The Race to Kangaroo Cliff

by Alexander McCall Smith

  That night, as Badger and Ben lay in their bunks after lights out, Badger asked Ben a question. “Would you prefer to be eaten by a shark or a seal, Ben?”

  Ben replied that he did not think it would make much difference. “It would hurt pretty badly either way,” he said.

  “Or a whale?” Badger asked. “I wonder what it would be like to be swallowed by a whale.”

  “It would be very dark,” said Ben. “But at least when the whale opened his mouth you could swim out again.”

  “I’d prefer not to get too close to any of those things,” Badger mused. And then, remembering where the ship was headed, he asked Ben what were the things he hoped he would not meet in Australia.

  “One of those very poisonous spiders you find there,” said Ben in the darkness. “I don’t much like the sound of them.”

  “Or a saltwater crocodile,” suggested Badger. He had been reading about Australian wildlife and he had not liked what he had read about crocodiles. “It’s the most aggressive crocodile in the world,” he went on. “It will even chase you on land.”

  “I’ll keep a good look-out,” muttered Ben. He was beginning to feel sleepy and was not sure that he wanted to drop off with thoughts of crocodiles in his mind.

  But Badger had more to say. “It doesn’t matter if you keep a good look-out,” he warned. “You can’t see them, you know. They’re just below the surface of the water, and you don’t always notice them until it’s too late.”

  “Oh, well …” Ben said. “You can’t stop doing things just because of crocodiles …”

  And with that he fell asleep and did not hear what else Badger had to say – which did not matter too much, as Badger himself was tired by now and had little to add about crocodiles or anything else.

  How was it that Ben and Fee and a large group of other young people should find themselves on a sailing ship on the far southern oceans rescuing – of all unlikely things – a stranded penguin? The answer to that is that they were at school, which is where just about everyone of their age has to spend a lot of time. But in their case their school happened to be a ship.

  The Tobermory, in fact, is one of the best-known school ships in the world. It is based in Scotland, on the island of Mull, but it takes young people from many different countries. What each one has in common is the desire to learn about ships and the sea while at the same time doing all the usual things you do at school. This means that it is easier – if they want it – to become sailors when they grow up and have to get a job.

  Ben and Fee MacTavish were twins who had just celebrated their thirteenth birthday, though, as Fee liked to point out, she was in fact two minutes older then her brother. They had joined the Tobermory because their parents, who were famous marine scientists, had to be away from home a great deal. This meant that they could not go to an ordinary school, but had to find a school where they could stay while their parents were away in their research submarine.

  “I’m glad we chose the Tobermory,” said Fee to her brother. “Not all schools can be as much fun as this.”

  Ben agreed. “I love being here,” he said. “I like everything about it.”

  And he did. He liked the Captain – Captain Macbeth – who had a friendly dog called Henry. He liked the Captain’s assistant, Mr Rigger, with his famous moustache that could act as a weather vane and would let you know where the wind was coming from.

  He liked Matron, who had been a famous diver in the Olympics before she met and married Cook, who made possibly the best sausages in the northern hemisphere. And of course he liked all the friends he had made since he joined the school, most of whom were members of the same deck as he was.

  The living quarters of the Tobermory were divided into three decks – Upper, Middle and Lower. Each had a senior student – the Deck Prefect – who was meant to keep order. Poppy was Head Prefect of Ben’s deck, the Middle Deck. She was popular, and did the job well, unlike William Edward Hardtack, Head Prefect of the Upper Deck, who was more disliked than respected.

  Ben’s main friend was Badger. While Ben came from Scotland, Badger was an American boy whose parents lived in New York. His father worked there and was extremely busy – so busy that he seemed to have little time to spend with his son. This saddened Badger. You only have one father in this life, and it seemed to Badger that he would grow up without ever seeing much of his. But he never complained. Badger was like that – he looked on the positive side of things.

  Ben liked Badger’s cheerful attitude and his special talent. That talent was the ability, when he was speaking to you, to make you feel that of all the people in the world, you were the one he really wanted to be talking to. Ben had noticed that there are some people who let their eyes wander when they speak to you and never look at you directly. This makes you think they would rather be speaking to somebody else, and not you. Badger never did that.

  Ben’s sister Fee had a special friend in Poppy, who came from Australia. If you asked Fee what she liked about Poppy, she would say that she really appreciated the way that Poppy did things. If you asked her to explain further, she would probably say something like this: “Lots of people who are good at things make you feel small. They push you aside and do things much better than you can. Poppy never does that. She shows you how to do something and then you do it together. That makes you feel proud to have done something that you otherwise might not have been able to do.” Another way of putting all that would be to say: Poppy is helpful – which she certainly was.

  There were others too in this group of friends from Middle Deck. There was Thomas Seagrape, who came from Jamaica, an island in the Caribbean Sea. Thomas knew a lot about the sea because his mother was the skipper of a ship that ran between Jamaica and nearby islands. Ben liked him because of his smile and his kindness. Thomas was also brave – which is a quality Ben admired.

  Then there was Tanya Herring, who had been a stowaway and who had been allowed to stay on board because of the Captain’s good heart. If Captain Macbeth had sent her home, she would have had to return to her wicked uncle and aunt who ran dog kennels in Scotland and who had made her work all hours of the day. Tanya’s father was a sailor too, but Tanya had lost touch with him and hoped one day that she would find him somewhere on the world’s great oceans. So far she had had no luck in that quest.

  There was Angela Singh, who came from India, and who was good at subjects like mathematics and history but who tended to be a bit nervous about everything else. But little by little, Angela was becoming more courageous, and was encouraged in this by Poppy.

  “Don’t think too much about what might go wrong,” Poppy advised her. “Just take a deep breath and do what you have to do. You may find it much easier than you thought.”

  Those were the main friends. But there were others – people who were not so friendly. If you have a large group of people, then you are more or less bound to have one or two who are not so nice. In this case it was three, and their names were William Edward Hardtack, who was famous for sneering at others, Geoffrey Shark, who was extremely pleased both with himself and his fancy hairstyle, which was remarkably like the fin of a shark, and Maximilian Flubber, whose ears flapped backwards and forwards whenever he told a lie, which was quite often.

  There was not much anybody could do about this group.

  “They’re like bad weather,” said Poppy. “You have to put up with bad weather, and so you have to put up with Hardtack and Co. It’s just the way it is.”

  “They’re not going to spoil anything for me,” said Fee.

  “Nor for me,” agreed Angela.

  But that was easier said than done. The trouble with people like Hardtack, Shark and Flubber was that spoiling things for other people was exactly what they liked to do.

  The voyage to Australia came a short while after the Tobermory had returned from sailing around the Caribbean. That had been a particularly exciting trip, and most people were happy to have a bit of a rest after it. But once they had returne
d to Tobermory, the port on the island of Mull after which the ship was named, the students began wondering what would be their next destination.

  There were plenty of rumours.

  “I’ve heard we’re going to Hong Kong,” said Badger one morning at breakfast.

  Poppy looked surprised. “Oh yes?” she said. “Well, I heard it was going to be South America – Chile in fact.”

  “No,” said Tanya. “I saw Matron studying a chart of the seas around India. I bet it’s India, because why else would Matron be looking at that chart?”

  Thomas Seagrape had an altogether different theory. “I heard Cook talking about how to get to San Francisco. He said something about the Panama Canal. So I think we’re going all the way to the west coast of America.”

  Poppy laughed. “Let’s face it,” she said, “we’ve all heard different things and the Tobermory can’t be going to all those places. Why don’t we …”

  “Ask the Captain?” continued Fee.

  “Exactly,” said Poppy.

  The opportunity to do that arose sooner than they thought. It came at dinner time shortly after, when Captain Macbeth came to the mess hall to address the whole school and at the end asked whether anybody had any questions.

  At first everybody was silent. Then a hand went up. It was Badger’s.

  “Yes, Tomkins,” said the Captain. “What is it?”

  Badger stood up and cleared his throat. He tried not to look in Hardtack’s direction, as he could imagine he would be smirking.

  “I was wondering,” began Badger. “I mean, quite a few of us were wondering where we’re going next.”

  Captain Macbeth smiled. “Oh you were, were you?” he said.

  Badger nodded. “It’s just that … it’s just that it’s good to know where you’re going to be.”

  The Captain considered this. Turning to Mr Rigger, who was standing at his side, he said, “That seems perfectly reasonable, wouldn’t you say, Mr Rigger?”

  Mr Rigger nodded. “I’d say so, Captain.”

  The atmosphere in the mess hall was electric with anticipation.

  “It’s going to be in the southern hemisphere,” said Captain Macbeth.

  Mr Rigger nodded. “Southern hemisphere,” he echoed.

  The Captain was enjoying himself. “And I can reveal to you that it’s a continent.”

  Hardtack called out: “Antarctica.”

  The Captain shook his head. “No, not Antarctica.”

  Fee was particularly good at geography, and realised that with Antarctica ruled out, there was not much choice. She put up her hand.

  “Are we going to Australia?” she asked.

  “Yes,” said the Captain. “That’s exactly where we’re going,” before adding, “and we shall be leaving next week.”

  Captain Macbeth then went on to explain why Australia had been chosen as their destination. “Australia’s a wonderful country,” he began. “It’s worth going there just to see it. But there’s something more. There’s going to be a Tall Ships race out there, starting at Cairns in Queensland and running all the way up round the tip of the continent.”

  At this announcement a loud cheer rang through the mess hall. A number of people had been hoping that Australia would be the Tobermory’s next destination, but had thought it would be considered too far away from Scotland.

  There was one person who was especially pleased by this news, and that was Poppy. She came from Alice Springs, right in the middle of Australia, where her parents ran a sheep farm. If the ship called in at Sydney or Melbourne, she was sure her mother and father would make the long journey to meet them. She would then be able to show them round her school, which she had been keen to do ever since she started there. And she liked the idea, too, of being able to introduce her friends to some of the things that in her mind made Australia one of the best places on Earth. She would show them kangaroos and wallabies; she would take them camping in the bush and brew up a pot of tea in her billy can; she would take them to see people who knew how to throw a boomerang properly; she would take them to a beach where they could go surfing. There was so much she could show them.

  Not everybody was happy. As they filed out of the mess hall, Poppy found herself close to William Edward Hardtack and his friends. “Boring, boring,” muttered Hardtack. “Who wants to go to a place that’s flat and empty? Who wants to go somewhere like that?”

  “Not me,” said Geoffrey Shark.

  “Nor me,” added Maximilian Flubber, his ears beginning to twitch.

  Poppy felt her cheeks flush with rage at the insult. How dare Hardtack, who knew next to nothing about anything, and even less about Australia, say things like that?

  “Excuse me,” she hissed. “Have you ever been to Australia, Hardtack? Or you, Shark? Or Flubber, you too – have you ever been there?”

  “Never wanted to,” snapped Hardtack.

  “Too many people like you there,” said Shark.

  This made his two accomplices laugh.

  “You’re very ignorant,” said Poppy, struggling to control herself. “Australia is a terrific country. And if you don’t want to see it, I can tell you that Australia doesn’t want to see you either.”

  Chuckling over what they thought of as their witty remarks, the three boys disappeared down the corridor.

  “Ignore them,” said Angela Singh, who had overheard this exchange. “They’re stupid. I can’t wait to see Australia – and I think just about everybody else on board feels the same. It sounds like a fabulous place.”

  “It is,” said Poppy. “And I know you won’t be disappointed once you get there.”

  “I’m sure I won’t,” said Angela. She had a question, though, but she could not quite bring herself to ask it. She wanted to know about spiders and snakes, but she knew that everybody was aware of her worries about such things, so she said nothing.

  Poppy looked at her friend and smiled. She could guess what Angela was thinking.

  “And you mustn’t worry about …” She lowered her voice. “About funnel-web spiders and so on. Australia’s a pretty safe place, you know.”

  Angela swallowed hard. “Oh, I wasn’t worried,” she said.

  “Of course you weren’t,” said Poppy kindly. “You’re really going to like Australia, Angela – I’m sure of that.”

  They had to get to Australia first, and that involved a long sea voyage. Captain Macbeth explained it all to them on the day before they were due to weigh anchor and set off.

  “As you know,” he said, “Australia is on the other side of the world from Scotland, and that means it will take us at least eight weeks to get there.”

  Everybody looked at one another as they absorbed this news.

  “Eight weeks at sea!” Fee whispered to Poppy. She wondered what it would be like being at sea for that long. And would their supplies of food hold out for such a length of time, or would they have to catch fish to keep them going?

  Poppy smiled. “We’ll get used to it. And time will pass quickly enough – it always does when you’re on a ship.”

  The Captain went on to describe their route. They would take the same course used by sailing ships in the days of clippers – the fast ships that sailed between Britain and Australia back in the eighteen-hundreds. That would take them down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, past the bulge of South America and then straight across to Australia.

  “The winds we want to catch down there,” Captain Macbeth went on, “are called the Roaring Forties.”

  Some people gasped at this. The Roaring Forties! Miss Worsfold had said something about these winds, Fee remembered, in one of her geography lessons. The name said it all. The ‘Forties’ referred to the latitude of these winds – how far they are south of the equator – and ‘Roaring’, well, that is what high winds do: they roar. For a moment she imagined what these winds would do to Mr Rigger’s famous moustache, which would probably look something like this …

  Mr Rigger took over from Captain Macbeth to
explain that the further south they went, the shorter the route would be – and the better the winds. “But,” he added, “going that far south increases the chance of finding ice. So we shall have to be careful.”

  “Extremely careful,” agreed the Captain. “Remember the Titanic.”

  That is not a name that sailors like to think about too much. The Titanic was a famous passenger liner that hit an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sank as a result. People had boasted that she was unsinkable, but that had been proved to be untrue: the Titanic had gone to the bottom of the sea, along with most of her unfortunate passengers and crew. Hitting an iceberg is just like sailing straight into the side of a mountain, and few ships would survive that undamaged.

  These warnings, though, did not spoil the excitement, and over the few days that remained before they set off, the mood on the Tobermory was one of excitement. There was much to do, of course, and all classes were suspended while the ship was prepared. Everything was washed, polished and double-checked. Ropes were coiled, rigging tightened and decks scrubbed until not a speck of dirt remained, and then scrubbed again. Supplies were brought aboard from onshore: bags of rice and flour, crates of tinned beans, sausages, sacks of potatoes, great blocks of butter – everything that would be needed to make three meals a day for everyone for eight weeks.

  “There are no shops at sea,” Cook was fond of pointing out, “so if we run out of anything, we can’t just nip out and buy it!”

  At last everything was packed and the Tobermory was ready to leave the small harbour that shared her name.

  On the morning of their departure, Badger was already washed and dressed by the time Ben woke up. As a special treat for his friend, Badger had gone off to the mess hall, where tea was served from a large urn, and brought a mug back for Ben.

  “Time to wake up,” he said once he was back in their cabin. “And here’s your mug of tea in bed – I mean, in hammock.”