The Sea of Adventure (11 page)

"Oh, I do hope he's there," said Lucy-Ann, shivering as much with worry as with cold.

They dressed quickly, shivering a little, for the sun was hidden behind angry-looking clouds. "I do hope the weather isn't going to break up, just as we've begun such a lovely holiday," said Dinah. "Oh, Huffin, I'm sorry — but you got right under my feet. Did I knock you over?"

The puffin didn't seem to mind having Dinah tread on it. It shook out its wings, said "Arrrrr!" and hurried on after Puffin, who was trying to keep pace with Philip.

They went across the puffin colony, and came to the cleft in the cliffs. There, below them, lay the motor-boat, swaying very gently as waves ran up under her, and then ran back again.

"There she is!" said Dinah in delight. "Bill did take her round to the harbour!"

"He's not on deck," said Jack. "He must be in the cabin. Come on."

"Let's call him," said Lucy-Ann suddenly. "Do let's. I want to know if he's there."

And before the others could stop her she shouted at the top of her voice. "BILL! OH, BILL, ARE YOU THERE?"

No Bill came out from the cabin, and for the first time a little uneasiness crept into the children's minds.

"BILL!" yelled Jack, making everyone jump violently. "BILL! Come on out!"

No sound from the boat. Suddenly panic-stricken, all four children stumbled down the rocky ledges to the boat. They jumped on board and peered down into the little cabin.

"He's not there," said Dinah, scared. "Well, where is he, then?"

"He must be somewhere about, as the boat is still here," said Jack sensibly. "He'll come along soon. Maybe he's exploring somewhere on the island."

They were just turning away when Philip caught sight of something. He stopped and clutched Jack, turning very pale.

"What?" said Jack, frightened. "What's up?"

Silently Philip pointed to the wireless. "Smashed!" he said, in a whisper. "Smashed to bits! Who did it?"

Lucy-Ann began to cry. Jack went up on deck and had a look around, feeling sick and upset. Then Philip gave an anguished howl from the cabin that sent the others running to his side.

"Look! The engine of the boat is smashed up too! Absolutely destroyed. My goodness — what's been happening here?"

"And where is Bill?" said Dinah, in a husky whisper.

"Gone. Kidnapped," said Philip slowly. "Someone came for him in the night. They don't know we're here, I suppose — they just thought Bill was alone. They've got him — and now we're prisoners on Puffin Island and we can't get away!"

Chapter 14

A FEW PLANS

EVERYONE felt suddenly sick. Lucy-Ann sat down in a heap. Dinah joined her. The boys stood staring at the smashed engine as if they couldn't believe their eyes.

"It must be a nightmare," said Dinah at last. "It can't be true. Why — why, everything was right as rain last night — and now . . ."

"Now the boat's smashed up so that we can't get away, the wireless is smashed so that we can't get a message through — and Bill's gone," said Philip. "And it isn't a dream. It's real."

"Let's sit down in the cabin, all together," said Lucy-Ann, wiping her eyes. "Let's sit close and talk. Let's not leave each other at all."

"Poor Lucy-Ann!" said Philip, putting his arm round her, as she sat down unsteadily. "Don't worry. We've been in worse fixes than this."

"We haven't!" said Dinah. "This is the worst fix we've ever been in!"

Kiki felt the tenseness of all the children. She sat quietly on Jack's shoulder, making little comforting noises. Huffin and Puffin sat solemnly on the deck, staring fixedly in front of them. Even they seemed to feel that something awful had happened.

In the cabin, sitting close together, the children felt a little better. Jack rummaged in a tiny cupboard beside him and brought out some bars of chocolate. The children had had no breakfast, and although the shock they had had seemed to have taken their appetites away, they thankfully took the chocolate to nibble.

"Let's try and think out carefully exactly what must have happened," said Jack, giving a bit of his chocolate to Kiki.

"Well — we know that Bill was worried about something," said Philip. "Those planes, for instance. He felt certain something queer was going on up here. And that's why he went out by himself in the boat. He must have been seen."

"Yes — and maybe in some way his enemies got to know he was here," said Dinah. "They could have followed him a long way back, using field glasses to keep him in sight. Anyway — it's quite clear that they came looking for him here."

"And found him," said Jack. "What a pity he went off to tinker with the wireless last night!"

"Well, if he hadn't, the enemy, whoever they are, would probably have searched the island and found us too," said. Dinah. "As it is — they probably don't know we're here."

"It wouldn't matter if they did know," said Lucy-Ann, sniffing. "They'll be quite sure we can't do any harm, living on an island we can't get off!"

"They got here — in a motor-boat probably," went on Jack. "Left the motor-boat out beyond, somewhere — and slipped inshore quietly in a rowing-boat. They must know this little channel — or maybe they saw a light from the boat. Bill would be sure to have the cabin light on, and it's a pretty bright one."

"Yes. And they surprised him and knocked him out, I suppose," said Philip gloomily. "They've taken him away — goodness knows what'll happen to him!"

"They won't — they won't hurt him, will they?" said Lucy-Ann in rather a trembly voice. Nobody answered. Lucy-Ann began to cry again.

"Cheer up, Lucy-Ann," said Philip. "We've been in worse scrapes before, whatever Dinah says. We'll get out of this one all right."

"How?" wept Lucy-Ann. "I don't see how we can! You don't either."

Philip didn't. He scratched his head and looked at Jack.

"Well — we've got to make some kind of plan," said Jack. "I mean — we must make up our minds what we are going to do to try and escape — and what we are going to do till we escape."

"Won't Bill's friends come and look for us when they don't get Bill's messages through?" asked Dinah suddenly.

"Pooh! What would be the good of that?" said Philip at once. "There are hundreds of these little bird-islands here. It might take years visiting and exploring every single one to find us!"

"We could light a fire on the cliff and keep it burning so that any searcher could see the smoke in the daytime and the flames at night," said Dinah excitedly. "You know — like ship-wrecked sailors do."

"Yes, we could," said Jack. "Only — the enemy might see it too — and come along and find us before anyone else does."

There was a silence. Nobody knew who the enemy were. They seemed mysterious and powerful and frightening.

"Well, I can't help it — I think we ought to follow Dinah's plan and light a fire," said Philip at last. "We've got to run the risk of the enemy seeing it and coming to find us. But we simply must do something to help anyone searching for us. We can keep a look-out for the enemy, and hide if they come."

"Hide! Where can we hide?" asked Dinah scornfully. "There isn't a single place on this island for anyone to hide!"

"No, that's true," said Jack. "No caves, no trees, except for those few little birches — and the cliffs too steep to explore. We really are in a fix!"

"Can't we do anything to help Bill?" asked Lucy-Ann dolefully. "I keep on and on thinking of him."

"So do I," said Jack. "But I don't see that we can do much to help ourselves, let alone Bill. Now — if we could escape from here — or wireless for help and get some of Bill's friends along — it would be something. But there doesn't seem anything at all to do except stay here and wait."

"There's plenty of food, anyway," said Dinah. "Stacks of tinned stuff, and biscuits and potted meat, and Nestle's milk and sardines. . . ."

"I think we'd better strip the boat of them," said Jack. "I'm surprised the enemy didn't take what they could with them. Maybe they'll come back for them — so we'll take them first. We can hide them down some of the puffin burrows."

"Let's have a bit of breakfast now," said Philip, feeling better now that they had all talked the matter over and made a few plans. "Open some tins and get some ginger-beer. Come on."

They all felt better still when they had had something to eat and drink. They had put a cover over the poor smashed wireless. They couldn't bear to look at it.

Jack went up on deck when they had finished their meal. It was very close again, and even the wind seemed warm. The sun shone through a thin veiling of cloud, and had a reddish hue. "That storm is still about," said Jack. "Come on, everyone. Let's get to work before it comes."

It was decided that Philip and Dinah should hunt for driftwood to make a fire up on the cliff. "We don't know that those aeroplanes we sometimes see belong to the enemy," said Philip. "If they don't, they may see our signal and come to circle round. Then they will send help. One might come today, even. So we'll get a fire alight. We'll bank it with dry seaweed. That will smoulder well and send up plenty of smoke."

Jack and Lucy were to carry things from the boat to the tents in Sleepy Hollow. "Take all the tins and food you can," said Philip. "If the enemy happened to come back at night and take it, we'd be done. We should starve! As it is, we've got heaps to last us for weeks."

The four children worked very hard indeed. Jack and Lucy carried sacks of tins from the boat to Sleepy Hollow. For the time being they bundled them in a heap by the tents. Kiki examined them with interest, and pecked at one or two.

"It's a good thing your beak isn't a tin-opener, Kiki," said Jack, making the first little joke that day, to try and make Lucy-Ann smile. "We shouldn't have much food left if it was."

Philip and Dinah were also very busy. They took a sack each from the boat and wandered along the shore to pick up bits of wood. They found plenty at the tide-line and filled their sacks. Then they dragged them to the top of the cliff. Huffin and Puffin went with them, solemn as ever, sometimes walking, sometimes flying.

Philip emptied his sack of wood on a good spot. He began to build a fire. Dinah went off to fill her sack with dry seaweed. There was plenty.

Soon Jack and Lucy-Ann, emptying their own sacks in Sleepy Hollow, saw a spire of smoke rising up from the cliff-top. "Look!" said Jack. "They've got it going already! Good work!"

The wind bent the smoke over towards the east. It was good thick smoke, and the children felt sure that it could be seen from quite a distance.

"One of us had always better be up here, feeding the fire, and keeping watch for enemies or friends," said Philip.

"How shall we know which they are?" asked Dinah, throwing a stick on the fire.

"Well — I suppose we shan't know," said Philip. "What we'd better do if we see any boat coming is to hide — that is, if we can find anywhere to hide — and then try and discover if the searchers are enemies or friends. We are sure to hear them talking. We'd better get lots more wood, Di — this fire will simply eat it up!"

Lucy-Ann and Jack helped them when they had finished their own job. "We've taken every single tin and every scrap of food out of the boat," said Lucy-Ann. "We really have got plenty to eat — and that rock-pool to drink from when we've finished the ginger-beer. There aren't an awful lot of bottles left now. Wouldn't you like to have dinner soon?"

"Yes. I'm jolly hungry," said Philip. "Let's have it up here, shall we? Or is it too much bother to fetch a meal here, Lucy-Ann? You see, one of us must keep the fire going all the time."

"Well, it won't go out for a while, anyhow," said Lucy-Ann. "Bank it up with some more seaweed. Honestly, we feel fagged out, carrying all that stuff. Let's go to Sleepy Hollow and have a good rest and a jolly good meal."

So they all returned to Sleepy Hollow, where the two tents flapped in the little breeze. They sat down and Lucy-Ann opened tins, and ladled the contents on to plates.

"You've got tinned salmon, biscuits and butter, tinned tomatoes and tinned pears," she said.

Even Huffin and Puffin came closer than usual, to share such a nice meal. They would have eaten every scrap of the salmon if they could. Kiki preferred the tinned pears, but the children would only allow her one.

"Well, things would be a lot worse if we hadn't got all this nice food," said Jack, leaning back in the warm sun, after a big meal. "An adventure without good food would be awful! Kiki, take your head out of that tin! You've had more than any of us, you greedy glutton of a parrot!"

Chapter 15

A REALLY TERRIBLE STORM

THE wind got up about five o'clock. It whipped the waves round the island until they towered into big white horses that raced up the beaches and broke with a sound of thunder. The sea-birds deserted the coves, and flew into the air, crying loudly. The wind took them and they soared for miles without beating a wing, enjoying themselves thoroughly.

Kiki didn't like so much wind. She could not glide or soar like the gulls and guillemots. It offended her dignity to be blown about too much. So she stayed close to the tents, which flapped like live things in the wind, and strained at the tent-pegs violently.