Swallowdale. Arthur Ransome

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СКАЧАТЬ The matchbox came to pieces in her fingers. The matches were soaked. The wetting did not hurt the whistle, though there was a good deal of water in it, but it was no good even trying to strike wet matches. Susan blew the whistle instead.

      “Go and see what the mate wants,” said Captain John. Roger went off as hard as he could go.

      The others were still out on the point, watching to see if anything else would float up from the wreck and drift ashore. Both the oars had been rescued in this way, and Peggy was using one of them to catch another piece of flotsam, the knapsack full of towels and bathing things. It was waterlogged and almost sinking. Peggy scooped it towards the shore with the oar and as soon as she could reach it picked it up and went off with it after Roger.

      “Captain John,” said Nancy Blackett at last, “why was it you threw the anchor out just before she went down?”

      “Because I want to try to get her up,” said John. “If we can get hold of it, it’ll help us to get her into shallow water.”

      “She wants matches,” they heard Roger shout.

      Nancy felt in her pocket, but they heard Peggy call out, “I’ve got some.”

      As soon as she had lit the fire and seen the first flames licking up among the sticks, Susan took the rescued knapsack from Peggy and emptied the wet bathing things and towels out on the beach. “That’s lucky,” she said. “Off with your things, Roger, and get into your bathers. Then you can go on getting as wet as you like while I’m getting your clothes dry. We’ll all change. What are the others doing?”

      “They’re out on the point,” said Peggy.

      Susan blew her whistle hard two or three times.

      “She wants us too,” said Titty.

      “Coming,” shouted John and Titty. Nancy and he hurried over the rocks from the point and joined the others by the fire.

      Roger was already struggling out of his wet clothes.

      “You’d both better change,” said Susan.

      “I’m going to, anyway,” said John. “I’m going down to have a look at her.”

      “And you must, whatever you’re going to do,” said Susan to the able-seaman. “And then turn to and get more wood.”

      “That’s the way, Mister Mate,” said Nancy Blackett. “Keep your crew on the jump and there’ll be no time for mutiny.”

      In the end the Amazons changed too, for company’s sake, and then, running about like savages, they gathered wood and built up a fire big enough for a corroboree. Susan took the rope that had been used for rescuing Roger, and made it into a clothes-line. They squeezed as much water as they could out of their sodden clothes and then hung some of them on the line, and spread others on the stones near the fire.

      Presently Susan said that the fire was big enough, and John and Nancy went off again to the point off which Swallow had gone down.

      “Can we go too?” asked Roger.

      “The moment you begin to feel cold,” said Susan, “go into the water and swim as hard as you can.”

      Titty and Roger went off after the others, leaving the two mates with the fire. They reached the point in time to see John dive in, bob up again, and swim towards the Pike Rock. Suddenly he turned half over and went under without a splash. The wind was veering to the south now, and not as hard as it had been. It was as if it felt that after sinking Swallow it might take a rest. But there was still a good ripple on the water and the morning sun was in the eyes of the watchers on the point, so that they could not see at all what John was doing.

      He was under a long time, but came up at last close to the Pike Rock. He rested there, holding to the rock with one hand. With the other he held up Susan’s black kettle.

      “Hurrah,” cried Nancy.

      “Susan,” called Titty, “he’s got the kettle.”

      John pushed off from the rock and swimming with one hand and carrying the kettle in the other, keeping it under water so that it was not heavy, he swam ashore.

      “Did you see the eggs?” asked Susan. She and Peggy had come running from the fire when they heard Nancy’s shout.

      “Or the frying-pan?” asked Titty. “I had a frying-pan as well as the basket of eggs.”

      “The frying-pan’s there all right,” said John, “but I didn’t see the eggs. They must have floated out in the basket and then been swamped. Half a minute and I’ll go down again. It’s not as deep as I thought it would be.”

      He swam out again and went under, coming up with the frying-pan, which he threw ashore.

      The next time he dived he brought up the knapsack with the day’s food in it. He brought it to the top of the water and then kicked himself ashore, swimming with his legs only.

      Susan opened the knapsack anxiously. “The pemmican’s all right,” she said, as she pulled out the tin, “and the spoons and the knife and the marmalade, and the butter . . . but the bread and the seed-cake are all soppy . . . and the sugar’s soaking through everything.”

      “We’ve got some bread,” said Nancy, “but we counted on you for the tea.”

      “What about the milk?” said Susan.

      “The bottle’s all right,” said John, “but the milk’s just a cloud in the water.”

      “We can get milk at Swainson’s farm,” said Peggy. “We often do. It’s not far.”

      “Is Swallow very much hurt?” said Titty. She had been wanting to ask each time John came up.

      “I simply can’t see,” said John. “There’s such a tangle round the bows with the broken mast and the sail settling down there. I know she’s stove in, but we can’t tell how badly she’s hurt until we get her out.”

      “Can we get her out?” Nancy, Peggy, Titty, Susan and Roger all asked that question at once. Indeed, looking at the rippled water, with nothing showing above it but the wicked point of the Pike Rock, it was difficult to believe that the Swallow had not disappeared for ever.

      “I don’t know,” said John.

      “They often do get up sunk boats,” said Peggy.

      “It’ll be all right,” said Nancy. “Captain Flint’s coming to-day, and he’ll howk her up in two jiffs.”

      That settled it. It was bad enough to have lost the ship, but for Captain Flint to come for the first time this year to join the explorers and to find the Swallow at the bottom of the lake would be altogether unbearable. John climbed up out of the water and sat on a rock to rest and consider what he would do next.

      “We mustn’t let the fire go down,” said Susan. “Come on, you two. I want all the wood you can get. And you must keep moving and not hang about while the clothes are drying. Let’s see if we can do anything with the seed-cake.”

      “It СКАЧАТЬ