chapter thirteen a day on the island
the children hardly knew where they were the next day when they woke up. the sun was pouringinto the cave entrance, and fell first of all on george's sleeping face. it awoke her and she lay half-dozing, wondering why her bed felt rather less soft than usual.
"but i'm not in my bed - i'm on kirrin island, of course!" she thought suddenly to herself. she sat upand gave anne a punch. "wake up, sleepy-head! we're on the island!"soon they were all awake rubbing the sleep from their eyes. "i think i'm going to get heather todayfor my bed, after all," said anne. "the sand feels soft at first, but it gets hard after a bit."the others agreed that they would all get heather for their beds, set on the sand, with rugs forcovering. then they would have really fine beds.
"it's fun to live in a cave," said dick. "fancy having a fine cave like this on our island, as well as acastle and dungeons! we are really very lucky.""i feel sticky and dirty," said julian. "let's go and have a bathe before we have breakfast. then coldham, bread, pickles and marmalade for me!""we shall be cold after our bathe," said george. "we'd better light my little stove and put the kettleon to boil while we're bathing. then we can make some hot cocoa when we come back shivering!""oh yes," said anne, who had never boiled anything on such a tiny stove before. "do let's. i'll fill thekettle with water from one of the containers. what shall we do for milk?""there's a tin of milk somewhere in the pile," said julian. "we can open that. where's the tin-opener?"
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it was not to be found which was most exasperating. but at last julian discovered it in his pocket, soall was well.
the little stove was filled with methylated spirit, and lighted. the kettle was filled and set on top.
then the children went off to bathe.
"look! there's a simply marvellous pool in the middle of those rocks over there!" called julian,pointing. "we've never spotted it before. golly, it's like a small swimming-pool, made specially forus!"
"kirrin swimming pool, five pence a dip!" said dick. "free to the owners, though! come on - itlooks gorgeous! and see how the waves keep washing over the top of the rocks and splashing intothe pool. couldn't be better!"
it really was a lovely rock-pool, deep, clear and not too cold. the children enjoyed themselvesthoroughly, splashing about and swimming and floating. george tried a dive off one of the rocks, andwent in beautifully.
"george can do anything in the water," said anne, admiringly. "i wish i could dive and swim likegeorge. but i never shall."
"we can see the old wreck nicely from here," said julian, coming out of the water. "blow! we didn'tbring any towels."
"we'll use one of the rugs, turn and turn about," said dick. "i'll go and fetch the thinnest one. i say -do you remember that trunk we saw in the wreck yesterday? odd, wasn't it?""yes, very odd," said julian. "i don't understand it. we'll have to keep a watch on the wreck and seewho comes to collect the trunk."
"i suppose the smugglers - if they are smugglers - will come slinking round this side of the island andquietly send off a boat to the wreck," said george, drying herself vigorously. "well, we'd better keepa strict look-out, and see if anything appears on the sea out there in the way of a small steamer, boator ship."
"yes. we don't want them to spot us," said dick. "we shan't find out anything if they see us and arewarned. they'd at once give up coming to the island. i vote we each of us take turns at keeping alook-out, so that we can spot anything at once and get under cover.""good idea!" said julian. "well, i'm dry, but not very warm. let's race to the cave, and get that hotdrink. and breakfast - golly, i could eat a whole chicken and probably a duck as well, to say nothingof a turkey."
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the others laughed. they all felt the same. they raced off to the cave, running over the sand andclimbing over a few rocks, then down to the cave-beach and into the big entrance, still splashed withsunshine.
the kettle was boiling away merrily, sending a cloud of steam up from its tin spout. "get the ham outand a loaf of bread, and that jar of pickles we brought," ordered julian. "i'll open the tin of milk.
george, you take the tin of cocoa and that jug, and make enough for all of us.""i'm so terribly happy," said anne, as she sat at the entrance to the cave, eating her breakfast.
"it's a lovely feeling. it's simply gorgeous being on our island like this, all by ourselves, able to dowhat we like."
they all felt the same. it was such a lovely day too, and the sky and sea were so blue. they sat eatingand drinking, gazing out to sea, watching the waves break into spray over the rocks beyond the oldwreck. it certainly was a very rocky coast.
"let's arrange everything very nicely in the cave," said anne, who was the tidiest of the four, andalways liked to play at "houses" if she could. "this shall be our house, our home. we'll make fourproper beds. and we'll each have our own place to sit in. and we'll arrange everything tidily on thatbig stone shelf there. it might have been made for us!""we'll leave anne to play "houses" by herself," said george, who was longing to stretch her legsagain. "we'll go and get some heather for beds. and oh! - what about one of us keeping a watch onthe old wreck, to see who comes there?"
"yes - that's important," said julian at once. "i'll take first watch. the best place would be up on thecliff just above this cave. i can find a gorse bush that will hide me all right from anyone out at sea.
you others get the heather. we will take two-hourly watches. we can read if we like, so long as wekeep on looking up."
dick and george went to get the heather. julian climbed up the knotted rope that still hung downthrough the hole, tied firmly to the great old root of an enormous gorse bush. he pulled himself outon the cliff and lay on the heather panting.
he could see nothing but to sea at all except for some big steamer miles out on the sky-line. he laydown in the sun, enjoying the warmth that poured into every inch of his body. this look-out job wasgoing to be very nice!
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he could hear anne singing down in the cave as she tidied up her "house'. her voice came upthrough the cave- roof hole, rather muffled. julian smiled. he knew anne was enjoying herselfthoroughly.
so she was. she had washed the few bits of crockery they had used for breakfast, in a mostconvenient little rain-pool outside the cave. timmy used it for drinking-water too, but he didn't seemto mind anne using it for washing-up water, though she apologised to him for doing so.
"i'm sorry if i spoil your drinking water, timmy darling," she said, "but you are such a sensible dogthat i know if it suddenly tastes nasty to you, you will go off and find another rain-pool.""woof!" said timmy, and ran off to meet george, who was just arriving back with dick, armed withmasses of soft, sweet-smelling heather for beds.
"put the heather outside the cave, please george," said anne. "i'll make the beds inside when i'mready."
"right!" said george. "we'll go and get some more. aren't we having fun?""julian's gone up the rope to the top of the cliff," said anne. "he'll yell if he sees anything unusual. ihope he does, don't you?"
"it would be exciting," agreed dick, putting down his heather on top of timmy, and nearly buryinghim. "oh sorry timmy - are you there? bad luck!"anne had a very happy morning. she arranged everything beautifully on the shelf - crockery andknives and forks and spoons in one place - saucepan and kettle in another - tins of meat next, tins ofsoup together, tins of fruit neatly piled on top of one another. it really was a splendid larder anddresser!
she wrapped all the bread up in an old tablecloth they had brought, and put it at the back of the cavein the coolest place she could find. the containers of water went there too, and so did all the bottlesof drinks.
then the little girl set to work to make the beds. she decided to make two nice big ones, one on eachside of the cave.
"george and i and tim will have the one this side," she thought, busy patting down the heather intothe shape of a bed. "and julian and dick can have the other side. i shall want lots more heather. oh,is that you, dick? you're just in time! i want more heather."soon the beds were made beautifully, and each had an old rug for an under-blanket, and two betterrugs for covers. cushions made pillows.
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"what a pity we didn't bring night-things," thought anne. "i could have folded them neatly and putthem under the cushions. there! it all looks lovely. we've got a beautiful house."julian came sliding down the rope from the cliff to the cave. he looked round admiringly. "my word,anne - the cave does look fine! everything in order and looking so tidy. you are a good little girl."anne was pleased to hear julian's praise, though she didn't like him calling her a little girl.
"yes, it does look nice, doesn't it?" she said. "but why aren't you watching up on the cliff, ju?""it's dick's turn now," said julian. "the two hours are up. did we bring any biscuits? i feel as if icould do with one or two, and i bet the others could too. let's all go up to the cliff-top and have some.
george and timmy are there with dick."
anne knew exactly where to put her hand on the tin of biscuits. she took out ten and climbed up tothe cliff-top. julian went up on the rope. soon all five were sitting by the big gorse-bush, nibbling atbiscuits, timmy too. at least, he didn't nibble. he just swallowed.
the day passed very pleasantly and rather lazily. they took turns at being look-out, though anne wasseverely scolded by julian in the afternoon for falling asleep during her watch. she was very ashamedof herself and cried.
"you're too little to be a look-out, that's what it is," said julian. "we three and timmy had better doit."
"oh, no, do let me too," begged poor anne. "i never, never will fall asleep again. but the sun was sohot and . . ."
"don't make excuses," said julian. "it only makes things worse if you do. all right - we'll give youanother chance, anne, and see if you are really big enough to do the things we do."but though they all took their turns, and kept a watch on the sea for any strange vessel, noneappeared. the children were disappointed. they did so badly want to know who had put that trunk onthe wreck and why, and what it contained.
"better go to bed now," said julian, when the sun sank low. "it's about nine o'clock. come on!
i'm really looking forward to a sleep on those lovely heathery beds that anne has made so nicely!"
