So, once again, the red handkerchiefs were tied tightly round the children’s eyes, and Bandy and the dark man took them out of the cave. Downwards they went, and then came out into the open air. They were taken some way farther over the rocks, and then the bandages were stripped off their eyes.
They blinked. “We’re near the cove!” said Tom. “Good. Let’s go up to our cave and get a meal. I’m jolly hungry.”
Andy watched to see which way the men went. They rounded a corner of steep rocks and were soon out of sight. “If only I knew where they went and what they do!” he said, in a low voice. “What is going on here? WellI’ll find the way into the heart of the island, and discover what’s going on before I’m much older!”
“But how can you?” said Tom. “We were blindfolded. We’d never find the way.”
“I’m going to look for it,” said Andy, “but not till we’ve had something to eat. I want those men to get well out of the way first!”
They went to their cave. It seemed almost like coming home, to squeeze in at the narrow entrance! Jill and Mary were full of delight to be there again. They looked at their larder hungrily.
“What shall we have? I think we’ll go a splash, and have something good,” said Jill. “What about a tin of tongueand shall we hot up a tin of peas to go with it? We’ve got just one. And have a tin of pineapple chunks afterwards?”
“With condensed milk,” said Mary. “And we’ll make cocoa toolots of it.”
“Well, for goodness’ sake hurry up about it,” said Tom. “I’m hungrier than ever when I hear you talk like that!”
They had a most delicious meal, and ate every single thing they had prepared for it, and drank the last drop from the cocoa jug. As Mary put back the mugs, she missed the packet of salt.
“Where’s the salt gone?” she said in surprise.
“I took it!” said Andy. “And I’ll tell you why! I made a hole in my pocket, and as we went blindfolded on our way this morning, I kept dropping out pinches of saltso, you see, I ought to be able to find the way into the depths of the island, by following my trail of salt!”
“Oh, Andywhat a marvellous idea!” said Tom. “Let’s go now and see if we can find the trail. Come on, do let’s! I do think that was a clever thing to do! We’ll go and spy on those men this very evening!”
CHAPTER 17.
A Trail to Follow.
TOM, Jill and Mary thought it was very exciting to have a salt trail to follow.
“Now we’ll be able to get inside the island, and see what the men are doing,” said Mary, squeezing out of the cave entrance. “Come on. Let’s all go now. My goodness, we’d better hurry! Look at those black clouds.”
Andy looked at them in alarm. They were rain-clouds. “Blow, blow, blow!” he said.
“Are you talking to the wind, or just being annoyed?” asked Jill.
“I’m being annoyed,” said Andy, as he felt the first drop of rain on his cheek. “The rain will melt all my trail of salt! Isn’t that enough to make anyone annoyed?”
“Well, let’s buck up then, before it begins to pour!” said Tom, and they scuttled down the rocks. They found a pinch of salt on a rock, and exclaimed at it.
“Here’s one! We passed by here. And there’s another! Come on, we can easily spot the white grains!”
They followed the salt trail for a little way up the rocks, and round to the left. Then the rain came down properly, and in a trice the salt had disappeared! Andy looked very gloomy.
“Just my luck! Why didn’t I follow the trail straightaway, without stopping to have a meal? And why didn’t I think of something more sensible than salt? But I was in such a hurry, and it was the only thing that came into my mind. Blow!”
“Never mind, Andy,” said Jill. “It was an awfully good idea. I’d never have thought of it at all!”
“Wellcouldn’t we do it again, if those men take us off to the high-up cave another time?” asked Tom. “I bet your father won’t give up hunting for us yet, Andy. I bet he’ll be along again tomorrow. If so, those men will shut us up again. Bandy said they would.”
“Yes. There’s a chance Dad might sail this way again tomorrow,” said Andy. “He might even bring out some of his friends, in their boats, to search all round. We could try out my idea again.”
“But not with salt,” said Jill. “That’s too easy to meltor it might be blown away if it falls in a windswept place. Let’s think of something else.”
“It must be something the men don’t notice,” said Mary. “What can it be?”
Nobody could think of anything for some time. Then Tom had a brain-wave. “I know! Do you remember seeing those little pink shells down in the cove? Well, what about gathering up those, filling our pockets with them? No one would notice shells here and therethey’re so usual by the sea. We could all drop one now and again as we go, and there would be a lovely trail to follow!”
“Yesand one that wouldn’t melt away if it rained!” said Jill.
“Good idea, young Tom,” said Andy. “We’ll do that. We could collect them nowthen we’d have them ready in case the men took us off to that cave again tomorrow.”
So they all hunted for the little pink shells in the cove, and found dozens of them. They put them into their pockets. It wouldn’t matter in the least if the men searched their pockets and found the shellsbecause children always did collect them. Tom felt very pleased with his idea.
It grew dark. “Better go back to our cave,” said Andy. “We’ll light the lamp and have a cosy evening. It’s rather cold now too. We got a bit wet in that squall of rain, though it didn’t last long. It will be nice to be warm and dryand we’ll make some tea and have biscuits for supperif Tom hasn’t eaten them all yet!”
“Of course I haven’t!” said Tom indignantly. “I’ve had just the same number as you!”
They went up to their cave and squeezed in. Andy lighted the lamp, and the stove too, so that they could boil the kettle. He had filled it with rain-water, which most conveniently lay in a nearby hollow, not far from the cave.
The cave certainly looked very cosy, and was soon warm and stuffy. But the children didn’t mind that, for they were cold and wet.
“This is nice,” said Jill, pulling a rug round her. “I know horrid things have happened, and I hate to think of people being worried about usbut I can’t help enjoying being in this cosy cave, and feeling warm and dry, and having ginger biscuits to nibble.”
Everyone felt the same, though Andy looked rather stern and thoughtful. Jill knew he was always thinking of his lost boat. He seemed to have lost his ready smiles and jokes now. She gave him an extra biscuit because she felt sorry for him.
They slept well that night in the cave, and no one kept watch, because there didn’t seem to be any need to. They didn’t feel that the men would really harm them, and they all wanted a good night’s sleep.
So they slept soundly, and nothing disturbed them. They woke when the sun was quite high, and Andy was surprised. “We’re late this morning!” he said. “I’m going to rinse my face and hands in that pool over thereI feel messy.”
They all did the same. Jill produced a comb and they made their hair tidy. They had begun to look like little savages, Mary said!
They had a rather poor breakfast of stale bread and butter and jam. But they did not like to open any more of their precious tins, in case the men were mean with food. They hadn’t much liked the bread and meat they had had the day before.
“Andy! The men are coming again!” said Tom suddenly. He was sitting outside on the ledge. “And oh golly, look over there! Onetwo, threefourfive fishing-boats! My word, your father’s got half the fleet out to look for us!”
“Let’s signal, quick!” cried Andy. But the boats were too far away to see them, and at the same moment the men came up to the cave. They were the same three as before, with red handkerchiefs dangling ready in their hands to blindfold the children.
“Remember the shells,” said Andy in a low voice.
“Come out, all of you,” said the dark man’s voice. Tom had scrambled back, so they were all in the cave now.