The Secret Island (5 page)

“You can’t, Jack!” cried Nora. “You’d never get a cow here!”

“I’ll come with you, Jack,” said Mike. “You’ll want someone to help you.”

“Right !” said Jack. “We’ll start off as soon as it’s dark.”

“Oh, Jack!” said the girls, excited to think of a cow coming. “Where shall we keep it?”

“It had better live on the other side of the island,” said Jack. “There is some nice grass there. It won’t like to eat heather.”

“How will you bring it, Jack?” asked Mike. “It will be difficult to get it into the boat, won’t it?”

“We shan’t get it into the boat, silly!” said Jack, laughing. “We shall make it swim behind the boat!”

The other three stared at Jack in surprise. Then they began to laugh. It was funny to think of a cow swimming behind the boat to their secret island!

When it was dark, the two boys set off. The girls called goodbye, and then went to Willow House, for the evening was not quite so warm as usual. They lighted a candle and talked. It was fun to be on the secret island alone.

The boys rowed down the lake and came to the place where Jack usually landed - a well-hidden spot by the lakeside, where trees came right down to the water. They dragged the boat in and then made their way through the wood. After some time they came to the fields that lay round the house of Jack’s grandfather. Jack looked at the old cottage. There was no light in it. No one was there. His grandfather had gone away. In the field nearby some cows and horses stood, and the boys could hear one of the horses saying, “Hrrrumph! Hrrrrumph!”

“Do you see that shed over there, Mike?” said Jack, in a low voice. “Well, there are some lengths of rope there. Go and get them whilst I try to find which is my own cow. The rope is in the corner, just by the door.”

Mike stumbled off over the dark field to the tumbledown shed in the corner. Jack went among the cows, making a curious chirrupy noise. A big brown and white cow left the others and went lumbering towards Jack.

Jack cautiously struck a match and looked at it. It was Daisy, the cow he had brought up from a calf. He rubbed its soft nose, and called to Mike:

“Hurry up with that rope! I’ve got the cow.”

Mike had been feeling about in the shed for rope and had found a great coil of it. He stumbled over the field to Jack.

“Good,” said Jack, making a halter for the patient animal. “Now, before we go, I’d like to pop into the old cottage and see if I can find anything we’d be glad of.”

“Could you find some towels, do you think?” asked Mike. “I do hate having to dry myself with old sacks.”

“Yes, I’ll see if there are any left,” said Jack, and he set off quietly towards ihe old cottage. He found the door locked, but easily got in at a window. He struck a match and looked round. There were only two rooms in the cottage, a living-room and a bedroom. All the furniture had gone. Jack looked behind the kitchen door, and found what he had hoped to see - a big roller-towel still hanging there. It was very dirty, but could easily be washed. He looked behind the bedroom door - yes, there was a roller-towel there, too! Good! His grandfather hadn’t thought of looking behind the doors and taking those when he went. Jack wondered if the old carpet left on the floor was worth taking, too, but he thought not. Good clean heather made a better carpet!

Jack wandered out to the little shed at the back of the cottage - and there he did indeed make a find! There was an old wooden box there, and in it had been put all the clothes he possessed! His grandfather had not thought it worth while to take those with him. There they were, rather ragged, it is true, but still, they were clothes! There were three shirts, a few vests, an odd pair of trousers, an overcoat, a pair of old shoes, and a ragged blanket!

Jack grinned. He would take all these back with him. They might be useful when the cold weather came. He thought the best way to take them back would be to wear them all - so the boy put on all the vests, the shirts, the trousers, the shoes, and the overcoat over his own clothes, and wrapped the blanket round him, too! What a queer sight he looked!

Then he went out to the garden and filled his many pockets with beans and peas and new potatoes. After that he thought it was time to go back to Mike and the cow. Mike would be tired of holding the animal by now!

So, carrying the two dirty towels, Jack made his way slowly over the field to Mike.

“l thought you were never coming!” said Mike, half-cross. “Whatever happened to you? This cow is getting tired of standing here with me.”

“I found a lot of my clothes,” said Jack, “and an old blanket and two towels. The cow will soon get some exercise! Come on! You carry the towels and this blanket, and I’ll take Daisy.”

They went back over the fields and through the thick wood to the boat. The cow did not like it when they came to the wood. She could not see where they were going and she disliked being pulled through the close-set trees. She began to moo.

“Oh, don’t do that!” said Jack, scared. “You will give us away, Daisy.”

“Moo-oo-oo!” said Daisy sorrowfully, trying her hardest to stand still. But Jack and Mike pulled her on.

It was hard work getting her down to the boat. It took the boys at least two hours before they were by the lake, panting and hot. Daisy had mooed dozens of times, each time more loudly than before, and Jack was beginning to think that his idea of taking her across to the island was not such a good one after all. Suppose her mooing gave them away, and people came after them? Suppose she mooed a great deal on the island? Whatever would they do?

Still, they had at last got her to the boat. Jack persuaded the poor, frightened cow to step into the water. She gave such a moo that she startled even the two boys. But at last she was in the water. The boys got into the boat, and pushed off. Jack had tied the cow’s rope to the stern of the boat. The boys bent to their oars, and poor Daisy found that she was being pulled off her feet into deeper water!

It was a dreadful adventure for a cow who had never been out of her field before, except to be milked in a nearby shed! She waggled her long legs about, and began to swim in a queer sort of way, holding her big head high out of the water. She was too frightened to moo.

Jack lighted the lantern and fixed it to the front of the boat. It was very dark and he wanted to see where he was going. Then off they rowed up the lake towards the secret island, and Daisy the cow came after them, not able to help herself.

“Well, my idea is working,” said Jack after a bit.

“Yes,” said Mike, “but I’m jolly glad it’s only one cow we’re taking, not a whole herd!”

They said no more till they came in sight of the island, which loomed up near by, black and solid. The girls had heard the splashing of the oars, and had come down to the beach with a candle.

“Have you got the cow, Jack?” they called.

“Yes,” shouted back the boys. “She’s come along behind beautifully. But she doesn’t like it, poor creature!”

They pulled the boat up the beach and then dragged out the shivering, frightened cow. Jack spoke to her kindly and she pressed against him in wonder and fear. He was the one thing she knew, and she wanted to be close to him. Jack told Mike to get a sack and help him to rub the cow down, for she was cold and wet.

“Where shall we put her for tonight?” asked Mike.

“In the hen-yard,” said Jack. “She’s used to hens and hens are used to her. There is a lot of bracken and heather there and we can put some more armfuls in for her to lie on. She will soon be warm and comfortable. She will like to hear the clucking of the hens, too.”

So Daisy was pushed into the hen-yard, and there she lay down on the warm heather, comforted by the sound of the disturbed hens.

The girls were so excited at seeing the cow. They asked the boys over and over again all about their adventure till Mike and Jack were tired of telling it.

“Jack! You do look awfully fat tonight!” said Nora suddenly, swinging the lantern so that its light fell on Jack. The others looked at him in surprise. Yes, he did look enormous!

“Have you swollen up, or something?” asked Peggy anxiously. Jack laughed loudly.

“No!” he said, “I found some clothes of mine in a box and brought them along. As the easiest way to carry them was to wear them, I put them on. That’s why I look so fat!”

It took him a long time to take all the clothes off, because they were all laughing so much. Peggy looked at the holes in them and was glad she had brought her work-basket along. She could mend them nicely! The blanket, too, would be useful on a cold night.

“What’s that funny light in the sky over there?” said Nora, suddenly, pointing towards the east. “Look!”

“You silly! It’s the dawn coming!” said Jack. “It must be nearly daylight! Come on, we really must go to sleep. What a night we’ve had!”

“Moooo-oo!” said Daisy, from the hen-yard, and the children laughed.

“Daisy thinks so, too!” cried Peggy.

A Lazy Day - With a Horrid Ending

The next morning the children slept very late indeed. The sun was high in the sky before anyone stirred, and even then they might not have awakened if Daisy the cow hadn’t decided that it was more than time for her to be milked. She stood in the hen-yard and bellowed for all she was worth.

Jack sat up, his heart thumping loudly. Whatever was that awful noise? Of course - it was Daisy! She wanted to be milked!

“Hi, you others!” he shouted. “Wake up! It must be about nine o’clock! Look at the sun, it’s very high! And Daisy wants to be milked!”

Mike grunted and opened his eyes. He felt very sleepy after his late night. The girls sat up and rubbed their eyes. Daisy bellowed again, and the hens clucked in fright.

“Our farmyard wants its breakfast,” grinned Jack. “Come on, lazy-bones, come and help. We’ll have to see to them before we get our own meal.”

They scrambled up. They were so very sleepy that they simply had to run down to the lake and dip their heads into the water before they could do anything!

Then they all went to gloat over their cow. How pretty she was in her brown and white coat! How soft and brown her eyes were! A cow of their own! How lovely!

“And what a voice she has!” said Jack, as the cow mooed again. “I must milk her.”

“But I say - we haven’t a pail!” said Mike.

The children stared at one another in dismay. It was true - they had no pail.

“Well, we must use the saucepans,” said Jack firmly. “And we can all do with a cup or two of milk to start the day. I’ll use the biggest saucepan, and when it’s full I’ll have to pour it into the bowls and jugs we’ve got - and the kettle, too. We must certainly get a pail. What a pity I didn’t think of it last night!”

There was more than enough milk to fill every bowl and jug and saucepan. The children drank cupful after cupful. It was lovely to have milk after drinking nothing but tea and cocoa made with water. They could not have enough of it!

“I say! Daisy has trodden on a hen’s egg and smashed it,” said Nora, looking into the hen-yard. “What a pity!”

“Never mind,” said Jack. “We won’t keep her here after to-day. She shall go and live on that nice grassy piece, the other side of the island. Nora, feed the hens. They are clucking as if they’d never stop. They are hungry.”

Nora fed them. Then they all sat down to their breakfast of boiled eggs and creamy milk. Daisy the cow looked at them as they ate, and mooed softly. She was hungry, too.

Jack and Mike took her to the other side of the island after they had finished their meal. She was delighted to see the juicy green grass there and set to work at once, pulling mouthfuls of it as she wandered over the field.

“She can’t get off the island, so we don’t need to fence her in,” said Jack. “We must milk her twice a day, Mike. We must certainly get a pail from somewhere.”

“There’s an old milking-pail in the barn at Aunt Harriet’s farm,” said Peggy. “I’ve seen it hanging there often.”

“Has it got a hole in it?” asked Jack. “If it has it’s no use to us. We’ll have to stand our milk in it all day and we don’t want it to leak away.”

“No, it doesn’t leak,” said Peggy. “I filled it with water one day to take to the hens. It’s only just a very old one not used now.”

“I’ll go and get it tonight,” said Mike.

“No, I’ll go,” said Jack. “You might be caught.”

“Well, so might you,” said Mike. “We’ll go together.”

“Can’t we come, too?” asked the girls.

“Certainly not,” said Jack, at once. “There’s no use the whole lot of us running into danger.”

“How shall we keep the milk cool?” wondered Peggy. “It’s jolly hot on this island.”

“I’ll make a little round place to fit the milk-pail into, just by one of the springs,” said Jack, at once. “Then, with the cool spring water running round the milk-pail all day, the milk will keep beautifully fresh and cool.”

“How clever you are, Jack!” said Nora.

“No, I’m not,” said Jack. “It’s just common sense, that’s all. Anyone can think of things like that.”

“I do feel tired and stiff to-day,” said Mike, stretching out his arms. “It was pretty hard work pulling old Daisy along last night!”

“We’d better have a restful day,” said Jack, who was also feeling tired. “For once in a way we won’t do anything. We’ll just lie about and read and talk.”

The children had a lovely day. They bathed three times, for it was very hot. Nora washed the two big roller towels in the lake, and made them clean. They soon dried in the hot sun, and then the two boys took one for themselves and the two girls had the other. How nice it was to dry themselves on towels instead of on rough sacks!

“Fish for dinner,” said Jack, going down to look at his lines.

“And custard!” said Nora, who had been doing some cooking with eggs and milk.

“Well, I feel just as hungry as if I’d been hard at work building all morning!” said Mike.

The afternoon passed by lazily. The boys slept. Nora read a book. Peggy got out her work-basket and began on the long, long task of mending up the old clothes Jack had brought back the night before. She thought they would be very useful indeed when the cold weather came. She wished she and Nora and Mike could get some of their clothes, too.