Mike stared at what he was carrying.
“You’ve
caught some rabbits!” he said, “and you’ve skinned them, too, and got them
ready for cooking!”
“Oh,
Jack!” said Nora. “Must you catch those dear little rabbits? I do love them so
much, and it is such fun to watch them playing about round us in the evenings.”
“I
know,” said Jack, “but we must have meat to eat sometimes, Now, don’t worry,
Nora - they did not suffer any pain and you know you have often eaten
rabbit-pie at home.”
All
the same, none of the children enjoyed cooking the rabbits, though they
couldn’t help being glad of a change of food. They were getting a little tired
of fish. Nora said she felt as if she couldn’t look a rabbit in the face that
evening!
“In
Australia, rabbits are as much of a pest as rats are here,” said Jack, who
seemed to know all sorts of things. “If we were in Australia we would think we
had done a good deed to get rid of a few pests.”
“But
we’re not in Australia,” said Peggy. Nobody said any more, and the meal was
finished in silence. The girls washed up as usual, and the boys went to get
some water from the spring ready to boil in the morning. Then they all had a
dip in the lake.
“I
think I’ll have a shot at getting my cow along to-night,” said Jack, as they
dressed themselves again.
“You
can’t, Jack!” cried Nora. “You’d never get a cow here!”
“I’ll
come with you, Jack,” said Mike. “You’ll want someone to help you.”
“Right
!” said Jack. “We’ll start off as soon as it’s dark.”
“Oh,
Jack!” said the girls, excited to think of a cow coming. “Where shall we keep
it?”
“It
had better live on the other side of the island,” said Jack. "There is
some nice grass there. It won’t like to eat heather.”
“How
will you bring it, Jack?” asked Mike. “It will be difficult to get it into the
boat, won’t it?”
“We
shan’t get it into the boat, silly!” said Jack, laughing. “We shall make it swim
behind the boat!”
The
other three stared at Jack in surprise. Then they began to laugh. It was funny
to think of a cow swimming behind the boat to their secret island!
When
it was dark, the two boys set off. The girls called good-bye, and then went to
Willow House, for the evening was not quite so warm as usual. They lighted a
candle and talked. It was fun to be on the secret island alone.
The
boys rowed down the lake and came to the place where Jack usually landed - a
well-hidden spot by the lake-side, where trees came right down to the water.
They dragged the boat in and then made their way through the wood. After some
time they came to the fields that lay round the house of Jack’s grandfather.
Jack looked at the old cottage. There was no light in it. No one was there. His
grandfather had gone away. In the field nearby some cows and horses stood, and
the boys could hear one of the horses saying, “Hrrrumph! Hrrrrumph!”
“Do
you see that shed over there, Mike?” said Jack, in a low voice. “Well, there are
some lengths of rope there. Go and get them whilst I try to find which is my
own cow. The rope is in the corner, just by the door.”
Mike
stumbled off over the dark field to the tumbledown shed in the corner. Jack
went among the cows, making a curious chirrupy noise. A big brown and white cow
left the others and went lumbering towards Jack.
Jack
cautiously struck a match and looked at it. It was Daisy, the cow he had
brought up from a calf. He rubbed its soft nose, and called to Mike:
“Hurry
up with that rope! I’ve got the cow.”
Mike
had been feeling about in the shed for rope and had found a great coil of it.
He stumbled over the field to Jack.
“Good,”
said Jack, making a halter for the patient animal. “Now, before we go, I’d like
to pop into the old cottage and see if I can find anything we’d be glad of.”
“Could
you find some towels, do you think?” asked Mike. “I do hate having to dry
myself with old sacks.”
“Yes,
I’ll see if there are any left,” said Jack, and he set off quietly towards ihe
old cottage. He found the door locked, but easily got in at a window. He struck
a match and looked round. There were only two rooms in the cottage, a
living-room and a bedroom. All the furniture had gone. Jack looked behind the
kitchen door, and found what he had hoped to see - a big roller-towel still
hanging there. It was very dirty, but could easily be washed. He looked behind
the bedroom door - yes, there was a roller-towel there, too! Good! His
grandfather hadn’t thought of looking behind the doors and taking those when he
went. Jack wondered if the old carpet left on the floor was worth taking, too,
but he thought not. Good clean heather made a better carpet!
Jack
wandered out to the little shed at the back of the cottage - and there he did
indeed make a find! There was an old wooden box there, and in it had been put
all the clothes he possessed! His grandfather had not thought it worth while to
take those with him. There they were, rather ragged, it is true, but still,
they were clothes! There were three shirts, a few vests, an odd pair of
trousers, an overcoat, a pair of old shoes, and a ragged blanket!
Jack
grinned. He would take all these back with him. They might be useful when the
cold weather came. He thought the best way to take them back would be to wear
them all - so the boy put on all the vests, the shirts, the trousers, the
shoes, and the overcoat over his own clothes, and wrapped the blanket round
him, too! What a queer sight he looked!
Then
he went out to the garden and filled his many pockets with beans and peas and
new potatoes. After that he thought it was time to go back to Mike and the cow.
Mike would be tired of holding the animal by now!
So,
carrying the two dirty towels, Jack made his way slowly over the field to Mike.
“l
thought you were never coming!” said Mike, half-cross. “Whatever happened to
you? This cow is getting tired of standing here with me.”
“I
found a lot of my clothes,” said Jack, “and an old blanket and two towels. The
cow will soon get some exercise! Come on! You carry the towels and this
blanket, and I’ll take Daisy.”
They
went back over the fields and through the thick wood to the boat. The cow did
not like it when they came to the wood. She could not see where they were going
and she disliked being pulled through the close-set trees. She began to moo.
“Oh,
don’t do that!” said Jack, scared. “You will give us away, Daisy.”
“Moo-oo-oo!”
said Daisy sorrowfully, trying her hardest to stand still. But Jack and Mike
pulled her on.
It
was hard work getting her down to the boat. It took the boys at least two hours
before they were by the lake, panting and hot. Daisy had mooed dozens of times,
each time more loudly than before, and Jack was beginning to think that his
idea of taking her across to the island was not such a good one after all.
Suppose her mooing gave them away, and people came after them? Suppose she
mooed a great deal on the island? Whatever would they do?
Still,
they had at last got her to the boat. Jack persuaded the poor, frightened cow
to step into the water. She gave such a moo that she startled even the two
boys. But at last she was in the water. The boys got into the boat, and pushed
off. Jack had tied the cow’s rope to the stern of the boat. The boys bent to
their oars, and poor Daisy found that she was being pulled off her feet into
deeper water!
It
was a dreadful adventure for a cow who had never been out of her field before,
except to be milked in a nearby shed! She waggled her long legs about, and
began to swim in a queer sort of way, holding her big head high out of the
water. She was too frightened to moo.
Jack
lighted the lantern and fixed it to the front of the boat. It was very dark and
he wanted to see where he was going. Then off they rowed up the lake towards
the secret island, and Daisy the cow came after them, not able to help herself.
“Well,
my idea is working,” said Jack after a bit.
"Yes,”
said Mike, “but I’m jolly glad it’s only one cow we’re taking, not a whole
herd!”
They
said no more till they came in sight of the island, which loomed up near by,
black and solid. The girls had heard the splashing of the oars, and had come
down to the beach with a candle.
“Have
you got the cow, Jack?” they called.
“Yes,”
shouted back the boys. “She’s come along behind beautifully. But she doesn’t
like it, poor creature!”
They
pulled the boat up the beach and then dragged out the shivering, frightened
cow. Jack spoke to her kindly and she pressed against him in wonder and fear.
He was the one thing she knew, and she wanted to be close to him. Jack told
Mike to get a sack and help him to rub the cow down, for she was cold and wet.
“Where
shall we put her for to-night?” asked Mike.
“In
the hen-yard,” said Jack. “She’s used to hens and hens are used to her. There
is a lot of bracken and heather there and we can put some more armfuls in for
her to lie on. She will soon be warm and comfortable. She will like to hear the
clucking of the hens, too.”
So
Daisy was pushed into the hen-yard, and there she lay down on the warm heather,
comforted by the sound of the disturbed hens.
The
girls were so excited at seeing the cow. They asked the boys over and over
again all about their adventure till Mike and Jack were tired of telling it.
“Jack!
You do look awfully fat to-night!” said Nora suddenly, swinging the lantern so
that its light fell on Jack. The others looked at him in surprise. Yes, he did
look enormous!
“Have
you swollen up, or something?” asked Peggy anxiously. Jack laughed loudly.
“No!”
he said, “I found some clothes of mine in a box and brought them along. As the
easiest way to carry them was to wear them, I put them on. That’s why I look so
fat!”
It
took him a long time to take all the clothes off, because they were all
laughing so much. Peggy looked at the holes in them and was glad she had brought
her work-basket along. She could mend them nicely! The blanket, too, would be
useful on a cold night.
“What’s
that funny light in the sky over there?" said Nora, suddenly, pointing
towards the east. “Look!”
“You
silly! It’s the dawn coming!” said Jack. “It must be nearly daylight! Come on,
we really must go to sleep. What a night we’ve had!”
“Moooo-oo!”
said Daisy, from the hen-yard, and the children laughed.
“Daisy
thinks so, too!” cried Peggy.
A
Lazy Day - With a Horrid Ending
The
next morning the children slept very late indeed. The sun was high in the sky
before anyone stirred, and even then they might not have awakened if Daisy the
cow hadn’t decided that it was more than time for her to be milked. She stood
in the hen-yard and bellowed for all she was worth.
Jack
sat up, his heart thumping loudly. Whatever was that awful noise? Of course -
it was Daisy! She wanted to be milked!
“Hi,
you others!” he shouted. “Wake up! It must be about nine o’clock! Look at the
sun, it’s very high! And Daisy wants to be milked!”
Mike
grunted and opened his eyes. He felt very sleepy after his late night. The
girls sat up and rubbed their eyes. Daisy bellowed again, and the hens clucked
in fright.
“Our
farmyard wants its breakfast,” grinned Jack. “Come on, lazy-bones, come and
help. We’ll have to see to them before we get our own meal.”
They
scrambled up. They were so very sleepy that they simply had to run down to the
lake and dip their heads into the water before they could do anything!
Then
they all went to gloat over their cow. How pretty she was in her brown and
white coat! How soft and brown her eyes were! A cow of their own! How lovely!
“And
what a voice she has!” said Jack, as the cow mooed again. “I must milk her.”
“But
I say - we haven’t a pail!” said Mike.
The
children stared at one another in dismay. It was true - they had no pail.
“Well,
we must use the saucepans,” said Jack firmly. “And we can all do with a cup or
two of milk to start the day. I’ll use the biggest saucepan, and when it’s full
I’ll have to pour it into the bowls and jugs we’ve got - and the kettle, too.
We must certainly get a pail. What a pity I didn’t think of it last night!”
There
was more than enough milk to fill every bowl and jug and saucepan. The children
drank cupful after cupful. It was lovely to have milk after drinking nothing
but tea and cocoa made with water. They could not have enough of it!
“I
say! Daisy has trodden on a hen’s egg and smashed it,” said Nora, looking into
the hen-yard. “What a pity!”
“Never
mind,” said Jack. “We won’t keep her here after to-day. She shall go and live
on that nice grassy piece, the other side of the island. Nora, feed the hens.
They are clucking as if they’d never stop. They are hungry.”
Nora
fed them. Then they all sat down to their breakfast of boiled eggs and creamy
milk. Daisy the cow looked at them as they ate, and mooed softly. She was
hungry, too.
Jack
and Mike took her to the other side of the island after they had finished their
meal. She was delighted to see the juicy green grass there and set to work at
once, pulling mouthfuls of it as she wandered over the field.
“She
can’t get off the island, so we don’t need to fence her in,” said Jack. “We
must milk her twice a day, Mike. We must certainly get a pail from somewhere.”
“There’s
an old milking-pail in the barn at Aunt Harriet’s farm,” said Peggy. “I’ve seen
it hanging there often.”
“Has
it got a hole in it?” asked Jack. “If it has it’s no use to us. We’ll have to
stand our milk in it all day and we don’t want it to leak away.”
“No,
it doesn’t leak,” said Peggy. “I filled it with water one day to take to the
hens. It’s only just a very old one not used now.”
“I’ll
go and get it to-night,” said Mike.
“No,
I’ll go,” said Jack. “You might be caught.”
"Well,
so might you,” said Mike. “We’ll go together.”
“Can’t
we come, too?” asked the girls.
"Certainly
not,” said Jack, at once. “There’s no use the whole lot of us running into
danger.”
“How
shall we keep the milk cool?” wondered Peggy. “It’s jolly hot on this island.”
“I’ll
make a little round place to fit the milk-pail into, just by one of the
springs,” said Jack, at once. “Then, with the cool spring water running round
the milk-pail all day, the milk will keep beautifully fresh and cool.”
“How
clever you are, Jack!” said Nora.
“No,
I’m not,” said Jack. “It’s just common sense, that’s all. Anyone can think of
things like that.”
“I
do feel tired and stiff to-day,” said Mike, stretching out his arms. “It was
pretty hard work pulling old Daisy along last night!”
“We’d
better have a restful day,” said Jack, who was also feeling tired. “For once in
a way we won’t do anything. We’ll just lie about and read and talk.”
The
children had a lovely day. They bathed three times, for it was very hot. Nora
washed the two big roller towels in the lake, and made them clean. They soon
dried in the hot sun, and then the two boys took one for themselves and the two
girls had the other. How nice it was to dry themselves on towels instead of on
rough sacks!
“Fish
for dinner,” said Jack, going down to look at his lines.
“And
custard!” said Nora, who had been doing some cooking with eggs and milk.
“Well,
I feel just as hungry as if I’d been hard at work building all morning!” said
Mike.
The
afternoon passed by lazily. The boys slept. Nora read a book. Peggy got out her
work-basket and began on the long, long task of mending up the old clothes Jack
had brought back the night before. She thought they would be very useful indeed
when the cold weather came. She wished she and Nora and Mike could get some of
their clothes, too.
The
hens clucked in the hen-yard. Daisy the cow mooed once or twice, feeling rather
strange and lonely - but she seemed to be settling down very well.
“I
hope she won’t moo too much,” thought Peggy, her needle flying in and out
busily. “She might give us away with her mooing if anyone came up the lake in a
boat. But thank goodness no one ever does'”
Everyone
felt very fresh after their rest. They decided to have a walk round the island.
Nora fed the hens and then they set off.
It
was a fine little island. Trees grew thickly down to the water-side all round.
The steep hill that rose in the middle was a warm, sunny place, covered with
rabbit runs and burrows. The grassy piece beyond the hill was full of little wild
flowers, and birds sang in the bushes around. The children peeped into the dark
caves that ran into the hillside, but did not feel like exploring them just
then, for they had no candles with them.
“I’ll
take you to the place where wild raspberries grow,” said Jack. He led them
round the hill to the west side, and there, in the blazing sun, the children
saw scores of raspberry canes, tangled and thick.
“Jack!
There are some getting ripe already!” cried Nora, in delight. She pointed to
where spots of bright red dotted the canes. The children squeezed their way
through and began to pick the raspberries. How sweet and juicy they were!
“We’ll
have some of these with cream each day,” said Peggy. “I can skim the cream off
the cow’s milk, and we will have raspberries and cream for suppers. Oooh!”
“Oooh!”
said everyone, eating as fast as they could.
“Are
there any wild strawberries on the island, too?” asked Nora.
“Yes,”
said Jack, “but they don’t come till later. “We’ll look for those in August and
September.”
“I
do think this is a lovely island,” said Peggy happily. “We’ve a splendid house
of our own - hens - a cow, wild fruit growing - fresh water each day!”
“It’s
all right now it’s warm weather,” said Jack. “It won’t be quite so glorious
when the cold winds begin to blow! But winter is a long way off yet.”
They
climbed up the west side of the hill, which was very rocky. They came to a big
rock right on the very top, and sat there. The rock was so warm that it almost
burnt them. From far down below the blue spire of smoke rose up from their
fire.
“Let’s
play a game,” said Jack. “Let’s play...”
But
what game Jack wanted the others never knew - for Jack suddenly stopped, sat up
very straight, and stared fixedly down the blue, sparkling lake. The others sat
up and stared, too. And what they saw gave them a dreadful shock!
“Some
people in a boat!” said Jack. “Do you see them? Away down there!”
“Yes,”
said Mike, going pale. “Are they after us, do you think?”
“No,”
said Jack, after a while. “I think I can hear a gramophone - and if it was
anyone after us they surely wouldn’t bring that! They are probably just
trippers, from the village at the other end of the lake.”
“Do
you think they’ll come to the island?” asked Peggy.
“I
don’t know,” said Jack. “They may - but anyway it would only be for a little
while. If we can hide all traces of our being here they won’t know a thing
about us.”
“Come
on, then,” said Mike, slipping off the rock. “We’d better hurry. It won’t be
long before they’re here.”
The
children hurried down to the beach. Jack and Mike stamped out the fire, and
carried the charred wood to the bushes. They scattered clean sand over the
place where they had the fire. They picked up all their belongings and hid
them.
“I
don’t think anyone would find Willow House,” said Jack. “The trees really are
too thick all round it for any tripper to bother to squeeze through.”
“What
about the hens?” said Peggy.
“We’ll
catch them and pop them into a sack just for now,” said Jack. “The hen-yard
will have to stay. I don’t think anyone will find it - it’s well hidden. But we
certainly couldn’t have the hens clucking away there!”
“And
Daisy the cow?” said Peggy, looking worried.
“We’ll
watch and see which side of the island the trippers come,” said Jack. “As far
as I know, there is only one landing-place, and that is our beach. As Daisy is
right on the other side of the island, they are not likely to see her unless
they go exploring. And let’s hope they don’t do that!”
“Where
shall we hide?” said Nora.
“We’ll
keep a look-out from the hill, hidden in the bracken,” said Jack. “If the
trippers begin to wander about, we must just creep about in the bracken and
trust to luck they won’t see us. There’s one thing - they won’t be looking for
us, if they are trippers. They won’t guess there is anyone else here at all!”
“Will
they find the things in the cave-larder?” asked Nora, helping to catch the
squawking hens.
“Peggy,
get some heather and bracken and stuff up the opening to the cave-larder,” said
Jack. Peggy ran off at once. Jack put the hens gently into the sack one by one
and ran up the hill with them. He went to the other side of the hill and came
to one of the caves he knew. He called to Nora, who was just behind him.
“Nora!
Sit at the little opening here and see that the hens don’t get out! I’m going
to empty them out of the sack into the cave!”
With
much squawking and scuffing and clucking the scared hens hopped out of the sack
and ran into the little cave. Nora sat down at the entrance, hidden by the
bracken that grew there. No hen could get out whilst she was there.
“The
boat is going round the island,” whispered Jack as he parted the bracken at the
top of the hill and looked down to the lake below. “They can’t find a place to
land. They’re going round to our little beach! Well - Daisy the cow is safe, if
they don’t go exploring! Hope she doesn’t moo!”
The
Trippers Come to the Island
Nora
sat crouched against the entrance of the little cave. She could hear the six
hens inside, clucking softly as they scratched about. Jack knelt near her,
peering through the bracken, trying to see what the boat was doing.
“Mike
has rowed our own boat to where the brambles fall over the water, and has
pushed it under them,” said Jack, in a low voice. “I don’t know where he is
now. I can’t see him.”
“Where’s
Peggy?” whispered Nora.
“Here
I am,” said a low voice, and Peggy’s head popped above the bracken a little way
down the hill. “I say - isn’t this horrid? I do wish those people would go
away.”
The
sound of voices came up the hillside from the lake below.
“Here’s
a fine landing-place!” said one voice.
“They’ve
found our beach,” whispered Jack.
“Pull
the boat in,” said a woman’s voice. “We’ll have our supper here. It’s lovely!”
There
was the sound of a boat being pulled a little way up the beach. Then the
trippers got out.
“I’ll
bring the gramophone,” said someone. “You bring the supper things, Eddie.”
“Do
you suppose anyone has ever been on this little island before?” said a man’s
voice.
“No!”
said someone else. “The countryside round about is quite deserted - no one ever
comes here, I should think.”
The
three children crouched down in the bracken and listened. The trippers were
setting out their supper. One of the hens in the cave began to cluck loudly.
Nora thought it must have laid an egg.
“Do
you hear that noise?” said one of the trippers. “Sounds like a hen to me!”
“Don’t
be silly, Eddie,” said a woman’s voice scornfully. “How could a hen be on an
island like this i That must have been a blackbird or something.”
Jack
giggled. It seemed very funny to him that a hen’s cluck should be thought like
a blackbird’s clear song.
"Pass
the salt,” said someone. “Thanks. I say! Isn’t this a fine little island! Sort
of secret and mysterious. What about exploring it after supper?”
“That’s
a good idea,” said Eddie’s voice. “We will!”
The
children looked at one another in dismay. Just the one thing they had hoped the
trippers wouldn’t do!
“Where’s
Mike, do you suppose?” said Peggy, in a low voice. “Do you think he’s hiding in
our boat?”
“I
expect so,” whispered Jack. “Don’t worry about him. He can look after himself
all right.”
“Oh,
my goodness! There’s Daisy beginning to moo!” groaned Peggy, as a dismal moo
reached her ears. “She knows it is time she was milked.”
“And
just wouldn’t I like a cup of milk!” said Jack, who was feeling very thirsty.
“Can
you hear that cow mooing somewhere?” said one of the trippers, in surprise.
“I
expect it’s a cow in a field on the mainland,” said another lazily. “You don’t
suppose there is a cow wandering loose on this tiny island, do you, Eddie?”
“Well,
I don’t know,” said Eddie, in a puzzled voice. “Look over there. Doesn’t that
look like a footprint in the sand to you?”
The
children held their breath. Could it be true that they had left a footprint on
the sand?
“And
see here,” went on the tripper, holding up something. “Here’s a piece of string
I found on this beach. String doesn’t grow, you know.”
“You
are making a great mystery about nothing,” said one of the women crossly. “Other
trippers have been here, that’s all.”
“Perhaps
you are right,” said Eddie. “But all the same, I’m going to explore the island
after supper!”
“Oh,
put on the gramophone, Eddie.” said someone. “I’m tired of hearing you talk so
much.”
Soon
the gramophone blared through the air, and the children were glad, for they
knew it would drown any sound of Daisy’s mooing or the hens’ clucking. They sat
in the bracken, looking scared and miserable. They did not like anyone else
sharing their secret island. And what would happen if the trippers did explore
the island and found the children?
Nora
began to cry softly. Tears ran down her cheeks and fell on her hands. Jack
looked at her and then crept silently up. He slipped his arm round her.
“Don’t
cry, Nora,” he said. “Perhaps they won’t have time to explore. It is getting a
bit dark now. Do you see that big black cloud coming up? It will make the night
come quickly, and perhaps the trippers will think there’s a storm coming and
row off.”
Nora
dried her eyes and looked up. There certainly was a big black cloud.
“It
looks like a thunderstorm,” said Peggy, creeping up to join them.
“Oooh!”
said Nora suddenly, almost squealing out loud. “Look! Someone’s coming up the
hill! I can see the bracken moving! It must be one of the trippers creeping up
to find us!”
The
children went pale. They looked to where Nora pointed - and sure enough they
could see first one frond of bracken moving, and then another and another.
Someone was certainly creeping up the hill hidden under the fronds.
Nora
clutched hold of Jack. “Don’t make a sound,” he whispered. “No one can possibly
know we’re here. Keep quiet, Nora. We’ll slip inside the cave if he comes much
nearer.”
They
sat silently watching the swaying of the tall bracken as the newcomer crept
through it. It was a horrid moment. Was someone going to spring out on them?
“Get
inside the cave, you two girls,” whispered Jack. “I think you’ll be safe there.
I’m going to slip round the hill and come up behind this person, whoever he
is.”
The
girls crept just inside the cave and parted the bracken that grew around it to
see what Jack was going to do. He was just slipping away when the person
creeping up the hillside stopped his crawling. The bracken kept still. This was
worse than seeing it move! Oh dear!
Then
a head popped out of the bracken, and Nora gave a loud squeal.
“Mike!”
she said. "Mike!”
“Sh,
you silly chump!” hissed Peggy, shaking her. “You’ll be heard by the trippers!”
Fortunately
the gramophone was going loudly, so Nora’s squeal was not heard. The three
children stared in delight at Mike. It was he who had been creeping up through
the bracken after all! What a relief! He grinned at them and put his head down
again. Once more the bracken fronds began to move slightly as Mike made his way
through them up to the cave.
“Oh,
Mike,” said Nora, when he came up to them. “You did give us such a fright. We
thought you were a tripper coming after us!”
“I
got a good view of them,” said Mike, sitting down beside the others. “There are
three men and two women. They are tucking into an enormous supper.”
“Do
you think they’ll explore the island as they said?” asked Peggy anxiously.
“Perhaps
this thunderstorm will put them off,” said Mike, looking up at the black sky.
“My word, it’s brought the bats out early! Look at them!”
Certainly
the little black bats were out in their hundreds. The hot, thundery evening had
brought out thousands of insects, and the bats were having a great feast,
catching the flies and beetles that flew through the air.
It
was the bats that sent the trippers away. One of the women caught sight of two
or three bats darting round under the trees, and she gave a shriek.
“Ooh!
Bats! Ooh! I can’t bear bats! I’m frightened of them. Let’s pack up and go
quickly!”
“I
can’t bear bats either!” squealed the other woman. “Horrid little creatures!”
“They
won’t hurt you,” said a man’s voice. “Don’t be silly.”
“I
can’t help it; I’m frightened of them,” said a woman. “I’m going!”
“But
I wanted to explore the island,” said Eddie.
“Well,
you’ll have to explore it another day,” said the woman. “Just look at the sky,
too - there’s going to be a dreadful storm.”
“All
right, all right,” said Eddie, in a sulky voice. “We’ll go. Fancy being
frightened of a few bats!”
The
children on the hillside stared at one another in delight. The trippers were
really going. And no one had discovered them. Goody, goody!
“Good
old bats!” whispered Jack. “Would you think anyone would be scared of those
little flitter-mice, Nora?”
“Aunt
Harriet was,” said Nora. “I don’t know why. I think they are dear little
creatures, with their funny black wings. Anyway, I shall always feel friendly
towards them now. They have saved us from being found!”
Daisy
the cow mooed loudly. Jack frowned. “If only we had milked Daisy before the
trippers came!” he said.
“Did
you hear that?” said one of the trippers. “That was thunder in the distance!”
The
four children giggled. Nora rolled over and stuffed her hands into her mouth to
stop laughing loudly.
“Good
old Daisy!” whispered Mike. “She’s pretending to be a thunderstorm now, to
frighten them away!”
Nora
gave a squeal of laughter, and Jack punched her. “Be quiet,” he said. “Do you
want us to be discovered just when everything is going so nicely?”
The
trippers were getting into their boat. They pushed off. The children heard the
sound of oars, and peeped out. They could see the boat, far down below, being
rowed out on to the lake. A big wind sprang up and ruffled the water. The boat
rocked to and fro.
“Hurry!”
cried a woman’s voice. “We shall get caught in the storm. Oh! Oh! There’s one
of those horrid bats again! I’ll never come to this nasty island any more!”
“I
jolly well hope you won’t!” said Jack, pretending to wave good-bye.
The
children watched the boat being rowed down the lake. The voices of the people
came more and more faintly on the breeze. The last they heard was the
gramophone being played once again. Then they saw and heard no more. The
trippers were gone.
“Come
on,” said Jack, standing up and stretching himself. “We’ve had a very narrow
escape - but, thank goodness, no one saw us or our belongings.”
“Except
that footprint and a bit of string,” said Mike.
“Yes,”
said Jack, thoughtfully. “I hope that man called Eddie doesn’t read anywhere
about four runaway children and think we might be here because of what he heard
and found. We must be prepared for that, you know. We must make some plans to
prevent being found if anyone comes again to look for us.”
A
distant rumble of thunder was heard. Jack turned to the others. “Not Daisy
mooing this time!” he grinned. “Come on, there’s a storm coming. We’ve plenty
to do. I’ll go and get Daisy, to milk her. Nora and Mike, you catch the hens
and take them back to the hen-yard - and Mike, make some sort of shelter for them
with a couple of sacks over sticks, or something, so that they can hide there
if they are frightened. Peggy, see if you can light the fire before the rain
comes.”
“Ay,
ay, Captain!” shouted the children joyfully, full of delight to think they had
their island to themselves once more!
A
Stormy Night in Willow House
There
was certainly a thunderstorm coming. The sky was very black indeed, and it was
getting dark. Nora and Mike caught the six hens in the little cave, bundled
them gently into the sack, and raced off to the hen-yard with them. Mike stuck
two or three willow sticks into the ground at one end of the hen-yard and
draped the sack over them.
“There
yau are, henny-pennies!” said Nora. “There is a nice little shelter for you!”
Plop!
Plop! Plop! Enormous drops of rain fell down and the hens gave a frightened
squawk. They did not like the rain. They scuttled under the sack at once and
lay there quietly, giving each other little pecks now and again.
“Well,
that settles the hens,” said Mike. “l wonder how Peggy is getting on with the
fire.”
Peggy
was not getting on at all well. The rain was now coming down fast, and she
could not get the fire going. Jack arrived with Daisy the cow and shouted to
Peggy:
“Never
mind about the fire! Now that the rain’s coming down so fast you won’t be able
to light it. Get into Willow House, all of you, before you get too wet.”
“The
girls can go,” said Mike, running to help Jack. “I’ll get the things to help
you milk. My goodness - we haven’t drunk all the milk yet that Daisy gave us
this morning!”
“Put
it into a dish and pop it in the hen-yard,” said Jack. “Maybe the hens will
like it!”
In
the pouring rain Jack milked Daisy the cow. Soon all the saucepans and the
kettle and bowls were full! Really, thought Jack, he simply must get that old
milking-pail that the girls had told him of at their Aunt’s farm. It was such a
tiring business milking a cow like this.
When
the milking was finished, Jack took Daisy back to her grassy field on the other
side of the island. Mike went to Willow House where the two girls were. It was
dark there, and the sound of rain drip-drip-drip-ping from the trees all around
sounded rather miserable.
Mike
and the two girls sat in the front part of Willow House and waited for Jack.
Mike was very wet, and he shivered.
“Poor
old Jack will be wet through, too,” he said. “Feel this milk, girls. It’s as
warm as can be. Let’s drink some and it will warm us up. We can’t boil any, for
we haven’t a fire.”
Jack
came to Willow House dripping wet. But he was grinning away as usual. Nothing
ever seemed to upset Jack.
“Hallo,
hallo!” he said. “I’m as wet as a fish! Peggy, where did we put those clothes
of mine that I brought to the island last night?”
“Oh
yes!” cried Peggy, in delight. “Of course! You and Mike can change into those.”
“Well,
I don’t know about that,” said Mike. “Jack only brought three old vests, a
shirt or two, and an overcoat.”
“Well,
we can wear a vest each, and a shirt, and I’ll wear the overcoat, and you can
wrap the old blanket I brought all round you!” said Jack.
The
boys took off their wet clothes and changed into the dry ones. “I’ll hang your
wet ones out to dry as soon as the rain stops,” said Peggy, squeezing the rain
out of them.
“I
can’t see a thing here,” said Mike, buttoning up his shirt all wrong.
“Well,
light the lantern, silly,” said Jack. “What do you suppose the candles are for?
Nora, find the lantern and light it. It may want a new candle inside. You know
where you put the candles, don’t you? Over in that corner somewhere.”
Nora
found the lantern. It did want a new candle inside. She found a box of matches
and lighted the candle. Mike hung the lantern up on a nail he had put in the
roof. It swung there, giving a dim but cheerful light to the little party
huddled inside Willow House.
“This
really feels like a house now,” said Nora, pleased. “I do like it. It’s very
cosy. Not a drop of rain is coming through our roof or the walls.”
“And
not a scrap of wind!” said Jack. “That shows how well we packed the walls with
heather and bracken. Listen to the wind howling outside! We shouldn’t like to
be out in that! What a good thing we’ve got Willow House to live in! Our
outdoor bedroom wouldn’t be at all comfortable to-night!”
The
thunderstorm broke overhead. The thunder crashed around as if someone were
moving heavy furniture up in the sky.
“Hallo!
Someone’s dropped a wardrobe, I should think!” said Jack, when an extra heavy
crash came!
“And
there goes a grand piano tumbling down the stairs!” said Mike, at another heavy
rumble. Everyone laughed. Really, the thunderstorm did sound exactly like
furniture being thrown about.
The
lightning flashed brightly, lighting up the inside of Willow House. Nora was
not sure that she liked it. She cuddled up to Mike. “I feel a bit frightened,”
she said.
“Don’t
be silly!” said Mike. “You’re as bad as those women trippers over the bats!
There’s nothing to be frightened of. A storm is a grand thing. We’re perfectly
safe here.”
“A
storm is just a bit of weather being noisy!” laughed Jack. “Cheer up, Nora.
We’re all right. You can think you’re lucky you’re not Daisy the cow. After
all, we do know that a storm is only a storm, but she doesn’t.”
Crash!
Rumble! Crash! The thunder roared away, and the children made a joke of it,
inventing all kinds of furniture tumbling about the sky, as each crash came.
The lightning flashed, and each time Jack said, “Thanks very much! The sky
keeps striking matches, and the wind keeps blowing them out!”
Even
Nora laughed, and soon she forgot to be frightened. The rain pelted down hard,
and the only thing that worried Jack was whether or not a rivulet of rain might
find its way into Willow House and run along the floor on which they were
sitting. But all was well. No rain came in at all.
Gradually
the storm died away, and only the pitter-patter of raindrops falling from the
trees could be heard, a singing, liquid sound. The thunder went farther and
farther away. The lightning flashed for the last time. The storm was over.
“Now
we’ll have something to eat and a cup of milk to drink, and off to bed we’ll
go,” said Jack. “We’ve had quite enough excitement for to-day! And Mike and I
were so late last night that I’m sure he’s dropping with sleep. I know I am.”
Peggy
got a small meal for them all, and they drank Daisy’s creamy milk. Then the
girls went into the back room of Willow House and snuggled down on the warm
heather there, and the boys lay down in the front room. In half a minute
everyone was asleep!
Again
Daisy the cow awoke them with her mooing. It was strange to wake up in Willow
House instead of in their outdoor sleeping-place among the gorse, with the sky
above them. The children blinked up at their green roof, for leaves were
growing from the willow branches that were interlaced for a ceiling. It was dim
inside Willow House. The door was shut, and there were no windows. Jack had
thought it would be too difficult to make windows, and they might let in the
wind and the rain too much. So Willow House was rather dark and a bit stuffy
when the door was shut - but nobody minded that ! It really made it all the
more exciting!
The
children ran out of Willow House and looked around - all except Nora. She lay
lazily on her back, looking up at the green ceiling, thinking how soft the
heather was and how nice Willow House smelt. She was always the last out of
bed!
“Nora,
you won’t have time for a dip before breakfast if you don’t come now,” shouted
Peggy. So Nora ran out, too. What a lovely morning it was! The thunderstorm had
cleared away and left the world looking clean and newly washed. Even the pure
blue sky seemed washed, too.
The
lake was as blue as the sky. The trees still dripped a little with the heavy
rain of the night before, and the grass and heather were damp to the foot.
“The
world looks quite new,” said Mike. “Just as if it had been made this very
morning! Come on - let’s have our dip!”
Splash!
Into the lake they went. Mike and Jack could both swim. Jack swam like a fish.
Peggy could swim a little way, and Nora hardly at all. Jack was teaching her,
but she was a bit of a baby and would not get her feet off the sandy bed of the
lake.
Peggy
was first out of the water and went to get the breakfast - but when she looked
round their little beach, she stood still in disgust!
“Look
here, boys!” she cried. “Look, Nora! How those trippers have spoilt our beach!”
They
all ran out of the cold water, and, rubbing themselves down with their two
towels, they stared round at their little beach, which was always such a
beautiful place, clean and shining with its silvery sand.
But
now, what a difference! Orange-peel lay everywhere. Banana skins, brown,
slippery, and soaked with rain, lay where they had been thrown. A tin that had
once had canned pears in, and two cardboard cartons that had been full of
cream, rolled about on the sand, empty. A newspaper, pulled into many pieces by
the wind, blew here and there. An empty cigarette packet joined the mess.
The
children felt really angry. The little beach was theirs and they loved it. They
had been careful to keep it clean, tidy, and lovely, and had always put
everything away after a meal. Now some horrid trippers had come there just for
one meal and had left it looking like a rubbish-heap!
“And
they were grown-up people, too!” said Jack, in disgust. “They ought to have
known better. Why couldn’t they take their rubbish away with them?”
“People
that leave rubbish about in beautiful places like this are just rubbishy people
themselves!” cried Peggy fiercely, almost in tears. “Nice people never do it.
I’d like to put those people into a big dust-bin with all their horrid rubbish
on top of them - and wouldn’t I bang on the lid, too!”
The
others laughed. It sounded so funny. But they were all angry about their beach
being spoilt.
“I’ll
clear up the mess and burn it,” said Mike.
“Wait
a minute!” said Jack. “We might find some of the things useful.”
“What!
Old banana skins and orange-peel!” cried Mike. “You’re not thinking of making a
pudding or something of them, Jack!”
“No,”
said Jack, with a grin, “but if we keep the tin and a carton and the empty
cigarette packet in our cave-cupboard, we might put them out on the beach if
anyone else ever comes - and then, if they happen to find the remains of our
fire, or a bit of string or anything like that - why, they won’t think of
looking for us - they’ll just think trippers have been here!”
“Good
idea, Jack!” cried everyone.
“You
really are good at thinking out clever things,” said Peggy, busy getting the
fire going. Its crackling sounded very cheerful, for they were all hungry.
Peggy put some milk on to boil. She meant to make cocoa for them all to drink.
Mike
picked up the cigarette packet, the tin, and one of the cardboard cartons. He
washed the carton and the tin in the lake, and then went to put the three
things away in their little cave-cupboard. They might certainly come in useful
some day!
Nora
brought in five eggs for breakfast. Peggy fried them with two trout that Jack
had caught on his useful lines. The smell was delicious!
“I
say! Poor old Daisy must be milked!” said Jack, gobbling down his breakfast and
drinking his hot cocoa.
Suddenly
Nora gave a squeal and pointed behind him. Jack turned - and to his great
astonishment he saw the cow walking towards him!
“You
wouldn’t go to milk her in time so she has come to you!” laughed Peggy. “Good
old Daisy! Fancy her knowing the way!”
Nora
Gets into Trouble
There
seemed quite a lot of jobs always waiting to be done each day on the island.
Daisy had to be milked. The hens had to be seen to. The fishing-lines had to be
baited and looked at two or three times a day. The fire had to be kept going.
Meals had to be prepared and dishes washed up. Willow House had to be tidied up
each day, for it was surprising how untidy it got when the four children were
in it even for an hour.
“I’ll
milk Daisy each morning and Mike can milk her in the evenings,” said Jack, as
they sat eating their breakfast that morning. “Nora, you can look after the
hens. It won’t only be your job to feed them and give them water and collect
the eggs, but you’ll have to watch the fence round the hen-yard carefully to
see that the hens don’t peck out the heather we’ve stuffed into the fence to
stop up the holes. We don’t want to lose our hens!”
“What
is Peggy going to do?” asked Nora.
“Peggy
had better do the odd jobs,” said Jack. “She can look after the fire, think of
meals and tidy up. I’ll see to my fishing-lines. And every now and again one or
other of us had better go to the top of the hill to see if any more trippers
are coming. Our plans worked quite well last time - but we were lucky enough to
spot the boat coming. If we hadn’t seen it when we did, we would have been
properly caught!”
“I’d
better go and get the boat out from where I hid it under the overhanging
bushes, hadn’t I?” said Mike, finishing his cocoa.
“No,”
said Jack. “It would be a good thing to keep it always hidden there except when
we need it. Now I’m off to milk Daisy!”
He
went off, and the children heard the welcome sound of the creamy milk splashing
into a saucepan, for they still had no milking-pail. Mike and Jack were
determined to get one that night! It was so awkward to keep milking a cow into
saucepans and kettles!
Peggy
began to clear away and wash up the dishes. Nora wanted to help her, but Peggy
said she had better go and feed the hens. So off she went, making the little
clucking noise that the hens knew. They came rushing to her as she climbed over
the fence of their little yard.
Nora
scattered the seed for them, and they gobbled it up, scratching hard with their
strong clawed feet to find any they had missed. Nora gave them some water, too.
Then she took a look round the fence to see that it was all right.
It
seemed all right. The little girl didn’t bother to look very hard, because she
wanted to go off to the raspberry patch up on the hillside and see if there
were any more wild raspberries ripe. If she had looked carefully, as she should
have done, she would have noticed quite a big hole in the fence, where one of
the hens had been pecking out the bracken and heather. But she didn’t notice.
She picked up a basket Peggy had made of thin twigs, and set off.
“Are
you going to find raspberries, Nora?” called Peggy.
“Yes!”
shouted Nora.
“Well,
bring back as many as you can, and we’ll have them for pudding at dinner-time
with cream!” shouted Peggy. “Don’t eat them all yourself!”
“Come
with me and help me!” cried Nora, not too pleased at the thought of having to
pick raspberries for everyone.
“I’ve
got to get some water from the spring,” called back Peggy; “and I want to do
some mending.”
So
Nora went alone. She found a patch of raspberries she hadn’t seen yesterday,
and there were a great many ripe. The little girl ate dozens and then began to
fill her basket with the sweet juicy fruit. She heard Jack taking Daisy the cow
back to her grassy field on the other side of the island. She heard Mike
whistling as he cut some willow stakes down in the thicket, ready for use if
they were wanted. Everyone was busy and happy.
Nora
sat down in the sun and leaned against a warm rock that jutted out from the
hillside. She felt very happy indeed. The lake was as blue as a forget-me-not
down below her. Nora lazed there in the sun until she heard Mike calling:
“Nora!
Nora! Wherever are you! You’ve been hours!”
“Coming!”
cried Nora, and she made her way through the raspberry canes, round the side of
the hill through the heather and bracken, and down to the beach, where all the
others were. Peggy had got the fire going well, and was cooking a rabbit that
Jack had produced.
“Where
are the raspberries?” asked Jack. “Oh, you’ve got a basketful! Good! Go and
skim the cream off the milk in that bowl over there, Nora. Put it into a jug
and bring it back. There will be plenty for all of us.”
Soon
they were eating their dinner. Peggy was certainly a good little cook. But
nicest of all were the sweet juicy raspberries with thick yellow cream poured
all over them. How the children did enjoy them!
“The
hens are very quiet to-day,” said Jack, finishing up the last of his cream. “I
haven’t heard a single cluck since we’ve been having dinner!”
“I
suppose they’re all right?” said Peggy.
“I’ll
go and have a look,” said Mike. He put down his plate and went to the hen-yard.
He looked here - and he looked there - he lifted up the sack that was stretched
over one corner of the yard for shelter - but no hens were there!
“Are
they all right?” called Jack.
Mike
turned in dismay. “No!” he said. “They’re not here! They’ve gone!”
“Gone!”
cried Jack, springing up in astonishment. “They can’t have gone! They must be
there!”
“Well,
they’re not,” said Mike. “They’ve completely vanished! Not even a cluck left!”
All
the children ran to the hen-yard and gazed in amazement and fright at the empty
space.
“Do
you suppose someone has been here and taken them?” said Peggy.
“No,”
said Jack sternly, “look here! This explains their disappearance!”
He
pointed to a hole in the fence of the hen-yard. “See that hole! They’ve all
escaped through there - and now goodness knows where they are!”
“Well,
I never heard them go,” said Peggy. “I was the only one left here. They must
have gone when I went to get water from the spring!”
“Then
the hole must have been there when Nora fed the hens this morning,” said Jack.
“Nora, what do you mean by doing your job as badly as that? Didn’t I tell you
this morning that you were to look carefully round the fence each time the hens
were fed to make sure it was safe? And now, the very first time, you let the
hens escape! I’m ashamed of you!”
“Our
precious hens!” said Peggy, in dismay.
“You
might do your bit, Nora,” said Mike. “It’s too bad of you.”
Nora
began to cry, but the others had no sympathy for her. It was too big a
disappointment to lose their hens. They began to hunt round to see if by chance
the hens were hidden anywhere near.
Nora
cried more and more loudly, till Jack got really angry with her. “Stop that
silly baby noise!” he said. “Can’t you help to look for the hens, too?”
“You’re
not to talk to me like that!” wept Nora.
“I
shall talk to you how I like,” said Jack. “I’m the captain here, and you’ve got
to do as you’re told. If one of us is careless we all suffer, and I won’t have
that! Stop crying, I tell you, and help to look for the hens.”
Nora
started to hunt, but she didn’t stop crying. She felt so unhappy and ashamed
and sad, and it was really dreadful to have all the others angry with her, and
not speaking a word to her. Nora could hardly see to hunt for the hens.
“Well,
they are nowhere about here!” said Jack, at last. “We’d better spread out and
see if we can find them on the island somewhere. They may have wandered right
to the other side. We’ll all separate and hunt in different places. Peggy, you
go that way, and I’ll go over to Daisy’s part.”
The
children separated and went different ways, calling to the hens loudly. Nora
went where Jack had pointed. She called to the hens, too, but none came in
answer. Wherever could they be?
What
a hunt there was that afternoon for those vanished hens! It was really
astonishing that not one could be found. Jack couldn’t understand it! They were
nowhere on the hill. They were not even in the little cave where Jack had
hidden them the day before, because he looked. They were not among the
raspberry canes. They were not in Daisy’s field. They were not under the
hedges. They were not anywhere at all, it seemed!
Nora
grew more and more unhappy as the day passed. She felt that she really couldn’t
face the others if the hens were not found. She made a hidey-hole in the tall
bracken and crouched there, watching the others returning to the camp for
supper. They had had no tea and were hungry and thirsty. So was Nora - but
nothing would make her go and join the others!
No
- she would rather stay where she was, all alone, than sit down with Mike,
Jack, and Peggy while they were still so cross and upset.
“Well,
the hens are gone!” said Mike, as he joined Jack going down the hill to the
beach.
“It’s
strange,” said Jack. “They can’t have flown off the island, surely!”
“It’s
dreadful, I think,” said Peggy; “we did find their eggs so useful to eat.”
Nora
sat alone in the bracken. She meant to sleep there for the night. She thought
she would never, never be happy again.
The
others sat down by the fire, whilst Peggy made some cocoa, and doled out a rice
pudding she had made. They wondered where Nora was.
“She’ll
be along soon, I expect,” said Peggy.
They
ate their meal in silence - and then - then - oh, what a lovely sound came to
their ears! Yes, it was “cluck, cluck, cluck!” And walking sedately down to the
beach came all six hens! The children stared and stared and stared!
“Where
have you been, you scamps?” cried Jack. “We’ve looked for you everywhere!”
“Cluckluck,
cluckluck!” said the hens.
“You
knew it was your meal-time, so you’ve come for it!” said Jack. “I say, you
others! I wonder if we could let the hens go loose each day - oh no - we
couldn’t - they’d lay their eggs away and we’d never be able to find them!”
“I’ll
feed them,” said Peggy. She threw them some corn and they pecked it up eagerly.
Then they let Mike and Jack lift them into their mended yard and they settled
down happily, roosting on the perch made for them at one end.
“We’d
better tell Nora,” said Jack. So they went up the hillside calling Nora. “Nora!
Nora! Where are you?”
But
Nora didn’t answer! She crouched lower in the bracken and hoped no one would
find her. But Jack came upon her suddenly and shouted cheerfully, “Oh, there
you are! The hens have all come back, Nora! They knew it was their meal-time,
you see! Come and have your supper. We kept some for you.”
Nora
went with him to the beach. Peggy kissed her and said, “Now don’t worry any
more. It’s all right. We’ve got all the hens safely again.”
“Had
I better see to the hens each day, do you think, instead of Nora?” Mike asked
Jack. But Jack shook his head.
“No,”
he said. “That’s Nora’s job - and you’ll see, she’ll do it spendidly now, won’t
you, Nora?”
“Yes,
I will, Jack,” said Nora, eating her rice pudding, and feeling much happier. “I
do promise I will! I’m so sorry I was careless.”
“That’s
all right,” said the other three together - and it was all right, for they were
all kind-hearted and fond of one another.
“But
what I’d like to know,” said Peggy, as she and Nora washed the dirty things,
“is where did those hens manage to hide themselves so cleverly?”
The
children soon knew - for when, in a little while, Mike went to fetch something
from Willow House he saw three shining eggs in the heather there! He picked
them up and ran back to the others.
“Those
cunning hens walked into Willow House and hid there!” he cried, holding up the
eggs.
“Well,
well, well!” said Jack, in surprise. “And to think how we hunted all over the
island - and those rascally hens were near by all the time!”
The
Caves in the Hillside
The
days slipped past, and the children grew used to their happy, carefree life on
the island. Jack and Mike went off in the boat one night and fetched the old
milking-pail from Aunt Harriet’s farm, and a load of vegetables from the
garden. The plums were ripening, too, and the boys brought back as many as
would fill the milking-pail! How pleased the girls were to see them!
Now
it was easy to milk Daisy, for they had a proper pail. Peggy cleaned it well
before they used it, for it was dusty and dirty. When Jack or Mike had milked
Daisy they stood the pail of milk in the middle of the little spring that
gushed out from the hillside and ran down to the lake below. The icy-cold water
kept the milk cool, and it did not turn sour, even on the hottest day.
Jack
got out the packets of seeds he had brought from his grandfather’s farm, and
showed them to the others. “Look,” he said, “here are lettuce seeds, and radish
seeds, and mustard and cress, and runner beans! It’s late to plant the beans,
but in the good soil on this island I daresay they will grow quickly and we
shall be able to have a crop later in the year.”
“The
mustard and cress and radish will grow very quickly!” said Peggy. “What fun!
The lettuces won’t be very long, either, this hot weather, if we keep them well
watered.”
“Where
shall we plant them?” asked Mike.
“Well,
we’d better plant them in little patches in different corners of the island,”
said Jack. “If we dig out a big patch and have a sort of vegetable garden, and
anyone comes here to look for us, they will see our garden and know someone is
here! But if we just plant out tiny patches, we can easily throw heather over
them if we see anyone coming.”
“Jack’s
always full of good ideas,” said Nora. “I’ll help to dig and plant, Jack.”
“We’ll
all do it,” said Jack. So together they hunted for good places, and dug up the
ground there, and planted their precious seeds. It was Peggy’s job to water
them each day and see that no weeds choked the seeds when they grew.
“We’re
getting on!” said Nora happily. “Milk and cream each day, eggs each day, wild
raspberries when we want them, and lettuces, mustard and cress, and radishes
soon ready to be pulled!”
Jack
planted the beans in little bare places at the foot of a brambly hedge. He said
they would be able to grow up the brambles, and probably wouldn’t be noticed if
anyone came. The bean seedlings were carefully watched and nursed until they
were strong and tall, and had begun to twist themselves round any stem near.
Then Peggy left them to themselves, only watering them when they needed it.
It
was sometimes difficult to remember which day it was. Jack had kept a count as
best he could, and sometimes on Sundays the children could hear a church bell
ringing if the wind was in the right direction.
“We
ought to try and keep Sunday a day of rest and peace,” said Mike. “We can’t go
to church, but we could make the day a good sort of day, if you know what I
mean.”
So
they kept Sunday quietly, and the little island always seemed an extra peaceful
day then. They hardly ever knew what the other days were - whether it was
Tuesday or Thursday or Wednesday! But Jack always told them when it was Sunday,
and it was the one day they really knew. Nora said it had a different feel, and
certainly the island seemed to know it was Sunday, and was a dreamier, quieter place
then.
One
day Jack said they must explore the caves in the hillside.
“If
anyone does come here to look for us, and it’s quite likely,” he said, “we must
really have all our plans made as to what to do, and know exactly where to
hide. People who are really looking for us won’t just sit about on that beach
as the trippers did, you know - they will hunt all over the island.”
“Well,
let’s go and explore the caves to-day,” said Mike. “I’ll get the lantern.”
So,
with the lantern swinging in his hand, and a box of matches ready in his pocket
to light it, Jack led the way to the caves. The children had found three
openings into the hillside - one where the hens had been put, another larger
one, and a third very tiny one through which they could hardly crawl.
“We’ll
go in through the biggest entrance,” said Jack. He lighted the lantern, and
went into the dark cave. It seemed strange to leave the hot July sunshine. Nora
shivered. She thought the caves were rather queer. But she didn’t say anything,
only kept very close to Mike.
Jack
swung the lantern round and lit up all the corners. It was a large cave - but
not of much use for hiding in, for every corner could be easily seen. Big
cobwebs hung here and there, and there was a musty smell of bats.
Mike
went all round the walls, peeping and prying - and right at the very back of
the cave he discovered a curious thing. The wall was split from about six feet
downwards, and a big crack, about two feet across, yawned there. At first it
seemed as if the crack simply showed rock behind it - but it didn’t. There was
a narrow, winding passage there, half hidden by a jutting-out piece of rock.
“Look
here!” cried Mike, in excitement. “Here’s a passage right in the very rock of
the hillside itself. Come on, Jack, bring your lantern here. I wonder if it
goes very far back.”
Jack
lifted up his lantern and the others saw the curious half-hidden passage, the
entrance to which was by the crack in the wall. Jack went through the crack and
walked a little way down the passage.
“Come
on!” he cried. “It’s all right! The air smells fresh here, and the passage
seems to lead to somewhere.”
The
children crowded after him in excitement. What an adventure this was!
The
passage wound here and there, and sometimes the children had to step over rocks
and piles of fallen earth. Tree-roots stretched over their heads now and again.
The passage was sometimes very narrow, but quite passable. And at last it ended
- and Jack found that it led to an even larger cave right in the very middle of
the hill itself! He lifted his lantern and looked round. The air smelt fresh
and sweet. Why was that?
“Look!”
cried Nora, pointing upwards. “I can see daylight!”
Sure
enough, a long way up, a spot of bright daylight came through into the dark
cave. Jack was puzzled. “I think some rabbits must have burrowed into the hill,
and come out unexpectedly into this cave,” he said. “And their hole is where we
can see that spot of daylight. Well - the fresh air comes in, anyhow!”
From
the big cave a low passage led to another cave on the right. This passage was
so low that the children had to crawl through it - and to their surprise they
found that this second cave led out to the hillside itself, and was no other
than the cave into which it was so hard to crawl because of the small entrance.
“Well,
we are getting on,” said Jack. “We have discovered that the big cave we knew
leads by a passage to an even bigger one - and from that big one we can get
into this smaller one, which has an opening on to the hillside - and that
opening is too small for any grown-up to get into!”
“What
about the cave we put the hens into?” asked Nora.
“That
must be just a little separate cave by itself,” said Jack. “We’ll go and see.”
So
they squeezed themselves out of the tiny entrance of the last cave, and went to
the hen-cave. But this was quite ordinary - just a little low, rounded cave
smelling strongly of bats.
They
came out and sat on the hillside in the bright sunshine. It was lovely to sit
there in the warmth after the cold, dark caves.
“Now
listen,” said Jack thoughtfully. “Those caves are going to be jolly useful to
us this summer if anyone comes to get us. We could get Daisy into that big
inner cave quite well, for one thing.”
“Oh,
Jack! She’d never squeeze through that narrow, winding passage,” said Peggy.
“Oh
yes, she would,” said Jack. “She’d come with me all right - and what’s more,
Daisy is going to practise going in and out there, so that if the time comes
when she has really got to hide for a few hours, she won’t mind. It wouldn’t be
any good putting her into that cave, and then having her moo fit to lift off
the top of the hill!”
Everyone
laughed. Mike nodded his head. “Quite right,” he said. “Daisy will have to
practise! I suppose the hens can go there quite well, too?”
“Easily,”
said Jack. “And so can we!”
“The
only things we can’t take into the cave are our boat and our house,” said Mike.
“The
boat would never be found under those brambles by the water,” said Jack, “And I
doubt if anyone would ever find Willow House either, for we have built it in
the very middle of that thicket, and it is all we can do to squeeze through to
it! Grown-ups could never get through. Why, we shall soon have to climb a tree
and drop down to Willow House if the bushes and trees round it grow any more
thickly!”
“I
almost wish someone would come!” said Peggy. “It would be so exciting to hide
away!”
“A
bit too exciting!” said Jack. “Remember, there’s a lot to be done as soon as we
see anyone coming!”
“Hadn’t
we better plan it all out now?” said Mike. “Then we shall each know what to
do.”
“Yes,”
said Jack. “Well, I’ll manage Daisy the cow, and go straight off to fetch her.
Mike, you manage the hens and get them into a sack, and take them straight up
to the cave. Peggy, you stamp out the fire and scatter the hot sticks. Also you
must put out the empty cigarette packet, the tin, and the cardboard carton that
the trippers left, so that it will look as if trippers have been here, and
nobody will think it’s funny to find the remains of a fire, or any other odd
thing.”
“And
what shall I do?” asked Nora.
“You
must go to the spring and take the pail of milk from there to the cave,” said
Jack. “Before you do that scatter heather over our patches of growing seeds.
And Peggy, you might make certain the cave-cupboard is hidden by a curtain of
bracken or something.”
“Ay,
ay, Captain!” said Peggy. “Now we’ve all got our duties to do - but you’ve got
the hardest, Jack! I wouldn’t like to hide Daisy away down that narrow passage!
What will you do if she gets stuck7”
“She
won’t get stuck,” said Jack. "She’s not as fat as all that! By the way,
we’d better put a cup or two in the cave, and some heather, in case we have to
hide up for a good many hours. We can drink milk then, and have somewhere soft
to lie on.”
“We’d
better keep a candle or two in the entrance,” said Peggy. “I don’t feel like
sitting in the dark there.”
“I’ll
tell you what we’ll do,” said Jack thoughtfully. “We won’t go in and out of
that big inner cave by the narrow passage leading from the outer cave. We’ll go
in and out by that tiny cave we can hardly squeeze in by. It leads to the inner
cave, as we found out. If we keep using the other cave and the passage to go
in, we are sure to leave marks, and give ourselves away. I’ll have to take Daisy
that way, but that can’t be helped.”
“Those
caves will be cosy to live in in the wintertime,” said Peggy. “We could live in
the outer one, and store our things in the inner one. We should be quite
protected from bad weather.”
“How
lucky we are! ” said Nora. “A nice house made of trees for the summer - and a
cosy cave-home for the winter!”
“Winter’s
a long way off yet,” said Jack. “I say! - I’m hungry! What about frying some
eggs, Peggy, and sending Mike to get some raspberries?”
“Come
on!” shouted Peggy, and raced off down the hillside, glad to leave behind the
dark, gloomy caves.
The
Summer Goes By
No
one came to interfere with the children. They lived together on the island,
playing, working, eating, drinking, bathing - doing just as they liked, and yet
having to do certain duties in order to keep their farmyard going properly.
Sometimes
Jack and Mike went off in the boat at night to get something they needed from
either Jack’s farm or Aunt Harriet’s. Mike managed to get into his aunt’s house
one night and get some of his and the girls’ clothes - two or three dresses for
the girls, and a coat and shorts for himself. Clothes were rather a difficulty,
for they got dirty and ragged on the island, and as the girls had none to
change into, it was difficult to keep their dresses clean and mended.
Jack
got a good deal of fruit and a regular amount of potatoes and turnips from his
grandfather’s farm, which still had not been sold. There was always enough to
eat, for there were eggs, rabbits, and fish, and Daisy gave them more than
enough milk to drink.
Their
seeds grew quickly. It was a proud day when Peggy was able to cut the first
batch of mustard and cress and the first lettuce and mix it up into a salad to
eat with hard-boiled eggs! The radishes, too, tasted very good, and were so hot
that even Jack’s eyes watered when he ate them! Things grew amazingly well and
quickly on the island.
The
runner beans were now well up to the top of the bramble bushes, and Jack nipped
the tips off, so that they would flower well below.
“We
don’t want to have to make a ladder to climb up and pick the beans,” he said.
“My word, there are going to be plenty - look at all the scarlet flowers!”
“They
smell nice!” said Nora, sniffing them.
“The
beans will taste nicer!” said Jack.
The
weather was hot and fine, for it was a wonderful summer. The children all slept
out of doors in their “green bedroom,” as they called it, tucked in the shelter
of the big gorse bushes. They had to renew their beds of heather and bracken every
week, for they became flattened with the weight of their bodies and were
uncomfortable. But these jobs were very pleasant, and the children loved them.
“How
brown we are!” said Mike one day, as they sat round the fire on the beach,
eating radishes, and potatoes cooked in their jackets. They all looked at one
another.
“We’re
as brown as berries,” said Nora.
“What
berries?” said Mike. “I don’t know any brown berries. Most of them are red!”
“Well,
we’re as brown as oak-apples!” said Nora. They certainly were. Legs, arms,
faces, necks, knees - just as dark as gypsies! The children were fat, too, for
although their food was a queer mixture, they had a great deal of creamy milk.
Although
life was peaceful on the island, it had its excitements. Each week Jack
solemnly led poor Daisy to the cave and made her squeeze through the narrow
passage into the cave beyond. The first time she made a terrible fuss. She
mooed and bellowed, she struggled and even kicked - but Jack was firm and kind
and led her inside. There, in the inner cave, he gave her a juicy turnip,
fresh-pulled from his grandfather’s farm the night before. Daisy was pleased.
She chewed it all up, and was quite good when she was led back through the
passage once more.
The
second time she made a fuss again, but did not kick, nor did she bellow quite
so loudly. The third time she seemed quite pleased to go, because she knew by
now that a fine turnip awaited her in the cave. The fourth time she even went
into the cave by herself and made her way solemnly to the passage at the far
end.
“It’s
an awfully tight squeeze,” said Mike, from the back. “If Daisy grows any fatter
she won’t be able to get through, Jack.”
“We
won’t meet our troubles half-way,” said Jack cheerfully. “The main thing is,
Daisy likes going into the cave now, and won’t make a fuss if ever the time
comes when she has to be put there in a hurry.”
July
passed into August. The weather was thundery and hot. Two or three
thunderstorms came along, and the children slept in Willow House for a few
nights. Jack suggested sleeping in the cave, but they all voted it would be too
hot and stuffy. So they settled down in Willow House, and felt glad of the
thick green roof above them, and the stout, heather-steed walls.
The
wild raspberries ripened by the hundred. Wild strawberries began to appear in
the shady parts of the island - not tiny ones, such as the children had often
found round about the farm, but big, sweet, juicy ones, even nicer than garden
ones. They tasted most delicious with cream. The blackberries grew ripe on the
bushes that rambled all over the place, and the children’s mouths were always
stained with them, for they picked them as they went about their various jobs.
Jack
picked them on his way to milk Daisy, and so did Mike. Peggy picked them as she
went to get water from the spring. Nora picked them as she went to feed the
hens.
Nuts
were ripening, too, but were not yet ready. Jack looked at the heavy clusters
on the hazel-trees and longed for them to be ripe. He went to have a look at
the beans. They were ready to be picked! The runners grew up the brambles, and
the long green pods were mixed up with the blackberry flowers and berries.
“Beans
for dinner to-day!” shouted Jack. He went to fetch one of the many baskets that
Peggy knew how to weave from willow twigs, and soon had it full of the juicy
green beans.
Another
time Jack remembered the mushrooms that used to grow in the field at the end of
his grandfather’s farm. He and Mike set off in the boat one early morning at
the end of August to see if they could find some.
It
was a heavenly morning. Mike wished they had brought the girls, too, but it
would not do to take a crowd. Someone might see them. It was just sunrise. The
sun rose up in the east and the whole sky was golden. A little yellow-hammer
sang loudly on a nearby hedge, “Little bit of bread and no cheese!” A crowd of
young sparrows chirruped madly in the trees. Dew was heavy on the grass, and
the boys’ bare feet were dripping wet. They were soaked to the knees, but they didn’t
mind. The early sun was warm, and all the world was blue and gold and green.
“Mushrooms!”
said Jack, in delight, pointing to where two or three grew. “Look - fresh new
ones, only grown up last night. Come on! Fill the sack!”
There
were scores in the field. Jack picked the smaller ones, for he knew the bigger
ones did not taste so nice and might have maggots in them. In half an hour
their sack was full and they slipped away through the sunny fields to where
they had moored their boat.
“What
a breakfast we’ll have!” grinned Jack. And they did! Fried mushrooms and fried
eggs, wild strawberries and cream! The girls had gone out strawberry hunting
whilst the boys had gone to look for mushrooms.
Nora
learnt to swim well. She and Peggy had to practise every day in the lake till
Jack said they were as good as he and Mike were. They were soon like fish in
the water, and tumbled and splashed about each day with yells and shrieks. Jack
was clever at swimming under water and would disappear suddenly and come up
just beside one of the others, clutching hard at their legs! What fun they had!
Then
there came a spell of bad weather - just a few days. The island seemed very
different then, with the sun gone, a soft rain-mist driving over it, soaking
everything, and the lake-water as cold as ice.
Nora
didn’t like it. She didn’t like feeding the hens in the rain. She asked Peggy
to do it for her. But Jack heard her and was cross.
“You’re
not to be a fair-weather person,” he told her. “It’s all very well to go about happily
when the sun is shining and do your jobs with a smile - but just you be the
same when we get bad weather!”
“Ay,
ay, Captain!” said Nora, who was learning not to be such a baby as she had
been. And after that she went cheerfully out to feed the hens, even though the
rain trickled down her neck and ran in a cold stream down her brown back.
They
were rather bored when they had to keep indoors in Willow House when it rained.
They had read all their books and papers by that time, and although it was fun
to play games for a while, they couldn’t do it all day long. Peggy didn’t mind
- she had always plenty of mending to do.
She
showed the boys and Nora how to weave baskets. They needed a great many, for
the baskets did not last very long, and there were always raspberries,
strawberries, or blackberries to pick. Mike, Jack, and Nora thought it was fun
to weave all kinds and shapes of baskets, and soon they had a fine selection of
them ready for sunny weather.
Then
the sun came back again and the children lay about in it and basked in the hot
rays to get themselves warm once more. The hens fluffed out their wet feathers
and clucked happily. Daisy came out from under the tree which gave her shelter,
and gave soft moos of pleasure. The world was full of colour again and the
children shouted for joy.
The
beans, radishes, lettuces, and mustard and cress grew enormously in the rain.
Jack and Mike picked a good crop, and everyone said that never had anything
tasted so delicious before as the rain-swollen lettuces, so crisp, juicy, and
sweet.
All
sorts of little things happened. The hole in the boat grew so big that one day,
when Mike went to fetch the boat from its hiding-place, it had disappeared! It
had sunk into the water! Then Jack and Mike had to use all their brains and all
their strength to get it up again and to mend it so that it would not leak
quite so badly.
The
corn for the hens came to an end, and Jack had to go and see if he could find
some more. There was none at his grandfather’s farm, so he went to Mike’s farm
- and there he found some in a shed, but was nearly bitten by a new dog that
had been bought for the farm. The dog bit a hole in his trousers, and Peggy had
to spend a whole morning mending them.
Another
time there was a great alarm, because Nora said she had heard the splashing of
oars. Jack rushed off to get Daisy, and Mike bundled the hens into a sack -
but, as nothing more seemed to happen, Peggy ran to the top of the hill and
looked down the lake.
No
boat was in sight - only four big white swans, quarrelling among themselves,
and slashing the water with their feet and wings!
“It’s
all right, boys!” she shouted. “It’s only the swans! It isn’t a boat!”
So
Daisy was left in peace and the hens were emptied out of the sack again. Nora
was teased, and made up her mind that she would make quite certain it was a
boat next time she gave the alarm!
One
day Jack slipped down the hillside when he was reaching for raspberries and
twisted his ankle. Mike had to help him back to the camp on the beach. Jack was
very pale, for it was a bad twist.
Peggy
ran to get some clean rags and soaked them in the cold spring water. She bound
them tightly round Jack’s foot and ankle.
“You
mustn’t use it for a while,” she said. "You must keen quiet. Mike will do
your jobs.”
So
Jack had to lie about quietly for a day or two, and he found this very strange.
But he was a sensible boy, and he knew that it was the quickest way to get
better. Soon he found that he could hop about quite well with a stout hazel
stick Mike cut for him from the hedges - and after a week or so his foot was
quite all right.
Another
time poor Peggy overbalanced and fell into a gorse bush below her on the hill.
She was dreadfully scratched, but she didn’t even cry. She went to the lake and
washed her scratches and cuts, and then got the supper just as usual. Jack said
he was very proud of her. “Anybody else would have yelled the place down!” he
said, looking at the scratches all over her arms and legs.
“It’s
nothing much,” said Peggy, boiling some milk. “I’m lucky not to have broken my
leg or something!”
So,
with these little adventures, joys, and sorrows, the summer passed by. No one
came to the island, and gradually the children forgot their fears of being
found, and thought no more of it.
Jack
Does Some Shopping
The
summer passed away. The days grew gradually shorter. The children found that it
was not always warm enough to sit by the camp-fire in the evenings, and they
went to Willow House, where they could light the lantern and play games. Willow
House was always cosy.
They
had had to stuff the walls again with heather and bracken, for some of it
crumbled away and then the wind blew in. All the willow stakes they had used in
the making of the walls had put out roots, and now little tufts of green,
pointed leaves jutted out here and there up the sticks! The children were
pleased. It was fun to have walls and roof that grew!
One
day Mike got a shock. He went to get another candle for the lantern - and found
that there was only one left! There were very few matches left, too, for
although the children were careful with these, and only used one when the fire
had gone out, they had to use them sometimes.
“I
say, Jack, we’ve only got one candle left,” said Mike.
“We’ll
have to get some more, then,” said Jack.
“How?”
asked Mike. “They don’t grow on trees!”
“Jack
means he’ll go and get some from somewhere,” said Peggy, who was mending a hole
in Jack’s shirt. She was so glad she had been sensible enough to bring her
work-basket with her to the secret island. She could stop their clothes from
falling to pieces by keeping an eye on them, and stitching them as soon as they
were torn.
“But
where could he get candles except in a shop?” said Mike.
“Well,
I’ve been thinking,” said Jack seriously. “I’ve been thinking very hard. The
autumn is coming, when we shall need a better light in the evenings. We shall
need another blanket, too. And there are all sorts of little things we want.”
“I
badly want some more mending wool and some black cotton,” said Peggy. “I had to
mend your grey trousers with blue wool yesterday, Jack.”
“And
I’ll have to have some more corn for the hens soon,” said Nora.
“And
it would be nice if we could get some flour,” said Peggy. “Because if I had a
bag of flour I could make you little rolls of bread sometimes - I just long for
bread, don’t you!”
“It
would be nice,” said Jack. “Well, listen, everyone. Don’t you think it would be
a good idea if I took the boat and went to the village at the other end of the
lake and bought some of the things we badly need?”
The
others all cried out in surprise.
“You’d
be caught!”
“You
haven’t any money to buy things with!”
“Oh,
don’t go, Jack!”
“I
shouldn’t be caught,” said Jack. "I’d be very careful. No one knows me at
that village. Anyway, if you’re afraid, I’ll go on to the next village - only
it’s five miles away and I’d be jolly tired carrying back all the things we
want.”
“But
what about money, Jack?” said Peggy.
“I’d
thought of that,” said Jack. “If Mike will help me to pick a sackful of
mushrooms early one morning, I could bring them back here, arrange them in the
willow baskets we make, and then take them to the village to sell. With the
money I get I’ll buy the things we want.”
“Oh,
that is a good idea, Jack,” said Peggy. “If only you don’t get caught!”
“Don’t
worry about that, silly,” said Jack. “Now we’d better make out a list of things
we want, and I’ll try and get them when I go.”
“I
wish we could have a book or two,” said Peggy.
“And
a pencil would be nice,” said Nora. “I like drawing things.”
“And
a new kettle,” said Peggy. “Ours leaks a bit now.”
“And
a few more nails,” said Mike.
“And
the flour and the wool and the black cotton,” said Peggy.
So
they went on, making up a list of things they would like to have. Jack said
them all over, and counted them up so that he wouldn’t forget them.
“Mike
and I will get the mushrooms from the field over the water to-morrow morning,”
he said.
“And
I say, Jack - do you suppose you could sell some wild strawberries if you took
them?” asked Nora eagerly. “I know where there are lots. I found a whole patch
yesterday, ever so big, and very sweet!”
“That’s
a splendid idea,” said Jack, pleased. “Look here, we’ll make lots of little
baskets to-day, and then we will arrange the mushrooms and strawberries neatly
in them and I’ll take them in the boat to sell. We should make a lot of money!”
The
children were really excited. Mike went off to get a supply of thin willow
twigs, and Peggy ran to get some rushes. She had discovered that she could make
dainty baskets from the rushes, too, and she thought those would be nice for
the strawberries.
Soon
all four children were sitting on the sunny hillside among the heather, weaving
the baskets. The boys were as good at it as the girls now, and by the time the
sun was sinking there was a fine array of baskets. Peggy counted them. There
were twenty-seven!
“I
say! If we can fill and sell all those, Jack, you will have plenty of money to
buy everything,” said Mike.
The
children went to bed early, for they knew they would have to be up at dawn the
next day. They had no watches or clocks, and the only way to wake up early was
to go to bed early! They knew that. It was a warm night, so they slept in their
outdoor bedroom among the gorse bushes, lying cosily on their heather beds.
Nothing ever woke them now, as it had done at first. A hedgehog could crawl
over Jack’s legs and he wouldn’t stir! A bat could flick Mike’s face and he
didn’t even move.
Once
a little spider had made a web from Peggy’s nose to her shoulder, and when Nora
awoke and saw it there she called the boys. How they laughed to see a web
stretching from Peggy’s nose, and a little spider in the middle of it! They
woke Peggy up and told her - but she didn’t mind a bit!
“Spiders
are lucky!” she said. “I shall have some luck to-day!” And so she did - for she
found her scissors, which she had lost the week before!
The
children awoke early, just as the daylight was putting a sheet of silver over
the eastern sky. A robin was tick-tick-ticking near by and burst into a little
creamy song when the children awoke. He was not a bit afraid of them, for they
all loved the birds and fed them with crumbs after every meal. The robin was
very tame and would often sit on Peggy’s shoulder whilst she prepared the
meals. She liked this very much.
They
all got up and had their dip in the lake. Peggy thought of one more thing they
wanted - a bar of soap! Their one piece was finished - and it was dificult to
rub dirt off with sand, which they had to do now they had no soap. Jack added
that to the list in his mind - that made twenty-one things wanted! What a lot!
“Mike
and I won’t be very long picking mush-rooms,” he said, as he got into the boat
and pushed off. “You and Nora go and pick the strawberries, Peggy. Have a
kettle boiling on the fire when we come back so that we can have something hot
to drink. It’s rather chilly this morning.”
How
busy the four children were as the sun rose! Mike and Jack were away in the
mushroom field, picking as many mushrooms as they could, and stuffing them into
the big sack they carried. Nora and Peggy were picking the wild strawberries on
the island. Certainly the patch Nora had found was a wonderful one. Deep red
strawberries glowed everywhere among the pretty leaves, and some of the berries
were as big as garden ones.
“Don’t
they look pretty in our little green baskets?” said Peggy, pleased. The girls
had taken some of their baskets with them, and had lined them with strawberry
leaves first. Then neatly and gently they were putting the ripe strawberries
in.
“I
should think Jack could sell these baskets of strawberries for sixpence each,”
said Peggy. “They are just right for eating.”
The
girls filled twelve of the rush baskets, and then went back to light the
camp-fire. It was soon burning well, and Peggy hung the kettle over the flames
to boil. Nora went to feed the hens.
“I’ll
milk Daisy, I think,” said Peggy. “It is getting about milking-time, and the
boys won’t have time this morning. Watch the fire, Nora, and take the kettle
off when it boils.”
Soon
the boys were back, happy to show the girls such a fine collection of white
mushrooms. Peggy had finished milking Daisy and there was soon hot tea for
everyone. The tin of cocoa had long been finished, and was added to the list
that Jack had in his mind.
Whilst
the boys were having breakfast of fried eggs and mushrooms, with a few wild
strawberries and cream to follow, the two girls were busy arranging the fine
mushrooms in the willow baskets, which were bigger and stronger than the rush
strawberry ones. There were more than enough to fill the baskets
Peggy
and Nora carried the full baskets carefully to the boat. They put them safely
at the far end and covered them with elder leaves so that the flies would not
get at them. The flies did not like the smell of the elder leaves.
The
boys set off in the boat. It had been arranged that they should both go to the
far end of the lake, but that only Jack should go to sell their goods and to
shop. One boy alone would not be so much noticed. Mike was to wait in the boat,
hidden somewhere by the lakeside, till Jack returned. Mike had some cold cooked
fish and some milk, for it might be some hours before Jack came back.
“Here’s
a good place to put the boat,” said Jack, as he and Mike rowed up the lake, and
came in sight of the village at the far end. An alder tree leaned over the
water by the lakeside, and Mike guided the boat there. It slid under the
drooping tree and Jack jumped out.
“I
can easily find my way to the village from here,” he said. “I’ll be as quick as
I can, Mike.”
Jack
had two long sticks, and on them he threaded the handles of the baskets of
mushrooms and strawberries. In this way he could carry them easily, without
spilling anything. Off he went with his goods through the wood, and Mike
settled down in the boat to wait for his return.
Jack
was not long in finding the road that led to the little village - and to his
great delight he found that it was market-day there! A small market was held
every Wednesday, and it happened to be Wednesday that day!
“Good!”
thought Jack. “I shall not be so much noticed if there is a crowd of people -
and I should be able to sell my goods easily!”
The
boy went to the little market-place, calling “Fine mushrooms! Ripe wild
strawberries!” at the top of his voice.
When
people saw the neat and pretty baskets of mushrooms and strawberries they
stopped to look at them. Certainly they were excellent goods, and very soon
Jack was selling them fast. Shillings and sixpences clinked into his pocket,
and Jack felt very happy. What a fine lot of things he would be able to buy!
At
last his sticks held no more baskets. The people praised him - for his goods
and the cleverly woven baskets, and told him to come again. Jack made up his
mind that he would. It was a pleasant way of earning money, and he could buy
all the things he needed if only he could get the money!
He
went shopping. He bought a very large bag of flour. He bought wool and cotton
for Peggy. He bought scores of candles and plenty of matches. He bought a new
kettle and two enamel plates. Peggy was always wishing she had more dishes. He
bought some story-books, and two pencils and a rubber. A drawing-book was added
to his collection, some nails, soap, butter for a treat, some bars of chocolate,
some tins of cocoa, tea, rice - oh, Jack had a load to carry before he had
done!
When
he could carry no more, and his money was all gone, he staggered off to the
boat. He kept thinking what fun everyone would have that night when he unpacked
the bags and boxes!
Mike
was waiting for him impatiently. He was delighted to see Jack, and helped him
to dump the things into the boat. Then off they rowed, home to the secret
island.
Jack
Nearly Gets Caught
What
fun it was that evening, unpacking all the things Jack had brought! Mike helped
Jack to take everything to the beach, and Nora and Peggy jumped up and down and
squealed with excitement.
“Flour!
What a lot! I can make you rolls now to eat with your fish and eggs!” cried
Peggy in delight. “And here’s my wool - and my cotton!”
“And
two pencils for me - and a rubber - and a drawing-book!” cried Nora.
“And
butter - oh, and chocolate!” yelled Mike. “I’ve forgotten what chocolate tastes
like!”
“Oh,
Jack, you are clever,” said Peggy. “Did you sell all the mushrooms and
strawberries?”
“Every
single basket,” said Jack. “And, what is more, the people told me to bring more
next week - so I shall earn some more money, and lay in a good stock of things
for the winter! What do you say to that?”
“Fine,
Captain!” shouted everyone joyfully. “We shall be as cosy as can be with
candles to see by, nice things to eat, books to read, chocolate to nibble!
Hurrah!”
“Have
you brought the corn for my hens, Jack?” asked Nora anxiously.
“Yes,
there it is!” said Jack. “And what about this new kettle and enamel dishes,
Peggy? I thought you’d like those.”
“Oh,
Jack, isn’t it all exciting?” cried Peggy. “Look here - shall we have supper
now - and look at all the things again afterwards - and then put them away
carefully? You and Mike will have to put up shelves in Willow House for all
these new stores!”
Talking
all at once and at the tops of their voices the children set to work to get
supper. This was a rabbit stew, with runner beans picked by Nora and a baked
potato each, with raspberries and cream afterwards. And as a special treat Jack
gave everyone half a bar of the precious chocolate! The children were so happy
- they really felt that they couldn’t be any happier! The girls had been lonely
all day without the two boys, and it was lovely to be all together again.
After
supper they cleared away and washed the dishes, and then stamped out the fire.
They took everything to Willow House, and lighted the lantern that hung from
the roof. Jack also lighted another candle to make enough light to see clearly
all the treasures he had brought.
“I
say! What a nice lot of matches!” said Mike. “We’ll have to store those
carefully in a dry place.”
“And
look at the books!” squealed Peggy. “Jack can read them out loud to us in the
evening. Robinson Crusoe, and Stories from the Bible and Animals of the World
and The Boy’s Book of Aeroplanes. What a lovely lot! It will be fun to read
about Robinson Crusoe, because he was alone on an island, just as we are. I
guess we could teach him a few things, though!”
Everyone
laughed. “He could teach us a few things, too!” said Jack.
Jack
had really shopped very well. He had even bought a tin of treacle, so that
sometimes, for a treat, Peggy could make toffee! He had got sugar, too, which
would be nice in their tea and cocoa. Their own sugar had been finished long
ago.
“And
we needn’t be too careful now of all our things,” said Jack, “because I can go
each week and sell mushrooms and strawberries and earn money to buy more.”
“But
what will you do when the mushrooms and strawberries are over?” asked Peggy.
“Then
there will be blackberries and nuts,” said Jack. “They won’t fetch so much
money, but at any rate I can get enough to store up plenty of things for the
winter. If we can get flour, potatoes, rice, cocoa, and things like that, we
shall be quite all right. Daisy can always give us milk and cream, and we get
lots of eggs from the hens, fish from the lake, and a rabbit or two. We are
really very lucky.”
“Jack,
read to us to-night,” begged Nora. “It’s so long since I heard a story.”
“We’ll
begin Robinson Crusoe first, then,” said Jack. “That seems sort of suitable. By
the way, Nora, can you read yourself?”
“Well,
I wasn’t very good at it,” said Nora.
“I
think it would be a good idea if we all took a night each to read out loud,”
said Jack. “It’s no good forgetting what we learnt. I’ll read to-night - and
you shall read to-morrow night, Nora.”
So,
by the light of the two candles, Jack began reading the tale of Robinson Crusoe
to the others. They lay on the heather, listening, happy to be together,
enjoying the tale. When Jack shut up the book they sighed.
“That
was lovely,” said Peggy. “My goodness, Jack, I guess we could write an exciting
book if we wrote down all our adventures on the island!”
“Nobody
would believe them!” laughed Peggy. “Yet it’s all true - here we are, living by
ourselves, feeding ourselves, having a glorious time on a secret island that
nobody knows!”
The
next day Jack and Mike rigged up some shelves on which to keep some of their
new stores. It was fun arranging everything. The children soon began to make
out their next list of things for Jack to buy when he went to market.
“We
shall have to keep the days pretty carefully in future,” said Jack. “I don’t
want to miss Wednesdays now because Wednesday is market-day at the village. I
shall get better prices then.”
So,
the next Wednesday, once again there was a great stir just about dawn, and the
four children hurried to their tasks of picking mushrooms and strawberries.
They had made plenty of baskets again, and Jack and Mike set off two or three
hours later with the boat, taking the full baskets with them.
For
three or four weeks Jack went to market, sold all his goods, and bought a great
many stores for the winter. He and Mike decided to store the bags and sacks of
goods in the inner cave of the hillside, as there they would be quite dry -
and, as the children would probably have to live in the caves in the winter,
the stores would be quite handy there.
As
the weeks went by there were not so many wild strawberries to be found.
Mushrooms stopped growing in the field, and other market goods had to take
their place. The children went nutting in the hazel trees and struck down great
clusters of ripe nuts, lovely in their ragged green coats and brown shells. The
girls picked baskets of big ripe blackberries, and Jack took these to the
market instead of mushrooms and strawberries. People soon grew to know him at
the market. They wondered where he came from, but Jack never told them anything
about himself.
“I
just live by the lakeside,” he said, when people asked him where he lived. They
thought be meant somewhere by the lake - they did not know he meant by the
lakeside on the secret island - and certainly Jack was not going to tell them!
One
day, for the first time, Jack saw a policeman in the village. This struck him
as strange, for he had never seen one there before, and he knew that the
village was too small to have a policeman of its own. It shared one with the
village five miles away. Jack’s heart sank - could the policeman have been told
that a strange boy was about - and could he be wondering if the boy was one of
the lost children! Jack began to edge away, though his baskets of nuts and
blackberries were only half sold.
“Hi,
you!” called the policeman suddenly. “Where do you come from, boy?”
“From
the lakeside, where I’ve been gathering blackberries and nuts to sell,” said
Jack, not coming near the policeman.
“Is
your name Mike?” said the policeman.
And
then Jack knew for certain that the policeman had been told that maybe he,
Jack, was one of the four runaway children - and he had come to find out.
“No,
that’s not my name,” said Jack, looking very innocent. “Buy some nuts, Mister
Policeman?”
“No,”
said the policeman, getting a strip of paper out of his pocket, and looking at
a photograph there. “Come you here, my lad. I think you’re one of the runaway
children - let’s have a look at you.”
Jack
turned pale. If the policeman had a picture of him, he was caught! Quick as
lightning the boy flung down the two sticks on which he had a dozen or so
baskets strung, and darted off through the crowd that had gathered. Hands were
put out to stop him, but he struggled away, tearing his jacket, but not caring
for anything but to escape.
He
slipped round a corner and into a garden. He darted round the cottage there and
peered into the back garden. There was no one there - but there was a little
henhouse at the side. Jack made up his mind quickly. He opened the door of the
henhouse, slipped inside, and crouched down in the straw there, hardly daring
to breathe. There were no hens there - they were scratching about in the little
run outside.
Jack
heard the sound of shouting and running feet, and he knew that people were
looking for him. He crouched lower, hoping that no one had seen him dart into
the cottage garden.
The
running feet went by. The shouting died down. No one had seen him! Jack let out
a big breath, and his heart thumped loudly. He was really frightened.
He
stayed in the henhouse all day long. He did not dare to move out. He was hungry
and thirsty and very cramped, but he knew quite well that if he slipped out he
might be seen. He must stay there till night. He wondered what Mike would
think. The girls would be anxious, too.
A
hen came in, sat on a nesting-box and laid an egg. She cackled and went out
again. Another came in and laid an egg. Jack hoped that no one would see him if
they came looking for eggs that afternoon!
Someone
did come for the eggs - but it was after tea and the henhouse was very dark.
The door was opened and a head came round. A hand was stretched out and felt in
all the boxes. The eggs were lifted out - the door was shut again! Jack hadn’t
been seen! He was crouching against the other side of the house, well away from
the nesting-boxes!
The
henhouse did not smell nice. Jack felt miserable as he sat there on the floor.
He knew that by running away he had as good as told the policeman that he was
one of the runaways. And now the whole countryside would be searched again, and
the secret island would probably be explored, too.
“But
if I hadn’t run away the policeman would have caught me and made me tell where
the others were,” thought the boy. “If only I can get to where Mike is waiting
with the boat, and get back safely to the island, we can make preparations to
hide everything.”
When
it was dark, and the hens were roosting in the house beside him, Jack opened
the door and slipped out. He stood listening. Not a sound was to be heard
except the thump-thump of someone ironing in the kitchen of the cottage near
by.
He
ran quietly down the path to the gate. He slipped out into the road - and then
ran for his life to the road that led to the wood by the lakeside where Mike
was waiting.
But
would Mike be waiting there? Suppose people had begun to hunt already for the
four children - and had found Mike and the boat! What then? How would he get
back to the girls on the island?
Jack
forgot his hunger and thirst as he padded along at top speed to where he had
left Mike. No one saw him. It was a dark night, for the moon was not yet up.
Jack made his way through the trees to the lakeside.
And
then his heart leapt for joy! He heard Mike’s voice! “Is that you, Jack? What a
time you’ve been! Whatever’s happened?”
The
Great Hunt Begins
Jack
scrambled into the boat, panting. “Push off, quickly, Mike!” he said. “I was
nearly caught to-day, and if anyone sees us we shall all be discovered!”
Mike
pushed off, his heart sinking. He could not bear the idea of being caught and
sent back to his uncle’s farm. He waited till Jack had got back his breath and
then asked him a few questions. Jack told him everything. Mike couldn’t help
smiling when he thought of poor Jack sitting with the hens in the henhouse -
but he felt very frightened. Suppose Jack had been caught!
“This
is the end of my marketing,” said Jack gloomily. “I shan’t dare to show my nose
again in any village. They will all be on the look-out for me. Why can’t people
run away if they want to? We are not doing any harm - only living happily
together on our secret island!”
After
a bit Jack helped Mike to row, and they arrived at the island just as the moon
was rising. The girls were on the beach by a big fire, waiting anxiously for
them.
“Oh
Jack, oh Mike!” cried Nora, hugging them both, and almost crying with delight
at seeing them again. “We thought you were never coming! We imagined all kinds
of dreadful things! We felt sure you had been caught!”
“I
jolly nearly was,” said Jack.
“Where
is your shopping?” asked Peggy.
“Haven’t
got any,” said Jack. “I had only sold a few baskets when a policeman spotted
me. I’ve got the money for the ones I sold - but what’s the good of money on
this island, where you can’t buy anything!”
Soon
Jack had told the girls his story. He sat by the fire, warming himself, and
drinking a cup of hot cocoa. He was dreadfully hungry, too, for he had had
nothing to eat all day. He ate a whole rice pudding, two fishes, and a
hard-boiled egg whilst he talked.
Everyone
was very grave and solemn. They knew things were serious. Nora was really
scared. She tried her hardest not to cry, but Jack heard her sniffing and put
his arm round her. “Don’t be a baby,” he said. “Things may not be so bad after
all. We have all our plans laid. There is no real reason why anyone should find
us if we are careful. We are all upset and tired. Let’s go to bed and talk
to-morrow.”
So
to bed in Willow House they went. Jack took off his clothes and wrapped himself
in the old rug because he said he smelt like hens. Peggy said she would wash
his things the next day. They did not get to sleep for a long time because
first one and then another of them would say something, or ask a question - and
then the talking would all begin again.
“Now,
nobody is to say another word!” said Jack at last, in his firmest voice.
“Ay,
ay, Captain!” said everyone sleepily. And not another word was spoken.
In
the morning the children awoke early, and remembered what had happened the day
before. Nobody felt like singing or shouting or joking as they usually did.
Peggy solemnly got the breakfast. Jack went off in his old overcoat to milk the
cow, for his things were not yet washed. Mike got some water from the spring,
and Nora fed the hens. It was not a very cheerful party that sat down to breakfast.
When
the things were cleared away, and Peggy had washed Jack’s clothes and set them
out to dry, the children held a meeting.
“The
first thing to do,” said Jack, “is to arrange that someone shall always be on
watch during the day, on the top of the hill. You can see all up the lake and
down from there, and we should get good warning then if anyone were coming - we
should have plenty of time to do everything.”
“Shall
we have someone on guard during the night?” asked Nora.
“No,”
said Jack. “People are not likely to come at night. We can sleep in peace. I
don’t think anyone will come for a few days, anyhow, because I think they will
search around the lake-side first, and will only think of the island later.”
“I
think, as we are not going to the mainland for some time, we had better make a
big hole in the boat and let her sink,” said Mike. “I’ve always been afraid she
might be found, although she is well hidden under the brambles. After all,
Jack, if she is sunk, no one could possibly find her!”
“That’s
a good idea, Mike,” said Jack. “We can’t be too careful now. Sink her this
morning. We can easily get her up again and mend her if we want her. Peggy,
will you see that every single thing is cleared away that might show people we
are here? Look, there’s some snippings of wool, there - that sort of thing must
be cleared up, for it tells a tale!”
“I’ll
see to it,” promised Peggy. Jack knew she would, for she was a most dependable
girl.
“Every
single thing must be taken to the caves today,” said Jack, “except just those
few things we need for cooking, like a saucepan and kettle and so on. We can
easily slip those away at the last minute. We will leave ourselves a candle or
two in Willow House, because we can sleep there till we have to go to the
caves.”
“Jack,
what about the hen-yard?” asked Nora. “It really does look like a yard now,
because the hens have scratched about so much.”
“That’s
true,” said Jack. “Well, as soon as we know we’ve got to hide, Mike can pull up
the fence round the hen-yard and store it in Willow House. Then he can scatter
sand over the yard and cover it with heather. It’s a good thing you thought of
that, Nora.”
“There’s
one thing, even if we have to hide away for days, we’ve enough food!” said
Peggy.
“What
about Daisy, though?” said Mike. “She won’t have anything to eat. A cow eats
such a lot.”
“We
should have to take her out to feed at night,” said Jack. “And by the way,
Peggy, don’t light the fire for cooking until the very last minute and stamp it
out as soon as you have finished. A spire of smoke gives us away more than
anything!”
“What
about someone hopping up to the hill-top now?” said Mike. “The sun is getting
high. We ought to keep a watch from now on.”
“Yes,
we ought,” said Jack. “You take first watch, Mike. I’ll give you a call when
it’s time to come down. We’ll take turns all the day long. Keep watch all
round. We don’t know from which end of the lake a boat might come, though it’s
more likely to be from the end I was at yesterday.”
Mike
sped up the hill and sat down there. The lake lay blue below him. Not a swan,
not a moorhen disturbed its surface. Certainly no boat was in sight. Mike
settled down to watch carefully.
The
others were busy. Everything was taken up to the caves in the hillside and
stored there. Nora left a sack by the hen-yard ready to bundle the hens into
when the time came. She also put a pile of sand by the yard, ready for Mike to
scatter after the fences had been pulled up. Nora was no longer the careless
little girl she had been. Nor was she lazy any more. She had learned that when
she did badly everyone suffered, so now she did her best - and it was a very
good best too.
After
a while Jack went up to take Mike’s place on the hill-top. Mike set to work to
sink the boat. She soon sank to the bottom of the water, under the bramble
bushes. Mike felt sure that no one would ever know she was there.
Peggy
went hunting round looking for anything that might give them away. She did not
find very much, for all the children tidied up after any meal or game. Broken
egg-shells were ahvays buried, uneaten food was given to the hens, and it was
only things like snippings of wool or cotton that the wind had blown away that
could be found.
Peggy
went on guard next and then Nora. It was dull work, sitting up on the hill-top
doing nothing but watch, so Nora took her pencil and drawing-book and drew what
ske could see. That made the time go quickly. Peggy took her mending. She
always had plenty of that to do, for every day somebody tore their clothes on
brambles. After every stitch Peggy looked up and down the lake, but nothing
could be seen.
That
evening Mike was on guard, and he was just about to come down to get his supper
when he saw something in the distance. He looked carefully. Could it be a boat?
He called Jack.
“Jack!
Come quickly! I can see something. Is it a boat, do you think?”
Everyone
tore up the hill. Jack looked hard. “Well, if it’s a boat, it’s very small,” he
said.
“It’s
something black,” said Nora. “Whatever is it? Oh, I do hope it isn’t anyone
coming now.”
The
children watched, straining their eyes. And suddenly the thing they thought
might be a small boat flew up into the air!
“It’s
that black swan we saw the other day!” said Jack, with a squeal of laughter.
“What a fright it gave us! Look, there it goes! Isn’t it a beauty?”
The
children watched the lovely black swan flying slowly towards them, its wings
making a curious whining noise as it came. Nora went rather red, for she
remembered how frightened she had been the first time she had heard a swan
flying over the island - but nobody teased her about it. They were all too
thankful it was only a swan, not a boat.
“There’s
no need to keep watch any more to-night,” said Jack, and they all went down the
hill. Evening was almost on them. They sat by their fire and ate their supper,
feeling happier than the day before. Perhaps after all no one would come to
look for them - and anyway, they had done all they could now to get things
ready in case anyone did come.
The
next day the children kept watch in turn again, and the next. The third day,
when Nora was on guard, she thought she saw people on the far side of the lake,
where a thick wood grew. She whistled softly to Jack, and he came up and
watched, too.
“Yes,
you’re right, Nora,” he said at last. “There are people there - and they are
certainly hunting for something or someone!”
They
watched for a while and then called the others. There was no fire going, for
Peggy had stamped it out. They all crowded on to the hill-top, their heads
peeping out of the tall bracken that grew there.
“See
over there! ” said Jack. “The hunt is on! It will only be a day or two before
they come over here. We must watch very carefully indeed!”
“Well,
everything is ready,” said Peggy. “I wish they would come soon, if they are
coming - I hate all this waiting about. It gives me a cold feeling in my
tummy.”
“So
it does in mine,” said Mike. “I’d like a hot-water bottle to carry about with
me!”
That
made everyone laugh. They watched for a while longer and then went down,
leaving Jack on guard.
For
two days nothing happened, though the children thought they could see people on
the other side of the lake, beating about in the bushes and hunting. Mike went
on guard in the morning and kept a keen watch. Nora fed the hens as usual and
Jack milked Daisy.
And
then Mike saw something! He stood up and looked - it was something at the far
end of the lake, where Jack had gone marketing. It was a boat! No mistaking it
this time - a boat it was, and a big one, too!
Mike
called the others and they scrambled up. “Yes,” said Jack at once. “That’s a
boat all right - with about four people in, too. Come on, there’s no time to be
lost. There’s only one place a boat can come to here - and that’s our island.
To your jobs, everyone, and don’t be frightened!”
The
children hurried off. Jack went to get Daisy. Mike went to see to the hens and
the hen-yard. Peggy scattered the dead remains of the fire, and caught up the
kettle and the saucepan and any odds and ends of food on the beach to take to
the cave. Nora ran to cover up their patches of growing seeds with bits of
heather. Would they have time to do everything? Would they be well hidden
before the boatload of people came to land on their secret island?
The
Island is Searched
Now
that people had really come at last to search the island the children were glad
to carry out their plans, for the days of waiting had been very upsetting. They
had laid their plans so well that everything went like clockwork. Daisy, the
cow, did not seem a bit surprised to have Jack leading her to the inner cave
again, and went like a lamb, without a single moo!
Jack
got her safely through the narrow passage to the inner cave and left her there
munching a turnip whilst he went to see if he could help the others. Before he
left the outer cave he carefully rubbed away any traces of Daisy’s hoofmarks.
He arranged the bracken carelessly over the entrance so that it did not seem as
if anyone went in and out of it.
Mike
arrived with the hens just then, and Jack gave him a hand. Mike squeezed
himself into the little tiny cave that led by the low passage to the inner
cave, for it had been arranged that only Jack and the cow should use the other
entrance for fear that much use of it should show too plainly that people went
in and out.
Jack
passed him the sack of hens, and Mike crawled on hands and knees through the
low passage and into the big inner cave where Daisy was. The hens did not like
being pulled through the tiny passage and squawked dismally. But when Mike
shook them out of the sack, and scattered grain for them to eat, they were
quite happy again. Jack had lighted the lantern in the inner cave, and it cast
its dim light down. Mike thought he had better stay in the cave, in case the
hens found their way out again.
So
he sat down, his heart thumping, and waited for the others. One by one they
came, carrying odds and ends. Each child had done his or her job, and with
scarlet cheeks and beating hearts they sat down together in the cave and looked
at one another.
“They’re
not at the island yet,” said Jack. “I took a look just now. They’ve got another
quarter-mile to go. Now, is there anything we can possibly have forgotten?”
The
children thought hard. The boat was sunk. The cow and the hens were in. The
fire was out and well scattered. The hen-yard was covered with sand and
heather. The yard-fence was taken up and stored in Willow House. The
seed-patches were hidden. The milk-pail was taken from the spring.
“We’ve
done everything!” said Peggy.
And
then Mike jumped up in a fright. “My hat!” he said. “Where is it? I haven’t got
it on! I must have left it somewhere!”
The
others stared at him in dismay. His hat was certainly not on his head nor was
it anywhere in the cave.
“You
had it on this morning,” said Peggy. “I remember seeing it, and thinking it was
getting very dirty and floppy. Oh, Mike dear! Where can you have left it? Think
hard, for it is very important.”
“It
might be the one thing that gives us away,” said Jack.
"There’s
just time to go and look for it,” said Mike. “I’ll go and see if I can find
it.”
He
crawled through the narrow passage and out into the cave with the low entrance.
He squeezed through that and went out into the sunlight. He could see the boat
from where he was, being rowed through the water some distance away. He ran
down the hill to the beach. He hunted there. He hunted round about the
hen-yard. He hunted by the spring. He hunted everywhere! But he could not find
that hat!
And
then he wondered if it was anywhere near Willow House, for he had gone there
that morning to store the hen-yard fences. He squeezed through the thickly
growing trees and went to Willow House. There, beside the doorway, was his hat!
The boy pushed it into his pocket, and made his way back up the hillside. Just
as he got to the cave-entrance he heard the boat grinding on the beach below.
The searchers had arrived.
He
crawled into the big inner cave. The others greeted him excitedly.
“Did
you find it, Mike?”
“Yes,
thank goodness,” said Mike, taking his hat out of his pocket. “It was just by
Willow House - but I don’t expect it would have been seen there, because Willow
House is too well hidden among those thick trees to be found. Still, I’m glad I
found it - I’d have been worried all the time if I hadn’t. The boat is on the
beach now, Jack; I heard it being pulled in. There are four men in it.”
“I’m
just a bit worried about the passage to this inner cave from the outer cave,”
said Jack. “If that is found it’s all up with us. I was wondering if we could
find a few rocks and stones and pile them up half-way through the passage, so
that if anyone does come through there, he will find his way blocked and won’t
guess there is another cave behind, where we are hiding!”
“That’s
a fine idea, Jack,” said Mike. “It doesn’t matter about the other entrance,
because no grown-up could possibly squeeze through there. Come on, everyone.
Find rocks and stones and hard clods of earth and stop up the passage half-way
through!”
The
children worked hard, and before half an hour had gone by the passage was
completely blocked up. No one could possibly guess there was a way through. It
would be quite easy to unblock when the time came to go out.
“I’m
going to crawl through to the cave with the small entrance and peep out to see
if I can hear anything,” said Jack. So he crawled through and sat just inside
the tiny, low-down entrance, trying to hear.
The
men were certainly searching the island! Jack could hear their shouts easily.
“Someone’s
been here!” shouted one man. “Look where they’ve made a fire.”
“Trippers,
probably!” called back another man. “There’s an empty tin here, too - and a
carton - just the sort of thing trippers leave about.”
“Hi!
Look at this spring here!” called another voice. “Looks to me as if people have
been tramping about here.”
Jack
groaned. Surely there were not many foot-marks there!
“Well,
if those children are here we’ll find them all right!” said a fourth voice. “It
beats me how they could manage to live here, though, all alone, with no food,
except what that boy could buy in the village!”
“I’m
going over to the other side to look there,” yelled the first man. “Come with
me, Tom. You go one side of the hill and I’ll go the other - and then, if the
little beggars are dodging about to keep away from us, one of us will find
them!”
Jack
felt glad he was safely inside the cave. He stayed where he was till a whisper
reached him from behind.
“Jack!
We can hear voices. Is everything all right?”
“So
far, Mike,” said Jack. “They are all hunting hard - but the only thing they
seem to have found is a few footmarks round the spring. I’ll stay here for a
bit and see what I can hear.”
The
hunt went on. Nothing seemed to be found. The children had cleared everything
up very well indeed.
But,
as Jack sat just inside the cave, there came a shout from someone near the
beach.
“Just
look here! What do you make of this?”
Jack
wondered whatever the man had found. He soon knew. The man had kicked aside the
heather that had hidden the hen-yard - and had found the newly scattered sand!
“This
looks as if something had been going on here,” said the man. “But goodness
knows what! You know, I think those children are here somewhere. It’s up to us
to find them. Clever little things, too, they must be, hiding away all traces
of themselves like this!”
“We’d
better beat through the bushes and the bracken,” said another man. “They may be
hiding there. That’d be the likeliest place.”
Then
Jack heard the men beating through the bracken, poking into every bush, trying
their hardest to find a hidden child. But not one could they find.
Jack
crawled back to the cave after two or three hours and told the others what had
happened. They listened, alarmed to hear that the hen-yard had been discovered
even though they had tried so hard to hide it.
“It’s
time we had something to eat,” said Peggy. “We can’t light a fire in here, for
we would be smoked out, but there are some rolls of bread I made yesterday,
some wild strawberries, and a cold pudding. And lots of milk, of course.”
They
sat and ate, though none of them felt hungry. Daisy lay down behind them,
perfectly good. The hens clucked quietly, puzzled at finding themselves in such
a strange dark place, but quite happy with the children there.
When
the meal was over Jack went back to his post again. He sat just inside the
cave-entrance and listened.
The
men were getting puzzled and disheartened. They were sitting at the foot of the
hill, eating sandwiches and drinking beer. Jack could hear their voices quite
plainly.
“Well,
those children may have been on this island, and I think they were - but
they’re not here now,” said one man. “I’m certain of that.”
“We’ve
hunted every inch,” said another man. “I think you’re right, Tom; those kids
have been here all right - who else could have planted those runner beans we
found? - but they’ve gone. I expect that boy the policeman saw last Wednesday
gave the alarm, and they’ve all gone off in the boat.”
“Ah
yes, the boat!” said a third man. “Now, if the children were here we’d find a
boat, wouldn’t we? Well, we haven’t found one - so they can’t be here!”
“Quite
right,” said the first man. “I didn’t think of that. If there’s no boat here,
there are no children! What about going back now? I’m sure it’s no good hunting
any more.”
“There’s
just one place we haven’t looked,” said the quiet voice of the fourth man.
“There are some caves in this hillside - it’s possible those children may have
hidden there.”
“Caves!”
said another man. “Yes - just the place. We’ll certainly look there. Where are
they?”
“I’ll
show you in a minute,” said the fourth man. “Got a torch?”
“No,
but I’ve got plenty of matches,” said the other man. “But look here - they
can’t be there if there’s no boat anywhere to be seen. If they are here, there
must be a boat somewhere!”
“It’s
possible for a boat to be sunk so that no searcher could find it,” said the
fourth man.
“Children
would never think of that!” said another.
“No,
I don’t think they would,” was the answer.
Jack,
who could hear everything, thought gratefully of Mike. It had been Mike’s idea
to sink the boat. If he hadn’t sunk it, it would certainly have been found, for
the search had been much more thorough than Jack had guessed. Fancy the men
noticing the runner beans!
“Come
on,” said a man. “We’ll go to those caves now. But it’s a waste of time. I
don’t think the children are within miles! They’ve gone off up the lakeside
somewhere in their boat!"
Jack
crawled silently back to the inner cave, his heart thumping loudly.
“They
don’t think we’re on the island,” he whispered, “because they haven’t found the
boat. But they’re coming to explore the caves. Put out the lantern, Mike. Now
everyone must keep as quiet as a mouse. Is Daisy lying down? Good! The hens are
quiet enough, too. They seem to think it’s night, and are roosting in a row!
Now nobody must sneeze or cough - everything depends on the next hour or two!”
Not
a sound was to be heard in the big inner cave. Daisy lay like a log, breathing
quietly. The hens roosted peacefully. The children sat like mice.
And
then they heard the men coming into the cave outside. Matches were struck - and
the passage that led to their cave was found!
“Look
here, Tom,” said a voice. “Here’s what looks like a passage - shall we see
where it goes?”
“We’d
better, I suppose,” said a voice. And then there came the sound of footsteps
down the blocked-up passage!
The
End of the Search
The
children sat in the inner cave as though they were turned into stone. They did
not even blink their eyes. It seemed almost as if they did not even breathe!
But how their hearts thumped! Jack thought that everyone must hear his heart
beating, even the searchers outside, it bumped against his ribs so hard.
The
children could hear the sound of someone fumbling his way along the narrow
passage. He found it a tight squeeze, by his groanings and grumblings. He came
right up to the place where the children had piled rocks, stones, and earth to
block up the passage.
“I
say!” the man called back to the others, “the passage ends here in what looks
like loose rocks. Shall I try to force my way through - pull the rocks to see
if they are just a fall from the roof?”
“No!”
cried another man. “If you can’t get through, the children couldn’t! This is a
wild-goose chase - we’ll never find the children in these caves. Come back, Tom.”
The
man turned himself round with difficulty and began to squeeze back - and at
that very moment a dreadful thing happened!
Daisy
the cow let out a terrific moo!
The
children were not expecting it, and they almost jumped out of their skins with
fright. Then they clutched at one another, expecting the men to come chasing
along at once, having heard Daisy.
There
was an astonished silence. Then one of the men said, “Did you hear that?”
“Of
course!” said another. “What in the wide world was it?”
“Well,
it wasn’t the children, that’s certain!” said the first, with a laugh. “I never
in my life heard a child make a noise like that!”
“It
sounded like a cow,” said another voice.
“A
cow!” cried the first man, “what next? Do you mean to say you think there’s a
cow in the middle of this hill, Tom?”
“Of
course there can’t be,” said Tom, laughing. “But it sounded mighty like one!
Let’s listen and see if we hear anything again.”
There
was a silence, as if the men were listening - and at that moment Daisy most
obligingly gave a dreadful hollow cough, that echoed mournfully round and round
the cave.
“I
don’t like it,” said a man’s voice. “It sounds too queer for anything. Let’s
get out of these dark caves into the sunshine. I’m perfectly certain, since we
heard those noises, that no children would be inside those caves! Why, they’d
be frightened out of their lives!”
Jack
squeezed Nora’s hand in delight. So old Daisy had frightened the men! What a
glorious joke! The children sat as still as could be, glad now that Daisy had
given such a loud moo and such a dreadful cough.
There
was the sound of scrambling about in the outer cave and then it seemed as if
the men were all outside again. “We’d better just hunt about and see if there
are any more caves,” said one man. "Look, that seems like one!”
“That’s
the cave where we put the hens when the trippers came!” whispered Jack. “It’s
got no passage leading to our inner cave here. They can explore that all they
like.”
The
men did explore it, but as it was just a cave and nothing else, and had no
passage leading out of it, they soon left it. Then they found the cave with the
low-down, tiny entrance - the one the children used to squeeze into when they
wanted to go to their inner cave - but, as Jack had said, the entrance was too
small for any grown up to use, and, after trying once or twice, the men gave it
up.
“No
one could get in there except a rabbit,” said a man’s voice.
“Children
could,” said another.
“Now
look here, Tom, if we find children on this island now, I’ll eat my hat!” said
the first man. “There’s no boat, to begin with - and we really haven’t found
anything except runner beans, which might have been dropped by birds, and a
funny sort of sandy yard - and you can’t tell me children are clever enough to
live here day after day, and yet vanish completely, leaving no trace behind, as
soon as we come! No, no - no children are as clever as that!”
“I
think you’re right,” said Tom. “Come on, let’s go. I’m tired of this island
with its strange noises. The sooner we get back home, the better I’ll be
pleased. Where those children have gone just beats me. I wish we could find
them. There’s such a surprise waiting
for
them!”
The
voices grew distant as the men went down the hill to the beach, where they had
put their boat. Jack crept quietly through the low passage into the small cave
with the tiny entrance. He put his ear down to the entrance and listened. The
sound of voices floated up to him. He heard the sound of oars being put ready.
He heard the sound of the boat being pushed on to the water. Then came the
sound of splashing.
“They’re
going!” he called. "They really are!”
The
others crowded round Jack. Then, when he thought it was safe, they all squeezed
out of the tiny cave entrance and crept out on the hillside. Well hidden in the
tall bracken, they watched the boatful of men being rowed away - away - away!
The splashing of the oars, and the men’s voices, came clearly to the four
children as they stood there.
Nora
suddenly began to cry. The excitement had been so great, and she had been so
brave, that now she felt as if she must cry and cry and cry. And then Peggy
began - and even Mike and Jack felt their eyes getting wet! This was dreadful -
but oh, it was such a glorious feeling to know they had not been discovered,
and that their dear little island, their secret island, was their very own
again.
A
low and mournful noise came from the inside of the hill - it was poor old Daisy
the cow, sad at being left alone in the cave.
The
children couldn’t help laughing now! “Do you remember how Daisy frightened
those men!” chucked Jack.
“She
frightened me too,” said Peggy. “Honestly, I nearly jumped out of my skin - if
my dress hadn’t been well buttoned up I believe I would have jumped right out
of myself!”
That
made the others laugh still more - and half-laughing, half-crying, they sat
down on the hillside to wait till the boat was out of sight.
“I
really thought they’d found us when that man got up to the part we had blocked
up,” said Jack.
“Yes
- it was a jolly good thing we did block it up!” said Peggy. “We would most
certainly have been found if we hadn’t!”
“And
it was a good thing Mike sank the boat,” said Nora. “If they had found a boat
here they would have gone on looking for us till they’d found us.”
“I
wonder what they meant when they said that such a surprise was waiting for us,”
said Mike. “It couldn’t have been a nice surprise, I suppose?”
“Of
course not!” said Peggy.
“They’re
almost out of sight,” said Nora. “Do you think it’s safe to get up and do a dance
or something, Jack? I’m just longing to shout and sing and dance after being
shut up in the cave for so long!”
“Yes,
we’re safe enough now,” said Jack. “They won’t come back. We can settle into
the caves for the winter quite happily.”
“Shall
we light a fire on the beach and have a good hot meal?” said Peggy. “I think we
could all do with one!”
“Right,”
said Jack, and they set to work. Nora sang and danced about as she helped to
fetch things. She felt so happy to think that they were safe, and that their
secret island was their very own once more.
Soon
they were eating as if they had never had a meal in their lives before. Then a
loud moo from the hillside reminded them that Daisy was still there. So,
leaving the girls to clear up, Jack sped off with Mike to get out Daisy and the
hens.
“You’re
a good old cow, Daisy,” Jack said to her, rubbing her soft nose. “We hoped you
wouldn’t moo when those men were hunting for us - but you knew better, and you
mooed at them - and sent them off!”
The
days were much shorter now, and night came early. It did not seem long before
the sun went and the stars shone out in the sky. The children fetched the
lantern from the cave and, taking their book, they went to Willow House. It was
Nora’s turn to read, and they all lay and listened to her. It was pleasant in
Willow House with the lantern shining down softly, and the smell of the heather
and bracken rising up. It was nice to be together and to know that the great
hunt was over and they were safe.
“I’m
sleepy,” said Jack, at last. “Let’s have some chocolate and a last talk and go
to bed. You know, we shall soon have to think seriously of going to live in the
caves. It won’t be nice weather much longer!”
“We’ll
decide everything to-morrow,” said Mike sleepily, munching his chocolate.
They
were soon asleep, for the day’s excitement had quite tired them out. But how
lovely it was to wake the next day and know that the hunt was over and that
they were safe for the winter. How they sang and joked and teased one another
as they went down to bathe!
"Oooh!”
said Nora, as she slipped into the water. “It’s getting jolly cold to bathe in
the lake, Jack. Have we got to do this all the winter?”
“Of
course not,” said Jack. “We’ll have to give it up soon - but it’s nice whilst
it’s warm enough.”
That
week the weather became really horrid. Storms swept over the lake and the
children thought it looked just like the sea, with its big waves curling over
and breaking on the beach with a crash. The waves ran right up the beach and it
was impossible to make a fire there. The children got soaked with rain, and had
to dry their clothes as best they could by a fire they lighted outside the big
cave. This was a good place for a fire, because the wind usually blew from the
other direction and the fire was protected by the hill itself.
“I
think we’ll have to give up Willow House now and go to live in the caves,” said
Jack one morning, after a very wild night. The wind had slashed at the trees
all night long, the rain had poured down, and, to the children’s dismay, a
little rivulet of rain had actually come into Willow House from the back and
had soaked the heather bed Peggy and Nora were lying on. The girls had had to
get up in the middle of the night and go to the front room, where the boys slept.
This was a squash, but the front room was dry.
The
leaves were falling from the trees. Every tree and bush had flamed out into
yellow, crimson, pink, brown, or orange. The island was a lovely sight to see
when the sun came out for an hour or two, for then its rays lighted up all the
brilliant leaves, and they shone like jewels. But now the leaves were falling.
Leaves
were dropping down in Willow House from the branches that made the roof. It was
funny to lie in bed at night and feel a leaf drop lightly on to your cheek.
Willow House looked different now that there were so few green or yellow leaves
growing on the roof and walls. It was bare and brown.
Nora
caught a cold and began to sneeze. Jack said they must move to the caves at
once, or they would all get cold - and if they were ill, what would happen?
There was no doctor to make them well!
They
dosed Nora with hot milk and wrapped her up in the two new blankets Jack had
bought in the village one week when he had been marketing. They set her at the
back of the outer cave, with a candle beside her, for it was dim in that
corner. She soon got better, and was able to help the others when they made
their plans for living in the cave.
“We’ll
make this outer cave our living-room and bedroom!” Jack said, “and the inner
one shall be our storeroom. We’ll always have a fire burning at the entrance,
and that will warm us and cook our food. This is going to be rather fun! We
shall be cave-people this winter!”
Days
in the Cave
That
week the children made all their plans for passing the winter in the cave.
Already all their stores were safely placed in the inner cave. It was just a
question of getting the outer cave comfortable and home-like. Peggy was
wonderful at this sort of thing.
“You
two boys must make a few shelves to put round the cave,” she said. “You can
weave them out of stout twigs, and put them up somehow. We will keep our books
and games there, and any odd things we want. You must somehow manage to hang
the lantern from the middle of the roof. Then, in the corner over here we will
have our beds of heather and bracken. You boys can bring that in, too. If it’s
wet we’ll dry it by the fire. The bracken is getting old and dry now - it
should make a fine bed.”
Peggy
swept up the floor of the cave with a brush made of heather twigs, and then she
and Nora threw fine sand on it which they had brought from the beach. It looked
very nice. The boys brought in the heather and bracken for the beds. Peggy
arranged them comfortably, and then threw a blanket over each bed but one.
There were only three blankets - two new ones and one old one - so it looked as
if someone must go without.
“What’s
the fourth bed going to have for a blanket?” asked Jack.
And
then Peggy brought out a great surprise! It was a fur rug, made of rabbit skins
that she had carefully cleaned, dried, and sewn together! How the others
stared!
“But
how lovely, Peggy!” said Jack. “It’s a most beautiful fur rug, and will be as
warm as toast. We’ll take it in turns to have it on at night.”
“Yes,
that’s what I thought,” said Peggy, pleased to find the others admired her
rabbit rug so much. “It was very hard to sew the skins together, but I did it
at last. I thought it would be a nice surprise for when the cold weather came!”
Soon
the cave began to look very homely indeed. The shelves were weighed down with
the books and games. The lantern swung in the middle, and they all knocked
their heads against it before they became used to it there! The beds lay neatly
in the corners at the back, covered with blankets and the rabbit rug. In
another corner stood the household things that Peggy was always using - the
kettle, the saucepans, and so on.
And
then Jack brought out a surprise - a nice little table he had made by himself!
He had found the old plank the children had brought with them months ago when
they first came to the island, and had managed, by means of a saw he had bought
during his marketing, to make a good little table for Peggy!
It
was a bit wobbly. The four legs were made of tree branches, the straightest
Jack could find, but it was difficult to get them just right. He had sawn the
plank into pieces, and nailed them together to make a square top to the table,
and this was very good. Peggy was delighted!
“Now
we can have meals on the table!” she cried. “Oh, that will be nice! And I can
do my mending on the table, too - it will be much easier than crouching on the
floor!”
“But
what about chairs?” asked Nora. “You can’t sit up to the table without chairs!”
“I’m
making stools,” said Jack - and so he was! He had found an old tree broken in
two by the wind on the other side of the hill. With his saw he was sawing up
the trunk, and each piece he sawed out was like a solid stool - just a piece of
the tree-trunk, but nice and smooth to sit on!
The
days passed very happily as they made the cave into a home. It was fun to sit
on their little stools beside Jack’s table and eat their meals properly there.
It was fun to watch the fire burning at the entrance of the cave, getting
brighter and brighter as night came on. It was lovely to lie on a soft heathery
bed at the back of the cave, covered by a warm blanket or rabbit rug, and watch
the fire gradually die down to a few glowing embers.
It
was very cosy in the cave when the wind howled round the hillside. The light
from the lantern shone down, and sometimes Peggy had an extra candle beside her
when she sewed. The boys scraped at a bit of wood, carving something, or played
a game with Nora. Sometimes they read out loud. The fire burnt brightly and
lighted up the cave brilliantly every now and again when extra big flames shot
up. It was great fun.
There
was always plenty to do. Daisy still had to be milked each morning and evening.
She seemed quite happy living in the grassy field, and the boys had built her a
sort of shelter where she went at night. There were the hens to feed and look
after. They were in a yard near the cave now. They were not laying so many
eggs, but the children had plenty of stores and did not worry about eggs.
There
was the usual cooking, washing, and clearing-up to do. There was water to be
got from the spring. There was firewood to hunt for and pile up. Peggy liked to
find pine-cones because they burnt up beautifully and made such a nice smell.
November
passed by. Sometimes there was lovely fine days when the children could sit out
on the hillside and bask in the sun. Sometimes there were windswept days when
the rain pelted down and the clouds raced across the sky, black and ragged.
Then the lake was tossed into white-topped waves.
Mike
and Jack had got the boat up again and mended it. They had pulled it up the
beach as far as they could to be out of reach of the waves.
When
December came, the children began to think of Christmas. It would be strange to
have Christmas on the island!
“We’ll
have to decorate the cave with holly,” said Jack. “There are two holly-trees on
the island, and one has red berries on. But there is no mistletoe.”
“Christmas
will be funny with only just ourselves,” said Peggy. “I don’t know if I will
like it. I like hearing carols sung, and seeing the shops all full of lovely
things, and looking forward to Christmas stockings and crackers, and things
like that.”
“Before
our Daddy and Mummy flew off in their aeroplane and got lost, we used to have
Christmas with them,” Nora said to Jack. “It was lovely then. I remember it
all!”
“I
wish Daddy and Mummy hadn’t gone away and got lost for ever,” said Mike. “I did
love them - they were so jolly and happy.”
Jack
listened as the three children told him all they had done at Christmas-time
when their father and mother had been with them. He had always lived with with
his old grandfather, who had never bothered about Christmas. To Jack this all
seemed wonderful. How Mike, and Nora, and Peggy must miss all the gay and lovely
things they used to do when they had their father and mother with them!
The
boy listened and made up his mind about something. He would take the boat and
row off to the end of the lake just before Christmas. He still had some money -
and with that he would buy crackers, a doll for Nora, a new work-box for Peggy,
something for Mike, and some oranges and sweets! They should have a fine
Christmas!
He
said nothing to the others about it. He knew that they would be terribly afraid
that he might be caught again. But he did not mean to go to the same village as
before. He meant to walk to the one five miles away, where he would not be
known, and buy what he wanted there. He was sure he would be safe, for he meant
to be very careful indeed!
December
crept on. The days were dull and dreary. Jack planned to go off in the boat one
morning. He would tell the others he was just going for a row to get himself
warm. He would not tell them about his great surprise for them!
A
good day came when the pale wintry sun shone down, and the sky was a watery
blue. Peggy was busy clearing up after breakfast. Mike meant to rebuild Daisy’s
shelter, which had been rather blown about by the wind. Nora was going to look
for pine-cones.
“What
are you going to do, Jack?” asked Peggy.
“Oh,”
said Jack, “I think I’ll take the old boat out and go for a row to get myself
warm. I haven’t rowed for ages!”
“I’ll
come with you, Jack,” said Nora.
But
Jack didn't want anyone with him! “No, Nora,” he said, “you go out and look for
cones. I shall be gone a good while. Peggy, could you let me have some food to
take with me?”
“Food!”
said Peggy in amazement. “However long are you going for, Jack?”
“Oh,
just a few hours,” said Jack. “Some exercise will do me good. I’ll take my
fishing-line, too.”
“Well,
put on your overcoat, then,” said Peggy; “you’ll be cold out on the windy
lake.”
She
put some rolls and a hard-boiled egg into a basket, together with a bottle of
milk. Jack said goodbye and set off down the hillside. Nora came with him, half
sulky at not being allowed to go in the boat.
“You
might let me come, Jack,” she said.
“You
can’t come to-day, Nora,” said Jack. "You will know why when I come back!”
He
pushed off and rowed out on to the lake, which was not very rough that day. He
rowed hard, and Nora soon left the beach and went to seek for cones. She
thought she would try and see where Jack was fishing, after a time, and went to
the top of the hill - but, try as she would, she could see no sign of the boat.
She thought that very strange.
Hours
went by, and Jack did not come back. The others waited for him, wondering why
he had gone off alone and why he had not come back.
“Do
you think he’s gone to the village again to get anything?” asked Peggy at last.
“Nora says she couldn’t see his boat anywhere on the lake when she looked - and
if he was fishing anywhere near, we should easily see him!”
“Oh,
dear!” said Mike, worried. “If he goes to that village he’ll be caught again!”
But
Jack hadn’t been caught. Something else had happened - something very
extraordinary!
Jack
Has a Great Surprise
We
must go back to Jack and find out what had been happening to him. He had been
such a long time away from the island - far longer than he would have been if
he had just gone shopping. What could have kept him?
Well,
he had got safely in the boat to the far end of the lake, and had tied the boat
up to a tree. Then he had slipped through the wood, and taken the road that led
to the distant village, five miles away. It would take him nearly an hour and a
half to get there, but what fun it would be to do a bit of shopping again!
The
boy padded along the wintry road. It was muddy and cold, but he was as warm as
toast. He jingled his money in his pocket and wondered if he could buy all he
wanted to. He did badly want to get a doll for Nora, for he knew how much she
would love it!
He
carried the food Peggy had given him, and, when he got near the village, he sat
up on a gate and ate it. Then off he went again. He did not think anyone would
know him to be one of the runaways, for surely people had forgotten all about
them by now! lt was half a year since they had first run off to the island! But
he was keeping a sharp look out in case he saw anyone looking at him too
closely!
He
went into the village. It was a big, straggling one, with a small High Street
running down the middle. There were about six shops there. Jack went to look at
them. He left the toy and sweet shop till last. He looked at the turkeys in the
butcher’s shop, some with red ribbons on. He looked into the draper’s shop and
admired the gay streamers that floated all about it to decorate it for
Christmas. It was fun to see shops again.
And
then he came to the toy shop. It was lovely! Dolls stood in the window with
their arms stretched out as if they were asking people to buy them. A railway
train ran on lines. A little Father Christmas stood in the middle, carrying a
sack. Boxes of chocolate, tins of toffee, and big bottles of gay-coloured
sweets were in the shop, too.
Jack
stood gazing, wondering which doll to buy for Nora. He had already seen a nice
little work-basket for Peggy, and had spied a book for Mike about boats. There
was a box of red crackers at the back of the window, too, which he thought
would do well for Nora. It would be such fun to pull them on Christmas Day in
the cave, and wear paper hats there!
Jack
went into the shop. It had two or three other people there, for the shop was a
post-office, too, and people were sending off Christmas parcels. The shopgirl
was weighing them - and it was a long business. Jack waited patiently, looking
round at all the toys.
The
people in the shop were talking to one another. At first Jack did not listen -
and then he heard something that made him prick up his ears.
This
is what he heard:
“Yes,
it’s a great pity those children were never found,” said one woman. “Their
father and mother are quite ill with grief, I’ve heard.”
“Poor
things,” said the second woman. “It’s bad enough to come down in an aeroplane
on a desert island, and not be found for two years - and then to come back safe
to see your children - and learn that they’ve disappeared!”
Jack’s
eyes nearly dropped out of his head. What did this mean? Could it possibly -
possibly - mean that Mike’s father and mother had turned up again? Forgetting
all about being careful, Jack caught hold of the arm of the first woman.
“Please,”
he said, “please tell me something. Were the three children you are talking
about called Mike, Peggy, and Nora - and is it their father and mother that
have come back?”
The
women in the shop stared at the excited boy in astonishment. “Yes,” said the
first woman. “Those were the children’s names. They disappeared in June with
another boy, called Jack, and have never been found. And in August the missing
father and mother were found far away on a Pacific Island, and brought back
safely here. Their aeroplane had come down and smashed, and they had been
living there until a ship picked them up.”
“But
their children had gone,” said the shop-girl, joining in, “and it almost broke
their hearts, for they had been worrying about them for months and longing to
see them.”
“What
do you know about all this?” suddenly said one of the women. “You’re not one of
the children, are you?”
“Never
mind about that,” said Jack. “Just tell me one thing - where are the father and
mother?”
“They
are not far away,” said the shop-girl. “They are staying at a hotel in the next
town, hoping that the children will still be heard of.”
“What
hotel?” said Jack eagerly.
“The
Swan Hotel,” said the shop-girl, and then the women stared in amazement as Jack
tore out of the shop at top speed, his eyes shining, and a look of the greatest
excitement on his brown face!
He
ran to the bus-stop. He knew that buses went to the town, and he had only one
thought in his mind - to get to the Swan Hotel and tell Mike’s father and
mother that their children were safe! Never in his life had Jack been so
excited. To think that things would all come right like this, and he, Jack, was
the one to tell the father and mother!
He
jumped into the bus, and could not keep still. He leapt out of it when it
rumbled into the town and ran off to the Swan Hotel. He rushed into the hall
and caught hold of the hall-porter there.
“Where
are Captain and Mrs. Arnold?” he cried. Mike had often told him that his father
was a captain, and he knew that the children’s surname was Arnold - so he knew
quite well whom to ask for.
“Here,
here, not so fast, young man,” said the porter, not quite liking the look of
the boy in the old overcoat and worn-out shoes. “What do you want the Captain
for?”
“Oh,
tell me, please, where are they?” begged Jack - and at that moment a man’s
voice said:
“Who’s
this asking for me? What do you want, boy?”
Jack
swung round. He saw a tall, brown-faced man looking down at him, and he liked
him at once, because he was so like Mike to look at.
“Captain
Arnold! I know where Mike and Peggy and Nora are!” he cried.
The
Captain stared as if he had not heard aright. Then he took Jack’s arm and
pulled him upstairs into a room where a lady sat, writing a letter. Jack could
see she was the children’s mother, for she had a look of Peggy and Nora about
her. She looked kind and strong and wise, and Jack wished very much that she
was his mother, too.
“This
boy says he knows where the children are, Mary,” said the Captain.
What
excitement there was then! Jack poured out his story and the two grown-ups
listened without saying a word. When he had finished, the Captain shook hands
with Jack, and his wife gave him a hug.
“You’re
a fine friend for our children to have!” said the Captain, his face shining
with excitement. “And you really mean to say that you have all been living
together on that little island and nobody has found you?”
“Yes,”
said Jack, “and oh, sir, is it true that you and Mrs. Arnold have been living
on an island, too, till a ship picked you up?”
“Quite
true,” said Captain Arnold, with a laugh. “Our ’plane came down and smashed -
and there we were, lost on an island in the Pacific Ocean! Little did we know that
our children were going to live alone on an island, too! This sort of thing
must be in the family!”
“John,
we must go at once to them,” said Mrs. Arnold, who was almost crying with joy.
“Quickly, this very minute. I can’t wait!”
“We’d
better get a proper boat,” said Jack. “Our old boat is a leaky old thing now.”
It
wasn’t long before a car was brought round to the door, and Jack, Captain and
Mrs. Arnold were motoring to the lakeside. They hired a big boat from a
fisherman there, and set off to the secret island. Jack wondered and wondered
what the children would say!
Meanwhile
the three children were getting more and more worried! It was past tea-time
now, and getting dark. Where could Jack be?
“I
can hear the splash of oars!” cried Peggy at last. They ran down to the beach,
and saw the outline of the boat in the twilight coming near to the island. And
then Mike saw that it was a bigger boat than their own - and there were three
people in it, instead of one!
“That
means Jack’s been caught - and these people have been sent to get us!” he
thought, and his heart sank. But then, to his amazement, he heard Jack’s clear
voice ringing out over the darkening water.
“Mike!
Peggy! Nora! It’s all right! I’ve brought a Christmas present for you!”
The
three children stared. Whatever could Jack mean? But when the boat landed, and
Captain and Mrs. Arnold sprang out, they soon knew!
“Mummy!
Oh, Mummy! And Daddy!” shrieked the children, and flung themselves at their
father and mother. You couldn’t tell which were children and which were
grown-ups, because they were all so mixed up. Only Jack was alone. He stood
apart, looking at them - but not for long. Nora stretched out her hand and
pulled him into the crowd of excited, happy people.
“You
belong, too, Jack,” she said.
Everyone
seemed to be laughing and crying at the same time. But at last it was so dark
that no one could see anyone else. Jack lighted the lantern that Mike had
brought down to the beach, and led the way to the cave. He badly wanted Captain
and Mrs. Arnold to see how lovely it was.
They
all crowded inside. There was a bright fire crackling just outside, and the
cave was warm and cosy. Jack hung the lantern up and placed two wooden stools
for the children’s parents. Peggy flew to heat some milk, and put out rolls of
bread and some potted meat she had been saving up for Christmas. She did so
want her mother to see how nicely she could do things, even though they all
lived in a cave!
“What
a lovely home!” said Mrs. Arnold, as she looked round and saw the shelves, the
stools, the table, the beds, and everything. The cave was very neat and tidy,
and looked so cosy and friendly. How they all talked! How they jumped up and
down and laughed and told first this thing and then the other! Only one thing
made Captain and Mrs. Arnold angry - and that was the tale of how unkind Aunt
Harriet and Uncle Henry had been.
“They
shall be punished,” said Captain Arnold, and that was all he said about them.
Daisy
chose to moo loudly that night, and Captain Arnold laughed till the tears came
into his eyes when he heard about the night that poor Daisy had had to swim
behind the boat to the island! And when he heard how she had mooed and
frightened away the people who had come to look for them, he laughed still
more!
“Somebody
will have to write a book about your adventures.” he said. “I never in my life
heard anything like them. We didn’t have such thrilling adventures on our
island! We just lived with the native people there till a boat picked us up!
Very dull indeed!”
Jack
disappeared at that moment, and when he came back he carried a great load of
heather. He flung it down in a corner.
“You’ll
stay with us to-night, won’t you, Captain?” he said. “We’d love to have you.
Please do.”
“Of
course! ” said Captain Arnold. And Mrs. Arnold nodded her dark head. “We will
all be together in the cave," she said. “Then we shall share a bit of your
secret island, children, and know what it is like.”
So
that night the children had visitors! They all fell asleep on their heather
beds at last, happy, excited, and very tired. What fun to wake up to-morrow
with their own father and mother beside them!
The
End of the Adventure
Mike
awoke first in the morning. He sat up and remembered everything. There were his
father and mother, fast asleep on their heathery bed in the corner of the cave!
It was true then - he hadn’t dreamt it all! They were alive and well, and had
got their children again - everything was lovely.
Mike
crept out to light the fire. He could not possibly go to sleep again. The day
was just creeping in at the cave entrance. The sky was a very pale blue, and
the sun was trying to break through a thin mist in the east. It was going to be
fine!
When
the fire was crackling merrily everyone woke up. Nora flung herself on her
mother, for she could not believe she really had a mother again, and had to
keep hugging her and feeling her. Soon the cave was filled with talk and
laughter.
Peggy
and Nora got the breakfast. Mike showed his father the inner cave and their
stores. Jack flew off to milk Daisy. The hens clucked outside, and Nora fetched
in four brown eggs.
Fish
from Jack’s line, eggs, rolls, the rest of the potted meat, and a tin of
peaches made a fine breakfast, washed down with hot tea. The fire died down and
the sunshine came in at the cave entrance. Everyone went outside to see what
sort of a day it was.
The
lake sparkled blue below. The bare trees swung gently in the breeze. Nora told
her mother all about the wild raspberries and strawberries and nuts, and Peggy
chattered about the seeds they had planted, and the baskets they could make.
And
then Captain Arnold said, “Well, I think it’s about time we were going.”
The
children looked up at him. “Going! What do you mean, Daddy? Leave our island?”
“My
dears,” said Captain Arnold, “you can’t live here always - besides, there is no
need for you to, now. You are not runaways any more. You are our own children
that we love, and we must have you with us.”
“Yes,”
said Mrs. Arnold. “We must all go back to a proper home, and you must go to
school, my dears. You have been very brave and very clever - and very happy,
too - and now you can have a lovely home with us, and we will all be happy
together.”
“But
what about Jack?” asked Nora, at once.
“Jack
is ours, too,” said Mrs. Arnold. “I am sure his grandfather will be glad for us
to have him for always. He shall have me for his mother, and your father shall
be his, too! We will all be one big family!”
Jack
wanted to say such a lot but he couldn’t say a single word. It was very
strange. His face just went red with joy, and he held Nora’s hand so tightly
that he hurt her without meaning to. He was just about the happiest boy in the
world at that moment.
“Mummy,
I shall so hate leaving our dear, dear island,” said Nora. “And Willow House,
too - and our cosy cave and the bubbling spring - and everything.”
“I
think I might be able to buy the island for you,” said Daddy. “Then, in the
holidays you can always come here and run wild and live by yourselves if you
want to. It shall be your very own.”
“Oh,
Daddy!” shouted the children, in delight. “We shan’t mind going to school and
being proper and living in a house if we’ve got the island to go back to in the
holidays! Oh, what fun it will be!”
“But
I think you must leave it now and come back home for Christmas,” said Mrs.
Arnold. “We have our own old home to go back to - you remember it, don’t you?
Don’t you think it would be nice to have Christmas there - and a Christmas
pudding - and crackers - and stockings full of presents?”
“Yes,
yes, yes!” shouted all the children.
“It’s
just what I longed for!” said Nora.
“I
was going to buy you some red crackers yesterday, Nora,” said Jack, "but I
heard the great news before I had bought anything!”
“You
shall all have red crackers!” said Captain Arnold, with a laugh. “Now, what
about getting off in the boat?”
“Just
give us time to say good-bye to everything,” said Peggy. “Mummy, come down and
see Willow House. We made it ourselves and it’s so pretty in the summer,
because you see, it’s a live house, and grows leaves all the time!”
In
an hour’s time everyone was ready to leave. The hens were bundled once more
into a sack and were most annoyed about it. Daisy was left, and Captain Arnold
said he would send a fisherman over for her. It was too cold for her to swim
behind the boat. Most of the children’s stores were left, too. They would be
able to use them when they next went to the island.
Peggy
took the rabbit-rug she had made. That was too precious to leave. They brought
the books too, because they had got fond of those. They had stored everything
carefully in the inner cave, and thrown sacks over them in case of damp. They
couldn’t help feeling a bit sad to leave, although they knew they were going to
their own happy home again.
At
last everyone was in the boat. Captain Arnold pushed off and the sound of oars
came to Daisy’s ears as she stood pulling at the thin winter grass. She stood
watching the boat as it bobbed away on the waves.
“Good-bye,
dear secret island,” said Nora.
“Good-bye,
good-bye!” said the others. “We’ll come back again! Good-bye, Daisy, good-bye,
everything!”
“And
now let’s talk about all we’re going to do at Christmas-time,” said Mrs.
Arnold, cheerfully, for she saw that the children were sad at leaving their
beloved little island.
It
was not long before the four children and their father and mother (for Jack
counted them as his parents too, now) were settled happily in their own home.
There was such a lot of excitement at first, for the children had to have new
dresses, new suits, new underclothes, new stockings, new shoes! Mrs. Arnold
said that although Peggy had really done her best to keep them tidy, they were
quite dropping to pieces!
So
off they went shopping, and came back feeling as grand as kings and queens, all
dressed up in their new things! Peggy looked fine in a blue coat and skirt with
a little blue hat. Nora wore red, and the two boys had suits and overcoats of
dark blue.
Jack
felt queer in his. It was the first time in his life he had ever had anything new
of his own to wear, for he had always gone about in somebody’s old things
before! He felt very grand indeed.
The
children looked at one another and burst out laughing.
“How
different we look now!” said Mike. “Think of our dirty old rags on the island!
But it’s good to be really properly dressed again - and the girls do look
nice!”
It
was strange at first to sleep in a proper bed again. The girls slept in a
pretty room and had a little white bed each. The boys slept in the next room,
and had two brown beds. At first they all wondered where they were when they
awoke in the morning, but after a few days they got used to it.
Christmas
drew near. They all went out to buy presents for one another. It was most
exciting. They went to London and marvelled at the great shops there. They
watched all kinds of ships and boats sailing along in a big tank. They saw
clockwork trains tearing round and round a little countryside, going through
tunnels, stopping at stations, just like a real train. It was all very exciting
after living such a peaceful life on the island.
Christmas
was lovely. They hung up their stockings at the ends of their beds - and in the
morning what fun they had finding the things packed tightly in the long
stockings! Tiny dolls in the girls’ stockings, oranges, sweets, nuts,
needle-books and balls - and in the boys’ were all kinds of things, too. Bigger
presents were at the foot of the bed, and how excited all the children were
unpacking them!
“This
is better than Christmas in the cave!” said Nora, unpacking a great big smiling
doll with curly golden hair. “Oh, Jack! Did you really buy this for me? Oh, how
lovely, lovely, lovely!”
Soon
the bedrooms were full of dolls, books, trains, balls, aeroplanes and
motor-cars! It was the loveliest Christmas morning the children had ever had -
and certainly Jack had never in his life known one like it! He just simply
couldn’t believe his luck.
“You
deserve it all, Jack,” said Nora. “You were a good friend to us when we were
unhappy - and now you can share with us when we are happy.”
There
was a Christmas-tree after tea, with more presents - and as for the crackers,
you should have seen them! Red ones and yellow ones, blue ones and green ones!
Soon everyone was wearing a gay cap, and how the children laughed when Captain
Arnold pulled a cracker and got a tiny aeroplane out of it!
“Well,
you can’t fly away in that, Daddy,” cried Peggy.
“You
won’t ever fly away again, Daddy, will you?” said Nora, suddenly frightened in
case her father and mother should fly off again and be lost, so that the four
children would be alone once more.
“No,
never again,” said her father. “Mummy and I have made such a lot of money out
of our flying now, that we can afford to stay at home and look after you. We
shall never leave you again!”
It
was four happy children who went to bed that night. The boys left the door open
between their room and the girls’, so that they might all talk to one another
till they fell asleep. They could not get out of this habit, for they had
always been able to talk to one another in bed on the island.
“It’s
been a lovely day,” said Peggy sleepily. “But I do just wish something now.”
“What?”
asked Mike.
“I
do just wish we could all be back in our cosy cave on our secret island for
five minutes,” said Peggy.
“So
do I,” said everyone, and they lay silent, thinking of the happy days and
nights on the island.
“I
shall never, never forget our island,” said Nora. “It’s the loveliest place in
the world, I think. I hope it isn’t feeling lonely without us! Good-night,
secret island! Wait for us till we come again!”
“Good-night,
secret island!” said the others. And then they slept, and dreamt of their
island - of the summer days when they would go there once more, and live
merrily and happily alone, in the hot sunshine - of winter days in the cosy
cave - of cooking over a camp fire - and sleeping soundly on heathery beds.
Dear secret island, only wait, and you shall have the children with you once
again!
THE
END