The Secret Island (12 page)

Jack Has a Great Surprise

We must go back to Jack and find out what had been happening to him. He had been such a long time away from the island - far longer than he would have been if he had just gone shopping. What could have kept him?

Well, he had got safely in the boat to the far end of the lake, and had tied the boat up to a tree. Then he had slipped through the wood, and taken the road that led to the distant village, five miles away. It would take him nearly an hour and a half to get there, but what fun it would be to do a bit of shopping again!

The boy padded along the wintry road. It was muddy and cold, but he was as warm as toast. He jingled his money in his pocket and wondered if he could buy all he wanted to. He did badly want to get a doll for Nora, for he knew how much she would love it!

He carried the food Peggy had given him, and, when he got near the village, he sat up on a gate and ate it. Then off he went again. He did not think anyone would know him to be one of the runaways, for surely people had forgotten all about them by now! lt was half a year since they had first run off to the island! But he was keeping a sharp look out in case he saw anyone looking at him too closely!

He went into the village. It was a big, straggling one, with a small High Street running down the middle. There were about six shops there. Jack went to look at them. He left the toy and sweet shop till last. He looked at the turkeys in the butcher’s shop, some with red ribbons on. He looked into the draper’s shop and admired the gay streamers that floated all about it to decorate it for Christmas. It was fun to see shops again.

And then he came to the toy shop. It was lovely! Dolls stood in the window with their arms stretched out as if they were asking people to buy them. A railway train ran on lines. A little Father Christmas stood in the middle, carrying a sack. Boxes of chocolate, tins of toffee, and big bottles of gay-coloured sweets were in the shop, too.

Jack stood gazing, wondering which doll to buy for Nora. He had already seen a nice little work-basket for Peggy, and had spied a book for Mike about boats. There was a box of red crackers at the back of the window, too, which he thought would do well for Nora. It would be such fun to pull them on Christmas Day in the cave, and wear paper hats there!

Jack went into the shop. It had two or three other people there, for the shop was a post-office, too, and people were sending off Christmas parcels. The shopgirl was weighing them - and it was a long business. Jack waited patiently, looking round at all the toys.

The people in the shop were talking to one another. At first Jack did not listen - and then he heard something that made him prick up his ears.

This is what he heard:

“Yes, it’s a great pity those children were never found,” said one woman. “Their father and mother are quite ill with grief, I’ve heard.”

“Poor things,” said the second woman. “It’s bad enough to come down in an aeroplane on a desert island, and not be found for two years - and then to come back safe to see your children - and learn that they’ve disappeared!”

Jack’s eyes nearly dropped out of his head. What did this mean? Could it possibly - possibly - mean that Mike’s father and mother had turned up again? Forgetting all about being careful, Jack caught hold of the arm of the first woman.

“Please,” he said, “please tell me something. Were the three children you are talking about called Mike, Peggy, and Nora - and is it their father and mother that have come back?”

The women in the shop stared at the excited boy in astonishment. “Yes,” said the first woman. “Those were the children’s names. They disappeared in June with another boy, called Jack, and have never been found. And in August the missing father and mother were found far away on a Pacific Island, and brought back safely here. Their aeroplane had come down and smashed, and they had been living there until a ship picked them up.”

“But their children had gone,” said the shopgirl, joining in, “and it almost broke their hearts, for they had been worrying about them for months and longing to see them.”

“What do you know about all this?” suddenly said one of the women. “You’re not one of the children, are you?”

“Never mind about that,” said Jack. “Just tell me one thing - where are the father and mother?”

“They are not far away,” said the shopgirl. “They are staying at a hotel in the next town, hoping that the children will still be heard of.”

“What hotel?” said Jack eagerly.

“The Swan Hotel,” said the shopgirl, and then the women stared in amazement as Jack tore out of the shop at top speed, his eyes shining, and a look of the greatest excitement on his brown face!

He ran to the bus-stop. He knew that buses went to the town, and he had only one thought in his mind - to get to the Swan Hotel and tell Mike’s father and mother that their children were safe! Never in his life had Jack been so excited. To think that things would all come right like this, and he, Jack, was the one to tell the father and mother!

He jumped into the bus, and could not keep still. He leapt out of it when it rumbled into the town and ran off to the Swan Hotel. He rushed into the hall and caught hold of the hall-porter there.

“Where are Captain and Mrs. Arnold?” he cried. Mike had often told him that his father was a captain, and he knew that the children’s surname was Arnold - so he knew quite well whom to ask for.

“Here, here, not so fast, young man,” said the porter, not quite liking the look of the boy in the old overcoat and worn-out shoes. “What do you want the Captain for?”

“Oh, tell me, please, where are they?” begged Jack - and at that moment a man’s voice said:

“Who’s this asking for me? What do you want, boy?”

Jack swung round. He saw a tall, brown-faced man looking down at him, and he liked him at once, because he was so like Mike to look at.

“Captain Arnold! I know where Mike and Peggy and Nora are!” he cried.

The Captain stared as if he had not heard aright. Then he took Jack’s arm and pulled him upstairs into a room where a lady sat, writing a letter. Jack could see she was the children’s mother, for she had a look of Peggy and Nora about her. She looked kind and strong and wise, and Jack wished very much that she was his mother, too.

“This boy says he knows where the children are, Mary,” said the Captain.

What excitement there was then! Jack poured out his story and the two grown-ups listened without saying a word. When he had finished, the Captain shook hands with Jack, and his wife gave him a hug.

“You’re a fine friend for our children to have!” said the Captain, his face shining with excitement. “And you really mean to say that you have all been living together on that little island and nobody has found you?”

“Yes,” said Jack, “and oh, sir, is it true that you and Mrs. Arnold have been living on an island, too, till a ship picked you up?”

“Quite true,” said Captain Arnold, with a laugh. “Our ’plane came down and smashed - and there we were, lost on an island in the Pacific Ocean! Little did we know that our children were going to live alone on an island, too! This sort of thing must be in the family!”

“John, we must go at once to them,” said Mrs. Arnold, who was almost crying with joy. “Quickly, this very minute. I can’t wait!”

“We’d better get a proper boat,” said Jack. “Our old boat is a leaky old thing now.”

It wasn’t long before a car was brought round to the door, and Jack, Captain and Mrs. Arnold were motoring to the lakeside. They hired a big boat from a fisherman there, and set off to the secret island. Jack wondered and wondered what the children would say!

Meanwhile the three children were getting more and more worried! It was past tea-time now, and getting dark. Where could Jack be?

“I can hear the splash of oars!” cried Peggy at last. They ran down to the beach, and saw the outline of the boat in the twilight coming near to the island. And then Mike saw that it was a bigger boat than their own - and there were three people in it, instead of one!

“That means Jack’s been caught - and these people have been sent to get us!” he thought, and his heart sank. But then, to his amazement, he heard Jack’s clear voice ringing out over the darkening water.

“Mike! Peggy! Nora! It’s all right! I’ve brought a Christmas present for you!”

The three children stared. Whatever could Jack mean? But when the boat landed, and Captain and Mrs. Arnold sprang out, they soon knew!

“Mummy! Oh, Mummy! And Daddy!” shrieked the children, and flung themselves at their father and mother. You couldn’t tell which were children and which were grown-ups, because they were all so mixed up. Only Jack was alone. He stood apart, looking at them - but not for long. Nora stretched out her hand and pulled him into the crowd of excited, happy people.

“You belong, too, Jack,” she said.

Everyone seemed to be laughing and crying at the same time. But at last it was so dark that no one could see anyone else. Jack lighted the lantern that Mike had brought down to the beach, and led the way to the cave. He badly wanted Captain and Mrs. Arnold to see how lovely it was.

They all crowded inside. There was a bright fire crackling just outside, and the cave was warm and cosy. Jack hung the lantern up and placed two wooden stools for the children’s parents. Peggy flew to heat some milk, and put out rolls of bread and some potted meat she had been saving up for Christmas. She did so want her mother to see how nicely she could do things, even though they all lived in a cave!

“What a lovely home!” said Mrs. Arnold, as she looked round and saw the shelves, the stools, the table, the beds, and everything. The cave was very neat and tidy, and looked so cosy and friendly. How they all talked! How they jumped up and down and laughed and told first this thing and then the other! Only one thing made Captain and Mrs. Arnold angry - and that was the tale of how unkind Aunt Harriet and Uncle Henry had been.

“They shall be punished,” said Captain Arnold, and that was all he said about them.

Daisy chose to moo loudly that night, and Captain Arnold laughed till the tears came into his eyes when he heard about the night that poor Daisy had had to swim behind the boat to the island! And when he heard how she had mooed and frightened away the people who had come to look for them, he laughed still more!

“Somebody will have to write a book about your adventures.” he said. “I never in my life heard anything like them. We didn’t have such thrilling adventures on our island! We just lived with the native people there till a boat picked us up! Very dull indeed!”

Jack disappeared at that moment, and when he came back he carried a great load of heather. He flung it down in a corner.

“You’ll stay with us tonight, won’t you, Captain?” he said. “We’d love to have you. Please do.”

“Of course! ” said Captain Arnold. And Mrs. Arnold nodded her dark head. “We will all be together in the cave,” she said. “Then we shall share a bit of your secret island, children, and know what it is like.”

So that night the children had visitors! They all fell asleep on their heather beds at last, happy, excited, and very tired. What fun to wake up tomorrow with their own father and mother beside them!

The End of the Adventure

Mike awoke first in the morning. He sat up and remembered everything. There were his father and mother, fast asleep on their heathery bed in the corner of the cave! It was true then - he hadn’t dreamt it all! They were alive and well, and had got their children again - everything was lovely.

Mike crept out to light the fire. He could not possibly go to sleep again. The day was just creeping in at the cave entrance. The sky was a very pale blue, and the sun was trying to break through a thin mist in the east. It was going to be fine!

When the fire was crackling merrily everyone woke up. Nora flung herself on her mother, for she could not believe she really had a mother again, and had to keep hugging her and feeling her. Soon the cave was filled with talk and laughter.

Peggy and Nora got the breakfast. Mike showed his father the inner cave and their stores. Jack flew off to milk Daisy. The hens clucked outside, and Nora fetched in four brown eggs.

Fish from Jack’s line, eggs, rolls, the rest of the potted meat, and a tin of peaches made a fine breakfast, washed down with hot tea. The fire died down and the sunshine came in at the cave entrance. Everyone went outside to see what sort of a day it was.

The lake sparkled blue below. The bare trees swung gently in the breeze. Nora told her mother all about the wild raspberries and strawberries and nuts, and Peggy chattered about the seeds they had planted, and the baskets they could make.

And then Captain Arnold said, “Well, I think it’s about time we were going.”

The children looked up at him. “Going! What do you mean, Daddy? Leave our island?”

“My dears,” said Captain Arnold, “you can’t live here always - besides, there is no need for you to, now. You are not runaways any more. You are our own children that we love, and we must have you with us.”

“Yes,” said Mrs. Arnold. “We must all go back to a proper home, and you must go to school, my dears. You have been very brave and very clever - and very happy, too - and now you can have a lovely home with us, and we will all be happy together.”

“But what about Jack?” asked Nora, at once.

“Jack is ours, too,” said Mrs. Arnold. “I am sure his grandfather will be glad for us to have him for always. He shall have me for his mother, and your father shall be his, too! We will all be one big family!”

Jack wanted to say such a lot but he couldn’t say a single word. It was very strange. His face just went red with joy, and he held Nora’s hand so tightly that he hurt her without meaning to. He was just about the happiest boy in the world at that moment.

“Mummy, I shall so hate leaving our dear, dear island,” said Nora. “And Willow House, too - and our cosy cave and the bubbling spring - and everything.”

“I think I might be able to buy the island for you,” said Daddy. “Then, in the holidays you can always come here and run wild and live by yourselves if you want to. It shall be your very own.”

“Oh, Daddy!” shouted the children, in delight. “We shan’t mind going to school and being proper and living in a house if we’ve got the island to go back to in the holidays! Oh, what fun it will be!”

“But I think you must leave it now and come back home for Christmas,” said Mrs. Arnold. “We have our own old home to go back to - you remember it, don’t you? Don’t you think it would be nice to have Christmas there - and a Christmas pudding - and crackers - and stockings full of presents?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” shouted all the children.

“It’s just what I longed for!” said Nora.

“I was going to buy you some red crackers yesterday, Nora,” said Jack, “but I heard the great news before I had bought anything!”

“You shall all have red crackers!” said Captain Arnold, with a laugh. “Now, what about getting off in the boat?”

“Just give us time to say goodbye to everything,” said Peggy. “Mummy, come down and see Willow House. We made it ourselves and it’s so pretty in the summer, because you see, it’s a live house, and grows leaves all the time!”

In an hour’s time everyone was ready to leave. The hens were bundled once more into a sack and were most annoyed about it. Daisy was left, and Captain Arnold said he would send a fisherman over for her. It was too cold for her to swim behind the boat. Most of the children’s stores were left, too. They would be able to use them when they next went to the island.

Peggy took the rabbit-rug she had made. That was too precious to leave. They brought the books too, because they had got fond of those. They had stored everything carefully in the inner cave, and thrown sacks over them in case of damp. They couldn’t help feeling a bit sad to leave, although they knew they were going to their own happy home again.

At last everyone was in the boat. Captain Arnold pushed off and the sound of oars came to Daisy’s ears as she stood pulling at the thin winter grass. She stood watching the boat as it bobbed away on the waves.

“Goodbye, dear secret island,” said Nora.

“Goodbye, goodbye!” said the others. “We’ll come back again! Goodbye, Daisy, goodbye, everything!”

“And now let’s talk about all we’re going to do at Christmas-time,” said Mrs. Arnold, cheerfully, for she saw that the children were sad at leaving their beloved little island.

It was not long before the four children and their father and mother (for Jack counted them as his parents too, now) were settled happily in their own home. There was such a lot of excitement at first, for the children had to have new dresses, new suits, new underclothes, new stockings, new shoes! Mrs. Arnold said that although Peggy had really done her best to keep them tidy, they were quite dropping to pieces!

So off they went shopping, and came back feeling as grand as kings and queens, all dressed up in their new things! Peggy looked fine in a blue coat and skirt with a little blue hat. Nora wore red, and the two boys had suits and overcoats of dark blue.

Jack felt queer in his. It was the first time in his life he had ever had anything new of his own to wear, for he had always gone about in somebody’s old things before! He felt very grand indeed.

The children looked at one another and burst out laughing.

“How different we look now!” said Mike. “Think of our dirty old rags on the island! But it’s good to be really properly dressed again - and the girls do look nice!”

It was strange at first to sleep in a proper bed again. The girls slept in a pretty room and had a little white bed each. The boys slept in the next room, and had two brown beds. At first they all wondered where they were when they awoke in the morning, but after a few days they got used to it.

Christmas drew near. They all went out to buy presents for one another. It was most exciting. They went to London and marvelled at the great shops there. They watched all kinds of ships and boats sailing along in a big tank. They saw clockwork trains tearing round and round a little countryside, going through tunnels, stopping at stations, just like a real train. It was all very exciting after living such a peaceful life on the island.

Christmas was lovely. They hung up their stockings at the ends of their beds - and in the morning what fun they had finding the things packed tightly in the long stockings! Tiny dolls in the girls’ stockings, oranges, sweets, nuts, needle-books and balls - and in the boys’ were all kinds of things, too. Bigger presents were at the foot of the bed, and how excited all the children were unpacking them!

“This is better than Christmas in the cave!” said Nora, unpacking a great big smiling doll with curly golden hair. “Oh, Jack! Did you really buy this for me? Oh, how lovely, lovely, lovely!”

Soon the bedrooms were full of dolls, books, trains, balls, aeroplanes and motor-cars! It was the loveliest Christmas morning the children had ever had - and certainly Jack had never in his life known one like it! He just simply couldn’t believe his luck.

“You deserve it all, Jack,” said Nora. “You were a good friend to us when we were unhappy - and now you can share with us when we are happy.”

There was a Christmas-tree after tea, with more presents - and as for the crackers, you should have seen them! Red ones and yellow ones, blue ones and green ones! Soon everyone was wearing a gay cap, and how the children laughed when Captain Arnold pulled a cracker and got a tiny aeroplane out of it!

“Well, you can’t fly away in that, Daddy,” cried Peggy.

“You won’t ever fly away again, Daddy, will you?” said Nora, suddenly frightened in case her father and mother should fly off again and be lost, so that the four children would be alone once more.

“No, never again,” said her father. “Mummy and I have made such a lot of money out of our flying now, that we can afford to stay at home and look after you. We shall never leave you again!”

It was four happy children who went to bed that night. The boys left the door open between their room and the girls’, so that they might all talk to one another till they fell asleep. They could not get out of this habit, for they had always been able to talk to one another in bed on the island.

“It’s been a lovely day,” said Peggy sleepily. “But I do just wish something now.”

“What?” asked Mike.

“I do just wish we could all be back in our cosy cave on our secret island for five minutes,” said Peggy.

“So do I,” said everyone, and they lay silent, thinking of the happy days and nights on the island.

“I shall never, never forget our island,” said Nora. “It’s the loveliest place in the world, I think. I hope it isn’t feeling lonely without us! Good-night, secret island! Wait for us till we come again!”

“Good-night, secret island!” said the others. And then they slept, and dreamt of their island - of the summer days when they would go there once more, and live merrily and happily alone, in the hot sunshine - of winter days in the cosy cave - of cooking over a camp fire - and sleeping soundly on heathery beds. Dear secret island, only wait, and you shall have the children with you once again!