“Here’s a good place to put the boat,” said Jack, as he and Mike rowed up the lake, and came in sight of the village at the far end. An alder tree leaned over the water by the lakeside, and Mike guided the boat there. It slid under the drooping tree and Jack jumped out.
“I can easily find my way to the village from here,” he said. “I’ll be as quick as I can, Mike.”
Jack had two long sticks, and on them he threaded the handles of the baskets of mushrooms and strawberries. In this way he could carry them easily, without spilling anything. Off he went with his goods through the wood, and Mike settled down in the boat to wait for his return.
Jack was not long in finding the road that led to the little village - and to his great delight he found that it was market-day there! A small market was held every Wednesday, and it happened to be Wednesday that day!
“Good!” thought Jack. “I shall not be so much noticed if there is a crowd of people - and I should be able to sell my goods easily!”
The boy went to the little market-place, calling “Fine mushrooms! Ripe wild strawberries!” at the top of his voice.
When people saw the neat and pretty baskets of mushrooms and strawberries they stopped to look at them. Certainly they were excellent goods, and very soon Jack was selling them fast. Shillings and sixpences clinked into his pocket, and Jack felt very happy. What a fine lot of things he would be able to buy!
At last his sticks held no more baskets. The people praised him - for his goods and the cleverly woven baskets, and told him to come again. Jack made up his mind that he would. It was a pleasant way of earning money, and he could buy all the things he needed if only he could get the money!
He went shopping. He bought a very large bag of flour. He bought wool and cotton for Peggy. He bought scores of candles and plenty of matches. He bought a new kettle and two enamel plates. Peggy was always wishing she had more dishes. He bought some story-books, and two pencils and a rubber. A drawing-book was added to his collection, some nails, soap, butter for a treat, some bars of chocolate, some tins of cocoa, tea, rice - oh, Jack had a load to carry before he had done!
When he could carry no more, and his money was all gone, he staggered off to the boat. He kept thinking what fun everyone would have that night when he unpacked the bags and boxes!
Mike was waiting for him impatiently. He was delighted to see Jack, and helped him to dump the things into the boat. Then off they rowed, home to the secret island.
Jack Nearly Gets Caught
What fun it was that evening, unpacking all the things Jack had brought! Mike helped Jack to take everything to the beach, and Nora and Peggy jumped up and down and squealed with excitement.
“Flour! What a lot! I can make you rolls now to eat with your fish and eggs!” cried Peggy in delight. “And here’s my wool - and my cotton!”
“And two pencils for me - and a rubber - and a drawing-book!” cried Nora.
“And butter - oh, and chocolate!” yelled Mike. “I’ve forgotten what chocolate tastes like!”
“Oh, Jack, you are clever,” said Peggy. “Did you sell all the mushrooms and strawberries?”
“Every single basket,” said Jack. “And, what is more, the people told me to bring more next week - so I shall earn some more money, and lay in a good stock of things for the winter! What do you say to that?”
“Fine, Captain!” shouted everyone joyfully. “We shall be as cosy as can be with candles to see by, nice things to eat, books to read, chocolate to nibble! Hurrah!”
“Have you brought the corn for my hens, Jack?” asked Nora anxiously.
“Yes, there it is!” said Jack. “And what about this new kettle and enamel dishes, Peggy? I thought you’d like those.”
“Oh, Jack, isn’t it all exciting?” cried Peggy. “Look here - shall we have supper now - and look at all the things again afterwards - and then put them away carefully? You and Mike will have to put up shelves in Willow House for all these new stores!”
Talking all at once and at the tops of their voices the children set to work to get supper. This was a rabbit stew, with runner beans picked by Nora and a baked potato each, with raspberries and cream afterwards. And as a special treat Jack gave everyone half a bar of the precious chocolate! The children were so happy - they really felt that they couldn’t be any happier! The girls had been lonely all day without the two boys, and it was lovely to be all together again.
After supper they cleared away and washed the dishes, and then stamped out the fire. They took everything to Willow House, and lighted the lantern that hung from the roof. Jack also lighted another candle to make enough light to see clearly all the treasures he had brought.
“I say! What a nice lot of matches!” said Mike. “We’ll have to store those carefully in a dry place.”
“And look at the books!” squealed Peggy. “Jack can read them out loud to us in the evening. Robinson Crusoe, and Stories from the Bible and Animals of the World and The Boy’s Book of Aeroplanes. What a lovely lot! It will be fun to read about Robinson Crusoe, because he was alone on an island, just as we are. I guess we could teach him a few things, though!”
Everyone laughed. “He could teach us a few things, too!” said Jack.
Jack had really shopped very well. He had even bought a tin of treacle, so that sometimes, for a treat, Peggy could make toffee! He had got sugar, too, which would be nice in their tea and cocoa. Their own sugar had been finished long ago.
“And we needn’t be too careful now of all our things,” said Jack, “because I can go each week and sell mushrooms and strawberries and earn money to buy more.”
“But what will you do when the mushrooms and strawberries are over?” asked Peggy.
“Then there will be blackberries and nuts,” said Jack. “They won’t fetch so much money, but at any rate I can get enough to store up plenty of things for the winter. If we can get flour, potatoes, rice, cocoa, and things like that, we shall be quite all right. Daisy can always give us milk and cream, and we get lots of eggs from the hens, fish from the lake, and a rabbit or two. We are really very lucky.”
“Jack, read to us to-night,” begged Nora. “It’s so long since I heard a story.”
“We’ll begin Robinson Crusoe first, then,” said Jack. “That seems sort of suitable. By the way, Nora, can you read yourself?”
“Well, I wasn’t very good at it,” said Nora.
“I think it would be a good idea if we all took a night each to read out loud,” said Jack. “It’s no good forgetting what we learnt. I’ll read to-night - and you shall read to-morrow night, Nora.”
So, by the light of the two candles, Jack began reading the tale of Robinson Crusoe to the others. They lay on the heather, listening, happy to be together, enjoying the tale. When Jack shut up the book they sighed.
“That was lovely,” said Peggy. “My goodness, Jack, I guess we could write an exciting book if we wrote down all our adventures on the island!”
“Nobody would believe them!” laughed Peggy. “Yet it’s all true - here we are, living by ourselves, feeding ourselves, having a glorious time on a secret island that nobody knows!”
The next day Jack and Mike rigged up some shelves on which to keep some of their new stores. It was fun arranging everything. The children soon began to make out their next list of things for Jack to buy when he went to market.
“We shall have to keep the days pretty carefully in future,” said Jack. “I don’t want to miss Wednesdays now because Wednesday is market-day at the village. I shall get better prices then.”
So, the next Wednesday, once again there was a great stir just about dawn, and the four children hurried to their tasks of picking mushrooms and strawberries. They had made plenty of baskets again, and Jack and Mike set off two or three hours later with the boat, taking the full baskets with them.