"Andy, don"t you think it would be a good thing to stay on this island and live here, instead of going back to our own island?" asked Mary. "We should be near to a good food-supply then!"
"No, I don"t," said Andy, at once. "You forget we have left a signal on our island-and if any ship sees it and calls for us, we might be on this island, unable to be rescued because the tide was high and we couldn"t get back."
"But couldn"t we tie the signal up somewhere on this island?" said Tom.
"No," said Andy. "No ship could get to us here. This island is almost surrounded by a reef of the worst rocks I"ve ever seen. Look at them, right out there."
The children looked. Andy was right. A jagged line of rocks ran some way out from the coast. Between the rocks and the coast the sea lay trapped in a kind of big lagoon or lake, calm and smooth.
Tom frowned and looked puzzled. "Well, if no ship can get in to rescue us if we stay on this island," he said, "how in the wofld did one get in to land all that food in the cave?"
Andy stared at Tom and looked as puzzted as Tom did. "Yes-that"s odd," he said. "Well-maybe there is a way through at high tide. But we can"t risk it. We must live on the first island, and when we want food we must come here and get it-and maybe we shall run into the folk who so strangely made a larder in trie Round Cave."
Mary stood up and tried to see what the next island was like. It looked much bigger than the first two. There was no line of rocks stretching to it, but only an unbroken spread of blue water. To get to the third island they would have to swim, or use a boat.
"Do you think we"d better leave a note in the cave to say that we are on the first island and would like to be rescued?" said Tom. "The people may come back at any time-and we could go away in their boat."
Andy shook his head. "I think we won"t leave a note-or anything else to show we"ve been here," he said. "There"s something a bit mysterious about all this, and if there"s a secret going on, we"d better keep out of it till we know what it is."
"Oh, Andy! Whatever do you mean?" cried Mary.
"I don"t know what I mean," said Andy. "It"s just a feeling I have, that"s all. Maybe I"m wrong-but one of us will come over here every day at low tide and just see if there"s somebody about before we let them know we"re here."
"Well, Andy-what about all our footmarks round the cave?" said Tom.
"The tide will wash all those away," said Andy. "Look over the cliff-edge, Tom-you"ll see the tide has gone right into the cave now. There"s nothing that will show we"ve been there."
"Except that some of the food is missing," said Mary. "You"ve forgotten that, Andy."
"No, I haven"t," said Andy. "There"s so much in that cave that I don"t think-anyone will miss the little we"ve taken. I don"t expect it"s checked at all. n.o.body would think that any strangers would ever visit that cave."
The children wandered over the island and looked for bilberries, which were fruiting there in great numbers. It was a way of quenching their thirst, to pick the small, juicy bilberries. The island was quite deserted. It did not look as if anyone had ever lived there at all.
The tide went down and the line of rocks began to show. The children clambered down to the sh.o.r.e to go tack to their own island. They had tied to their backs the food they had taken, and Andy told everyone to be very careful.
"We don"t want to lose our food in a deep pool!" he said. "So don"t rush along too fast, Tom. You are always in such a hurry!"
The rocks were wet and slippery, but the children were very careful indeed. Once an extra large wave came and splashed right over Jill, and she gave a squeal.
"Oh, has it wet the food?"
"Yes-soaked it!" called Tom. "But never mind-it"s all in tins, Jill."
They got back to their little hut at last and all-of mem were delighted to see it. It really seemed like coming home.
They sat down on their beds, tired out. But Tom was not going to bed without his supper. He wanted hot soup, more tongue, and a tin of peaches. So the stove had to be lighted, and Tom was sent to fill the kettle.
All the children enjoyed the meal, although they were so sleepy they could hardly bother to clear up afterwards. The first stars were in the sky as they flung themselves on their beds.
"It"s awfullv early to go to bed," murmured Jill sleepily. "Buff can"t keep awake another minute!"
And she fell asleep at once. So did Mary. Tom blew out the stove and lay down too. Andy sat up for a while, looking out towards the second island and wondering about a lot of things.
Then he too lay down and fell asleep-but not for long!
A strange and curious noise awoke him. It came into his dreams, startled him and roused him so that he sat up, puzzled and alarmed.
"Tom! Wake up!" said Andy. "Listen to this noise. What is it?"
Tom awoke and listened. "If s a motor-bicycle," he said, half asleep.
"Don"t be a fathead!" said Andy. "A motor-bicycle on this island! You"re dreaming. Come on, wake up-I tell you there"s a jolly queer noise."
The noise itself hummed away into silence. The gulls screamed but soon became quiet. Andy sat and listened a little longer and then, as no more noise came, lay down on his springy bed again.
"Odder and odder," said Andy to himself. "We seem to have come to some most mysterious islands-and I"m going to find out what"s happening-or my name isn"t Andy!"
CHAPTER 9.
The Mysterious Visitors
THE next day the children talked about the queer noise that Andy had heard.
"I tell you it sounded exactly like a motor-bicycle," Tom said firmly, and nothing would make him admit that it wasn"t.
"If I didn"t know there couldn"t possibly be any landing-ground on these rocky islands I might have thought the noise was made by an aeroplane," said Andy thoughtfully. "But that"s silly. Why would an aeroplane come here? And where would it land?"
"It might be a motor-boat, perhaps!" said Jill suddenly. The others stared at her. For some reason, n.o.body had thought of motor-boats till then.
"Yes-I believe it was!" said Andy, "It had that "hrobbing sound that a motor makes. Now what"s a motor-boat doing here? But, anyway-it means that we can be rescued!"
"Of course!" said Tom. "Well-let"s go and find the motor-boat. What a surprise they"ll get when they suddenly see us I They"ll wonder wherever we"ve come from."
"Tom, don"t be in so great a hurry," said Andy, pulling the impatient boy down into the heather. "I think there"s something funny going on here-and before we show ourselves we"d better find out if we shall be welcome!"
"Oh," said Tom, surprised. The girls looked rather alarmed.
"What do you mean-something funny?" said Jill.
"I don"t know, as I said yesterday," said Andy. "But what we will do is to see where that motor-boat is. It won"t have seen our signal because it came in the night-and we know it"s not anywhere this side of the island, or we would have seen it this morning. I vote we go to that rocky ledge where we get the best view of the second island and see if by any chance a boat has been able to get through the reef of rocks and sail into the quiet lagoon inside."
The four children made their way to the high rocky ledge. Andy made them lie down flat and wriggle like Red Indians as they reached it.
"Better not let ourselves be seen, if anyone is down there," he whispered. So, as flat as snakes, they wormed their way to the rocky ledge-and when they got there, they had the biggest surprise of their lives!
In the quiet water that lay outside the second island was a large and powerful seaplane!
Yes-a great seaplane, whose wings spread widely over the blue water. No small motor-boat purred there. It was the seaplane"s engine that Andy had heard so mysteriously in the middle of the night.
"Whew! Look at that!" whispered Andy, his face going as red as a beetroot with excitement. "I never thought of a seaplane! What a very extraordinary thing!"
"Let"s get up and shout and wave." begged Jill. "I"m sure they will love to rescue us."
"Haven"t you seen the sign on the wings?" asked Tom, in a curiously angry voice. The girls looked. The sign of the crooked cross was painted on each wing-the sign of the enemy, the foe of half the world.
"Golly!" said Mary, and she drew a deep breath. "EnemiesI Using these islands! Do they belong to them?"
"Of course not," said Andy. "But they are desolate, and out of the usual ships" course-and they"ve been noted by the enemy, and he"s using them as a kind of base for something-seaplanes perhaps."
"Well-what are we going to do?" asked Tom.
"We shall have to think," said Andy. "One thing is certain. We won"t show ourselves tfll we"ve found out a fittfe more. We don"t want to be taken prisoner."
"That"s what that food was for, then-the people who come here," said Jill. "I suppose the seaplanes come over here for food and petrol. Ifs a good idea. How I wish we could get away and tell my father about it-he"d know what to do. I guess he"d clean up this place, whatever it"s used for!"
"I say-hadn"t we better take down our signal whilst that seaplane is here?" asked Jill. "If it happens to see it, the enemy will know there are people on this island". And" what about the fishing-boat? That might be seen too."
"I don"t think so," said Andy. "It"s well hidden between those rocks. But the signal had certainly better come down. We won"t put it up any more. Come on. Tom-we"ll take it down now."
"We"ll come with you," said the girls. But Andy shook his head.
"No," he said "From now oh, somebody must keep a watch on that seaplane. We must find out all we can. We will be back with you as soon as possible-but you must stay here and watch."
So the two girls were left behind whflst the boys ran across the island to take down their flapping signal.
"I don"t know where in the world we should hide if we were discovered and hunted for," said Andy, rolling up the sail. "There isn"t a single place here to hide away in-not a cave or anything."
Tom felt rather uncomfortable. He didn"t want to be hunted for on that bare island! "I wish we could see how many men there are in that seaplane," he said, "and what they are doing, and everything."
"Where are your field-gla.s.ses?" asked Andy suddenly. "They would be just the thing to use. We could see everything as dearly as could be, then!"
"And my camera, too!" said Tom, jumping for joy. "What about my camera? We could take some photographs of the seaplane-then everyone would have to believe us when we get back-if ever we do get back!"
"That"s a fine idea!" said Andy, really pleased. "Golly! If we could take some pictures of that seaplane with thfr crooked cross showing up clearly, there wouldn"t be the least doubt of our story when we got home. Tom, let"s go and get your gla.s.ses and your camera straight away."
They dumped the sail into a bush and ran to the shack. They took Tom"s field-gla.s.ses and picked up the camera to see if it needed a new film. No-there was a new one inside.
"Better not use up all the film on the seaplane," said Andy. "There might be other interesting and extraordinary things to photograph-you never know!"
"Oh, I"ve got three or four films," said Tom. "I brought plenty with me, thinking I was going to get some good bird pictures, you know. Come on-let"s go back to the girls and see what they have to report."
The girls were very glad indeed to see the boys. They had a lot to tell.
"Andy! Tom! As soon as you had gone the men in the seaplane put out a funny little round sort of boat," said Jill in excitement. "And they paddled to sh.o.r.e in it, and went to our cave. What a good thing the sea had washed away all our footprints!"
"It was, indeed," said Andy. "Tom, give me the field-gla.s.ses. I want to have a look through them."
Andy stared through the powerful gla.s.ses. They were so strong that they seemed to bring the seaplane near enough to touch! The boy saw the great crooked crosses boldly painted on the wings. He saw the little rubber boat left bobbing in the surf, whilst the men visited the cave-either to take something to it, or to bring something away, Andy did not know which.
"There seems to be someone in the seaplane," said Andy. "And, look-there are some men coming from the cave!"
Andy could see them very clearly through his field-gla.s.ses-and the others could see them too, though not so well, of course. To them the men looked like faraway dolls.
"They"ve gone to get food from the cave," said Andy in excitement. "And I guess there"s a store of petrol somewhere else for them to get when they want to. Food-and petrol-just what I thought! Using these islands saves enemy planes from having to go hundreds of miles to their own country"s stores. My word-we have stumbled on to something queer!"
The men entered their rubber boat and rowed back to the seaplane. Twice more they went to the cave and back. Then they climbed up into the plane and disappeared.
"I"m getting most awfully hungry," said Tom at last. "Can"t we go and get something to eat?"
"I"ll stay here and keep watch, and you and the girls can go and get your dinner," said Andy. "Don"t light a fire, whatever you do-the enemy will see the smoke. Use the stove if you want to cook anything. Bring me something to eat and drink later."
"Right," said Tom, and he and the girls wriggled off the high ledge. They stood upright as soon as they were out of sight of the seaplane and tore to their shack.
They ate a hurried meal, and did not cook anything at all. They made up a dinner-packet for Andy and set off to take it to him.
But half-way there they heard a noise. R-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r! R-r-r-r-r-r-r-r! R-r-r-r-r-r-r! They stopped at once and listened.
"It"s the seaplane going off!" cried Tom-and then the sound came again, more loudly than ever. R-R-R-R-R-R-R.
"Look-it"s there!" cried Jill. "Drop flat to the ground or we"llbe seen!"
Jill had seen the seaplane just rising into the air over the cliff. The three children dropped flat to the ground and lay there perfectly still. The seaplane roared over their island, rose higher and higher, and at last was nothing but a speck in the sky.
"What a narrow escape!" said Tom, sitting up and wiping his forehead. "Golly! My heart did go b.u.mp I I"ve spilt the water I was carrying for Andy. I"ll have to get some more!"
"It was a shock to see that enormous plane coming!" said Jill. "Oh dear-if we have many more shocks, my hair will turn grey!"
CHAPTER 10.
And Now for the Third Island!
THE children were very glad that the seaplane had gone. "It"s a jolly good thing our signal was taken down before it flew over the island," said Andy, eating the food that the others had brought to him. "I couldn"t warn you. It started up its engine all of a sudden, taxied over the smooth water there, and then rose into the air."
"Andy, do you think there"s anything to be seen over on the other islands?" asked Tom.
"There may be," said Andy, "I think we ought to try and find out. That third island looks a peculiar shape to me-very long indeed, but very narrow. On the other side of it might be a fine natural harbour for seaplanes. There may be heaps there."