“Well . . .” said Jack, “you see — we had the choice of making for safety — or trying to find you. And we chose to try and find you, Bill. Even Lucy-Ann voted for that.”
There was a silence. Then Bill put his big arms all round the huddled-up four and gave them such a hug that Lucy-Ann gasped.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Bill, in a queer sort of voice. “You’re only kids — but you’re the finest company of friends anyone could have. You know the meaning of loyalty already, and even if you’re scared you don’t give up. I’m proud to have you for my friends.”
“Oh, Bill!” said Lucy-Ann, tremendously thrilled to hear such a speech from her hero. “You ore nice. You’re our very very best friend, and you always will be.”
“Always,” said Dinah.
The boys said nothing, but they glowed inwardly at Bill’s praise. Friendship — loyalty — staunchness in face of danger — they and Bill both knew these things and recognised them for the fine things they were. They felt very close to Bill indeed.
“Look!” said Lucy-Ann suddenly. “The dawn! Over there, in the east. Oh, Bill — I wonder what’s going to happen today?”
Chapter 29
BILL MAKES A GRAND FIND
THE sky grew silvery in the east. Then a golden glow spread slowly upwards, and the sea became a milky colour that gradually turned to gold.
Almost at once there came a crying of sea-birds as guillemots, gannets, cormorants, puffins and gulls came from their roosting-places to greet the new day. Soon the sea around the children was dotted thickly with hundreds of birds eagerly seeking fish for food. Huffin and Puffin joined.
Jack gave an exclamation as he looked all round him. “This isn’t the lagoon-island. There were no rocky cliffs to it like this, facing the sea. This is another island we’ve come to!”
“Yes, it is,” said Philip. “One I don’t remember to have seen before. Blow! Where are we?”
“I should think it must be the island we once noticed on the chart,” said Lucy-Ann, remembering. “The Isle of Wings. Just look at the mass of birds on the waters round us! It’s more than we’ve ever seen before!”
“Extraordinary!” said Bill, amazed. “There must be millions of birds. Some of them are so close that they bob against each other.”
Not only the sea was full of birds, but the air too, and the screaming and calling was deafening. Soon one bird after another flew up from the water with fish in its beak. Huffin flew to the boat and presented Philip with his usual beakful of neatly arranged fish.
“Kiki’s very quiet,” said Philip, looking at her. “What’s the matter with her? Kiki, put up your crest, you ridiculous bird!”
“Send for the doctor,” said Kiki mournfully. Jack looked at her closely. Then he gave an exclamation.
“She’s lost some of her crest! She’s hardly got any! Oh Bill — that’s what she screeched for last night! A bullet must have zipped through her crest — right through her top-knot — and taken some of the feathers off with it!”
“Poor Polly, poor Polly, what a pity, what a pity!” said Kiki, glad to be the centre of attention.
“Yes, poor old Kiki!” said Jack, and he fondled her. “What a shock you must have got! No wonder you screeched. Never mind, old thing — the crest will grow again. You’ll look a bit mangy for a while, but we shan’t mind.”
Bill had been looking to see exactly what had happened to the boat. It had run on to a shelf of rock, and had settled there so firmly that until high tide came there was no hope of getting off. They were not on the mainland of the island, but on an outcrop of tall rocks, hung with thick seaweed, and inhabited by about two hundred or more birds. They did not seem to mind the boat and its load of people in the least. In fact, seeing Huffin and Puffin perched there, some of the birds came on deck too. Jack was thrilled.
“I don’t think the boat’s damaged at all,” said Bill. “Once she gets afloat again with the tide, she’ll be all right. But the thing is — what in the world are we going to do if she does get afloat?”
“Row to safety,” said Lucy-Ann promptly.
“Sounds easy,” said Jack scornfully. “But you don’t realise what a wild and desolate sea this is, Lucy-Ann, or how few people ever come to these little bird-islands. We couldn’t possibly row to the mainland, for instance, could we, Bill?”
“No. I don’t think so,” said Bill. “I’m glad to see we’ve got a good store of food. That’s something. But what about drinking-water?”
“We’ll have to drink pineapple juice or something like that,” said Dinah. “And if it rains we’ll catch rain-water.”
“What is the best thing to do?” said Bill, talking to himself, with a frown. “They’ll be looking for us, I expect. They’ll know we couldn’t get far. They’ll send out patrols — probably even an aeroplane. They can’t afford to let me get away now.”
The children knew that “they” meant the enemy. Dinah looked all round them. “If the enemy do come round this island, they can’t help seeing us. We’d be spotted at once in our boat.”
“Well — we’ll make up our minds what to do when the boat’s afloat again,” said Bill at last. “What about a spot of sleep? Lucy-Ann is looking as white as a sheet. She’s had no sleep at all.”
“I do feel awfully sleepy,” admitted Lucy-Ann, trying not to yawn. “But I feel dirty and sticky too.”
“Let’s have a quick dip in the sea, and then have a snooze,” said Jack. “We can take it in turn to keep watch for the enemy.”
“I don’t want a dip,” said Dinah. “I’m too sleepy. You three and Bill have a dip, and I’ll make up our beds again and get the rugs and things set out comfortably.”
“I’ll help you,” said Lucy-Ann. “I’m too tired to bathe.”
Bill and the boys soon slipped into the water. The girls watched them. “You know,” said Lucy-Ann, after a while, “it’s almost impossible to see the boys and Bill among all those birds bobbing about. Once I lose sight of them I can’t spot them again.”
It was quite true. There were so many birds bobbing about on the water that the boys’ wet dark heads, and Bill’s, could hardly be picked out from the crowd.
“Let’s tell Bill when they come back,” said Dinah, a sudden idea sliding into her head. “I bet if we all slid into the water if the enemy came, nobody would ever spot us among the birds there.”
“No, they wouldn’t,” agreed Lucy-Ann. “It would be a marvellous idea, Dinah!”
They told the others when they came back, glowing from their bathe. Bill nodded, pleased. “Yes — a fine idea. If the enemy comes in sight, that’s what we’ll do. Our heads would be completely lost among the bodies of the swimming birds.”
“What about the boat though?” said Jack.
“We could do what we did for ourselves, when we were on the rocks beside the lagoon,” said Philip. “Drape it with seaweed so that it looked like a rock!”
“You’re full of bright ideas, you kids,” said Bill. “Whilst you’re all having a snooze I’ll do a little boat-draping. If the enemy come, they’ll come soon. They won’t waste many hours before they try to find us. I’ll wake you if I see or hear any sign of them, and you must all be prepared to drop over the side of the boat. Better sleep in your undies, so that you don’t wet all your clothes. Your bathing-suits are wet.”
“Ours aren’t,” said Lucy-Ann. “Oh dear — I’m so awfully sleepy. I do hope the enemy don’t come yet. I’m not at all sure I shall wake up if they do!”
Bill tucked them all up in rugs. They were asleep in a moment or two, tired out. Bill began to do a little boat-draping. He pulled great fronds of seaweed off the nearby rocks and hung them over the boat-sides, till the little vessel looked like a boat-shaped rock.
Having finished his task, Bill sat down in the cabin. He idly removed a cover from something there — and then stared in surprise.
A wireless! Was it a transmitter too? Surely Horace going off all alone into the wilds, would have had the sense to take a transmitter with him, in case he got hurt, or became ill? With trembling hands Bill began to examine the wireless.
He gave a loud exclamation that woke up Jack. The boy sat up in alarm. “Is it the enemy, Bill?”
“No. But look here — why on earth didn’t you tell me there was a wireless in this boat? I can get a message through, with luck.”