Swallows and Amazons

by Arthur Ransome

  “What about Vicky?” said Susan.

  “Vicky’s got a lamb and an elephant. I took her to the shop, and she chose them herself. Now then, help me out with the hamper, so that Nurse and Vicky can come ashore.”

  “It’s a very heavy hamper,” said Titty.

  “The presents are not,” said the female native. “The presents are very small.”

  “Then what’s in the hamper?” said Roger.

  “Birthday feast, of course,” said the female native.

  “Hurrah, no cooking,” said Susan.

  “Aha,” laughed the female native. “I thought you’d get tired of that. But I must say you seem to have managed very well. No illness in the camp?”

  “None at all,” said Susan, “and I’m not sick of cooking, but it’s jolly not to have to just for once.”

  “Of course we’ve had plague and yellow fever and Black Jack and all the other illnesses belonging to desert islands,” said Titty. “But we cured them all at once.”

  “That’s right,” said the female native, “never let an illness linger about.”

  They carried the hamper up to the camp. Nurse brought Vicky ashore, and they all wished her many happy returns. Vicky had the elephant with her. She forgot her lamb in the boat, and it had to be fetched later. Vicky liked the elephant better than the lamb because it was smaller. The lamb was so large it was always being put down and forgotten.

  The female native opened the hamper. On the top, well wrapped up in tissue paper, was a birthday cake, a huge one with Victoria written in pink sugar on the white icing and two large cherries in the middle, because Vicky was two years old. Then there was a cold chicken. Then there was a salad in a big pudding-basin. Then there was an enormous gooseberry tart. Then there was a melon. Then there was a really huge bunch of bananas which the female native tied in a tree as if it was growing there. “You can pick them just as you want them,” she said.

  Then there were more ordinary stores, a tin of golden syrup, two big pots of marmalade and a great tin of squashed-fly biscuits. Squashed-fly biscuits are those flat biscuits with currants in them, just the thing for explorers. Then there were three bunloaves and six bottles of ginger beer.

  “Hurrah for the grog,” said Titty.

  “But where are the presents?” said Roger.

  “I told you they were very little ones,” said the female native. “Here they are.”

  She dug down at the bottom of the hamper and brought up four small brown paper parcels, each about as big as an ordinary envelope and as fat as a matchbox.

  “The nights are getting very dark now,” she said, “with no moon, so I thought perhaps you could do with some electric torches. You mustn’t keep them lit for long at a time or they’ll soon wear out. But for signalling, or looking for something in the dark.…”

  “Mother,” cried Captain John, “how did you guess we were wanting them? They’ve come exactly at the right moment.”

  The other were flashing their torches at once, but they were not much good in the sunlight. Roger and Titty went into the mate’s tent and crawled under the groundsheet to get some darkness.

  When they came back, rubbing the mud from their knees, for under the groundsheet it had been very damp and sticky, the female native said, “I’ve had a letter from Daddy, and he reminded me of something. Can Roger swim yet?”

  “He swam on his back for the first time today,” said John. “Three good strokes. Once he can do that he will be able to swim on his front quite easily.”

  “Shall I show you?” said Roger, and was for running down to the landing-place at once.

  “Before we go home,” said the female native. “Not this minute. Well, Daddy said that Roger was to have a knife of his own as soon as he could swim, and I brought it with me in case he could.”

  She dipped into the hamper for the last time and pulled out a knife with a good big blade. Roger was off with it at once, trying it on the trees. “Now I can make blazes, just like Titty,” he shouted.

  “If you can really swim three strokes both on your back and on your front, you can keep it,” said the female native. “If not, I must take it back tonight and bring it again next time.”

  “I’m sure I can do it,” said Roger, wiping the blade on his knickerbockers.

  “You’ll have to show me,” said the female native. “No feet on the bottom, you know.”

  “Not even one toe,” said Roger.

  Then came the birthday feast. There is no need to say anything about that. It was a good one. No one had much time for talking. It ended after Roger had been sent to pick some bananas from the new banana tree.

  “I hear you’ve had some visitors,” said Mother.

  The Swallows stared at her. It really was astonishing how news flew about among these natives.

  “Mrs. Blackett called on me yesterday and told me her little girls met you on the island. She seemed very jolly. How did you get on with the girls?”

  “Beautifully,” said Susan. “One is called Nancy and the other is called Peggy.”

  “Really,” said Mother. “I thought the elder one was called Ruth.”

  “That’s only when she is with the natives,” said Titty. “She is the captain of the Amazon pirates, and when she’s a pirate her name is Nancy. We call her Nancy.”

  “I see,” said Mother. “Mrs. Blackett said they were a couple of tomboys, and she was afraid they might be too wild for you.”

  “They aren’t any wilder than we are,” said Titty.

  “I hope not,” said Mother, laughing.

  Then she said. “Their uncle lives during the summer in that houseboat we saw. You haven’t been meddling with it, have you?”

  “No,” said John, gloomily. “But he thinks we have.”

  “I know,” said Mother, “Mrs. Dixon told me. I said I was sure you hadn’t.”

  “But he thinks we have. He’s been here. He came when we were all away and left this.” John pulled out the note and gave it to Mother.

  Mother looked at it. “Who is Captain Flint?” she asked.

  “He is,” said Titty.

  “Oh,” said Mother.

  Then John told her of what the charcoal-burners had said, and of how he had gone to give the message himself, because there was no wind and he could not give it to the Amazons.

  “You did quite right,” said Mother, “but Mrs. Dixon said he was going away for a night or two.”

  “He was just going when I saw him this morning,” said John.

  “Wasn’t he pleased to get the message?” said Mother.

  “He wouldn’t listen to me,” said John. “He called me a liar.” The whole trouble of the morning loomed up again.

  “He wouldn’t have called you that if he knew you,” said Mother. “It doesn’t matter what people think or say if they don’t know you. They may think anything. What did you do?”

  “I came away,” said John.

  “Mrs. Blackett says he is very busy over some writing and wants to be let alone. She says she’s afraid her tomboys lead him a terrible life.”

  There was silence. It was all right to talk to Mother about their own affairs. Mother was a friendly native. But nothing could be said about the affairs of the Amazons. Mother noticed the silence, and at once began to talk of something else. She really was the very best of natives.

  The birthday party grew cheerful again. The female native told stories of old days before they had been born. She talked of Malta and Gibraltar, and of sailing in Sydney Harbour when she was a little girl.

  Later on in the afternoon they bathed, and Mother came down to the landing-place to see Roger swim. He swam three strokes on his front and managed six good kicks on his back.

  “If you have got as far as that,” the female native said, “I think you can keep the knife. All you want now is practice.”

  John wanted to swim round the island again to show her that he could do it, but she said that once was quite enough for one day. Titty did some pearl
-diving. Susan swam a short race with John and very nearly beat him.

  Then there was tea.

  At last it was time to take Vicky home.

  The empty hamper was carried down to the landing-place.

  “How soon are you going to get tired of your island?” asked the female native.

  “Never, never,” said the Swallows.

  “You’ve been lucky to have good weather so far,” she said. “And you seem to be doing yourselves no harm. But there’s only another week before we must be going south. You can stay here until nearly the end of it, unless the weather breaks. If the weather breaks, I mean if the rainy season comes on, you’ll have to come away. In the rainy season desert islands, even the best of them, are almost uninhabitable.”

  The Swallows looked at each other.

  “A week’s a long time,” said Mother.

  “But we want to stay for ever,” said Roger.

  “I dare say you do,” said the female native.

  She kissed them all round. They all kissed fat Vicky. Nurse and Vicky got into the boat and sat down in the stern.

  Titty said, “Mother, you don’t mind being a native, do you?”

  “Not a bit,” said Mother.

  “Then just for one minute I’ll be a native too. What about rubbing noses? Like the natives you told us about in the Australian bush.”

  Titty and the female native rubbed noses, after which, of course, Roger had to do the same.

  Then the female native kissed all the Swallows goodbye and took her place in the boat. The empty hamper was lifted in. John and Susan pushed the boat off, and Mother rowed away.

  “Let’s be a convoy,” said Captain John.

  In a moment Swallow was afloat, her crew was aboard, and Captain John was rowing as hard as he could. The female native waited, resting on her oars. Then they rowed side by side. It was much harder to row Swallow than to row the boat from Holly Howe, because Swallow was deep in the water and built for sailing, not rowing. But the female native did not hurry. At last, just before they came to Houseboat Bay, Captain John stopped. He did not want to see the houseboat again that day. He turned Swallow round.

  “Goodbye, natives,” called Titty.

  “Goodbye, palefaces,” called the female native. “Drool is the word, isn’t it? Drool. Drool.”

  “Let me row,” said Roger.

  “Let me,” said Titty.

  Captain John gave them each an oar. He and Susan sat in the stern. Roger rowed in the bows. Titty rowed stroke. Susan steered.

  Susan pulled out her handkerchief to wave to the boat with the natives, disappearing in the distance. The handkerchief still had a knot in it. She unfastened the knot, but did not say anything.

  As they landed once more at Wild Cat Island, John said, “Titty and Roger had better do some whistling for a wind. We shall have to hurry up about the war.”

  CHAPTER XVII

  A FAIR WIND

  THEY SPENT THAT evening round the camp fire, making their plans. There would surely be a wind in the morning. But who could tell which way it might blow. A southerly wind would mean one plan and a northerly wind another, and, supposing there were to be one of those rare winds that made it possible to reach either way up or down the lake, neither of these plans would be much good. But such a wind would be the same for both sides, and it was little good making plans for it. Besides, such winds were very rare. No matter which way the clouds moved overhead the high hills on each side of the lake tended to make the winds blow up or down it. So they made two plans only, one for a southerly wind and one for a northerly. A northerly would make it easy for the Amazons to sail to Wild Cat Island. A southerly would make it easy for the Swallows to sail to Amazon River. Getting back mattered less. It would not matter how long that took.

  So there were two plans made.

  “In naval warfare,” said John, remembering a well-known book, “two things are important; to know exactly what you want to do and to do it in the manner that your enemy least expects.”

  “Well,” said Titty, “what is it we want to do?”

  “We want to get hold of the Amazon when the Amazons are not aboard her, and we have to remember that they will be trying to capture Swallow in the same way. Whoever gets hold of the other one’s ship wins. We settled that when they were here. The whole thing is that there’s no time to lose. They’ll be in a hurry too, so if the wind’s from the north tomorrow they will make an attack on us and if it’s from the south they will know that we shall make an attack on them.”

  “I don’t see how we are going to capture Amazon if they come here in her,” said Susan.

  “This is the plan for that,” said Captain John. “If there’s a northerly wind, one of us takes Swallow out and hides her in the reeds where we were fishing. The other three hide on the island in ambush close to the harbour. The Amazons will sail into the harbour, and land and go to the camp. While they are at the camp, we shall take the Amazon, and they’ll be marooned, and we shall have won. That’s simple enough.”

  “And if it’s a southerly wind?” said Titty.

  “Then it’ll be more difficult, for then they’ll be expecting us, and they’ll probably have a good plan of their own.”

  “I don’t see how we can surprise them,” said Susan.

  “It’s more difficult,” said Captain John, “but we can do it. There’s just one thing that we can do that they think we can’t do. We can find Wild Cat Island in the dark, and bring our ship into harbour. They know about the marks, but they don’t know that we have made them into leading lights. So they’ll be sure that we shall make our attack early enough to get home by daylight. Well, we won’t. A cutting-out expedition by day would only fail. The pirates’ harbour may be within sight of their house.”

  “Stronghold,” said Titty.

  “There may be natives all over the place who would give the alarm. We must capture their ship while they are feasting ashore, or sleeping off their drunken orgies.”

  “They had a whole barrel in the boat. They must have tubs and tubs of rum on land.”

  This, then, was the plan for a southerly wind. Swallow was to sail to the islands by Rio as soon as she could, so that they could keep a look-out beyond them, and see if the Amazons sailed out of Amazon River. It would never do for the Amazon to be hiding among the islands, so that the Swallows would find her gone when they came to the river. If they did not see her, the Swallows would sail on at dusk, into the river, find the boathouse, cut out the Amazon, put aboard a prize crew (Susan) to sail her back, and return to Wild Cat Island in the dark. There was to be a lighthouse on Wild Cat Island, and the leading lights would be lit to make it safe to bring the ships into the harbour in the dark. Candles will not burn all day, so someone had to stay on the island to light them at the last minute, as well as to look after the lighthouse. That someone was to be Titty. For one thing, Roger could not be left alone, and John and Susan would both be needed for sailing the two ships. For another, Titty longed to have Wild Cat Island all to herself, to be a lonely lighthouse keeper, to be Robinson Crusoe, and to feel just what a really desert island was like. A blanket would do for a goatskin.

  So that was settled. The making of a lighthouse had to be left till morning. The only question was, would there be a wind, and which way would it blow? There was a little whistling done at night, but it had no effect. John went up to the look-out place and lit a match, and held it pointing upwards. But there was not even a flicker in the flame to show where some wind might be coming from.

  *

  In the morning there was a fog on the lake. They could not see the mainland from the island. When John rowed across for the milk and a new supply of eggs and butter, Roger, who went with him, hooted like a foghorn, a long, hollow hoot, repeated again and again, like a big ship hooting its way through a fog in the Channel. Titty, who was very much looking forward to having the island all to herself, went up to the look-out place and whistled “Spanish Ladies” again and again, lo
oking into the soft, white cloud that hid everything but a few yards of water. John and Roger very nearly missed the island on their way back. “If it goes on like this,” said John, “not one of our plans will be any use.”

  But after breakfast a little ripple showed on the water under the fog. The fog moved and drifted through the trees, and began to lift from the lake. Now here, now there, the masses of the hills and the dark patches of the woods on the shores showed through the mist, disappeared, and showed again. The wind was southerly. It brought with it a light drizzle, but that passed and then the fog was gone, the wind strengthened, and the sun shone.

  “It’s a fair wind,” said Captain John.

  “Good,” said Titty.

  “We must hurry up,” said John. “We must make sure of being in the islands off Rio before the Amazons could get there. Rations for three, Mister Mate. Dinner and supper. Come on, Able-seaman Titty, and you, Boy, and help to make the lighthouse.”

  Mate Susan set about making rations for the day. She emptied one of the big biscuit boxes, because it would be best to stow all the food in that, so that it would not be in the way in the boat. A biscuit box would fit comfortably under the thwart amidships.

  Captain John went into his tent and brought out the coil of rope they had bought in Rio. Then, with the able-seaman and the boy, he went up to the look-out place.

  The tree at the look-out place was a very tall pine. All its lower branches were gone, so that it had a long, bare trunk, and its first big bough was at a great height above the ground.

  John tried his arms round it. It was just not too big at the bottom. Higher up he would be able to swarm it easily enough.

  “The trouble is, I can’t swarm up it if I’ve got anything in my hands.”

  He tied one end of the rope round his waist, and gave the rest of the coil to Titty.

  “Now,” he said, “you pay the rope out, and see that it doesn’t catch on anything.”

  “Aye, aye, sir,” said Titty.