george's boat was almost ready, but not quite. it was having a last coat of paint on it. it lookedvery gay, for george had chosen a bright red paint, and the oars were painted red too.
"oh, can't we possibly have it this afternoon?" said george to jim the boatman.
he shook his head.
"no, master george," he said, "not unless you all want to be messed up with red paint. it'll be drytomorrow, but not before."
it always made the others smile to hear the boatmen and fishermen call georgina "master george."the local people all knew how badly she wanted to be a boy, and they knew, too, how plucky andstraightforward she was, so they laughed to one another and said: "well, they reckoned she behavedlike a boy, and if she wanted to be called "master george" instead of"miss georgina", she deserved it!"
so georgina was master george, and enjoyed strutting about in her jeans and jersey on the beach,using her boat as well as any fisher-boy, and swimming faster than them all.
"we'll go to the island tomorrow then," said julian. "we'll just picnic on the beach today. then we'llgo for a walk."
so they picnicked on the sands with timothy sharing more than half their lunch. the sandwicheswere not very nice. the bread was too stale; there was not enough butter inside, and they were far toothick. but timothy didn't mind. he gobbled up as many as he could, his tail wagging so hard that itsent sand over everyone.
11
"timothy, do take your tail out of the sand if you want to wag it," said julian, getting sand all overhis hair for the fourth time. timmy wagged his tail hard again, and sent another shower over him.
everyone laughed.
"let's go for a walk now," said dick, jumping up. "my legs could do with some good exercise.
where shall we go?"
"we'll walk along the cliff-top, where we can see the island all the time, shall we?" said anne.
"george, is the old wreck still there?"
george nodded. the children had once had a most exciting time with an old wreck that had lain at thebottom of the sea. a great storm had lifted it up and set it firmly on the rocks. they had been able toexplore the wreck then, and had found a map of the castle in it, with instructions as to where hiddentreasure was to be found.
"do you remember how we found that old map in the wreck, and how we looked for the ingots ofgold and found them?" said julian, his eyes gleaming as he remembered it all. "isn't the wreckbattered to pieces yet, george?"
"no," said george. "i don't think so. it's on the rocks on the other side of the island, you remember,so we can't see it from here. but we might have a look at it when we go on the island tomorrow.""yes, let's," said anne. "poor old wreck! i guess it won't last many winters now."they walked along the cliff-top with timothy capering ahead of them. they could see the islandeasily and the ruined castle rising up from the middle.
"there's the jackdaw tower," said anne, looking. "the other tower's fallen down, hasn't it? look atthe jackdaws circling round and round the tower, george!""yes. they build in it every year," said george. "don't you remember the masses of sticks roundabout the tower that the jackdaws dropped when they built their nests? we picked some up and madea fire with them once."
"i'd like to do that again," said anne. "i would really. let's do it each night if we stay a week on theisland. george, did you ask your mother?""oh yes," said george. "she said she thought we might, but she would see.""i don't like it when grown-ups say they'll see," said anne. "it so often means they won't let you dosomething after all, but they don't like to tell you at the time."12
"well, i expect she will let us," said george. "after all, we're much older than last year. why, julianis in his teens already, and i soon shall be and so will dick. only anne is small.""i'm not," said anne, indignantly. "i'm as strong as you are. i can't help being younger.""hush, hush, baby!" said julian, patting his little sister on the back and laughing at her furious face.
"hallo - look! what's that over there on the island?"he had caught sight of something as he was teasing anne. everyone swung round and gazed atkirrin. george gave an exclamation.
"golly - a spire of smoke! surely it's smoke! someone's on my island.""on our island," corrected dick. "it can't be! that smoke must come from a steamer out beyond theisland. we can't see it, that's all. but i bet the smoke comes from a steamer. we know no one can getto the island but us. they don't know the way.""if anyone's on my island," began george, looking very fierce and angry, "if anyone's on my island,i'll - i'll - i'll . . ."
"you'll explode and go up in smoke!" said dick. "there - it's gone now. i'm sure it was only asteamer letting off steam or smoking hard, whatever they do."they watched kirrin island for some time after that, but they could see no more smoke. "if only myboat was ready!" said george, restlessly. "i'd go over this afternoon. i've a good mind to go and getmy boat, even if the paint is wet."
"don't be an idiot!" said julian. "you know what an awful row we'd get into if we go home with allour things bright red. have a bit of sense, george."george gave up the idea. she watched for a steamer to appear at one side of the island or another, tocome into the bay, but none came.
"probably anchored out there," said dick. "come on! are we going to stand rooted to this spot for therest of the day?"
"we'd better get back home," said julian, looking at his wrist-watch. "it's almost tea-time. i hopeyour mother is up, george. it's much nicer when she's at meals.""oh, i expect she will be," said george. "come on, then let's go back!"they turned to go back. they watched kirrin island as they walked, but all they could see wasjackdaws or gulls in the sky above it. no more spires of smoke appeared. it must have been asteamer!
13
"all the same, i'm going over tomorrow to have a look," said george, firmly. "if any trippers arevisiting my island i'll turn them off."
"our island," said dick. "george, i wish you'd remember you said you'd share it with us.""well - i did share it out with you," said george, "but i can't help feeling it's still my island.
come on! i'm getting hungry."
they came back at last to kirrin cottage. they went into the hall, and then into the sitting-room.
to their great surprise edgar was there, reading one of julian's books.
"what are you doing here?" said julian. "and who told you you could borrow my book?""i'm not doing any harm," said edgar. "if i want to have a quiet read, why shouldn't i?""you wait till my father comes in and finds you lolling about here," said george. "my goodness, ifyou'd gone into his study, you'd have been sorry.""i've been in there," said edgar, surprisingly. "i've seen those funny instruments he's working with.""how dare you!" said george, going white with rage "why, even we are not allowed to go into myfather'; study. as for touching his things - well!"julian eyed edgar curiously. he could not imagine why the boy should suddenly be so insolent.
"where's your father, george?" he said. "i think we had better get him to deal with edgar. he mustbe mad."
"call him if you like," said edgar, still lolling in the chair, and flicking over the pages of julian'sbook in a most irritating way. "he won't come.""what do you mean?" said george, feeling suddenly scared. "where's my mother?""call her too, if you like," said the boy, looking sly. "go on! call her."the children suddenly felt afraid. what did edgar mean? george flew upstairs to her mother's room,shouting loudly.
"mother! mother! where are you?"
but her mother's bed was empty. it had not been made - but it was empty. george flew into all theother bedrooms, shouting desperately: "mother! mother! father! where are you?"but there was no answer. george ran downstairs, her face very white. edgar grinned up at her.
"what did i tell you?" he said. "i said you could call all you liked, but they wouldn't come.""where are they?" demanded george. "tell me at once!""find out yourself," said edgar.
14
there was a resounding slap, and edgar leapt to his feet, holding his left cheek with his hand.
george had flown at him and dealt him the hardest smack she could. edgar lifted his hand to slap herback, but julian stood in front.
"you're not fighting george," he said. "she's a girl. if you want a fight, i'll take you on.""i won't be a girl; i'm a boy!" shouted george, trying to push julian away. "i'll fight edgar, and i'llbeat him, you see if i don't."
but julian kept her off. edgar began to edge towards the doorway, but he found dick there.
"one minute," said dick. "before you go - where are our uncle and aunt?""gr-r-r-r-r-r-r," suddenly said timothy, in such a threatening voice that edgar stared at him in fright.
the dog had bared his great teeth, and had put up the hackles on his neck. he looked veryfrightening.
"hold that dog!" said edgar, his voice trembling. "he looks as if he's going to spring at me."julian put his hand on tim's collar. "quiet, tim!" he said. "now, edgar, tell us what we want toknow, and tell us quickly, or you'll be sorry.""well, there isn't much to tell," said edgar, keeping his eye on timothy. he shot a look at george andwent on. "your mother was suddenly taken very ill - with a terrible pain here - and they got thedoctor and they've taken her away to hospital, and your father went with her. that's all!"george sat down on the sofa, looking paler still and rather sick.
"oh!" she said. "poor mother! i wish i hadn't gone out today. oh dear - how can we find out what'shappened?"
edgar had slipped out of the room, shutting the door behind him so that timmy should not follow.
the kitchen door was slammed, too. the children stared at one another, feeling sorry and dismayed.
poor george! poor aunt fanny!
"there must be a note somewhere," said julian, and looked round the room. he saw a letter stuck intothe rim of the big mirror there, addressed to george. he gave it to her. it was from george's father. ,"read it, quickly," said anne. "oh dear - this is really a horrid beginning to our holidays here!"
