Swallows and Amazons

by Arthur Ransome

  “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 tomorrow.…”

  “That’s tomorrow now,” said Peggy.

  “Mother had a party last night at home, and there are people coming today, 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 tomorrow. 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 today.”

  “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 tomorrow.”

  “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 tomorrow 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 s
ettled 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 tomorrow,” said Roger.

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

  CHAPTER XXIII

  TAKING BREATH

  THAT DAY IT was one o’clock before John and Roger rowed across and went up to Dixon’s Farm for the milk and a new supply of eggs and butter. It had been nearly seven in the morning before Susan had hurried them to bed in broad daylight. No alarm clock could have stirred them, and they had no alarm clock on Wild Cat Island. The camp was roused at last by Roger, who was waked, some time after noon, by a strong desire for breakfast.

  “You can’t have breakfast till we’ve got the milk,” Susan had said, waking up to find the boy pulling at her, and saying, “I want something to eat.” She had given him a biscuit, but a biscuit does not go far.

  Titty had waked with a great start just as Roger went out again. She had sat up suddenly, thinking she heard an owl, and that she was still watching by the camp fire. But on finding herself in the tent with Susan, and the hot sun pouring through the white canvas walls, she lay down again to pick up in her mind the threads of the night’s adventure.

  Roger went back to the captain’s tent. The captain’s feet stuck up temptingly under his blanket. Roger took hold of one of them in both hands, blanket and all, and gave a tug. The foot jerked suddenly away, and John woke up.

  “Susan says, ‘Go and fetch the milk,’” said Roger.

  “I didn’t. I said we couldn’t have breakfast without it,” called Susan from the other tent.

  John yawned. “Come on, then. Where are our towels?”

  “Let’s swim afterwards,” said Roger. “I’m empty.”

  John rolled over to look at the chronometer, which lay with the little aneroid on the tin box at the back of the tent. As soon as he saw what time it was, he threw his blankets off and jumped up.

  “Come on,” he said. “We’ll go for the milk right away.”

  “Take a basket for the eggs,” called Susan.

  The captain and the boy went to the harbour, pushed off the Swallow, and worked her out with the oars. There was still a good wind blowing, and they decided that it would be quicker to sail than to row.

  “What will we do to her to show that she’s the flagship?” asked the boy.

  “Why, nothing,” said the captain.

  “What is a flagship?” asked the boy.

  “It’s the chief ship of a fleet.”

  “But why flag?”

  “Because the Admiral of the Fleet, or the Commodore (that’s me), flies his flag on her.”

  “But you haven’t got a flag, only the one Titty made.”

  “Well, that’s a very good one,” said the captain. “It’s different from theirs. That’s all that matters.”

  They landed, and hurried up the field with the milk-can.

  “You’re more than a bit late for the milk this morning,” said Mrs. Dixon, who was scrubbing the slate floor in the dairy. “Morning,” she said, “why, it’s afternoon already. I was just saying to Dixon that I thought maybe he ought to run down to see if you were all right, or happen go along the road to Holly Howe to see if you were gone home.”

  These natives! Friendly though there were, there was never any knowing what mischief they might do. It was just that thought that had made John jump up in such a hurry when he saw the time. If Mr. Dixon had gone along to Holly Howe to ask what had happened, and whether the milk was wanted, Mother would have been bound to think that something had gone wrong. And nothing had gone wrong at all. Everything had gone right. John knew well enough that Mother counted on the regular morning visit to Dixon’s Farm for the milk to keep her in touch with the Swallows. Mother knew that the Dixons would let her know at once if no one had come up from the island with the milk-can. Natives were like that, useful in a way, but sometimes a bother. They all held together, a huge network of gossip and scouting, through the meshes of which it was difficult for explorers and pirates to slip.

  “I’d have run along myself, first thing,” said Mrs. Dixon, “if I hadn’t been that busy.”

  “Well,” thought John, “it was a good thing that the natives had plenty to do.”

  “What was gone with you?” asked Mrs. Dixon, bustling round and pouring the milk out of a great bowl. “Did you sleep so hard you never wanted any breakfast?”

  “I did,” said Roger.

  “We overslept,” said John. “We were late in going to bed.”

  “You were that,” said Mrs. Dixon. “We saw the light you had on the island when we were going to bed, and that was ten o’clock, for we were none too early ourselves.”

  “We were much later than that,” said Roger, and was just going to say how they had captured the Amazon and not gone to bed till after sunrise, when he remembered, just in time, that Mrs. Dixon was a native.

  “Better late than never,” said Mrs. Dixon. “Here’s your milk. And I’ve a dozen eggs to put into that basket, and there’s a loaf of bread and a bunloaf, and the seed-cake they sent along yesterday evening from Holly Howe. I hope Miss Susan and Miss Titty are both well.”

  “Miss Susan and Miss Titty!” Mrs. Dixon could not have found a better way of showing how deep is the gulf that exists between native life and real life than by so describing the mate and the able-seaman.

  “Quite well, thank you,” said the captain.

  “The seed-cake’ll go in the basket on the top of the eggs,” said Mrs. Dixon. “It’s that light, it won’t crack them. But where you’ll put the bunloaf and the bread I’m sure I don’t know.”

  “I’ll carry them,” said Roger.

  They went down the field with the hearts of those who have had to cross some rather thin ice. The captain carried the milk-can in one hand, and the basket in the other. Roger had a loaf in each arm. They could see the smoke rising from the fire on the island and, by the time they had sailed across and beached Swallow at the landing-place, Susan had the kettle boiling, tea made, and was only waiting for the milk and the eggs.

  Breakfast was a silent, hungry meal until it began to turn into dinner.

  “We may as well go straight on,” Susan said, and the others ag
reed, though they had eaten their eggs and had got as far as bread and marmalade. John opened a pemmican tin.

  “Why don’t the natives ever have pemmican after bread and marmalade?” said Roger. “It’s very good. May I have marmalade on my pemmican?”

  “No,” said Susan.

  “Why not?” said Roger.

  “You’ll be ill, like you were on your last birthday.”

  Roger thought for a minute. “I don’t think so,” he said.

  “Well, you’re not going to try,” said Susan.

  Susan was in a very native mood that day, as Able-seaman Titty observed. Perhaps the adventures of the night were heavier on her conscience than on those of the other Swallows. Perhaps she needed sleep. Her mood showed itself in not allowing Roger and Titty to bathe the moment they had finished their breakfast-dinner meal of Grape Nuts, eggs, bread and marmalade, bread and pemmican, bunloaf and marmalade, bananas fresh from the tree (the Amazons had only eaten two each, and there were still plenty on the bunch), seed-cake and tea. Also washing up had to be done at once in a very native manner. And when that was done there were buttons to sew on.

  “How you manage to lose such a lot of buttons, I can’t think,” she said to Roger.

  “Well, you would make me put on two of everything,” said Roger, “and there wasn’t room in one of them for both.”

  There had been little time for talk in the early morning when the captain, the mate, and the boy had come sailing home to find the able-seaman with her prize anchored by Cormorant Island and the Amazons marooned on Wild Cat Island and in a dreadful hurry to get back. And now, of course, Titty wanted to hear all about the Amazon River, and Roger had plenty to say about the lagoon that was full of octopuses that turned into flowers when you took hold of them. Then she had to hear the whole story of the wild sail down the lake in pitch dark and how nearly they had been wrecked off the Rio Islands, and how they had waited there until the beginnings of daylight. And then John wanted to hear the whole story of the watch on the island and the way in which the able-seaman had been able to capture the enemy ship. And Titty told of the dipper, and of the coming of the Amazons, and of how she fell asleep and was wakened by a real owl and mistook it for the Swallows’ signal. Then she told of how she had been Robinson Crusoe and had found a strange boat at the landing-place and had been visited by Man Friday. It was not until she came to talk of Man Friday that she remembered that she had a message for John.