18
off to the island again
what should be done next? should they tell bill smugs of their adventure?
would he be angry because they had evaded their promise, without actuallybreaking it, and gone out to the island in someone else’s boat? the childrendecided that he might be very angry. he had great ideas of honour andpromises and keeping one’s word.
‘well, so have we,’ said jack. ‘i wouldn’t have broken my promise. ididn’t. i just found a way round it.’
‘well, you know what grown-ups are,’ said dinah. ‘they don’t think thesame way as we do. i expect when we grow up, we shall think like them –but let’s hope we remember what it was like to think in the way children do,and understand the boys and girls that are growing up when we’re men andwomen.’
‘you’re talking like a grown-up already,’ said philip in disgust. ‘stop it.’
‘don’t talk to me like that,’ flared dinah. ‘just because i was talking a bitof sense.’
‘shut up,’ said philip, and got a box on the ear from dinah immediately.
he gave her a slap that sounded like a pistol-shot and she yelled.
‘beast!’ she said. ‘you know boys shouldn’t hit girls.’
‘i shouldn’t hit ordinary decent girls, like lucy-ann,’ said philip. ‘butyou’re just too bad-tempered for words. you ought to know by now that ifyou box my ears you’ll get a jolly good slap. serves you right.’
‘jack, tell him he’s a beast,’ said dinah; but jack couldn’t help givingdinah some advice.
‘you should keep your hands to yourself,’ he said to her. ‘you’re soquick at dishing out ear-boxes, and you ought to know by now that philipwon’t stand for it.’
lucy-ann looked distressed. she hated these quarrels between thebrother and sister. philip put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a box inwhich he had kept an extraordinarily tame beetle for days. dinah knew hemeant to open the box and put the beetle close to her. she gave a screamand rushed out of the room.
philip put the box back into his pocket, after letting the enormous beetlehave a run on the table. wherever he held out his finger the beetle ran to itin delight. it really was amazing the way all creatures liked philip.
‘you oughtn’t to keep it in a box,’ said lucy-ann. ‘i’m sure it hates it.’
‘well, watch then,’ said philip, and put the box out on the table again. heopened it, took out the beetle, and put it at the other end of the big table. heput the box, with its lid a little way open, on to the middle of the table. thebeetle, having explored the top of the table thoroughly, made its way to thebox, examined it, and then climbed into it and settled down peacefully.
‘there you are!’ said philip, shutting the box and putting it back into hispocket. ‘it wouldn’t go deliberately back into its box if it hated it, would it?’
‘well – it must be because it likes being with you,’ said lucy-ann. ‘mostbeetles would hate it.’
‘philip is a friend to everything,’ said jack, with a grin. ‘i believe hecould train fleas and keep a circus of them.’
‘i shouldn’t like that,’ said lucy-ann, looking disgusted. ‘oh dear, iwonder where dinah has gone off to. i wish you wouldn’t quarrel like this.
we were having such a nice talk about what to do next.’
dinah had left the room in a rage, her arm stinging from philip’s slap.
she wandered down the passage that led to her uncle’s room, thinking uphorrid things to do to her brother. suddenly her uncle’s door opened and hepeered out.
‘oh, dinah – is that you? the ink pot here is empty,’ he said, in a peevishvoice. ‘why doesn’t somebody fill it?’
‘i’ll get the ink bottle for you,’ said dinah, and went to get it from heraunt’s cupboard. she took it to the study and filled her uncle’s ink pot. asshe turned to go, she noticed a map on a chair nearby. it was the one thather uncle could not find before – the large one of the isle of gloom. thelittle girl looked at it with interest.
‘oh, uncle – here’s that map you told us about. uncle, do tell me – usedthere to be mines on the island?’
‘now, where did you hear that?’ said her uncle, astonished. ‘that’s oldhistory. yes, there used to be mines, hundreds of years ago. copper mines –rich ones too. but they were all worked out years ago. there’s no copperthere now.’
dinah pored over the map. to her delight it showed where the shaftswere, that ran deep down into the earth. how the boys would like to see thatmap!
her uncle turned to his work, forgetting all about dinah. she picked upthe map and slipped out of the room very quietly. how pleased philipwould be with the map!
she had forgotten all her anger. that was the best part about dinah – shebore no malice, and her furies were soon over. she ran down the passage tothe room where she had left the others. she flung open the door and burstin.
the others were amazed to see her smiling and excited face. lucy-anncould never get used to the quick changes in dinah’s moods. philip lookedat her doubtfully, not smiling.
dinah remembered the quarrel. ‘oh,’ she said, ‘i’m sorry i boxed yourears, philip. look here – i’ve got that old map of the island. what do youthink of that? and uncle jocelyn told me there were mines there, once –copper ones – very rich. but they are worked out now. so those shafts mustonce have led down to the mines.’
‘golly!’ said philip, taking the map from dinah’s hands and spreading itout. ‘what a map! oh, dinah, you are clever!’
he gave his sister a squeeze and dinah glowed. she quarrelled with herbrother continually, but she loved getting a word of praise from him. thefour children bent over the map.
‘there’s the gap in the rocks – as plain as anything,’ said dinah. theboys nodded.
‘it must have always been there,’ said jack. ‘i suppose that’s the onlyway the old miners could use to go to and from the island. how thrilling tothink of their boats going and coming – taking food there, bringing backcopper! golly, i’d like to go down and see what they are like.’
‘look, all the old shafts are marked,’ said philip, and he placed his fingeron them. ‘there’s the one we must have found those tins near, freckles,look! – and here’s the stream. and now i know why it’s green. it’s colouredby the copper deposits still in the hills, i bet.’
‘well, perhaps there is still copper there then,’ said dinah, in greatexcitement. ‘copper nuggets! oooh, i wish we could find some.’
‘copper is found in veins,’ said philip, ‘but i think it’s found whole, innuggets too. they might be valuable. i say – shall we, just for a lark, goacross to the island, go down to the mines, and hunt about a bit? whoknows, we might find nuggets of copper.’
‘there won’t be any,’ said jack. ‘no one would leave a mine if therewere still copper to be worked. it’s been deserted for hundreds of years.’
‘there’s something stuck on to the back of the map,’ said lucy-annsuddenly. the children turned it over, and saw a smaller map fastened to thelarger one. they smoothed it out to look at it – and then philip gave anexclamation.
‘of course! it’s an underground map of the island – a map of the mines.
look at these passages and galleries and these draining-channels to takeaway water. golly, part of these mines are below the level of the sea.’
it was weird to look at a map that showed the maze of tunnels under thesurface of the island. there had evidently been a vast area mined, some of itunder the sea itself.
‘this section is right under the bed of the sea,’ said jack, pointing. ‘howqueer to work there, and know that all the time the sea is heaving above therocky ceiling over your head!’
‘i shouldn’t like it,’ said lucy-ann, shivering. ‘i’d be afraid it wouldbreak through and flood where i was working.’
‘look here, we simply must go over to the island again,’ said philipexcitedly. ‘do you know what i think? i think that people are working inthose mines now.’
‘whatever makes you think that?’ said dinah.
‘well, those food tins,’ said philip. ‘someone eats food there, out of tins.
and we couldn’t see them anywhere, could we? so it must be that theywere down in the mines, working. i bet you that’s the solution of themystery.’
‘let’s go over to bill and tell him all about it tomorrow, and take thismap to show him,’ said dinah, thrilled. ‘he will tell us what to do. i don’tfeel like exploring the mines by ourselves. i somehow feel i’d like bill withus.’
‘no,’ said jack suddenly. ‘we won’t tell bill.’
the others looked at him in surprise.
‘why ever not?’ demanded dinah.
‘well – because i’ve suddenly got an idea,’ said jack. ‘i believe it’s afriend of bill’s – or friends – working in those mines. i believe bill’s comehere to be near them – to take food over – and that sort of thing. i bet heuses his boat for that. it must be a secret, i should think. well – he wouldn’tbe too pleased if we knew his secret. he’d never let us go out in his boatagain.’
‘but, jack – you’re exaggerating. bill’s only come for a holiday. he’sbird-watching,’ said philip.
‘he doesn’t really do much bird-watching,’ said jack. ‘and though helistens to me when i rave about the birds here, he doesn’t talk much aboutthem himself – not like i would if someone gave me the chance. and wedon’t know what his business is. he’s never told us. i bet you anything youlike that he and his friends are trying to work a copper mine over on theisland. i don’t know who the mines belong to – if they do belong to anyone– but i guess if it was suspected that there was still copper there, the peoplewho made the discovery would keep it secret on the chance of mining somegood copper nuggets themselves.’
jack paused, quite out of breath. kiki murmured the new word she hadheard.
‘copper, copper, copper. spare a copper, copper, copper.’
‘isn’t she clever?’ said lucy-ann; but no one paid any attention to kiki.
the matters being discussed were far too important to be interrupted by aparrot.
‘let’s ask bill smugs straight out,’ suggested dinah, who always liked toget things clear. she disliked mysteries that couldn’t be solved.
‘don’t be an ass,’ said philip. ‘jack’s already told you why it would bebest not to let bill know we know his secret. maybe he’ll tell us himself oneday – and won’t he be surprised to know that we guessed it!’
‘we’ll go over in joe’s boat again soon,’ said jack. ‘we’ll go down thatbig shaft and explore a bit. we’ll soon find out if anyone is there. we’ll takethis map with us so that we don’t lose our way. it shows the undergroundpassages and galleries very clearly.’
it was exciting to talk over these secrets. when could they go off to theisland again? should they take the girls this time – or not?
‘well, i think we shall manage even better this time,’ said philip. ‘therewasn’t much danger really last time, once we found the passage through thering of rocks. i’m pretty certain we shall get to the island easily next time.
we can take the girls as well.’
dinah and lucy-ann were thrilled. they longed for a chance to go atonce, but joe did not leave craggy-tops long enough for them to take hisboat. however, he went out in it himself two or three times.
‘are you going fishing?’ asked philip. ‘why don’t you take us withyou?’
‘not going to bother myself with children like you,’ said the man, in hissurly way, and set off in his boat. he sailed out such a long way that hisboat disappeared into the haze that always seemed to hang about thewestern horizon.
‘he may have gone to the island, for all we can see,’ said jack. ‘he justdisappears. i hope he brings some fish back for supper tonight.’
he did. his boat returned after tea and the children helped to take in afine catch of fish. ‘you might have taken us too, you mean thing,’ saiddinah. ‘we could have let lines down as well.’
the next day joe departed to the town again, much to the children’s joy.
‘he’s got the day off,’ said aunt polly. ‘you will have to do some of hisjobs. you boys can pump up the water for the day.’
the boys went off to the well and let down the heavy bucket, unwindingthe chain till the bucket reached the water. jack peered over the edge.
‘just like one of those shafts over in the island,’ he said. ‘wind up, windup, tufty – here goes!’
the children hurried over all the work that aunt polly set them to do.
then, making certain that the car was gone out of the garage, they begged apicnic lunch from aunt polly and raced down to joe’s boat.
they undid the rope and pushed off, the two boys rowing hard. as soonas they were out on the open sea, up went the sail. ‘off we go to the isle ofgloom,’ said dinah, in delight. ‘gosh, i’m glad we’re coming with you thistime, jack. it was hateful being left behind last time.’
‘did you bring the torches?’ asked philip of lucy-ann. she nodded.
‘yes. they’re over there with the lunch.’
‘we shall need them down the mines,’ said philip, with an air ofexcitement. what an adventure this was – to be going down old, old mines,where possibly men might be secretly hunting for copper. philip shivereddeliciously with excitement.
the sailing-boat, handled most expertly by the four children, went alongwell and they made very good time indeed. it did not seem to be very longbefore the island loomed up out of the usual haze.
‘hear the waves banging on the rocks?’ said jack. the girls nodded. thiswas the dangerous part. they hoped the boys would find the rock passageas easily as before, and go in safely.
‘there’s the big hill,’ said jack suddenly. ‘down with the sail. that’sright – easy does it. look out for that rope, lucy-ann. no, not that one –that’s right.’
the sail was down. the boys took the oars and began to row cautiouslytowards the gap in the rocks. they knew where it was now. into it theywent, looking out for the rock that lay near the surface, ready to avoid it. itdid scrape the bottom slightly and lucy-ann looked frightened. but soonthey were in the calm moat of water that ran gleaming all round the island,between the shore and the ring of rocks.
lucy-ann heaved a sigh of relief. what with feeling a bit seasick andscared, she had gone quite pale. but now she recovered quickly as she sawthe island itself so near.
they landed safely and pulled the boat up on to the shore. ‘now we makefor the hills,’ said jack. ‘my word, look at the thousands of birds again! inever in my life saw such a lot. if only i could see that great auk!’
‘perhaps i’ll see one for you,’ said lucy-ann, wishing with all her heartthat she could. ‘philip, where’s that green-coloured stream – and the pile oftins? anywhere near here?’
‘you’ll see soon,’ said philip, striding ahead. ‘we go through this littlepass in the hills.’
soon they could see the bright green stream running in the valley amongthe hills. jack paused and took his bearings. ‘wait a bit. where exactly wasthat big shaft?’
the girls had already exclaimed over the other holes in the ground, andthe queer tumbledown erections beside them. ‘there must have been somesort of shaft-head,’ said jack, considering. ‘now, where’s that pile of tins?
it was somewhere near here. oh – there’s the shaft, girls!’
everyone hurried to the big round hole and peered down it. there was nodoubt but that the ladder leading down it was in very good condition. ‘thisis the shaft the men are using,’ said philip. ‘it’s the only one whose ladder issafe.’
‘don’t talk too loudly,’ said jack, in a low voice. ‘you don’t know howsound might carry down this shaft.’
‘where are those tins you told us about?’ said lucy-ann.
‘over there – by that rock,’ said philip, pointing. ‘go and see them if youwant to.’
he shone his torch down the shaft, but could see very little. it lookedrather sinister and forbidding. what was it like down there? were therereally men down there? the children mustn’t be discovered by them –grown-ups were always angry when children poked their noses into mattersthat didn’t concern them.
‘jack – i can’t find the tins,’ said lucy-ann. philip made an impatientnoise. he strode over to show them the pile.
then he stopped in astonishment. the place under the rock was empty.
there was nothing there at all. the tins had been removed.
‘look at that, jack,’ said philip, forgetting to speak softly. ‘all those tinshave gone. who took them? well – that just shows there are people on thisisland – people who have been here since we last came too. i say – isn’t thisexciting!’
