The Secret of the Lonely Isles (5 page)

The next day they went to visit Ella's ‘other clue', and drove out to an older part of town along a road that faced the sea, where the gardens were dense and lush. Ella pulled up outside a particularly rampant garden, and they stepped onto a leaf-littered stone path. Jem looked around, feeling a little uneasy. A watery green light filtered through the leaves overhead. Thick tree roots snaked across the pathway, lifting stones to trip the unwary, and they had to duck under trailing vines and low branches. Heliconias and torch gingers threw
out bursts of colour in odd patches of sunlight, but otherwise the garden was dim and gloomy. Smaller paths led off from the main one, and here and there queer statues and carvings could be seen nestled in among the bushes. A particularly ugly face leered out at them from the ruins of an old tree, and a lizard poked its head out of the yawning mouth. Water trickled into a pond somewhere out of sight.

‘Bro, this place is creepy!' said Zac, peering at the lizard.

‘Who lives here?' asked Tyler, a little nervously.

‘You'll see in just a moment,' said Ella as they arrived at the house. It was a typical old tropical house, except this one was being strangled by a huge ancient fig tree. The tree's canopy covered the house so completely that it looked as if the canopy was the roof, and that the house was turning into a tree. This was made even more believable by the aerial roots that wound around the house pillars and snaked down the iron stairway.

‘This place seriously needs a gardener,' said Maddy, frowning. ‘One with a chainsaw.'

Tyler led the way up the stairs, and as he reached the top he suddenly let out a yell and stepped backwards, almost knocking the others down the stairs. Two huge shaggy-maned lions crouched either side of an ornately carved wooden door, their mouths wide open in fierce
snarls. The fact that spiders had adorned their bronze fangs with webs didn't make the scene any less frightening. An iron doorknocker in the shape of a dragon head hung in the middle of the door.

Tyler blinked a few times, and shook his head. ‘Whoa – I knew they weren't real,' he muttered. ‘Just caught me off guard, that's all.'

Ella raised the dragon head, which squeaked loudly, and rapped several times. Footsteps approached, and a small plump woman peered around the edge of the door at them.

‘Hello Clara, it's me, Ella. It's wonderful to see you again!'

The little woman opened the door wider, and smiled excitedly at Ella.

‘Ella darlink! Ach, I can't believe my eyes! Such a long time it's been since we saw you here!' She reached up and embraced Ella warmly, kissing her on both cheeks. ‘The Professor, he will be so happy to see you! Ach, these days, not much makes him happy any more,' and she led the way into the hallway, and closed the door behind them.

Ella introduced Maddy, Jem, Tyler and Zac. Clara looked at them with interest. ‘You must be hungry, yes? Always children they are hungry! Some food I'll bring for you. Go, go into the drawing room, all of
you. The Professor will be here soon.' And before they could say anything she had vanished back down the hallway.

‘Oh dear – Clara's a brilliant cook, and I don't imagine the Professor eats very much. She'll be bringing food for hours. I hope you
are
hungry!' Ella shepherded them through a door off the hallway. It was a large room, but it needed to be, because it was so full. A pair of overstuffed sofas and some armchairs were clustered in the middle of the room, with a couple of heavy wooden coffee tables between them. Each table was loaded with books and papers. Two walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling bookcases full to bursting with more books. There were carved oak chests, and tall glass-fronted cabinets full of strange objects. Every horizontal surface was covered in figurines, boxes, carvings, or piles of yellowing papers. A large old-fashioned globe stood to one side on three intricately carved legs. An ancient grandfather clock tocked slowly and loudly in a corner. There was a yellow and blue parrot on the top of it. Jem was pretty sure the bird was stuffed but he watched it for a few moments just to make sure. Louvred windows let in the greenish light outside, and they could hear the deep cooing of Torres Strait pigeons, but no other sounds. It was as though they had stepped into another world.

‘Wicked!' said Tyler, as he spotted two skulls grinning from inside a glass case. ‘What a cool place!'

‘Yeah. Check out this – looks like a voodoo doll, ay!' whispered Zac loudly, and held up a small figure decorated with feathers and shells.

‘Be very careful with that, young man! Something very unpleasant could happen to you.'

Zac quickly put the doll back on the shelf. An old man stood in the doorway, leaning on a walking stick. He was quite tall, if a little stooped with age, and he examined them over the top of his glasses as if deciding whether or not to throw them out. He had a magnificent white handlebar moustache, and it twitched a couple of times as he tapped the walking stick on the floor.

‘Professor! How lovely to see you again!' Ella went straight to the old man, and kissed him on the cheek. The white moustache twitched a few more times, and his expression softened.

‘Ella, you haven't changed at all. The sailing life must agree with you.'

‘Professor, may I introduce my great-niece and nephews – this is Maddy, Jem and Tyler Isherwood, and their friend Zac Martin. They're helping me with a little research at the moment. Everyone, this is Professor Penhall, a very dear friend of mine.'

Professor Penhall shook hands with each of them, shuffled over to a big winged armchair and eased himself into it. Ella took the opposite one, and Jem, Maddy, Tyler and Zac perched on the two sofas. The Professor looked at each of them, and then said to Zac, ‘A Martin, eh? You must be related to old Madidji Martin then.'

Zac nodded, and said shyly, ‘He's my grandfather.'

‘Hmm, you look a bit like him. We were friends a very long time ago. Still on his feet, is he?'

‘Yeah, old Granddad, he's still walkin' 'round,' said Zac.

‘Where is he these days?'

‘He's livin' out at Maningrida, with my uncle's family, Uncle Victor, but sometimes he lives with us too.'

‘Well, give him my regards when you see him next.'

Zac grinned happily and nodded. He elbowed Tyler in the ribs and wriggled on his seat.

The Professor turned to Ella and said, ‘Madidji and I did some research into western Arnhem Land and first European contact. Spent a couple of years out there, crashing around in the bush. Must be fifty years ago now. Great times …' He stroked his moustache and nodded to himself as if remembering them. Then he recollected himself, looked around at the others who sat expectantly on their seats, and frowned.

‘Right, right. Now Ella my dear, you are looking wonderfully well, and so am I. An old man like me hasn't the time to waste on chitchat. What brings you back to this part of the world? On the phone you sounded as if you were planning something.'

Ella opened her mouth to speak, but just then Clara came in carrying a huge tray.

‘So, a little snack for the children, yes? And Professor for you and Miss Ella some coffee.' She cleared a space on the crowded table and set out cups, saucers, small plates, a silver coffeepot and a platter of small cream cakes, before scurrying back to the kitchen and returning with a large jug of lemonade, four glasses and a plate of homemade biscuits. Jem, Tyler and Zac grinned in delight.

‘So, Professor, Ella she phoned you yesterday, and you had a lovely chat, yes? You remember?' said Clara encouragingly. She bent down and whispered loudly to Ella, ‘These days his memory, it's not so good …'

She straightened up. ‘So, there is something wrong with my food? Eat, eat!' she nodded vigorously at the others. ‘Some more food I will bring soon,' and she trotted out of the room again.

‘More food?' whispered Tyler to Zac. ‘This sounds good!'

‘Crazy woman!' said the Professor with a snort and a shake of his head. ‘She thinks I'm losing my mind,
and that everybody's about to die of starvation the minute they come through the door. Go on, get into it! She's been cooking all morning since she knew you were coming. She'll only try and make me eat it if you don't.'

Ella poured coffee for herself and the Professor, and the others hoed into the food. The cakes were wonderful, dusted with icing sugar and filled with fresh cream, and the biscuits were still warm from the oven. The lemonade was also homemade, with slices of green limes and chunks of ice.

‘I only keep her on as housekeeper because she's got nowhere else to go,' the Professor said grumpily. ‘I think her mind's going, frankly. Did she tell you I'm forgetful?'

Ella handed him a cup of coffee and said, ‘I'm sure your memory is as good as it ever was.' She picked up her own cup and saucer. ‘To answer your question, I do have some plans. I'm going to look for the
Gryphon
.'

‘Ella, Ella,' said the Professor, shaking his head. ‘That old chestnut! The long-lost White Tribe of Arnhem Land. Not to mention the golden gryphon. You'll be wasting your time. Most people now believe that the
Gryphon
never even reached Australia, that it probably sank in the Indian Ocean. There're no records of it even getting near this part of the world.' He grumbled to
himself and stroked the ends of his moustache. ‘You're too close to it, Ella. It's a personal investigation, not a professional one. I thought you'd finally seen sense and given it up, after all this time.'

He shook his head again, and then looked shrewdly at her over the top of his glasses. ‘You've found something, haven't you?'

Ella smiled and put her cup down.

‘Yes, I have. In London, in the National Archives. I discovered a packet of letters which had never been catalogued. Most of them were from the
Gryphon
to a family in England, posted from various ports along the route to Australia. The last one was sent from Batavia.'

‘Batavia? So they got that far …' He frowned and tugged at his moustache. ‘And none of these letters gives any indication of where the
Gryphon
was headed? Apart from Australia, that is?'

Ella shook her head ruefully. ‘No, they don't. I just have the accounts of the stories from Arnhem Land. But if there is proof that the
Gryphon
reached Java, then the rumours about a colony of white people somewhere along the north coast sound much more believable.'

‘And these assistants of yours, they're going to help, you say?' He glanced in the direction of the fast-disappearing cakes.

‘Yes. We're heading off along the coast in a few days, in
Freya
, to see what we can find. No one's done a thorough search of that part of the coast in a small boat. There's never been the money for one, and the bigger research vessels could never spend the time in the difficult places.
Freya
is perfect. She's a shallow draft yacht, so I can get into all kinds of awkward spots with her. We'll be gone for about two weeks.'

‘Get into all kinds of trouble, if you ask me,' said the Professor. ‘The
Gryphon
could have sunk anywhere between Cape York and the Kimberley! It would take you two years, not two weeks.'

‘Just the same, I'd like you to have a look at these copies of the letters,' she said, pulling a folder out of the bag on the floor beside her.

Jem took advantage of the break in conversation. ‘Um, excuse me, Professor? Could I have a look at some of your things?' He waved a hand around the room. ‘There's so much cool stuff here!'

The Professor looked at him as if he'd spoken Latin. ‘A young person interested in history? Now there's something you don't see every day. Be my guest. All of you, go on – er, just mind the voodoo doll, Zac.'

Ella unfolded some pages, and she and the Professor bent over them, talking quietly while the others left the sofa and wandered around the room. It was fascinating.
Professor Penhall had obviously travelled a lot in his life. There were curiosities from all over the world, and everything looked very old. Jem checked out a row of carved ivory statues while Maddy, Tyler and Zac examined some bones in the glass cabinet. Jem moved on to a tray of strangely shaped rocks, realising after a while that they were fossils. As he stared at them, he wondered what the Professor had meant when he told Ella she was too close to the investigation, that it was personal, not professional.

He was yanked out of his thoughts when the old man sat back in his chair, slapped his knee and said, ‘I've just remembered something. About ten years ago I was travelling in Indonesia, and I came across a lovely carved box in an old shop in Lombok. It had some papers inside it, quite old but well preserved. Sandalwood keeps the bugs away. They didn't look to be anything very important, but I wanted the box. I bought it, papers and all, and had a look at them when I got back, but I left Australia again almost immediately and I was away for some time. I seem to recall that it had something to do with the
Gryphon
. Can't have been too convincing or I might've sent it to you then, although you'd just left on your boat.'

He got up awkwardly from his armchair, and looked about the room, frowning. He took a few steps in one
direction, and then in another. He looked puzzled and then irritated.

‘Damned if I can remember what I've done with it. I know I put it somewhere safe. The house was broken into a while back, so I put certain items in safe places. Trouble is, most of the time I can't remember the places.'

‘Oh dear! Was anything stolen, Professor?'

‘No, nothing I noticed, anyway. Probably just kids looking for loose change for those noisy games they play in the shopping centre.' He shuffled over to one of the cabinets and began opening doors and drawers. After a few minutes of fruitless searching, with Ella helping, he tugged at his moustache and shook his head. ‘It's no use, there're too many things in here. It probably wasn't useful anyway.' He gazed around at the cluttered room and shrugged. ‘I should just give it all to the museum and be done with it. But I can't bear the thought of that old fox Cromarty getting his hands on my collections!'