The Ship of Adventure

  ‘Look here – don’t you know the way to Thamis?’ said Bill. ‘Sounds as if you don’t . Oh, you do. Then to Thamis, please, and let’s get on with it.’

  ‘Thamis, Mister, sir,’ agreed little Andros. ‘Yes, yes, Thamis. Old, old island, but nothing there now, Mister, sir.’ He glanced with interest at the parrot and the monkey. ‘They come too also?’

  ‘Of course,’ said Jack, stepping into the boat and helping the girls in. ‘Come on, Bill, Mister, sir!’

  ‘Mistersir, mistersir, mistersir,’ screamed Kiki. ‘Pop goes the weasel! Bang, pop, God save the Queen.’

  Andros gaped at her open-mouthed. Micky leapt on to his shoulder and back to Philip’s, chattering. He was excited. He even pulled Kiki’s tail, a very silly thing to do because Kiki would now watch for a good chance to nip Micky’s – and Micky had quite a long tail to nip!

  Andros started up the engine. The motor boat nosed out of the little harbour, leaving behind the great Viking Star, beautiful but silent. Soon they were out on the open sea, skimming along, bobbing up and down on the white horses that reared themselves every now and again. The sun was hot but the wind was strong. The girls’ hair streamed out straight, and they laughed in delight to feel so much wind in their faces. After the heat on the ship it was lovely.

  ‘How far is Thamis?’ asked Jack. Andros turned his curly head.

  ‘Four hours, five hours,’ he said.

  ‘Do you go there much?’ asked Bill.

  ‘No, no, Mister, sir. Poor island. I go to Janos, the next one, where my sister lives,’ said Andros. ‘Thamis dead island, Mister, sir.’

  ‘What does he mean?’ wondered Jack. ‘A poor dead island! Doesn’t sound much of a place, does it?’

  ‘Well, there must be some sort of port or town there,’ said Philip. ‘The one marked on the map. It looked quite a big one. There must be plenty of people living there, and that means shops and things. It can’t be quite dead!’

  It was a lovely journey to Thamis. The sea was choppy, and yet was full of glints and sparkles. The boat sped along like a live thing, the engine purring away. At twelve o’clock they all had a picnic lunch and blessed the steward who had packed them such a fine one.

  ‘Five different sorts of sandwiches – four different kinds of cake, half a pound of sweet biscuits, rolls and butter and cheese and tomatoes – and the grapefruit, cherries and bananas for Kiki and Micky,’ said Jack.

  Lucy-Ann sat contentedly eating with the wind in her face. She looked very happy. The others looked at her and nudged one another. They waited. They knew exactly what she was going to say. She opened her mouth, and at once all the others chimed in together.

  ‘You know, we always think food tastes much nicer when it’s eaten out of doors!’

  Lucy-Ann stared at them in surprise. ‘How very peculiar! I was just about to say exactly the same thing,’ she said.

  The others chuckled. ‘We knew you were,’ said Philip. ‘You always do say it, Lucy-Ann. We watched for you to open your mouth and begin, and we said it for you!’

  ‘Idiots,’ said Lucy-Ann and laughed. Andros laughed too. He liked these children and their funny pets. He had refused to share their food and was eating his own lunch. It was made up of black bread, some very strong-smelling cheese and a jug of some kind of drink.

  Kiki and Micky ate their dinner solemnly together. Micky was not very pleased with the terrific breeze that blew every hair on his body backwards or forwards, depending on which way he sat. Nor was Kiki pleased when her feathers blew round her like an umbrella turning inside out. The two of them sat together in a little sheltered place sharing the grapefruit, the cherries and the bananas. Micky politely peeled a banana for Kiki and handed it to her.

  ‘He skins it just like we do,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘I always think he’s so clever at that.’

  ‘Clever,’ said Andros, pointing to Micky. ‘Good and clever.’

  Micky unfortunately spoilt Andros’s good opinion of him by throwing away the banana skin so carelessly that it landed on the sailor’s head, hanging ridiculously over his right eye. Kiki gave one of her rich chuckles, and was just about to add her banana skin to Micky’s when Jack took it away from her.

  ‘Mistersir, mistersir, mister Pollysir,’ squawked Kiki, trying to snatch it back.

  The boat went on and on, occasionally passing other islands, one or two large ones, but most of them small. Finally Andros raised his hand and pointed to the east.

  ‘Thamis,’ he said. ‘Mister, sir, Thamis.’

  Everyone looked eagerly to where he pointed. They saw a small island, purple in the distance, rearing itself out of the waters as they sped nearer. Thamis! Was it really Thamis, the old island marked on the treasure map?

  Eagerly the children leaned forward and watched it take shape as they raced nearer. Lucy-Ann’s imagination began to work. Long, long ago, she thought, this is where the fleet of treasure ships stole up to in the night. Soon we shall see the city marked on the map – the treasure city!

  ‘Perhaps,’ she thought, ‘one of the ships was called the Andra like our own little Ship of Adventure. Perhaps it sailed into the very spot we’re making for now. We’re getting quite near. We shall see the city soon – the one marked on the map.’

  ‘Is there a good harbour?’ asked Bill, turning to Andros. The man looked surprised.

  ‘Oh, no, Mister, sir. No harbour now. Only two places to land. I, Andros, know them both. I take you to old city port.’

  ‘Good,’ thought Jack. ‘Now we shall soon be there – in the old city marked on the map. I hope it won’t be too modern, like the towns we’ve seen on some of the islands. Ah – now we’re getting in close.’

  They were. They could see rocky beaches. The waves pounded on them. They looked for the town, and saw buildings coming down to the water’s edge. It seemed strange that there was no proper harbour. City ports always had a harbour.

  The boat ran in gently, Andros looking out for rocks and taking a course he seemed to know. He was making for a little channel that led inland.

  The children fell silent as they neared the island. Their eyes were fixed on the city. It did not look right, somehow. Something was the matter with it. It looked – well – dead, Lucy-Ann thought.

  Jack remembered his binoculars and put them to his eyes. He gave an exclamation. ‘Gosh! Would you believe it!’

  ‘What?’ said everyone at once impatiently.

  ‘It’s all ruins,’ said Jack, and he lowered the glasses and looked at the others. ‘It’s a ruined city! I never thought of that!’

  ‘I, Andros, told that,’ said the sailor. ‘I tell you poor island, dead island. One farm, two farms, perhaps. City gone. Nobody there. All gone to other islands now.’

  They nosed into the little channel. It was deep and calm. ‘You get out and I wait?’ enquired Andros. ‘Not see much. All dead and poor this island. Yes, Mister, sir. I take you better places.’

  ‘We’ll get out, Andros,’ said Bill. ‘Bring the rest of the food, Jack. We may as well explore now we’re here, and we’ll picnic in the old ruins. They will be quite interesting, I expect.’

  Not knowing quite what to think, the children leapt off the boat on to a ledge. They climbed up some old worn steps, and came into what must have been the main street of the ruined city. It was overgrown now and difficult to walk in. There were ruins everywhere. Bill looked at a few of them closely.

  ‘These are hundreds of years old,’ he said. ‘I wonder what made the people leave Thamis and go elsewhere. I suppose the island couldn’t keep them in food. What a place!’

  ‘It’s got such a weird deserted feeling about it that I feel I’m living hundreds of years ago,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘I wish the city would come alive – be full of the long-ago people, walking and running here along the street, looking out of the old broken window-openings, going down to whatever harbour there was to see the ships!’

  ‘Well, I hope the city doesn’t come alive,’ said Dinah. ‘I’
d be scared stiff. I don’t like it much as it is.’

  It was built on a steep hill, and the ruined buildings rose one above another, some just a wall or two, others a hollow shell, and still others looking fairly habitable until the children peeped inside and saw the holes in the roofs and the walls.

  Almost at the top was an old ruined temple, one or two graceful arches still remaining. Its massive columns stood in a broken row, with one or two gulls perched on the jagged tops. Bill scraped aside some of the grass that grew on the floor of the temple, and pointed out lovely mosaic stones to the children.

  ‘Bill, is there anything here at all that’s on the map?’ asked Jack. Somehow it was all so different from what he had imagined that the idea of hidden treasure now seemed ridiculous. Bill got out the re-drawn map.

  ‘Look – this is where we came in with our boat, surely,’ said Philip, pointing. ‘It says “CREEK”. Well, wouldn’t you call that channel a creek? And look – the entrance or beginning of the way to the treasure is somewhere near the creek.’

  ‘Oh, Bill – let’s go back and explore along there!’ said Dinah.

  Bill laughed. ‘We’ve certainly got a bee in our bonnet about this! All right. Come on. It’ll be on the way to the boat, anyway.’

  ‘Just let’s get to the top of the hill,’ said Jack. ‘We could see over the rest of the island then. It’s not very large.’

  ‘Right,’ said Bill, and they climbed to the very top. They could see away over to the other side of the island, where the dark-blue sea was tipped with white horses. It was a bare, rocky place, but here and there were green patches, and small buildings could be seen.

  ‘The farms Andros spoke of, I suppose,’ said Bill. ‘My word – he was certainly right when he called it poor and dead! It’s not quite my idea of a treasure island!’

  They turned to go down the hill on which the ruined city was built. They made their way carefully. Halfway down Lucy-Ann stopped and listened. ‘I can hear something,’ she said.

  ‘So can I,’ said Dinah. ‘It’s a bell ringing! Whatever can it be?’

  18

  A few surprises

  It seemed so very unusual to hear a bell ringing in that dead and silent city that the little company felt really startled. The sound came nearer.

  ‘Dong-dong-dong.’ Kiki didn’t like it either and crouched against Jack’s cheek. Micky chattered quietly.

  ‘Dong-dong-dong!’

  ‘Something’s coming round that corner,’ said Jack suddenly. And something did.

  It was a donkey, a little grey donkey with a big bell hanging from his neck! With him was a small boy, an imp of a boy, riding astride, with panniers each side of the donkey, great baskets that were full of something covered with white cloths.

  ‘Good gracious!’ said Dinah, and she sat down on a big stone, most relieved to see that it was just a donkey bell that had startled them all. ‘I don’t know what I thought was coming!’

  ‘I suppose the boy’s from one of the farms,’ said Bill, looking puzzled. ‘But why has he come here? There is nobody living here.’

  Then an even more surprising thing happened. The boy caught sight of the five people watching him and grinned a welcome. He leapt off the donkey, pointed to the pannier baskets and shouted out something that sounded unlike anything they had heard before, but which the children imagined must be Greek spoken in the local accent of Thamis. Then he brought the donkey right up to them and began to throw back the cloths that covered whatever was in the panniers.

  ‘It’s food,’ said Bill in amazement. ‘Bread – cheeses – meat. Gosh, he’s unpacking the lot.’

  The boy unpacked everything, chattering all the time. He evidently could not understand why nobody helped him, and addressed quite a few cutting remarks to the two boys, who, of course, could not make head or tail of them.

  ‘Here, boy,’ said Bill. ‘What’s all this?’

  He pointed to the pile of food. The boy sent out another explanation, pointing to Bill and then pointing to the food.

  ‘Anyone would think he had brought all this for us,’ said Bill, exasperated. ‘I can’t understand it at all.’

  The boy mounted his donkey again. He held out his hand to Bill, palm upwards. That was plain enough. He wanted money!

  ‘Well, well – it beats me,’ said Bill astounded. ‘A very fine welcome to Thamis, I must say – but most unexpected. We don’t want the food, sonny. WE DONT WANT IT. TAKE IT BACK!’

  No amount of shouting could make the boy understand. He got very angry, and tapped his palm smartly to make Bill understand he wanted money. In the end Bill tipped a handful of coins into his hand. He counted them carefully, nodded his head, grinned brilliantly, and then very unexpectedly spat at Micky. Micky spat back, and Kiki growled like a dog.

  The donkey backed away from Kiki and began to bray. ‘Eee-yore! Eee-eee-yore!’

  Kiki was extremely startled, but she soon recovered, and produced a very good bray herself. The boy gave a yelp of surprise, kicked his donkey hard with both his bare heels and galloped away round the corner, the donkey’s bell ringing hard. ‘Dong-dong-dong-dong-dong!’

  Bill sat down and scratched his head. ‘Well, what do you make of that?’ he said. ‘A present of some very fine country food, sent by somebody we don’t know, who can’t possibly have known we were here.’

  ‘It’s a puzzle,’ said Jack. ‘I wouldn’t mind one of those rolls.’

  They all had one. They were very good. They sat and munched them, wondering about the boy. They could not make head or tail of his appearance.

  ‘What are we going to do with this food?’ said Philip. ‘It won’t keep if it’s left out in the sun. It seems an awful waste of good food to leave it mouldering here.’

  ‘It does,’ said Bill. ‘Well – the only thing we can do is to carry it into a cool place somewhere and hope that boy will come back!’

  They picked up the food and went into a nearby building. There was a hole in the floor, shaded by a half-ruined wall. They packed all the food there, wondering what would happen to it.

  ‘Now we’d better go down to the creek and see if we can find the entrance, or whatever it is, shown on the map,’ said Bill. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at it. The children looked too. ‘We shan’t find it, so don’t think it!’ said Bill, who was secretly of the opinion that there was nothing to be discovered in this poor, ‘dead’ island.

  They went down the overgrown, stone-strewn street and came to the rocky creek. The motor boat was there, rocking gently. Andros was fast asleep on the shady side of the boat.

  The little party walked down the rocky ledge to the boat. Then they looked up the creek. Bill gave an exclamation. ‘Of course! That’s it!’

  ‘What, Bill?’ said the children at once.

  ‘Well, “Two-Fingers” is marked on the map, apparently for no reason at all. The expert swore that’s what the old Greek word meant. I just thought it might be an old name for someone – but now I see what it meant. Look up there.’

  The children looked where Bill pointed, and above their heads some way away to the left they saw a peculiar rock. It was like a clenched hand with two fingers raised! Yes – two fingers. There they were. And ‘Two-Fingers’ was marked on the map!

  ‘Come on. That’s a guide of some sort,’ said Bill, and they climbed along till they came to the queer two-fingered rock. They found a hole behind it, a hole that would quite easily allow a person to step into it. Bill fumbled for a torch. He switched it on.

  ‘There may be a passage of some kind,’ he said. ‘Yes – there is! This is really extraordinary! I think, Jack, you’d better go back to the boat and get a lantern or two if you can find them. My torch isn’t too good.’

  Jack sped down to the boat. Andros was still asleep. Jack spotted two lanterns and brought them carefully up to the two-fingered rock, handing them at awkward places to Philip, who had come to meet him.

  ‘Good,’ said Bill. ‘We’ll light the
se. I’ll take one and you can take the other, Jack. I’ll save my torch.’

  They lit the oil lanterns inside the hole. It wasn’t big enough for a cave. It really was just a large hole behind the strange-looking rock – but at the back was what looked like an entry into the hill. Could it possibly be the entrance shown in the map?

  ‘Do you think it is, Bill?’ asked Lucy-Ann eagerly, when the lanterns were lit, and Bill held one up to peer into the narrow rocky passage behind the hole.

  ‘No. I can’t believe it is,’ said Bill. ‘It must have been known for years by everyone in the city, when it was alive with people. It’s just a coincidence, I expect.’

  The children, of course, didn’t think it was. They felt very thrilled indeed as they made their way along the dark little passage. It went for a hundred yards and then came out into a wide space. Bill held up his lantern. It shone on to rocky walls – but what was that at the back? The wall looked different there.

  He took his lantern over to it. The beam shone on to large blocks of stone built like a great irregular door. ‘I wonder why that was built here,’ said Bill, surprised. He swung the lantern round to light up the rest of the cave. The walls were of smooth, shiny rock. There was not the smallest opening there at all. The only opening was the one they had come in by from the narrow passage.

  He swung the light on to the built-in stones again. Then he put the lantern down.

  ‘This was built to block up some other opening,’ he said at last. The children’s hearts sank. ‘It is immensely strong, as you can see for yourselves – a door of great blocks of stone, a door that can’t possibly be opened, or got through in any way.’

  ‘Bill – do you think it’s blocking up the entrance shown on the map?’ asked Jack, dismayed.

  ‘Well, yes – I do,’ said Bill. ‘It’s been built many, many years – it’s old, as you can see. Why it was built, goodness knows! Anyway, there it is – and we’re stopped right at the very outset! If this is the way shown on the map, the way that one must follow to get to wherever the treasure was hidden, it’s impossible to follow it. Quite impossible!’