chapter 9 the secret of the ship of adventure
when the morning came the boys began to realise the difficulties in front of them concerning thestrange document they had got hold of. the matter didn't seem half so easy to tackle or a quarter sostraightforward as they had imagined the night before.
things the boys had pooh- poohed, such as mrs. mannering objections, suddenly seemed veryawkward indeed. in fact the whole idea lost its rosy glow and seemed to recede into the realm of theimpossible. it was very disappointing.
but when they got out the map again, which philip had carefully put into an envelope and placedunder his pillow all night long, the excitement of the night before swept over them again. somehowthey must get the map deciphered, they must find out for certain if it was genuine — and then, whoknows what might happen!
they made their plans. the map must be carefully cut into quarters. each quarter must be placed in asmall envelope, which in turn should be put into one a little larger. each child must secrete his bit ofthe map either about his or her person, or in the cabin.
that was the first thing to do. then one of them must take his quarter to mr. eppy and see what hesaid. not the bit with the name of the island on, of course, but one of the other pieces.
"and lucy-ann mustn't come with us when we ask him," said philip. "because if he asks us straightout where we originally got the paper we can all say truthfully we don't know — but lucy-ann can'tsay that — and she'd blush or something and give the game away.""i should not," said lucy-ann, who didn't want to miss any of the excitement.
"you would. you're such a truthful person," said philip. "don't look like that, lucy-ann — it's a verynice thing to be, and we wouldn't have you any different. it's only that this is important, and it justmight spoil things if you show there's something up.""all right," said lucy-ann, with a sigh. "perhaps you're right. i do wish mr. eppy would take off hissunglasses sometimes — i just don't know what he's really like if i can't see his eyes.""i should think he's all right, except that he's a bit short-tempered," said jack. "he's nice to his wife,and he's always very polite to aunt allie. of course, he's pretty awful to lucian — but then if we hadpoor old rabbit-mouth for a nephew we'd be pretty awful to him too.""we are now, sometimes," said lucy-ann. "like when we go on and on and on at him to have aswim in the ship's pool, when we know he's scared stiff of the water.""it's only to see what excuse he'll think up each time," said jack. "he's a marvel at excuses.""well — what about this map — when shall we take it to mr. eppy?" asked philip. "and if he saysit's genuine, what do we do next? is there anyone else on the ship we can ask about the next bit of themap?"
"yes — there's the deck steward," said dinah. "he's greek. he could decipher it all right, i shouldthink. and there's that little greek woman who keeps the shop on the promenade deck — she'd beable to do a bit too, i expect."
"yes. we're getting on!" said philip, pleased. "well — what about doing a bit of snipping?""i've got some very sharp scissors," said lucy-ann. "they're in my cabin. i'll go and get them. andi'll see what micky and kiki are doing there at the same time — up to some mischief, i expect!""well, we couldn't have them here whilst we get out the map," said jack. "micky might quite wellmake a grab at it and throw it out of the porthole, like he did yesterday with the post-card i'd justwritten!"
"what a horrible thought!" said dinah. she visualised their precious map sailing away out of theporthole and she got up to shut it. "just in case," she said, and the boys laughed.
lucy-ann went to get her scissors. she was a long time coming back, and the others got impatient.
"what is she doing? she's been ages."
when lucy-ann came back she had kiki with her. "i had to bring her," she said. "she had got mickyinto a corner, and she was dancing in front of him from one leg to another — you know how she doeswhen she's cross — and she was growling terrifically just like a dog. poor micky was scared stiff. ijust had to stay and comfort him a bit."
"what you mean is, you stayed and had a good game with them both," grumbled jack. "keeping uswaiting all this time. where are the scissors?""blow! i left them behind after all!" said lucy-ann, and departed again in a hurry, looking rather red.
she came back immediately, with the scissors in her hand. kiki was now contentedly perched on herbeloved jack's shoulder, singing something that sounded like "humpy-dumpy, three blind mice"over and over again in a very quiet little voice. she knew she had been naughty.
jack took the scissors, and, very carefully and solemnly, cut the precious document in half. theparchment crackled as he cut it. the others held their breath and watched.
then jack cut the halves into half again, and there, on the boys' dressing-table, lay the four pieces —four exciting parts of a rare and unique document — if it was what the children imagined it to be!
"now for small envelopes and then a bit larger ones," said dinah. she rummaged in the boys'
writing-cases and produced four fairly strong little envelopes. each bit of the map was carefullyslipped into one. then four bigger envelopes were found, and the small envelopes were slipped intothose. good! the first step was taken.
"we can easily paste the four bits together once we have got all the pieces deciphered," said philip.
"now — what's the best time to interview mr. eppy — and exactly how shall we set about it?""it would be quite a good time now," said jack. "he's usually up in his deck-chair — and he'llprobably be awake because it's not long after breakfast!""i say — are we to tell lucian anything about this?" said lucy-ann.
"don't be silly! of course not!" said jack. "i wouldn't trust old rabbit-mouth with anything. hisuncle has only got to bark a few words at him and he'd tell him everything he knew — and a lot morethat he didn't, besides."
it was decided that jack's bit should be the one presented to mr. eppy. it hadn't the name "andra" onit, neither had it the name of the island, so far as they could tell. it had one part of the island, with afew queer hieroglyphics.
"what are hiero-something-or-other?" asked lucy-ann, when jack used the word. "it sounds like amedicine or something!"
"hieroglyphics? well — these squiggly marks that we don't understand," said jack. "marks thatstand for words. secret symbols, perhaps.""secret symbols — it sounds thrilling," said lucy-ann. "now — where shall i hide my bit?""not in your writing-case or anywhere obvious like that, lucy-ann," said philip. "i know where i'mgoing to hide mine."
"where?" asked the others, and watched as philip rose and went to his dressing-table. it was fixed tothe wall, of course — every bit of furniture in the cabins was fixed either to the wall or to the floor, sothat it would not move if the ship rolled. between the wall and the dressing-table was a thin space, nomore than a crack. philip bent down and slid his envelope into this crack.
"there!" he said. "no- one will dust there — it's absolutely hidden between the bottom of thedressing-table and the wall. where will you put yours, jack?""on my person," said jack. "my shorts have got a thin lining. i'll get lucy-ann to take out a fewstitches so that i can slip my bit in. i'll pin it up afterwards. but i shan't hide mine yet, because i'vegot to show it to mr. eppy."
dinah had thought of a really excellent place. she took the others to her cabin. behind the electric fanwas a panel of wood, to which it was fixed. she slid her envelope neatly into the crack between thepanel and the wall of the cabin. it hid it completely. she had had to turn off the fan to use the hiding-place, of course — now she turned it on again, and the others voted her hiding-place as first-class —no-one would ever think there was anything hidden behind an electric fan that whirred round andround all day and night!
"good for you!" said jack. "now what about lucy-ann?""think of somewhere that micky can't get at," warned philip. "he's watching you. he can't getdinah's piece because he's afraid of the fan. he'd never dare to explore behind it!""could i slip it under the carpet?" said lucy-ann.
"no," said jack. "the stewardess might feel it there when she was doing the carpet, and get it out.""well — i know — what about at the back of a drawer-space?" said lucy-ann. she pulled out one ofthe drawers in her dressing-table and set it on the floor. she got a drawing-pin from her pencil-boxand pinned the precious envelope to the very back of the drawer-space.
"there!" she said. "no one can possibly see it's there unless they pull the drawer right out — and whyshould they do that?"
"yes. that's fine," said jack, and the others approved too. "micky's not strong enough to pull thedrawer out even if he wants to. now what about going and tackling mr. eppy?""right. lucy-ann, you go up to the deck-tennis place with lucian whilst we talk to his uncle," saidphilip. "then you'll both be out of the way."lucy-ann went off to find lucian. he was mooning about by himself, wondering where they allwere. he was delighted to see lucy-ann, and agreed at once to have a game with her. he liked herthe best of the four — probably because he felt she didn't make fun of him as much as the others.
"well, they're disposed of all right," said jack, watching them go up the steps to the sports deck.
"come on. we'll make for the deck-chairs. kiki, do decide which of my shoulders you want to sit on— this flapping to and fro is most uncomfortable!""i wish you'd have micky for an hour or two," groaned philip. "he's like a hot-water bottle by myright ear this morning."
the passengers watched the three children with their parrot and monkey as they passed by. they hadgot used to them by now, and enjoyed the antics of the two pets. mrs. mannering was on the watchfor them.
"i wondered where you'd got to," she said. "where's lucy-ann?""playing with lucian," said jack. he sat down by mrs. mannering. mrs. eppy and her husband wereon the other side of her. jack spoke loudly so that his voice would carry well.
"i've got a queer thing here," he said. "an old old document, i should think. do you suppose mr.
eppy would be kind enough to look at it for me, aunt allie?""well, ask him!" said mrs. mannering. "he's here."
