The Secret Series - Complete Collection. Enid blyton

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СКАЧАТЬ a time you’ve been! Whatever’s happened?”

Chapter XVI - The Great Hunt Begins

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      Jack scrambled into the boat, panting. “Push off, quickly, Mike!” he said. “I was nearly caught to-day, and if anyone sees us we shall all be discovered!”

      Mike pushed off, his heart sinking. He could not bear the idea of being caught and sent back to his uncle’s farm. He waited till Jack had got back his breath and then asked him a few questions. Jack told him everything. Mike couldn’t help smiling when he thought of poor Jack sitting with the hens in the henhouse - but he felt very frightened. Suppose Jack had been caught!

      “This is the end of my marketing,” said Jack gloomily. “I shan’t dare to show my nose again in any village. They will all be on the look-out for me. Why can’t people run away if they want to? We are not doing any harm - only living happily together on our secret island!”

      After a bit Jack helped Mike to row, and they arrived at the island just as the moon was rising. The girls were on the beach by a big fire, waiting anxiously for them.

      “Oh Jack, oh Mike!” cried Nora, hugging them both, and almost crying with delight at seeing them again. “We thought you were never coming! We imagined all kinds of dreadful things! We felt sure you had been caught!”

      “I jolly nearly was,” said Jack.

      “Where is your shopping?” asked Peggy.

      “Haven’t got any,” said Jack. “I had only sold a few baskets when a policeman spotted me. I’ve got the money for the ones I sold - but what’s the good of money on this island, where you can’t buy anything!”

      Soon Jack had told the girls his story. He sat by the fire, warming himself, and drinking a cup of hot cocoa. He was dreadfully hungry, too, for he had had nothing to eat all day. He ate a whole rice pudding, two fishes, and a hard-boiled egg whilst he talked.

      Everyone was very grave and solemn. They knew things were serious. Nora was really scared. She tried her hardest not to cry, but Jack heard her sniffing and put his arm round her. “Don’t be a baby,” he said. “Things may not be so bad after all. We have all our plans laid. There is no real reason why anyone should find us if we are careful. We are all upset and tired. Let’s go to bed and talk to-morrow.”

      So to bed in Willow House they went. Jack took off his clothes and wrapped himself in the old rug because he said he smelt like hens. Peggy said she would wash his things the next day. They did not get to sleep for a long time because first one and then another of them would say something, or ask a question - and then the talking would all begin again.

      “Now, nobody is to say another word!” said Jack at last, in his firmest voice.

      “Ay, ay, Captain!” said everyone sleepily. And not another word was spoken.

      In the morning the children awoke early, and remembered what had happened the day before. Nobody felt like singing or shouting or joking as they usually did. Peggy solemnly got the breakfast. Jack went off in his old overcoat to milk the cow, for his things were not yet washed. Mike got some water from the spring, and Nora fed the hens. It was not a very cheerful party that sat down to breakfast.

      When the things were cleared away, and Peggy had washed Jack’s clothes and set them out to dry, the children held a meeting.

      “The first thing to do,” said Jack, “is to arrange that someone shall always be on watch during the day, on the top of the hill. You can see all up the lake and down from there, and we should get good warning then if anyone were coming - we should have plenty of time to do everything.”

      “Shall we have someone on guard during the night?” asked Nora.

      “No,” said Jack. “People are not likely to come at night. We can sleep in peace. I don’t think anyone will come for a few days, anyhow, because I think they will search around the lake-side first, and will only think of the island later.”

      “I think, as we are not going to the mainland for some time, we had better make a big hole in the boat and let her sink,” said Mike. “I’ve always been afraid she might be found, although she is well hidden under the brambles. After all, Jack, if she is sunk, no one could possibly find her!”

      “That’s a good idea, Mike,” said Jack. “We can’t be too careful now. Sink her this morning. We can easily get her up again and mend her if we want her. Peggy, will you see that every single thing is cleared away that might show people we are here?

      Look, there’s some snippings of wool, there - that sort of thing must be cleared up, for it tells a tale!”

      “I’ll see to it,” promised Peggy. Jack knew she would, for she was a most dependable girl.

      “Every single thing must be taken to the caves today,” said Jack, “except just those few things we need for cooking, like a saucepan and kettle and so on. We can easily slip those away at the last minute. We will leave ourselves a candle or two in Willow House, because we can sleep there till we have to go to the caves.”

      “Jack, what about the hen-yard?” asked Nora. “It really does look like a yard now, because the hens have scratched about so much.”

      “That’s true,” said Jack. “Well, as soon as we know we’ve got to hide, Mike can pull up the fence round the hen-yard and store it in Willow House. Then he can scatter sand over the yard and cover it with heather. It’s a good thing you thought of that, Nora.”

      “There’s one thing, even if we have to hide away for days, we’ve enough food!” said Peggy.

      “What about Daisy, though?” said Mike. “She won’t have anything to eat. A cow eats such a lot.”

      “We should have to take her out to feed at night,” said Jack. “And by the way, Peggy, don’t light the fire for cooking until the very last minute and stamp it out as soon as you have finished. A spire of smoke gives us away more than anything!”

      “What about someone hopping up to the hill-top now?” said Mike. “The sun is getting high. We ought to keep a watch from now on.”

      “Yes, we ought,” said Jack. “You take first watch, Mike. I’ll give you a call when it’s time to come down. We’ll take turns all the day long. Keep watch all round. We don’t know from which end of the lake a boat might come, though it’s more likely to be from the end I was at yesterday.”

      Mike sped up the hill and sat down there. The lake lay blue below him. Not a swan, not a moorhen disturbed its surface. Certainly no boat was in sight. Mike settled down to watch carefully.

      The others were busy. Everything was taken up to the caves in the hillside and stored there. Nora left a sack by the hen-yard ready to bundle the hens into when the time came. She also put a pile of sand by the yard, ready for Mike to scatter after the fences had been pulled up. Nora was no longer the careless little girl she had been. Nor was she lazy any more. She had learned that when she did badly everyone suffered, so now she did her best - and it was a very good best too.

      After a while Jack went up to СКАЧАТЬ