The Secret Island (3 page)

“Well, there are our bedrooms ready,” said Jack. “Now, we’d better find a place to put our stores in. We won’t be too far from the water, because it’s so useful for washing ourselves and our dishes in.”

The children were hungry again. They got out the rest of the cakes, and finished up the bread, eating some peas with it, which they shelled as they ate.

“Are we going to have any supper?” asked Mike.

“We might have a cup of cocoa each and a piece of my cake,” said Jack. “We must be careful not to eat everything at once that we’ve brought, or we’ll go short! I’ll do some fishing tomorrow.”

“Shall we begin to build the house tomorrow?” asked Mike, who was longing to see how Jack meant to make their house.

“Yes,” said Jack. “Now you two girls wash up the mugs again, and Mike and I will find a good place for the stores.”

The girls went to the water and washed the things. The boys wandered up the beach - and, at the back of the sandy cove, they found just the very place they wanted!

There was a sandy bank there, with a few old willows growing on top of it, their branches drooping down. Rain had worn away the sandy soil from their roots, and underneath there was a sort of shallow cave, with roots running across it here and there.

“Look at that!” said Jack in delight. “Just the place we want for our stores! Nora, Peggy, come and look here!”

The girls came running. “Oh,” said Peggy, pleased, “we can use those big roots as shelves, and stand our tins and cups and dishes on them! Oh, it’s a proper little larder!”

“Well, you girls, get the stores from the cove and arrange them neatly here,” said Jack. “Mike and I will go and fill the kettle from the spring, and we’ll see if there isn’t a nearer spring, because it’s a long way up the hill and down the other side.”

“Can’t we come with you?” asked Peggy.

“No, you arrange everything,” said Jack. “It had better all be done as quickly as possible, because you never know when it’s going to turn wet. We don’t want our stores spoilt.”

Leaving Peggy and Nora to arrange the tins, baskets, and odds and ends neatly in the root-larder, the two boys went up the hill behind the cove. They separated to look for a spring, and Mike found one! It was a very tiny one, gushing out from under a small rock, and it ran down the hill like a little waterfall, getting lost in the heather and grass here and there. Its way could be seen by the rushes that sprang up beside its course.

“I expect it runs down into the lake,” said Mike. “It’s a very small spring, but we can use it to fill our kettle, and it won’t take us quite so long as going to the other spring. If we have to live in the caves during the winter, the other spring will be more useful then, for it will be quite near the cave.”

They filled the kettle. It was lovely up there on the hillside in the June sun. Bees hummed and butterflies flew all round. Birds sang, and two or three moorhens cried “Fulluck, fulluck!” from the water below.

“Let’s go to the top of the hill and see if we can spy anyone coming up or down the lake,” said Jack. So they went right up to the top, but not a sign of anyone could they see. The waters of the lake were calm and clear and blue. Not a boat was on it. The children might have been quite alone in the world.

They went dovm to the girls with the full kettle. Nora and Peggy proudly showed the boys how they had arranged the stores. They had used the big roots for shelves, and the bottom of the little cave they had used for odds and ends, such as Jack’s axe and knife, the hammer and nails, and so on.

“It’s a nice dry place,” sa’d Peggy. “It’s just right for a larder, and it’s so nice and near the cove. Jack, where are we gong to build our house?”

Jack took the girls and Mike to the west end of the cove, where there was a thicket of willows. He forced his way through them and showed the others a fine clear place right in the very middle of the trees.

“Here’s the very place,” he said. “No one would ever guess there was a house just here, if we built one! The willows grow so thickly that I don’t suppose anyone but ourselves would ever know they could be got through.”

They talked about their house until they were tired out. They made their way back to the little beach and Jack said they would each have a cup of cocoa, a piece of cake, and go to bed!

He and Mike soon made a fire. There were plenty of dry twigs about, and bigger bits of wood. It did look cheerful to see the flames dancing. Jack could not use his little magnifying glass to set light to the paper or twigs because the sun was not hot enough then. It was sinking down in the west. He used a match. He set the kettle on the fire to boil.

“It would be better tomorrow to swing the kettle over the flames on a tripod of sticks,” he said. “It will boil more quickly then.”

But nobody minded how slowly the kettle boiled.

They lay on their backs in the sand, looking up at the evening sky, listening to the crackle of the wood, and smelling a mixture of wood-smoke and honeysuckle. At last the kettle sent out a spurt of steam, and began to hiss. It was boiling.

Nora made the cocoa, and handed it round in mugs. “There’s no milk,” she said. “But there is some sugar.”

They munched their cake and drank their cocoa. Though it had no milk in it, it was the nicest they had ever tasted.

“I do like seeing the fire,” said Nora. “Oh, Jack, why are you stamping it out?”

“Well,” said Jack, “people may be looking for us tonight, you know, and a spire of smoke from this island would give our hiding-place away nicely! Come on, now, everyone to bed! We’ve hard work to do tomorrow!”

Peggy hurriedly rinsed out the mugs. Then all of them went to their green, heathery bedroom. The sun was gone. Twilight was stealing over the secret island.

“Our first night here!” said Mike, standing up and looking down on the quiet waters of the lake. “We are all alone, the four of us, without a roof over our heads even, but I’m so happy!”

“So am I!” said everyone. The girls went to their hidden green room in the gorse and lay down in their clothes. It seemed silly to undress when they were sleeping out of doors. Mike threw them the old ragged rug.

“Throw that over yourselves,” he said. “It may be cold tonight, sleeping out for the first time. You won’t be frightened, will you?”

“No,” said Peggy. “You two boys will be near, and, anyway, what is there to be frightened of?”

They lay down on the soft heather, and pulled the old rug over them. The springy heather was softer than the old hard bed the two girls had been used to at home. The little girls put their arms round one another and shut their eyes. They were fast asleep almost at once.

But the boys did not sleep so quickly. They lay on their heathery beds and listened to all the sounds of the night. They heard the little grunt of a hedgehog going by. They saw the flicker of bats overhead. They smelt the drifting scent of honeysuckle, and the delicious smell of wild thyme crushed under their bodies. A reed-warbler sang a beautiful little song in the reeds below, and then another answered.

“Is that a blackbird?” asked Mike.

“No, a reed-warbler,” said Jack. “They sing as beautifully as any bird that sings in the daytime! Listen, do you hear that owl?”

“Oooo-ooo-ooo-oooo!” came a long, quivering sound; “ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!”

“He’s hunting for rats and voles,” said Jack. “I say, look at the stars, Mike?”

“Don’t they seem far away?” said Mike, looking up into the purple night sky, which was set with thousands of bright stars. “I say, Jack, it’s awfully nice of you to come away with us like this and share your secret island.”

“It isn’t nice of me at all,” said Jack. “I wanted to. I’m doing just exactly what I most want to do. I only hope we shan’t be found and taken back, but I’ll take jolly good care no one finds us! I’m laying my plans already!”

But Mike was not listening. His eyes shut, he forgot the owls and the stars; he fell asleep and dreamt of building a house with Jack, a lovely house.

Jack fell asleep, too. And soon the rabbits that lived under their gorse-bush came slyly out and peeped at the sleeping children in surprise. Who were they?

But, as the children did not move, the rabbits grew bold and went out to play just as usual. Even when one ran over Mike by mistake, the little boy did not know it. He was much too fast asleep!

The Building of the House

What fun it was to wake up that first morning on the island! Jack awoke first. He heard a thrush singing so loudly on a tree near by that he woke up with a jump.

“Mind how you do it,” said the thrush, “mind how you do it!”

Jack grinned. “I’ll mind how I do it all right!” he said to the singing thrush. “Hi, Mike! Wake up! The sun is quite high!”

Mike woke and sat up. At first he didn’t remember where he was. Then a broad smile came over his face. Of course - they were all on the secret island! How perfectly glorious!

“Peggy, Nora! Get up!” he cried. The girls awoke and sat up in a hurry.Wherever were they? What was this green bedroom - oh, of course, it was their heathery bedroom on the secret island!

Soon all four children were up and about. Jack made them take off their things and have a dip in the lake. It was simply lovely, but the water felt cold at first. When they had dried themselves on an old sack - for they had no towels - the children felt terribly hungry. But Jack had been busy. He had set his fishing-line, and, even as they bathed, he had seen the float jerk up and down. It was not long before Jack proudly laid four fine trout on the sand of the cove, and set about to make a fire to cook them.

Mike went to fill the kettle to make some tea. Peggy got some big potatoes out of the sack and put them almost in the fire to cook in their skins. Jack found the frying-pan in their storeroom and put a piece of margarine in it to fry the fish, which he knew exactly how to clean.

“I don’t know what we should do without you,” said Mike, as he watched Jack. “Goodness! How I shall enjoy my breakfast!”

They all did. The tea did not taste very nice without milk. “It’s a pity we can’t get milk,” said Jack. “We shall miss that, I’m afraid. Now, Peggy, wash up, and Nora, too. Put everything away - and we’ll start on our house!”

In great excitement everything was washed up and put away. Then Jack led the way through the thick willow-trees, and they came to the little clear place in the centre of them.

“Now, this is how I mean to build the house,” he said. “Do you see these little willow-trees here - one there - one there - two there - and two there. Well, I think you will find that if we climb up and bend down the top branches, they will meet each other nicely in the centre, and we can weave them into one another. That will make the beginning of a roof. With my axe I shall chop down some other young willow-trees, and use the trunk and thicker branches for walls. We can drive the trunks and branches into the ground between the six willow-trees we are using, and fill up any cracks with smaller branches woven across. Then, if we stuff every corner and crevice with bracken and heather, we shall have a fine big house, with a splendid roof, wind-proof and rain-proof. What do you think of that?”

The other children listened in the greatest excitement. It sounded too good to be true. Could it be as easy as all that?

“Jack, can we really do it?” said Mike. “It sounds all right - and those willow-trees are just the right distance from one another to make a good big house - and their top branches will certainly overlap well.”

“Oh, let’s begin, let’s begin!” cried Nora, impatient as usual, dancing up and down.

“I’ll climb up this first willow-tree and swing the branches over with my weight,” said Jack. “All you others must catch hold of them and hold them till I slip down. Then I’ll climb another tree and bend those branches over too. We’ll tie them together, and then I’ll climb up the other trees. Once we’ve got all the top branches bending down touching one another, and overlapping nicely, we can cut long willow-sticks and lace our roof together. I’ll show you how to.”

Jack swung himself up into one of the little willow-trees. It was only a young one, with a small trunk - but it had a head of long, fine branches, easy to bend. Jack swung them down, and the girls and Mike caught them easily. They held on to them whilst Jack slid down the tree and climbed another. He did the same thing there, bending down the supple branches until they reached and rested on top of those bent down from

the other tree.

“Tie them together, Mike!” shouted Jack. “Peggy, go and find the rope I brought.”

Peggy darted off. She soon came back with the rope.

Mike twisted it round the branches of the two trees, and tied them firmly together.

“It’s beginning to look like a roof already!” shouted Nora, in excitement. “Oh, I want to sit underneath it!”

She sat down under the roof of willow boughs, but Jack called to her.

“Get up, Nora! You’ve got to help! I’m up the third tree now - look, here come the top branches bending over with my weight - catch them and hold them!”

Nora and Peggy caught them and held on tightly. The branches reached the others and overlapped them. Mike was soon busy tying them down, too.

The whole morning was spent in this way. By dinnertime all the six trees had been carefully bent over. Jack showed Mike and the girls how to weave the branches together, so that they held one another and made a fine close roof. “You see, if we use the trees like this, their leaves will still grow and will make a fine thick roof,” said Jack. “Now, although our house has no walls as yet, we at least have a fine roof to shelter under if it rains!”

“I want something to eat,” said Nora. “I’m so hungry that I feel I could eat snails!”

“Well, get out four eggs, and we’ll have some with potatoes,” said Jack. “We’ll boil the eggs in our saucepan. There’s plenty of potatoes, too. After the eggs are boiled we’ll boil some potatoes and mash them up. That will be nice for a change. We’ll nibble a few carrots, too, and have some of those cherries.”

“We do have funny meals,” said Peggy, going to get the saucepan and the eggs, “but I do like them! Come on, Nora, help me get the potatoes and peel them whilst the eggs are boiling. And Mike, get some water, will you? We haven’t enough.”

Soon the fire was burning merrily and the eggs were boiling in the saucepan. The girls peeled the potatoes, and Jack washed the carrots. He went to get some water to drink, too, for everyone was very thirsty.

“You’d better catch some more fish for tonight, Jack,” said Peggy. “I hope our stores are going to last out a bit! We do seem to eat a lot!”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” said Jack, watching the potatoes boiling. “I think I’ll have to row to land occasionally and get more food. I can get it from Granddad’s farm. There are plenty of potatoes there, and I can always get the eggs from the henhouse. Some of the hens are mine - and there’s a cow that’s really mine too, for Granddad gave her to me when she was a calf!”

“I wish we had hens and a cow here!” said Peggy. “We should have lots of milk then and plenty of eggs!”

“How would we get hens and a cow here?” said Mike, laughing. “I think Jack’s idea of rowing across to land sometimes is a good one. He can go at night. He knows the way, and could get back before day breaks.”

“It’s dangerous, though,” said Peggy. “Suppose he were caught? We couldn’t do without Jack!”

The children ate their dinner hungrily. They thought that eggs and potatoes had never tasted so nice before. The sun shone down hotly. It was simply perfect weather. Nora lay down when she had finished her meal and closed her eyes. She felt lazy and sleepy.

Jack poked her with his foot. “You’re not to go to sleep, Nora,” he said. “We must get on with our house, now we’ve started. You two girls clear up as usual, and Mike and I will get back to the house. We’ll start on the walls this afternoon.”

“But I’m sleepy,” said Nora. She was rather a lazy little girl, and she thought it would be lovely to have a nap whilst the others got on with the work. But Jack was not the one to let anyone slack. He jerked Nora to her feet and gave her a push.

“Go on, lazy-bones,” he said. “I’m captain here. Do as you’re told.”

“I didn’t know you were captain,” said Nora, rather sulkily.

“Well, you know now,” said Jack. “What do the others say about it?”

“Yes, you’re captain, Jack,” said Mike and Peggy together. “Ay, ay, sir!”

Nobody said any more. Nora and Peggy washed up in the lake and cleared the things away neatly. They put some more wood on the fire to keep it burning, because Jack said it was silly to keep on lighting it.

Then they ran off to join the boys in the willow thicket.

Jack had been busy. He had chopped down some willow saplings - young willow-trees - with his axe, and had cut off the longer branches.

“We’ll use these to drive into the ground for walls,” said Jack. “Where’s that old spade, Mike? Did you bring it as I said?”

“Yes, here it is,” said Mike. “Shall I dig holes to drive the sapling trunks into?”

“Yes,” said Jack. “Dig them fairly deep.”

So Mike dug hard in the hot sun, making holes for Jack to ram the willow wood into. The girls stripped the leaves off the chopped-down trees, and with Jack’s knife cut off the smaller twigs. They trimmed up the bigger branches nicely.

Everyone worked hard until the sun began to go down. The house was not yet built - it would take some days to do that - but at any rate there was a fine roof, and part of the wall was up. The children could quite well see how the house would look when it was done - and certainly it would be big, and very strong. They felt proud of themselves.

“We’ll do no more to-day,” said Jack. “We are all tired. I’ll go and see if there are any fish on my line.”

But, alas! there were no fish that night!

“There’s some bread left and a packet of currants,” said Peggy. “And some lettuces and margarine. Shall we have those?”

“This food question is going to be a difficult one,” said Jack thoughtfully. “We’ve plenty of water - we shall soon have a house - but we must have food or we shall starve. I shall catch rabbits, I think.”

“Oh, no, Jack, don’t do that,” said Nora. “I do like rabbits so much.”

“So do I, Nora,” said Jack. “But if rabbits were not caught, the land would soon be overrun with them, you know. You have often had rabbit-pie, haven’t you? And I guess you liked it, too!”

“Yes, I did,” said Nora. “Well, if you are sure you can catch them so that they are not hurt or in pain, Jack, I suppose you’ll have to.”

“You leave it to me,” said Jack. “I don’t like hurting things any more than you do. But I know quite well how to skin rabbits. It’s a man’s job, that, so you two girls can leave it to Mike and me. So long as you can cook the rabbits for dinner, that’s all you need worry about. And ever since Peggy said she wished we had a cow and some hens, I’ve been thinking about it. I believe we could manage to get them over here on to the island - then we would be all right!”

Mike, Peggy, and Nora stared at Jack in amazement. What a surprising boy he was! However could they get a cow and hens?

“Hurry up and get the supper, girls,” said Jack, smiling at their surprised faces. “I’m hungry. We’ll think about things tomorrow. We’ll have our meal now and a quiet read afterwards, then to bed early. Tomorrow we’ll go on with the house.”

Soon they were munching bread and margarine, and eating lettuce. They saved the currants for another time. Then they got out books and papers and sprawled on the soft heather, reading whilst the daylight lasted. Then they had a dip in the lake, threw on their clothes again, and settled down for the night in their heathery beds.

“Good-night, everyone,” said Mike. But nobody answered - they were all asleep!