The Adventurous Four - - Страница 24

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Tom, Mary and Jill looked at Andy, excited.

"Do you really know a way of escape, even now that our ship has been taken?" asked Jill. "You are clever, Andy."

"Well, it's no use us trying to take one of the enemy's boats again, or to get our own ship back," said Andy. "And it's no use putting up a signal to passing ships, for two reasons—one is that I am perfectly certain no ship ever passes near these islands, or they would have discovered the secret of the submarines before this—and the second reason is that I am jolly sure the enemy wouldn't let us have a signal up anyhow!"

"Go on," said Tom, feeling sure Andy had got a very good idea coming.

"Well, my idea is—we'd better make a raft!" said Andy. "We can't get a boat or make one—but we could make a rough kind of raft, and get a mast of some sort to rig a sail on. We've plenty of food to take with us—and you and I, Tom, could set off alone on it to try and jnake for home. I daren't take the girls—they would be so cold on an open raft, and they would be safer here."

"Not take us!" cried Jill indignantly. "Of course you'll take us! We won't be left behind—will we. Mary?"

"Listen, Jill—you're only ten years old and not very big," said Andy patiently. "If we take you it will make tilings much more difficult for Tom and for me. If we get home safely we can have you rescued at once—if we don't get home you will at least be safe on the island."

The girls cried bitterly at this. They thought it was very unfair. They couldn't know that Andy didn't feel at all certain of ever getting home, and was very much afraid of the girls being washed overboard when big waves came. He and Tom were strong—and besides they were boys—but the girls would never be able to stand tossing about on a raft for days and days.

Andy was quite firm about it, and the girls dried their eyes and listened to his plans. Tom wondered what the raft was to be made of.

"We shall have to pull our wooden hut to pieces and use the planks," said Andy. "Luckily we've got plenty of nails to use."

"But what shall we live in if we pull down the shack?" asked Jill in dismay.

"I've thought of that," said Andy. "You see, if we start pulling down the shack the enemy are bound to notice it and will guess what we are doing. Well—I thought we could make it look as if our hut had fallen down on us, and I could ask the enemy to give us a tent to live iiv instead. Then we could live in that, and quietly make our raft from the fallen-down shack!"

"That really is a "good idea," said Tom. "We get the two things we want—somewhere else to live—and wood to make a raft—and the enemy actually help us — without knowing it!"

"Yes," said Andy, grinning round at the other three. "We'd better wait a day or two, though, because the enemy are bound to watch us a bit at first, to see if we've any other ideas of escape. We won't do anything suspicious at all for the next few days."

"All right," said the others, and they began to fee! excited again. They still felt terribly disappointed when they thought of how their precious boat had been taken from them—but never mind, perhaps their raft would be luckier.

So for the next few days the children just played about, bathing, fishing, paddling, and the enemy, who sent a man over every day at noon, saw nothing to make him think that the children had any plans at all.

"I think there's going to be a storm," said Andy, on the third evening. "That would be a good reason for our shack to fall down, I think! As soon as that man has come and gone to-day we'll turn the shack into a ruin!"

The man came, looked round the island and went. As soon as he had gone the children set about the hut. Andy removed nails and took out planks. He hammered part of the roof away and made a big hole. He made one side of the hut so weak that it fell in on top of the girls' bed.

"Doesn't it look a ruin now!" said Jill, with a giggle. "We'd better spread the sail over that side of the hut, Andy, or the rain will come in to-night."

"Yes, we'll do that," said Andy. S,o when they had done all they could to make the hut look as if it was falling to pieces, they draped the sail over the open side for protection, and then grinned at one another.

"And to-morrow we will act a nice little play for the enemy!" said Andy with a chuckle. "We will pretend that in the storm which we can now hear rumbling round, our hut was blown in—and we will bandage up Jill's head as if the hut fell on top of her—and bandage my leg too. And we'll beg for a tent most humbly!"

"I hope I shan't giggle," said Mary.

"If you do you'll deserve a good slapping," began Andy fiercely—but Mary spoke hastily once more.

"I didn't mean it, Andy. I shan't giggle. I shall be frightened, really, though I won't show it."

"All right," said Andy, calming down. "Golly! What a loud clap of thunder!"

The storm began properly then. It was not a very bad one, but the children were glad of the protection of the big sail over the open side of the hut. The wind blew fiercely, and Andy and Tom had to weight the sail down to prevent it from being — blown away. The thunder rumbled and crashed and the lightning flickered round the islands. In an hour's time, however, the storm was gone, and the wind died down again.

In the morning the children took the sail and hid it safely, for Andy did not want the enemy to know he had an old sail. They made the shack look as if the wind had almost blown it down, and Jill broke a plate and threw the pieces about as if the storm had caused the accident.

"Now I'll tie up Jill's head in my big handkerchief," said Andy, taking out a rather dirty hanky. "And I'll use a rag to tie my leg up with. Well pretend we got hurt in the night."

When the man came to look at the children and go over the island as usual, he was surprised to find Jill bandaged up, and Andy limping.

Andy hailed him. "Hie! Our shack has fallen down! Come and see!"

The man went to look. He could not speak English, but he understood at once that the shack had fallen down on the children during the storm. Jill sat on the ground, pretending to cry, holding her head in her hand. Mary was trying to comfort her.

"We want a tent to sleep in," said Andy. The man did not understand. Tom took out his notebook and drew a tent in it. Then the man understood. He nodded his head, said something that sounded like "Yah, yah!" to the children, and set off in his boat.

"Don't cry too much, Jill, or the man will want to see your wound!" said Andy. "I was awfully afraid he would take off the bandage and have a look to see how much your head was hurt."

"Gracious!" said Jill, in alarm. "I didn't think of that!"

"I hope he comes back with a tent," said Tom. "You'd better go up the cliff," Jill, and sit on the top, so that if the man comes back he won't ask to see your head."

Jill and Mary went off. Tom and Andy waited for the man to return. He came back in about three hours—and he brought a tent! The boys were pleased.

The man looked round for the girls. He touched his head, and looked at Andy. He was trying to say he wanted to see the girl with the bandaged head. Andy nodded and pointed to the top of the cliff. "She's ail right now," he said. The man saw the girls sitting up on the cliff and seemed satisfied. He put the tent down on the beach, showed Andy the ropes and pegs with it and went off again in his boat.

"Good!" said Andy. "We'll put this tent up in a sheltered place in the next cove. We don't want the man visiting this hollow too often, or he may notice that the shack is gradually disappearing!"

They put up the tent in the next cove, just around the cliff, in as sheltered a place as possible at the end of the beach where heather grew thickly, and big cushions of thrift were soft and plentiful. They made themselves beds of heather and bracken and piled the rugs there.

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