chapter 7 lucian is very helpful
mrs. mannering was pleased to hear that the ship was to call at the romantic island of amulis.
she, like the children, had been fascinated by all the misty-purple islands that kept looming up in thedark-blue sea. she had been dipping into greek history, and somehow it seemed as if the aegean seabelonged to the past, not to the present.
the children borrowed her books and read them too. how old these islands were, and what storiesthey held! lucy-ann was fascinated by them. she stood at the deck-rail and watched all day long.
"why are there so many?" she said. "what do you call a collection of so many islands — it's a longname, i know."
"archipelago," said mrs. mannering. "you know, lucy-ann, it's said that once all these islands werejoined together, making a great mainland. then something happened, and the sea rushed into what isnow the mediterranean basin, filled it up, and drowned a lot of this mainland. only the highest parts,the hills and mountains, were left — and they show above the water as islands — the aegean islandswe are cruising among!"
"my goodness," said lucy-ann, her quick imagination showing her a great sweep of water, rushingrelentlessly over a land where towns and villages stood — swallowing them up one by one, drowningthem — and at last leaving only the highest parts showing above the surface of the waters. "oh, auntallie — do you mean that far below us on the ocean bed, are the ruined remains of cities andvillages? did it happen long ago?"
"thousands and thousands of years ago," said mrs. mannering. "there wouldn't be a trace of themleft now. but it explains the myriads of little islands in this sea. i'm glad we are to visit one of thethem."
"you're not afraid of us falling into some exciting adventure now, are you?" said lucy-ann slyly.
"you think it will be safe to visit this romantic little island?""quite safe," said mrs. mannering, laughing. "for one thing i shall be with you.""we've asked lucian to come too," said dinah. "i know he's a nit-wit — but he really does knowabout these islands, mother. he's told us all sorts of stories about them. his uncle owns some ofthem."
"yes, i heard that he did," said mrs. mannering. "i've talked to his wife — quite a nice woman. i can'tsay i'd like a husband who did nothing but buy up islands and dig frantically for months, then sellthem and start somewhere else. he's got a bee in his bonnet, i think. still, he certainly seems to havemade some interesting finds — finds that have made him a wealthy man!"the viking star sailed into a small port the next day. the children were hanging over the deck-railand were surprised when their ship came to a stop and anchored where she was, without steaming tothe jetty.
"we can't get any closer in — the jetty isn't suitable for us. we're too big," explained one of theofficers to the children. "you'll go ashore in a motor-launch."sure enough a launch came out to the ship, and a score or so of passengers climbed down the ladderto the deck of the launch. the four children went, of course, and lucian, also mrs. mannering andsome of the other interested passengers. lucian's people didn't go. they knew so much about theisland that they had no desire to visit amulis.
but to the children it was all very thrilling indeed. the motor-launch sped off to the jetty where theyall landed. lucian was quite at home on the island, which he had visited before with his uncle.
"you keep with me. i can show you all the interesting things," he said. "and i can talk to the peopletoo, and bargain for you, if you want to buy anything."lucian was certainly very very useful. he pushed off the dirty little children who came crowdinground begging for money, and sent out such a fierce stream of queer-sounding words that even kikiwas most impressed. he knew his way about and was quite good at explaining things.
"here's the market. the people from the hills up there bring their goods down here — look at all thestalls — then they spend the money they get at the shops in the town. or they go to the cinema."the natives were a picturesque lot, but rather dirty. they wore big hats because of the sun, and acollection of nondescript white garments that might have been anything, but which suited them quitewell. the children were beautiful, lucy-ann thought, with their dark eyes beautifully shaped facesand thick curling hair.
lucian took them to an old ruined castle, but the boys were disappointed because there were nodungeons to be seen. the girls were amazed to see people apparently living in parts of the castle,together with their goats and hens.
"they're only poor peasants," explained lucian. "they've got nowhere else to live. further inland, ifi'd time to take you, you'd see people living in caves in the mountain-sides. they used to do thatthousands of years ago, too. it's queer to think those caves have sheltered people century aftercentury."
"do those cave-people go to the cinema in the town?" asked dinah.
"oh yes. they love it, though they can't read anything on the screen, of course. none of them canread or write," said lucian. "they live in two worlds really — the world of long ago, when peopleused caves as shelter and scraped along with their goats and hens and geese, and in the world oftoday, where there are motor-cars and cinemas and so on.""a queer mixture," said jack. "i shouldn't know where i was!""oh, they know all right," said lucian, and he paused to shout angrily at a small child who was tryingslyly to pull at a ribbon lucy-ann was wearing in her dress. kiki also began to scream excitedly, andmicky jumped up and down on philip's shoulder, chattering. the child flew away in terror. lucy-annfelt quite sorry for it.
lucian took them to the shops. some of them were small, native shops, dark and full of strangegoods. one shop which was full of antiques to attract visitors was quite big.
"you can go in here if you want to look around and buy something," said lucian. "oh, i say! where'smicky gone?"
"just to have a little exercise on the canopy over the shop," said philip. micky was amusing, the wayhe often leapt off philip's shoulder and hung on to all kinds of things near by, scampering here andthere, flinging himself through the air to some fresh place, never once falling or missing his hold. hewas now galloping over the sun-canopy, running from side to side, occasionally stopping to flinghimself up to a window-ledge overhead and then drop back. but when he saw that philip was goinginto the shop below he threw himself down from the canopy and with a flying leap was back on theboy's shoulder.
"can't get rid of you, can i?" said philip. "you're a bad penny, always turning up — and you do makemy neck so hot!"
the shop was fascinating to the four children. they had no idea which things were genuinely old andwhich were not. lucian, with the knowledge he had picked up from his uncle, pointed out a fewreally old things, but they were far too expensive to buy. lucy-ann looked at her money, and askedlucian if there was anything at all she could afford to buy.
he counted it up. it was greek money, and lucy-ann had no idea of its value.
"yes, you might buy one or two things," he said. "there's this blue carved stone, for instance.""no, i don't want that," said lucy-ann. "i really want to buy something for philip. it's his birthdaysoon. is there anything he would like? don't let him see it — it's to keep for his birthday.""well — what about this tiny carved ship?" said lucian, holding out a miniature ship, exactly likesome of the ships in the harbour. "it isn't old, of course."seeing the ship reminded lucy-ann of something. "oh! i know what i'd like to buy for him, lucian.
i've just thought. something he badly wants.""what's that?" said lucian.
"he wants a ship in a bottle," said lucy-ann. "i know it sounds a queer thing to ask for, but philipsays he always has wanted a ship in a bottle.""well — i don't think i've ever seen one here," said lucian. "it's not the kind of thing they sell. waita minute. i'll ask the johnny who's at the back of the shop. he'll know."he made his way through the masses of curious goods, and disappeared behind a screen, where hecould be heard talking to someone. he appeared again a minute later.
"no, they don't sell things like that here," he said. "but he says he knows where there is one, thoughit's rather a dirty old thing, and he thinks it's cracked.""where is it?" asked lucy-ann. "i could clean it up, if it isn't too badly cracked.""he says he saw it on a shelf in a house belonging to an old fisherman, not far from here," saidlucian. "i'll like you if you like. would mrs. mannering mind?"mrs. mannering was with the ship's party, but she was keeping an eye on lucian and his littlecompany. lucy-ann thought she had better go and ask permission. she went out of the shop andfound mrs. mannering with the rest of the party having a cool native drink in a curious littlecourtyard overshadowed by an enormous tree.
"aunt allie — i want to give philip a ship in a bottle for his birthday, and i've heard of one. luciansays he'll take me to get it. may i go?" asked the little girl.
"yes, but don't be long, lucian," said mrs. mannering. "it's not far, is it?""oh no — just behind the market, that's all," said lucian, and set off with lucy-ann. they crossedthe noisy market, falling over stray hens, and getting in the way of a herd of goats. they came to atall blank wall and went around it. on the other side was a sloping courtyard, and round it were setseveral quaint little cottages made of stone.
lucian went to one of them and shouted in at the open door. a croaking voice answered him. "wantto come in?" he asked lucy-ann. "it will be a bit smelly, i expect."lucy-ann didn't really want to go in, but she thought it would be rude to refuse, so she stepped overa hen that was squatting on the step, and went into a small dark room that certainly did smell ratherstrongly of dirty clothes, smoke and cooking.
"there's the ship in a bottle, look," said lucian, and he pointed to a stone shelf at the end of the room.
there was a broken pot on it, an old bone — and the bottle! lucy-ann peered at the bottle to see ifthere was a ship inside. it was so sooty and dirty that she couldn't see through the glass.
lucian said something to the old woman sitting on a stool, picked up the bottle and carried it to thedoor. he wiped it with his handkerchief, and held up the bottle for lucy-ann to see.
"there you are. you can just see the ship now. we'd have to wash the bottle in soapy water before wegot the dirt off. it's quite a good ship — nicely carved. and i should think philip would like it if hereally wants one, though i can't imagine why anyone should long for a ship in a bottle.""oh, i can!" said lucy-ann, peering at the ship. "i've often longed for things like this — you know,quite useless, but nice and queer. i had a friend once who had a glass ball, and inside was a littlesnowman — and when you shook the ball a whole lot of snow rose up inside the ball and showereditself down over the snowman. i loved that. so i know why philip wants this.""well — shall i ask the old dame if she'll sell it?" asked lucian. "the bottle is dirty and cracked, soit's not worth much."
"yes — ask her. you know how much money i've got. i can spend all that," said lucy-ann. lucianwent back into the cottage with the bottle, nearly falling over two ducking hens on the way. a loudargument could be heard from inside. lucy- ann stayed out in the open air, listening, but notunderstanding a word. she felt she couldn't bear to smell the smell inside the cottage again.
lucian came out, triumphant. he carried the bottle. "well, there you are. i've spent half your money.
the old dame wanted the money badly, but she said she didn't know what her old grandad wouldthink if he knew she'd sold a ship that had been in that bottle and in that family for years and years.
however, as her grandad must have died long ago i don't expect he'll mind. here you are.""oh, thank you, lucian," said lucy-ann gratefully. "i'll get a bit of paper and wrap it up. i do dohope philip will like it. it's an exciting present, isn't it?"but it was going to be much, much more exciting than lucy-ann imagined!
