The Thorn Island Adventure

by Fleur Hitchcock

  So there really was no point in getting back along the cliff. They had to go down. Disappointed to discover that his sister was once again correct, he scuttled back down the path with a handful of possible fire-making twigs.

  He grabbed a strand of old man’s beard to be the string and he set about making a fire bow.

  Thweeeee, thweee, thewweeee. Thweeee, theweeee, thewweeeee.

  The bow spun the twig round and back again, rubbing against the fence post below. He put his finger to the join. Warm. Definitely warm. So he tried again.

  And again.

  And again.

  Five minutes later, the tiniest coil of smoke rose from the fence post.

  “Yay!” he cried.

  “What?” said Aiden, stumbling blearily to the mouth of the cave and seeing Josh crouching by his miniature fire. “You’re mad! You’ll bring them running.”

  “Really?” said Josh, pointing to the smouldering blade of dried grass. “It was just a small fire.”

  “Put it out,” said his sister, rubbing her eyes and sitting up.

  Sighing, Josh stood up and stamped on the small smoking curl of dry grass. “You’re no fun. Anyway – I know something you don’t.”

  “What?” she said.

  “I know that that woman’s at the top of the cliff waiting … and I’ve heard another man who wants to give it up and run away, but she won’t let him. She’s the leader. AND they said that Stig, whoever he is, is going to DEAL WITH US.”

  Ava stared at him.

  “S’true, honest.”

  “Let’s go,” said Aiden, and he led the way through the gloom towards Brandy Cove.

  “What are they doing?” asked George.

  Chloe held her finger up to her lip. “Shhh, George,” she whispered. “They’re checking to see if it’s safe for us to go back to the boat.”

  George nodded and chewed his nails. “I’m hungry,” he said. For a moment Chloe felt furious with him. Hungry, now, when they were risking everything to get him back to safety? But then she saw it from George’s point of view. She wondered just how scary all this had been for him. Being kidnapped and then being dragged all over the place by first Ava and Aiden, then Aiden, and now all of them. He was only six. She gave him a hug and held him close.

  Ava beckoned them forward.

  Keeping George by her, Chloe sneaked over the long rocks and down the other side to the sea cave.

  “Boat’s here,” said Ava, venturing into the cave first.

  Chloe stopped behind her. It was so dark she could barely see the boat. Just the faintest grey outline.

  “Help me move her to the water,” said Ava, pulling at the stern.

  The boat didn’t move. Aiden joined her – but still the boat didn’t move.

  It took all of them pushing and pulling to get it to shift over the shingle, and in the half dark they stumbled and bumbled and it took an age.

  By Chloe’s feet Bella sniff ed and growled at something under the dinghy.

  “Weird. The boat seems to be much heavier than yesterday,” said Ava as the sides creaked. “I hope we’re not doing any damage.”

  Chloe hoped so too. Aside from what Grandpa might say, there was the thought that five of them were about to set sail in the Black Diamond, and if she wasn’t seaworthy it might be a very short voyage. She tried to lift as she pulled and Ava did the same and Aiden joined in, so the boat mostly slid, and sometimes bumped, to the shallows.

  Aiden tied it to the stumps of an old jetty that stuck out from a rock and they all stomped back up the beach to rescue the mast.

  “So,” said Aiden as they bent down to pick it up, “we’ll sail straight for Drake’s Bay, put the Black Diamond in the boat shed, then form a guard round George and take him straight to the harbour master’s office. Yes?”

  “No,” said Ava. “I’ll bring her in where the ferry lands. It’ll be easier to get George off safely.”

  “You are so wrong!” said Josh, waving his hands in his sister’s face. “They’ll be waiting for us. We should go to the boat shed.”

  “Stop it, Josh,” said Ava. “Stop it. The boat shed’ll be more dangerous.”

  George didn’t say anything. He sat down on the shingle and found some apricots in Chloe’s bag.

  “They might be waiting for us in the boat shed,” said Chloe in the end. “We’d be out of sight, so we wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop them there. We need to be somewhere more public.”

  “Yes,” said Ava. “Exactly.”

  Aiden examined the back of his hand; Josh dug a hole in the shingle with his heel. They glanced at each other and nodded. “OK.”

  Ava directed them as they re-erected the mast, lifting it into position.

  “Wow,” said George. “It’s a sailing boat again.”

  Ava jumped aboard, helping George in. Josh scrambled in next, clutching Bella, and Chloe and Aiden pushed the boat so that it was no longer resting on the sand and was into deeper water. It seemed heavy, but then there were already three people on board.

  “Will it take five?” asked Chloe as Ava took the tiller.

  “George is only small,” Ava answered, and then, as if realising that this was a little rude, added, “Sorry, George, but you are quite little.”

  George smiled and investigated the rear locker for the remains of yesterday’s lunch. He found half a scone.

  Aiden clambered over the side and Chloe stood knee-deep in the water ready to give the boat a final push. She glanced up at the cliff . There was no trace of anyone following them. But she felt uneasy. As if there might have been someone there watching.

  “OK,” said Ava, “put the jib up please, Josh. And give the boat a shove, Chloe.”

  The dinghy began to move, rocking from side to side as Chloe was hauled on board. It felt very heavy and very low, and as she pulled the sail tighter and the boat began to tip Ava realised she had only a few centimetres of clearance before they would take on water. This would be a harder sail than she had ever done before.

  “Keep her level, can you?” she said to the others. Chloe and Josh leaned out on the side, bringing the boat flat, but only for a moment before it began to tip the other way.

  No one said anything. If they made it out of the cove without being spotted, it would be a miracle.

  With the exception of Ava they all looked back towards the cliff, and as they travelled further out into open water their gaze went up towards the lighthouse and the scrub along the coastal path.

  As if someone had opened the curtains light began to pour into the bay. Within a few minutes the vague dusky outlines of the boat became real and colourful.

  With the sun came a more normal feeling. Surely nothing could go wrong now? They just had to make it into the harbour.

  “Can you see anyone?” asked Ava.

  “No one,” dared Chloe.

  Aiden nodded.

  Distantly they heard an engine fire up, but it could have been from anywhere.

  “How many cars did the gang have?” asked Aiden.

  “They had a white van,” said George.

  “Right,” said Ava, scanning Thorn Island as they cruised past. She couldn’t see anything sinister, just an early-morning gardener pulling a wheelbarrow from a shed, a small rowing boat tying up at the quay, a window cleaner and someone sorting through recycling.

  Three seagulls swooped over them and headed on towards Drake’s Bay.

  “It’s taking ages,” said Josh.

  “There’s a lot of us,” replied Ava. “Lower in the water, more drag.” But he was right; it was taking ages. The Black Diamond was sluggish despite a good wind and calm waters.

  The first ferry of the day came out of Drake’s Bay and headed towards Thorn Island. A red fishing boat left the harbour and headed out to the buoys that marked the lobster pots.

  The wake from the ferry drifted towards them and they bounced over it, rocking unsteadily, water slopping over the sides.

  A crow landed on th
e mast, Bella growled and it squawked and flew off.

  “Come on, little boat,” said Aiden. “Hurry up.”

  Ava noticed that he was staring back towards Brandy Cove. “Anyone on the cliff now?” she asked.

  “Just seen a person looking out to sea. Might be a walker, though.”

  “S’OK,” said Josh. “If they saw us now, they’d have no chance of getting to Drake’s Bay before us. We’re fine.”

  No one spoke. The only sounds were the gentle slapping of water on the bow and the distant hum of the harbour waking up.

  “Rats,” said Aiden, pointing up the cliff.

  “What is it?” asked Josh.

  “The van, the white van – it’s coming down from the lighthouse.”

  “Oh!” said Ava, struggling with the tiller. The Black Diamond seemed to have a mind of her own this morning: first slow, now leaning to starboard. “Move to the other side, Josh; I think we’re lopsided.”

  “All right?” asked Aiden.

  Ava swallowed. “There’s something wrong with the boat – she’s really weird to steer.”

  “Perhaps it’s the currents?” said Aiden, who was watching the white van winding through the village. “Look, there they are.”

  Two people emerged from the white van. From out at sea it looked like Leather Woman and Dalmatian Man.

  “Wonder where the others are,” muttered Aiden.

  “We don’t even know what one of them looks like,” said Ava.

  The buildings of the harbour were now quite clear.

  “Two minutes,” said Ava, pulling the tiller round and tightening the sail.

  A coach pulled into the harbour. People got out and flooded the quay and headed towards the hotel.

  The Black Diamond lurched round and slid sideways towards the open mouth of the harbour. Ava tried to correct the angle and the boat staggered to port.

  “Are you going to be able to do this?” asked Aiden.

  “Yup,” said Ava, keeping her eyes on the scrap of old jetty to the right of the main harbour, right under the harbour master’s window. “Gently does it.” She pulled the tiller across as slowly as she could, keeping the boat upright and letting the sail sag so that they almost stopped.

  Aiden stepped forward on to the bow and took the painter, ready to tie the boat safely.

  Ava guided the dinghy the last few metres.

  Aiden sprang to the quay, rope in hand. Ava let go of the tiller and began to furl the sail so that they weren’t swept off again.

  A pair of seagulls dive-bombed some chips dropped on the quay and in the confusion Ava almost didn’t see the man climb out of the forward locker.

  It was Red Vest and he went straight for George. “Gotcha!” he shouted.

  “Chloe!” shouted Aiden.

  But Chloe wasn’t quick enough, nor Josh, and in one step Red Vest leaped on to the quayside, carrying George, and tried to break into a run.

  Aiden dropped the rope and Ava tried to grab it, but suddenly there was Bobble Hat from the Plaice and Ships café racing towards them, his arms out.

  “Don’t panic!” he shouted, grabbing George and Red Vest.

  For a second Ava relaxed, thinking it was all going to be OK, but then she heard George yell, “He’s one of them!”

  “What?” said Aiden. “I thought…”

  As Ava, still standing in the boat, struggled to find a weapon, Bella shot past her – leaping foursquare at the two men.

  “Aaargh!” shouted Mr Bobble Hat as Bella knocked him into Aiden, who had armed himself with a lobster pot and was swinging it wildly.

  Red Vest moved out of the way, letting go of George just as Mr Bobble Hat crumpled on to the quay.

  The little boy fell straight down the gap between the Black Diamond and the shore, and into the water.

  “No!” gasped Josh.

  “He can’t swim!” shouted Aiden, still struggling with Red Vest.

  Chloe kicked off her trainers and dived in over the side, the wake of bubbles eclipsing her and George completely.

  Tourists began to arrive at the top of the quay steps, crowding around and getting in the way.

  Bobble Hat sat back, clutching his arm, Bella standing guard, but Red Vest brushed Aiden aside and ran for the harbour steps as if he was going to dive in too. Aiden followed, raised the lobster pot and this time brought it down on the man’s head.

  Mr Bobble Hat jumped up in time to be grabbed by Jake and Pearl who had appeared through the crowd.

  “DON’T YOU DARE!” shouted Pearl, pushing Mr Bobble Hat up the steps and yanking his elbows behind his back.

  Chloe bobbed to the surface, George’s collar in her hand, and pulled herself round to the stern of the Black Diamond. While Josh and Aiden pulled and Chloe pushed, George emerged, spluttering and blinking, from the water.

  Ava found a spare length of rope in the rear locker. She made a noose and leaping on to the quay she ran round the back of Red Vest to throw it over his shoulders. “Yay!” she shouted, pulling it tight and trapping his arms at the elbow.

  “What the devil’s going on?” said the harbour master from the top of the steps, his face red with fury. “What are you kids doing?”

  “Call the police,” shouted Josh. “They’re kidnappers – this is George. Of Charlie’s Cheerful Chews.”

  Then Grandpa appeared at the top of the steps, beaming and then frowning as he looked down at the mayhem. “I say!” he said. “Jolly pleased to see you lot. But…”

  “And there are two more of them in the white van in the harbour car park!” shouted Aiden. “Leather Woman and Dalmatian Man – someone needs to get to them fast, before they escape.”

  Grandpa and Jake didn’t waste a second, running back to the car park, while the harbour master rushed back to his office to ring the police. Chloe and George climbed the steps and stood at the top, streaming water and laughing at Ava and Aiden sitting on their captive. Josh stepped into the harbour master’s office to make sure that the harbour master got his facts right.

  Ava saw Grandpa clamber in to his old Land Rover and park it across the top of the lane that led to the harbour, blocking everyone in, and Jake stood alongside, daring anyone to try and get past.

  There would be no escape for Leather Woman and Dalmatian Man.

  And no escape for the bedraggled man whose ankles Ava was securing with yet more knots.

  Later, sitting up at the table in the farmhouse, Ava could only marvel at the size of the hot chocolate she’d been given. It was truly incredible. Double marshmallows, double cream. And crisps.

  “So,” said the policewoman who had arrived with the marshmallows and crisps, “can I get this straight? The man who you caught and trussed was crammed into the forward locker all the way from Brandy Cove?”

  Ava nodded and popped another marshmallow in her mouth. “Yup.”

  “He, I believe,” said the policewoman, “is Stig.”

  “Suits him,” said Josh, stealing a marshmallow from Ava’s hot chocolate.

  “The boat was behaving weirdly,” said Aiden. “We were really slow all the way, really low in the water, and it must have been because he was jammed in there.”

  Grandpa, who was drinking a milkshake, raised his eyebrows.

  “And then, when we moored—” interrupted Josh.

  “He sprang out of nowhere—” butted in Chloe.

  “And grabbed George,” said Ava.

  “Right from between us while we were looking at what was happening on the quay,” said Chloe, dipping another chocolate biscuit into her milkshake.

  “And then Aiden whacked him with the lobster pot,” said Josh.

  “I did.” Aiden flushed. “Was that OK?”

  “Needs must,” said the policewoman, smiling.

  “Did you?” said Grandma, sitting down and fanning herself. “I don’t know how I’m going to tell your parents all this.”

  “Well, if he hadn’t, then the man would have got George back and got him in the van and
then we’d have lost him again,” said Josh. “And that would have been really bad.”

  “Quite,” agreed the policewoman. “It would.”

  “And then George would have been kidnapped again,” said Josh.

  “And we wouldn’t have these heavenly milkshakes,” said Chloe, licking her straw.

  “No,” said George, taking a sip from his milkshake and then dipping a biscuit in and finally taking two flakes and stuffing them in his mouth all at once. “And that would be a very bad thing.” He beamed at them all and then pointed out of the window at a huge shiny black car that had just arrived. “MUM!”

  It was after the weekend when the invitation came to meet George and his parents and have lunch at Long House Hotel. None of the cousins had ever been there. Grandma made them brush their hair and wear clean T-shirts.

  “Really?” said Josh, rubbing spit on yesterday’s T-shirt, which to him didn’t really seem to be too bad.

  “Really,” insisted Grandpa.

  They piled into the Land Rover and bobbled through the lanes as Grandpa drove.

  The big shiny car was there, and as they entered the garden George ran out from inside and threw his arms round Aiden’s legs. “Yay!” he yelped. “So glad you’re here – and you can order anything – Mum says.”

  They followed George inside and met his mum and dad, who were really smart and really nice, Chloe thought. For about f ive minutes everyone was very well behaved and extra polite, but gradually it became a homely mix of everyone talking over everyone and everyone eating and ordering and laughing. And having a good time.

  They stayed long into the afternoon – and there was cake.

  Afterwards they made friends with the f ive new hens that Grandma and Grandpa had brought home. They were all glossy and black, and so shiny that their feathers shone almost green in the sun.

  One of the hens was smaller than all the others and struggled to keep up. She raced back and forth across the pen, but her legs were shorter and she had to try harder.

  “I think,” said Josh, picking her up, “that we should call this one George.”