chapter twenty-one a visit to the police station

anne liked jennifer very much, and gave her a hug and a kiss. jennifer looked round the well-furnished cave in amazement and wonder - and then she gave a scream of surprise and joy. shepointed to anne's neatly-made bed, on which sat a number of beautiful dolls, and a large teddy-bear.

'my dolls!" she said. "oh, and teddy, too! oh, oh, where did you get them? i've missed them so!

oh josephine and angela and rosebud and marigold, have you missed me?"she flung herself on the dolls. anne was very interested to hear their names. "i've looked after themwell," she told jennifer. "they're quite all right.""oh, thank you," said the little girl, happily. "i do think you're all nice. oh, i say - what a lovelybreakfast!"

it was. anne had opened a tin of salmon, two tins of peaches, a tin of milk, cut some bread andbutter, and made a big jug of cocoa. jennifer sat down and began to eat. she was very hungry, and asshe ate, she began to lose her paleness and look rosy and happy.

the children talked busily as they ate. jennifer told them about herself.

"i was playing in the garden with my nurse," she said, "and suddenly, when nurse had gone indoorsto fetch something, a man climbed over the wall, threw a shawl round my head, and took me away.

we live by the sea, you know, and i soon heard the sound of the waves splashing on the shore, and iknew i was being put into a boat. i was taken to a big ship, and locked down in a cabin for two days.

then i suppose i was brought here one night. i was so frightened that i screamed."97

"that was the scream we heard," said george. "it was lucky we heard it. we had thought there wassmuggling going on here, in our island - we didn't guess it was a case of kidnapping, till we heardyou scream - though we had found your trunk with your clothes and toys.""i don't know how the man got those," said jennifer. "maybe one of our maids helped him. there wasone i didn't like at all. she was called sarah stick.'

"ah!" said julian, at once. "that's the one, then! it was mr. and mrs. stick who brought you here.

sarah stick, your maid, must be some relation of theirs. they must have been in the pay of someoneelse, i should think - someone who had a ship, and could bring you here to hide you.""jolly good hiding-place, too," said george. "no one but us would ever have found it out."they ate all their breakfast, made some more cocoa, and discussed their future plans.

"we'll take our boat and go to the mainland this morning," said julian. "we'll go straight to thepolice-station with jennifer. i expect the newspapers are full of her disappearance, and the police willrecognise her at once."

"i hope they catch the sticks," said george. "i hope they won't disappear into thin air as soon as theyhear that jennifer is found."

"yes - we must warn the police of that," said julian, thoughtfully. "better not spread the news abroadtill the sticks are caught. i wonder where they are.""let's get the boat now," said dick. "there's no point in waiting about. jennifer's parents will bethrilled to know she is safe."

"i don't really want to leave this lovely cave," said jennifer, who was thoroughly enjoying herselfnow. "i wish i lived here, too. are you going to come back to the island and live here, julian?""well, we shall come back for a few days more, i expect," said julian. "you see, our aunt's home isempty at the moment because she is away ill and our uncle is with her. so we might as well stay onour island till they come back."

"oh, could i come back with you?" begged jennifer, her small round face alight with joy at thethought of living in a cave on an island with these nice children and their lovely dog. "oh, do let me!

i would so like it. and i do so love timmy.""i don't expect your parents would let you, especially after you've just been kidnapped," said julian.

"but you can ask them, if you like."

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they all went to the boat and got in. julian pushed off. george steered the boat in and out of therocks. they saw the wreck, which interested jenny very much indeed. she badly wanted to stop, butthe others thought they ought to get to land as quickly as possible.

soon they were near the beach. alf, the fisher-boy was there. he saw them and waved. he ran to helpthem to pull in their boat.

"i was coming out in my boat this morning," he said. "your father's back, master george. but notyour mother. she's getting better, they say, and will be back in a week's time.""well, what's my father come back for?" demanded george, in surprise.

"he got worried because nobody answered the telephone," explained alf. "he came down and askedme where you all were. i didn't tell him, of course. i kept your secret. but i was just coming out towarn you this morning. he got back last night - and wasn't he wild? no one there to give him anyfood - all the house upside down and half the things gone! he's at the police station now.""golly!" said george. "that's just where we are going too! we shall meet him there. oh dear, i dohope he won't be in an awful temper. you just can't do anything with my father when he's cross.""come on!" said julian. "it's a good thing, in a way, that your father is here, george - we can explaineverything to him and to the police at the same time."they left alf, who looked very surprised to see jennifer with the others. he couldn't make out whereshe had come from. certainly she had not started out to the island with them - but she had come backin their boat. how was that? it seemed very mysterious to alf.

the children arrived at the police station and marched in, much to the surprise of the policeman there.

"hallo!" he said. "what's the matter? been doing a burglary, or something, and come to own up?""listen!" said george, suddenly, hearing a loud voice in the room next to theirs. "that's father'svoice!"

she darted to the door. the policeman called to her, shocked. "now don't you go in there. theinspector's in there. come over here special, he has, and mustn't be interrupted."but george had flung open the door and gone inside. her father turned and saw her. he rose to hisfeet. "george! where have you been? how dare you go away like this and leave the house 99and everything! it's been robbed right and left! i've just been telling the inspector about all the thingsthat have been stolen."

"don't worry, father," said george. "really don't worry. we've found them all. how's mother?""better, much better," said her father, still looking amazed and angry. "thank goodness i can go backand tell her where you are. she kept asking me about you all, and i had to keep saying you were allright, so as not to worry her - but i hadn't any idea what was happening to you or where you hadgone. i feel very displeased with you. where were you?""on the island," said george, looking rather sulky, as she often did when her father was angry withher. "julian will tell you all about it."julian came in, followed by dick, anne, jennifer and timothy. the inspector, a big, clever-lookingman with dark eyes under shaggy eyebrows, looked at them all closely. when he saw jennifer, hestared hard - and then suddenly rose to his feet.

"what's your name, little girl?" he said.

"jennifer mary armstrong," said jenny, in a surprised voice.

"bless us all!" said the inspector, in a startled voice. "here's the child the whole country is lookingfor - and she walks in here as cool as a cucumber! lands sakes, where did she come from?""what do you mean?" said george's father, looking surprised. "what child is the whole countrylooking for? i haven't read the papers for some days.""then you don't know about little jenny armstrong being kidnapped?" said the inspector, sittingdown and pulling jenny near him. "she's the daughter of harry armstrong, the millionaire, youknow. well, somebody kidnapped her and wants a hundred thousand pounds ransom for her. myword, we've combed the country for her - and here she is, as merry as you please. well, i'm blessed -this is the queerest thing i ever knew. where have you been, little missy?""on the island," said jenny. "julian - you tell it all."so julian told the whole story from beginning to end. the policeman from outside came in, and tooknotes down as he spoke. everyone listened in amazement. as for george's father, his eyes nearly fellout of his head. what adventures these children did have, to be sure and how well they managedeverything!

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"and do you happen to know who was the owner of the ship that brought little miss jenny along- the one that sent a boat off to the wreck and put her there for the sticks to take?" asked theinspector.

"no," said julian. "all we heard was that the roamer was coming that night.""a-ha!" said the inspector, with great satisfaction in his voice. "aha and oho! we know the roamerall right - a ship we've been watching for some time - owned by somebody we're very, verysuspicious of - we think he's dabbling in a whole lot of shady deals. now this is very good newsindeed. the thing is - where are the sticks - and how can we catch them red-handed, now you've gotmiss jenny out of their clutches? they'll probably deny everything.""i know how we could catch them," said julian, quickly. "we've left their nasty son, edgar, locked inthe same dungeon where they put jenny. if only one of us could pass the word to the sticks, that thatis where edgar is, they'd go back to the island all right, and go right into the dungeons - so if youfound them there, it wouldn't be much good them denying that they don't know anything about theisland, and have never been there."

"that would certainly make things a lot easier," said the inspector. he pressed a bell and anotherpoliceman came into the room. the inspector gave him a full description of mr. and mrs. stick, andtold him to watch the countryside round about, and report when they were found.

"then, master julian, you might like to go and have a little conversation with them about their son,edgar," said the inspector, smiling. "if they do go back to the island, we shall follow them, and get allthe evidence we want. thank you for your very great help. now we must telephone to miss jenny'sparents and tell them she is safe."

"she can come back to kirrin cottage with us," said george's father, still looking rather dazed at allthat had happened. "'i've got joanna, our old cook, to come back for a while to put things straight, sothere will be someone there to see to the children. they must all come back.""well, father," said george, firmly, "we will come back just for today, but we plan to spend anotherweek on kirrin island till mother comes back. she said we could, and we are having such a fine timethere. let joanna stay at kirrin cottage and keep it in order and get it ready for mother when shecomes home - she won't want the bother of looking after us too. we can look after ourselves on theisland."

"i certainly think these children deserve a reward for the good work they have done," remarked theinspector, and that settled the matter.

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"very well," said george's father, "you can all go off to the island again - but you must be back whenyour mother returns, george."

"of course i will," said george. "i badly want to see mother. but home isn't nice without her. i wouldrather be on our island."

"and i want to be there, too," said jenny, unexpectedly. "ask my parents to come to kirrin, please -so that i can ask them if i can go with the other children.""i'll do my best," said the inspector, grinning at the five children. they liked him very much.

george's father stood up.

"come along!" he said. "i want my lunch. all this has made me feel hungry. we'll go and see ifjoanna has got anything for us."

off they all went, talking nineteen to the dozen, making george's poor father feel quite bewildered.

he always seemed to get into the middle of some adventure when these children were about!