chapter 10 a puzzling thing

all was quiet in kirrin cottage. the two boys slept soundly in their room, and george and anne sleptwithout stirring in theirs. berta was up in joan's attic room, and hadn't moved since she had floppedinto bed.

timmy was on george's feet, as usual, and sally the poodle was curled up in the crook of berta'sknees, looking like a ball of black wool! nobody stirred.

a black cloud crept up the sky and blotted out the stars one by one. then a low roll of thunder came.

it was far off, and only a rumble, but it woke both the dogs, and it woke anne too.

she opened her eyes, wondering what the noise was. then she knew - it was thunder.

'oh, i hope a storm won't come and break up this wonderful weather!' she thought, as she lay andlistened. she turned towards the open window and looked for the stars, but there were none to see.

'well, if a storm's coming, i'll go and watch it at the window,' thought anne. 'it should be amagnificent sight over kirrin bay. i'm so hot too - i'd like a breath of fresh air at the window!'

she got quietly out of bed and padded over to the open window. she leaned out, sniffing the cool airoutside. the night was very dark indeed, because of the great black cloud.

the thunder came again, but not very near - just a low growl. timmy jumped off george's bed andwent to join anne. he put his great paws up on the windowsill and looked out solemnly over the bay.

and then both he and anne heard another sound - a faraway chug-chug-chug-chug-chug.

'it's a motor-boat,' said anne, listening. 'isn't it timmy? someone's having a very late trip! can yousee any ship-lights, tim? i can't.'

the engine of the motor-boat cut out just then, and there was complete silence except for the swish-swash-swish of the waves on the beach. anne strained her eyes to see if she could spot any lightanywhere to show where the motor-boat was. it sounded quite far out on the bay. why had it stoppedon the water? why hadn't it gone to the jetty?

then she did see a light, but a very faint one, right out at the entrance of the bay, about the middle. itshone for a while, moved here and there, and then disappeared. anne was puzzled.

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'surely that's just about where kirrin island is?' she whispered to timmy. 'is anyone there? has themotor-boat gone there, do you suppose? well, we'll listen to see if it leaves again and goes away.'

but no further sound came from across the bay, and no light shone either. 'perhaps the motorboat isbehind kirrin island,' thought anne, suddenly. 'and then i wouldn't be able to see any lights on it -the island would hide the boat and its lights. but what was that moving light i saw?

was it someone on the island? oh dear, my eyes are getting so sleepy again that i can hardly keepthem open. perhaps i didn't hear or see anything after all!'

there was no more thunder, and no lightning at all. the big black cloud began to thin out and one ortwo stars appeared in the gaps. anne yawned and crawled into bed. timmy jumped back on george'sbed and curled himself up with a little sigh.

in the morning anne had almost forgotten her watch at the open window the night before. it was onlywhen joan mentioned that a big storm had burst over a town fifty miles away that anne rememberedthe thunder she had heard.

'oh!' she said, suddenly. 'yes - i heard thunder too, and i got out of bed, hoping to watch a storm.

but it didn't come. and i heard a motor-boat far out on the bay, but i couldn't see any lights -except for a faint, moving one i thought was on kirrin island.'

george sat up in her chair as if she had had an electric shock. 'on kirrin island! whatever do youmean? nobody's there. nobody's allowed there!'

'well - i may have been mistaken,' said anne. 'i was so very sleepy. i didn't hear the motor-boat goaway. i just went back to bed.'

'you might have waked me, if you thought you saw a light on my island,' said george. 'you reallymight!'

'oh, miss anne - it wouldn't be kidnappers, would it!' said joan, at once.

julian laughed. 'no, joan. what would be the use of them going to kirrin island? they couldn't doany kidnapping there, in full view of all the houses round the bay!'

'i guess it was only a dream, anne,' said berta. 'i guess you heard the thunder in your sleep and itturned into the sound of a motor-boat chugging - dreams do that sort of thing. i know once i left thetap running in my basin when i went to sleep, and i dreamed all night long i was riding over theniagara falls!'

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everyone laughed. berta could be very droll at times. 'if the boat's ready, we'll certainly go over tokirrin island today,' said george. 'if any trippers are there i'll send timmy after them!'

'there will only be the rabbits,' said dick. 'i wonder if there are still hundreds there - my word, lasttime we went they were so tame that we nearly fell over them!'

'yes - but we didn't have timmy with us,' said anne. 'george, it will be nice to go to kirrin islandagain. we'll have to tell lesley about the adventures we've had there.'

they washed up after breakfast, made the beds and did their rooms. joan put her head round julian'sbedroom door.

'will you want a packed lunch for a picnic again, master julian?' she said. 'if you don't, i can get youa nice bit of cold ham for lunch. the grocer's just rung up.'

'if the boat's mended, we're going over to the island, joan,' said julian. 'and then we'd like a packedlunch. but if we don't go, we'll stay for lunch. it will be easier for you in a way, won't it?

we all got up so late this morning that there's not much time to make sandwiches and pick fruit andso on.'

'well, you tell me, as soon as you know about the boat,' said joan, and disappeared.

george came in. 'i'm going to see if the boat is mended,' she said. 'i'll only be gone a minute.

joan wants to know.'

she was back almost at once. 'it's not ready,' she said, disappointed. 'but it will be ready at twoo'clock this afternoon. so we'll have lunch here, shall we, and then go over to the island afterwards.

we'll pack up a picnic tea.'

'right,' said julian. 'i vote we bathe from the beach this morning, then. the tide will be nice and highand we can have some fun with the big breakers.'

'and also keep an eye on james to see that he keeps his word about the boat,' said dick.

so, when all their jobs were finished - and they were very conscientious about them - the fivechildren and the two dogs went off down to the beach. it was a little cooler after the thunder, but notmuch, and they were quite warm enough in their swim-suits, with a blazer to wear after a bathe.

'there's nothing nicer than to feel hot and go into the sea and get cool, and then come out and get hotin the sun again, and then go back into the sea,' began berta.

'you say that every single day!' said george. 'it's like a gramophone record! still, i must say that iagree with you! come on - let's have a jolly good swim!'

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they all plunged through the big, curling breakers, squealing as the water dashed over their bodies,cold and stinging. they chased one another, swam under water and grabbed at the legs swimmingthere, floated on their backs, and wished they hadn't forgotten to bring the big red rubber ball withthem. but nobody wanted to go and fetch it so they had to do without it.

timmy and sally raced about in the shallow waves at the edge of the sea. timmy was a fineswimmer, but sally didn't much like the water, so they always played together at the edge. theyreally were most amusing to watch.

the dogs were glad when the children came panting out of the water. they lay down on the warmbeach and timmy flopped down beside george. she pushed him away.

'you smell of seaweed,' she said. 'pooh!'

after a while dick sat up to pull on his blazer. he gazed over the bay to where kirrin island laybasking in the sun and gave a sudden exclamation.

'i say! look, all of you!'

everyone sat up. 'there's someone on kirrin island, though we can't see them,' said dick.

'someone lying down, looking through binoculars at our beach. can you see the sun glittering on theglasses?'

'yes!' said julian. 'you're right! someone must be using binoculars to examine this beach. we can'tsee them as you say - but it's easy enough to see the sunlight glinting on the glasses. gosh, whatcheek!'

'cheek!' said george, her face crimson with rage. 'it's a lot more than cheek! how dare people go onmy island and use it to spy on people on the beach? let's spy on them! let's get our own field-glassesand look through them. we'll see who it is, then!'

'i'll get them,' said dick and ran off to kirrin cottage. he felt worried. it seemed a strange thing to do- to spy on people sitting on the beach round the bay, using binoculars on kirrin island.

what was the reason?

he came back with the binoculars, and handed them to julian. 'i think they've gone now, whoever itwas,' said julian. 'i don't mean gone off the island, but gone somewhere else on it. we can't see theglint of the sun on their glasses any more.'

'well, buck up and see if you can spy anyone through our glasses,' said george, impatiently.

julian adjusted them, and gazed through them earnestly. the island seemed very near indeed whenseen through the powerful glasses. everyone watched him anxiously.

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'see anyone?' asked dick.

'not a soul,' said julian, disappointed. he handed the glasses to the impatient george, who put themto her eyes at once. 'blow!' she said. 'there's not a thing to be seen, not a thing. whoever it was hasgone into hiding somewhere. if it's trippers having a picnic there i'll be absolutely furious. if we seesmoke rising we'll know it is trippers!'

but no smoke arose. dick had a turn at looking through the glasses, and he looked puzzled. he tookthem down from his eyes and turned to the others.

'we ought to be able to see the rabbits running about,' he said. 'but i can't see a single one. did eitherof you, julian and george?'

'well - now i come to think of it - no, i didn't,' said julian, and george said the same.

'they were frightened by whoever was there, of course,' said dick. 'i suppose it will be all right totake lesley with us when we go to the island this afternoon? i mean - it's just a bit queer that anyoneshould be using the island to spy from.'

'yes. i see what you mean,' said julian. 'if it occurred to the kidnappers, whoever they are, that bertamight be down here with us, it would be quite a good idea on their part to land on the island and useit as a place from which to spy on the beach. they would guess we would come down to bathe everyday.'

'yes. and they would see five children instead of four and would begin to make inquiries about thefifth!' said dick. 'they would hope actually to see berta on the beach - they've probably got aphotograph of her - and they would be looking for a girl with long wavy hair.'

'and there isn't one!' said anne. 'mine's not wavy and it's not right down to my shoulders as lesley'swas. how muddled they would be!'

'there's one thing that would tell them that berta was here though,' said julian, suddenly. he pointedto sally.

'good gracious, yes!' said dick. 'sally would give the game away all right! whew! we'll have tothink about all this!'