“Could we light a fire to make things a bit more cheerful?” said Julian, looking round. “I wonder where we can find some nice dry sticks?”
Almost as if they were answering the question a small crowd of jackdaws cried out wildly as they circled in the storm. “Chack, chack, chack!”
“Of course! There are plenty of sticks on the ground below the tower!” cried Julian. “You know-where the jackdaws nest. They’ve dropped lots of sticks there.”
He dashed out into the rain and ran to the tower. He picked up an armful of sticks and ran back.
“Good,” said George. “We’ll be able to make a nice fire with those. Anyone got any paper to start it-or matches?”
“I’ve got some matches,” said Julian. “But nobody’s got paper.”
“Yes,” said Anne, suddenly. “The sandwiches are wrapped in paper. Let’s undo them, and then we can use the paper for the fire.”
“Good idea,” said George. So they undid the sandwiches, and put them neatly on a broken stone, rubbing it clean first. Then they built up a fire, with the paper underneath and the sticks arranged criss-cross on top.
It was fun when they lighted the paper. It flared up and the sticks at once caught fire, for they were very old and dry. Soon there was a fine cracking fire going and the little ruined room was lighted by dancing flames. It was very dark outside now, for the clouds hung almost low enough to touch the top of the castle tower! And how they raced by! The wind sent them off to the northeast, roaring behind them with a noise like the sea itself.
“I’ve never, never heard the sea making such an awful noise,” said Anne. “Never! It really sounds as if it’s shouting at the top of its voice.”
What with the howling of the wind and the crashing of the great waves all round the little island, the children could hardly hear themselves speak! They had to shout at one another.
“Let’s have our dinner!” yelled Dick, who was feeling terribly hungry as usual. “We can’t do anything much while this storm lasts.”
“Yes, let’s,” said Anne, looking longingly at the ham sandwiches. “It will be fun to have a picnic round the fire in this dark old room. I wonder how long ago other people had a meal here. I wish I could see them.”
“Well, I don’t, said Dick, looking round half-scared as if he expected to see the old-time people walk in to share their picnic. “It’s quite a queer enough day without wanting things like that to happen.”
They all felt better when they were eating the sandwiches and drinking the ginger-beer. The fire flared up as more and more sticks caught, and gave out quite a pleasant warmth, for now that the wind had got up so strongly, the day had become cold.
“We’ll take it in turn to fetch sticks,” said George. But Anne didn’t want to go alone. She was trying her best not to show that she was afraid of the storm-but it was more than she could do to go out of the cosy room into the rain and thunder by herself.
Tim didn’t seem to like the storm either. He sat close by George, his ears cocked, and growled whenever the thunder rumbled. The children fed him with titbits and he ate them eagerly, for he was hungry too.
All the children had four biscuits each. “I think I shall give all mine to Tim,” said George. “I didn’t bring him any of his own biscuits, and he does seem so hungry.”
“No, don’t do that,” said Julian. “We’ll each give him a biscuit-that will be four for him-and we’ll still have three left each. That will be plenty for us.”
“You are really nice,” said George. “Tim, don’t you think they are nice?”
Tim did. He licked everyone and made them laugh. Then he rolled over on his back and let Julian tickle him underneath.
The children fed the fire and finished their picnic. When it came to Julian’s turn to get more sticks, he disappeared out of the room into the storm. He stood and looked around, the rain wetting his bare head.
The storm seemed to be right overhead now. The lightning flashed and the thunder crashed at the same moment. Julian was not a bit afraid of storms, but he couldn’t help feeling rather over-awed at this one. It was so magnificent. The lightning tore the sky in half almost every minute, and the thunder crashed so loudly that it sounded almost as if mountains were falling down all around!
The sea’s voice could be heard as soon as the thunder stopped-and that was magnificent to hear too. The spray flew so high into the air that it wetted Julian as he stood in the centre of the ruined castle.
“I really must see what the waves are like,” thought the boy. “If the spray flies right over me here, they must be simply enormous!”
He made his way out of the castle and climbed up on to part of the ruined wall that had once run all round the castle. He stood up there, looking out to the open sea. And what a sight met his eyes!
The waves were like great walls of grey-green! They dashed over the rocks that lay all around the island, and spray flew from them, gleaming white in the stormy sky. They rolled up to the island and dashed themselves against it with such terrific force that Julian could feel the wall beneath his feet tremble with the shock.
The boy looked out to sea, marvelling at the really great sight he saw. For half a moment he wondered if the sea might come right over the island itself! Then he knew that couldn’t happen, for it would have happened before. He stared at the great waves coming in-and then he saw something rather queer.
There was something else out on the sea by the rocks besides the waves-something dark, something big, something that seemed to lurch out of the waves and settle down again. What could it be?
“It can’t be a ship,” said Julian to himself, his heart beginning to beat fast as he strained his eyes to see through the rain and the spray. “And yet it looks more like a ship than anything else. I hope it isn’t a ship. There wouldn’t be anyone saved from it on this dreadful day!”
He stood and watched for a while. The dark shape heaved into sight again and then sank away once more. Julian decided to go and tell the others. He ran back to the firelit room.
“George! Dick! There’s something queer out on the rocks beyond the island!” he shouted, at the top of his voice. “It looks like a ship-and yet it can’t possibly be. Come and see!”
The others stared at him in surprise, and jumped to their feet. George hurriedly flung some more sticks on the fire to keep it going, and then she and the others quickly followed Julian out into the rain.
The storm seemed to be passing over a little now. The rain was not pelting down quite so hard. The thunder was rolling a little farther off, and the lightning did not flash so often. Julian led the way to the wall on which he had climbed to watch the sea.
Everyone climbed up to gaze out to sea. They saw a great tumbled, heaving mass of grey-green water, with waves rearing up everywhere. Their tops broke over the rocks and they rushed up to the island as if they would gobble it whole. Anne slipped her arm through Julian’s. She felt rather small and scared.
“You’re all right, Anne”, said Julian, loudly. “Now just watch-you’ll see something queer in a minute.”
They all watched. At first they saw nothing, for the waves reared up so high that they hid everything a little way out. Then suddenly George saw what Julian meant.
“Gracious!” she shouted, ‘it is a ship! Yes, it is! Is it being wrecked? It’s a big ship-not a sailing-boat, or fishing-smack!”
“Oh, is anyone in it?” wailed Anne.
The four children watched and Tim began to bark as he saw the queer dark shape lurching here and there in the enormous waves. The sea was bringing the ship nearer to shore.
“It will be dashed on to those rocks,” said Julian, suddenly. “Look-there it goes!”
As he spoke there came a tremendous crashing, splintering sound, and the dark shape of the ship settled down on to the sharp teeth of the dangerous rocks on the southwest side of the island. It stayed there, shifting only slightly as the big waves ran under it and lifted it a little.
“She’s stuck there,” said Julian. “She won’t move now. The sea will soon be going down a bit, and then the ship will find herself held by those rocks.”