The Mystery of Adventure Island (11 page)

With the wind in the other direction, the boys could only hear scraps of the conversation between them. Words like food, torch, and rope.

The talking subsided. Peeking around the hill, Joe saw Marvin leave the quarry and disappear into the bushes.
But
where was Luke? Looking in the opposite direction, Joe saw that he was sitting in the same spot as Marvin had been sitting.

Joe turned to Will. “We have to do something before Marvin gets back. We can’t do anything if they’re both here, but we might be able to outsmart one of them.”

“What about throwing a rock?” Will suggested.

“But we tried that and it didn’t work,” Joe replied.

“We’re closer now,” Will
said
. “If we threw it from here, it would have to go past those bushes. I’m sure it would give us enough time to go down the shaft.”

Since Joe was unable to come up with a better plan, he decided to give it one more attempt. After finding a rock, Will took aim and hurled it. As soon as Luke moved, so did
they
.

Reaching the shaft first, Joe climbed down. Will glanced over at Luke before he climbed down and was relieved to see that he was still behind the bushes. He breathed a sigh of relief as he followed his friend down into the darkness.

Joe switched on his torch and shone it around. The girls were nowhere in sight.

After deciding to go down the nearest tunnel, the boys walked along it, calling as they went. They
hadn’t
gone far before a light was shone upon them and voices cried out.

It was the girls. They hugged the boys, relieved that help had arrived.

“How did you find us?” Sarah asked.

“When you didn’t show up at the tree house, Will and I went searching,” Joe said. “When we saw a man sitting near the quarry shaft, we put two and two together.”

 
“Is the man still waiting?” Amy asked.

“Yes, but I’ve thought of a way to get out,” Joe replied.

~

Five minutes later, Sarah poked her head through the top of the shaft and called out to Luke, startling him.
“Help!
My sister’s in trouble.”

Luke hurried over. “Show me the way.”

The two climbed down the shaft, stopping when they reached the bottom. Sarah turned to Luke. “She’s this way.”

Sarah walked quickly down a tunnel and, as she heard Luke following behind, she grinned. She counted the corners to herself as she went around them.
“One, two, three.”

A few seconds passed and then she heard Luke cry out. She turned around as he fell down, landing on the dirt.

A second later, the boys appeared with Amy. “Come on!” They turned and raced back up the tunnel with Sarah following close behind.

Upon reaching the ladder, the girls went up first, and then Will. Joe glanced back down the tunnel and was glad that the man
couldn’t
be seen. Without a torch, he would be much slower than
them
and, Joe hoped, that would give them enough time to get to the campsite unseen.

~

Arriving back at the campsite, Will looked towards the cave. “We need to see if there’s any way to get the Lazy Lucy to sail again. The men will start searching this island from top to bottom soon, and it would be best if
we’re
away by then. But there’s no need for everyone to get their feet wet.”

Will
turned
towards the girls. “If you could pack up the tent and everything else, that would be helpful.”

Amy nodded.
“Will do.”
As she and Sarah went to work, the boys took off their shoes and socks and waded into the water.

They went into the cave and approached the boat. It had more water in it than before since it
wasn’t
low tide, and Will frowned as he climbed over the side and walked around. “I was thinking that we might have been able to bail out the water as we sailed along, but even with all four of us doing that, I’m not sure if that would work.”

“Well, in order for us to try that, we’d have to get it out of this cave first,”
Joe
said.

“What’s the problem with that?” Will asked.

“Well, the only reason that the Lazy Lucy isn’t sinking now is that it’s in shallow water,” Joe replied. “As soon as we move it out of the cave, it will be in deeper water.”

“So we’ll have to do it at low tide exactly,” Will
said
. “And we’ll only get one chance at it.”

“Yes.” Joe waded out of the cave as he continued talking. “We still have another two hours or so until low tide, so hopefully we can hide till then.”

The boys dried themselves and joined the girls in having tinned fruit. They told the girls what they had discussed and, afterwards, the girls told them that they had packed up everything except one tent that they
couldn’t
get down.

After Will finished eating, he went over to the tent. With Joe’s help, he started taking it apart while the girls washed the dishes in the nearby water.

Suddenly, they heard voices coming towards them. Amy dropped the dishes and hurried along the sand until she came to a bend. She took one glance around the rocks before she turned and raced back, shouting as she went.
 

Chapter 15: The Raft

 

“The men,” Amy yelled. “They’re coming this way!”

“They must be searching for our boat,” Will
muttered
. “That’s why they’re going along the shore.”

“What shall we do?” Sarah asked.

“Grab whatever you can and head inside the wood.” Will
grabbed
hold of the tent and the rucksack and headed towards the trees.

The others quickly grabbed some tins of food, the matches, the torches, sleeping bags, and a few other
odds and ends
. They had just reached the cover of the trees when the men came into view.

As the men came to a stop, Will realised that they had probably spotted the footprints in the sand and, as they bent down, knew that he was right.

Within moments, the men had found the fireplace along with the tent and the other stuff that the children
hadn’t
had time to grab.

They talked amongst themselves for a matter of minutes as the children watched from the shelter of the bushes, but as the wind was blowing in the opposite direction, they
couldn’t
hear anything.

The men headed back onto the sand and the fellow with the ponytail waded into the water as he went into the cave. He shouted and re-appeared a moment later, smiling.

The children crawled through the bushes until they could see the entrance of the cave and, as they watched, the three men disappeared inside it.

“What do you think they’re going to do?” Amy asked.

“Smash it,” Will
muttered
angrily.

A minute later, the Lazy Lucy appeared as the men pulled it out of the cave. The men grabbed the oars, broke them in half, and hurled them into the water. Then, they dragged the boat deeper into the water.

“That’s the end of her,” Joe said in disappointment as he saw the boat fill with water.

Within a matter of seconds, the boat was
half full
of water and, less than a minute later, it disappeared underneath the swirling water. The men smiled and laughed as they headed back to the campsite.

Motioning for the others to follow him, Will took the tent and rucksack and headed deeper into the trees. Once he was far enough away, he looked at the others. “Those men will stay there until we return, so that’s the end of that campsite.”

“And the end of the Lazy Lucy,” Amy said. “I know it was just a boat, but after we spent all that time fixing her up—”

“And painting her,” Sarah interrupted.

“It was sad to see her disappear,” Amy said. “I don’t suppose we could get her back up when low tide comes?”

Will shook his head. “She’s too deep. Even at low tide, we
couldn’t
raise her off the sand. No, I’m afraid we’ll have to find another way to get off this island.”

“Why don’t we search for the rowboat?” Sarah suggested.
“The one that the men use?”

“Well, we didn’t see it when we searched the island, so I don’t see much point in searching again,” Will
confessed
. “No, we need something different.”

“Hey, what about that pile of wood that we saw near the tree house?” Joe said.

“What about it?” Amy asked.

“Couldn’t we use it to build a raft?” Joe said. “We don’t have a sail so we’ll have to row, but even if we paddled with our hands, we could still get to the mainland. It might take a while, but
it’s
worth a try. Every minute longer that we stay on this island, the greater chance we have of
being caught
by the men. And they’ll be sitting at that campsite for some time, so now’s the perfect opportunity.”

“But that wood is on the other side of the island,” Sarah pointed out. “And the mainland is this side.”

“I know, but it can’t be helped unless we use the branches that are lying around here, but those planks of wood will be a whole lot better than the branches.” Joe turned to Will. “What do you think?”

“Let’s do it. Let’s go now before the men spot us.” Will
grabbed
as much as he could and hurried off.

The others collected what
was left
and followed Will. They trudged through the wood and, before
long,
they were at the tree house. After they had dumped their stuff beside some bushes and hidden it from view with some branches, they searched for the wooden planks.

With each person carrying what they could, they made their way to the beach. This side of the island was
pretty rocky
with cliffs on either side, so it probably wasn’t the best place to launch the raft, but they could still build it here.

Joe dropped his share of the wood. “We’ll need some vines. We have some rope, but not enough.”

Will
turned
to Amy and Sarah. “Why don’t you girls search for some vines?” As the girls raced off, he looked at Joe. “We should find some sturdy branches. This wood
won’t
be enough for the entire raft, so we’ll need some pieces that are the same size as these planks. Let’s get them first.”

The boys hurried away. By the time they arrived back, they saw that the girls had already found some vines and had gone to get more.

Getting to work on the raft, the boys tied the planks together using the rope. They wanted the middle to be the sturdiest, so the vines would be left to last.

From time to
time
they stopped when they heard noises in the nearby bushes, but it either turned out to be the girls or an animal.

Finally, Will pulled tight the last vine and stood up. The raft was finished. “What do you think of it?”

Sarah studied it. “It looks small.”

“As long we can all fit on it I’m happy,” Amy stated. “Besides, the mainland isn’t too far away.”

“What are we going to use as paddles?” Joe asked.

“I left this plank of wood here,” Will said, pointing to a small piece. “It was too small for the raft, so I thought that one of us could use it as a paddle.”

“It’s a pity our oars got broken,” Sarah said.

Will nodded. “We could probably dive down and rescue part of one, but I don’t think it’s worth taking the time or the risk.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s time to go.”

“Are we leaving right now?” Amy asked.

“Yes. The sooner we leave the better,” Will said. “We can carry the raft to…” He paused as he heard a noise. Looking towards the bushes, he waited. This time, instead of an animal, a face with beady eyes appeared. It was Kenneth. As the man yelled out, Will turned to the others. “Help carry it to the water.”

As Kenneth headed towards them, the children took hold of the raft and ran to the water. Luckily, they were quite close. As the raft touched the water, Joe glanced back towards the bushes. The man was now on the rocks and hurrying towards them.