It was, and a few minutes later it became much clearer. This was because the Tobermory was closing on its quarry, thanks to the skilful sailing of the Captain. By trimming his sails in just the right way, so that the wind flowed over them smoothly, he was able to coax just a little bit of extra speed out of the ship. But that was enough to make the difference, and within half an hour they were close enough to the Albatross to be able to read the name painted on her stern.
The Captain now sent out a signal to the other ship. This was done with brightly coloured small flags, one for each letter of the alphabet, that could be hoisted to spell out a message. STOP IMMEDIATELY read the message.
A few minutes later, a response was spelled out by the Albatross, again using signalling flags. GO AWAY, this said.
The Captain smiled. “Run up the flags for N and O,” he said to Ben. “They should understand NO when they see it.”
Mr Rigger had now joined the Captain at the helm, and while the two senior officers conferred with one another, Badger was told to take the helm. He was a particularly good helmsman, and by skilful sailing he brought them even closer to the Albatross. Now they could make out people on the deck of the fleeing ship, and Badger was sure that he could see Matron, standing on the other deck, flanked by two members of the crew.
“There’s Matron!” he called to the Captain. “I’m sure it’s her.”
The Captain raised his telescope and pointed it at the Albatross. “My goodness,” exclaimed, “you’re right. They’re holding Matron on the deck.”
“The devils!” muttered Mr Rigger. “How dare they!”
The Captain took control of the helm once more. “Well done, Badger,” he said. “Good sailing!”
Now he explained to the two boys what he and Mr Rigger had decided to do. They would take the ship right alongside, upwind of the Albatross, and in this way they would take the wind out of her sails. Once that happened, the Albatross would lie still in the water. “Then we’ll send a boarding party over,” he said. “I’ll get Mr Rigger to radio the Coast Guard immediately.”
Mr Rigger went off to gather everybody together, and soon the whole school was on deck. Everybody was excited and relieved that Matron had been sighted and would soon be rescued.
They were now close to the Albatross and within a matter of minutes they were beginning to block the other ship’s wind. When this happened, the sails on the Albatross began to crumple and flap and the ship started to slow down.
It was at this point that Matron made her break for freedom. Pushing aside the two crewmen guarding her, she made a dash for a nearby rope ladder that went up the mast.
“Keep away from that!” shouted one of the men.
Matron laughed. “Goodbye!” she shouted.
The men stood and watched her climbing up into the rigging. “No point in doing that,” one of them cried out. “You’re not going anywhere, you know.”
From the Tobermory the whole school watched in astonishment as Matron climbed higher and higher up the rigging of the Albatross. With bated breath they saw her climb out onto one of the spars, and then, just as the Tobermory drew level with the Albatross, she launched herself into a high, graceful dive.
Poppy and Fee had come back on deck, and they both gasped as they saw Matron diving down through the air, her arms stretched out in front of her. And they gasped again as they saw her enter the sea, cleanly and neatly, causing barely a ripple in the water’s surface.
And how they all cheered when her head popped up out of the water between the two ships and she began to swim towards the Tobermory with firm, powerful strokes.
Poppy and Fee were amongst the crowd of excited people who helped Matron clamber up over the railings. Angela Singh had run down below and returned with a fresh white towel, which she wrapped around Matron. Everybody was excited, patting Matron on the back and congratulating her on her escape. Cook, who had been busy in the galley while all this was going on, and who had missed the drama of his wife’s adventure, was now up on deck, and he gave Matron a particularly big hug.
“You’re all right, Rabbit?” he asked.
Nobody laughed. If that was what Cook wanted to call Matron, then that was nobody else’s business. Nor did they laugh when they heard Matron reply, “I’m absolutely fine, Honey Bunch.”
Everybody was happy, but there was still a job to do. Mr Rigger had been down in the radio room and now returned to tell the Captain that he had been in touch with the Coast Guard. “They’re sending a high-speed patrol boat,” he said. “It should be here within half an hour. And in the meantime, they told us just to keep an eye on the Albatross and make sure she doesn’t make a dash for it.”
The Captain knew that the Albatross would never be able to escape. Since the Tobermory was upwind of the other vessel, she would be able to prevent her from filling her sails with wind. The Tobermory was firmly in charge, and the director, standing glumly on deck, knew he could do nothing about it.
Ben and Badger decided they would go down below to see how Henry and Tanya were doing. There were still things to sort out, with what was going to happen to Tanya uppermost in their minds.
“I hope she’s not going to be sent back to her horrible aunt and uncle,” said Badger.
“I hope so too,” said Ben. “But I suspect she will be.”
It was not a cheerful thought to have on an otherwise happy occasion. Matron may have been saved, and Henry was in good hands, but it looked as if they would be saying goodbye to Tanya.
In the hidden tanks
The Coast Guard boat, the Silver Salmon, arrived even sooner than they had expected. With its powerful engines it made short work of the voyage, coming alongside of the Tobermory in a cloud of spray and with a triumphant roar.
“Ahoy there, Tobermory!” shouted the Coast Guard Commander.
The Captain returned the greeting. “Ahoy there, Silver Salmon!” he called out. “Come aboard!”
After the crews of both boats had tied large fenders, like giant inflated footballs, to the sides of their boats, the Commander was able to scramble across onto the deck of the Tobermory. There he saluted the Captain, who saluted him back, and then pointed out the Albatross wallowing not far off their port side.
“We’ve taken the wind out of their sails,” explained the Captain. “They can’t get away.”
The Commander nodded. “What exactly are they up to?”
The Captain called over to Matron, who had reappeared in a dry outfit, none the worse for her dive to freedom. He introduced her to the Commander, who asked her to tell him what she had seen on the Albatross.
“They have tanks down below,” she said. “They’re full of sea creatures.”
The Commander waited for her to continue. “Will you show me?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Matron. “And can some of our students come too? They were there with me, you see.”
“Of course,” said the Commander. “They are witnesses, so they should come too.”
Matron told the Commander about the radio message Thomas had intercepted. “That’ll be their accomplices on shore,” he said. “We’ve been watching a rather suspicious group who have been hanging about a disused lighthouse. That must be them. We’ll pick them up later.”
Word was passed to the group who had gone with Matron to the Albatross. This time Angela Singh was able to join them too, as it was now broad daylight, and although she was afraid of the dark, she wasn’t in the slightest bit scared of daylight.
The Commander supervised everybody as they boarded the Silver Salmon, and then gave the order for it to skirt round the stern of the Tobermory and then go alongside the Albatross. As they approached, Ben pointed out the director and his crew, who were standing glumly on their deck. “They know the game’s up,” he said.
“They wouldn’t dare argue with the Coast Guard,” said Badger, pointing to the heavily armed sailors who had taken up position on the Silver Salmon’s deck.
And he was right. When
they came up to the Albatross nobody resisted the sailors from the Coast Guard who tied the two ships together. Nor, when they started to climb on to the Albatross’s deck, did anybody do or say anything. The two members of the Albatross crew who had stood guard over Matron, and from whom she had made her spectacular escape, looked particularly embarrassed as they watched the boarding party arrive.
Matron gave them a withering look, but said nothing. Her sternest gaze, though, was reserved for the director, at whom she shook a finger. Two of the Coast Guard sailors took hold of his arms and made him stand, under guard, to one side.
Watching this, Badger whispered, “If Matron has anything to do with it, he’s going to be scrubbing the heads for a long, long time, I think.”
Matron led the way down below. “We went right down,” she said. “There are three decks. The tanks are on the lowest.”
As they made their way down below, Matron switched on lights. All of the Abatross’s portholes had been blacked over, so that nobody could see in, but that meant that there was little daylight on the lower decks. Ben felt a shiver going up his spine. This was not a good place to be, he felt, and he was glad they had the Commander and the Captain with them.
They climbed down through the trapdoor and were soon in the secret compartment.
“There we are,” said Matron, pointing to the tanks.
The Commander moved forward to the biggest of them. He saw the basking shark moving slowly within the tank, its great jaws opened wide in search of the plankton that must all have been eaten up by now.
He turned to the Captain. “We’ve been looking for these people for some time,” he said. “We had a tip-off that somebody was capturing protected sea animals, but we were never able to find out who it was. You’ve solved a big problem for us.”
“They told us they were making a movie,” said the Captain.
“That’s their cover,” said the Commander. “I imagine that they thought nobody would be suspicious if they were filming.” He paused, and smiled at Matron. “And they might have got away with it, if it hadn’t been for you.”
“Not me really,” she said. “The ones who deserve the real credit are these young people here.” She gestured to the others. “If it hadn’t been for what they told me, I wouldn’t have become suspicious myself.”
The Captain looked thoughtful. “Well, they did come to warn me,” he said. “But I’m afraid I didn’t believe them. But now I know.”
The Commander suggested they look in the other tanks. There they found the giant ray and the two playful otters.
The Commander was clearly angry now. “These people do a lot of harm,” he said. “They take these poor animals from the sea and sell them to people who just fancy owning something unusual. It makes me furious.”
“Me too,” muttered Poppy, adding, “And sad as well.”
“Yes,” said the Commander. “It’s very sad. But the first thing we need to do is return these poor creatures to the sea.”
As the Commander was speaking, the Captain shone his torch up to the ceiling above the tanks. “There’s a big hatch up there,” he said. “I imagine that gives access to the top deck. We can hoist them out that way.”
“Can we help?” asked Fee.
“Yes,” said the Commander. “You people have earned the right to set these animals free. Let’s start straight away.”
The sailors from the Silver Salmon were experienced in rigging up pulleys. Once they had opened the hatch, they arranged a large block and tackle to enable the basking shark, which was extremely heavy, to be hauled up onto the deck. Fee volunteered to get into the tank to put the ropes round the great creature. “I’ve swum with them before,” she said. “I’m not frightened of them.”
The Commander looked dubious. “Are you sure?” he asked.
Matron supported her. “Yes,” she said. “She’s telling the truth. She really has done that.”
It was a risky business, and at one stage everybody was worried that the ropes would snap, but eventually the shark was hoisted onto the top deck and then manhandled to the side of the boat. Then the ropes were pulled from underneath it and Ben, Badger, Fee and Thomas all pushed as hard as they could to roll it over the edge. Poppy was in charge of spraying it with water while this happened, as the skin of such creatures can dry very quickly when they are out of the water.
With a great splash, the basking shark fell into the sea beside the Albatross, its former prison. This brought a great cheer from the whole school, who had been lining the decks of the Tobermory, watching the amazing scene. Only three of the students were not cheering, and everybody on board knew exactly who those three were.
Now it was the turn of the otters. Once again, it was Fee who jumped into the tank to retrieve them. She had borrowed some thick gloves for the task, as otters can give you a bad nip if they are frightened or too excited, but these two behaved very well. Holding them carefully, she took them down the gangway steps and gently dropped them into the sea. As she did this, Henry barked enthusiastically from the deck of the Tobermory. It was as if he understood exactly what was going on – and he probably did.
Finally the giant ray was hauled out, this time with the help of a large net they found on the deck of the Albatross. It was clearly relieved to find itself back in the sea, and as it swam off it did two great flips – rather like Matron’s dives – to show its gratitude to its liberators.
Later that day, when the Albatross had been towed away by the Silver Salmon and the director and his crew were safely under arrest, the Captain left Mr Rigger in charge of the helm and went down to the Great Cabin. He had ordered the whole group of courageous students to report there, and they were already lined up when he entered the cabin. There was Poppy, with Fee and Angela on either side of her, with Ben, Badger and Thomas. Matron was there too, sitting in one of the Captain’s chairs, reading a diving magazine while she waited.
“Now,” said the Captain. “Are we all here?”
He looked about him as he took his place at his desk. “No, I don’t think everybody’s here.”
Matron looked puzzled. “I think they are, Captain …”
He cut her short. ‘That girl,” he said. “The one who put the splint on Henry’s leg – where is she?”
Poppy gave a silent groan. She had hoped that with all the excitement the Captain might have forgotten about Tanya, but he clearly had not.
“Go and fetch her,” said the Captain to Fee.
They waited in silence while Fee was out of the cabin. There was so much that Poppy wanted to say to the Captain, but she dared not. She wanted to beg him to be kind to Tanya and not to send her away, but she thought that he would merely say no. Stowaways were always sent home – that was just one of the rules.
Fee came back with Tanya, who joined them in the line.
“Here she is,” said Fee.
“Thank you, MacTavish F,” said the Captain.
He fixed Tanya with a stern gaze. “Young lady,” he began, “you do know, don’t you, that it is wrong to stowaway on a ship?”
Tanya stared down at the floor. She nodded.
“And the normal rule,” the Captain continued, “is that stowaways are dropped off at the nearest port.”
Nobody said anything.
“However,” said the Captain, “rules can be applied very strictly … or not so strictly.”
Poppy and Fee exchanged a glance. Was there a chance? Was there just the slightest chance?
“I have had a word with Matron,” the Captain continued, “and she tells me that there’s a spare place on board. I also spoke to the Coast Guard Commander. He radioed over to the mainland to find out if any girl had been reported missing. And the answer …”
Poppy gripped Fee’s hand. Please, she said to herself; please, please …
“The answer was no,” said the Captain. “Now, Matron has pointed out to me that this means that your uncle and aunt, Tanya, couldn’t even be bothered to report you missing. Obv
iously I must conclude that you do not feel wanted by them.”
“They don’t care about me,” said Tanya. “They’ll be happy to be rid of me.”
The Captain looked down at he top of his desk. He was a kind man, and the thought of Tanya being badly treated made him uncomfortable.
He looked up. “You were good to Henry,” he said. “In fact, if it weren’t for your skill in setting his leg, I hate to think how he would have suffered.”
Again there was silence. Then the Captain said, “It’s highly unorthodox. It’s totally unusual, but I see no reason why we shouldn’t admit you as a full member of the school. Would you like that, Tanya?”
Tanya answered, but nobody heard what she said. That was because they were all cheering.
Matron rose from her seat, crossed the cabin, and gave Tanya a hug. “Welcome, officially, on board the Tobermory,” she said. “I think you’ll be happy here.”
“We’ll try to find your father’s ship,” said the Captain. “We just might come across it sooner or later. You never know – the strangest things happen at sea.” He paused. “Oh, there’s one final thing. I understand from Matron that somebody signalled a warning from the Tobermory and that it’s because of this that the Albatross was alerted. Is that correct?”
Angela Singh nodded. “They did,” she said. “It was Hardtack and his friends. He took my torch.”
The Captain frowned. “Fetch those boys,” he said to Badger. “Tell them to come immediately.”
Badger left, to return shortly afterwards with William Edward Hardtack, Geoffrey Shark and Maximilian Flubber. As the three lined up in front of his desk, the Captain looked at them severely.
“Is it true that you signalled a warning to the Albatross?” he asked.
From where he was standing, Ben had a good view of Hardtack’s face. He saw now that the other boy’s expression was one of injured innocence.
“Definitely not, Captain!” protested Hardtack. “We had a light with us, but we were just trying to see that everything was all right on the Albatross. We were worried about the Tobermory people who had gone over there, weren’t we, Geoff?”