“I do feel hungry,” said Tom. “I suppose it isn’t time for a meal, is it? Gracious, Andy, I’ve just thought of something. We’ve brought quite a bit of food with us, luckilybut not enough for more than two or three days. I hope we shan’t starve!”
“We’ll be rescued long before that,” said Andy, seeing Mary’s alarmed face. “Anyway, we’ll have something to eat now. It’s about twelve o’clock. Look at the sun!
They had a good meal, and Andy and Tom kept a look-out all the time in case they saw anyone stealing about. But they saw no one.
“We must make up our minds to stay here for a while,” said Andy. “And I think we’ll remove all the food and rugs and things from the boat, Tom. We’ll find a good little home somewhere on Smuggler’s Rockin a cave or somewhereand make ourselves as comfortable as possible.”
“Almost as if we’d been wrecked!” said Mary, feeling suddenly cheerful. “That sort of thing is fun, even if we are in trouble! Come onlet’s find a good place.”
CHAPTER 13.
A Good Little Home.
THEY left Jill on deck, because her ankle was still painful, though very much better. She could hobble about now, and felt more cheerful. She was very disappointed not to be able to go with them and find a good sleeping-place for that night.
“But why can’t we sleep on the boat?” she asked, surprised. “Like we did last night.”
The boys did not like to tell her that at any moment they thought somebody might come along and scuttle the boatsink her down to the bottom of the pool; so that it was necessary to remove everything to some good place, in order not to lose the things on the boat.
“We’d be more comfortable, I expect, if we find a sandy cove, sheltered from the wind,” said Andy. “We’ll keep the boat in sight, Jill, as we go, so you needn’t be afraid by yourself. We’ll be able to see you all the time, and you’ll be able to see us.”
The three of them set off. They went over the rugged rocks, keeping the Andy in sight all the time. The boys did not think anyone would go to the boat just then, but Andy was not going to risk leaving Jill completely alone. If they kept the boat in sight they could see what was happening at any moment.
“It’s no good going the way we went this morning, up to that high point,” said Andy. “For one thing the boat is out of sight from there, and for another I didn’t see a single place where we could get comfort and shelter. Did you?”
“No,” said Tom. “It all looked jolly hard and windswept and uncomfortable, I thought. Let’s go the other waylook, is that green grass, over there? No, it’s cushions of some kind of sea-shore plant. We might find a good spot over there, but higher up. I reckon that if a storm came the sea would sweep right over these rocks we’re on now.”
“Yes, it would,” said Andy. “You can see bits of seaweed here and thereclinging on in the hope of sea-water, I should think. I hope a storm doesn’t come! That would about finish the Andy, lying there among those rocks. She’d be torn from her anchor, and smashed to bits.”
“Wellit doesn’t look as if a storm is near,” said Tom, not liking this conversation at all. “It’s fine to-day, though it’s cold. Look, Andylet’s climb up here to that broad ledge. It looks pretty sheltered there. Is that a cave behind the ledge?”
They climbed up to the broad ledge of rock, keeping the Andy well in sight all the time. “We don’t want to go too far from the boat,” said Andy. “It would be such a fag carrying everything. If there’s a cave there it would be very convenient!”
There was a caverather an awkward one with a very low roof at the front, so that the children had to crawl in almost flat. But inside it opened out into a fairly roomy cave, with a higher roof. It smelt clean and fresh, and had a sandy floor, which Andy was surprised to see.
“This will do,” he said, switching on his torch and looking round. “We can make the opening bigger by pulling away some of those overhanging tufts of roots, and burrowing down in the sand below. It will be rather fun lying in the cave and squinting out through that narrow opening at the sea.”
“We’ve got a very fine view,” said Mary, and she lay down to peep out. “I can see the Andy from here. Jill’s still sitting on deck. And look, you. can see the Cliff of Birds tooover there in the distanceand make out the channel between the two ridges of rocks.”
“We could see anyone coming to rescue us!” said Tom. “Couldn’t we, Andy? We could easily see your father’s boat from here. We could signal!”
There was a rocky ledge at one side of the cave. Mary patted it. “This will do to put our stores on,” she said. “And we’ll put our cushions and rugs on the sandy floor. We shall be very snug here. It would be great funif only Mother wouldn’t be worried about us!”
“This cave will do fine,” said Andy. “We’ll go back and get our stores. Come on, Tomsqueeze out.”
They all squeezed out Andy looked up at the top edge of the entrance. He began to pull away some of the earth and roots that hung down from above. Soon he had made the entrance a little bigger.
“That will let more air in,” he said. “It might be stuffy at night with four of us in. But it will certainly be warm! No wind can get in here to make us shiver and shake!”
They went back to the boat, pleased that they had found somewhere fairly near. They told Jill all about it. She showed them her ankle.
“It’s much better!” she said. “It feels almost all right now. I could help to carry the things up.”
“No, you can’t,” said Andy. “You rest it as much as you can. We’ll take the things up, and leave you in charge of the boat whilst we go to and fro.”
They went down into the cabin. They collected all the foodand there was quite a lot! What a good thing they had stocked the Andy so well!
They staggered off with the food. Jill got the little oil-stove ready for them to take too. They would need to boil water for tea or cocoa. She put the kettle ready to be taken.
It was very tiring work carrying the things over the rocks up to the cave. There were so many things to take. Andy did not mean to let anything be lost, if the boat were sunk. He meant to save all he could.
Rugs, cushions, fishing-tackle, the cabin lamp, mugs, plates, everything was stripped from the fishing-boat. The girls, not knowing that the boys were afraid that the boat might be scuttled, were astonished to see everything being taken. Mary thought it was most unnecessary work.
“Why do we take so much?” she grumbled. “I’m tired now! Andy, it’s silly to take everything!”
“Do as your skipper tells you!” said Tom.
“You’re a good one to talk!” snapped Mary. “It was you who disobeyed Andy and got into a mess.”
“You’re tired, Mary,” said Andy. “Stop carrying the things and let me finish them. Go back to Jill and see if you can help her part of the way up. Her foot is so much better that I believe she can manage with just your help.”
By tea-time the cave was well stocked. Mary arranged the food on the rocky ledge there. “That’s our larder,” she told the boys. “And this bit is the dresser, with the plates and mugs and things. At the back here is the kitchen, because that’s where we’ve put the stove and the kettle and saucepan. The other part is a bed-sitting-room, because we shall have to live there and sleep there too!”
When Jill came up to the cave, helped by Mary, she was delighted. She thought it all looked most exciting. The only thing was that it was rather dark there, and Andy did not want to use their torches too much, because of wearing out the batteries.
“We could light the cabin lamp,” said Jill.
“There’s not a great deal of oil,” said Andy. “Well only light that when it’s really darkat night. We can just manage to see inside the cave, if nobody stops up the entrance with his body! Tom, get out of the way. You’re blocking our daylight!”
“I was just having a look-see,” said Tom. “We’ve got the Andy under our eye all right here. If anyone tries any little tricks, we can see them.”