by R. A. Spratt
It was just starting to get dark when Friday called out.
‘Over there!’ she cried.
Up ahead was a large rock that clearly looked like a whale. And underneath the rock was a ledge that provided a natural cave shelter.
The group hurried forward. Sebastian had been lagging further and further behind. He ran to catch up now.
Patel was the first to reach the cave. ‘Thank goodness!’ he said as he dropped his bag on the dry floor and collapsed. Ian, Susan, Wai-Yi and Harvey were close behind. Friday took Melanie by the hand and helped her the last few metres. Melanie grabbed Friday in a hug. ‘Thank you, thank you so much.’
‘What for?’ asked Friday, hugging her friend back. She didn’t often get to hug people, but she was so exhausted, she was too tired to feel uncomfortable.
‘For being the sort of weirdo who knows how to read a map and use a compass even in a rainstorm,’ said Melanie.
‘You’re welcome,’ said Friday.
‘Here comes Sebastian,’ said Ian. ‘He’s got some explaining to do. I don’t understand how he could make such a big mistake.’
‘Everyone makes mistakes,’ said Friday.
Her words turned out to be instantly prophetic. Sebastian was jogging up the hill towards the cave, when the rocks under his foot slid out from under him and his forward momentum, combined with the bag he was carrying, threw him forward, crunching his forehead down on a large rock.
Susan screamed, ‘Aaaaaggghh!’ Then when everyone looked at her she apologised. ‘Sorry, it just seemed like an appropriate response.’
Ian and Friday hurried out into the rain to help Sebastian. Friday didn’t need to check his pulse, because he groaned. ‘Well, he’s alive,’ she said.
Ian rolled Sebastian over and as he did they could see blood pouring from Sebastian’s scalp.
Friday instantly fainted.
Chapter 21
No Return
When Friday woke up she was lying on the floor of the cave. She looked across to see Melanie binding a bandage around Sebastian’s head. Friday reached up and touched her own head. There was a bandage there too. Which would explain her splitting headache.
‘You hit your head on a rock when you fainted,’ said Ian. ‘It was my fault. If I’d been more on the ball, I would have realised that was how you would react to the sight of blood and caught you.’
‘Is Sebastian okay?’ asked Friday.
‘He’s fine. Just a bump on the head and a sprained ankle,’ said Ian. ‘But I’m going to kill him when we get back to camp.’
‘We need a fire,’ said Friday. ‘We need to get dry and warm. It’ll be dark soon and the temperature will drop.’
‘We can’t light a fire,’ said Ian. ‘We’ve got no kindling, no matches and, with everything wet, there is no way we’re going to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together.’
‘No,’ agreed Friday, ‘but if you find the driest wood you can get, looking under old logs and around the mouth of the cave, then we should be able to get one started using the lighter I smuggled along in the secret pocket in my sock.’
Friday pulled up her trouser leg, unzipped the pocket on her sock and pulled out a gas lighter.
‘I could kiss you,’ said Ian.
‘Please do,’ said Melanie. ‘This is all very grim, and some romance would cheer me up.’
‘A fire would cheer you up more,’ said Friday. ‘Go on, see what you can find.’ She lay back and closed her eyes while the others began searching.
A few minutes later they had a decent collection. ‘It’s all a bit damp,’ said Ian, ‘but a couple of the logs are surprisingly dry. The fire should be all right if we can get it started.’
‘We don’t have any tinder,’ said Patel.
‘Do we have anything in our backpacks that we could use?’ asked Friday. ‘Any cloth or paper?’
‘No,’ said Ian. ‘The food is all stored in plastic or aluminium containers. And the blankets are made of wool, which is flame-retardant.’
‘And none of our clothes are dry enough to use,’ said Patel.
‘Does anyone have any paper?’ asked Friday.
Everyone shook their heads, except Melanie.
‘You do,’ said Melanie. ‘The map.’
‘We can’t burn that,’ said Ian. ‘It’s our way out of here.’
‘We won’t need a map to get us out of here if we don’t survive the night,’ said Friday.
‘But we need a map,’ said Ian.
‘Not if I memorise it first,’ said Friday.
‘You can do that?’ asked Susan.
‘Do you have a photographic memory?’ asked Wai-Yi.
‘No one has photographic memory. It’s a popular culture myth,’ said Friday. ‘Eidetic memory exists in a small percentage of young children. But at twelve, I’m on the cusp of being too old even for that. I merely have a very good memory, as well as excellent concentration and mental discipline. But I believe that will be enough.’ She took the map out of its protective pouch, unfolded it to its full size and methodically studied it from one corner to the other. Then she squinted and rubbed her forehead. ‘Of course, normally, I don’t have a head injury.’
‘You do get them quite a lot,’ said Melanie. ‘I’m sure you can do it.’
Friday silently stared at the map, taking it all in. ‘Okay, let’s start the fire.’ She tore the map in half and started scrunching it up.
‘This feels so wrong,’ said Ian.
‘I know,’ said Friday, ‘but you’ll feel better about it when we get a fire going.’
Friday arranged the scrunched-up balls of paper on the ground, then started laying twigs, sticks and eventually logs over the top.
‘We’ve only got one shot at this,’ said Ian. ‘Good luck.’
Friday lay down on the floor, held the lighter to the paper and flicked it on.
The paper caught quickly and flared up. The flames spread throughout the dry paper. Moisture hissed off the damp twigs.
‘Do you think they’re dry enough to catch light?’ asked Ian.
‘We’ll soon see,’ said Friday. She started to blow gently on the fire to encourage the flame to flare up.
‘Not too much,’ warned Ian.
‘I know the principles of fire lighting,’ said Friday.
‘Just because you know the principles in theory, doesn’t mean you know how to do it in practice,’ said Ian.
‘It’s better than knowing nothing,’ said Friday.
‘It’s lit!’ exclaimed Melanie.
Friday and Ian turned from their argument to see the first of the twigs start to take flame. Friday leaned down and blew gently. The flames spread to the other twigs.
‘I can’t believe it,’ said Ian. ‘It’s working.’
Soon they had a roaring fire. There was a lot of smoke because of the dampness of the wood, but they didn’t care. If they lay on the floor the smoke rose away. And they made makeshift coathangers out of branches and hung their clothes over the flames to dry them out. Patel did accidentally set fire to his shirt. But he didn’t set fire to his pants, so it was only moderately embarrassing.
As the sun rose the following morning, the Houseboaters hadn’t had much sleep. But they’d had some, their clothes were largely dry and they’d eaten well. As a group, they had decided to eat most of their supplies. They should be back at Camp Courage by mid-afternoon and if they ate them now, it would mean less to carry. Which was no small consideration because they were going to have to carry Sebastian.
His ankle had gotten a lot worse during the night. It had swollen up to twice its natural size. And by the morning light, they could see it had gone a spectacular shade of purple as well.
‘Is it broken?’ asked Sebastian as Friday examined it.
‘I don’t know,’ said Friday. ‘It’s your ankle. What do you think?’
‘It feels broken,’ said Sebastian.
‘There’s no bone sticking through the skin,’ said Friday, ‘s
o that’s a good thing.’
‘You don’t have very good bedside manner, you know,’ said Sebastian.
‘All the doctors in my family are doctors of physics,’ said Friday. ‘They don’t have any bedside manner at all.’
‘How are we going to carry him all the way back to camp?’ asked Patel.
‘It took us twelve hours to walk here,’ said Harvey. ‘If we have to carry Sebastian, it will take longer to get back.’
‘No, it won’t,’ said Friday. ‘We’ll be able to cut four hours off our time by not getting lost, for a start. Plus, we’ll be walking downhill, so it will be easier.’
‘And the rain has eased up,’ said Melanie. ‘It’s only light rain now, as opposed to the torrential rain we had yesterday.’
‘We could just stay put and wait for help to arrive,’ said Susan.
‘It will be another thirty-six hours before we’re expected back,’ said Ian. ‘Then they’ll probably wait another twelve hours in case we are just late. So it would be two days before they start looking for us.’
‘It won’t be so bad,’ said Friday. ‘We can make a sled out of branches and a blanket, and drag him. We can chuck our backpacks on the sled as well and take turns pulling it.’
The sled was a little trickier to make than Friday had first imagined. Sebastian fell straight through the first two prototypes, hitting his head on the ground, then on another rock, which only increased his whining. But the third attempt worked much better and by 7 am they were able to set out into the rain, going back down the hill.
It was a grim walk but not as horrible as the day before, because at least this time Friday was in charge of navigation so they had every confidence they were heading in the right direction.
It took them just three hours to make it back to the river.
‘Woohoo!’ cried Ian as he broke through the tree line and saw the roaring river ahead. ‘We made it!’
As the rest of the group joined him on the bank, there was lots of high-fiving, hugs and slaps on the back. Even Sebastian looked slightly less miserable.
‘You did it, Friday,’ said Patel. ‘Well done!’
But Friday was not sharing in the jubilation. She was looking up and down the river.
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Melanie. ‘Don’t tell me this is the wrong river, and we’ve ended up in Timbuctoo.’
‘Oh no, this is the right river,’ said Friday. ‘The problem is, there’s no bridge.’
The mood suddenly soured.
‘What are you talking about?’ said Ian. ‘We’ve probably just come out of the forest a bit upstream. If we follow the river a little way, we’ll come to it.’
Friday shook her head. ‘The bridge should be right there.’ She pointed to a spot directly in front of them.
‘You must have made a mistake,’ said Ian. ‘You’re not perfect, you know.’
‘I may make mistakes about social conventions and fashion choices, but map reading is essentially just applied mathematics using trigonometry and ratios, and I do not make mistakes in mathematics,’ said Friday, walking closer to the raging river.
‘Don’t get too close,’ warned Melanie.
Friday stood right on the edge and peered into the water. She crouched down, reached into the water and pulled out a rope. ‘This is the handrail. The rest of the bridge must have been swept away by the floodwater.’
Someone started sobbing. Friday looked about and was surprised to see it was Sebastian.
‘It’s probably the pain,’ said Friday.
‘No,’ said Melanie, ‘I think it’s because he’s a big wimp.’
‘What are we going to do?’ asked Ian. ‘We’ve got no way back, we’ve eaten most of our food and we burned our map.’
‘We could cook and eat Sebastian,’ said Melanie.
Sebastian wailed.
‘I didn’t mean it,’ said Melanie. ‘I just wanted to see how he would react. He didn’t surprise me.’
‘We could cross the river,’ said Patel. ‘It’s only fifty metres to swim.’
‘Fifty metres in a raging current, with who-knows-what storm damage floating in the water,’ said Ian. ‘It would be too dangerous.’
‘The next bridge is fourteen kilometres downstream,’ said Friday.
‘Fourteen kilometres!’ said Wai-Yi. ‘I can’t hike that far. My blisters have blisters already!’
‘It’s fourteen kilometres if you follow the river,’ said Friday, ‘but the river bends. It would only be nine kilometres if we went through the forest.’
‘We don’t all have to go,’ said Ian. ‘Friday and I will hike out. The rest of you should stay here with Sebastian. Use fallen branches to build a shelter. When we get back to camp, we’ll send help for you.’
‘What if you don’t get back?’ asked Wai-Yi.
‘Then you’re better off without us,’ said Ian.
‘I’ll leave my lighter for you,’ said Friday, ‘so you can start a fire.’
‘I’m going with you two,’ said Melanie.
‘Are you sure?’ asked Friday.
‘I don’t like being left behind,’ said Melanie. ‘I find it hard to follow what’s going on when you’re not around. Plus, I don’t mind walking. So long as I don’t have to run, I’ll be okay.’
‘Let’s get going then,’ said Ian, ‘before it starts to rain. Which way do we go?’
Friday pointed out across the tree line. ‘That way,’ she said.
‘No!’ cried Sebastian. He rolled over onto his knees and, using a stick as a crutch, struggled up onto his one good foot. ‘I forbid it. I am the adult here. I won’t let you go off on your own.’
‘Why not?’ asked Ian.
‘It’s not safe,’ said Sebastian. ‘You’ll get lost.’
‘I’ve got the compass,’ said Friday, holding it up in her hand. ‘If we head twelve degrees north by northeast, we can’t get lost.’
Sebastian swung his crutch up quickly and smacked Friday hard on the underside of the hand.
‘Oww!’ cried Friday.
The compass flew up. Sebastian dived for it. And so did Ian. But Sebastian got there first. He wrenched the compass away from Ian and threw it with all his might into the surging river. The compass landed with a plop and was quickly swept away.
‘What did you do that for?’ demanded Ian.
‘To stop you doing something stupid!’ yelled Sebastian. ‘Now you’ll have to stay here.’
Chapter 22
Something Nasty
‘I can still navigate using what little we can see of the sun and the stars,’ said Friday. ‘And if need be, I can make another compass with a magnet, a pin and a leaf. You’ve just made it harder, that’s all.’
‘I’m ordering you to stay here!’ demanded Sebastian.
‘We’re not staying here with you,’ said Ian. ‘Lemmings have better survival skills than you do. Let’s go. Harvey, if he gives you any trouble while we’re gone, just bop him on the head with a rock.’
‘I might bop him on the head right now just to save time,’ muttered Harvey.
As Friday, Ian and Melanie headed off, Sebastian was still ranting behind them.
‘Come back! Come back, now!’
‘What’s all that about?’ wondered Ian.
‘His ankle is probably hurting so much it makes him feel emotional,’ said Melanie.
‘I think he’s upset about something more than that,’ said Friday, glancing back.
They were only hiking for another hour when the sun broke out.
‘Hooray!’ said Ian. ‘At last.’
‘That’s going to make it easier to navigate too,’ said Friday, glancing at the sun then her wristwatch. ‘You can work out which way is north by pointing the twelve on your watch at the sun, then halving the distance to the hour hand.’
Melanie looked over her shoulder. ‘You’re wearing a digital watch.’
‘I can imagine where an hour hand would be on an analog watch,’ said Friday.
‘Really?’ said Melanie. ‘I always find proper watches very confusing, even when they’re not imaginary.’
‘This way,’ said Friday.
They pushed through the scrub, and trudged over the top of a small hill when suddenly in the middle of the forest they came across a big tin shed.
‘Civilisation!’ cried Melanie.
They all hurried forward. But as they drew close, they noticed something odd about the building.
‘What is that noise?’ asked Ian.
‘What’s that smell?’ asked Melanie.
‘Let’s take a look,’ said Friday, stretching up on tippy-toes to peer in through the window. The glass was filthy and covered in cobwebs. She smeared the dirt away with the cuff of her sleeve. Ian and Melanie joined her to peer through.
The shed was full of cages, stacked four high, and in long rows stretching from one end of the shed to the other. In the cages were small furry animals.
‘Are they ferrets?’ asked Ian.
‘I know some people like ferrets as pets,’ said Melanie, ‘but there must be hundreds in there. That’s a lot of pets.’
‘They’re not ferrets,’ said Friday. ‘A ferret is a domesticated form of European polecat. Those are minks. They’re the same genus, but they’re not domesticated. They’re highly aggressive.’
‘Why would someone keep a shed full of minks in the middle of nowhere?’ asked Ian.
‘For their fur,’ said Friday. ‘Mink is one of the most highly sought-after pelts in the fur trade.’
‘But nobody wears fur anymore,’ said Melanie. ‘One of Mummy’s friends wore a fur stole to their Aspen ski party, and she was thrown out of the bridge club and the light opera society.’
‘They do in Eastern Europe and Canada,’ said Friday. ‘Mink is still one the best ways to stay warm in extremely cold temperatures.’
‘But why keep minks out here?’ asked Ian.
‘It’s brilliant,’ said Friday. ‘It’s so isolated. It’s close to the river. They could take the minks out on a boat. No one would ever know they were here.’
‘Who would do such a thing?’ asked Melanie.
Friday sniffed the air.