What fun it was that evening, unpacking all the things Jack had brought! Mike helped Jack to take everything to the beach, and Nora and Peggy jumped up and down and squealed with excitement.
“Flour! What a lot! I can make you rolls now to eat with your fish and eggs!” cried Peggy in delight. “And here’s my wool - and my cotton!”
“And two pencils for me - and a rubber - and a drawing-book!” cried Nora.
“And butter - oh, and chocolate!” yelled Mike. “I’ve forgotten what chocolate tastes like!”
“Oh, Jack, you are clever,” said Peggy. “Did you sell all the mushrooms and strawberries?”
“Every single basket,” said Jack. “And, what is more, the people told me to bring more next week - so I shall earn some more money, and lay in a good stock of things for the winter! What do you say to that?”
“Fine, Captain!” shouted everyone joyfully. “We shall be as cosy as can be with candles to see by, nice things to eat, books to read, chocolate to nibble! Hurrah!”
“Have you brought the corn for my hens, Jack?” asked Nora anxiously.
“Yes, there it is!” said Jack. “And what about this new kettle and enamel dishes, Peggy? I thought you’d like those.”
“Oh, Jack, isn’t it all exciting?” cried Peggy. “Look here - shall we have supper now - and look at all the things again afterwards - and then put them away carefully? You and Mike will have to put up shelves in Willow House for all these new stores!”
Talking all at once and at the tops of their voices the children set to work to get supper. This was a rabbit stew, with runner beans picked by Nora and a baked potato each, with raspberries and cream afterwards. And as a special treat Jack gave everyone half a bar of the precious chocolate! The children were so happy - they really felt that they couldn’t be any happier! The girls had been lonely all day without the two boys, and it was lovely to be all together again.
After supper they cleared away and washed the dishes, and then stamped out the fire. They took everything to Willow House, and lighted the lantern that hung from the roof. Jack also lighted another candle to make enough light to see clearly all the treasures he had brought.
“I say! What a nice lot of matches!” said Mike. “We’ll have to store those carefully in a dry place.”
“And look at the books!” squealed Peggy. “Jack can read them out loud to us in the evening. Robinson Crusoe, and Stories from the Bible and Animals of the World and The Boy’s Book of Aeroplanes. What a lovely lot! It will be fun to read about Robinson Crusoe, because he was alone on an island, just as we are. I guess we could teach him a few things, though!”
Everyone laughed. “He could teach us a few things, too!” said Jack.
Jack had really shopped very well. He had even bought a tin of treacle, so that sometimes, for a treat, Peggy could make toffee! He had got sugar, too, which would be nice in their tea and cocoa. Their own sugar had been finished long ago.
“And we needn’t be too careful now of all our things,” said Jack, “because I can go each week and sell mushrooms and strawberries and earn money to buy more.”
“But what will you do when the mushrooms and strawberries are over?” asked Peggy.
“Then there will be blackberries and nuts,” said Jack. “They won’t fetch so much money, but at any rate I can get enough to store up plenty of things for the winter. If we can get flour, potatoes, rice, cocoa, and things like that, we shall be quite all right. Daisy can always give us milk and cream, and we get lots of eggs from the hens, fish from the lake, and a rabbit or two. We are really very lucky.”
“Jack, read to us to-night,” begged Nora. “It’s so long since I heard a story.”
“We’ll begin Robinson Crusoe first, then,” said Jack. “That seems sort of suitable. By the way, Nora, can you read yourself?”
“Well, I wasn’t very good at it,” said Nora.
“I think it would be a good idea if we all took a night each to read out loud,” said Jack. “It’s no good forgetting what we learnt. I’ll read to-night - and you shall read to-morrow night, Nora.”
So, by the light of the two candles, Jack began reading the tale of Robinson Crusoe to the others. They lay on the heather, listening, happy to be together, enjoying the tale. When Jack shut up the book they sighed.
“That was lovely,” said Peggy. “My goodness, Jack, I guess we could write an exciting book if we wrote down all our adventures on the island!”
“Nobody would believe them!” laughed Peggy. “Yet it’s all true - here we are, living by ourselves, feeding ourselves, having a glorious time on a secret island that nobody knows!”
The next day Jack and Mike rigged up some shelves on which to keep some of their new stores. It was fun arranging everything. The children soon began to make out their next list of things for Jack to buy when he went to market.
“We shall have to keep the days pretty carefully in future,” said Jack. “I don’t want to miss Wednesdays now because Wednesday is market-day at the village. I shall get better prices then.”
So, the next Wednesday, once again there was a great stir just about dawn, and the four children hurried to their tasks of picking mushrooms and strawberries. They had made plenty of baskets again, and Jack and Mike set off two or three hours later with the boat, taking the full baskets with them.
For three or four weeks Jack went to market, sold all his goods, and bought a great many stores for the winter. He and Mike decided to store the bags and sacks of goods in the inner cave of the hillside, as there they would be quite dry - and, as the children would probably have to live in the caves in the winter, the stores would be quite handy there.
As the weeks went by there were not so many wild strawberries to be found. Mushrooms stopped growing in the field, and other market goods had to take their place. The children went nutting in the hazel trees and struck down great clusters of ripe nuts, lovely in their ragged green coats and brown shells. The girls picked baskets of big ripe blackberries, and Jack took these to the market instead of mushrooms and strawberries. People soon grew to know him at the market. They wondered where he came from, but Jack never told them anything about himself.
“I just live by the lakeside,” he said, when people asked him where he lived. They thought be meant somewhere by the lake - they did not know he meant by the lakeside on the secret island - and certainly Jack was not going to tell them!
One day, for the first time, Jack saw a policeman in the village. This struck him as strange, for he had never seen one there before, and he knew that the village was too small to have a policeman of its own. It shared one with the village five miles away. Jack’s heart sank - could the policeman have been told that a strange boy was about - and could he be wondering if the boy was one of the lost children! Jack began to edge away, though his baskets of nuts and blackberries were only half sold.
“Hi, you!” called the policeman suddenly. “Where do you come from, boy?”
“From the lakeside, where I’ve been gathering blackberries and nuts to sell,” said Jack, not coming near the policeman.
“Is your name Mike?” said the policeman.
And then Jack knew for certain that the policeman had been told that maybe he, Jack, was one of the four runaway children - and he had come to find out.
“No, that’s not my name,” said Jack, looking very innocent. “Buy some nuts, Mister Policeman?”
“No,” said the policeman, getting a strip of paper out of his pocket, and looking at a photograph there. “Come you here, my lad. I think you’re one of the runaway children - let’s have a look at you.”
Jack turned pale. If the policeman had a picture of him, he was caught! Quick as lightning the boy flung down the two sticks on which he had a dozen or so baskets strung, and darted off through the crowd that had gathered. Hands were put out to stop him, but he struggled away, tearing his jacket, but not caring for anything but to escape.
He slipped round a corner and into a garden. He darted round the cottage there and peered into the back garden. There was no one there - but there was a little henhouse at the side. Jack made up his mind quickly. He opened the door of the henhouse, slipped inside, and crouched down in the straw there, hardly daring to breathe. There were no hens there - they were scratching about in the little run outside.
Jack heard the sound of shouting and running feet, and he knew that people were looking for him. He crouched lower, hoping that no one had seen him dart into the cottage garden.
The running feet went by. The shouting died down. No one had seen him! Jack let out a big breath, and his heart thumped loudly. He was really frightened.
He stayed in the henhouse all day long. He did not dare to move out. He was hungry and thirsty and very cramped, but he knew quite well that if he slipped out he might be seen. He must stay there till night. He wondered what Mike would think. The girls would be anxious, too.
A hen came in, sat on a nesting-box and laid an egg. She cackled and went out again. Another came in and laid an egg. Jack hoped that no one would see him if they came looking for eggs that afternoon!
Someone did come for the eggs - but it was after tea and the henhouse was very dark. The door was opened and a head came round. A hand was stretched out and felt in all the boxes. The eggs were lifted out - the door was shut again! Jack hadn’t been seen! He was crouching against the other side of the house, well away from the nesting-boxes!
The henhouse did not smell nice. Jack felt miserable as he sat there on the floor. He knew that by running away he had as good as told the policeman that he was one of the runaways. And now the whole countryside would be searched again, and the secret island would probably be explored, too.
“But if I hadn’t run away the policeman would have caught me and made me tell where the others were,” thought the boy. “If only I can get to where Mike is waiting with the boat, and get back safely to the island, we can make preparations to hide everything.”
When it was dark, and the hens were roosting in the house beside him, Jack opened the door and slipped out. He stood listening. Not a sound was to be heard except the thump-thump of someone ironing in the kitchen of the cottage near by.
He ran quietly down the path to the gate. He slipped out into the road - and then ran for his life to the road that led to the wood by the lakeside where Mike was waiting.
But would Mike be waiting there? Suppose people had begun to hunt already for the four children - and had found Mike and the boat! What then? How would he get back to the girls on the island?
Jack forgot his hunger and thirst as he padded along at top speed to where he had left Mike. No one saw him. It was a dark night, for the moon was not yet up. Jack made his way through the trees to the lakeside.
And then his heart leapt for joy! He heard Mike’s voice! “Is that you, Jack? What a time you’ve been! Whatever’s happened?”