“Arrrrrr!” said a deep voice from the rail round the deck.
The children jumped in the darkness. “Oh — it must be Huffin or Puffin,” said Philip, pleased. “Fancy them coming with us. I do think that’s friendly of them.”
“They’re sweet,” said Lucy-Ann, and put out her hand to Huffin. Both the puffins were there, sitting side by side in the darkness. Kiki flew to join them.
“What are we going to do now?” said Dinah. “Dare we go off in the dark? We might bump into rocks and wreck the boat.”
“We’ll have to stay here till the first light of day,” said Philip. “Then we’ll set off, and hope the men on the island won’t hear our engine, and come after us!”
“We shall have got a good start,” said Jack. “Well, what about having a snooze, if we’re going to stay here? Where’s the anchor? Shall we let it down? I don’t fancy drifting about at the mercy of the waves all night long.”
Whilst the boys were busy, the girls laid out rugs, mackintoshes and jerseys to lie on. It was a lovely warm night, and nobody minded.
“It’s so nice to have the stars above us instead of a ceiling or a tent roof,” said Lucy-Ann, snuggling down. “I don’t feel a bit sleepy, somehow. I suppose it’s all the excitement. I’ve got used to this adventure now. Oh dear, how glad I am that I didn’t have to hit Horace on the head! I should have dreamt about that for ages.”
They lay for some time, talking. They all felt very wide-awake indeed. Huffin and Puffin appeared to be awake too, because they occasionally remarked am to one another. Kiki was on Jack’s feet.
She also was wide-awake, and began to recite the nursery rhymes she knew: “Humpty dumpy, puddingypie, ding dong bell, ring his neck!”
“Shut up!” said Jack. “We’re trying to go to sleep, you tiresome bird!’
“I hope Huffin and Puffin stay with us,” said Lucy-Ann. “Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could take them home with us?”
“Shut up!” said Kiki, and cackled.
“Parrots are not allowed to say that,” said Jack severely, and sat up to tap her on her beak. But she had promptly put her head under her wing, so he couldn’t.
“Artful creature,” said Jack, and heard a faint “Pah!” from under Kiki’s wing.
Just as Lucy-Ann was falling off to sleep, the others sat up so suddenly that she was jerked awake. “What’s the matter?” she began. And then she knew.
The engine of the other motor-boat was going again. Lucy-Ann sat up with the others, her eyes straining through the darkness.
“They must have found Horace, heard his report, and all have gone back on board,” said Jack. “They are evidently not going to spend the night here. Look — here they come — gosh, they’ve got their lights on this time.”
“Jack — Jack! They’ll be going back to their headquarters,” said Philip urgently. “Let’s follow them. Get the anchor up, quick. They won’t hear our engine because theirs makes such a row. Come on, let’s follow them! They’ll take us to where Bill is!”
The men’s motor-boat swung round when it had come from the channel, and headed out to sea. It was not long before the children’s set off in its wake. They could not hear the other boat’s engine because of their own, and they knew that theirs would not be heard by the men for the same reason.
Huffin and Puffin were still on the deck-rail. Clearly they meant to go wherever the children went. Lucy-Ann thought it was nice to have such staunch, loyal friends, even if they were only puffins. Kiki was on Jack s shoulder again, her beak to the breeze.
“All aboard,” she kept saying. “All aboard. Pah!”
The first boat sped along quickly. It was easy to follow because of its lights. The children stood with their noses to the wind in silence. Lucy-Ann spoke first.
“This adventure is getting more adventurous,” she said. “Oh dear — it really is!”
Chapter 23
THE SECRET LAGOON
FOR a long time the two boats sped across the sea. “It’s the Sea of Adventure!” Lucy-Ann thought. “Anything might happen here. Oh, I do hope we find Bill. Things always seem right when he’s with us.”
“You girls had better have a nap,” said Jack at last. “You’ll be tired out. Philip and I will keep awake and take turns at the wheel. You snuggle down and go to sleep.”
So they did, and it wasn’t long before both girls were asleep and dreaming of swings and hammocks, because of the swinging, swaying motion of the boat they were in.
After a good long time, Jack spoke to Philip. “Tufty — do you see that light flashing over there? It must be a signal of some sort, I should think. The boat in front is heading towards it. I hope we’re soon coming to our journey’s end, because the moon will be up soon, and we might be seen.”
“That light must be a guide to the boat — or perhaps to an aeroplane,” said Philip. “Blow, here comes the moon! — out of that bank of clouds. Well, she’s not very bright, that’s one good thing.”
By the light of the moon the boys could see an island looming up in front of the boats. To the left was another island, two or three miles away from the first, or so it seemed to the boys.
“Look here, Jack — we don’t want to drive right into the jaws of danger,” said Philip, “which is what we shall do if we follow the first boat right up to that island it’s heading for. I think it would be better to go to that other one, yonder, look — we could probably see enough in the moonlight to make out a cove to land in. We could pull this boat into safety between us.”
“Right,” said Jack, swinging the wheel round. Now they were no longer following the first boat. It was soon out of sight, and was probably by now safely in some little harbour. Their own boat headed for the further island. By the time they got there their eyes were used to the moonlight, and they could see everything fairly clearly.
“Doesn’t seem very rocky,” said Jack, nosing in gently. “No — all sand and fine shingle. I’ll run her straight up this beach, Philip. Be ready to jump out as soon as she stops.”
The girls awoke and scrambled out of their wraps. Jack ran the boat straight up the shingly beach. It drove into the fine shingle and stopped. Philip sprang out.
“Can’t shift her at all,” he panted, when he and the others had tried to pull the boat further up. “Let’s chuck out the anchor and let her be. It’s nearly low tide now, so we’ll just paddle out and drop the anchor, and give the boat a push — it will be quite all right then, if the sea keeps calm.”
The boys did this and they lay on the shingle to get their breath. They were both very tired. They almost fell asleep as they lay there.
“Come on, boys,” said Dinah, at last. “Bring some rugs and find a sheltered place somewhere. You’re half asleep.”
“Well, we’re safe till the morning anyway,” said Jack, as he stumbled up the beach with the others, almost asleep as he walked. “Nobody knows we’re here. Another bird-island, I suppose.”
They came to a low cliff. Lucy-Ann saw a dark cave at the foot. “Put your torch on,” she called to Philip. “We might be able to sleep here.”
It proved to be a small cave, with a soft, dry sandy floor. It smelt a little of seaweed, but nobody minded that. They dragged their rugs in, and flung themselves down. Huffin and Puffin squatted at the opening of the cave, as if they had put themselves on guard.
Almost before their heads touched the rugs the boys were asleep. The girls followed suit, and soon there was nothing to be heard but tiny snores from Jack, who was flat on his back. Kiki examined his face in the darkness to find out why her beloved Jack was making such queer little noises, then decided they weren’t worth bothering about. She sat herself down in the middle of his tummy and went to sleep too.
The next morning Huffin and Puffin walked over to Philip and stood heavily on him. “Arrrr!” they said, meaning “Come on, wake up!”
Philip awoke. “Get off,” he said. “Don’t copy Kiki’s bad ways, Huffin and Puffin. Oh, I say — thanks for the fish — but don’t put them all over my chest, Huffin!”
Huffin had been diving for fish. He now deposited them carefully on Philip, opened and shut his mouth a few times, and made his one and only remark, in a deep and satisfied voice. “Arrrrrrrrrrr!”