chapter 17 to thamis at last!

bill soon got all the information he wanted. "that's the best of being grown-up," said dinah.

"grown-ups always seem to be able to find out anything, and get things cut and dried in no time.""yes — bill's found out where thamis is, has ferreted out a map of the route, and has even got thename of a greek sailor who owns a motor-boat and knows the way!" said jack, in admiration.

"how did he find all that out?" asked lucy-ann.

"got hold of a greek sailor below decks, and found he had a brother who runs one of the motor-boats," said philip.

it was the following morning. the children had had a big breakfast, and had been provided withenormous packets of food to take with them, by the steward who looked after them so well at table.

"i've packed a whole grape-fruit, two cherries and four bananas for master micky and miss kiki," hesaid with a twinkle in his eye. lucy-ann went off into giggles.

"oh — it does sound funny to call them that! miss kiki! kiki, did you hear that? miss kiki!""misskiki, kickmissy, missmicky," began kiki, and cackled loudly.

they all walked down the gangway to the pier. they found tim waiting for them. he had heard thenews.

"hallo, sir," he said to bill. "can i do anything for you today?""well, we're going off to have a look at thamis," said bill. "i've hired a motor-boat from a greekwho apparently knows the route. like to come with us?""well, if you've made your own plans, sir, i won't come today," said tim. "i've got a chappy herewho wants a spot of flying. can i take the plane up?""yes, of course," said bill.

"and if you fly over thamis, wave to us," said jack.

"right," said tim, with a grin. "i'll look it up and see where it is. look out for us!"he went off, and bill turned to find the boat he had hired. a small dark greek came up, with brillianteyes and a shy smile. he saluted, and spoke in broken english.

"i andros, sir, please. my brother, he say mister want my boat. mister, sir, she here.""right. thanks, andros," said bill, and he looked at the spick and span little boat lying alongside.

"very nice boat. now, you know the way to thamis, don't you?""thamis. yes, mister. but thamis poor place. andros take you fine islands.""no, thanks. we want to go to thamis," said bill firmly.

andros seemed surprised at their wanting to go to thamis. "poor island," he said again. "visitors notgo there, mister, sir. i take you fine place.""look here — don't you know the way to thamis?" said bill. "sounds as if you don't. oh, you do.

then, to thamis, please, and let's get on with it.""thamis, mister, sir," agreed little andros. "yes, yes, thamis. old old island, but nothing there now,mister, sir." he glanced with interest at the parrot and the monkey. "they come too also?""of course," said jack, stepping into the boat, and helping the girls in. "come on, bill, mister, sir!""mistersir, mistersir, mistersir," screamed kiki. "pop goes the weasel! bang, pop, god save theking."

andros gaped at her, open-mouthed. micky leapt on to his shoulder and back to philip's, chattering.

he was excited. he even pulled kiki's tail, a very silly thing to do, because kiki would now watchfor a good chance to nip micky's — and micky had quite a long tail to nip!

andros started up the engine. the motor-boat nosed out of the little harbour, leaving behind the greatviking star, beautiful but silent. soon they were out on the open sea, skimming along, bobbing upand down on the white horses that reared themselves every now and again. the sun was hot but thewind was strong. the girls' hair streamed out straight, and they laughed in delight to feel so muchwind in their faces. after the heat on the ship it was lovely.

"how far is thamis?" asked jack. andros turned his curly head.

"four hours, five hours," he said.

"do you go there much?" asked bill.

"no, no, mister, sir. poor island. i go to janos, the next one, where my sister lives," said andros.

"thamis dead island, mister, sir."

"what does he mean?" wondered jack. "a poor dead island! doesn't sound much of a place, does it?""well, there must be some sort of port or town there," said philip. "the one marked on the map. itlooked quite a big one. there must be plenty of people living there and that means shops and things.

it can't be quite dead!"

it was a lovely journey to thamis. the sea was choppy, and yet was full of glints and sparkles. theboat sped along like a live thing, the engines purring away. at twelve o'clock they all had a picniclunch and blessed the steward who had packed them such a fine one.

"five different sorts of sandwiches — four different kinds of cake — half a pound of sweet biscuits— rolls and butter and cheese and tomatoes — and the grape-fruit, cherries and bananas for kiki andmicky," said jack.

lucy-ann sat contentedly eating, with the wind on her face. she looked very happy. the otherslooked at her and nudged one another. they waited. they knew exactly what she was going to say.

she opened her mouth, and at once all the others chimed in together.

"you know, we always think food tastes much nicer when it's eaten out of doors!"lucy-ann stared at them in surprise. "how very queer! — i was just about to say exactly the samething," she said.

the others chuckled. "we knew you were," said philip. "you always do say it, lucy-ann. wewatched for you to open your mouth and begin, and we said it for you!""idiots," said lucy-ann, and laughed. andros laughed too. he liked these children and their queerpets. he had refused to share their food, and was eating his own lunch. it was made up of rather blackbread, some very high-smelling cheese and a jug of some kind of drink.

kiki and micky ate their dinner solemnly together. micky was not very pleased with the terrificbreeze that blew every hair on his body backwards or forwards, depending on which way he sat. norwas kiki pleased when her feathers blew round her like an umbrella turning inside out. the two ofthem sat together in a little sheltered place, sharing the grape-fruit, the cherries and the bananas.

micky politely peeled a banana for kiki and handed it to her.

"he skins it just like we do," said lucy-ann. "i always think he's so clever at that.""clever," said andros, pointing to micky. "good and clever."micky unfortunately spoilt andros's good opinion of him by throwing away the banana skin socarelessly that it landed on the sailor's head, hanging ridiculously over his right eye. kiki gave one ofher rich chuckles, and was just about to add her banana skin to micky's when jack took it away fromher.

"mistersir, mistersir, mister pollysir," squawked kiki, trying to snatch it back.

the boat went on and on, occasionally passing other islands, one or two large ones, but most of themsmall. finally andros raised his hands and pointed to the east.

"thamis," he said. "mister, sir, thamis."everyone looked eagerly to where he pointed. they saw a small island, purple in the distance, rearingitself out of the waters as they sped nearer. thamis! was it really thamis, the old island marked onthe treasure map?

eagerly the children leaned forward and watched it take shape as they raced nearer. lucy-ann'simagination began to work. long long ago, she thought, this is where the fleet of treasure-ships stoleup to in the night. soon we shall see the city marked on the map — the treasure-city!

"perhaps," she thought, "one of the ships was called the andra like our own little ship of adventure.

perhaps it sailed into the very spot we're making for now. we're getting quite near. we shall see thecity soon — the one marked on the map."

"is there a good harbour?" asked bill, turning to andros. the man looked surprised.

"oh no, mister sir. no harbour now. only two places to land. i, andros, know them both. i take youto old city port."

"good," thought jack. "now we shall soon be therein the old city marked on the map. i hope it won'tbe too modern, like the towns we've seen on some of the islands. ah — now we're getting in close."they were. they could see rocky beaches. the waves pounded on them. they looked for the town,and saw buildings coming down to the water's edge. it seemed queer that there was no properharbour. city ports always had a harbour.

the boat ran in gently, andros looking out for rocks, and taking a course he seemed to know. he wasmaking for a little channel that led inland.

the children fell silent as they neared the island. their eyes were fixed on the city. it didn't look rightsomehow. something was the matter with it. it looked — well — dead, lucy-ann thought.

jack remembered his binoculars and put them to his eyes. he gave an exclamation. "gosh! wouldyou believe it!"

"what?" said everyone at once impatiently.

"it's all ruins," said jack, and he lowered the glasses and looked at the others. "it's a ruined city! inever thought of that!"

"i, andros, told that," said the sailor. "i tell you poor island, dead island. one farm, two farms,perhaps. city gone. nobody there. all gone to other islands now."they nosed into the little channel. it was deep and calm. "you get out, and i wait?" enquired andros.

"not see much. all dead and poor this island. yes, mister, sir. i take you better places.""we'll get out, andros," said bill. "bring the rest of the food, jack. we may as well explore nowwe're here, and we'll picnic in the old ruins. they will be quite interesting, i expect."not knowing quite what to think, the children leapt off the boat on to a ledge. they climbed up someold worn steps, and came into what must have been the main street of the old city. it was overgrownnow and difficult to walk in. there were ruins everywhere. bill looked at a few of them closely.

"these are hundreds of years old," he said. "i wonder what made the people leave thamis and goelsewhere. i suppose the island couldn't keep them in food. what a place!""it's got such an old deserted feeling about it that i feel i'm living hundreds of years ago," said lucy-ann. "i wish the city would come alive — be full of the long-ago people, walking and running herealong the street, looking out of the old broken window-openings, going down to whatever harbourthere was to see the ships!"

"well, i hope the city doesn't come alive," said dinah. "i'd be scared stiff. i don't like it much as it is,either."

it was built on a steep hill, and the old ruined buildings rose one above another, some just a wall ortwo, others a hollow shell and still others looking fairly habitable until the children peeped inside andsaw the holes in the roof and the walls.

almost at the top was an old ruined temple, one or two graceful arches still remaining. its massivecolumns stood in a broken row, with one or two gulls perched on the jagged tops. bill scraped asidesome of the grass that grew on the floor of the temple, and pointed out old mosaic stones to thechildren.

"bill, is there anything here at all that's on the map?" asked jack. somehow it was all so differentfrom what he had imagined that the idea of hidden treasure now seemed ridiculous. bill got out theredrawn map.

"look — this is where we came in with our boat, surely," said philip, pointing. "it says 'creek'.

well, wouldn't you call that channel a creek? and look — the entrance or beginning of the way to thetreasure is somewhere near the creek."

"oh, bill — let's go back and explore along there!" said dinah.

bill laughed. "we've certainly got a bee in our bonnet about this! all right. come on. it'll be on theway to the boat, anyway."

"just let's get to the top of the hill," said jack. "we could see over the rest of the island then. it's notvery large."

"right," said bill, and they climbed to the very top. they could see away over to the other side of theisland, where the dark-blue sea was tipped with white horses. it was a bare rocky place, but here andthere were green patches, and small buildings could be seen.

"the farms andros spoke of, i suppose," said bill. "my word — he was certainly right when hecalled it poor and dead! it's not quite my idea of a treasure island!"they turned to go down the hill on which the ruined city was built. they made their way carefully.

half-way down lucy-ann stopped and listened. "i can hear something," she said.

"so can i," said dinah. "it's a bell ringing! whatever can it be?"