15

a peculiar happening – and a fine trip

that night jack told the others his plan, and they were at first doubtful, andthen thrilled and excited.

‘could we really find the entrance?’ said lucy-ann, scared.

‘easily,’ said jack, who, once he had made up his mind about anything,would not recognise any difficulties at all. ‘i saw the entrance thisafternoon, i’m sure, and i certainly saw it on the map. so did dinah.’

‘so did dinah, so did dinah, so did dinah,’ chanted kiki. nobody tookany notice of her. they all went on talking excitedly.

‘you see, once i feel absolutely at home in handling bill’s boat, i shan’tbe a bit afraid of taking joe’s,’ said jack.

‘he’ll half kill you if he finds out,’ said philip. ‘how are you going tomanage it without his knowing?’

‘i shall wait till he takes the old car and goes shopping,’ said jack atonce. ‘i’d thought of that. as soon as he goes off in the car, i shall take outthe boat, and hope to come back before he returns. if i don’t – well, it justcan’t be helped. you’ll have to distract his attention somehow – or lock himup in the cellar – or something.’

the others giggled. the idea of locking joe up amused them.

‘but look here,’ said philip, ‘aren’t we coming with you? you can’t goalone.’

‘i’m not taking the girls,’ said jack firmly. ‘i don’t mind any risk myself– but i won’t risk everyone. i’d better take you, philip.’

‘i don’t want you to take risks,’ said poor lucy-ann, with tears in hereyes.

‘don’t be such a baby,’ said jack. ‘why can’t you be like dinah, and notworry about me when i want to do something? dinah doesn’t bother aboutphilip taking risks, do you, dinah?’

‘no,’ said dinah, well aware that philip could take very good care ofhimself. all the same – i wish we could come.’

lucy-ann blinked back her tears. she didn’t want to spoil things for jack– but really, it was awful to think he might be wrecked or drowned. shewished with all her heart that great auks had never existed. if they hadn’texisted they couldn’t be extinct, and if they hadn’t been extinct therewouldn’t be all this excitement about finding one again.

jack did not sleep much that night. he lay and thought about the islandand its birds, and could hardly wait to sail off and see whether it really wasa great auk or not he had spotted through his glasses that afternoon. hemight get a lot of money if he caught the great auk. it couldn’t fly, it couldonly swim. it might be so tame that it would let itself be caught. theremight be three or four great auks. it would be simply wonderful to findout.

jack got up and went to the window. he looked out to the west where theisland lay. there was no moon that night, and he could see nothing at first.

but, as he gazed earnestly to the west, thinking hard of the island, he wasastonished to see something distinctly unusual.

he blinked his eyes and looked again. it seemed as if a light was shiningout there, over to the west where the island was. it went out slowly as hewatched, and then came again. ‘it can’t be a real light,’ said jack. anyway,it can’t be a light on the island. it must be some ship a good way out,signalling.’

the light to the west faded again, and did not reappear. jack pulled hishead back, meaning to go to bed again, feeling sure that it must have been aship’s light he had seen.

but, before he could go back to his bed, something else attracted him.

the narrow window on the opposite side, the one looking over the top ofthe cliff, was outlined in a soft light. jack stared in amazement.

he ran to the window and looked out. the light came from the top of therocky cliff. someone had either built a fire there or had a bright lantern.

who could it be? and why show a light at night? was it to signal to the shipout at sea?

jack’s room was the highest in craggy-tops, and the tower in which itwas built jutted above the cliff-top. but though he craned his neck to lookout as far as he could, he could not see what the light was on the top of thecliff, nor exactly where. he decided to find out.

he did not wake philip. he put on shorts and coat and shoes and ransilently down the stairs. he was soon climbing the path to the top of thecliff. but when he got there, there was no light to be seen at all – no smell,even, of a fire. it was very puzzling.

the boy stumbled along the cliff – and suddenly he got the fright of hislife. someone clutched at him and held him fast.

‘what you doing up here?’ said joe’s voice, and he shook the boy till hehad no breath left in his body. ‘go on – you tell me what you doing uphere.’

too frightened to think of anything but the truth, jack blurted it out.

‘i saw a light from the tower-room – and i came to see what it was.’

‘i told you there was “things” on the cliff at night, didn’t i?’ said joe, in afrightening voice. ‘well, those things show lights, and they wail and yellsometimes, and lord knows what else they do. didn’t i tell you not towander out at night?’

‘what are you out for?’ asked jack, beginning to recover from his fright.

joe shook him again, glad to have got one of the children in his power. ‘icome out to see what the light was too,’ he growled. ‘see? that’s what iwas out for, of course. but it’s always those “things” making a disturbanceand a trouble. now, you promise me you’ll never leave your bedroom nomore at nights.’

‘i shan’t promise you anything,’ said jack, beginning to struggle. ‘let mego, you beast. you’re hurting me.’

‘i’ll hurt you a mighty lot more, less you tell me you won’t go out atnights,’ threatened the man. ‘i got a rope-end here, see? i been keeping itfor you and philip.’

jack was afraid. joe was immensely strong, spiteful and cruel. hestruggled hard again, feeling joe untying the rope he had around his waist.

it was kiki that saved him. the parrot, missing jack suddenly from thetower-room, where she had been sleeping peacefully on the perch that theboy had rigged up for her, had come in search of her master. she would notbe separated from him for long, if she could help it.

just as jack was wondering whether it would be a good idea to bite joehard or not, kiki swooped down with a glad screech. ‘kiki! kiki! bite him!

bite him!’ yelled jack.

the parrot gladly fastened her sharp curved beak into a very fleshy partof the man’s arm. he let jack go and gave an agonised yell. he hit out atkiki, who was now well beyond reach, watching for a chance to attackagain.

this time she tore at joe’s ear, and he yelled loudly. ‘call that bird off!

i’ll wring her neck!’

jack disappeared down the cliff path. when he was safely out of reach,he called kiki.

‘kiki! come on. you’re a very good bird.’

kiki took a last bite at joe’s other ear and then flew off with a screech.

she flew to jack’s shoulder and made soft noises in his ear. he scratchedher head gently as he made his way back to the house, his heart beating fast.

‘keep out of joe’s way, kiki,’ he said. ‘he certainly will wring your necknow, if he can. i don’t know what you did to him – but it must have beensomething very painful.’

jack woke up philip and told him what had happened. ‘i expect the lightwas from a ship at sea,’ he said, ‘but i don’t know what the other light was.

joe said he went up to see too, but he thought it was made by the “things”

he is always talking about. golly, i nearly got tanned by him, philip. if ithadn’t been for kiki, i guess i’d have had a bad time.’

‘good old kiki,’ said philip, and kiki repeated his words in delight.

‘good old kiki, good old kiki, good old . . .’

‘that’s enough,’ said jack, and kiki stopped. jack snuggled deep intobed. ‘i’m tired,’ he said. ‘i hope i soon go to sleep. i simply couldn’t dozeoff before. i kept thinking and thinking of the isle of gloom.’

but it was not long before he was asleep, dreaming of a large map thathad the island marked on it, then of a boat that was trying to get to the isle,and then of joe clutching him and trying to pull back both him and the boat.

the children felt pleased the next morning when they remembered thatbill smugs had said they could try out the boat by themselves. they set offearly, having done all their jobs very quickly. joe was in a bad temper thatday. he slouched about, frowning, glaring at jack and kiki as if he wouldlike to get hold of both of them.

for once in a way he did not follow them about or try to track themwhere they went. aunt polly was determined that he was going to do somework that morning, and she set him all kinds of tasks. he saw that it wouldbe no good trying to evade them, so, very sulkily, he set to work, and thechildren were able to escape easily without being seen.

‘i’m going to the town today,’ said bill, when they arrived at histumbledown shack. ‘i simply must get hammer and nails and wood, andmend up my house a bit. some more bits of wall have fallen down, and ispent last night with a gale rushing all round me – or what seemed like agale in this small place. i must do a spot of mending. do you want to comewith me and do some shopping again too?’

‘no, thank you,’ said jack at once. ‘we would rather go out in the boat,please, bill. it’s quite a calm day. we will be very careful.’

‘you’ll remember your promise, of course,’ said bill, and looked at jacksharply. the boy nodded.

‘i won’t go far out,’ he said, and the others said the same. they saw billoff in his car, and watched him going carefully down the bumpy way to jointhe rough-and-ready road that led to the town.

then they went to get the boat. bill had left it out on the rocks, in itshiding place. the children had not discovered why he liked to keep it there,but they imagined that he did not want it stolen when he was away from theplace. they had to swim out to it, wrapping their dry clothes in an oilskinbag that bill lent them for the purpose. philip towed it behind him.

they reached the rocks and made their way over them to the flattishstretch where the boat was hauled up, well out of reach of the waves. theyundid the oilskin bag and changed into dry things. they threw their bathing?suits into the boat and then pulled her down to the water.

the sea was deep around the rocks, and the boat slid neatly in, withhardly a splash. the children piled into her, and the two boys took the oars.

with a little trouble they rowed the big boat away from the rocks and outinto open water. then they faced the task of putting up the sail without billsmugs to help them.

‘it ought to be easy enough to us,’ panted jack, tugging at various ropes.

‘we did it yesterday by ourselves.’

but yesterday bill had shouted directions at them. now there was no oneto help them if they got into a muddle. still, they did get the sail up after atime. dinah was nearly knocked overboard, but just managed to saveherself. she was very angry.

‘you did that on purpose, philip,’ she said to her brother, who was stillstruggling with different ropes. ‘just you apologise! bill said there wasn’t tobe any hanky-panky or silly tricks on board.’

‘shut up,’ said philip, getting suddenly caught in a rope that seemeddetermined to hang him. ‘jack, help me.’

‘take the tiller, dinah,’ said jack. ‘i’ll help old tufty.’

but it was dinah who, suddenly seeing that philip was indeed indifficulties, came to his rescue and untangled him.

‘thanks,’ said philip. ‘blow these ropes! i seem to have undone toomany. is the sail all right?’

it seemed to be. the wind filled it and the boat began to rush along. itwas fun. the children felt important at being alone, managing the boat allby themselves. it was, after all, a very big boat for children to sail. jacklooked across the water to where the isle of gloom loomed up. one day hewould go there – land on it – look around – and goodness knows what hemight find! a picture of the great auk rose in his mind and in hisexcitement he gybed the boat round and the sail swung across, almostknocking off the heads of the crouching children.

‘idiot!’ said philip indignantly. ‘here, let me take the tiller. we shall allbe in the water if you play about like that.’

‘sorry,’ said jack. ‘i was just thinking of something – how i’d go off injoe’s boat. when do you think we could, philip? in two or three days’

time?’

‘i should think we could sail joe’s boat all right by then,’ said philip. ‘it’seasy enough once you’ve got the knack and are quick enough. i’m gettingto know the feel of the wind, and its strength – really feeling at home in theboat. poor lucy-ann never will, though. look how green she’s gone.’

‘i’m all right,’ said lucy-ann valiantly. they had run into a choppypatch, and poor lucy-ann’s tummy didn’t like it. but nothing would everpersuade her to let the others go without her, even if she knew she wasgoing to feel sick all the time. lucy-ann had plenty of pluck.

the children furled the sail after a time and got out the oars. theycarefully remembered their promise and did not go very far away. theythought it would be a good thing to practise rowing for a while too.

so all of them took turns, and soon they could pull the boat along well,and make it go any way they liked, even without the rudder.

then they put up the sail once more and sailed to shore, feeling veryproud of themselves. when they came near the shore they saw bill smugswaving to them. he had already come back.

they sailed in to the beach, and pulled in the boat. ‘good!’ said bill. ‘iwas watching you out at sea. you did very well. have another gotomorrow.’

‘oh, thanks,’ said jack. ‘i suppose we couldn’t have a try this afternoontoo, could we? dinah and lucy-ann wouldn’t be able to, because they’vegot to do something for aunt polly. but philip and i could come.’

the girls knew that jack wanted to see if he and philip were able tomanage the boat by themselves, in preparation for going out alone in joe’sboat. so they said nothing, much as they would have liked to join in, andbill smugs said yes, the boys could go along that afternoon if they liked.

‘i shan’t come,’ he said. ‘i’m going to have a go at my radio set. it’s gonewrong.’

bill had a marvellous radio, the finest the boys had ever seen. it was setat the back of the old hut, and there was no station that bill could not get.

he would not allow the boys to tamper with it at all.

‘well, we’ll be along this afternoon, then,’ said jack, pleased. ‘it’sawfully nice of you to lend us your boat like this, bill. really it is.’

‘it’s a pleasure,’ said bill smugs, and grinned. kiki imitated him.

‘it’s a pleasure, it’s a pleasure, it’s a pleasure, poor old kiki, wipe yourfeet, never mind, never mind, it’s a pleasure.’

‘oh – that reminds me,’ said jack, remembering his strange experience ofthe night before. ‘bill, listen to this.’ he went off into a long account of hisadventure on the cliff with joe, and bill smugs listened with the greatestattention.

‘so you saw lights?’ he said. ‘out at sea – and on the cliff. veryinteresting. i don’t wonder you wanted to look into the matter. joeapparently had the same curiosity about them. well, if i may give you a bitof advice, it’s this – don’t get up against joe more than you can help. i don’tmuch like the sound of him. he sounds a dangerous sort of fellow.’

‘oh, he’s just a bit grumpy and hates children and their games, but i don’tthink he’d really do us much harm,’ said philip. ‘he’s been with us foryears.’

‘really?’ said bill, interested. ‘well, well – i expect your people wouldhave a hard job to get anyone in joe’s place if he went. all the same –beware of him.’

the boys went off with the two girls. philip was rather inclined to laughat bill’s warning, but jack took it to heart. he had not forgotten his fear thenight before when the handyman had caught him.

‘i think bill’s right, somehow,’ thought jack, with a little shiver. ‘joecould be a very dangerous sort of fellow.’