They had a meal of cooked fish, bread, biscuits, and wild strawberries. Then Mike went up his tree again to watch, and Jack came down and had his share of the meal. It was really rather fun. The children enjoyed their dinner, and wished there was more of it!
“But we must keep the two tins of fruit, and the rest of the bread and biscuits for later on in the day,” said Peggy, putting them safely aside under a bush. “Thank goodness Paul had the brains to bring what he could! We’d only have had the fish to eat if he hadn’t!”
Jack and Mike took it in turns to watch from a tree the rest of the day. They saw no more signs of the two men on the island, but they knew that they had not left, because their boat was still there.
When it began to get dark, and the boys could no longer see clearly from their perches in the trees, Jack wondered what was the best thing to do.
He climbed down and talked to the others. “We’d better have another meal,” he said, “and finish the rest of the food. I’m afraid we shall have to spend the night here.”
“We could sleep in the boat,” said Nora. “That would be more comfortable than the damp ground here. There are two old rugs in the boat too. And Peggy and I have explored a bit and found where a great mass of bracken grows. We could collect it before it’s quite dark, and use that for bedding in the boat! It will be fairly soft for us.”
“Good,” said Jack. “Show us where the bracken is, Nora, and Paul, Mike, and I will carry armfuls to the boat. Peggy, will you get a meal?”
“Right,” said Peggy. It was dark to get a meal under the trees, but the little girl did the best she could. She opened the tins of fruit - Paul had even been sensible enough to snatch up the tin-opener! She cut the rest of the bread into slices, and put two biscuits for every one. That was all there was.
The boys and Nora came back with armfuls of bracken. They set it in the boat. Then they went back to where Peggy was waiting. Jack had his torch in his pocket, so they were able to see what they were eating. They shared the fruit in the tins, ate their bread and biscuits, and drank the fruit juice, for they were very thirsty.
“And now to bed,” said Jack. “Bed in a boat! What queer adventures we have! But all the same, it’s great fun!”
Mike’s Marvellous Idea
The children made their way to where the boat was tied to a tree. It was now piled with sweet-smelling bracken. Jack had taken up the seats, so that the whole of the boat was a bed. The two girls got in and cuddled down, and then the three boys settled themselves too. It was a bit of a squeeze, but nobody minded. They wrapped the two old rugs round them and talked quietly.
The lake-water lapped gently against the boat, saying “lip-lip-lip” all the time. It was a pleasant sound to hear. An owl hooted in a trembling voice not far off. “Ooooooooo! Oo-oo-oo-oo!”
Paul sat up in a fright. “Who’s that?” he said.
Mike pulled him down. “It’s only a bird called an owl, silly!” he said. “Don’t sit up suddenly like that, Paul, you pull the rug off us.”
Paul lay down again and cuddled up to the other two boys. He was glad that the noise was only made by a bird.
The moon came up soon, and shone down through the black branches of the trees above. The water of the lake turned to silver. “Lip-lip-lip” it said all the time against the boat. Nora listened to it and fell asleep. Peggy lay on her back and looked at a star that shone through the trees, and suddenly fell asleep too. Paul was soon asleep, but Mike and Jack talked quietly for some time.
They couldn’t imagine what Mr. Diaz and Luiz were going to do next. If they stayed long on the island the children couldn’t go back there - and as they had no food, this was serious. On the other hand, if they tried to make their way through the thick woods nearby, they might get quite lost.
“If only we could make Mr. Diaz and Luiz prisoners, just as they made you and Paul, it would be grand,” said Jack. “Then we could do what we liked.”
Mike lay silent for a moment - then he made such a peculiar noise that he really frightened Jack.
“Mike! What’s up?” said Jack in alarm. “Are you ill?”
“No,” said Mike in a very excited voice. “It was only that I suddenly got such a marvellous idea I wanted to shout - and I only just stopped the shout in time. That was the funny noise you heard - me stopping the shout. But oh, Jack, I’ve really got the most wonderful idea!”
“What is it?” asked Jack in surprise.
“Well, it was you saying that you wished we could make Mr. Diaz and Luiz prisoners that really gave me the idea,” said Mike. “I know how we could! If we could only get their boat away from the island to-night, they wouldn’t be able to leave - and they’d be prisoners there!”
“Mike! That’s a most marvellous idea!” said Jack. “It solves all our difficulties. You really are a clever chap! Once they are prisoners on the island, we can row to the village at the end of the lake, get a car, and go back to Peep-Hole in safety!”
“Yes,” said Mike, trembling with excitement. “How shall we do it. Jack?”
“Wait a minute,” said Jack, frowning in the moonlight. “I’ve just thought of something. Suppose Mr. Diaz and Luiz can swim? They could easily swim across to the mainland and escape that way.”
“But they can’t swim,” said Mike. “I heard Luiz tell Mr. Diaz he couldn’t, and Mr. Diaz said he couldn’t either. It was when I was a prisoner up in the tower - they often used to come and sit with us there, and they talked to one another. So if neither of them can swim they really would be prisoners!”
Jack was so delighted the he wanted to sing and dance. He carefully took off his share of the rug and put it over the sleeping Paul.
“We needn’t wake Paul or the girls,” he said. “We will undress, Mike, then slip into the water over the edge of the boat, and swim to the island. You can swim as far as that, can’t you?”
“Easily,” said Mike. “Then we’ll undo their boat get into it and row off! Oh, Jack, this is the most exciting thing we’ve ever done! I wonder if they’ll see us!”
“I don’t expect so,” said Jack. “They’ll be asleep in our cave, I expect!”
The boys undressed without waking the girls or Paul.
They slid into the water over the side of the boat and swam off in the moonlit lake, only their two dark heads showing on the calm, silvery surface.
It was rather farther to the island than they expected. Mike was tired when they reached the men’s boat, but Jack, who was a marvellous swimmer, was quite fresh. He got in and pulled Mike in too. He undid the rope that tied the boat to a tree.
Then he pushed off, the oars making a splashing noise in the silence of the night. No sooner had they gone a little way out on the lake than a shout came from the island, and Luiz stood up. He had been asleep on some heather, and had awakened to hear the sound of oars.
“Hie! That’s our boat you’ve got! Bring it back at once!”
“We’ll bring it back some day!” yelled back Jack in delight.
“You just bring it back now, at once!” yelled Luiz, suddenly realising that he and Mr. Diaz would not be able to leave the island at all without a boat. “You wicked boys!”
“Good-bye, dear friends,” shouted Jack, seeing Mr. Diaz suddenly appearing down the hill. He had been sleeping in the cave and had awakened at the noise of shouting. “See you some day soon!”
The two men were quite helpless. They could neither of them swim, they had no boat - they could do nothing but shout angrily, and that was no good at all! The boys simply laughed and waved to them.
When they reached their own boat, feeling rather cold and shivery, for they had no clothes on, they found the girls and Paul wide awake and rather scared. Peggy threw the boys their clothes, and called out to know where they had been and what all the noise was and where they had got the other boat.