The Secret Island Read Online Free PDF Page A

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    “Let’s go to the top of the hill and see if we can spy anyone coming up or down the lake,” said Jack. So they went right up to the top, but not a sign of anyone could they see. The waters of the lake were calm and clear and blue. Not a boat was on it. The children might have been quite alone in the world.
    They went dovm to the girls with the full kettle. Nora and Peggy proudly showed the boys how they had arranged the stores. They had used the big roots for shelves, and the bottom of the little cave they had used for odds and ends, such as Jack’s axe and knife, the hammer and nails, and so on.
    “It’s a nice dry place,” sa’d Peggy. “It’s just right for a larder, and it’s so nice and near the cove. Jack, where are we gong to build our house?”
    Jack took the girls and Mike to the west end of the cove, where there was a thicket of willows. He forced his way through them and showed the others a fine clear place right in the very middle of the trees.
    “Here’s the very place,” he said. “No one would ever guess there was a house just here, if we built one! The willows grow so thickly that I don’t suppose anyone but ourselves would ever know they could be got through.”
    They talked about their house until they were tired out. They made their way back to the little beach and Jack said they would each have a cup of cocoa, a piece of cake, and go to bed!
    He and Mike soon made a fire. There were plenty of dry twigs about, and bigger bits of wood. It did look cheerful to see the flames dancing. Jack could not use his little magnifying glass to set light to the paper or twigs because the sun was not hot enough then. It was sinking down in the west. He used a match. He set the kettle on the fire to boil.
    “It would be better tomorrow to swing the kettle over the flames on a tripod of sticks,” he said. “It will boil more quickly then.”
    But nobody minded how slowly the kettle boiled.
    They lay on their backs in the sand, looking up at the evening sky, listening to the crackle of the wood, and smelling a mixture of wood-smoke and honeysuckle. At last the kettle sent out a spurt of steam, and began to hiss. It was boiling.
    Nora made the cocoa, and handed it round in mugs. “There’s no milk,” she said. “But there is some sugar.”
    They munched their cake and drank their cocoa. Though it had no milk in it, it was the nicest they had ever tasted.
    “I do like seeing the fire,” said Nora. “Oh, Jack, why are you stamping it out?”
    “Well,” said Jack, “people may be looking for us tonight, you know, and a spire of smoke from this island would give our hiding-place away nicely! Come on, now, everyone to bed! We’ve hard work to do tomorrow!”
    Peggy hurriedly rinsed out the mugs. Then all of them went to their green, heathery bedroom. The sun was gone. Twilight was stealing over the secret island.
    “Our first night here!” said Mike, standing up and looking down on the quiet waters of the lake. “We are all alone, the four of us, without a roof over our heads even, but I’m so happy!”
    “So am I!” said everyone. The girls went to their hidden green room in the gorse and lay down in their clothes. It seemed silly to undress when they were sleeping out of doors. Mike threw them the old ragged rug.
    “Throw that over yourselves,” he said. “It may be cold tonight, sleeping out for the first time. You won’t be frightened, will you?”
    “No,” said Peggy. “You two boys will be near, and, anyway, what is there to be frightened of?”
    They lay down on the soft heather, and pulled the old rug over them. The springy heather was softer than the old hard bed the two girls had been used to at home. The little girls put their arms round one another and shut their eyes. They were fast asleep almost at once.
    But the boys did not sleep so quickly. They lay on their heathery beds and listened to all the sounds of the night. They heard the little grunt of a hedgehog going by. They saw the flicker of bats overhead. They