by Энид Блайтон
“And Daisy the cow?” said Peggy, looking worried.
“We’ll watch and see which side of the island the trippers come,” said Jack. “As far as I know, there is only one landing-place, and that is our beach. As Daisy is right on the other side of the island, they are not likely to see her unless they go exploring. And let’s hope they don’t do that!”
“Where shall we hide?” said Nora.
“We’ll keep a look-out from the hill, hidden in the bracken,” said Jack. “If the trippers begin to wander about, we must just creep about in the bracken and trust to luck they won’t see us. There’s one thing - they won’t be looking for us, if they are trippers. They won’t guess there is anyone else here at all!”
“Will they find the things in the cave-larder?” asked Nora, helping to catch the squawking hens.
“Peggy, get some heather and bracken and stuff up the opening to the cave-larder,” said Jack. Peggy ran off at once. Jack put the hens gently into the sack one by one and ran up the hill with them. He went to the other side of the hill and came to one of the caves he knew. He called to Nora, who was just behind him.
“Nora! Sit at the little opening here and see that the hens don’t get out! I’m going to empty them out of the sack into the cave!”
With much squawking and scuffing and clucking the scared hens hopped out of the sack and ran into the little cave. Nora sat down at the entrance, hidden by the bracken that grew there. No hen could get out whilst she was there.
“The boat is going round the island,” whispered Jack as he parted the bracken at the top of the hill and looked down to the lake below. “They can’t find a place to land. They’re going round to our little beach! Well - Daisy the cow is safe, if they don’t go exploring! Hope she doesn’t moo!”
The Trippers Come to the Island
Nora sat crouched against the entrance of the little cave. She could hear the six hens inside, clucking softly as they scratched about. Jack knelt near her, peering through the bracken, trying to see what the boat was doing.
“Mike has rowed our own boat to where the brambles fall over the water, and has pushed it under them,” said Jack, in a low voice. “I don’t know where he is now. I can’t see him.”
“Where’s Peggy?” whispered Nora.
“Here I am,” said a low voice, and Peggy’s head popped above the bracken a little way down the hill. “I say - isn’t this horrid? I do wish those people would go away.”
The sound of voices came up the hillside from the lake below.
“Here’s a fine landing-place!” said one voice.
“They’ve found our beach,” whispered Jack.
“Pull the boat in,” said a woman’s voice. “We’ll have our supper here. It’s lovely!”
There was the sound of a boat being pulled a little way up the beach. Then the trippers got out.
“I’ll bring the gramophone,” said someone. “You bring the supper things, Eddie.”
“Do you suppose anyone has ever been on this little island before?” said a man’s voice.
“No!” said someone else. “The countryside round about is quite deserted - no one ever comes here, I should think.”
The three children crouched down in the bracken and listened. The trippers were setting out their supper. One of the hens in the cave began to cluck loudly. Nora thought it must have laid an egg.
“Do you hear that noise?” said one of the trippers. “Sounds like a hen to me!”
“Don’t be silly, Eddie,” said a woman’s voice scornfully. “How could a hen be on an island like this! That must have been a blackbird or something.”
Jack giggled. It seemed very funny to him that a hen’s cluck should be thought like a blackbird’s clear song.
"Pass the salt,” said someone. “Thanks. I say! Isn’t this a fine little island! Sort of secret and mysterious. What about exploring it after supper?”
“That’s a good idea,” said Eddie’s voice. “We will!”
The children looked at one another in dismay. Just the one thing they had hoped the trippers wouldn’t do!
“Where’s Mike, do you suppose?” said Peggy, in a low voice. “Do you think he’s hiding in our boat?”
“I expect so,” whispered Jack. “Don’t worry about him. He can look after himself all right.”
“Oh, my goodness! There’s Daisy beginning to moo!” groaned Peggy, as a dismal moo reached her ears. “She knows it is time she was milked.”
“And just wouldn’t I like a cup of milk!” said Jack, who was feeling very thirsty.
“Can you hear that cow mooing somewhere?” said one of the trippers, in surprise.
“I expect it’s a cow in a field on the mainland,” said another lazily. “You don’t suppose there is a cow wandering loose on this tiny island, do you, Eddie?”
“Well, I don’t know,” said Eddie, in a puzzled voice. “Look over there. Doesn’t that look like a footprint in the sand to you?”
The children held their breath. Could it be true that they had left a footprint on the sand?
“And see here,” went on the tripper, holding up something. “Here’s a piece of string I found on this beach. String doesn’t grow, you know.”
“You are making a great mystery about nothing,” said one of the women crossly. “Other trippers have been here, that’s all.”
“Perhaps you are right,” said Eddie. “But all the same, I’m going to explore the island after supper!”
“Oh, put on the gramophone, Eddie.” said someone. “I’m tired of hearing you talk so much.”
Soon the gramophone blared through the air, and the children were glad, for they knew it would drown any sound of Daisy’s mooing or the hens’ clucking. They sat in the bracken, looking scared and miserable. They did not like anyone else sharing their secret island. And what would happen if the trippers did explore the island and found the children?
Nora began to cry softly. Tears ran down her cheeks and fell on her hands. Jack looked at her and then crept silently up. He slipped his arm round her.
“Don’t cry, Nora,” he said. “Perhaps they won’t have time to explore. It is getting a bit dark now. Do you see that big black cloud coming up? It will make the night come quickly, and perhaps the trippers will think there’s a storm coming and row off.”
Nora dried her eyes and looked up. There certainly was a big black cloud.
“It looks like a thunderstorm,” said Peggy, creeping up to join them.
“Oooh!” said Nora suddenly, almost squealing out loud. “Look! Someone’s coming up the hill! I can see the bracken moving! It must be one of the trippers creeping up to find us!”
The children went pale. They looked to where Nora pointed - and sure enough they could see first one frond of bracken moving, and then another and another. Someone was certainly creeping up the hill hidden under the fronds.
Nora clutched hold of Jack. “Don’t make a sound,” he whispered. “No one can possibly know we’re here. Keep quiet, Nora. We’ll slip inside the cave if he comes much nearer.”
They sat silently watching the swaying of the tall bracken as the newcomer crept through it. It was a horrid moment. Was someone going to spring out on them?
“Get inside the cave, you two girls,” whispered Jack. “I think you’ll be safe there. I’m going to slip round the hill and come up behind this person, whoever he is.”
The girls crept just inside the cave and parted the bracken that grew around it to see what Jack was going to do. He was just slipping away when the person creeping up the hillside stopped his crawling. The bracken kept still. This was worse than seeing it move! Oh dear!
Then a head popped out of the bracken, and Nora gave a loud squeal.
“Mike!” she said. "Mike!”
“Sh, you silly chump!” hissed Peggy, shaking her. “You’ll be heard by the trippers!”
Fortunately the gramophone was going loudly, so Nora’s squeal was not heard. The three children stared in deligh
t at Mike. It was he who had been creeping up through the bracken after all! What a relief! He grinned at them and put his head down again. Once more the bracken fronds began to move slightly as Mike made his way through them up to the cave.
“Oh, Mike,” said Nora, when he came up to them. “You did give us such a fright. We thought you were a tripper coming after us!”
“I got a good view of them,” said Mike, sitting down beside the others. “There are three men and two women. They are tucking into an enormous supper.”
“Do you think they’ll explore the island as they said?” asked Peggy anxiously.
“Perhaps this thunderstorm will put them off,” said Mike, looking up at the black sky. “My word, it’s brought the bats out early! Look at them!”
Certainly the little black bats were out in their hundreds. The hot, thundery evening had brought out thousands of insects, and the bats were having a great feast, catching the flies and beetles that flew through the air.
It was the bats that sent the trippers away. One of the women caught sight of two or three bats darting round under the trees, and she gave a shriek.
“Ooh! Bats! Ooh! I can’t bear bats! I’m frightened of them. Let’s pack up and go quickly!”
“I can’t bear bats either!” squealed the other woman. “Horrid little creatures!”
“They won’t hurt you,” said a man’s voice. “Don’t be silly.”
“I can’t help it; I’m frightened of them,” said a woman. “I’m going!”
“But I wanted to explore the island,” said Eddie.
“Well, you’ll have to explore it another day,” said the woman. “Just look at the sky, too - there’s going to be a dreadful storm.”
“All right, all right,” said Eddie, in a sulky voice. “We’ll go. Fancy being frightened of a few bats!”
The children on the hillside stared at one another in delight. The trippers were really going. And no one had discovered them. Goody, goody!
“Good old bats!” whispered Jack. “Would you think anyone would be scared of those little flitter-mice, Nora?”
“Aunt Harriet was,” said Nora. “I don’t know why. I think they are dear little creatures, with their funny black wings. Anyway, I shall always feel friendly towards them now. They have saved us from being found!”
Daisy the cow mooed loudly. Jack frowned. “If only we had milked Daisy before the trippers came!” he said.
“Did you hear that?” said one of the trippers. “That was thunder in the distance!”
The four children giggled. Nora rolled over and stuffed her hands into her mouth to stop laughing loudly.
“Good old Daisy!” whispered Mike. “She’s pretending to be a thunderstorm now, to frighten them away!”
Nora gave a squeal of laughter, and Jack punched her. “Be quiet,” he said. “Do you want us to be discovered just when everything is going so nicely?”
The trippers were getting into their boat. They pushed off. The children heard the sound of oars, and peeped out. They could see the boat, far down below, being rowed out on to the lake. A big wind sprang up and ruffled the water. The boat rocked to and fro.
“Hurry!” cried a woman’s voice. “We shall get caught in the storm. Oh! Oh! There’s one of those horrid bats again! I’ll never come to this nasty island any more!”
“I jolly well hope you won’t!” said Jack, pretending to wave good-bye.
The children watched the boat being rowed down the lake. The voices of the people came more and more faintly on the breeze. The last they heard was the gramophone being played once again. Then they saw and heard no more. The trippers were gone.
“Come on,” said Jack, standing up and stretching himself. “We’ve had a very narrow escape - but, thank goodness, no one saw us or our belongings.”
“Except that footprint and a bit of string,” said Mike.
“Yes,” said Jack, thoughtfully. “I hope that man called Eddie doesn’t read anywhere about four runaway children and think we might be here because of what he heard and found. We must be prepared for that, you know. We must make some plans to prevent being found if anyone comes again to look for us.”
A distant rumble of thunder was heard. Jack turned to the others. “Not Daisy mooing this time!” he grinned. “Come on, there’s a storm coming. We’ve plenty to do. I’ll go and get Daisy, to milk her. Nora and Mike, you catch the hens and take them back to the hen-yard - and Mike, make some sort of shelter for them with a couple of sacks over sticks, or something, so that they can hide there if they are frightened. Peggy, see if you can light the fire before the rain comes.”
“Ay, ay, Captain!” shouted the children joyfully, full of delight to think they had their island to themselves once more!
A Stormy Night in Willow House
There was certainly a thunderstorm coming. The sky was very black indeed, and it was getting dark. Nora and Mike caught the six hens in the little cave, bundled them gently into the sack, and raced off to the hen-yard with them. Mike stuck two or three willow sticks into the ground at one end of the hen-yard and draped the sack over them.
“There you are, henny-pennies!” said Nora. “There is a nice little shelter for you!”
Plop! Plop! Plop! Enormous drops of rain fell down and the hens gave a frightened squawk. They did not like the rain. They scuttled under the sack at once and lay there quietly, giving each other little pecks now and again.
“Well, that settles the hens,” said Mike. “I wonder how Peggy is getting on with the fire.”
Peggy was not getting on at all well. The rain was now coming down fast, and she could not get the fire going. Jack arrived with Daisy the cow and shouted to Peggy:
“Never mind about the fire! Now that the rain’s coming down so fast you won’t be able to light it. Get into Willow House, all of you, before you get too wet.”
“The girls can go,” said Mike, running to help Jack. “I’ll get the things to help you milk. My goodness - we haven’t drunk all the milk yet that Daisy gave us this morning!”
“Put it into a dish and pop it in the hen-yard,” said Jack. “Maybe the hens will like it!”
In the pouring rain Jack milked Daisy the cow. Soon all the saucepans and the kettle and bowls were full! Really, thought Jack, he simply must get that old milking-pail that the girls had told him of at their Aunt’s farm. It was such a tiring business milking a cow like this.
When the milking was finished, Jack took Daisy back to her grassy field on the other side of the island. Mike went to Willow House where the two girls were. It was dark there, and the sound of rain drip-drip-drip-ping from the trees all around sounded rather miserable.
Mike and the two girls sat in the front part of Willow House and waited for Jack. Mike was very wet, and he shivered.
“Poor old Jack will be wet through, too,” he said. “Feel this milk, girls. It’s as warm as can be. Let’s drink some and it will warm us up. We can’t boil any, for we haven’t a fire.”
Jack came to Willow House dripping wet. But he was grinning away as usual. Nothing ever seemed to upset Jack.
“Hallo, hallo!” he said. “I’m as wet as a fish! Peggy, where did we put those clothes of mine that I brought to the island last night?”
“Oh yes!” cried Peggy, in delight. “Of course! You and Mike can change into those.”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” said Mike. “Jack only brought three old vests, a shirt or two, and an overcoat.”
“Well, we can wear a vest each, and a shirt, and I’ll wear the overcoat, and you can wrap the old blanket I brought all round you!” said Jack.
The boys took off their wet clothes and changed into the dry ones. “I’ll hang your wet ones out to dry as soon as the rain stops,” said Peggy, squeezing the rain out of them.
“I can’t see a thing here,” said Mike, buttoning up his shirt all wrong.
“Well, light the lantern, silly,” said Jack. “What do you suppose the candles are for? Nora, find
the lantern and light it. It may want a new candle inside. You know where you put the candles, don’t you? Over in that corner somewhere.”
Nora found the lantern. It did want a new candle inside. She found a box of matches and lighted the candle. Mike hung the lantern up on a nail he had put in the roof. It swung there, giving a dim but cheerful light to the little party huddled inside Willow House.
“This really feels like a house now,” said Nora, pleased. “I do like it. It’s very cosy. Not a drop of rain is coming through our roof or the walls.”
“And not a scrap of wind!” said Jack. “That shows how well we packed the walls with heather and bracken. Listen to the wind howling outside! We shouldn’t like to be out in that! What a good thing we’ve got Willow House to live in! Our outdoor bedroom wouldn’t be at all comfortable to-night!”
The thunderstorm broke overhead. The thunder crashed around as if someone were moving heavy furniture up in the sky.
“Hallo! Someone’s dropped a wardrobe, I should think!” said Jack, when an extra heavy crash came!
“And there goes a grand piano tumbling down the stairs!” said Mike, at another heavy rumble. Everyone laughed. Really, the thunderstorm did sound exactly like furniture being thrown about.
The lightning flashed brightly, lighting up the inside of Willow House. Nora was not sure that she liked it. She cuddled up to Mike. “I feel a bit frightened,” she said.
“Don’t be silly!” said Mike. “You’re as bad as those women trippers over the bats! There’s nothing to be frightened of. A storm is a grand thing. We’re perfectly safe here.”
“A storm is just a bit of weather being noisy!” laughed Jack. “Cheer up, Nora. We’re all right. You can think you’re lucky you’re not Daisy the cow. After all, we do know that a storm is only a storm, but she doesn’t.”
Crash! Rumble! Crash! The thunder roared away, and the children made a joke of it, inventing all kinds of furniture tumbling about the sky, as each crash came. The lightning flashed, and each time Jack said, “Thanks very much! The sky keeps striking matches, and the wind keeps blowing them out!”
