"Well, we"d better start work at once, hadn"t we?" said Tom eagerly. "We shall have to bring all our things here-and make it a bit home-like. And all those weeds will have to be cleared,"
"Yes-and we"llspread the floor with clean sand," said Jill. "Listen-you boys clear up the weeds for us-and Mary and I will go to that old potato field and find the biggest potatoes we can, and cook them in their jackets for lunch!"
"Good idea," said Tom, feeling hungry at once. "Come on, Andy-let"s start and clean up the place now-we can"t do much till that"s done."
The two boys set to work. They pulled up the creeping weed by handfuls and piled it outside. They got tofts of stiff heather and, using them as brushes, swept the cobwebs from the walls and rough ceiling. Tom broke the remaining gla.s.s of the window, gathered the broken bits carefully together and tucked them into the bottom of the old rubbish-heap so that no one could be cut by a splinter.
Andy made a rough fireplace just outside the shack, with stones from the hearth of the ruined farmhouse.
"We can"t have the fire inside because this shack has no chimney," he said, "and we"d be choked with the smoke. Anyway, I"ve made Ibe fireplace out of the wind and we ought to be able to cook all right on it. Mary, you can bake the potatoes there, once the stones get hot. Tom, get some sticks and start a fire."
Mary and Jill peeped inside the shack. It looked clean and tidy now, though very bare. The two girls had pulled plenty of good potatoes from the old, weedy field, and had washed them in the spring water. They would be fine, baked in their jackets-though it was a pity there w$ no batter left and so salt Tom fetched some clean sand from the sh.o.r.e. He had found a very old bucket, which had a hole in the bottom. He put a flat stone over the hole, and then the sand did not trickle out. He carried six pails full of sand to the shack and scattered it over the earth floor. It looked very neat and clean.
"We"ll have to get heaps of heather and bracken in for beds again," said Jill, "just as we did for our tent. Won"t it be a nice little house! We must bring the little table here, and the stool-and all the cups and things. It will make it seem like home."
The children had quite forgotten how serious their adventure was. It was such fun to work like this and get ready a little house. Mary even began to wonder if there was anything she could use as a curtain for the window!
Their lunch was potatoes and chocolate, with plenty of cold spring water Tom could have eaten three times as much but he had to be content with five large potatoes and a whole bar of chocolate.
"We"ll have fish for to-night," promised Andy. "The water round about this island is just thick with fish. Well always have plenty to eat so long as we don"t get tired of fish! We"ll hunt for sh.e.l.l-fish too."
After their dinner the children separated. The girls were to go to the nearest patches of heather and bracken and bring in armfuls for beds. The boys were to make journeys to and from the tent, and bring in all their belongings.
"When the tide"s down tonight I"ll get the tin of oil out of the locker of the boat," said Andy. "That won"t have been spoilt by the sea-water because it"s got a tight-fitting lid. We can cook over the stove then, as well as over a fire, if we want to."
The children were very busy that afternoon. Mary and Jill got enough heather and bracken to make two teds, one at each side of the shack. They piled the tough bracken on the floor first, and then the softer heather on top. Then they spread each bed with a rug. and put another rug, neatly folded up, to be used as a blanket at night.
"The beds can be couches to sit on in the daytime," said Mary, quite pleased with the look of them. "we"llhave to add more heather day by day, I expect, Jill, because we shall flatten the beds very much with our weight. But we can easily see to that."
The boys brought in the crockery-cups, saucers and plates-thick, common ones used by the fishermen who sailed in Andy"s father"s boat with him. They were just right for the shack-but where were they to be put?
"We really can"t keep them on the floor," said Mary. They"ll get broken. I wish we had a shelf to put things on. It would give us much more room if only we could get these odd things out of the"way."
Andy disappeared for a few minutes. When he came back he carried a wooden board. He grinned at the surprised children.
"I remembered seeing an old shelf in what must have been the kitchen of the farmhouse," he said. "So I went in and wrenched h down from the wall. Tom, where did you put the tools and the box of nails?"
"Down there by our bed," said Tom. Andy picked up a hammer and the box of nails. "Where do you want the shelf?" he asked the girls.
"Over there, at the back of the shack, just about shoulder-high," said Mary. "What a lovely shelf that will make, Andy-it will take everything!"
So it did! Once Andy had nailed it up, the girls arranged the crockery there, the kettle, one or two pans, the field-gla.s.ses, camera and other things. The gramophone would not go on the shelf so they put it into a corner.
By this time the shack really looked fine! There were the two neat beds at the sides-the table in the middle, with the stool-the neatly-sanded floor-the shelf at the back with its array of goods! The children felt really pleased with it.
Andy filled the oil-stove. "You could boil us some potatoes tonight for a change," he said to Mary. "You"ve got a little saucepan, haven"t you?"
"Yes," said Mary. "I"ll boil them and mash them for you-but they"ll taste a bit odd without b.u.t.ter or salt! And we"ll open another tin of fruit."
The boys went off to catch fish. The girls busied themselves with fetching more potatoes, more water, and setting the oil-stove going. They felt very busy and rather important.
They had a most delicious supper and enjoyed every bit of it. They didn"t even mind going without salt in the potatoes. They ate their supper sitting outside the open doorway of the shack, looking out to the evening sea. The gulls called high in the air, and the splash of the little white-edged waves came to them every now and again.
"Now we"ll turn in!" said Andy with a yawn. "It will be fun to sleep in our little house for the first time! Come on, girls-leave the washing-up till the morning. We are all tired out!"
CHAPTER 7.
A Strange Discovery
THE next day the children went to make sure that their sail-signal was still safely tied to the signal-tree at the top of the cliff. It was. It flapped there steadily, a signal to any pa.s.sing ship that there were people on the island who needed help.
"Suppose no help comes?" said Tom. "Shall we have to stay here all winter?"
"Yes-unless you like to try and swim dozens of miles back home!" said Andy.
The children looked at one another. Stay there for the winter! It was all very well having an adventure on. an island for three or four days-but to stay there all the winter, in the bitter cold and raging storms, was not a pleasant thought.
"Don"t look so gloomy," said Andy. "We may be rescued any day. I can"t think that no ship ever pa.s.ses these islands. After all, there were people living here not so long ago-and they must have had supplies from time to time-so the ships must come by here some-times. And maybe there are people living on one of" the other islands. I think perhaps at a very low tide we could cross to the next island by that line of rocks over there-and explore that. We may find dozens of people,??? all we know!"
Every one cheered up. Of course! There seemed to??? or six islands near to their own; people would surely be living on one or other of them, especially on the bigger ones. Their own island was so small that it was a wonder anyone had ever bothered to build a house there, and tried to get a living on the rocky soil.
They went to see if their boat was still held fast between the two rocks. Yes-there it was, all on one side, the tide washing right over its decks, "Perhaps an extra strong tide might lift it off the rocks," said Andy. "If only it would-and we could mend it! I"d try to sail back home again."
"Well, there"s nothing left in the boat that could be taken away now," said Tom. "I really think we"ve got everything movable-ropes, nets, even the oars!"
It was quite true. The boys had brought back with the oil everything in the locker. Ropes might never come in useful-but still, Andy thought they might as well take them. The children thoroughly explored the t.i.ttle island again, but found nothing interesting at all. They could see that the farm-people had used the level stretch of land on the more southerly side of the island for their fields. In one place, Jill found some runner beans growing over a tangle of brambles, and she called out in excitement: "Beans! we"lleat them for dinner!"
The others came to look. "I expect these seeded themselves too," said Andy. "Maybe there was a bean-field just here. Well-we"re not doing too badly, with potatoes and beans and fish!"
There was nothing to do that afternoon, except bathe and fish. The little shack was finished-there was nothing more to add to it. They could do nothing with their wrecked boat. It was of no use going for a ramble for the island was so small. So Tom suggested a bathe first, and fishing afterwards.
It was warm in the sunshiny sea. They swam through the big waves and splashed about lazily. Then they came out of the sea and lay in the sun to dry. After that, the boys sat on the rocks to fish and the girls went to hunt for prawns, shrimps, and sh.e.l.lfish.
The tide was very low that evening. The wind had completely dropped, and the sea was almost calm-as nearly calm as it ever could be on that rough, rocky coast. The children stood on a rocky ledge, looking to the north where the other islands lay, blue with a summery mist.
"They really look as if they are just floating on the water," said Jill dreamily. "They do look lovely. I wish we could visit them."
"Well, it would be quite easy if we chose low tide," said Andy, pointing to the line of rocks that were now uncovered, and which seemed to lead in a crooked line to the next island. "I"d like fine to go across those rocks to-morrow morning when the tide is low again. We could take food for the day-and see what war on the next island-and climb back across the rocks at low tide to-morrow night."
"Oh, do let"s!" cried the twins, and Tom did a little war-dance on the rocky ledge in excitement. Who knew what they might find on the next island?
That night Jill cooked some potatoes in their skins, and let them go cold to take with them next day.
"We"ll cook the sausages that are in the tin, let them go cold, and take those, too," said M. "We can catcb some fish to-morrow night for our evening meal when we come home."
The next morning they ran to see if the tide had uncovered the rocks again. Yes-there they stretched grey and green, some quite bare, some covered with seaweed. Very deep rock-pools lay between. The sea itself lay pale blue and sparkling, beyond the line of rocks.
"Come on!" said Andy. "We"d better go now, before the tide turns."
They leapt down from the ledge and ran to the sandy sh.o.r.e. They jumped up on to the rocks, and then began to make their way carefully over them. Some were so slippery that once or twice the children nearly fell into the deep pools. These pools looked exciting. Quite big fish swam in them, and Andy said big edible crabs would be sure to be there.
"But we"ve no time for fishing about here," he said. "We shall be caught by the tide if we don"t make haste."
Sure enough, the tide was on the turn-but before it could reach the jagged line of rocks over which the children were climbing, they had come to the end of them, and had waded through a pool to the sandy sh.o.r.e of the next island.
"Now we"re on island number two!" said Tom, capering about. "Golly! I am hungry!"
So was every one. "Well, if we eat all our food now, we shall have to wait ages for our next meal, unless we can find"something on this island," said Andy. But he was hungry, too-so they ate their cold sausages and potatoes, and sucked a toffee each.
Then they set off to explore the second island. They turned to climb the cliff s-and had a big surprise I "Look! Caves!" said Tom, pointing to big black openings in the cliff. "Look at that! Caves of all lands and sizes and shapes! Let"s have a look at them."
They made their way to the first cave-and just outside it Andy stopped and stared at something in the sand.
"What"s up?" asked Tom.
"That!" said Andy, and he pointed to a cigarette-end that lay rolling a little in the breeze.
"A cigarette-end!" said Tom, looking all round, as if he were looking for the one who had smoked it. "Well! Somebody has been here all right-and not very long ago, either. But there"s not a single house on this island, ruined or whole!"
"Perhaps the people live in these caves," said Jill, looking half-timidly at the first one.
"We"ll go in and see," said Andy. He pulled a roll of oilskin from his pocket and out of it took a half-candle and a box of matches. Andy never ran any risk of his matches getting wet-and now the children were glad that he was so careful, for no one really wanted to go into the caves without a light of some sort.
Andy lighted the candle and thea, leading the way. he stepped into the first cave. The others followed him. The floor was thick with silvery sand, and the walls of the cave were high and smooth. It ran back a long way. and then narrowed into an archway. Through this the children went into another cave, the tiny light of the candle shining on rocky grey walls, and high, rough roof. The floor of the cave then began to go upwards, and became rocky instead of sandy. The cave narrowed into a pa.s.sage, whose roof was at times so low that they bomped their heads against it.
And then they came to the Round Cave, which was the name they at once gave the last strange cave. It was almost perfectly round, and as the floor slanted down towards the middle, it felt like being inside a hollow ball!
But it wasn"t the roundness of the cave that startled the four children-it was what it held!
Piled high, everywhere were boxes, sacks, and big tin chests with strange words on them! Some piles reached to the roof of the cave, others reached half-way.
"Golly! Look at that!" said Tom, in the greatest astonishment. "Whatever"s in all those boxes and things-and why are they here?"
The little flame of the candle flickered on the strange array in the cave. Andy set the candle gently down on a flat piece of rock, and pulled the neck of a thick brown sack undone. It was lined with coa.r.s.e blue paper inside. He undid that-and then gave a low cry of surprise.
"Sugar! Stranger and stranger! I was expecting treasure or something-and it"s sugar! I wonder what"s in the other sacks and boxes."
Some the children could not force open, but others were already opened, as if some one had taken from them some of the contents. The boxes were full of tins-there were tins of soup, meat, vegetables, fruit, sardines-everything one could think of. There was a chest of flour, a chest of tea, tins of salt, even tins of b.u.t.ter and lard, well-sealed and air-tight.
"Andy-I really don"t understand this," said Jill in a puzzled voice. "How did all these come here? And who do you suppose they belong to? As far as we know there isn"t a single person on the island."
"I don"t know any more than you do, Jill," said Andy. "It"s like a dream; but anyway we shan"t need to starve whilst there"s all this food stored here!"
"But may we take it, if it belongs to anyone else?" said Mary, frightened.
"We can pay the person it belongs to," said Andy. "My father and your mother will gladly pay, to keep us from starving, if we have to spend the winter here!"
"Well, come on then-let"s take all we want," said Tom, feeling so hungry that he couldn"t wait a minute longer. "we"llkeep a careful account of everything we take, and pay the bill and a little more, when we find out who owns this very curious larder."
"You"re right, Tom," said Andy, in a puzzled voice. "It is a very-curious-larder!"
CHAPTER 8.
Odder and Odder
THE children each chose what they thought they would like to take away. Sugar they wanted, and salt. The tinned b.u.t.ter would be splendid, and any tins of meat and fruit. Jill thought she might be able to make some rolls of bread with the flour, or, at any rate, some scones. They took tins of powdered milk too, and each child carried quite a- heavy load down the narrow pa.s.sages that led from the Round Cave to the sh.o.r.e-cave.
When they reached the open air Tom took a deep breath and set down his load. "My goodness, it was stuffy up there," he said.
"What puzzles me is why it wasn"t more stuffy than it was," said Andy. "Air must get into that Round Cave through some hole we didn"t see. Pick up your things, Tom, the tide is coming in. We can"t stay on this beach. The sea will reach the cave before long."
"It"s all right for about ten minutes," said Tom, pulling a fat little notebook from his pocket. "I just want to jot down a list of all the things we"ve taken, in case we eat them up and then forget what we had."
"Tom"s always so honest," said Jill. "Well, I"ll tell you the things, Tom, and you can write them down. Three tins of pineapple. One big bag of sugar. Three tins" of tongue. Four tins of-"
"Not so fast, not so fast," said Tom, busy writing. He wrote everything down, shut his notebook with a snap, and pushed it back into his pocket. Then he picked up bis load and followed Andy up the steep, rocky path.
Until the tide went out that night the children were prisoners on the second island, for there was no way to get back to their own island except by the line of roeks. This was now completely covered by the tide, and great showers of spray were" sent high into the air as the water crashed against the rocks over which they had clambered early that day.
"Anyone got a tin-opener?" asked Tom, his mouth watering at the sight of the labels on the tins.
Andy had. In Andy"s pockets there was almost anything that anyone could possibly want, from tin-tacks to toffee.
"You"d better open a tin, I suppose," said Andy, with a grin. "I"ve watched you sticking your finger into the sugar packet a dozen times already-and there"ll " be none left to take to our island if you do it much more. Open a tin of tongue and perhaps you won"t feel so hungry for sugar!"
They all feasted on the tongue, which was really most delicious. They felt very thirsty afterwards, and as they bad not found any spring or stream on the second island they could not think what to do.
"Well, why don"t we open a tin of pine-apple?" said Tom at last. "The chunks will be lovely and juicy and we can all have a drink of the juice in the tin too."
So a tin of pine-apple was opened. Both tins were carefully buried by the children, for even although the island seemed quite lonely and deserted they could not bear to make it ugly by leaving empty tins about. The gulls swooped round them all the time they ate, screaming loudly. Andy imitated them and they grew even more excited, at last landing on the ground behind the children and waiting there almost within touch.
"These gulls know that where there are people, there may be food," said Andy. "But how do they know that?-these islands seem quite bare and empty."
"And how, how, how did all that food come to be in the Round Cave?" said Jill. "Could it have been there for years, do you suppose-and have been forgotten?"
"No," said Andy. "It hasn"t been there very long. The sugar was still soft-and sugar goes hard if it is stored for long. That cigarette-end we found too-that had been smoked not less than a week or two ago, or the wind would have blown it into bits."