30

ahoy there! show yourselves!

there was a sudden flash of sunlight on the lenses of a pair of field-glasses. they were beinglevelled at the island, on whose rocks the children’s boat had been grounded. the glasses sweptthe rocks and the island, and then came back to the rocks again.

the boat was there, draped end to end with seaweed. the glasses rested on it for a fewmoments. then they swept the sea, but among the bobbing birds it was impossible to pick out thefive wet heads.

the children kept as close to swimming birds as possible. philip was all right because huffinand puffin perched on his head, and hid him beautifully. lucy-ann was near a big cormorant, whoeyed her with interest but did not swim away from her. dinah and jack were among a crowd ofbobbing, diving puffins, and bill, fearful of his big, somewhat bald head being spotted, keptbobbing under the water, and holding his breath there as long as he could.

after what seemed an age the enemy’s motor-boat swung round and went away, going rightround the island – or so bill thought. they heard the sound of its engine growing fainter andfainter.

not until it had completely died away did bill let the children get back into the boat. then,when he thought it was quite safe, they all clambered back, wet and hungry, but no longer sleepy.

‘how slippery the boat is, with all this seaweed!’ said jack. ‘dinah, your idea worked well. idon’t think the enemy even guessed there was anyone here – and there were five people and a boatwithin easy sight of their glasses.’

‘yes, a very fine idea, dinah,’ said bill. ‘now – what about breakfast? i’m starving!’

they sat down and opened a few tins. kiki screeched with delight when she saw the chunks ofpineapple in one of them. she tried to raise her crest, but as she had only one or two feathers left init, it was not a very successful effort.

jack suddenly thought of something. ‘bill! do i remember something – something about youand horace’s radio – or did i dream it? yes, perhaps i dreamt it.’

you certainly didn’t, said bill. ‘i found horace’s radio – most unexpectedly, i must say – anddiscovered to my joy that it was a transmitter as well as a receiver – so that i ought to be able tosend messages as well as receive them.’

‘oh, bill! so you’ve radioed for help – and we shall be saved!’ said lucy-ann joyfully.

‘unfortunately there’s something wrong with the thing,’ said bill. ‘couldn’t get a chirp out of it– and whether or not my messages have gone through i can’t tell. but probably not. it’s not a verygood set, this one of horace’s.’

‘oh – so it’s not very likely it was of much use,’ said dinah, disappointed.

‘not very,’ said bill. ‘by the way, did anyone feel a slight upward lift then? i have an idea theboat is coming off the rocks.’

he was right. it was soon afloat, and bill took the oars. he rowed for some distance away fromthe island, and then a thought struck him.

‘look here – horace couldn’t possibly have come all the way up here – and hoped to get backagain – without a store of petrol. have you examined this boat thoroughly?’

‘no, not really thoroughly,’ said jack. ‘it isn’t much of a boat.’

‘i grant you that – but there really should be some petrol somewhere,’ said bill. ‘philip, pull upthose piles of rope and stuff. there would be room under the board there for tins of petrol.’

philip and jack did as they were told. they hauled up three loose boards – and there, neatlyarranged below, was horace’s store of petrol!

‘gosh!’ said jack. ‘what a find! now we’ll be all right. we’ll be on the mainland in no time.

good old horace!’

they handed bill a tin. he emptied it into the petrol tank of the engine and then took anothertin. that was emptied in too. hurrah! now they could really make headway.

soon the engine was purring happily away and the little boat was speeding over the waves. nomore rowing! bill set his course for the south-east.

‘hark! there’s an aeroplane about somewhere!’ said lucy-ann suddenly. ‘i can hear it.’

they all looked up into the sky. soon they saw the plane, coming from the north-east. it wasflying low.

‘looks as if it’s trying to spot us,’ said bill uneasily.

‘it belongs to the enemy then!’ said jack. they all looked intently at the approaching plane. itseemed suddenly to see them, and veered in their direction. it flew down very low, circled roundthem, and then made off.

‘blow!’ said bill. ‘now we’re for it! they’ll send out their most powerful motor-boat – ormaybe one of the seaplanes they seem to use – and that’ll be that!’

‘well, we’ve got plenty of petrol,’ said jack, ‘so we can keep on quickly for miles. we’ll bewell away from here before long.’

the boat sped on, bill giving her her top speed. when he reckoned that her petrol would soonbe running out he called to jack, ‘get out the other tins, jack. i’ll put some more in before she’sempty.’

but what a shock for the boys! all the other tins were empty! bill stared in dismay.

‘gosh! somebody has swindled horace properly! he probably gave orders for all the tins to befilled – and somebody took the money for the lot, and only filled half. what a dirty trick!’

‘but just the sort that would be played on poor silly horace!’ said philip. ‘oh, bill – we’re outon the open sea now, miles away from any island. what will we do if the petrol gives out beforewe’ve reached anywhere?’

bill wiped his forehead. ‘i don’t like this,’ he said. ‘there’s not much left in the tank now. oncewe run out, we can’t get far with oars, and we shall be at the mercy of any fast motor-boat sent outto catch us. i think perhaps one of the bullets must have glanced off the petrol tank and made itleak a bit.’

nobody said anything. ‘oh dear,’ thought lucy-ann, ‘just as we think things are all right, theyturn out all wrong again.’

after a while the engine stopped with a series of coughs and splutters. ‘no more petrol,’ saidjack gloomily.

‘send for the doctor,’ said kiki.

‘wish we could,’ said philip.

‘arrrrr!’ said huffin from the deck- rail. both huffin and puffin were still with the littlecompany. lucy- ann had begun to hope that they would travel right home with them. whatexcitement they would cause!

‘this is really disgusting,’ said bill. ‘so near and yet so far!’

there was a dead silence, and only the plish-plash of the sea against the sides of the boat couldbe heard. philip’s rats, surprised at the quiet, ran out of the various hiding-places in his clothes,and sniffed the air. bill hadn’t seen them since he had been captured from puffin island, and hestared in surprise.

‘my word – how they’ve grown! well, well, who knows, we may have to eat them in the end!’

he meant this as a joke, but both lucy-ann and dinah squealed in horror.

‘ugh! bill! how could you say such a horrible thing! eat a rat! i’d rather die!’

‘shall we row, just for something to do?’ said jack. ‘or have a meal? or what?’

‘oh, have a meal,’ said philip. then a thought struck him. ‘i say, bill – i suppose we oughtn’tto start rationing ourselves, ought we? i mean – do you think we may be marooned out here onthis lonely sea for days on end?’

‘no,’ said bill, who privately thought that before the day was up they would all be back on theisland in the hands of the enemy, now that their plane had spotted them. ‘no. we really don’t needto think of things like that at the moment. all the same – i wouldn’t have headed out for the opensea as we have done, if i’d thought the petrol was going to give out – i’d have kept near theislands.’

it was a boring and anxious day. the four children were still very tired, but refused to try andsleep. no motor-boat appeared in chase of them. the sun began to sink in the west, and it lookedas if the little company was going to spend a night out on the open sea.

‘well, thank goodness it isn’t cold, anyway,’ said dinah. ‘even the wind is warm tonight. don’twe seem a long long way from home – and from school – and from all the ordinary things weknow?’

lucy-ann gazed round her at the vast open sea, green near the boat, but a deep blue beyond.

‘yes,’ she said, ‘we’re far away from everywhere – lost on the sea of adventure.’

the sun slid down further still. then, on the evening air, came a familiar sound – the throb-throb-throb of a powerful engine.

everyone sat up straight at once. motor-boat? aeroplane? seaplane? what was it?

‘there it is!’ cried jack, making everyone jump. ‘look, over there! golly, what a big one! it’s aseaplane.’

‘it must be the one we saw on the lagoon the other day,’ said dinah. ‘they’ve sent it after us.

oh, bill – what can we do?’

‘all lie down flat,’ said bill at once. ‘you’ve got to remember that if it’s the enemy they don’tknow i’ve got children with me – they probably think there are three or four men in the boat – andthey may shoot, as they did before. so lie down flat and don’t move. don’t show your heads atall.’

lucy-ann’s knees began their familiar wobbly feeling. she lay down flat at once, glad that billhad not suggested that the boys should squash on top of them again. bill put his arm over her.

‘don’t you worry, lucy-ann,’ he said. ‘you’ll be all right. they won’t hurt children.’

but lucy-ann didn’t want ‘them’ to hurt bill either, and she was very much afraid they would.

with her pale face pressed into the rugs, she lay as still as a mouse.

the roar of the seaplane came much nearer. it circled just overhead. then its engine cut out andit landed not far off. waves from it rippled under the boat and sent it up and down.

nobody dared to look overboard and see the great seaplane. bill was afraid of a bullet if he did.

then a colossal voice came booming over the sea, the voice of a giant: ahoy there! showyourselves!’

‘don’t move,’ said bill urgently. ‘don’t move. don’t be frightened, lucy-ann. they’re using amegaphone, that’s why the voice sounds so loud.’

the giant voice came again: ‘we’ve got our guns on you. any funny businessand you’ll be blown to smithereens. show yourselves!’