12

bill goes off on his own

bill went off down the valley to the cove where the motor-boat was moored. his feet sank deeplyinto the soft earth. the children stared after him.

lucy looked solemn – as solemn as huffin and puffin, who were leaning against philip, standingupright, their big beaks looking heavy and clumsy.

‘oh dear – what does bill mean? surely we’re not going to tumble into an adventure again! uphere, where there’s nothing but the sea, the wind and the birds! what could happen, i wonder?’

‘well, bill isn’t likely to tell us much,’ said philip. ‘so don’t bother him with questions. i’mgoing to turn in. brrrrr! it’s getting a bit cold now. me for that big pile of rugs! huffin and puffin,you’d better keep outside for the night. there’ll be little enough room in this tent for you, as wellas us three, kiki and the rats.’

huffin and puffin looked at one another. then, with one accord, they began to scrape the earthjust outside the tent, sending the soil up behind them. lucy-ann giggled.

‘they’re going to make a burrow as near you as possible, philip. oh, aren’t they funny?’

kiki walked round to examine what the two puffins were doing. she got a shower of earth allover her and was very indignant.

‘arrrrrrr!’ she growled, and the two puffins agreed politely. ‘arrrrrrrr!’

bill came back in about half an hour. all the children were cuddled up in their rugs, and lucy-ann was asleep. dinah called out to him.

‘everything all right, bill?’

‘yes. i got a message from london, to tell me that your mother is getting on as well as can beexpected,’ said bill. ‘but she’s got measles pretty badly, apparently. good thing you’re all off herhands!’

‘what about your own message, bill – about the aeroplane?’ said dinah, who was very curiousover bill’s great interest in it. ‘did that get through?’

‘yes,’ said bill shortly. ‘it did. it’s nothing to worry your head about. good night, dinah.’

in two minutes’ time everyone was asleep. squeaker and his relations were only to be seen asbumps about philip’s person. kiki was sitting on jack’s tummy, though he had already pushed heroff several times. huffin and puffin were squatting in their new-made tunnel, their big colouredbeaks touching. everything was very peaceful as the moon slid across the sky, making a silverypath on the restless waters.

the morning dawned bright and beautiful, and it seemed as if the storm was not coming, forthere was no longer any closeness in the air. instead it was fresh and invigorating. the children randown to the shore to bathe as soon as they got up. they ran so fast that huffin and puffin could notkeep up, but had to fly. they went into the water with the children, and bobbed up and down,looking quite ridiculous.

then they dived for fish, swimming with their wings under the water. they were very quickindeed, and soon came up with fish in their enormous beaks.

‘what about giving us one for breakfast, huffin?’ called philip, and tried to take a fish from thenearest puffin’s beak. but it held on to it – and then swallowed it whole.

‘you ought to teach them to catch fish for us,’ said jack, giggling. ‘we could have grilled fishfor breakfast then! hey, get away, puffin – that’s my foot, not a fish!’

at breakfast they discussed their plans for the day. ‘what shall we do? let’s explore the wholeisland, and give bits of it proper names. this glen, where we are now, is sleepy hollow, becauseit’s where we sleep,’ said lucy-ann.

‘and the shore where we bathe is splash cove,’ said dinah. and where we first moored ourmotor-boat is hidden harbour.’

bill had been rather silent at breakfast. jack turned to him. ‘bill! what do you want to do? willyou come and explore the island with us?’

‘well,’ said bill, very surprisingly, ‘if you don’t mind, as you’ll be very busy and happy onyour own, i’ll take the motor-boat and go cruising about a bit – round all these islands, you know.’

‘what! without us?’ said dinah in astonishment. ‘we’ll come with you, then, if you want to dothat.’

‘i’m going alone, this first time,’ said bill. ‘take you another time, old thing. but today i’ll goalone.’

‘is there – is there anything up?’ asked jack, feeling that something wasn’t quite right. ‘hassomething happened, bill?’

‘not that i know of,’ said bill cheerfully. ‘i just want to go off on my own a bit, that’s all. andif i do a bit of exploring round on my own account, i shall know the best places to take you to,shan’t i?’

‘all right, bill,’ said jack, still puzzled. ‘you do what you want. it’s your holiday too, even if itis a disappearing one!’

so bill went off on his own that day, and the children heard the purr of the motor-boat as it wentout to sea, and then set off apparently to explore all the islands round about.

‘bill’s up to something,’ said philip. ‘and i bet it’s to do with those aeroplanes. i wish he’d tellus. but he never will talk.’

‘i hope he comes back safely,’ said lucy-ann anxiously. ‘it would be awful to be stranded hereon a bird-island, and nobody knowing where we were.’

‘gosh, so it would,’ said jack. ‘i never thought of that. cheer up, lucy-ann – bill isn’t likely torun into danger. he’s got his head screwed on all right.’

the day passed happily. the children went to the cliffs and watched the great companies of sea-birds there. they sat down in the midst of the puffin colony and watched the colourful, big-beakedbirds going about their daily business. lucy-ann wore a hanky tied round her nose. she couldn’tbear the smell of the colony, but the others soon got used to the heavy sourness of the air, andanyway, the wind blew strongly.

huffin and puffin did not leave them. they walked or ran with the children. they flew roundthem, and they went to bathe with them. kiki was half jealous, but having had one hard jab fromhuffin’s multi-coloured beak, she kept at a safe distance, and contented herself with making ruderemarks.

‘blow your nose! how many times have i told you to wipe your feet? you bad boy! huffin andpuffin all the time. pop goes huffin!’

the children sat in sleepy hollow after their tea and watched for bill to come back. the sunbegan to set. lucy-ann looked pale and worried. where was bill?

‘he’ll be along soon, don’t worry,’ said philip. ‘we’ll hear his boat presently.’

but the sun went right down into the sea, and still there was no bill. the darkness closed downon the island, and there was no longer any point in sitting up and waiting. it was four anxiouschildren who went into their tents and lay down to sleep. but none of them could sleep a wink.

in the end the girls went into the boys’ tent and sat there, talking. then suddenly they heard awelcome sound – rr-rr-rr-rr-rr! they all leapt up at once and rushed from the tent.

‘that’s bill! it must be! where’s a torch? come on down to the cove.’

they stumbled through the puffin colony, waking up many a furious bird. they got to the beachjust as bill came walking up. they flung themselves on him in delight.

‘bill! dear bill! what happened to you? we honestly thought you’d got lost!’

‘oh, bill – we shan’t let you go off alone again!’

‘sorry to have worried you so,’ said bill. ‘but i didn’t want to return in the daylight in case iwas spotted by an aeroplane. i had to wait till it was dark, though i knew you’d be worried. still –here i am.’

‘but, bill – aren’t you going to tell us anything?’ cried dinah. ‘why didn’t you want to comeback in daylight? who would see you? and why would it matter?’

‘well,’ said bill slowly, ‘there’s something peculiar going on up here in these lonely waters. idon’t know quite what. i’d like to find out. i didn’t see a soul today, anywhere, though i nosedround umpteen islands. not that i really expected to, because nobody would be fool enough tocome up here for something secret, and let anything of it be seen. still, i thought i might find somesign.’

‘i suppose that bit of orange peel was a sign that someone’s here besides ourselves, on someother island?’ said lucy-ann, remembering the piece that had bobbed against her fingers. ‘butwhat are they doing? surely they can’t do much in this desolate stretch of waters – with nothingbut islands of birds around.’

‘that’s what i’m puzzled about,’ said bill. ‘can’t be smuggling, because the coasts of themainland are very well patrolled at the moment, and nothing could get through. then what is it?’

‘bill, you’re sure nobody saw you?’ asked dinah, anxiously. ‘there might be hidden watcherson one of the islands, you know – and one might see you, without you seeing him.’

‘that’s true,’ said bill, ‘but i had to risk that. it’s not very likely, though. the risk of anyonecoming to these islands and disturbing whatever secret game is going on, is very remote, and idon’t think there would be sentinels posted anywhere.’

‘still – you might have been seen – or heard,’ persisted dinah. ‘oh, bill – and you weresupposed to be disappearing completely! now perhaps your enemies have spotted you!’

‘they would hardly be the same enemies that i’ve disappeared from,’ said bill with a laugh. ‘idon’t think anyone else would recognise me here, seen at a distance in a motor-boat. in any casethey would just think i was a bird-man or a naturalist of some kind, who likes the solitude of theseseas.’

they were soon back in their tents again, happy to have bill with them in safety. the starsshone down from a clear sky. huffin and puffin shuffled down their burrow, glad that their newfamily had gone to rest. they did not approve of these night walks.

lucy-ann lay and worried. ‘i can feel an adventure coming. it’s on the way. oh dear – and i didthink this would be the very very last place for one.’

lucy-ann was quite right. an adventure was on the way – and had very nearly arrived.