Five Run Away Together (8 page)

"So, you see, Dick," said Julian, as he rowed out to the island, "if by any chance Aunt Fanny does return sooner than we expect, we shall know at once and come back. I think we've planned everything very well."

"Yes, we have," said Dick. He turned and faced the island, which was coming nearer.

"We shall soon be there. Isn't George going to take the oars and guide the boat in?"

"Yes," said George. "We've come to the difficult bit now, where we've got to weave our way in and out of the different rocks that keep sticking up. Give me the oars, Ju."

She took the oars, and the others watched in admiration as the girl guided the big boat skillfully in and out of the hidden rocks. She certainly was very clever. They felt perfectly safe with her.

The boat slid into the little cove. It was a natural harbour, with the water running up to a stretch of sand. High rocks sheltered it. The children jumped out eagerly, and four pairs of willing hands tugged the boat quickly up the sand. .

"Higher up still," panted George. "You know what awful storms suddenly blow up in this bay. We want to be sure the boat is quite safe, no matter how high the seas run."

The boat soon lay on one side, high up the stretch of sand. The children sat down, puffing and blowing. "Let's have breakfast here," said Julian. "I don't feel like unloading all those heavy things at the moment. We'll get what we want for breakfast, and have it here on this warm bit of sand."

They got a loaf of new bread, some cold ham, a few tomatoes and a pot of jam. Anne found knives and forks and plates. Julian opened two bottles of ginger-beer.

"Funny sort of breakfast," he said, setting the bottles down on the sand, "But simply gorgeous when anyone is as hungry as we are."

They ate everything except about a third of the loaf. Timmy was given his bone and some of his own biscuits.

He crunched up the biscuits at once, and then sat down contentedly to gnaw the fine bone.

"How nice to be Timmy—with no plate or knife or fork or cup to bother about," said Anne, lying on her back in the sun, feeling that she really couldn't eat anything more.

"Oh, if we are always going to have mixed-up meals like this on the island, I shall never want to go back. Who would have thought that ham and jam and ginger-beer would go so well together?"

Timmy was thirsty. He sat with his tongue hanging out wishing that George would give him a drink. He didn't like ginger-beer.

George eyed him lazily.

"Oh Timmy—are you thirsty?" she said. "Oh dear, J feel as if I really can't get up!

You'll have to wait a few minutes, then I'll go to the boat and empty out some water for you."

But Timothy couldn't wait. He went off to some nearby rocks, which were out of reach of the sea. In a hole in one of them he found some rain-water, and he lapped it up eagerly. The children heard him lapping it, and laughed.

"Isn't Timmy clever?" murmured Anne. "I should never have thought of that."

The children had been up half the night, and now they were full of good things, and were very sleepy. One by one they fell asleep on the warm sand. Timothy eyed them in astonishment. It wasn't night-time! Yet here were all the children sleeping tightly.

Well, well—a dog could always go to sleep too at any time! So Timothy threw himself down beside George, put his head right on her middle, and closed his eyes.

The sun was high when the little company "awoke. Julian awoke first, then Dick, feeling very hot indeed, for the sun was blazing down. They sat up, yawning.

"Goodness!" said Dick, looking at his arms. "The sun has caught me properly. I shall be terribly sore by tonight. Did we bring any cream, Julian?"

"No. We never thought of it," said Julian. "Cheer up! You'll be burnt much more by the time this day ends. The sun's going to be hot—there's not a cloud in the sky!"

They woke up the girls. George pushed Timmy's head off her tummy. "You give me nightmares when you put your heavy head there," she complained. "Oh, I say—we're on the island, aren't we? For a moment I thought I was back in bed at Kirrin Cottage!"

"Isn't it gorgeous—here we are for ages, all by ourselves, with tons of nice things to eat, able to do just what we like!" said Anne, contentedly.

"I guess the old Sticks are glad we've gone," said Dick. "Spotty Face will be able to loll in the sitting-room and read all our booksI if he wants to."

"And Stinker-dog will be able to wander all over the house and lie on anybody's bed without being afraid that Timothy will eat him whole," said George. "Well, let him. I don't care about anything now that I've escaped."

It was fun to lie there and talk about everything. But soon Julian, who could never rest for long, once he was awake, got up and stretched himself.

"Come on!" he said to the others. "There is work to do, Lazy-Bones! Come along!"

"Work to do? What do you mean?" said George in astonishment.

"Well, we've got to unload the boat and pack everything somewhere where it won't get spoilt if the rain happens to come," said Julian. "And we've got to decide exactly where we're going to sleep, and get the heather for our beds and pile the rugs on them. There's plenty to do!"

"Oh, don't let's do it yet," said Anne, not at all wanting to get up out of the warm sand. But the others pulled her up, and together they all set to work to unload the boat.

"Let's go and have a look at the castle," said Julian. "And find the little room where we'll sleep. It's the only one left whole, so it will have to be that one."

They went right to the top of the inlet, climbed up on to the rocks and made their way towards the old ruined castle, whose walls rose up from the middle of the little island. They stopped to gaze at it.

"It's a fine old ruin," said Dick. "Aren't we lucky to have an island and a castle of our own! Fancy, this is all ours!"

They gazed through a big broken-down archway, to old steps beyond. The castle had once had two fine towers, but now one was almost gone. The other rose high in the air, half-ruined. The black jackdaws collected there, talking loudly. "Chack, chack, chack! Chack, chack, chack!"

"Nice birds," said Dick. "I like them. See the grey patch at the back of their heads, Anne? I wonder if they ever stop talking."

"I don't think so," said George. "Oh, look at the rabbits—tamer than ever!"

The courtyard was full of big rabbits, who eyed them as they came near. It really seemed as if it would be possible to pat them, they were so tame—but one by one they edged away as the children approached.

Timothy was in a great state of excitement, and his tail quivered from end to end. Oh those rabbits! Why

couldn't he chase them? Why was George so difficult about rabbits? Why couldn't he make them run a bit?

But George had her hand on his collar, and gave him: stern glance. "Now, Timothy, don't you dare to chase even the smallest of these rabbits. They're mine, every one o them."

"Ours!" corrected Anne at once. She wanted to share in the rabbits, as well as in the castle and the island.

"Ours!" said George. "Let's go and have a look at the little dark room where we'll spend the nights."

They made their way to where the castle did not seen to be quite so ruined. They came to a doorway and looked inside.

"Here it is!" said Julian, peeping in. "I shall have to us my torch. The windows are only slits here, and it's quit dark."

He turned on his torch—and the children all gaze< into the old room where they proposed to store their goods and sleep.

George gave a loud exclamation. "Golly! We can't use this room! The roof has fallen in since last summer."

So it had. Julian's torch shone on to a heap of fallen stones, scattered all over the floor. It was quite impossible to use the old room now. In any case it might be dangerous to do so, for it looked as if more stones might fall at any moment.

"Blow!" said Julian. "What shall we do about this? W shall have to find somewhere else for a storing an sleeping-place!"

ON THE OLD WRECK

IT was quite a shock to have their plans spoilt. They knew there was no other room in the ruined castle that was sufficiently whole to shelter them. And they must find some sort of shelter, for although the weather was fine at the moment, it might rain hard any day—or a storm might blow up.

"And storms round about Kirrin are so very violent," said Julian, remembering one or two. "Do you remember the storm that tossed your wreck up from the bottom of the sea, George?"

"Oh yes," said George and Anne, together, and Anne added eagerly: "Let's go and see the wreck today if we can. I'd love to see if it's still balanced on those rocks, as it was last year, when we explored it."

"Well, first we must make up our minds where we are going to sleep," said Julian, firmly. "I don't know if you realise it, but it's about three o'clock in the afternoon!

We slept for hours on the sand—tired out with our exciting night, I suppose. We really must find some safe place and put our things there at once, and make our beds."

"Well, but where shall we go?" said Dick. "There's no other place in the old castle."

"There's the dungeon below," said Anne, shivering. "But I don't want to go there. It's so dark and mysterious."

Nobody wanted to sleep down in the dungeons! Dick

frowned and thought hard. "What about the wreck?" he said. "Any chance of living there?"

"We might go and see," said Julian. "I don't somehow fancy living on a damp old rotting wreck—but if it's still high on the rocks, maybe the sun will have dried it, and it might be possible to have our bed and stores there."

"Let's go and see now," said George. So they made their way from the ruined castle to the old wall that ran round it. From there they would be able to see the wreck. It had been cast up the year before, and had settled firmly on some rocks.

They stood on the wall and looked for the wreck, but it was not where they had expected it. "It's moved," said Julian, in surprise. "There it is, look, on those rocks—

nearer to the shore than it was before. Poor old wreck! It's been battered about a good bit this last winter, hasn't it? It looks much more of a real wreck than it did last summer."

"I don't believe we shall be able to sleep there," said Dick. "It's dreadfully battered.

We might be able to store food there, though. Do you know, I believe we could get to it from those rocks that run out from the island."

"Yes, I believe we could," said George. "We could only reach it safely by boat last summer—but when the tide is down, I think we could climb out over the line of rocks, right to the wreck itself."

"We'll try in about an hour," said Julian, feeling excited. "The tide will be off the rocks by then."

"Let's go and have a look at the old well," said Dick, and they made their way back to the courtyard of the castle. Here, the summer before, they had found the entrance to the well-shaft that ran deep down through the rock, past the dungeons below, lower than the level of the sea, to fresh water.

The children looked about for the well, and came to the old wooden cover. They drew it back.

"There are the rungs of the old iron ladder I went down last year," said Dick, peering in. "Now let's find the entrance to the dungeon. The steps down into it are somewhere near here."

They found the entrance, but to their surprise some enormous stones had been pulled across it. "Who did that?" said George, frowning. "We didn't! Someone has been here!"

"Trippers, I suppose," said Julian. "Do you remember that we thought we saw a spire of smoke here the other day? I bet it was trippers. You know, the story of Kirrin Island, and its old castle and dungeons, and the treasure we found in it last year, was all in the newspapers. I expect one of the fishermen has been making money by taking trippers and landing them on our island."

"How dare they?" said George, looking very fierce. "I shall put up a board that says

"Trespassers will be sent to prison." I won't have strangers on our island."

"Well, don't worry about the stones" pulled across the dungeon entrance," said Julian.

"I don't think any of us want to go down there. Look at poor old Timmy! He's gazing at those rabbits most unhappily. Isn't he funny?"

Timothy was sitting down behind the children, looking most mournfully at the ring of rabbits all round the weed grown courtyard. He looked at the rabbits and then he looked at George, then he looked back at—the rabbits.

"No good, Timmy," said George, firmly. "I'm not going to change my mind about rabbits. You're not to chase them on our island."

"I expect he thinks you're most unfair to him," said Anne. "After all, you said he might share your quarter of the island with you—and so he thinks he ought to have his share of your rabbits too!"

Everyone laughed. Timmy wagged his tail and looked hopefully at George. They all walked across the courtyard—and then Julian suddenly came to a stop.

"Look!" he said in surprise, pointing to something on the ground. "Look! Someone has been here! This is where they built a fire!"

Everyone gazed at the ground. There was a heap of wood-ash there, quite evidently left from a fire. Stamped into the ground was a cigarette end, too. There was absolutely no doubt about it—someone had been on the island!

"If trippers come here I'll set Timmy on to them!" cried George, in a fury. "This is our own place, it doesn't belong to anybody else at all. Timothy, you mustn't chase rabbits here, but you can chase anybody on two legs, except us! See?"

Timmy wagged his tail at once. "Woof!" he said, quite agreeing. He looked all round as if he hoped to see somebody appearing that he could chase. But there was no one.

"I should think the tide is about off those rocks by now," said Julian. "Let's go and see. If it is we'll climb along them and see if we can get to the wreck. Anne had better

not come. She might slip and fall, and the sea is raging all round the rocks."

"Of course I'm coming!" cried Anne, indignantly "You're just as likely to fall as I am."

"Well, I'll see if it looks too dangerous," said Julian They made their way over the castle wall, down to the line of rocks that ran out seawards, towards the wreck Big waves did wash over the rocks occasionally, but it seemed fairly safe.