The Ship of Adventure Read online

  ‘Jack! She’s never said that before,’ said Mrs Mannering reproachfully. ‘You must just have taught her!’

  ‘Kiki only reads my thoughts, Aunt Allie,’ laughed Jack. ‘I say – look here – here comes Brer Rabbit!’

  The children giggled as they watched a tall, gangling boy come up the gangway. His mouth certainly was exactly like a rabbit’s . The front teeth stuck out, and his chin sloped backwards. He was about as old as Jack and Philip. He wore large, round glasses that magnified his eyes and made them look rather staring. He had a very amiable grin on his face as he came up the gangway.

  He seemed very excited, and was talking in a mixture of English and some foreign language to a rather languid-looking lady behind him and a short, burly man who wore dark sunglasses that completely hid his eyes.

  ‘Uncle, Aunt, we’re off at last! Oh, I say, what a magnificent ship! I’m sure I shan’t be seasick in her.’ Then he went off into what sounded like a string of gibberish but was really a foreign language. Kiki cocked her head when she heard this string of what sounded to her like complete nonsense.

  As the boy passed she spoke to him in a conversational tone, pouring out the same kind of gibberish that she had heard. The boy looked at her in amazement.

  ‘Oh, I say! A talking parrot. Oh, I say!’

  ‘Oh, I say!’ repeated Kiki immediately. ‘Oh, I say! Oh, I SAY!’

  ‘Shut up, Kiki. Don’t be rude,’ said Jack.

  Micky leaned forward on Philip’s shoulder and sent out a stream of excited chattering to Kiki. The boy stared in delight.

  ‘Oh, I say! A talking monkey too! What’s he saying?’

  ‘He says he thinks he’s seen you somewhere before, but he can’t remember where, and he wants to know if Kiki the parrot remembers,’ said Philip solemnly. Lucy-Ann gave a delighted giggle. The boy stared open-mouthed, then he laughed, showing all his big teeth.

  ‘Oh, you’re pulling my leg, aren’t you? But I say – what fun – a parrot that talks, and a tame monkey! Aren’t you lucky!’

  ‘Get on, Lucian, get on,’ said the burly man behind him, and gave the boy a push. Lucian went forward at a run, turning round to give the four children an apologetic grin for leaving them so abruptly. The man said something in an annoyed voice to the woman with him, but as he said it in a foreign language the children didn’t understand a word. They guessed at once, however, that Lucian was not very popular with his uncle!

  ‘Well – if Rabbit is the only boy to come on board here, I suppose he’ll pin himself on to us all day long,’ said Philip. ‘What a weed!’

  ‘Oh, I say!’ said Kiki. Jack groaned.

  ‘Now we shall have Kiki saying that day and night. It’s a good thing Micky can’t talk properly – we’d never get a word in edgeways!’

  The ship sailed off again into waters bluer than ever. It was pleasant to go to the bow of the ship and feel the breeze. Both Kiki and Micky liked this too.

  Just as Jack and Philip had feared, the new boy tagged himself on to them whenever he could. The children always knew when he was coming because Kiki invariably gave them warning.

  ‘Oh, I say!’ she would squawk, and the four would sigh. Lucian again! He would come up grinning amiably, and settle himself beside them.

  He told them all about himself immediately. He had no father or mother. His father had been English, but his mother was Greek, so he had plenty of Greek relations. He went to school in England, but spent most of his holidays with his relations. He was fourteen, nearly fifteen, he didn’t like games, he loved history, and he wished his name wasn’t Lucian.

  ‘Why?’ asked Dinah.

  ‘Well – because the boys at my school change it to Lucy-Ann,’ explained Lucian. ‘I mean – fancy having a name that’s as girlish as that.’

  ‘It’s my name,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘I like it.’

  ‘Well – it’s very nice for you,’ said Lucian. ‘But awful for me. Especially when they shorten it and call me Lucy.’

  ‘Juicy Lucy!’ said Kiki at once in delight. ‘Juicy Lucy! Oh, I say!’

  Everybody roared, even Lucian. Kiki cackled too.

  ‘Juicy Lucy, goosey-Lucy, oh, I say!’ carolled Kiki.

  ‘Oh, I say, really – that bird of yours is a regular comic, isn’t she?’ said Lucian in admiration. ‘Gosh, I wish I could borrow her to take back to school. I say, do you take her to school with you?’

  ‘I used to,’ said Jack regretfully. ‘But she kept telling our form-master to wipe his feet and shut the door, and when she yelled out “Don’t sniff, use your hanky” to the Head, well, that was about the end.’

  ‘Do you remember how you put her in a cupboard once, to hide her in class – and she went off like fireworks, fizzling and popping and exploding?’ said Philip with a grin. ‘It was just after Guy Fawkes Day – she remembered the noises.’

  Lucian listened in the greatest admiration, his wide mouth open as if he listened with that as well as with his ears.

  ‘Oh, I say! What happened?’

  ‘Well – we exploded too!’ said Philip. ‘And after that, the master did – in a different way, of course. We had to put Kiki out to live with someone in the village. We go to see her every day, naturally, and have her on half-holidays and weekends.’

  ‘And she always goes to every school match and cheers like anything – doesn’t she, Jack?’ said Lucy-Ann.

  ‘She’s a wonder,’ said Lucian. ‘Let me have her for a minute.’

  ‘Look out – she won’t go to strangers,’ warned Jack. But Lucian was already trying to get hold of the wonderful parrot. He soon let her go. She gave him a vicious nip with her curved beak, and he yelled. To Lucy-Ann’s amazement she saw tears in his eyes!

  He turned and went off without a word, sucking his bleeding thumb. The others looked at one another.

  ‘He was crying,’ said Lucy-Ann, in sheer amazement that a boy of fourteen should do such a thing.

  ‘He’s a nitwit,’ said Jack, trying to calm down Kiki, who had put up her crest tremendously, and was dancing angrily from one foot to another.

  ‘Nit-wit,’ said Kiki, pouncing on the word at once, ‘Nit-wit, wit-nit, tit-bit, bit-nit, oh, I say!’

  ‘You’re a bad bird, nipping people like that,’ scolded Jack. ‘That was a nasty nip.’

  ‘Nip-wit,’ announced Kiki.

  ‘Yes, that’s about what you are – a nip-wit!’ said Jack with a chuckle. ‘Now don’t you start, Micky! We’ve had enough rudery from Kiki.’

  Micky had started off on one of his long strings of excited gibberish. It was comical to see how seriously and solemnly Kiki listened to this, with her head on one side.

  She answered the little monkey gravely when he had finished his excited announcement, whatever it was.

  ‘Rikky-likky-acky, icky, pop-pop-pop!’ she said. The children roared. ‘She thinks she’s talking his language. Good old Kiki! You can’t get the better of her,’ said Philip. ‘I’m glad she’s more friendly with Micky now. He’s such a dear.’

  ‘He’s getting awfully mischievous, though,’ said Dinah, who now thought of the monkey much more kindly. ‘He went into a dozen cabins yesterday, and collected all the soaps out of the basins and put them in one of the armchairs in the lounge.’

  ‘Gracious!’ said Jack. ‘He’ll be getting into trouble soon.’

  ‘You mean we shall,’ said Philip. ‘I wish we could teach Kiki to keep an eye on Micky for us – but she encourages him. I’m sure it was Kiki who told the monkey to climb up the mast to the man in the crow’s-nest there and give him an awful fright.’

  ‘Micky’s a dear,’ said Lucy-Ann, and she tickled him under his furry chin. He looked at her with wise, sad eyes. Lucy-Ann knew he was very happy now, but she was always worried because he looked at her sorrowfully. She only half believed Philip when he told her that all monkeys looked sad.

  ‘There’s the gong for lunch,’ said Dinah thankfully. ‘I feel as if it’s about an hour late today, I’m so hungr
y. Come on, everybody!’

  6

  The tale of Andra’s treasure

  The Viking Star was now going off to cruise among the islands of the Aegean Sea. The water was a beautiful dark blue, and the children thought it was the nicest part of the trip, seeing the islands loom up out of the purple-blue sea.

  Lucian proved himself quite useful here, because he knew that part of the sea very well. He was able to tell them about the different islands, and he was full of exciting stories of old pirates and robberies at sea, and the taking of treasure.

  ‘See that island we’re coming to,’ he said. ‘That’s Oupos. It’s only small, but it’s got an old castle on it with one of the biggest dungeons in the world. The old sailors used to take prisoners at sea, and sail to Oupos, and dump their prisoners in the dungeons. Sometimes they left them there for years – till they were old men.’

  ‘How horrible!’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘Have you been on Oupos?’

  ‘Yes, once,’ said Lucian. ‘I saw the holes for the dungeons too. Nearly fell down one myself.’

  ‘What do you mean – holes for the dungeons?’ asked Philip.

  ‘Well – the yard of the old castle was pitted with holes – deep, very deep holes,’ explained Lucian. ‘And when a prisoner was landed on the island he was dragged to the great yard and popped down the nearest hole. He fell down, down into the dungeons below, and joined the other prisoners there.’

  ‘How awful! Couldn’t he get out again?’ asked Jack in horror.

  ‘No. The only way out was up the steep, deep holes,’ said Lucian. ‘No one could climb up those.’

  ‘But how were the prisoners fed?’ asked Philip.

  ‘Easy,’ said Lucian. ‘The guards just went to the holes each day and tipped food down.’

  ‘I don’t know whether to believe that or not,’ said Jack.

  ‘I tell you I’ve been on the island and seen the holes,’ insisted Lucian. ‘Of course, the dungeons aren’t used now – the yard is all overgrown, and you can hardly see the dungeon holes. That’s how I nearly fell down one.’

  ‘Would you have been there till you were old?’ asked Lucy-Ann.

  ‘Of course not. My uncle would have got a rope and hauled me up,’ said Lucian. ‘I should probably have broken my leg, though.’

  ‘Tell us some more tales about these old islands,’ said Jack. ‘I wouldn’t mind visiting one or two!’

  ‘Well, I dare say we could, if I asked my uncle,’ said Lucian surprisingly.

  ‘What do you mean? What’s your uncle got to do with it?’ demanded Philip. ‘You talk as if he owned the islands.’

  ‘He does own quite a few, ’ said Lucian. ‘Didn’t I tell you? It’s a craze of his, I think. He buys this one and that one, explores it thoroughly – and then maybe he gets tired of it and sells it again.’

  The four children looked at Lucian to see if he was telling the truth. It seemed extraordinary to them that anyone should buy and sell islands as if they were cakes or something.

  ‘But – what does he do it for?’ asked Jack. ‘I mean – is he interested in old things – is he looking for antiques or something?’

  ‘He’s very interested in history, ’ said Lucian. ‘Yes, and in old things generally. You should see his house in Athens. He’s got the most marvellous collection of things from these old islands. He’s crazy about them.’

  The children thought about Lucian’s uncle. They could not tell if he was crazy or not. He seemed an ordinary, rather cross grown-up to them, hard to size up because he always wore dark glasses and they could not see his eyes.

  ‘You don’t know what people are thinking if you can’t see their eyes,’ Lucy-Ann said, and it was true.

  ‘I expect I get my liking for history from my uncle,’ said Lucian. ‘I’m always top in that. Bottom in everything else, of course. And I loathe games.’

  ‘Yes, you’ve told us that before,’ said Jack.

  ‘But only about fifteen times,’ put in Dinah.

  ‘Oh, I say!’ said Lucian. ‘Sorry! It’s just that I do detest them so much.’

  ‘Sixteen times,’ said Lucy-Ann.

  ‘Goosey-Lucy,’ remarked Kiki – very aptly, the children thought. They grinned at one another, Lucian was a goose – a silly, credulous, aggravating, tiresome goose, a nitwit and a rabbit – but he was quite harmless and sometimes really amusing.

  ‘To come back to your uncle,’ said Jack. ‘Do you honestly mean he owns some of these exciting islands?’

  ‘Oh, yes. He doesn’t own Oupos now. But he owns the one we’ll soon be passing. That’ll be Helios. He’s about finished with it now, though. He sent his men there to dig and explore, but they didn’t find much.’

  ‘What did they find?’ asked Lucy-Ann with interest.

  ‘Let me see – they found three magnificent vases, but that was about all,’ said Lucian. ‘They were cracked, of course – they nearly always are, it seems to me. He found a pair of daggers too – frightfully old I think those were. And he got a lot of rubbish too – you know, bits of broken crockery, pieces of jewellery not worth anything – oh, yes, and he got a little carving of a goose. He gave it to me.’

  ‘Goosey-Lucy,’ put in Kiki again. She appeared to be listening hard to all Lucian’s rigmarole.

  ‘Shut up, Kiki. Don’t interrupt,’ said Jack. ‘Go on, Lucy – I mean Lucian.’

  ‘Oh, I say! Don’t you start calling me that, Jack,’ said Lucian, looking hurt.

  ‘Don’t be an ass. Get on with your story, ’ said Jack. He had no patience with Lucian when he began getting hurt, which happened quite a lot.

  ‘Do you know any more stories about the islands?’ asked Lucy-Ann, seeing that Lucian still looked upset.

  ‘Well – there’s the story of the Andra treasure ships,’ said Lucian. ‘That’s supposed to be absolutely true. I’ve heard my uncle tell it many a time.’

  ‘Go on – tell us,’ said Philip, scratching Micky’s back for him as he lay cuddled in the boy’s arms, fast asleep.

  ‘Well, it happened hundreds of years ago,’ began Lucian. ‘I can’t remember the exact date. There was a king called Panlostes who had a kingdom on one of these islands, a large one. I expect you know that most of them had rulers of their own. Well, Panlostes had a son.’

  ‘What was he called?’ asked Lucy-Ann.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Lucian. ‘Anyway this son had an accident when he was small, and he lost one eye and hurt his foot so that he limped. He wanted to marry the daughter of a king on the mainland of Greece, a girl called Andra.’

  ‘But she wouldn’t have him because he was one-eyed and limped, I suppose,’ said Jack. ‘And there was someone else she liked and wanted to marry. ’

  ‘Well – if you know the story . . .’ began Lucian, half annoyed.

  ‘I don’t . But I know lots like it!’ said Jack. ‘Go on.’

  ‘Andra’s father said the girl should marry the one-eyed prince if King Panlostes would send him gold and arms and treasure worth half his kingdom,’ went on Lucian, warming up again. ‘So the King got ready a fleet of ships and stuffed them with riches of all kinds, and one morning they set sail from the island to go to the mainland.’

  Lucy-Ann gazed out over the dark-blue sea, imagining the fleet of small ships, their sails filled with the wind, their holds packed with rich treasure. She heard the sharp commands, the creaking of the old wooden ships, the billowing, flapping noise of the sails. Lucian took another breath and continued.

  ‘Well – the girl Andra sent word to the man she really wanted to marry to tell him about the ships. And he got ready some ships himself and set out to intercept the treasure fleet.’

  ‘Did he find them?’ asked Lucy-Ann.

  ‘Yes, he did. But when he attacked them and finally defeated the fleet – he found no treasure!’

  ‘Gracious! Where had it gone?’ asked Dinah. ‘Had they dumped it into the sea, or something?’

  ‘No. The captain of the fleet had never m
eant to deliver the treasure safely. He had made up his mind to take it to an island he knew of, land it there, hide it safely and come back for it when he could. He meant to tell both Kings that he had been attacked and robbed on the way to the mainland.’

  ‘And he was attacked – but he had hidden the treasure!’ said Jack. ‘What happened next?’

  ‘The captain was killed and so were half the men. The rest of them made off in their ships and scattered far and wide. A search was made for the hidden treasure, but it couldn’t be found.’

  ‘Golly – was nothing more ever heard of it?’ said Philip.

  ‘Oh, yes. Some of the men thought they remembered where the island was where they had landed the treasure one night. They made up an expedition secretly and went to look for it. They quarrelled and fought – and in the end only two or three men were left. One of them had made a rough map.’

  ‘A map of the island? Wa s it ever found?’ asked Dinah in excitement.

  ‘Yes. Years later. A Greek merchantman got hold of it somehow and pored over the old map till he had made some sense out of it. He made up his mind that it could refer to only five out of all the islands in the Aegean Sea – and there are heaps and heaps, you know. So he began to explore them one by one.’

  ‘Did he find the right one?’ asked Lucy-Ann, her eyes shining. ‘This is a lovely story, I think.’

  ‘Yes – the old story says he did find the island – and found out where the treasure was too. But before he could do anything about it, he died.’

  There was a disappointed silence. ‘But who got the treasure then?’ asked Jack.

  ‘Nobody,’ said Lucian. ‘The old merchantman never told a soul. But it’s said that somewhere there’s a copy of the map and plan he made. Goodness knows where! He hid it before he died, or so people say. He lived about a hundred years ago.’