The Secret Island - Blyton Enid. Страница 23

“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 always 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 she 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 to-night,” 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?