14

a glimpse of the isle of gloom

the children hurried over the cliffs to bill smugs and his boat. he wasready for them. he put their packet of sandwiches and cake, their thermos,and a packet of biscuits and chocolate of his own, into the boat. then theyall got in.

bill had brought the boat to shore, instead of hiding it out by the rocks.

he pushed off, wading in the water till the boat floated. then in he jumped,and took the oars till they were away from the rocks.

‘now then,’ he said, in a little while, when they were well beyond therocks and out at sea. ‘now then, boys, up with that sail and let’s see howyou do it!’

the boys put up the sail easily. then they took turns at the tiller, and billwas pleased with them. ‘you are good pupils,’ he said approvingly. ‘ibelieve you could take this boat out alone now.’

‘oh, bill – would you let us?’ asked jack eagerly. ‘you could trust us,really you could.’

‘i might, one day,’ said bill. ‘you would have to promise not to sail outvery far, that’s all.’

‘oh yes, we’d promise anything,’ said the children earnestly. howthrilling it would be to set off in bill’s boat all by themselves!

there was a good wind and the boat sped along smoothly, rocking a littleevery now and again as she came to a swell. the sea was really very calm.

‘it’s lovely,’ said jack. ‘i do like the flapping noise the sail makes – andthe sound of the water slapping against the boat, and the steady whistling ofthe wind . . .’

dinah and lucy-ann let their hands trail in the cool, silky water. kikiwatched with interest from her perch on the big sail. she could hardly keepher balance there, and had to half-spread her wings to help her. she seemedto be enjoying the trip as much as the children.

‘wipe your feet and shut the door,’ she said to bill smugs, catching hiseye. ‘how many times have i . . .’

‘shut up, kiki!’ cried everyone at once. ‘don’t be rude to bill, or he’llthrow you overboard.’

kiki cackled with laughter, rose into the air and joined a couple ofstartled sea-gulls, announcing to them that they had better use theirhandkerchiefs. then she gave an ear-piercing shriek that made the gullssheer off in alarm. kiki returned to her perch, pleased with herself. she didenjoy creating a sensation, whether it was among human beings, birds oranimals.

‘i still can’t see the isle of gloom,’ said jack, who was keeping a sharplook-out for it. ‘whereabouts is it, bill? i seem to have lost my sense ofdirection now i’m right out at sea.’

‘over there,’ said bill pointing. the children followed his finger, butcould see nothing. still, it was exciting that the ‘bad island’, as joe called it,was coming nearer and nearer.

the sailing boat sped on, and the wind freshened a little as they gotfurther out. the girls’ hair streamed out behind them, or blew all over theirfaces, and bill gave an exclamation of annoyance as the wind neatlywhipped his cigarette from his fingers and swept it away.

‘now, if kiki was any use at all, she would fly after that and bring it backto me,’ said bill, cocking an eye at the parrot.

‘poor kiki,’ said the parrot, sorrowfully shaking her head. ‘poor old kiki.

what a pity, what a pity, what . . .’

jack aimed an old shell at her and she stopped with a cackle of laughter.

bill tried to light another cigarette, which the wind made rather difficult.

after a while jack gave a sudden cry. ‘look! land ho! isn’t that the isleof gloom? it must be.’

they all looked hard. looming up out of the heat haze was land, therewas no doubt about it.

‘yes – that’s the island all right,’ said bill, with great interest. ‘it’s fairlybig, too.’

the boat drew nearer. the island became clearer and the children couldsee how rocky and hilly it was. round it was a continual turmoil of water.

surf and spray were flung high into the air, and here and there the childrencould see jagged rocks sticking up from the sea.

they went nearer in. the water was rough and choppy now, and lucy?ann began to look a little green. she was the only one who was not a first?rate sailor. but she bravely said nothing, and soon the seasick feeling beganto pass off a little.

‘now you can see the wide ring of rocks running round the island,’ saidbill smugs. ‘my word, aren’t they wicked! i guess many a boat has beenwrecked on them at some time or another. we’ll cruise round a bit, and seeif we can spot any entry. but – we don’t go any nearer, so it’s no usebegging me to.’

the albatross was now in a very choppy sea indeed and poor lucy-annwent green again. ‘have a dry biscuit, lucy-ann,’ said bill smugs, noticingher looks. ‘nibble it. it may keep off that sick feeling.’

it did. lucy-ann nibbled the dry biscuit gratefully and was soon able totake an interest in the trip once more. the isle of gloom certainly lived upto its name. it was a most desolate place, as far as the children could see. itseemed to be made of jagged rocks that rose into high hills in the middle ofthe island. a few stunted trees grew here and there, and grass showed greenin some places. the rocks were a curious red colour on the seaweed side ofthe island, but black everywhere else.

‘there are heaps and heaps of birds there, just as i thought,’ said jack,looking through his field-glasses in excitement. ‘golly – just look at them,bill!’

but bill would not leave the tiller. it was dangerous work cruising near tothe ring of rocks in such a choppy sea. he nodded to jack. ‘i’ll take yourword for it,’ he said. ‘tell me if you recognise any birds.’

jack reeled off a list of names. ‘bill, there are thousands and thousands ofbirds!’ he cried. ‘oh, do, do let’s land on the island. find a way through thisring of rocks somehow. please, please do.’

‘no,’ said bill firmly. ‘i said not. it would be a dangerous business to getto the island even if we knew the way, and i don’t. i’m not risking all ourlives for the sake of seeing a few birds at close quarters – birds you can seeat craggy-tops any day.’

the sailing boat went on its way round the island, keeping well outsidethe wicked ring of rocks over which waves broke continually, sending sprayhigh into the air. the children watched them, and noticed how they racedover the treacherous rocks, making a roaring noise that never stopped. itwas somehow very thrilling, and the children felt exultant and wanted toshout.

jack could see the island most clearly because of his field-glasses. hekept them glued to his eyes, looking at the hundreds of birds, both flyingand sitting, that he could see. philip tapped his arm.

‘let someone else have a look too,’ he said. ‘hand over the glasses.’

jack didn’t want to, because he was afraid of missing seeing a great auk,but he did at last give them to philip. philip was not so interested in thebirds – he swept the coast of the island with the glasses – and then gave anexclamation.

‘hallo! there are still houses or something on the island. surely peopledon’t live there now.’

‘of course not,’ said bill smugs. ‘it’s been deserted for ages. i can’timagine why anyone ever did live on it. they could not have farmed it orused it for fishing – it’s a desolate, impossible sort of place.’

‘i suppose what i can see are only ruins,’ said philip. ‘they seem to be inthe hills. i can’t make them out really.’

‘anyone walking about – any of joe’s “things”?’ asked dinah, with alaugh.

‘no, nobody at all,’ said philip. ‘have a look through the glasses, dinah– and then lucy-ann. i don’t wonder it’s called the isle of gloom. itcertainly is a terribly gloomy-looking place – nothing alive on it except thesea-birds.’

the girls had a turn of looking through the glasses too. they didn’t likethe look of the island at all. it was ugly and bare, and had an extraordinaryair of forlornness about it.

the sailing boat went all round the island, keeping well outside the rocksthat guarded it. the only place where there might conceivably be anentrance between the rocks was a spot to the west. here the sea became lesschoppy, and although spray was flung up high, the children could see norocks on the surface. the spray was flung by waves racing over rocksnearby.

‘i bet that’s the only entrance to the island,’ said jack.

‘well, we’re not going to try it,’ said bill smugs at once. ‘i’m going toleave the island now, and head for calmer water. then we’ll take down thesail and have our tea, bobbing gently about instead of tossing and pitchinglike this. poor lucy-ann keeps on turning green.’

jack took a last look through his glasses – and gave such a shout thatdinah nearly over-balanced, and kiki fell off her perch above.

‘whatever is it?’ said bill smugs, startled.

a great auk!’ yelled jack, the glasses glued to his eyes. ‘it is, it is – anenormous bird – with small wings close to its sides – and a big razor-likebill. it’s a great auk!’

bill gave the tiller to jack for a moment and took the glasses. but hecould see no great auk, and he handed them back to the excited boy, whosegreen eyes were gleaming with joy.

‘i expect it’s one of the razorbills,’ he said. ‘the great auk is much likea big razorbill, you know – you’ve let your wish be father to the thought,old man. that wasn’t a great auk, i’ll be bound.’

but jack was absolutely convinced that it was. he could not see it anylonger, but, as they left the island behind, the boy sat looking longinglybackwards at it. the great auk was there. he was sure it was. he wascertain he had seen one. how could bill suggest it was a razorbill?

‘bill – bill – do go back,’ begged jack, hardly able to contain himself. ‘iknow it was an auk – a great auk. i suddenly saw it. imagine it! what willthe world say if they know i’ve found a great auk, a bird that’s beenextinct for years!’

‘the world wouldn’t care much,’ said bill smugs drily. ‘only a fewpeople keen on birds would be excited. calm yourself a bit – i’m afraid itcertainly wasn’t the bird you thought.’

jack couldn’t calm himself. he sat looking terribly excited, his eyesglowing, his face red, his hair blown about in the wind. kiki felt theexcitement and came down to his shoulder, pecking at his ear to get hisattention.

‘it was a great auk, it was, it was,’ said jack, and lucy-ann slipped ahand in his arm and squeezed it. she too was sure it was a great auk – andanyway she wasn’t going to spoil her brother’s pleasure by saying that itwasn’t. neither philip nor dinah believed that it was.

they had their tea on calmer water, with the sail down and the boatdrifting where it pleased. jack could eat nothing, though he drank his tea.

lucy-ann, hungry now after her seasickness, ate jack’s share of the tea, andenjoyed it. the others enjoyed themselves too. it had been an excitingafternoon.

‘can we sail your boat by ourselves sometime, as you promised?’ askedjack suddenly. bill smugs looked at him sharply.

‘only if you promise not to go very far out,’ he said. ‘no rushing off tofind the great auk on the isle of gloom, you know.’

as this was the idea at the back of jack’s mind, the boy went red at once.

‘all right,’ he said at last. ‘i promise not to go to the isle of gloom in yourboat, bill. but may we really go out by ourselves other days?’

‘yes, you may,’ said bill. ‘i think you really know how to manage theboat all right – and you can’t come to much harm if you choose a calm day.’

jack looked pleased. a dreamy expression came over his face. he knewwhat he meant to do. he would keep his word to bill smugs – he would notgo to the isle of gloom in bill’s boat – but he would go in someone else’s.

he would practise sailing and rowing in bill’s boat – and as soon as he wasabsolutely sure of handling it, he would borrow joe’s boat, and go to theisland in that.

this was a bold and daring plan – but jack was so thrilled at the idea offinding a great auk, when everyone else thought it was extinct, that he waswilling to run any risk to get to the island. he was sure he could find theentrance to the ring of rocks. he would furl the sail when he got near therocks and do some rowing. joe’s boat was big and heavy, but jack thoughthe could manage it well enough.

he said nothing to the others whilst bill was there. bill mustn’t know. hewas jolly and kind and a good friend – but he was a grown-up, and grown?ups always stopped children doing anything risky. so jack sat in the rockingboat and thought out his daring plan, not hearing the others’ remarks orteasing.

‘he’s gone off to the island to see his great auk,’ said dinah, with alaugh.

‘poor old jack – that bird has quite taken his appetite away,’ said philip.

‘wake up!’ said bill, giving jack a nudge. ‘be a little sociable.’

after tea they decided to row back, taking it in turns. bill thought itwould be good for them to have some exercise, and the children enjoyedhandling the oars. jack rowed vigorously, thinking that it was good practicefor the time when he would go to the island.

‘well – here we are, safely back again,’ said bill, as the boat came toshore. the boys jumped out and pulled it in. the girls got out, bringing thethermos flask with them. bill pulled the boat up the shore.

‘well, goodbye,’ he said. ‘we’ve had a fine time. come along tomorrow,if you like, and i’ll let you have a shot at taking the boat out by yourselves.’

‘oh, thanks!’ cried the children, and kiki echoed the words too. ‘oh,thanks!’ she said, ‘oh, thanks; oh, thanks; oh thanks!’

‘be quiet,’ said philip, with a laugh, but kiki chanted the words all theway home. ‘oh, thanks; oh, thanks; oh, thanks; oh, thanks!’

‘did you have a nice afternoon?’ asked aunt polly, when they went intothe house.

‘lovely,’ said dinah. ‘is your headache better, aunt polly?’

‘not much,’ said her aunt, who looked pale and tired. ‘i think i’ll go tobed early tonight, if you’ll take your uncle’s supper in to him, instead of me,dinah.’

‘yes, i will,’ said dinah, not liking the task very much, for she was ratherafraid of her learned and peculiar uncle.

joe came in at that moment and stared at the four children. ‘where youbeen?’ he asked roughly. and where did you go this morning, after youwent into the caves?’

‘we came up to the house,’ said philip, putting on a surprised expressionthat infuriated joe. ‘didn’t you see us? and we’ve just come back from apicnic, joe. why all this concern for our whereabouts? did you want tocome with us?’

joe made an angry noise, at once copied by kiki, who then cackled outher maddening laughter. joe gave the parrot a look of hatred and stalkedout.

‘don’t tease him,’ said aunt polly wearily. ‘he’s really getting lazy. henever came near the house all the morning. well – i’m going to bed.’

‘jack, you help me with uncle jocelyn’s tray,’ said dinah, when thesupper was ready. ‘it’s heavy. philip’s gone off somewhere as usual. healways disappears when there’s any job to be done.’

jack took the heavy tray and followed dinah as she led the way to heruncle’s study. she knocked on the door. a voice grunted, and dinahimagined it said ‘come in.’

they went in, kiki on jack’s shoulder as usual. ‘your supper, uncle,’

said dinah. ‘aunt polly’s gone to bed. she’s tired.’

‘poor polly, poor dear polly,’ said kiki, in a pitying tone. uncle jocelynlooked up, startled. he saw the parrot and picked up a paperweight.

kiki at once flew out of the door, and uncle jocelyn put the paperweightdown again. ‘keep that parrot out,’ he said grumpily. ‘interfering bird. putthe tray down there. who are you, young man?’

‘i’m jack trent,’ said jack, surprised that anyone could be so forgetful.

‘you saw me and my sister lucy-ann the day we came here, sir. don’t youremember?’

‘too many children in this house,’ said uncle jocelyn, in a grumblingtone. ‘can’t get any work done at all.’

‘oh, uncle – you know we never disturb you,’ said dinah indignantly.

uncle jocelyn was bending over a big and very old map. jack glanced atit.

‘oh,’ he said, ‘that’s a map of part of this coast – and that’s the isle ofgloom, isn’t it, sir?’

he pointed to the outline of the island, drawn carefully on the big map.

uncle jocelyn nodded.

‘have you ever been there?’ asked jack eagerly. ‘we saw it thisafternoon, sir.’

‘never been there, and don’t want to go either,’ said uncle jocelynsurlily.

‘i saw a great auk there this afternoon,’ said jack proudly.

this did not impress uncle jocelyn at all. ‘nonsense,’ he said. ‘bird’sbeen extinct for ages. you saw a razorbill. don’t be foolish, boy.’

jack was annoyed. only lucy-ann paid any attention to his greatdiscovery, and she, he knew, would have believed him if he had said he hadseen santa claus on the island. he stared sulkily at the untidy, frowning oldman.

uncle jocelyn stared back. ‘could i see the map, please?’ asked jacksuddenly, thinking that he might possibly see marked on it the entrancebetween the rocks.

‘why? are you interested in that sort of thing?’ asked uncle jocelyn,surprised.

‘i’m very interested in the isle of gloom,’ said jack. ‘please – may i seethe map, sir?’

‘i’ve got a bigger one somewhere – showing only the island, in greatdetail,’ said uncle jocelyn, quite pleased now to think that anyone shouldbe interested in his maps. ‘let me see – where is it?’

whilst he went to look for it, jack and dinah had a good look at the bigmap of the coast. there, lying off it, ringed by rocks, was the isle of gloom.

it had a queer shape, rather like an egg with a bulge in the middle of oneside, and its coast was very much indented. it lay almost due west ofcraggy-tops.

jack pored over the map, feeling terribly excited. if only uncle jocelynwould lend it to him!

‘look,’ he said to dinah, in a low voice. ‘look. the ring of rocks isbroken just there. see? i bet it’s where i imagined the entrance was thisafternoon. see that hill shown in the map? the entrance to the rocks is justabout opposite. if ever we wanted to go there – and goodness knows i do –we need only look for that hill – it’s the highest on the island, i should think– and then watch for the entrance to the rocks just opposite to the hill.

easy!’

‘it looks easy on the map, but i bet it’s a jolly sight more difficult whenyou get out on the sea,’ said dinah. ‘you sound as if you mean to go there,jack – but you know what we promised bill smugs. we can’t break ourpromise.’

‘i know that, idiot,’ said jack, who had never broken a promise in hislife. ‘i’ve got another plan. i’ll tell you later.’

much to the children’s disappointment, uncle jocelyn could not find thelarge map of the island. he would not lend the other to jack.

‘certainly not,’ he said, looking quite shocked. ‘it’s a very, very old map– hundreds of years old. i wouldn’t dream of handing it out to you. you’ddamage it, or lose it or something. i know what children are.’

‘you don’t, uncle,’ said dinah. ‘you don’t know what we are like a bit.

why, we hardly ever see you. do lend us the map.’

but nothing would persuade the old man to part with his precious map.

so, taking one last glance at the drawing of the island, with its curious ringof protecting rocks, and the one break in them, jack and dinah left theuntidy, book-lined study.

‘don’t forget your supper, uncle,’ called back dinah as she shut the door.

uncle jocelyn gave a grunt. he was already lost in his work again. thesupper-tray stood unheeded beside him.

‘i bet he’ll forget all about it,’ said dinah. and she was right. when auntpolly went into the study the next day to tidy it as usual, there was thesupper-tray standing on the table, complete with plate of meat andvegetables, and piece of pie and custard.

‘you’re worse than a child,’ scolded aunt polly. ‘yes, you really are,jocelyn.’