The Ship of Adventure Page 8

  ‘I’d rather you didn’t , sir, if you don’t mind,’ said Jack. ‘I’m going to take it home – er – for the school museum – if it’s genuinely old and all that.’

  ‘Yes, it’s genuine,’ said Mr Eppy dryly. ‘I’ll buy it off you. I’m interested in old things, as you know. ’

  ‘We don’t want to sell it, Mr Eppy,’ said Jack, getting alarmed. ‘It can’t be worth anything, anyway. We want it as a curio.’

  ‘Very well. But I should like to borrow it for a while,’ said Mr Eppy, and he calmly slipped the parchment into his wallet, and put the wallet into his pocket. Then he picked up his book and began to read.

  Jack looked at the others in dismay. He was angry and crestfallen – but what was he to do? He could not snatch Mr Eppy’s wallet and grab his piece of parchment from it. And if he kicked up a terrific fuss, Mrs Mannering would be angry, and Mr Eppy would get suspicious – if he was not suspicious already!

  Philip and Dinah were dumbfounded. The cheek of it – taking their parchment like that! Wo uld he give it back? They wished they had taken a tracing of it. If only they had! Now they might never get back their treasured bit of parchment.

  They got up and went, feeling that they must talk about it. Mr Eppy took no notice of their going. Jack did not dare to say anything more to him, but he glowered at Lucian’s uncle as if he could tear his wallet out of him.

  They went to their cabin. ‘Beast!’ said Jack. ‘Surly fellow! What sauce to pocket our parchment like that!’

  ‘Hope we get it back,’ said Dinah gloomily.

  ‘There’s one thing – we jolly well know it’s old – and genuine – and holds something most interesting to Mr Eppy,’ said Philip, cheering up a little. ‘We do know that. He was quite knocked out when he first looked at it – even had to get that eyepiece arrangement out. I bet he knows it may be part of a treasure plan.’

  ‘I don’t think, somehow, it was a very good idea to take it to Mr Eppy,’ said Dinah. ‘There may be markings on it that tell a man like that – who knows about old things – far more than they would tell anyone else.’

  ‘I hope he doesn’t guess we’ve got the other bits,’ said Jack.

  ‘He does,’ said Philip. ‘I bet he does.’

  Lucy-Ann came bursting into the cabin. ‘Hello!’ she said. ‘How did you get on? I had to stop playing with Lucian because that uncle of his came up and called him. He took him off somewhere.’

  ‘He did, did he?’ said Jack. ‘I suppose he’s going to ask him what he knows, then. Good thing he knows nothing!’

  ‘What happened?’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘You all look rather down in the mouth. Wa sn’t it genuinely old?’

  ‘Yes. But Mr Eppy has taken it and put it into his wallet,’ said Jack. ‘And I bet we don’t get it back!’

  Lucy-Ann was horrified. ‘But why did you let him take it, you idiot!’

  ‘Well, what would you have done? Knocked him off his deckchair, grabbed his wallet and run off with it?’ demanded Jack, going through a performance of knocking somebody down and grabbing something. Kiki was astonished and rose into the air in fright, squawking. She settled on top of the cupboard in alarm. Jack took no notice of her. He was really crestfallen at what had happened – after all their wonderful, careful, clever plans too!

  ‘We’ll just have to hope he gives it back, that’s all,’ said Philip. ‘And if he does, it will probably mean he’s got a very nice copy of it!’

  ‘We’ll have to find out what he has said to Lucian,’ said Jack. ‘He’ll probably tell him to try and pump us about this bit of parchment – and find out if we have the other bits – and where we got the thing from – and when – and where the rest of the plan is.’

  ‘Yes. And we’ll make up a perfectly marvellous tale and stuff him up like anything!’ said Dinah, her eyes sparkling. ‘Come on – let’s think of one! If Mr Eppy’s up to some game, we’ll be up to one too. Now – what shall we say if Lucian pumps us?’

  ‘Well, we said we didn’t know much about it, so perhaps we’d better pretend that Lucy-Ann knows all about it,’ said Jack, looking more cheerful as he considered the idea of pulling Lucian’s leg, and perhaps Mr Eppy’s as well.

  ‘Oh dear,’ said Lucy-Ann in alarm. ‘Have I got to tell a whole lot of fairy tales to Lucian?’

  ‘No. We’ll do that for you,’ said Jack with a grin. ‘Now then – let’s think. How shall we say that Lucy-Ann got hold of that parchment?’

  ‘She was standing on the sports deck one day,’ began Dinah, ‘and she was feeding the gulls that live round about these islands.’

  ‘And a great big gull came up with something in his beak,’ went on Philip. ‘He flew round Lucy-Ann’s head, and . . .’

  ‘Dropped a paper at her feet when he swooped down for bread,’ said Jack. ‘She picked it up and showed it to us – and we thought, aha, only a very clever man like dear Mr Eppy could decipher this strange document handed over by a generous gull . . .’

  ‘And so we took it to show him,’ finished Dinah. She giggled. ‘It’s too silly for words. Lucian will never swallow that.’

  ‘He will. But his uncle won’t !’ grinned Philip. ‘Serve him right. He’ll expect to get the goods from Lucian when he’s pumped us – and he’ll find he’s got rubbish!’

  ‘Well, don’t make me say it,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘I’d go scarlet the whole time.’

  ‘Listen – isn’t that Lucian now?’ said Jack. ‘You go off, Lucy-Ann. Look, take this book, and say you’re taking it to Aunt Allie. Go on. That will get you out of the way. It is Lucian. I know his idiotic humming.’

  Lucy-Ann snatched a book and went to the door. It opened as she got there, and Lucian’s rabbit face came round it.

  ‘Hello, hello!’ he said. ‘Can I come in?’

  ‘Yes, do,’ said Lucy-Ann, squeezing by him. ‘I’m taking this book to Aunt Allie. But the others are here. They’ll love to see you.’

  11

  Lucian in trouble

  ‘Hello, Lucian,’ said Jack. ‘Come in. Have a sweet.’

  ‘Oh, thanks,’ said Lucian, and sat himself down on the bed. He took a large piece of peanut crunch out of the tin Jack offered him. ‘I say – this is jolly good stuff.’

  ‘Like a game of deck tennis?’ asked Philip.

  ‘Er – well – actually I only like playing with Lucy-Ann,’ said Lucian, who was so very bad at the game that even little Lucy-Ann sometimes beat him hollow. ‘Can’t give you others much of a game, you know. I say – my uncle’s been telling me about that bit of parchment you showed him.’

  ‘Has he? What did he say?’said Jack.

  ‘Well, he thinks it may be the genuine goods, all right – but he can’t tell without the other piece or pieces,’ said Lucian, munching away. ‘Oh, I say – look at that monkey. He’s taken an enormous piece of nut crunch!’

  ‘Yes – almost as big as your bit!’ said Dinah, who noticed that Lucian invariably took the largest piece of crunch from the tin.

  ‘Oh, I say – did I really take a big bit?’ said Lucian. ‘Have to watch myself! You never told me about that bit of parchment. Why didn’t you? I’d have liked to see it.’

  ‘Well – it isn’t very important, is it?’ said Philip. ‘I mean – we never thought you’d be interested.’

  ‘Oh, but I am – like anything!’ said Lucian, crunching hard. Micky was crunching too, and Kiki was watching him balefully. She didn’t like nut crunch, but she couldn’t bear to see Micky enjoying his. ‘You might tell me all about it, you really might. Where you got it, and – er – everything.’

  ‘Didn’t your uncle tell you where we got it?’ asked Dinah innocently. Lucian looked surprised.

  ‘Gosh, no,’ he said. ‘Did you tell him? We ll, why on earth did he ask me to find out?’

  He had given himself away properly. The others winked at one another. ‘We ll, perhaps we didn’t tell him,’ said Jack solemnly. ‘Did we, or didn’t we?’

  ‘Didn’t , did, didn’t
, did,’ remarked Kiki, thinking it was time that someone took notice of her. But nobody did.

  ‘It’s a shame not to tell old Lucian,’ said Dinah in a kind voice. Lucian beamed.

  ‘Yes. After all, he’s a friend of ours,’ said Philip.

  Lucian was so overcome by this remark that he swallowed a bit of nut crunch and choked. Kiki immediately had a choking fit too. She did that kind of thing remarkably well. Jack thumped Lucian on the back, whereupon Micky actually went to Kiki and thumped her too. The children roared with laughter, but Kiki was furious with Micky and chased him all over the cabin.

  ‘Oh dear,’ said Dinah, wiping tears of laughter away. ‘Those creatures will be the death of me. Now – what were we talking about?’

  ‘About me being a friend of yours, and so you’d tell me about that bit of parchment,’ said Lucian promptly. ‘Oh – may I really have another bit of crunch? I say, thanks awfully.’

  He took a bit, remembering not to take the largest there this time.

  ‘Oh yes,’ said Jack. ‘We were saying it was a shame not to tell old Lucian. Well, old chap, it happened to Lucy-Ann, actually. Let’s see . . . er . . .’

  ‘She was standing on the deck, ready to feed the gulls that fly over from the islands,’ said Jack. Lucian nodded. He had often seen Lucy-Ann feeding them.

  ‘And suddenly a very large gull flew round her head holding something in its beak,’ went on Philip. ‘That’s right, isn’t it, Jack?’

  ‘Absolutely,’ said Jack with a solemn face.

  ‘And lo and behold – when the gull came down for its bread, it dropped the parchment at Lucy-Ann’s feet!’ said Dinah. ‘What do you think of that, Lucian? That’s right isn’t it, Jack?’

  ‘Oh, definitely,’ said Jack in a firm voice.

  Lucian stared. His mouth dropped open. ‘Oh, I say!’ he said. ‘Isn’t that amazing! I mean to say – whoever would have thought of that?’

  As the three of them had thought of it quite easily, they did not answer. Dinah felt a dreadful urge to giggle and turned her face away. Lucian seemed quite overcome with the story.

  ‘I mean – honestly, it’s like a fairy tale or something, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘That gull dropping it at Lucy-Ann’s feet.’

  The others agreed that it was exactly like a fairy tale. ‘Most extraordinary,’ said Lucian, getting up and swallowing the last of his nut crunch. ‘We ll, I must be off. Thanks awfully for telling me all this. Oh, I say – what’s happened to the bottle that the ship was in? You’ve got the ship without the bottle now!’

  ‘Yes. Micky and Kiki broke it between them,’ said Jack. ‘Little wretches! Still, it’s a nice ship and doesn’t need its bottle.’

  Lucian went out. The others grinned at one another. What a leg his was to pull! Poor old Lucian – he just asked for his leg to be well and truly pulled!

  ‘I can just see him spouting that all out to his disbelieving uncle,’ said Jack. ‘Come on – if I don’t get up into the fresh air and have some exercise I shall expire. Let’s find Lucy-Ann and have a game of quoits or something. It’s too hot now for deck-tennis.’

  They played games all the morning, and then went down to lunch, feeling very hungry indeed. To their surprise Lucian did not appear at lunch. They wondered if he was ill. Mrs Mannering asked his aunt about him.

  ‘No, he’s not ill – just a touch of the sun I think,’ said Lucian’s aunt. ‘He’s lying down and keeping quiet.’

  ‘I vote we go down to Lucian’s cabin and see if he’s all right,’ said Jack. ‘He’s never minded the sun before.’

  Down they went, and knocked quietly. There was no answer. Jack turned the handle and went in. Lucian was lying on his bed, his face in his pillow.

  ‘Are you asleep, Lucian?’ said Jack softly.

  Lucian turned over abruptly. ‘Oh – it’s you,’ he said. Jack saw that the boy’s face was blotched and tear-stained.

  ‘What’s up?’ he said. ‘I say, can the others come in? They’re outside.’

  ‘Well – if they want to,’ said Lucian, who obviously was not welcoming visitors but did not like to say so. All four children were soon in the cabin. Lucy-Ann was distressed when she saw Lucian’s blotched face.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ she said. ‘Is your sunstroke very bad?’

  ‘It isn’t sunstroke,’ said Lucian and, to the children’s horror, his eyes began to fill with tears. ‘It’s my beastly, horrible uncle!’ He buried his face in the pillow again to hide his tears.

  ‘What’s he been up to?’ said Jack, not very sympathetically, because he thought it was too feeble for words for a boy of Lucian’s age to behave like that.

  ‘He called me all kinds of names,’ said Lucian, sitting up again. ‘He – he called me a nitwit – and a nincompoop—’

  ‘Poop!’ said Kiki. ‘Nit-wit!’

  ‘Now don’t you start,’ said poor Lucian to the parrot. ‘He said I was a born idiot and a fool and—’

  ‘But why?’ asked Lucy-Ann astonished.

  ‘Well, I told him how Lucy-Ann got that silly bit of parchment,’ Lucian told them. ‘You know – just how you told me. I thought he’d be so pleased to think I’d found out what he wanted to know. But he wasn’t.’

  ‘Wasn’t he? That was too bad,’ said Philip, thinking that Lucian deserved his scolding for running straight to his uncle with the fairy tale they had made up – they had meant him to, of course, but what a tittle-tattler he was!

  ‘I said to him, “A gull brought the parchment down to Lucy-Ann and laid it at her feet,”’ related Lucian in a dramatic manner. ‘And Uncle said “WHAT?” So I told him again.’

  ‘And what did he say the next time?’ asked Jack trying not to laugh.

  ‘All the things I told you. He was very insulting and offensive,’ said Lucian. ‘After all, he believed all the other things I told him. I can’t think why he didn’t believe that!’

  ‘What other things did you tell him?’ asked Jack at once.

  ‘Oh, nothing much. He just wanted to know if I’d been shopping with any of you – and where – and all that. I told him I’d been shopping with Lucy-Ann – and how we’d found that old ship in a bottle for her. And he said, “Ah – of course – the Andra! The Andra!”. Just like that. I tell you he was most peculiar altogether.’

  The others listened to this in silence. Mr Eppy had certainly pumped Lucian to some purpose. He knew they had bought the ship and where – he remembered seeing the name when they asked him what it was – the Andra. He was putting two and two together. Probably he already guessed that the parchment had been found in the ship because that ass Lucian would be sure to have told him that the bottle was broken and the ship free of it.

  ‘Did you tell your uncle the bottle was broken, that the ship was in?’ asked Jack.

  ‘Er – yes, I think I did,’ said Lucian. ‘I say – I haven’t done anything wrong, have I? I mean – you don’t mind my telling my uncle all this?’

  ‘We didn’t mind your telling him about the gull and the bit of paper in the least,’ said Philip truthfully. ‘I’m sorry your uncle is so disbelieving. It was wrong of him to call you names like that.’

  ‘It was, wasn’t it?’ said Lucian plaintively. ‘He’s got no right to. He called you a few names too.’

  ‘Well, don’t repeat them,’ said Jack. ‘You really ought to learn to respect people’s confidences, Lucian. I mean – it just isn’t done to go round repeating to somebody else the things you’ve been told, possibly in confidence.’

  ‘Now you’re angry with me too!’ wailed Lucian. Jack got up in disgust. This kind of behaviour was too much for him altogether. He did not even feel sorry for Lucian for getting into trouble because of a cock-and-bull story that they had made up specially for him. Lucian just walked into trouble as fast as he could!

  The others got up too. Only Lucy-Ann was sorry about Lucian. Still, even she was disgusted at his tears and self-pity – really, he ought to pull himself together.

&
nbsp; They went out without a word, leaving Lucian feeling miserable, upset, angry – and very, very hungry!

  ‘Come to our cabin for a minute,’ said Jack. ‘We ought to have a few words about all this. Mr Eppy is putting two and two together a bit too fast. What an idiot Lucian is! Why did he have to blab about that ship so much? We’d better put it in a safe place in case Mr Eppy borrows it as he did our parchment.’

  They went into the boys’ cabin, and Philip gave a cry that made them all jump. ‘Look – he’s borrowed it already! It’s gone!’

  12

  The second piece of the map

  It was true – the beautiful little carved ship was no longer in its place of honour on the shelf. It was gone.

  The four children stared at one another in exasperation. Blow Mr Eppy! What right had he to ‘borrow’ things like this? Would he give it back?

  ‘What’s he borrowed it for, anyway?’ wondered Dinah. ‘If he goes so far as to suspect that we found the parchment there I still don’t see why he should borrow it. He’s got the parchment, anyway!’

  ‘A bit of it, only – and he knows it,’ corrected Jack. ‘He probably thinks the rest of it is still in the little carved ship – either that we haven’t noticed it, or that we have kept it there. And he’s borrowed it to see.’

  ‘Stolen it, you mean,’ said Lucy-Ann scornfully. ‘Horrid man! I think he’s awful.’

  ‘Shall I go and ask him if he’s got it?’ said Philip. He was feeling very angry – quite ready to beard any lion in its den!

  The others considered this. ‘Suppose he didn’t take it?’ said Jack. ‘It would be jolly awkward, accusing him of it.’

  ‘Who else would have taken it?’ demanded Philip. ‘Nobody!’

  ‘Look – let’s go and have a swim in the pool and forget it for a bit,’ said Dinah. ‘If you still feel like bearding the lion afterwards, you can go. It’s so awfully hot. I’d love a swim.’

  ‘All right,’ said Philip reluctantly. ‘But I might not feel so keen on going after Mr Eppy afterwards.’