The Mystery of Adventure Island
Page 1
The Mystery of Adventure Island
The Mystery Series – Book No. 2
By Paul Moxham
Contact Author:
Website: www.paulmoxham.com
Email: paulmoxhamauthor@yahoo.com
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Version Updated: 22nd April 2015
All rights reserved, without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE MYSTERY SERIES
This adventure series set in 1950’s Britain will delight children of all ages.
~*~*~
Full Length Novels:
The Mystery of Smugglers Cove
The Mystery of Adventure Island
The Mystery of Hidden Valley
The Mystery of Claw Mountain
The Mystery of the Golden Dragons
~
Short Stories:
The Mystery of the Missing Money
The Mystery of the Missing Gnomes
The Mystery of the Mysterious Man
The Mystery of the Strange Notebook
The Mystery of the Golden Elephant
The Mystery of the Red Balloon
The Mystery of the Howling Dog
The Mystery of the Hidden Suitcase
~
Box Set:
The Mystery Series Collection (Short Stories 1-4)
The Mystery Series Collection (Books 1-3)
PRAISE FOR THE MYSTERY SERIES
"I was drawn in by the fast-paced plot. I enjoyed reading the book and couldn't wait to see how things turned out." --- Smashwords Reviewer
"Paul Moxham takes the reader on a whirlwind of chase scenarios that up the ante with each narrow escape." --- Amazon USA Reviewer
"I love this book, could not put it down and I felt as if I was standing beside the characters." --- Shelfari Reviewer
"This is an entertaining adventure story that would make pleasurable holiday reading for 7 to 10 year olds." --- Amazon UK Reviewer
"It's packed with adventure and courage, reminiscent of The Goonies." --- LibraryThing Reviewer
NOTE:
This can be read as a stand alone story, but if you want to have full knowledge of the characters, I suggest that you read The Mystery of Smugglers Cove, the first book in The Mystery Series.
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This story is set in 1950’s Britain and is written in British English - not American English - so bear this in mind regarding the spelling of some words.
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This story is set after the events in The Mystery of the Missing Gnomes.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: A New Adventure
Chapter 2: The Lazy Lucy
Chapter 3: Off We Go!
Chapter 4: Rocky Island
Chapter 5: A Ghostly Encounter
Chapter 6: A Puzzle
Chapter 7: The Disappearing Man
Chapter 8: Into The Caves
Chapter 9: The Birdwatchers
Chapter 10: A Stranger In Need
Chapter 11: The Plan
Chapter 12: Run!
Chapter 13: The Quarry
Chapter 14: A Good Trick
Chapter 15: The Raft
Chapter 16: We’re Drowning!
Chapter 17: A Way Out
Chapter 18: The Big Search
Chapter 19: Keeping Watch
Chapter 20: Destination Unknown
Chapter 21: A Chance To Escape
Chapter 22: Bicycle Madness
Chapter 23: Hidden From View
Chapter 24: Inside The Lighthouse
Chapter 25: Kaboom!
Chapter 26: The Rescue
Chapter 27: Swiss Family Robinson Style
Chapter 28: Running Out Of Time
Chapter 29: Fire!
Chapter 30: A Leap Of Faith
Chapter 31: Goodbye Adventure Island!
Chapter 1: A New Adventure
After gazing through the binoculars for several minutes, twelve-year-old Joe Mitchell turned to his two sisters who were sitting beside him on the cliff. “We should ask Will if he knows anyone who can take us there. It looks like a great camping spot.”
Amy, the eldest of the two girls, swept back her long, brown hair. “But what would we do if we went there?”
Joe looked back at Lighthouse Island which was situated just off the coast. Apart from a lighthouse, there was nothing on it except a few bushes and trees. “I know it might not look too exciting, but I bet there are tons of different sea birds there.” He glanced at Sarah, the youngest of the three siblings. “What do you think?”
“I think it would be fun,” Sarah said, her green eyes shining. “It may not be as much fun as exploring the tunnels underneath Chandler Manor or exploring Bracknesh Castle—”
“I didn’t think you liked those places,” Amy interrupted. “Last week, after we solved the mystery of the missing gnomes, you said—”
“I know,” Sarah interrupted, “but that was then and this is now.”
Joe smiled. “You know, I never thought that Smugglers Cove could be so much fun, especially since it’s smaller than Danfield. I like living close to London, but we seem to be having more adventures here than we ever had at home.”
“I wish we could stay forever,” Amy said. “But in just over two weeks, we’ll be back at St. Mary’s.” She stood up. “Let’s go and talk to Will about going camping.”
Climbing onto their bicycles, the children pedalled along the cliff path. They were soon in the main street of the small seaside village of Smugglers Cove. Waving as they passed Constable Biggens, they rode past the shops and houses, stopping when they arrived at a medium sized house.
Joe saw that their red haired friend was in the front garden cleaning his bicycle. “Hello, Will!”
Will glanced up and gave a cheery smile. “Hi.”
“Do you know of any good places to go camping?” Amy asked.
Will grinned. “Getting bored, are we?”
“How did you guess?” Joe asked.
“Well, when I first came here from London just after the war ended, I was bored at first,” Will said. “Of course, you can’t say it’s been too dull for you. You’ve had three adventures in four weeks.”
“I know,” Joe said. “I guess we’re just lucky. Anyway, I was wondering about Lighthouse Island. Do you know if there are many birds there?”
Will thought. “I don’t think there are, but I haven’t actually been there. The lighthouse was closed a number of years ago, so there hasn’t been a reason for anyone to go there. Why?”
“I want to see some birds, and it would be fun camping by ourselves,” Joe replied.
“We would need a boat,” Amy said.
“Well, we’d only need a rowing boat to go to Lighthouse Island,” Will said, “so I’m sure I could find someone to loan us one.” He dipped his rag into a bucket of water and gave his bicycle a rub. “I have some errands to run, so why don’t we meet at the beach in three hours and discuss it then?”
“Sounds good,” Joe replied.
~
The afternoon sun shone down on the three children as they raced down the well-worn path that led to the sandy beach. After splashing in the shallow water, they decided to make a sandcastle. They didn’t have any buckets to help them move the sand, but they still managed to
make a pretty decent castle.
As they waited for the tide to come in, Sarah spotted Will standing up on the cliff path.
Will waved. “Come up here!”
“I wonder why he wants us up there,” Amy said.
“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” Joe raced across the sand with the girls in hot pursuit. Soon, the three had joined Will on the cliff top.
“What’s up?” Amy asked.
“Follow me. I’ve got something to show you.” Will turned and walked away.
“What?” Joe asked curiously.
“You’ll see,” Will replied mysteriously.
Joe and the girls followed their friend through the streets of Smugglers Cove. As they arrived at the small harbour, Will headed towards an old shed. He put his hand on the door handle. “I talked to my father and…” He paused and flung open the door.
Inside the shed was an assortment of tools and scrap metal and other useless junk, but it was what was in the centre that attracted everyone’s attention.
It was a sailboat. Joe’s eyes lit up. A real sailboat. Sure, it didn’t look like much, but as long as it could float, that was all that mattered. He touched it. “Is this for us to use?”
Will nodded. “My father talked to Quigley, an old fisherman who owns this boat, and he told me that if we wanted to spend some time fixing it up, we could take it out whenever we wanted.”
“Does it float?” Sarah asked.
“Well, I can’t see any holes in it, so it should.” Will walked over and joined the others as they admired the craft. “I know it’s pretty old, but it’s a boat.”
Amy touched the wood and realised that it was coated with a thin layer of dust. “Golly! This hasn’t been used for ages.”
“As long as it can take us to Lighthouse Island, that’s all that matters.” Joe turned around as a man suddenly entered the shed.
Will smiled. “Hello, Quigley. It’s a fine boat.”
With deep creases in his brown, weathered face and a white beard, Joe thought the fisherman looked very old. With the aid of a walking stick, he shuffled over to them. “She’ll take you to Lighthouse Island and back again if you treat her right. She may not look like it, but she’s been on many a trip, she has.”
Quigley touched the woodwork of the boat with tenderness and closed his eyes. “I called her The Seven Seas. She went on many a grand adventure. Still can feel the wind whipping me face and hear the thunder breaking overhead when I sailed her to Adventure Island.” He opened his eyes and grimly smiled. “Young then. Very young.” He turned and looked at himself in a half-broken mirror. “Look at me now.”
“Where’s Adventure Island?” Sarah asked.
“Hmm? Up the coast,” Quigley answered.
“I’ve never heard of such a place,” Will said.
Quigley gingerly sat down on a wooden crate. “It’s there all right.”
“But none of the maps—” Joe said.
“Adventure Island isn’t what the maps called it,” Quigley interrupted. “Why, back then I made up me own names for all the places I went. Even that castle up on yon hill. The Haunted Castle, I called it. Quite a sight.”
“What about Adventure Island?” Joe asked. “Why did you call it that?”
Quigley smiled. “Can’t you guess?”
“Because you had adventures?” Sarah said.
Quigley nodded. “When I was a lad, I went there with me best mate for several summers. We would stay there for days on end and then me father, he was a fisherman you know, would pop by with his fishing boat and pick us up. We even built our own tree house.”
“I wonder what our parents would say if we asked to go there,” Joe said wistfully.
“I don’t think they would let us,” Amy said. “It must be ages up the coast.”
“Well, it’s quite a ways,” Quigley said. “I used to live in Seacrest, so I not be sure how many miles it is from here.”
“But we can still go to Lighthouse Island, right?” Sarah said.
“Yes.” Joe looked at Quigley. “Do you mind if we use the tools in here to fix up the sailboat?”
“Go right ahead. Those tools have been there for many a year. There should also be some spare paint lying around.” Quigley stood up. “I best be getting along.” He looked at Will. “Oh, and if you be wanting me to teach you how to sail—”
“Yes, please!” the children yelled excitedly.
Quigley smiled. “I’ll be seeing you around then.” He turned and limped out of the shed.
Joe glanced at the others. “Do you think our parents will let us go to Lighthouse Island?”
“Dad will let me,” Will said. “After all, I’ve known how to swim since I was five, and the island isn’t that far away.”
“When can we go?” Joe asked.
“It will take a day or two to fix the boat up,” Will said, “and it would be good to let Quigley teach us the ropes so that we’re fully prepared. So, we should be ready by the weekend.”
Chapter 2: The Lazy Lucy
The next day, the children arrived bright and early at the boat shed. To their joy, their parents had agreed to let them go to Lighthouse Island, but only if Quigley showed them how to sail the boat. Even though the island was nearby, anything could go wrong and if wild weather should hit, they wanted everyone to be prepared.
The first job involved cleaning the boat. The children knew it would be dirty work, so they had worn some old clothes. Even though the boat was on a trolley with wheels, it was still hard to move. But, with the help of a fisherman, the children pulled the boat out of the shed and onto the pavement.
With buckets full of water, they began cleaning it. The old paint was partially peeling, so they needed to remove that as well. The wood needed to be nice and smooth before they put the new coat of paint on, otherwise the new paint would peel off.
It took some time, but as the hours passed, the boat began to look much improved. “Now we just need to paint her.” Joe stepped back and admired his handiwork. He looked towards the paint tin that they had found. “There should be enough, but we should just paint the outside first, just in case.”
“We should see if Quigley has any oars,” Amy said.
“Why would we need oars?” Joe said. “If we have the sail—”
“Amy’s right,” Will interrupted. “A sail is good, but what happens if there’s no wind? Hopefully we won’t need to use the oars, but we should have them just in case.”
Will climbed into the sailboat and walked to the back where the tiller was and tested it. “It seems to work fine, but we won’t know until we get it into the water.”
Amy climbed aboard and peered into the little cabin. The room was pretty small, and as she stepped in, she realised that she could just stand up in it. She turned and walked back to the others. “We’ll be able to store the tent and other things in there if we go camping.”
Will looked up at the blue sky and noticed it was perfect weather for painting since there weren’t any clouds. “With the weather how it is, I say we paint now.”
Joe glanced at his watch. “Why don’t we go home, grab a sandwich, and return here in half an hour? We can also bring any paint brushes that we find.”
~
As the three children raced up the path of Rose Cottage, they saw their mother hanging up washing on the clothes line.
“Did you get hungry?” their mother asked.
Joe nodded. “Do you have any paintbrushes? We came home to get something to eat, and then we’re going to start painting the boat. But we only have one paintbrush, so we were wondering—”
“Well,” his mother interrupted, “Mrs Thompson, the old lady who owns this cottage, did say on the phone that there was some paint in the garden shed and that we could use it if we wanted to. I imagine that there would be some brushes too.”
“Thanks!” Amy yelled, rushing off towards the shed. Their mother was right. In the far corner of the small building, they found some paint a
nd brushes.
Joe picked up four paintbrushes. “We may only need three, but I’ll take four just in case.”
Amy grabbed two empty tins. “If we put some paint in these, we can each have our own container of paint.”
“Good idea. Now, what else do we need?” Joe said.
“I’ll take these rags,” Sarah said.
Joe nodded. “Okay, well, that should be all. Let’s take these things to the path and leave them there while we eat some lunch.”
~
Painting was fun. At least, that’s what Amy thought as she dipped the paintbrush into the blue paint and went to work. Her arms were getting a bit sore from swishing the paint back and forth on the wood, but she didn’t mind.
She stood up and admired her work. She and Sarah were painting one side of the boat, while the boys did the other side. She walked around to see how the boys were getting on. They were going a bit faster than her and Sarah, but that was because they were older. “It looks good.”
“Thanks. How’s your side going?” Will said.
Before Amy could answer, thunder rumbled overhead. Looking out across the sea, she realised that storm clouds were building. “Golly! It’s going to rain soon.”
“Everyone stop painting!” Will called. “We need to get the boat back in the shed as soon as we can. Hopefully the paint will still dry in there.”
While Will raced over to get a fisherman to help, the others quickly cleaned the brushes. By the time they had done this, Will had arrived back with someone. He was a strong man and, with his help, they pushed the boat back into the shed. He waved goodbye and the children gazed up at the sky as the first drops of rain fell.