The Secret Island (10 page)

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 tomorrow.”

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 lakeside 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 tonight,” 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 footmarks 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!