by Anne Digby
The woman took the binoculars away and handed them to an official, who smiled and thanked her.
The girls bundled Tommy into the back of the police car and then they were all driven back to camp.
Miss Peabody was just getting ready to go to the sherry party at Mulberry Castle when the police car brought them back. It was strange to see her in a dress instead of the usual white overall and ex–army trousers. When a crowd of children came running to her tent to tell her that a policeman had arrived with Blackie and Tommy Carter, she appeared in a trice, still holding her lipstick.
'Now what, Tommy?'
The policeman explained what.
Miss Peabody was very decisive about it all.
'The dog's a stray. I let the kids keep him at the camp against my better judgement. He'll have to go now. Can you take him down to the police station with you –?'
'No!' screamed Tommy, falling on his knees beside Blackie and hugging him round the neck. 'Not yet! Don't send him away yet!' He stared up at Miss Peabody, tears running down his face. 'We just bought a lotta food for him! Look – we gotta big bone for him.' The dog was snuffling at the bag eagerly, trying to get the bone out. 'Not yet! Please, miss!'
Rebecca felt a deep, miserable ache. Tish, Sue, all of them were crowding round now, white – faced. They were willing Miss Peabody to take pity. There was a deathly hush and she could feel the weight of their stares. Even the policeman was shifting from one foot to the other, uneasily.
'All right, Tommy,' said Miss Peabody. 'You can keep him at camp one more night. We'll take him down to the police station in the morning, together.'
The officer nodded.
'Right. See you in the morning then, ma'am. 'Tis the best way. We'll try and find a proper home for 'ee. We'll do our best.'
The policeman drove away from the back of Juniper House. The crowd dispersed. Tommy led Blackie away to the tent, to give him his bone. Tish came and stood by Rebecca, putting an arm round her shoulders.
'What a horrible shock,' she said.
'Yes,' replied Rebecca, dully. She explained in full what happened. 'Tommy had the binoculars all along! He decided to do the right thing at last –and this had to happen! And poor Blackie. He jerked the lead right out of my hand, but he was only trying to tell us that Tommy had jumped on a bus. He was trying to find him . . .'
Her eyes filled with tears.
'It's a shock,' Tish repeated.
But there was an even greater shock to come.
'You won't believe this, Rebecca.'
'The most awful thing's happened –'
'What? demanded Rebecca. 'What's happened?'
She was shaken. The other five had come to look for her and she could tell by their faces it was serious.
She'd just put Tommy to bed in the tent, comforting him for a long time because Blackie was leaving in the morning. Now she was sitting outside the tent, watching Blackie gnaw his big bone, listening out for Tommy in case he started crying again.
'What?' she repeated, looking up at the five solemn faces, then getting to her feet. 'Come on, tell me.'
'Miss Peabody's just got back from the party –'
'We overheard her talking to Donald. We heard everything. We couldn't help it –'
'Heard what?' begged Rebecca.
'Lottie's collapsed! She's in a state of shock!'
'She's in her room – under sedation for the night.'
'It's all because she's been found out!'
'What do you mean, found out?' cried Rebecca.
'The coin you found – Lottie planted it there herself.'
'What?' gasped Rebecca.
'It is a Roman coin of the right date,' Tish explained miserably. 'It's just that – it's one Lottie brought with her. From some other site. She well – sort of – faked the whole thing. Made sure you found it this morning, Rebeck.'
'But Sir Thing twigged what she'd done,' butted in Elf. 'There was a terrible row – and then Lottie collapsed. I suppose it was the disgrace of it all.'
Rebecca felt peculiar, as though she wanted to be sick.
'What – what's going to happen now?'
'Sir Thing almost had a heart attack himself apparently,' said Margot. 'He's told them to pack up the site in the morning. It's all finished.'
Pack up the site in the morning! First Blackie in disgrace – now Lottie.
Rebecca asked questions. How had the faking been discovered?
Apparently, in high spirits at the party, Charles Lazarus had taken Sir Nicholas Klaus up to his mother's room to show him the coin in her collection that came from the same mint as the one they'd now found. But the coin was missing!
When they'd come back to the party and questioned old Mrs Lazarus she'd gone into a state of shock and passed out. Then she'd been confused and rambling and they'd put her to bed under sedation.
Close examination revealed beyond any doubt that the coin missing from the collection and the coin found buried in the sand this morning were one and the same coin!
Miss Peabody had regaled Donald with the drama of it all and the five of them had listened in to the whole story.
'And everyone thinks Lottie was the person who planted the coin?' Rebecca asked at last, speaking slowly and deliberately. 'You, too?'
There was an embarrassed silence, broken by Tish.
'Who else could have done it, Rebeck? Charlie might have been a possibility – but it was him who discovered his mother's coin was missing! So it can't be him.'
'It had to be Lottie,' added Sue.
'She was just so sure she was right,' said Tish softly. 'She had to prove it somehow, didn't she?'
Mara looked troubled.
'What does Rebecca think? she asked.
'I just think I'll go to bed,' replied Rebecca. She could hear movements inside the tent. 'I don't think Tommy's going to go to sleep tonight unless I do.'
TWELVE
THE MESSAGE IN THE BOTTLE
As though comforted by her presence, Tommy fell asleep very soon after Rebecca came to bed. It wasn't long before Elf crawled into the tent, climbed into her sleeping bag and fell asleep, too. It was a warm night now, warm enough to leave the tent flap open. Even Blackie dozed, curled up at Tommy's feet, guarding his bone.
Only Rebecca lay awake.
She lay and looked at the stars.
She could hear all the tiny night sounds. The others breathing in the tent; the distant thump and hiss of the waves breaking on the shore in Trebizon Bay; the crickets chirping, the hooting of an owl. Then she heard a nightingale, such a sweet sound that it made her feel sadder than ever.
She closed her eyes, alone with her night thoughts.
Poor Tommy! Soon to be cast adrift again. No Blackie. No 'Uncle Charlie' and 'Aunty An'. She thought about her uncomfortable feeling in the garden of the empty house in Bath and shivered slightly. But she was all right. She had marvellous friends! And she'd be seeing Mum and Dad soon!
Poor Blackie, too. What would become of him? Rebecca didn't like to think about that too deeply. Would the police really be able to find a good home for a large scruffy mongrel dog with an expensive appetite?
And poor, poor Mrs Lazarus!
How bad was she? Would she be all right again by morning?
After all, she was an old lady.
She remembered being in the cove, at sunset that evening, the eerie voice declaiming from a cave, in Latin. Mrs Lazarus, communing with the past – with Cabro! One can't help feeling a certain affection for him!
And then she'd said:
Proof of his misdeeds is hidden right here in this cove!
Proof. . . misdeeds . . . Tommy Carter. Rebecca was getting muddled and sleepy.
I think it's quite conclusive but some people think I'm dotty. Dotty Lottie!
Dotty Lottie.
They'd think she was dottier than ever, after this.
Now in a cave in a distant cove lies the hero's prize, sleeping like the lion.
She wasn't d
otty! Of course she wasn't.
She didn't plant that coin. She wouldn't do a thing like that.
But if she didn't . . . then who did?
Who?
Who, who, who?
'Whoo – Whoo – Whoo?' replied the owl.
Rebecca was asleep.
Antonia Lazarus was wide awake. Up at Mulberry Castle, she lay in bed, pleading with her husband.
'Charles.'
'Toni, don't keep on about the boy. I'm tired.'
'But we were going to have a chat with Sheila Peabody before we left. You know we were.'
'Look, Toni, only one thing matters at the moment. That's to get mother home in the morning. It's all been too much of a strain for her. We've got to get her away from here quickly, so she can get Cabro out of her head.'
His voice was weary and full of his own dazed disappointment.
'I must get him out of my head, too. Try to abandon him.'
'But we're not going to abandon Tommy, as well?' his wife whispered. 'Not now we've found him?'
'I don't know,' said Doctor Lazarus. 'All I do know is that I'm in no state to make a decision.'
Rebecca awoke at first light. She wriggled up into sitting position and then unzipped her sleeping bag and peered around. There was something different about the tent.
Then she realized. She shook Elf awake, urgently.
'Uh?'
'Tommy's gone!'
She pulled back the tent flap as far as it would go, to let in more of the grey dawn light. She peered round the tent again. Not only had Tommy gone, but so had his sleeping bag and small bag. So had Blackie. And so had Blackie's big bone.
'Quick, Elf!' she whispered. 'We'd better get after them.'
She realized that it might have been the slight sounds and movements of a stealthy departure that had caused her to wake so early. They couldn't have got far!
They scrambled into their clothes as quickly as they could, then ducked out of the tent.
The entire camp lay sleeping. The sun wasn't even peeping up yet.
'Look!' whispered Rebecca, pointing down the track that led towards the wicket gate. Some socks had dropped out of Tommy's bag. 'They went that way.'
Silently, on tip-toe, the two girls ran down the track, past the camp fire, and out through the little gate. They ran up and over the dunes and out on the flat expanse of sand. The tide was a long way out. Right down to the waves' edge the sand lay smooth and clean – or almost –
'Look, footprints!' exclaimed Elf.
'And paw prints!' added Rebecca, bending down to look.
'Come on, Elf!'
They raced across the sands, following the tracks.
'They – they just seem to lead straight down to the water's edge,' gasped Elf, puffing to keep up with Rebecca. 'Surely they can't have gone for a swim?'
At last they reached the shore. The prints seemed to have come to a full stop.
Rebecca gazed out at the great empty sea, heart thumping with fear, but suddenly Elf cried:
'It's all right – they carry on again here. They walked along the shore.'
'Thank goodness for that,' began Rebecca, turning and following Elf. Then she stared down at her feet. 'Hey, Elf. Look at this!'
A bottle was bobbing up and down, right by the shore. She reached out and grabbed it.
'It's got a piece of paper rolled up in it!'
Elf ran back to her side, her eyes wide with interest.
'A message in a bottle!'
'I think it must be from Tommy,' said Rebecca. 'I think that's why he headed straight for the water – to throw the bottle in first – before going off somewhere.'
It was a screw top bottle. She took the top off and then very carefully withdrew a piece of paper. There was a message written in wobbly capital letters:
Rebecca and Elf read the message through twice. Then they stared at each other.
'It wasn't Lottie!' began Elf.
Rebecca nodded. She wanted to shout it out with relief.
'The coin! It was Tommy!'
'The little wretch!' exclaimed Elf, in amazement. 'He must have broken into the castle then!'
'He's broken in before!' cried Rebecca. 'And he knew about the coin! Oh, how stupid of me not to remember that.'
'But to go to all the trouble!'
'He wanted to help Uncle Charlie!' Rebecca realized.' He was upset because Mr Johnson had said the calculations were all wrong – don't you remember how quiet he was the other afternoon, after some squabble?'
They were walking along the shore now, into the dawn, following the footprints again.
'Of course,' nodded Elf. 'He wanted to prove Charlie's calculations were right! So he must have bunked over to Mulberry Castle that evening and got the coin, then buried it in the sand last thing. . .'
'And I found it the next morning! Yesterday morning!'
Suddenly Rebecca remembered Tommy grinning slyly at Antonia Lazarus – I bet Mr Johnson feels a big fool.
But right now only one thing mattered to Rebecca.
'This is going to make Lottie feel tons better! Oh, poor thing – what a nightmare for her! First of all the dreadful shock that it wasn't Cabro after all. And then everyone thinking – Sir Nicholas thinking – it was her who planted it. That was the real shock.'
'And maybe she began to wonder if she'd gone mad or something!' Elf pointed out. 'After all, nobody but her could have done it and yet at the same time she knew she hadn't done it.'
'I can't wait to tell her!' exclaimed Rebecca. 'I just can't wait!'
The footprints beside the shore were leading them right round the headland now, towards Mulberry Cove.
'I wonder where he's gone?' mused Elf.
'Oh, he can't be far away,' said Rebecca. She looked at the message again. 'He's going to make a house for him and Blackie. What's the betting he found a good cave round in Mulberry some time? Oh, poor Tommy.'
They were both very quiet as they clambered over the slippery rocks covered in bladderwrack that led round into the cove at low tide. They were thinking about Tommy – and Blackie. Blackie was going to be taken away from him this morning. 'Seems almost cruel to find them and bring them back, doesn't it?' observed Elf, at last.
'Yes,' said Rebecca, sadly.
At last they could see round into the cove. It was eerie and shadowy in the early silvery-grey light. They shaded their eyes and scanned the beach for some sight of the boy and the dog. And then suddenly Rebecca gasped.
'Look, Elf!'
A sailing boat had slid out from behind some rocks, its sail filled with breeze. It was just leaving the sheltered waters of the cove and entering the rough water of the open sea, and it was starting to switchback up and down.
It appeared to be trying to head in the direction of Mulberry Island.
THIRTEEN
THE RIDDLE IS SOLVED
'Tommy!' screamed Rebecca.
But he probably couldn't hear and even if he could, there wasn't much he could do about it. He'd lost hold of the mainsheet. The little sailing dinghy was out of his control now, tossing up and down on the waves, flinging boy, dog, sleeping bag and luggage first to one side and then to the other.
'Can't we get help?' cried Elf.
'There isn't time. Come on – let's run!'
They raced pell mell up the beach to the sailing hut; Rebecca heaved open the lid of the life-jacket chest and threw one over to Elf. 'Quick, put it on!'
Elf heaved a lifebelt off its hook and bounced it into the nearest sailing dinghy, which was on a launching trolley.
They heaved and pushed the trolley all the way down the beach as fast as they could go and then launched the dinghy into shallow water. They waded through the cold surf and clambered on board the boat; they were both wearing their life-jackets now.
'You start rowing, while I get the mainsail up – it'll give us a bit of speed,' said Rebecca, her fingers trembling as she untied knots. 'Is Tommy still the right way up?'
'Yes,' said Elf,
glancing over her shoulder as she heaved on the oars. 'Don't know how.'
First the mainsail and then the jibsail filled with breeze and the little dinghy started to whip along in the cove, heading for the open sea. Elf was able to ship the oars. 'We're making good speed now,' said Rebecca in relief, holding the tiller and the mainsheet. 'Got the jibsheet, Elf? All you have to do is hang on and do what I say.'
They would have felt frightened, but there was too much to do.
Out on the open sea, Tommy felt very frightened.
It had seemed such an adventure at first, setting sail with Blackie. He'd watched the older children have sailing lessons in the cove and he was sure he knew exactly what to do. He'd made quite a good job of launching the boat and letting out the mainsail. They were off!
They were heading for Mulberry Island! Their own island – their very own kingdom. And it even had a house on it, too. There were fruit and vegetables to pinch from the garden, growing amongst the weeds and nettles, because he'd seen them. They'd live there for ever, him and Blackie, and nobody would ever find them. Nobody could try and mess them around, ever again.
He didn't like the proper world, anyway. Everything you did seemed to turn out wrong.
They were going to make a fresh start in life, just the two of them!
But as soon as the dinghy hit the open sea, his excitement faded. The wind was much stronger and the waves much bigger. The mainsheet was jerked out of his hand and the mainsail began to flap noisily, the boom swinging backwards and forwards and nearly knocking him out of the boat each time. Then he lost hold of the tiller, too, as big waves reared up and the boat seemed almost to stand on end. Soon he was drenched from head to foot and felt seasick, thrown about the boat as it tossed and pitched.
Blackie cowered in the bottom of the boat, his coat dripping with salt water, whining with fear.
Then Tommy realized he hadn't put on one of those orange things, life-jacket things, and he became more frightened than ever. They weren't going to make it! They'd never get to Mulberry Island at this rate!
The only thing for it was to try and get hold of the mainsheet again, and then the tiller, turn the boat right round and head straight back to Mulberry Cove.
Gasping and panting he lay in the bottom of the boat, the spray washing over him from every direction, trying to get hold of the slippery rope. At the third attempt, he got it and hung on to it tight as he crawled back to the tiller.