The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve (58 page)

It was exciting when the glass went under the microscope. Henry had the first look. “After all, it’s Henry’s lesson,” said Benny.

They took turns. There were many tiny eggs and weeds and fish that they could not see without the microscope.

Mike said, “So tiny! Tiny animals. Tiny everything. And to think this is what whales eat! They grow big enough!”

Benny said, “And now we all know Henry’s lesson. That’s Grandfather for you. He thought up this Ship’s School.”

The next day they all learned Violet’s lesson. At first the school was very quiet. All were studying.

Violet surprised them. She was excited about something. She said, “Everyone listen to this! You’ve all heard of Captain Cook?”

“Oh, yes,” said Mike. “He was the man who found hundreds of islands on his sea trips.”

“Yes, Mike,” said Violet. “That’s what I thought. I mean I thought it was all he did. I can hardly tell you!”

“Take it easy, Violet!” called Henry. “You’ve got lots of time. What else did your Captain Cook do?”

“Thanks, Henry! It was really more important than finding islands. He found Vitamin C long before anyone knew what it was. Listen to this! ‘On every long sea trip, more than half of every crew died of scurvy. Captain Cook thought they had scurvy because they had nothing to eat but salted meat and crackers. So he made every sailor eat sauerkraut and onions every day! They also had to eat a kind of syrup made of lemons and oranges.’ “

“That wouldn’t be too bad,” said Benny.

“No, but some sailors didn’t like sauerkraut or onions or lemons. And still they had to eat them. You see they got Vitamin C without knowing it. Even Captain Cook didn’t know what Vitamin C was. He just knew people didn’t have scurvy if they ate sauerkraut and oranges.”

“I suppose that’s why we drink orange juice every day,” said Mike.

“Exactly right, Mike!” cried Violet. “Then when Captain Cook got home after three years at sea, he had lost only one man!”

“I bet that man wouldn’t eat his sauerkraut!” said Benny.

“I bet so, too,” said Mike.

Henry and Jessie looked at Violet. They both were thinking, “I never heard Violet talk so much.”

But Violet went right on. “Then another thing!” she said. “Once he was sailing through cakes of ice, very far south. And he found that when he melted a cake of ice, it was fresh water!”

“That’s funny!” said Henry. “I always thought salt water would freeze into salt ice. Then it would melt back into salt water!”

“It doesn’t, though!” said Violet laughing. “Everyone else thought so, too. They didn’t even try. Oh, Captain Cook was such a very smart man, and so brave! You all ought to read my book!”

“I think so too, my dear,” said Mr. Alden. “I’d like to read it myself.”

Day after day the
Sea Star
went along through the purple sea. It had been going for almost two weeks.

Mike said, “My, I’m hot, but I like it hot.”

Lars said, “We are almost there, Mr. Mike. I think we had better get ready for our island.”

H
ow do we get ready, Lars?” asked Benny, as they stood on the deck.

“First, we start to pack the biggest lifeboat,” said Lars.

“We love to do things like that!” said Jessie. Her eyes were very bright. “What do we pack?”

“We must take a lot of food,” said Lars. “Then we’ll not have to live on bananas.”

“Bananas!” cried Benny. “I’d like to live on bananas!”

“Believe me, you could,” said Lars smiling. “They grow wild. Just put up your hand and pick a banana whenever you want one.”

“Oh, boy!” said Mike. “Come on, let’s go!”

Mr. Alden looked at the children. Then he said, “Lars, you tell us all exactly what to do. You be the boss.”

“Very good,” said Lars. “I’ll do that. Be sure to take shoes, and not little thin ones. You’ll be walking over sharp stones and shells. Don’t take any best clothes, but sport clothes. I’ll pack the food we need.”

“Oh, Lars, let me pack the food with you!” begged Mike.

“And me too,” shouted Benny. “It won’t take a minute to pack my clothes.”

“All right, all of you can help. Come to the galley when you are ready.”

Captain Brown laughed. “Don’t forget seven blankets,” he said.

“Is it very cold on the island?” asked Violet.

“No, it is very hot,” said the Captain. “You sleep on top of the blankets.”

Each one went to pack his small bag. Then they ran to the galley.

“Isn’t it exciting?” said Mike. “I think this is nice!”

“I hope it will be,” said Lars. “Now here is some dry milk.”

He gave Mike a lot of little boxes to put in the big box.

“Let’s have some beans, Lars,” said Benny. “We all like beans.”

“Just what I was going to say,” said Lars. He was down on the floor beside the box. “Beans will do instead of bread. We can’t take any bread.”

“I don’t like bread very well anyway,” said Mike.

“Ho-ho!” said Benny. “I’ve seen you eat ten slices of bread at a time.”

“And you, too!” cried Mike.

“Careful, boys!” said Henry. “Have a good time, but don’t fight.”

Jessie looked over the cans and boxes. “Let’s take some cereal,” she said. “That will last a few days.”

“Here is some sea biscuit,” said Lars. He gave Mike two tin boxes.

“Sea biscuit?” said Mike looking at the picture on the box. “I don’t call those sea biscuit. I call them crackers.”

“Even so, Mr. Mike, those are called sea biscuit,” said Lars.

“O.K.,” said Mike. “You call them sea biscuit, and I’ll call them crackers. Then I will know what I mean.”

“Matches,” said Henry quietly. He put some in the big box.

“Good!” said Lars. “We will need a fire, because we will catch fish and cook them.”

“We will need dishes,” said Jessie.

“Not too many,” said Lars. “We can use leaves for plates. But take a big spoon and some knives. A hatchet, too, to cut trees.”

At last the big box was ready. The children went back to their deck chairs.

“Watch, now,” said Lars. We will soon see the island. Look out there, over the rail. It will look like nothing at first.”

The children watched. For a long time they saw nothing but blue sea.

Lars saw the island first, but he said nothing. He looked at all the children to see who saw it first. Suddenly Henry went to the rail. “Is that land, Lars, or is it nothing?” he asked.

“It is land,” said Lars smiling. “Soon we will see the green palm trees and the big round bay. I told you it looked like nothing at first.”

Everyone went to the rail and watched the green spot. An hour or so later, they could see white sand around the edge. They could see the waves on the beach.

The
Sea Star
came nearer and nearer. They could see big palm trees bending over the water. The ship stopped. The crew began to let the lifeboat down into the water. They put in the seven blankets and the big box. The family and four sailors went down a ladder into the lifeboat. They all sat down.

Another lifeboat was fastened to their boat for the sailors’ return to the ship.

Lars said to Henry, “You sit on this seat and watch how I use the rudder.”

“All right, sir,” said Henry.

Captain Brown called, “You can expect us in two or three weeks. But don’t worry if we are late.”

“I hope you
will
be late,” said Mike. “It will be so much fun on the island that we won’t want to leave.”

“I hope so,” said the Captain, laughing. “And you all mind Lars. He knows best.”

The men untied the rope, and the lifeboats started out on the big ocean. The boat tipped and rocked.

“Should we be afraid, Lars?” asked Violet.

“No, Miss Violet, not afraid, but we are all going to get very wet. Wet from head to foot.”

“All right,” said Benny. “But why will we get wet? Do you think we’ll fall out of the boat?”

“No,” said Lars. “You won’t if you sit still. But when we land, you will all have to help. You will have to step out into the water.”

Jessie said, “That will be all right, Lars. All our clothes will dry in a short time in this heat.”

The family looked back at the
Sea Star.
It was getting farther and farther away. They all waved at Captain Brown. Then Henry saw that Violet had a large cloth bag in her hand.

“What’s in that big bag, Violet?” he asked.

“A secret,” said Violet.

“Oh, tell us!” said Benny.

“Oh, no, Benny,” said Violet. “That is what a secret is. You don’t tell anybody.”

“Don’t bother her, Ben,” said Mike. “Violet can have a secret if she wants to. I don’t even want to know, myself.”

Then they all looked at the island. It came nearer and nearer. There were great rocks on one side. Palm trees were hanging over the edge. All around the water was blue, blue.

“I never saw such a lovely blue!” cried Jessie.

“You never will,” said Lars. “They say this is the bluest bay in the world. We call it Blue Bay. Now take off your shoes and throw them in the middle of the boat. Be ready to jump out and pull the boat up on the sand!”

The waves were high now. Every wave took the boat nearer shore. Lars gave a last pull on the oars. “Now!” he shouted.

Everyone jumped over the side into the water. Mr. Alden surprised them all. He helped on the heavy end of the boat. Lars said, “Now!” The sailors gave a great pull as everyone helped. The boat slid up on the sand.

“Wonderful!” said Lars. “That was a fine landing!”

They were all soaking wet.

“Not for long,” said Benny. “We’ll be dry in no time. The sun is so hot.”

“I don’t want to get dry,” said Mike. “I like to go in and out of the water.”

The sailors climbed into the other boat and rowed back to the ship.

“Come here a minute,” said Lars. “Benny, Mike and everyone come here!” He did not smile. When everyone was there, he said, “You must not go into this water any time you like.”

“I know why,” said Henry. “Sharks!”

“Right!” said Lars. “I suppose you have read about them.” He was surprised. “I will show you a fine place later, but we must get right to work. Now first thing! We must make a place to sleep tonight. We haven’t much time.”

The family stood on the beautiful white sand. They looked all around.

“What a beautiful place!” said Violet softly.

There were palm trees as far as they could see. Lovely flowers grew all over the trees. The flowers were bright red and yellow and white. The children saw trees and flowers and butterflies. But Lars and Mr. Alden saw banana trees, breadfruit trees and coconuts. As they looked, a great flock of blue birds rose in the air. Their big bills were bright orange. They did not make a sound.

“They can’t sing,” said Lars. “They are just pretty.”

Then suddenly Mike shouted as loud as he could, “Two houses! Look! Two houses!”

A
t Mike’s loud voice, everyone looked ahead. There were two old huts. The family started to walk toward them.

Mike got there first. “All broken down,” he said. “No good after all.”

Lars said, “Yes, they are broken down, Mike. But I wouldn’t say they were no good.”

“They are certainly better than nothing,” said Mr. Alden. “Remember, we must have something to sleep in this very night. We have no time to rebuild the huts.”