“Oh dear — what does Bill mean? Surely we’re not going to tumble into an adventure again! Up here, where there’s nothing but the sea, the wind and the birds! What could happen, I wonder?”
“Well, Bill isn’t likely to tell us much,” said Philip. “So don’t bother him with questions. I’m going to turn in. Brrrrrr! It’s getting a bit cold now. Me for that big pile of rugs! Huffin and Puffin, you’d better keep outside for the night. There’ll be little enough room in this tent for you, as well as us three, Kiki and the rats.”
Huffin and Puffin looked at one another. Then, with one accord, they began to scrape the earth just outside the tent, sending the soil up behind them. Lucy-Ann giggled.
“They’re going to make a burrow as near you as possible, Philip. Oh, aren’t they funny?”
Kiki walked round to examine what the two puffins were doing. She got a shower of earth all over her and was very indignant.
“Arrrrrrr!” she growled, and the two puffins agreed politely. “Arrrrrrrr!”
Bill came back in about half an hour. All the children were cuddled up in their rugs, and Lucy-Ann was asleep. Dinah called out to him.
“Everything all right, Bill?”
“Yes. I got a message from London, to tell me that your mother is getting on as well as can be expected,” said Bill. “But she’s got measles pretty badly, apparently. Good thing you’re all off her hands!”
“What about your own message, Bill — about the aeroplane?” said Dinah, who was very curious over Bill’s great interest in it. “Did that get through?”
“Yes,” said Bill shortly. “It did. It’s nothing to worry your head about. Good night, Dinah.”
In two minutes’ time everyone was asleep. Squeaker and his relations were only to be seen as bumps about Philip’s person. Kiki was sitting on Jack’s tummy, though he had already pushed her off several times. Huffin and Puffin were squatting in their new-made tunnel, their big coloured beaks touching. Everything was very peaceful as the moon slid across the sky, making a silvery path on the restless waters.
The morning dawned bright and beautiful, and it seemed as if the storm was not coming, for there was no longer any closeness in the air. Instead it was fresh and invigorating. The children ran down to the shore to bathe as soon as they got up. They ran so fast that Huffin and Puffin could not keep up, but had to fly. They went into the water with the children, and bobbed up and down, looking quite ridiculous.
Then they dived for fish, swimming with their wings under the water. They were very quick indeed, and soon came up with fish in their enormous beaks.
“What about giving us one for breakfast, Huffin?” called Philip, and tried to take a fish from the nearest puffin’s beak. But it held on to it — and then swallowed it whole.
“You ought to teach them to catch fish for us,” said Jack, giggling. “We could have grilled fish for breakfast then! Hey, get away, Puffin — that’s my foot, not a fish!”
At breakfast they discussed their plans for the day. “What shall we do? Let’s explore the whole island, and give bits of it proper names. This glen, where we are now, is Sleepy Hollow, because it’s where we sleep,” said Lucy-Ann.
“And the shore where we bathe is Splash Cove,” said Dinah. “And where we first moored our motor-boat is Hidden Harbour.”
Bill had been rather silent at breakfast. Jack turned to him. “Bill! What do you want to do? Will you come and explore the island with us?”
“Well,” said Bill, very surprisingly, “if you don’t mind, as you’ll be very busy and happy on your own, I’ll take the motor-boat and go cruising about a bit — round all these islands, you know.”
“What! Without us?” said Dinah in astonishment. “We’ll come with you, then, if you want to do that.”
“I’m going alone, this first time,” said Bill. “Take you another time, old thing. But today I’ll go alone.”
“Is there — is there anything up?” asked Jack, feeling that something wasn’t quite right. “Has something happened, Bill?”
“Not that I know of,” said Bill cheerfully. “I just want to go off on my own a bit, that’s all. And if I do a bit of exploring round on my own account, I shall know the best places to take you to, shan’t I?”
“All right, Bill,” said Jack, still puzzled. “You do what you want. It’s your holiday too, even if it is a disappearing one!”
So Bill went off on his own that day, and the children heard the purr of the motor-boat as it went out to sea, and then set off apparently to explore all the islands round about.
“Bill’s up to something,” said Philip. “And I bet it’s got to do with those aeroplanes. I wish he’d tell us. But he never will talk.”
“I hope he comes back safely,” said Lucy-Ann anxiously. “It would be awful to be stranded here on a bird-island, and nobody knowing where we were.”
“Gosh, so it would,” said Jack. “I never thought of that. Cheer up, Lucy-Ann — Bill isn’t likely to run into danger. He’s got his head screwed on all right.”
The day passed happily. The children went to the cliffs and watched the great companies of sea-birds there. They sat down in the midst of the puffin colony and watched the queer, big-beaked birds going about their daily business. Lucy-Ann wore a hanky tied round her nose. She couldn’t bear the smell of the colony, but the others soon got used to the heavy sourness of the air, and anyway, the wind blew strongly.
Huffin and Puffin did not leave them. They walked or ran with the children. They flew round them, and they went to bathe with them. Kiki was half jealous, but having had one hard jab from Huffin’s multi-coloured beak, she kept at a safe distance, and contented herself with making rude remarks.
“Blow your nose! How many times have I told you to wipe your feet? You bad boy! Huffin and puffin all the time. Pop goes huffin!”
The children sat in Sleepy Hollow after their tea and watched for Bill to come back. The sun began to set. Lucy-Ann looked pale and worried. Where was Bill?
“He’ll be along soon, don’t worry,” said Philip. “We’ll hear his boat presently.”
But the sun went down into the sea, and still there was no Bill, Then darkness closed down on the island, and there was no longer any point in sitting up and waiting. It was four anxious children who went into their tents and lay down to sleep. But none of them could sleep a wink.
In the end the girls went into the boys’ tent and sat there, talking. Then suddenly they heard a welcome sound — rr-rr-rr-rr-rr! They all leapt up at once and rushed from the tent.
“That’s Bill! It must be! Where’s a torch? Come on down to the cove.”
They stumbled through the puffin colony, waking up many a furious bird. They got to the beach just as Bill came walking up. They flung themselves on him in delight.
“Bill! Dear Bill! What happened to you? We honestly thought you’d got lost!”
“Oh, Bill — we shan’t let you go off alone again!”
“Sorry to have worried you so,” said Bill. “But I didn’t want to return in the daylight in case I was spotted by an aeroplane. I had to wait till it was dark, though I knew you’d be worried. Still — here I am.”
“But Bill — aren’t you going to tell us anything?” cried Dinah. “Why didn’t you want to come back in daylight? Who would see you? And why would it matter?”
“Well,” said Bill slowly, “there’s something queer going on up here in these lonely waters. I don’t know quite what. I’d like to find out. I didn’t see a soul today, anywhere, though I nosed round umpteen islands. Not that I really expected to, because nobody would be fool enough to come up here for something secret, and let anything of it be seen. Still, I thought I might find some sign.”
“I suppose that bit of orange peel was a sign that someone’s here besides ourselves, on some other island?” said Lucy-Ann, remembering the piece that had bobbed against her fingers. “But what are they doing? Surely they can’t do much in this desolate stretch of waters — with nothing but islands of birds around.”
“That’s what I’m puzzled about,” said Bill. “Can’t be smuggling, because the coasts of the mainland are very well patrolled at the moment, and nothing could get through. Then what is it?”
“Bill, you’re sure nobody saw you?” asked Dinah anxiously. “There might be hidden watchers on one of the islands, you know — and one might see you, without you seeing him.”