The Sands of Shark Island

by Alexander McCall Smith

  They all replied that they were fine, although every one of them had their own unique fears. Ben was worried about spiders. A place like this was an ideal place for them to build their nests, he thought, and they would not take kindly to people clambering all over them. Badger felt generally uneasy; he did not like tightly enclosed places, and this made his skin come out in goose bumps. Tanya was frightened of the dark, and wished she had brought a torch with her. Fee was wondering about rats. She had always been scared of rats, and the thought that there might be hundreds of them in the storm drain made her shiver. And Poppy was worried that the roof might suddenly collapse, burying them all alive.

  But nobody spoke of any of these fears, so there was complete silence. Silence in the dark is worse than silence in the light, because the mind can imagine all sorts of things. And the dark also seems to slow down time, making one minute seem like ten.

  It was after only a couple of these very long minutes that they heard a sound outside. Ben turned – in so far as he could turn in that cramped space – and looked behind him.

  There was a pair of legs. Somebody had climbed down into the ditch and was standing directly outside the mouth of the drain.

  Then there was a man’s voice, which said, “They went this way. I’m pretty sure they went in here.”

  From somewhere not far away a woman could be heard. “Are you sure? I think we’ve lost them, the little devils. Let’s get back to the car.”

  Further down the drain, sandwiched between Poppy and Badger, Tanya shivered in fear. She had recognised the voices as being those of her uncle and aunt.

  “All right,” said the man. “Let’s go.”

  In the darkness, Poppy nudged Tanya. “You’re going to be all right,” she whispered. “They’re leaving. We’ll be able to crawl out in a moment or two.”

  Tanya believed her. But in doing so, she, like the others, was falling for one of the oldest tricks. If you are hiding from somebody and you can hear but not see them, never ever come out of your hiding place if you hear them say they’re about to go. Just don’t. The reason for this is that they are probably only saying this to lure you out. Then, when you do come out, thinking that all is clear, there they are, waiting for you …

  And that is exactly what happened. After a couple of minutes, Poppy announced to the others that it would be safe to crawl back out of the drain. She did not bother to lower her voice, as she imagined there was no longer any threat.

  She was wrong. Immediately after they emerged into the open and were busy dusting themselves off, they heard a shout.

  “Ha!” yelled a voice. “So you thought we’d gone away, did you? Well, we’ve got a surprise for you!”

  For a moment everybody froze. The man and the woman were not far away, and it was clear that there was not much time to act. Poppy, though, made her decision quickly. Grabbing hold of Tanya, she pushed her back down to the entrance of the drain.

  “Quickly!” she shouted. “Crawl in again. I’ll come with you.”

  Tanya did as she was told, and by the time the man and woman reached the ditch again, both girls had disappeared. The man was furious.

  “Come out of there, Tanya!” he roared. “Come out immediately!”

  The others – Ben, Badger and Fee – stood by. There was nothing they could do – the man was large and strong-looking, and the woman had brightly painted red fingernails that looked as if they could deliver a good scratch.

  “Come out or I’ll come in and get you!” shouted the man.

  When no reply came from the drain, he took off his coat and passed it to the woman. “Hold this,” he said. “I’m going to have to drag her out myself.”

  Getting down on his hands and knees, he began to squeeze into the narrow mouth of the storm drain. Ben’s heart sank as he saw this – there would be no escape now for Tanya, he thought: she would be dragged out and taken away by her dreadful uncle and aunt.

  But then, just as Ben was about to give up hope, the most extraordinary thing happened. Tanya’s uncle was too fat for the space, and no sooner had he worked half of his bulk into the mouth of the drain than he found himself stuck. He kicked his legs and wiggled his hips, but his very fat middle was the problem. It was firmly lodged in the entrance and there seemed to be no way of shifting it.

  “Pull me out!” he shouted.

  His wife leaned down to grab his legs. She gave a tug, and then another tug, but this seemed only to wedge him in more firmly.

  “Harder!” shouted the trapped man. “Pull harder!”

  It was very difficult for Ben and the others not to laugh. He knew that you shouldn’t really laugh at the misfortune of others, but there was something richly comic in seeing this unpleasant man trapped in this way.

  “Don’t just stand there,” snapped the woman, “help me!”

  “Why should we do that?” asked Badger.

  “Because …” shouted the woman. “Because …”

  But whatever she was about to say would not have been heard because at that moment they heard a shout. Looking up, Ben saw that a good distance away Poppy and Tanya had emerged from the other end of the drain and were waving at them.

  “Quick,” muttered Badger. “Let’s go.”

  Fee looked down at the stuck man and his increasingly angry wife. “But what about them?” she asked.

  “She can go and get help,” said Ben. “There are plenty of houses nearby. Someone’ll help drag him out.”

  The decision made, Ben, Fee and Badger ran as fast as they could to join Poppy and Tanya. Then, wasting no time, the whole group made their way home, leaving their pursuers to wait for rescue.

  “Anything happen this morning?” asked Mr MacTavish at lunchtime.

  Ben looked at Badger and Fee looked at Poppy. Tanya looked up at the ceiling.

  “Not much,” said Ben.

  Then he began to laugh, and the others soon joined in.

  “I don’t see what’s so funny,” said Mr MacTavish.

  “Well it wasn’t really funny,” said Ben. “It was scary. But it ended well.”

  “What ended well?” asked Mrs MacTavish.

  “We were chased,” said Ben. “And we ended up in a storm drain. Then this man who was chasing us got stuck in the entrance. He couldn’t move because he was too fat.”

  Mr MacTavish laughed. “Really, Ben,” he said. “You have the most active imagination. Do you expect me to believe that?”

  “And the shopping?” asked Mrs MacTavish. “What happened to the shopping?”

  “Oh,” said Poppy. “Yes, the shopping. Well …”

  “We had to leave it behind,” said Fee. “When you’re being chased down storm drains it’s easy to forget all about shopping.”

  Mr MacTavish gave his daughter a strange look. “How every odd,” he said. “But I suppose you were all having fun.”

  How lucky is that?

  During the rest of the holiday the five friends were careful about when they went out – and where. In fact, they spent a great deal of the time in the house or in the garden rather than risk being spotted again by Tanya’s uncle and aunt.

  “I wish we could go somewhere,” said Fee. “I’m getting fed up staying in all the time.”

  Ben knew how she felt, but he was sure that they were doing the right thing in lying low for the rest of their holiday. “It’s just not worth the risk,” he said. “We have to think of Tanya.”

  Fee nodded. “Yes,” she said. “We have to stick by her.”

  Of course, they found things to do. There were plenty of board games in the house and Badger very much enjoyed those. Poppy was keener on playing cards, and she soon taught them all the rules of canasta. There was also a very complicated Chinese game called mah jong, involving small bricks with highly coloured pictures on them. Both Ben and Fee had been taught how to play this, and they now explained the game to the others. Soon they were playing the game with all the enthusiasm of experts, and the hours sped past.

  Eve
ntually the time came to return to the Tobermory.

  “We’ll miss you,” said Mrs MacTavish. “The house is going to seem very quiet.”

  “You can come to stay any time you like,” said Mr MacTavish to Badger, Poppy and Tanya. “Our door is always open.”

  Badger, Poppy and Tanya all said how grateful they were for the holiday. Then, their kit-bags packed for the new term, the five friends were driven to the railway station, the first leg of their journey back to the School Ship Tobermory.

  Arriving back on board, they were greeted by the familiar sight of Mr Rigger standing on the deck, checking their names off against a list.

  “MacTavish, B.,” he said, “welcome back. Mac-Tavish, F., welcome back. Tomkins, welcome back. And Taggart and Herring,” he said, referring to Badger, Poppy and Tanya, “There you are, too – welcome back to the Tobermory.”

  Ben and Fee took their kit-bags to their cabins and stowed their gear. It was much easier this time than at the beginning of the previous term, as they knew exactly where things should go. Then it was up to the sick bay, where they were asked whether they had suffered from any coughs or sneezes while they were away.

  “We can’t be too careful about coughs and sneezes,” said Matron. “Bring one cough or sneeze back on board and before you know it the whole ship will go down with coughs and sneezes. Look what happened with Bartholomew Fitzhardy. If we hadn’t isolated him, the whole ship would have had infectious boils.”

  At dinner that night, with the whole school assembled in the dining hall, Captain Macbeth spoke about what lay ahead.

  “Now listen to me,” he began. “I hope you’ve all had a good break and are ready for the new term. Is everybody looking forward to it?”

  The whole school answered with one voice. “Yes, sir!”

  “Good,” continued the Captain. “There’s going to be a lot to do because, as you know, we’re going to be making a long voyage. That will mean a lot of hard work. Is everybody ready for hard work?”

  Again there came a swelling chorus of “Yes, sir!”

  But was everyone so enthusiastic? Absolutely everybody? Not quite, because if you had looked at the Upper Deck table, sitting there at the end of it, in their usual places, were the three well-known troublemakers, William Edward Hardtack, Geoffrey Shark and Maximilian Flubber. Their lips moved at the same time as everyone else’s, but they were not saying Yes, sir! Far from it. Hardtack was actually saying, You wish! Shark was saying, That’ll be the day! And Flubber was saying, Give us a break!

  But Captain Macbeth saw and heard none of this as he continued with his speech. “This term our destination is the Caribbean Sea. As you all know, this is the sea that lies off the southern part of North America, just above the top of South America. It is full of islands, some of which you will have heard of and others whose names might not be so well-known. We shall be sailing from the top of the Caribbean to the bottom, and will be visiting some of these interesting islands.”

  There was a murmur of excitement at this news.

  “Yes,” said the Captain. “It’s going to be an interesting trip, especially for those of you who like swimming in warm blue water …”

  This brought a cheer, and an enthusiastic bark from Henry, who was wagging his tail enthusiastically at the Captain’s side.

  “… that’s so clear you can see the sand below and the fish as they swim past …”

  There was another cheer at this.

  “And for those who like coconuts …”

  Loud cheering.

  “And steel bands …”

  More loud cheering.

  “And beaches with more shells than you can imagine possible.” Prolonged clapping and cheering.

  Once the Captain had finished his address, dinner was served. Cook had outdone himself and had prepared a fine meal of fish served with fried potatoes, buttered pumpkin and spicy beans. For dessert, he had made a traditional naval pudding, stuffed with currants and served with vanilla custard. It was one of the best meals ever eaten on the Tobermory.

  It was while they were on the way out of the mess hall that Badger fell. He was walking alongside Ben, discussing what they would be doing the next day, when he suddenly stumbled. As he went down, Ben tried to break his friend’s fall, but was too late. Bending down, he helped Badger to his feet.

  “Are you all right?” he asked anxiously.

  “I think so,” replied Badger, gingerly trying the weight on his right foot. But then he gave a yelp of pain and almost fell to the ground once more. Had Ben not been there to support him, he would have fallen hard.

  “I’ll help you get to the sick bay,” said Ben. “Put your arm round my shoulder and I’ll support you.”

  Slowly they made their way down the corridor towards the sick bay. As they did so, Ben asked Badger what had happened.

  “I was pushed,” muttered Badger. “Didn’t you see?”

  “Pushed?” asked Ben. “Who pushed you?”

  “I swear it was Shark,” said Badger. “He was walking past me when it happened. I remember seeing him out of the corner of my eye and then suddenly I felt pressure in my ribs, as if somebody was pushing me. I’m sure it was him.”

  “Report him,” said Ben. “He can’t be allowed to get away with it.”

  Badger shook his head. “What’s the point? There are no witnesses, and he’ll simply deny it.”

  Ben knew that his friend was right. The first rule of people like Hardtack, Shark and Flubber was never to be seen doing anything. If nobody saw me do it, then I didn’t do it – that was their motto.

  Matron was in the sick bay when they knocked on the door. She was alarmed to see Badger being supported by Ben and immediately took the injured boy’s other arm and helped him to a seat.

  “Now, what on earth have you been doing?” she asked. “And on the first day of term too!”

  “It wasn’t his fault, Matron,” blurted out Ben. “He was pushed by …”

  Badger gave Ben a warning look, and his voice trailed off as a result.

  “Out with it,” snapped Matron. “Who pushed him?”

  Badger winced. “I think it was Geoffrey Shark,” he said. “But I can’t be sure.’

  “I suppose nobody saw it happen,” said Matron.

  “No, they didn’t,” said Badger.

  Matron sighed. “It’s always the same old story,” she said. “Nobody sees anything. Those boys know they can get away with whatever they want to because they’re confident that nobody will ever say anything.” She fixed Badger with a reproachful stare. “I’m sorry you didn’t trust me enough to tell me straightaway,” she said.

  For a few moments Badger forgot about the pain in his ankle. He did trust Matron, and it seemed to him unfair for her to accuse him of not trusting her. “I’m telling the truth,” he said heatedly. “Nobody saw what happened. There really isn’t anyone who can back me up.”

  Matron looked at him. She was a fair-minded person and she was also a good judge of character. She knew Badger was not the sort to tell lies.

  “I’m sorry, Badger,” she said. “I shouldn’t have doubted you. It’s just that I’ve become so fed up with people not seeing anything when something nasty happens. But I shouldn’t have spoken to you in the way I did.”

  Badger cheered up. “That’s okay, Matron,” he said. “Don’t worry about it.”

  Matron now began to examine his ankle. Badger grimaced as her fingers found the painful bits.

  “I think you’ve pulled a ligament,” said Matron. “Sometimes, if you put muscles and what-not under strain they don’t like it too much.” She smiled. “You’ll live, Badger! But I’ll rub some of my ointment on it and then wrap the ankle in a bandage. You’ll be as right as rain in no time at all.”

  Badger was pleased to hear that Matron would be using her ointment. This was based on a secret recipe she had devised that was known to nobody else other than Cook, who prepared it for her in one of his kitchen pots.

  When a
pplied to a sore arm or leg, the skin would tingle. This feeling would last for several minutes while the ointment did its work. Then, in almost all cases, the pain of the original injury would disappear.

  People said that Matron could have made a fortune if only she and Cook had bothered to make larger quantities of it to sell. But she just laughed at such suggestions. “I don’t want to be rich,” she said. “I’m happy doing exactly what I’m doing – being matron on the Tobermory. And Cook’s happy too, being cook on board. There’s more to life than money, you know.”

  As Matron rubbed her ointment into his ankle, Badger closed his eyes and counted to one hundred. By the time he reached seventy-five, the pain was almost gone, and by the time he came to one hundred his ankle felt entirely normal.

  “There you are, young Badger,” said Matron, as she finished bandaging his ankle. “Keep the bandage on for two days. You’re excused climbing in the rigging, physical training, and anything involving running. I’ll write a note to Mr Rigger to that effect.”

  She gave Badger the note and he and Ben left her cabin. It was only half an hour or so until lights out, and the two boys decided to go to the recreation room to see if they could find Thomas Seagrape. They had not seen him since they returned to the ship and they were keen to find out how his holiday had gone.

  Thomas was not in the recreation room – in fact the only people there were the Hardtack gang.

  “So it’s you, Striped One,” sneered Hardtack. This was his nickname for Badger – badgers being striped – and although it was not in the slightest bit funny, Hardtack and his friends thought it very witty.

  Badger did not reply. This clearly enraged Hardtack, who rose to his feet and said menacingly, “I was addressing you, Tomkins. Something wrong with your ears?”

  Badger glanced at Ben, who could tell that he was uneasy.

  “I’ve got nothing to say to you, Hardtack,” Badger said evenly.

  This only seemed to make things even worse. Hardtack was now on his feet and was advancing towards Badger in a menacing way. “You been talking to Matron?” he said, in a voice full of threat. “You been telling her stories?”