The Secret Island tss-1

by Энид Блайтон

  “There’s no need to keep watch any more to-night,” said Jack, and they all went down the hill. Evening was almost on them. They sat by their fire and ate their supper, feeling happier than the day before. Perhaps after all no one would come to look for them - and anyway, they had done all they could now to get things ready in case anyone did come.

  The next day the children kept watch in turn again, and the next. The third day, when Nora was on guard, she thought she saw people on the far side of the lake, where a thick wood grew. She whistled softly to Jack, and he came up and watched, too.

  “Yes, you’re right, Nora,” he said at last. “There are people there - and they are certainly hunting for something or someone!”

  They watched for a while and then called the others. There was no fire going, for Peggy had stamped it out. They all crowded on to the hill-top, their heads peeping out of the tall bracken that grew there.

  “See over there!” said Jack. “The hunt is on! It will only be a day or two before they come over here. We must watch very carefully indeed!”

  “Well, everything is ready,” said Peggy. “I wish they would come soon, if they are coming - I hate all this waiting about. It gives me a cold feeling in my tummy.”

  “So it does in mine,” said Mike. “I’d like a hot-water bottle to carry about with me!”

  That made everyone laugh. They watched for a while longer and then went down, leaving Jack on guard.

  For two days nothing happened, though the children thought they could see people on the other side of the lake, beating about in the bushes and hunting. Mike went on guard in the morning and kept a keen watch. Nora fed the hens as usual and Jack milked Daisy.

  And then Mike saw something! He stood up and looked - it was something at the far end of the lake, where Jack had gone marketing. It was a boat! No mistaking it this time - a boat it was, and a big one, too!

  Mike called the others and they scrambled up. “Yes,” said Jack at once. “That’s a boat all right - with about four people in, too. Come on, there’s no time to be lost. There’s only one place a boat can come to here - and that’s our island. To your jobs, everyone, and don’t be frightened!”

  The children hurried off. Jack went to get Daisy. Mike went to see to the hens and the hen-yard. Peggy scattered the dead remains of the fire, and caught up the kettle and the saucepan and any odds and ends of food on the beach to take to the cave. Nora ran to cover up their patches of growing seeds with bits of heather. Would they have time to do everything? Would they be well hidden before the boatload of people came to land on their secret island?

  The Island is Searched

  Now that people had really come at last to search the island the children were glad to carry out their plans, for the days of waiting had been very upsetting. They had laid their plans so well that everything went like clockwork. Daisy, the cow, did not seem a bit surprised to have Jack leading her to the inner cave again, and went like a lamb, without a single moo!

  Jack got her safely through the narrow passage to the inner cave and left her there munching a turnip whilst he went to see if he could help the others. Before he left the outer cave he carefully rubbed away any traces of Daisy’s hoofmarks. He arranged the bracken carelessly over the entrance so that it did not seem as if anyone went in and out of it.

  Mike arrived with the hens just then, and Jack gave him a hand. Mike squeezed himself into the little tiny cave that led by the low passage to the inner cave, for it had been arranged that only Jack and the cow should use the other entrance for fear that much use of it should show too plainly that people went in and out.

  Jack passed him the sack of hens, and Mike crawled on hands and knees through the low passage and into the big inner cave where Daisy was. The hens did not like being pulled through the tiny passage and squawked dismally. But when Mike shook them out of the sack, and scattered grain for them to eat, they were quite happy again. Jack had lighted the lantern in the inner cave, and it cast its dim light down. Mike thought he had better stay in the cave, in case the hens found their way out again.

  So he sat down, his heart thumping, and waited for the others. One by one they came, carrying odds and ends. Each child had done his or her job, and with scarlet cheeks and beating hearts they sat down together in the cave and looked at one another.

  “They’re not at the island yet,” said Jack. “I took a look just now. They’ve got another quarter-mile to go. Now, is there anything we can possibly have forgotten?”

  The children thought hard. The boat was sunk. The cow and the hens were in. The fire was out and well scattered. The hen-yard was covered with sand and heather. The yard-fence was taken up and stored in Willow House. The seed-patches were hidden. The milk-pail was taken from the spring.

  “We’ve done everything!” said Peggy.

  And then Mike jumped up in a fright. “My hat!” he said. “Where is it? I haven’t got it on! I must have left it somewhere!”

  The others stared at him in dismay. His hat was certainly not on his head nor was it anywhere in the cave.

  “You had it on this morning,” said Peggy. “I remember seeing it, and thinking it was getting very dirty and floppy. Oh, Mike dear! Where can you have left it? Think hard, for it is very important.”

  “It might be the one thing that gives us away,” said Jack.

  "There’s just time to go and look for it,” said Mike. “I’ll go and see if I can find it.”

  He crawled through the narrow passage and out into the cave with the low entrance. He squeezed through that and went out into the sunlight. He could see the boat from where he was, being rowed through the water some distance away. He ran down the hill to the beach. He hunted there. He hunted round about the hen-yard. He hunted by the spring. He hunted everywhere! But he could not find that hat!

  And then he wondered if it was anywhere near Willow House, for he had gone there that morning to store the hen-yard fences. He squeezed through the thickly growing trees and went to Willow House. There, beside the doorway, was his hat! The boy pushed it into his pocket, and made his way back up the hillside. Just as he got to the cave-entrance he heard the boat grinding on the beach below. The searchers had arrived.

  He crawled into the big inner cave. The others greeted him excitedly.

  “Did you find it, Mike?”

  “Yes, thank goodness,” said Mike, taking his hat out of his pocket. “It was just by Willow House - but I don’t expect it would have been seen there, because Willow House is too well hidden among those thick trees to be found. Still, I’m glad I found it - I’d have been worried all the time if I hadn’t. The boat is on the beach now, Jack; I heard it being pulled in. There are four men in it.”

  “I’m just a bit worried about the passage to this inner cave from the outer cave,” said Jack. “If that is found it’s all up with us. I was wondering if we could find a few rocks and stones and pile them up half-way through the passage, so that if anyone does come through there, he will find his way blocked and won’t guess there is another cave behind, where we are hiding!”

  “That’s a fine idea, Jack,” said Mike. “It doesn’t matter about the other entrance, because no grown-up could possibly squeeze through there. Come on, everyone. Find rocks and stones and hard clods of earth and stop up the passage half-way through!”

  The children worked hard, and before half an hour had gone by the passage was completely blocked up. No one could possibly guess there was a way through. It would be quite easy to unblock when the time came to go out.

  “I’m going to crawl through to the cave with the small entrance and peep out to see if I can hear anything,” said Jack. So he crawled through and sat just inside the tiny, low-down entrance, trying to hear.

  The men were certainly searching the island! Jack could hear their shouts easily.

  “Someone’s been here!” shouted one man. “Look where they’ve made a fire.”

  “Trippers, probably!” called back another man. “There’s
an empty tin here, too - and a carton - just the sort of thing trippers leave about.”

  “Hi! Look at this spring here!” called another voice. “Looks to me as if people have been tramping about here.”

  Jack groaned. Surely there were not many foot-marks there!

  “Well, if those children are here we’ll find them all right!” said a fourth voice. “It beats me how they could manage to live here, though, all alone, with no food, except what that boy could buy in the village!”

  “I’m going over to the other side to look there,” yelled the first man. “Come with me, Tom. You go one side of the hill and I’ll go the other - and then, if the little beggars are dodging about to keep away from us, one of us will find them!”

  Jack felt glad he was safely inside the cave. He stayed where he was till a whisper reached him from behind.

  “Jack! We can hear voices. Is everything all right?”

  “So far, Mike,” said Jack. “They are all hunting hard - but the only thing they seem to have found is a few footmarks round the spring. I’ll stay here for a bit and see what I can hear.”

  The hunt went on. Nothing seemed to be found. The children had cleared everything up very well indeed.

  But, as Jack sat just inside the cave, there came a shout from someone near the beach.

  “Just look here! What do you make of this?”

  Jack wondered whatever the man had found. He soon knew. The man had kicked aside the heather that had hidden the hen-yard - and had found the newly scattered sand!

  “This looks as if something had been going on here,” said the man. “But goodness knows what! You know, I think those children are here somewhere. It’s up to us to find them. Clever little things, too, they must be, hiding away all traces of themselves like this!”

  “We’d better beat through the bushes and the bracken,” said another man. “They may be hiding there. That’d be the likeliest place.”

  Then Jack heard the men beating through the bracken, poking into every bush, trying their hardest to find a hidden child. But not one could they find.

  Jack crawled back to the cave after two or three hours and told the others what had happened. They listened, alarmed to hear that the hen-yard had been discovered even though they had tried so hard to hide it.

  “It’s time we had something to eat,” said Peggy. “We can’t light a fire in here, for we would be smoked out, but there are some rolls of bread I made yesterday, some wild strawberries, and a cold pudding. And lots of milk, of course.”

  They sat and ate, though none of them felt hungry. Daisy lay down behind them, perfectly good. The hens clucked quietly, puzzled at finding themselves in such a strange dark place, but quite happy with the children there.

  When the meal was over Jack went back to his post again. He sat just inside the cave-entrance and listened.

  The men were getting puzzled and disheartened. They were sitting at the foot of the hill, eating sandwiches and drinking beer. Jack could hear their voices quite plainly.

  “Well, those children may have been on this island, and I think they were - but they’re not here now,” said one man. “I’m certain of that.”

  “We’ve hunted every inch,” said another man. “I think you’re right, Tom; those kids have been here all right - who else could have planted those runner beans we found? - but they’ve gone. I expect that boy the policeman saw last Wednesday gave the alarm, and they’ve all gone off in the boat.”

  “Ah yes, the boat!” said a third man. “Now, if the children were here we’d find a boat, wouldn’t we? Well, we haven’t found one - so they can’t be here!”

  “Quite right,” said the first man. “I didn’t think of that. If there’s no boat here, there are no children! What about going back now? I’m sure it’s no good hunting any more.”

  “There’s just one place we haven’t looked,” said the quiet voice of the fourth man. “There are some caves in this hillside - it’s possible those children may have hidden there.”

  “Caves!” said another man. “Yes - just the place. We’ll certainly look there. Where are they?”

  “I’ll show you in a minute,” said the fourth man. “Got a torch?”

  “No, but I’ve got plenty of matches,” said the other man. “But look here - they can’t be there if there’s no boat anywhere to be seen. If they are here, there must be a boat somewhere!”

  “It’s possible for a boat to be sunk so that no searcher could find it,” said the fourth man.

  “Children would never think of that!” said another.

  “No, I don’t think they would,” was the answer.

  Jack, who could hear everything, thought gratefully of Mike. It had been Mike’s idea to sink the boat. If he hadn’t sunk it, it would certainly have been found, for the search had been much more thorough than Jack had guessed. Fancy the men noticing the runner beans!

  “Come on,” said a man. “We’ll go to those caves now. But it’s a waste of time. I don’t think the children are within miles! They’ve gone off up the lakeside somewhere in their boat!"

  Jack crawled silently back to the inner cave, his heart thumping loudly.

  “They don’t think we’re on the island,” he whispered, “because they haven’t found the boat. But they’re coming to explore the caves. Put out the lantern, Mike. Now everyone must keep as quiet as a mouse. Is Daisy lying down? Good! The hens are quiet enough, too. They seem to think it’s night, and are roosting in a row! Now nobody must sneeze or cough - everything depends on the next hour or two!”

  Not a sound was to be heard in the big inner cave. Daisy lay like a log, breathing quietly. The hens roosted peacefully. The children sat like mice.

  And then they heard the men coming into the cave outside. Matches were struck - and the passage that led to their cave was found!

  “Look here, Tom,” said a voice. “Here’s what looks like a passage - shall we see where it goes?”

  “We’d better, I suppose,” said a voice. And then there came the sound of footsteps down the blocked-up passage!

  The End of the Search

  The children sat in the inner cave as though they were turned into stone. They did not even blink their eyes. It seemed almost as if they did not even breathe! But how their hearts thumped! Jack thought that everyone must hear his heart beating, even the searchers outside, it bumped against his ribs so hard.

  The children could hear the sound of someone fumbling his way along the narrow passage. He found it a tight squeeze, by his groanings and grumblings. He came right up to the place where the children had piled rocks, stones, and earth to block up the passage.

  “I say!” the man called back to the others, “the passage ends here in what looks like loose rocks. Shall I try to force my way through - pull the rocks to see if they are just a fall from the roof?”

  “No!” cried another man. “If you can’t get through, the children couldn’t! This is a wild-goose chase - we’ll never find the children in these caves. Come back, Tom.”

  The man turned himself round with difficulty and began to squeeze back - and at that very moment a dreadful thing happened!

  Daisy the cow let out a terrific moo!

  The children were not expecting it, and they almost jumped out of their skins with fright. Then they clutched at one another, expecting the men to come chasing along at once, having heard Daisy.

  There was an astonished silence. Then one of the men said, “Did you hear that?”

  “Of course!” said another. “What in the wide world was it?”

  “Well, it wasn’t the children, that’s certain!” said the first, with a laugh. “I never in my life heard a child make a noise like that!”

  “It sounded like a cow,” said another voice.

  “A cow!” cried the first man, “what next? Do you mean to say you think there’s a cow in the middle of this hill, Tom?”

  “Of course there can’t be,” said Tom, laughing. “But it sounded mighty like one! L
et’s listen and see if we hear anything again.”

  There was a silence, as if the men were listening - and at that moment Daisy most obligingly gave a dreadful hollow cough, that echoed mournfully round and round the cave.

  “I don’t like it,” said a man’s voice. “It sounds too queer for anything. Let’s get out of these dark caves into the sunshine. I’m perfectly certain, since we heard those noises, that no children would be inside those caves! Why, they’d be frightened out of their lives!”

  Jack squeezed Nora’s hand in delight. So old Daisy had frightened the men! What a glorious joke! The children sat as still as could be, glad now that Daisy had given such a loud moo and such a dreadful cough.

  There was the sound of scrambling about in the outer cave and then it seemed as if the men were all outside again. “We’d better just hunt about and see if there are any more caves,” said one man. "Look, that seems like one!”

  “That’s the cave where we put the hens when the trippers came!” whispered Jack. “It’s got no passage leading to our inner cave here. They can explore that all they like.”

  The men did explore it, but as it was just a cave and nothing else, and had no passage leading out of it, they soon left it. Then they found the cave with the low-down, tiny entrance - the one the children used to squeeze into when they wanted to go to their inner cave - but, as Jack had said, the entrance was too small for any grown up to use, and, after trying once or twice, the men gave it up.

  “No one could get in there except a rabbit,” said a man’s voice.

  “Children could,” said another.

  “Now look here, Tom, if we find children on this island now, I’ll eat my hat!” said the first man. “There’s no boat, to begin with - and we really haven’t found anything except runner beans, which might have been dropped by birds, and a funny sort of sandy yard - and you can’t tell me children are clever enough to live here day after day, and yet vanish completely, leaving no trace behind, as soon as we come! No, no - no children are as clever as that!”