Читать книгу Swallows & Amazons - Boxed Set - Arthur Ransome - Страница 30

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Captain John let loose a hurrah that startled even himself and woke the sleeping Roger.

“Titty, Titty, how ever did you do it?” he said.

“Well done, Titty,” said Susan.

Roger sat up in the bottom of the boat. “Hullo, Titty,” he said, and then curled up and went to sleep again.

John jibed Swallow and then, bringing her to the wind, ran her alongside. Mate Susan scrambled forward and grabbed the gunwale of the Amazon.

“But where are the Amazons?” said John.

“They’ve got our camp. They’ve got Wild Cat Island,” said Titty. “I couldn’t help it. I was asleep, and there was an owl, and I thought it was you, and I lit the lights, and they came into the harbour. Then they went to the camp and I took Amazon.”

“Who cares about the camp?” cried John. “It was whoever could capture the other’s ship. And now we’ve got her. And I thought we’d failed. Swallow is flagship after all. Well done, Titty.”

Titty tried to tell her story, how she had pushed out in the dark, how she had tried to anchor near the opposite shore and had only found out when day came that she had anchored by Cormorant Island instead. Owls . . . the noise of rowing . . . men quarrelling . . . the leading light going out . . . it all seemed a muddle.

“The main thing,” said Captain John, “is that Amazon is our prize. Now we’ll sail over with the whole fleet. We’ll make a landing in the face of the enemy and retake the island. Or we’ll call upon them to surrender, and if they won’t we’ll keep the sea for days and days until they starve. But they’ll have to give in. Hullo, what are they doing?”

Susan, Titty, and John stared at Wild Cat Island. Roger woke up again and stared too.

A large blanket, flapping heavily in the wind, was being slowly hoisted up the lighthouse tree. They could see the Amazons holding the ropes below it. It was a big, stout blanket and, though the wind was fresh, it could not blow it out square, but kept it flapping in slow, disheartened flaps.

“It’s one of our blankets,” said Susan.

“It’s a white flag,” said Titty. “They’re surrendering.”

“It isn’t very white,” said Roger sleepily.

“It’s meant to be,” said Titty. “I know it’s a white flag.”

“We’ll soon find out,” said Captain John. “I say, Mister Mate, will you sail the prize or shall I?”

“You’d better,” said Susan, “because of the centre-board.”

“Right,” said the captain. “Roger stays with you in Swallow. Titty sails in Amazon. Look out, Titty, I’m coming aboard.”

He climbed from one boat into the other.

“Hang on to Swallow’s painter while I get sail on Amazon,” he said.

“Aye, aye, sir,” said Titty.

Mate Susan let go of Amazon’s gunwale, and Swallow drifted astern at the end of her painter.

“Where’s the pirate flag?” asked Captain John, looking up the mast to see that all was clear for setting sail.

“They’d left it at the mast-head,” said Titty. “I hauled it down as soon as it was light and I saw it. I didn’t think of it before.”

“You did quite right,” said Captain John. “While she’s a prize she mustn’t fly her own flag. She ought to fly ours, but we haven’t a spare one.”

Amazon’s sail was a standing lug, just the same as Swallow’s, so that John had no trouble in setting it. He began hauling in the anchor rope.

“Now then, Able-seaman, will you take the tiller to sail her across? She’s your prize really, you know. Are you ready, Mister Mate? Shall we cast off Swallow?”

“Ready,” said Susan. “Roger, run forward to coil down the painter.”

Roger, fully awake now, hurried to the bows. Titty let go of Swallow’s painter. Roger hauled it in hand over hand and coiled it down. Swallow’s sail filled and she began to move. John hauled on the Amazon’s anchor rope until it was straight up and down.

“Ready, Titty.”

“Ready.”

“She’s sailing now. Keep her full.” John hauled up the anchor as fast as he could. Amazon began to sail, but slipped away to leeward.

“Centre-board’s not down,” said John. “She’ll sail all right as soon as it is. She hasn’t got a keel like Swallow.”

He lowered the centre-board and Amazon stopped slipping sideways and her wake lengthened astern of her.

“All right, Titty?” he asked.

“Fine,” she said. “I mean, aye, aye, sir.” With her mouth a little open and her eyes earnestly on the sail she was steering Amazon for the first time. It was no wonder that she used the wrong words.

In the fresh morning wind the fleet moved towards Wild Cat Island, Swallow a little ahead.

Mate Susan called across the water, “Shall I make straight for the harbour? I can do it easily on this tack.”

“No,” called Captain John. “We’d better sail to the look-out point, and ask them what they mean by that blanket.”

“I’m certain it’s a white flag,” said Titty, without shifting her eyes from the sail.

“We’ll make sure of it, anyway,” said Captain John. “They might try to rush the Amazon as we bring her in.”

At the look-out place, under the great flapping blanket that hung on the lighthouse tree where the lantern had hung last night, were the Amazon pirates. They were not standing still. They seemed to be dancing.

“What are they doing?” said Captain John.

“That’s Captain Nancy, the one who’s jumping up and down,” said Titty. “Perhaps she’s dancing with rage.” Titty could not afford to take more than a short look out of the corner of her eye. She was sailing their ship, and she wanted them to see that she could do it. She wanted to leave a wake as straight as theirs.

Susan in the Swallow went about before reaching the island. Amazon passed under her stern.

“It’s deep water right under the look-out place,” said John. “You can sail her close to it. She’ll lose the wind, but she’ll find it again the other side. She’s got enough way on her to carry her past.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” said Titty.

The Amazons on the look-out place seemed to be beckoning them on. “Hurry up,” they shouted.

Titty sailed close under the point, and John shouted up to the Amazons, “Do you surrender?”

Nancy Blackett shouted back: “We do. We jolly well do. But buck up.”

“Do be quick,” shouted Peggy.

“No trickery,” shouted John.

“Honest Pirate,” shouted Nancy.

“Honest Injun too?” said John doubtfully.

“Honest Injun,” shouted Nancy. “Honest anything you like. But don’t waste any more time. Bring her to the landing-place.”

“We’ll take her into port,” said Captain John.

“The landing-place is nearer.”

“She’s our prize,” called John, “and we’ll take her to the harbour.”

Already Amazon had passed with flapping sail through the sheltered water under the point. Now she had the wind again, and was sailing fast across the channel between the island and the eastern shore of the lake.

“Close-hauled, Titty,” said Captain John.

“Close-hauled it is,” said Able-seaman Titty, bringing Amazon nearer to the wind. “But what are they in such a hurry about?”

“I don’t know,” said Captain John. “Don’t stint her. We’ll race Susan for the harbour. She’s beating up the other side.”

But Swallow had too good a start and was sailing in the open lake. When Titty brought her prize round the rocks at the southern end of the island, Swallow was already there. Susan had taken down her sail and was waiting with oars out, just outside the entrance to the harbour.

“It’s all right,” shouted John. “You can go in. They’ve surrendered. They’re in an awful hurry about something. We’ll go in together.”

Susan pulled with one oar and backwatered with the other, turned Swallow round, and paddled her in towards the harbour.

“DO YOU SURRENDER?”

“Let me row Amazon in,” said Titty. “I got her out in the dark last night.”

“Look here, Titty, can you see the marks? The wind’s exactly right. You can sail her in. I’ll lower the sail at the right moment. You needn’t think about anything but keeping the marks one behind the other.”

“I’ll try,” said Titty, and steered straight in.

“Don’t take any notice of me,” said John. “Keep the marks together.” Just as they shot in among the rocks he lowered the sail and pulled up the centre-board. “Keep your eye on the marks. That’s right. Look out for Swallow. Well done!”

Just as Swallow grounded on the beach in the little harbour, Amazon slid quietly in and grounded close beside her.

The Amazons were waiting on the beach. They seemed altogether friendly. Peggy Blackett pulled Swallow up, and Nancy Blackett did the same for Amazon. But Captain John was taking no risks.

“Captain Nancy,” he said, “which ship is flagship?”

Captain Nancy did not hesitate. “Swallow is. And earned it. But do buck up. No one knows we’re here. We’re supposed to be in bed. And we must get home in time to get up for breakfast when we’re called.”

“You’ll never do it,” said Captain John.

“Yes we will. The wind’s getting stronger every minute, and the sun’s only just rising. But do be quick. Let’s help to carry the things. There’s an awful lot to say.”

Titty climbed out over Amazon’s bows, and Captain Nancy shook her by the hand and slapped her on the back. “By thunder, Able-seaman,” said she, “I wish you were in my crew. This morning when I saw that you’d done us all by yourself, I could have swallowed the anchor. You did just exactly what we had planned to do.”

Susan was unloading the blankets and things from Swallow. Roger had run off to the camp. Everybody else took something to carry. Roger came running back.

“They’ve got a grand fire,” he said, “and the kettle’s boiling over.”

“Who’s for tea?” said Mate Susan.

“Well, there’s hardly time,” said Peggy.

“Come on, quick,” said Nancy. “There’s lots that’s got to be said, and we can slop the tea down while we’re saying it.”

The Swallows and the Amazons trooped along the path to the camp. The Amazons did most of the talking.

“The real thing is,” said Captain Nancy, “that we’ve got leave to come and camp on the island for a few days, beginning the day after to-morrow. . . .”

“That’s to-morrow now,” said Peggy.

“Mother had a party last night at home, and there are people coming to-day, you know, the sort of people we have to be best-frocked for. So the only thing was to have the war last night. We can’t very well be at war with each other while we’re living in the same camp. The wind wouldn’t let us have it before. It had to be last night or never. And then the able-seaman did us. It was a noble feat of arms.”

“I got in an awful row when we found Amazon had gone,” Peggy broke in. “Captain Nancy thought she had drifted away, and when I said she couldn’t drift against the wind . . .”

“You wait, Peggy,” threatened Captain Nancy.

“Oh, well,” said Peggy. “You know what you said. Anyhow, it wasn’t till it got light that we knew what had happened to her. At least we didn’t know at first, not even after we saw her. Not until Able-seaman Titty sat up and hauled our flag down.”

“Well,” said Captain Nancy, “yours was a great plan. Anybody might have been taken in by it. When we saw you at the boathouse . . .”

“Where were you?” asked Captain John.

“We were in the reeds at the mouth of the river.”

“I never thought of that,” said Captain John.

“When we saw you had gone up the river, I was sure you were all aboard. I knew you’d find nothing up the river, and I thought we should have time to get down to Wild Cat Island before it was quite dark. I thought you’d be going back there at once. But I never thought of your leaving a shore party and going up the river simply to trick us into our own trap. It really was a great plan.’ ”

“But it wasn’t a plan, really,” said Captain John. “At least I never thought of it. But what were you going to do?”

“Well, it worked, anyhow,” said Captain Nancy. “Our plan was very simple. We were going to sail to Wild Cat Island. My mate was to put me ashore there and sail on and wait in the next bay. I was going to hide, and then, when you came back and went to the camp, I was going to collar Swallow and go off to look for Peggy and the rest of the fleet.”

“What did happen?” said Susan.

“It took us much longer to get here than I had thought it would. It got dark so quickly, and we had a horrible time getting through the islands. And then, when we saw your lantern . . .”

“Lighthouse,” said Titty.

“We thought you’d got back before us. Then we saw a light moving on the island.”

“That was my torch,” said Titty.

“And we thought we’d sail on and wait somewhere till dawn. Then we saw the two lights, and I guessed at once that they were on the marks. So I came in under oars to tell you about to-morrow. Then we went to the camp and found nobody. Then we shouted a bit, and came back to the harbour, and there was no Amazon. Titty did her part awfully well.”

“Then what did you do?” asked Susan.

“We had a bit of an argument,” said Nancy.

“A bit,” said Peggy. “It was a whole one and a half.”

“Then we found a seed cake and ate it. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not a bit,” said Susan. “There’s a new one coming to-day.”

“I ate all your chocolate in Amazon,” said Titty.

“You’d earned it,” said Captain Nancy generously.

They came to the camp. The fire was blazing high and steam was pouring from the kettle.

“Shall I make the tea?” said Peggy Blackett.

“Avast there, Peggy,” said Captain Nancy. “We’ve lost. Captain John is Commodore. Captain John, do you think your mate will give us some tea?”

“Mister Mate,” said Captain John, “a round of tea would do us all a bit of good.”

“But there’s no milk,” said Susan, “and it’s too early to go to the farm.”

“And there isn’t time for that,” said Captain Nancy. “Let’s have it without.”

“And call it hot grog,” said Titty.

So hot grog it was and served in large tots. No tea with milk ever tasted better than this hot milkless tea on Wild Cat Island while the first sunlight was creeping down from the tops of the opposite hills. But it was so hot and the Amazons were in such a hurry to be off that Peggy was sent down to the landing-place for a bottle full of cold water to cool the grog with.

“Is the war over?” said Nancy. “It had better be, if we’re coming to-morrow.”

“Right. Peace,” said Captain John.

“Skip off and haul down the white flag, then,” commanded Nancy, and Peggy, putting her mug of hot grog on the ground, went up to the look-out place and hauled down the blanket from the lighthouse tree.

“The sun’s really coming up now,” said Peggy when she came back. “We ought to start or we shall never be back in time.”

“Come on, then,” said Nancy. “And to-morrow we’ll set sail as early as ever we can, and we’ll bring our tent, and then we’ll make a raid on Captain Flint.”

“I say,” said Susan, “we nearly forgot to give you the message.”

“What message?”

“From the savages,” said Titty. “We went up into the forest, and saw them, and they showed us a serpent.”

“You’ve been seeing the Billies, the charcoal-burners,” said Nancy.

“Well, they live in a wigwam,” said Titty.

“They gave us a message for you,” said Susan. “We were to tell you to tell him . . .”

“Who?” said Captain Nancy.

“Captain Flint,” said Titty.

“That old Billy, or young Billy, I forget which, said that he ought to put a good lock on his houseboat when he leaves her.”

“But why?” said Nancy.

“Because of us?” said Peggy.

“No,” said Susan. “Because of some talk he’d heard among the other natives.”

John had said nothing. Now he spoke. “We couldn’t give you the message, because there was no wind,” he said, “and I did not know what to do about it. I tried to give him the message, but he wouldn’t listen. Would you have told him it or not?”

“But if he locks up the houseboat we shan’t be able to raid it for green feathers for our arrows,” said Peggy.

“If he doesn’t lock it up, it may be raided by someone else,” said Nancy. “We ought not to let it be wasted on natives.”

They were now hurrying towards the harbour. The point was debated from all sides. It was finally settled by Nancy.

“We’ll tell him,” she said. “Let him put a padlock on it. Let him put ten padlocks. We’ll smash them with crowbars. I’ll tell him now, on the way home.”

“But you can’t,” said John. “He’s gone away.”

“Gone away?” said Nancy, as she pushed Amazon off.

“I saw him go. He took his parrot.”

“Well, he’s back then,” said Nancy. “We saw his light in the houseboat on our way here last night. The cabin windows were all lit up.”

“We can’t tell him now,” said Peggy.

“Why not?” said Nancy.

“Because we’re at home in bed,” said Peggy.

“Shiver my timbers, so we are,” said Captain Nancy. “I’d forgotten that. Shove off. So long, Commodore.”

As fast as they could, the Amazon pirates paddled their ship out of the harbour and set sail. There was no time to lose. The sunlight had almost reached the edge of the water on the far side of the lake. The Swallows went back to their camp. As they got there they heard a shout from the water, and John and Titty ran up to the Look-out Place. Amazon was sailing by, moving very fast with the fresh morning wind, her sail well out to starboard. At her masthead fluttered once more the pirate flag. Peggy held the flag halyards. Suddenly the flag dropped, and was lowered to half-mast. Then it rose again, and fluttered at the masthead as before.

“Hurrah for the Swallows,” shouted Nancy and Peggy over the water.

“Hurrah for the Amazons,” shouted Titty and John. Roger ran up just in time to shout, “Hurrah.” Susan was busy dividing out the blankets between the two tents. Presently she came up to the others who were still watching the little white sail growing smaller and smaller in the distance.

“Roger,” she said, “your watch below. Go to bed this minute.”

“But it’s to-morrow,” said Roger.

“I don’t care if it’s the day before yesterday,” said Susan. “March!”