by S G Read
With nightfall came the cold. We waited until it was dark before we carried the burning ember up to the signal fire and I let the girls coax it into life. The dry leaves and twigs started burning brightly, bathing us in welcome warmth. We hung meat near the flames and to cook although you risked life and limb getting it as it was hot that close to the fire. The hot food helped and as the flames died down we put on more dry branches so that it was soon flaming again. We kept at it all night until we ran out of dry wood.
Day 91 on the island.
As dawn broke we started putting on the green branches to make smoke. The plume drifted up into the air and as there was no wind it kept going up! It looked impressive. Any boffin seeing that must come and investigate!
When all the wood was on the fire we looked all around one last time before climbing back down to the house. We stopped out of sight every time we came to a corner to make sure the way was clear and we could see no one or no boats. It took a long time to come down like that but it was better to be safe than sorry.
We lit the fire ready for our meal and we sat resting. I took the time to strip down the radio from the latest boat. One bullet had gone through the same part as the radio on the other boat; either bad luck or someone knew where to shoot a radio to stop someone from calling for help! It was a lot worse than the one out of the other boat but I still cleaned it as well as I could, just in case.
After we had eaten, we split up into three groups to keep a look out round the island to see if anyone came but we saw no one. That night a depression fell over the group, it seemed to hover overhead. I felt it too but tomorrow was another day!
Day 92 on the island.
We were up early and took a vote as it was Monday and contest day. We decided to wait until tomorrow for the contest and split into three groups again. This time we went to different places just to try to break up the monotony, my group went to the horseshoe bay. We walked out on to the stretch of land, where a storm had mown the trees down. We stood looking out to sea, on the beach, at the end of it, then we walked back and out on to the horseshoe peninsula. This was about twenty metres wide and stretched round the bay and we walked right to the end. It was only when we were at the end looking out to sea that I realised how vulnerable we were there. If an undesirable boat came along full of modern day pirates they could not help but see us. I walked back at the same speed I had walked out there and both girls followed, I did not run as that might have frightened them, we just walked as though there was no problem. When we reached the stream I stopped them.
'I am sorry about that.' I said earnestly, which certainly got their attention. 'Out there if a boat had come along we were caught. I would have been killed and you would have been taken.'
'Not without a fight!' Alex replied, holding up her crossbow. 'Why don’t you carry the pistol?'
'It only has six bullets in it; I am saving them for an emergency.'
'Like that one,' she argued and pointed to where we had just come from, 'if you don’t carry it, you can’t use it!'
I looked out to where we had been and smiled. 'You’re right; I’ll carry it from now on, just for emergencies!'
We saw no sign of a boat and found out when we reached the house that no one else had either.
'Maybe if the fire was still going.' Charley started and then stopped, she knew to get more dry wood up there would be almost impossible.
'But surely if they looked at the fire with the camera they must see our sign.' Sarah declared.
'I would have thought so.' I admitted. 'We’ll spend one more day looking but tomorrow we’ll hunt as well as look as out meat supplies are low. We need more fruit as well.'
We sat and ate. The food was well cooked, as it had been on there all day but it was hot and tasty. We finished off the last of the fruit and then sat discussing the lack of interest in our 'Volcano'.
'Why didn’t they come to see it?' Tammy asked.
'They obviously don’t care.' George retorted.
'More like they’re frightened of the pirates!' Natasha replied.
'That could be it!' Charley cried. 'What if we are in a pirate infested no go area!'
'You mean no one will come here even if we blow the island up?' Tammy wailed.
'Something like that. No one will come unless they are in a battleship with big guns to blow pirates out of the water!' Charley replied.
'So what do we do?' Tabby asked.
They all did what they did best and turned to me.
'We have power and two broken radios.' I said quietly. 'I might be able to get one working or we’ll wait until the pirates come here and take one of theirs! Then I’ll call our own battleship to come and get us.'
'What do we do until then?' George asked.
'Tomorrow we hunt and look, the next day we will go through the stuff we took from the latest boat, now that it is having a chance to dry out and see if there is anything which might help us.' I answered. 'Just remember to look everywhere when you are walking, the last thing you want to do is to walk into these people, they would love to meet you!'
The girls lifted six crossbows and one longbow simultaneously.
'So would we!' They chorused.
'Not when you aren’t ready for them. They will have guns to your crossbows; your best defence is not being seen and coming back here fast, so that we can plan our defence.'
'Or our attack!' George added.
'Or that.' I conceded. 'If we have to attack it’s better to win than to lose, especially for me!'
'Don’t worry, we’ll look after you.' Natasha said protectively.
'I feel so much better now.' I retorted.
'Why should we want to attack?' Tabby asked.
'What if they have a family on the boat they steal?' Tammy answered. 'A little girl like us who will have to do whatever they want and they will shoot her daddy in the head and probably her mummy as well!'
'Sounds like a good enough reason to kick ass to me!' Natasha exclaimed.
They all agreed with her.
'Language like that will get you ass kicked.' I retorted when the agreement stopped.
'Sorry, it just had to be said.' She replied.
'Well once is enough.' I added.
'You’re starting to sound like my dad.' She retorted.
'While you are here I am all your dads put into one and I don’t want you going back and using language like that.' I replied.
'That makes you a king then!' Charley cried. 'Hail King Walter of- What shall we call this island?'
There was a complete silence. I spoke before it was broken.
'We will have a competition to name the island, this is something you can do separately and there can at least be a winner.'
'How do we know who won?' George asked.
'We have a secret ballot. All names are on a board and you vote for one on a piece of bark.' I started.
'We’ll all vote for our own!' Alex declared.
'But I won’t have put one in so if that is the case then my vote will make one the winner and I won’t know who did it till afterwards.'
'What’s the prize?' Sarah asked.
'The winner gets her one wish granted,' I replied, 'if it is possible to grant it, that is!'
As the sun fell below the horizon, the girls were walking about with a piece of bark and a piece of charcoal in their hands. Many had black hands where they had rubbed out an idea or two. The names they might dream up intrigued me but I had to wait. When they asked me for a deadline, I told them that I needed all the nominations before anyone goes hunting.
'And if two or more names are the same they are all ruled out and a new name thought up.' I added as I walked away but loud enough for most to hear.
I could see it would be a long night but I stayed up just to watch the faces as an idea came and then they discarded it. I knew when one had hit upon a name she would keep by the big smile and the look around at everyone else who was still thinking.
Day 93 on the island.
Contest day, a day late, with Natasha as judge and George taking part. I was interested to see if she could keep up the good work. Everyone, apart from me, was up early to practise. I rose later, had a good hot shower and walked out into the sunshine to a chorus of 'about time too' I ignored them and took up my place. When it was my time I hit my first gold and I did it when George only hit a bull. I held the lead until we shot again, then I sank down to third place. A place I stayed until the end. George won and took the conch but I was well pleased with my third place!
We moved down to where the nominations for the name of the island were neatly laid out. The names were also written in the sand. There were four Walters Island in the first place and four girls had to think again. In the end the list read, Pirates Island, our island, the boat graveyard, Walters Island, Horseshoe Island, the rock house island, the bamboo paradise and sunken boat island.
We took a vote on them all and to everyone’s surprise Horseshoe Island received four votes and won outright.
'Horseshoe Island it is then.' I announced. I walked over to where the names on the bark were laid and turned over the one with Horseshoe Island on it. 'Tammy wins.'
'What do you want as a prize Tammy?' Natasha asked.
'Can I have anything?' She asked which started me worrying.
'Yes.' I answered.
'Good, then you have to show me how to work the pistol and let me fire it once. Only once as I know you only have a few bullets!'
'Okay.' I agreed. 'Move the target up to the house wall, that way there will be no stray bullets flying over the island!'
'Bullet.' Tammy pointed out.
The girls eagerly carried the target up to the side of the house and set it up a few metres from the wall.
'Is that okay?' Natasha called.
'Fine, now come and stand behind us.'
I started with the pistol in pieces, put it together, then stripped it down and helped Tammy put it back together. When she was able to strip it down and rebuild it I gave her one bullet to put into it. I told her how to hold it; she would need both hands, and let her aim and pretend to fire several times before she was ready to fire. I stood back and waited, the girls had laid a big leaf on the target, as the target was a bit holey by now, to make sure we knew if she hit the target.
She aimed, squeezed the trigger while steadying it with both hands and fired. With no whining bullets anywhere I let them all run to the target to find out how she had done. I saw them lift the leaf and put it down, then lift it again. An argument raged. I walked down to see what the problem was.
'Why are you arguing?' I asked.
'Tabby reckons it was a gold but it looks more like a bull to us!' Charley cried.
'Lay the leaf back down.' I ordered.
They did so and I picked up a twig and pushed it into the hole. When they pulled the leaf away I held the twig in place. The twig cut the line.
'It is a bull Tammy. As a first shot I think that is fantastic!' I said sincerely.
'I was happy just to have hit the target!' She replied and held the pistol out to me.
'Oh no, when you fire a pistol you have to clean the barrel to make sure the residue from the bullet does not damage it.' I ordered. 'I’ll show you how!'
Instead of complaining, she stripped it down in front of me ready to clean it.
While she cleaned the gun, we ate. It was not as late as I thought it would be so we went for a walk together, something we had not done for some time. I let Tammy tuck the pistol in her shorts as we walked but I had the rest of the bullets safely wrapped up in my pocket.
When the boar appeared we were surprised but stood our ground. With all of us there and making a lot of noise he decided to hurry away taking most of his family with him. I was pleased to see some young piglets in the group; it was probably why we had not seen him for a while.
When he ran off we cheered and collected our next meal from where it had fallen.
'Good shot George.' Natasha cried when she saw where George's bolt had hit the young pig.
'I noticed no one else fired.' George replied. 'What if I had missed?'
'We’d have eaten you!' Tabby replied.
'No pressure then!' George retorted.
We carried the pig back to the house and prepared it for the cave. When it was safely in the cave and cooling we walked down to the beach, it was a pleasant evening for just laying on the beach, watching the sun go down.
Day 94 on the island.
We searched through the things from the boat that we dragged from the sea and as we had been on this island now for over three months without seeing a living soul I thought it was time to think of other measures to get help but I did not know what. I called a meeting after the food was cooking but before anyone could go out to do whatever they were meant to do.
'We have been on the island now over three months,' I announced, 'It is time to assess how we might make ourselves known to the right people. Anyone got any ideas?'
There was no reply although they wanted to go home, no one had any ideas apart from what we had tried.
'We could write something rude up there and do another fire!' Natasha said finally.
'We could put a sign on every beach.' Tammy added.
'Then the pirates would find us!' George retorted.
'So?' Tammy asked tapping the pistol. 'At least they would have a radio!'
'That’s true,' Charley agreed, 'but we don’t know how many there will be of them. If we got a few of them and then they got us it would really make it bad for us.'
'And Walter!' George added.
'So what do we do?' Tabby asked.
'We’ll have another fire and we’ll make a new message up there,' I replied, 'but this time we will make sure the fire goes on for more than a night and a day!'
'That’s a lot of work.' Alex complained.
'Not if it works!' Natasha retorted.
'I suppose not.' Alex replied. 'But how do we know it will?'
'We don’t,' I answered, 'but it is better than just waiting for something to happen. I for one want to be gone when the pirates finally come back and pay us a call!'
'So do I,' George added, 'I think I would pooh myself if I came up against a pirate!'
'Who wouldn’t?' Charley replied. 'As Walter says it is better to know they are here, when they don’t know we are.'
'I’m all for that,' Sarah exclaimed, 'but what do we do if we come upon someone; do we kill them or what?'
'You have to make up your own mind about that,' I answered, 'but if you choose to run away and they chase you or even shoot at you then that is a pointer. If they watch you run away and call after you, keep running and get back here without them knowing where you went. Then we can sneak out and see who they are and what they are doing!'
'So, have we decided on anything?' Alex asked.
'I think tomorrow we’ll go back up to the signs and think about it when we are up there.' I answered. 'For today, as we seemed to have missed Monday we will make today a bank holiday, so that we can do just what we want. I myself am going fishing but that does mean two of you will have to come along in case of trouble.'
'I don’t mind lying on the beach while you fish!' George exclaimed.
'But we need you with us in case we meet Mr. Pig!' Sarah exclaimed.
'So do we!' Natasha cried.
'You can shoot well enough to kill him Tash; me and Alex will need help!' Sarah declared.
'You hit the bull once and the rest were outers and that is good enough to kill Mr. Pig!' Charley retorted.
'It’s decided then.' George replied. 'I am lying on the beach watching Walter fish, anyone who wants to come with me can!'
I ended up fishing with the rest of them sunbathing on the beach, all getting as close to George as possible except Tammy. I had given her one bullet for emergencies as she had the pistol! I caught a lot of fish and in the end it was a good thing that they were all there to help me carry them back. It was going to be fish
supper today and fish tomorrow, the latest pig would keep better than the fish would.
I cast one last time and caught yet another fish but this time a black fin appeared following the fish and I suddenly had a fight on my hands. A shark wanted my fish! I was determined to land my fish even if it had to be shark and all. I knew that the fish probably would not be worth keeping after being mauled by a shark but it was my fish! The battle lasted sometime; with me reeling in line and the shark pulling it back out. Finally we saw the shark, not a huge man-eater but big enough. I fought it onto the beach and a bolt stopped it struggling. George retrieved her bolt and I freed my fish from the shark’s mouth. The looks on the girl’s faces told me all I needed to know, the fish was well mangled. I threw it back and another black fin appeared as if by magic and took it.
'No swimming today!' I declared.
'Do you think you need to tell us that?' Natasha asked.
'It would be alright in the bay, surely?' Sarah asked.
'Might be but there will be no swimming today, just in case.' I answered. 'I am running out of stitches unless you want me to use the ones from the first aid kit in the boat we just pulled from the sea?'
'We could boil them!' Sarah replied.
'If they are self dissolving they would probably dissolve.' I answered.
'But it’s worth a try.' She retorted.
'Everything is worth a try except swimming while there are so many sharks around!' I replied.
Sarah gave up the argument.
We now had a shark to carry back to the cave. I stopped fishing and the girls used the two spears to carry the fish back while I carried the shark!
I was glad to put it down when we reached the safety of the back gate. We threw the pieces we were not going to eat out to the waiting sharks, they seemed everywhere, then we put the shark inside the cave. For some reason I kept the sharks fin in the cold cave, in the back of my mind I could remember shark’s fin soup.
We ate the meat and then put in some of the fish for later. With no swimming allowed the girls did other things. I tinkered with the radios. Every time I looked the more I knew about it and, hopefully, when I got my hands on something which might help I would be able to get it working! I could listen to what was going on in the area by tuning to different bands but as we could not answer them it became frustrating. I heard a name I knew and listened intently. They we talking about the princesses, their father was out there looking for them. Another name I recognised was the boat we had just pulled from the sea, they were looking for that as well and its owner and his family. The word family caused a shiver to run down my spine. I wondered where his family was now and what was happening to them. I turned the radio off, I knew just where to cut out the damaged part and solder in the new piece. I had solder but I had to make a soldering iron to reconnect the new part, when I had one.
