The Ship of Adventure Page 7

  ‘Stop it, Kiki, bad bird!’ cried Jack. ‘I’ll tie your beak up, I will! Bad bird, naughty Polly!’

  ‘Happy returns,’ said Kiki, speaking to Philip and ignoring Jack. She made a sound like a cork being popped out of a bottle, and then another noise like the gurgling of a liquid being poured out.

  ‘She wants a drink,’ said Jack. ‘Sorry, old thing. I forgot you’d be hot in here.’ He filled a tooth-glass with water and Kiki sipped it thirstily. Micky came out for a drink too.

  ‘We are awful,’ said Philip. ‘We forgot all about these two in our excitement. There’s always water for them in our cabin, but there isn’t any in the girls’. Poor Kiki, poor Micky!’

  ‘Nit-wit,’ said Kiki politely. She gave a realistic hiccup. ‘Pardon! Micky, Kiki, Micky, Kiki, Micky, Ki—’

  ‘That’s enough,’ said Jack. ‘We don’t think that’s funny. Come along for a walk on deck. We’ll all get some fresh air, and then sleep on our plans.’

  They went up on deck with the parrot and the monkey. The other passengers smiled to see them. They liked the four children and their amusing pets. Kiki gave a hic-cup every time she passed anyone, and immediately said ‘Oh, I say! Pardon!’ She knew that made people laugh, and she loved showing off.

  It was cool on deck in the evening air. The children said very little because they were thinking such a lot. The bottle – the ship – the old map – quartering it – deciphering it – hunting, hunting, hunting for – Andra’s treasure!

  Down in their cabins that night they all found it very difficult to go to sleep. They tossed and turned, wishing they could get cool. Micky and Kiki were on the porthole sill for coolness. The boys had it open always now, because neither of the pets showed any sign of wanting to go out of the big round opening.

  Lucy-Ann lay thinking in her bed. She had the old familiar feeling of growing excitement and anticipation, mixed with a little dread. She knew that feeling! It was the one she got when an adventure was beginning. She called softly to Dinah.

  ‘Dinah! Are you asleep? Listen – do you think we’re beginning one of our adventures again? Do, do say we’re not!’

  ‘Well, if we are, whose fault will it be?’ came back Dinah’s voice, very wide awake. ‘Who bought that ship?’

  ‘I did,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘Ye s – if we plunge headlong into an adventure this time, it’ll be all because I bought the little ship – the Ship of Adventure!’

  9

  The secret of the Ship of Adventure

  When the morning came, the boys began to realize the difficulties in front of them concerning the strange document they had got hold of. The matter did not seem half so easy to tackle or a quarter so straightforward as they had imagined the night before.

  Things the boys had pooh-poohed, such as Mrs Mannering’s objections, suddenly seemed very awkward indeed. In fact the whole idea lost its rosy glow and seemed to recede into the realm of the impossible. It was very disappointing.

  But when they got out the map again, which Philip had carefully put into an envelope and kept under his pillow all night long, the excitement of the night before swept over them once more. Somehow they must get the map deciphered, they must find out for certain if it was genuine – and then, who knew what might happen?

  They made their plans. The map must be carefully cut into quarters. Each quarter must be placed in a small envelope, which in turn should be put into one a little larger. Each child must secrete his bit of the map either about his or her person or in the cabin.

  That was the first thing to do. Then one of them must take his quarter to Mr Eppy and see what he said. Not the bit with the name of the island on, of course, but one of the other pieces.

  ‘And Lucy-Ann mustn’t come with us when we ask him,’ said Philip. ‘Because if he asks us straight out where we originally got the paper we can all say truthfully we don’t know – but Lucy-Ann can’t say that – and she’d blush or something and give the game away.’

  ‘I should not,’ said Lucy-Ann, who did not want to miss any of the excitement.

  ‘You would. You’re such a truthful person,’ said Philip. ‘Don’t look like that, Lucy-Ann – it’s a very nice thing to be, and we wouldn’t have you any different. It’s only that this is important, and it just might spoil things if you show there’s something up.’

  ‘All right,’ said Lucy-Ann with a sigh. ‘Perhaps you’re right. I do wish Mr Eppy would take off his sunglasses sometimes – I just don’t know what he’s really like if I can’t see his eyes.’

  ‘I should think he’s all right, except that he’s a bit short-tempered,’ said Jack. ‘He’s nice to his wife, and he’s always very polite to Aunt Allie. Of course, he’s pretty awful to Lucian – but then if we had poor old Rabbit for a nephew we’d be pretty awful to him too.’

  ‘We are now, sometimes,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘Like when we go on and on and on at him to have a swim in the ship’s pool when we know he’s scared stiff of the water.’

  ‘It’s only to see what excuse he’ll think up each time,’ said Jack. ‘He’s a marvel at excuses.’

  ‘Well – what about this map – when shall we take it to Mr Eppy?’ asked Philip. ‘And if he says it’s genuine, what do we do next? Is there anyone else on the ship we can ask about the next bit of the map?’

  ‘Yes – there’s the deck steward,’ said Dinah. ‘He’s Greek. He could decipher it all right, I should think. And there’s that little Greek woman who keeps the shop on the promenade deck – she’d be able to do a bit too, I expect.’

  ‘Yes. We’re getting on!’ said Philip, pleased. ‘We ll – what about doing a bit of snipping?’

  ‘I’ve got some very, very sharp scissors,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘They’re in my cabin. I’ll go and get them. And I’ll see what Micky and Kiki are doing there at the same time – up to some mischief, I expect!’

  ‘Well, we couldn’t have them here while we get out the map,’ said Jack. ‘Micky might quite well make a grab at it and throw it out of the porthole, like he did yesterday with the postcard I’d just written!’

  ‘What a horrible thought!’ said Dinah. She visualized their precious map sailing away out of the porthole and she got up to shut it. ‘Just in case,’ she said, and the boys laughed.

  Lucy-Ann went to get her scissors. She was a long time coming back, and the others got impatient. ‘What is she doing? She’s been ages.’

  When Lucy-Ann came back she had Kiki with her. ‘I had to bring her,’ she said. ‘She had got Micky into a corner, and she was dancing in front of him from one leg to another – you know how she does when she’s cross – and she was growling terrifically just like a dog. Poor Micky was scared stiff. I just had to stay and comfort him a bit.’

  ‘What you mean is, you stayed and had a good game with them both,’ grumbled Jack. ‘Keeping us waiting all this time. Where are the scissors?’

  ‘Blow! I left them behind after all!’ said Lucy-Ann, and departed again in a hurry, looking rather red. She came back immediately, with the scissors in her hand. Kiki was now contentedly perched on her beloved Jack’s shoulder, singing something that sounded like ‘Humpty-Dumpty, three blind mice’ over and over again in a very quiet little voice. She knew she had been naughty.

  Jack took the scissors and, very carefully and solemnly, cut the precious document in half. The parchment crackled as he cut it. The others held their breath and watched.

  Then Jack cut the halves into half again, and there, on the boys’ dressing table, lay the four pieces – four exciting parts of a rare and unique document – if it was what the children imagined it to be!

  ‘Now for small envelopes and then a bit larger ones,’ said Dinah. She rummaged in the boys’ writing cases and produced four fairly strong little envelopes. Each bit of the map was carefully slipped into one. Then four bigger envelopes were found, and the small envelopes were slipped into those. Good! The first step was taken.

  ‘We can easily paste the four bits together once we h
ave got all the pieces deciphered,’ said Philip. ‘Now – what’s the best time to interview Mr Eppy – and exactly how shall we set about it?’

  ‘It would be quite a good time now, ’ said Jack. ‘He’s usually up in his deckchair – and he’ll probably be awake because it’s not long after breakfast!’

  ‘I say – are we to tell Lucian anything about this?’ said Lucy-Ann.

  ‘Don’t be silly! Of course not!’ said Jack. ‘I wouldn’t trust old Lucian with anything. His uncle has only got to bark a few words at him and he’d tell him everything he knew – and a lot more that he didn’t , besides.’

  It was decided that Jack’s bit should be the one presented to Mr Eppy. It had not the name ‘Andra’ on it, neither had it the name of the island, so far as they could tell. It had one part of the island, with a few obscure hieroglyphics.

  ‘What are hiero-something-or-other?’ asked Lucy-Ann when Jack used the word. ‘It sounds like a medicine or something!’

  ‘Hieroglyphics? Well – these squiggly marks that we don’t understand,’ said Jack. ‘Marks that stand for words. Secret symbols, perhaps.’

  ‘Secret symbols – it sounds thrilling,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘Now – where shall I hide my bit?’

  ‘Not in your writing case or anywhere obvious like that, Lucy-Ann,’ said Philip. ‘I know where I’m going to hide mine.’

  ‘Where?’ asked the others, and watched as Philip rose and went to his dressing table. It was fixed to the wall, of course – every bit of furniture in the cabins was fixed either to the wall or to the floor, so that it would not move if the ship rolled. Between the wall and the dressing table was a thin space, no more than a crack. Philip bent down and slid his envelope into this crack.

  ‘There!’ he said. ‘No one will dust there – it’s absolutely hidden between the bottom of the dressing table and the wall. Where will you put yours, Jack?’

  ‘I’ll keep it on me,’ said Jack. ‘My shorts have got a thin lining. I’ll take out a few stitches so that I can slip my bit in. I’ll pin it up afterwards. But I shan’t hide mine yet, because I’ve got to show it to Mr Eppy.’

  Dinah had thought of a really excellent place. She took the others to the cabin. Behind the electric fan was a panel of wood to which it was fixed. She slid her envelope neatly into the crack between the panel and the wall of the cabin. It hid it completely. She had had to turn off the fan to use the hiding place, of course – now she turned it on again, and the others voted her hiding place as first class – no one would ever think there was anything hidden behind an electric fan that whirred round and round all day and night!

  ‘Good for you!’ said Jack. ‘Now what about Lucy-Ann?’

  ‘Think of somewhere that Micky can’t get at,’ warned Philip. ‘He’s watching you. He can’t get Dinah’s piece because he’s afraid of the fan. He’d never dare to explore behind it!’

  ‘Could I slip it under the carpet?’ said Lucy-Ann.

  ‘No,’ said Jack. ‘The stewardess might feel it there when she was doing the carpet and get it out.’

  ‘Well – I know – what about at the back of a drawer space?’ said Lucy-Ann. She pulled out one of the drawers in her dressing table and set it on the floor. She got a drawing pin from her pencil box and pinned the precious envelope to the very back of the drawer-space.

  ‘There!’ she said. ‘No one can possibly see it’s there unless they pull the drawer right out – and why should they do that?’

  ‘Yes. That’s fine,’ said Jack, and the others approved too. ‘Micky’s not strong enough to pull the drawer out, even if he wants to. Now, what about going and tackling Mr Eppy?’

  ‘Right. Lucy-Ann, you go up to the deck-tennis place with Lucian whilst we talk to his uncle,’ said Philip. ‘Then you’ll both be out of the way.’

  Lucy-Ann went off to find Lucian. He was mooning about by himself, wondering where they all were. He was delighted to see Lucy-Ann, and agreed at once to have a game with her. He liked her the best of the four – probably because he felt she didn’t make fun of him as much as the others.

  ‘Well, they’re disposed of all right,’ said Jack, watching them go up the steps to the sports deck. ‘Come on. We’ll make for the deckchairs. Kiki, do decide which of my shoulders you want to sit on – this flapping to and fro is most uncomfortable!’

  ‘I wish you’d have Micky for an hour or two,’ groaned Philip. ‘He’s like a hot-water bottle by my right ear this morning.’

  The passengers watched the three children with their parrot and monkey as they passed by. They had got used to them by now, and enjoyed the antics of the two pets. Mrs Mannering was on the watch for them.

  ‘I wondered where you’d got to,’ she said. ‘Where’s Lucy-Ann?’

  ‘Playing with Lucian,’ said Jack. He sat down by Mrs Mannering. Mrs Eppy and her husband were the other side of her. Jack spoke loudly so that his voice would carry well.

  ‘I’ve got an unusual thing here,’ he said. ‘An old, old document, I should think. Do you suppose Mr Eppy would be kind enough to look at it for me, Aunt Allie?’

  ‘Well, ask him!’ said Mrs Mannering. ‘He’s here.’

  10

  Hiding places

  Philip and Dinah were sitting on the edge of the same deck chair together, next to Mrs Mannering’s. Jack was on the foot-end of her chair, with his bit of paper. They all looked very innocent and unconcerned.

  ‘I don’t really like to bother Mr Eppy now, ’ said Jack. ‘He’s reading.’

  Mrs Eppy heard. She tapped her husband on the arm. ‘Paul,’ she said. ‘Jack wants to ask you something.’

  Mr Eppy knew that perfectly well, but he had pretended not to hear. He looked up.

  ‘Very well,’ he said grudgingly. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Just some old bit of paper we found,’ said Philip, joining in. ‘Probably quite uninteresting. We can’t understand anything on it, of course.’

  ‘It mayn’t be old at all,’ said Jack, flipping his bit with his thumb.

  ‘It looks old,’ said Mrs Mannering, getting interested. ‘Where did you get it?’

  ‘I don’t really know – picked it up somewhere on one of the islands we visited,’ said Jack. ‘Do you know exactly where, Dinah?’

  ‘No,’ said Dinah truthfully. ‘I’ve no idea.’

  ‘Nor have I,’ said Philip.

  ‘Pass it over,’ said Mr Eppy, sounding rather bored. His wife passed him the piece of parchment. He took it and glanced at it, meaning to pass it back with a scornful remark. What did these children know about old things? Nothing! It was probably a bit of an old letter, blown about by the wind, that they had picked up in the street. Or maybe they had bought something and this was part of the paper it was wrapped in. Mr Eppy looked at it and opened his mouth to say something contemptuous.

  But he did not say a word. He went on looking and looking at the paper. Finally he took his dark glasses off and looked at it without them.

  ‘Er – is it genuinely old, sir?’ asked Jack at last, not able to wait any longer.

  Mr Eppy did not answer. He was feeling in his pocket for something. He took out a little black case and undid it. Inside was a strong magnifying glass set in an eyepiece that could be screwed into the eye – something like watch repairers wear when repairing watches. Mr Eppy screwed the glass into his eye like an enormous monocle, and once more bent over Jack’s piece of parchment.

  He looked for a very long time. The children waited, almost breathless. Why didn’t he speak? Why was he such ages? It was mean of him!

  At last Mr Eppy took the eyepiece out of his eye and looked at the children. They got a shock because they had never seen his eyes without dark glasses before. He had not nice eyes at all! They were decidedly cold. One was blue and the other was dark brown. Dinah felt a little shiver down her back. How very, very peculiar! She couldn’t help staring at him, looking first at one dark-blue eye and then at the other dark-brown one. Wa s one false? No – how silly! –
he would have eyes that matched if one was false.

  ‘Well,’ said Mr Eppy, and paused as if he was thinking what was best to say. ‘It’s – er – quite interesting. Er . . .’

  ‘But is it genuinely old, Mr Eppy?’ insisted Jack. ‘That’s what we want to know.’

  ‘The parchment isn’t all here,’ said Mr Eppy, and his eyes glanced from one to the other of the children. ‘This is only a piece of it. And judging by the edges of the parchment it has been recently cut. Rather odd that, don’t you think so?’

  This was most unexpected. Jack answered at once, feeling that there must be no pause which might give them away.

  ‘Gosh – how very strange! Well, I suppose we’ve just got hold of one bit, sir. Er – I wonder who’s got the rest of it.’

  ‘So do I,’ said Mr Eppy, looking at Jack and swinging his eyepiece to and fro on his finger. ‘I should be very, very interested to know. ’

  ‘Why, sir?’ asked Philip, looking perfectly innocent, much to Dinah’s admiration.

  ‘Well – I can’t tell much from this one piece,’ said Mr Eppy. ‘It would be a help to have the rest.’

  ‘What can you tell, Mr Eppy?’ asked Dinah.

  He looked at her with his odd eyes. ‘I can tell that it shows part of an island,’ he said. ‘An interesting island – with some secret on it. I could perhaps tell what the whole secret is if I had the other bit of the parchment.’

  ‘What a pity you haven’t got it, sir,’ said Jack, holding out his hand for his piece.

  ‘Where did you say you found this?’ said Mr Eppy, snapping out the question so suddenly that the children jumped.

  ‘We didn’t say – because we don’t know,’ said Jack, at once.

  Mr Eppy frowned. He put his dark glasses on again, and became the familiar, rather puzzling man they knew, with his peculiar eyes completely hidden.

  ‘I’ll keep this parchment for a while,’ he said, and actually took out a wallet to place it there.