THE PIRATES' DEN
'Neil, old fellow,' Allan was saying, 'I wonder how much longer these
people are going to keep us waiting.'
The two were in a boat that was bobbing up and down upon the waves.
The shore close by was low and sandy, with some seaweed-covered stones
forming a convenient landing-place. On one side the bay swept round in
a curve ending in a rocky headland; and on the other arose low cliffs
with brambles and sea-pinks growing in the crevices. A breeze was
blowing shoreward; and the waves curled and broke upon the beach with a
pleasant sound.
'Nothing more found out about the robbery yet, I suppose?' said Allan,
after they had waited a little longer.
'Nothing at all,' said Neil. 'It iss a most extraordinary affair, for
there iss not a man on the island one could effer be suspecting of
doing such a thing; and if it wass a stranger, the wonder iss how he
will be managing to come and go without being seen. The letter-box
wass broken into from inside the house, and whoever will be doing it
must have got in after MacAlister and his wife wass gone to bed. It
iss a wonder they will not have been hearing anything.'
'There's the MacGregors' pony-cart at last,' said Allan, 'with Marjorie
and Hamish in it. Let's bring the boat to the landing-stones. They
will leave the trap at Mrs. MacMurdoch's cottage until we come back.'
A man came out of the cottage and held the little shaggy pony while
Marjorie and her brother took a variety of miscellaneous articles out
of the cart.
'Hulloa, Allan! hulloa, Neil!' they cried; 'where are the others?'
'Don't know,' said Allan, 'they are dawdling somewhere, and we'll never
get off at this rate. What's all this that you've got with you?'
'Things for the hiding-place,' said Marjorie; 'and a nice lot of
trouble we've had to bring them all this way without breaking any of
them. The pony was particularly tricky, not having been exercised.
You'll get a basket of crockery, Allan, if you'll go and take it out of
the trap. Hamish is carrying some provisions and a tablecloth, and
I've got some knives and forks, and just look at this!--It's a girdle
for making scones with.'
'All right,' said Allan; 'chuck them into the boat, and get in
yourself. But won't it be a little too civilised, bringing all these
things with you?'
'Not at all,' said Marjorie; 'wait till we show you what a jolly place
we're making. We can spend whole days there without ever coming home,
and we must be able to cook dinner and tea for ourselves. We've had no
end of trouble to get all these things out of the kitchen without
Elspeth seeing us. She's so mean, you know, about letting us carry
away anything that doesn't belong to us.'
'All right,' said Allan; 'but when are Reggie and Tricksy going to turn
up? It would serve them jolly well right if we went off without them.'
'There they are in the distance,' said Hamish; 'at least, these seem to
be the dogs.'
'That's certainly Laddie,' said Allan, standing up and looking, 'and
that little black speck seems to be Carlo; but surely those can't be
Reggie and Tricksy with them?'
All stared at two curious figures that looked like animated bundles of
hay coming along the road.
'It is Reggie and Tricksy,' said Neil, whose sailor's sight enabled him
to see farthest; 'and they're carrying something.'
'Carrying _what_?' said Allan, more and more puzzled.
'Perhaps they're bringing straw for bedding,' suggested Marjorie.
'Then if they are, they're not going to fill up the boat with it on
this trip,' said Allan decidedly. 'We shall be heavily enough loaded
already, with all of ourselves; and they're bringing both the dogs.'
As they came nearer the two walking bundles proved to be indeed Reggie
and Tricksy, carrying enormous bundles of ferns. Reggie's face peeped,
hot and perspiring, round one side of his bundle, which he clasped with
the utmost extent of his arms; and Tricksy, with a smaller burden,
looked with a long-suffering expression over the fronds which tickled
her little nose. Beside them Laddie stepped lightly along, his tail
curling over his back; while in the rear a small King Charles spaniel
waddled painfully along upon his little short legs; his tongue hanging
out, and his long ears sweeping the dust of the road.
'Well,' said Allan; 'whatever are they up to now?'
Reggie came down to the shore, picking his way cautiously over the
stepping-stones.
'You might hold the boat steady for me,' he said in a half-stifled
voice; then, stepping on to the thwarts, he lost his footing and fell
forward, load and all, into the boat.
Promptly he struggled to his feet and wiped his forehead, looking
around with a self-congratulatory smile.
'There,' he said, 'these will be a great improvement to the place. Got
them up, roots and all.'
Meanwhile Hamish had relieved Tricksy of her load, and Neil was helping
the little girl over the stones.
'Why, Tricksy,' said Marjorie, as the little girl took her seat, 'you
_have_ got yourself into a state!'
'I know, but I couldn't help it,' said Tricksy, looking ruefully down
at her little black hands and muddy frock. 'Reggie wanted the ferns
for our garden, and we've been digging away with pieces of wood in the
banks of the burn. Some of them had roots ever so deep down, and we
couldn't help making ourselves muddy. I'll wash my face and hands in
the sea.'
'Why ever did you bring _that_ thing with you?' said Allan in disgust,
pointing to the little dog who was standing on the shore. Already
Laddie had sprung on board and was lying curled up on the stern seat,
confident of his welcome. 'We'll have to leave him in one of the
cottages until we come back.'
'No, no!' cried Marjorie and Tricksy; 'Carlo must come too.'
'Let him come,' said Hamish; 'he won't be in the way.'
The little dog, who had been frisking about and wagging his tail, sat
up and begged, looking from one to the other of the young people with a
beseeching whine.
'You darling,' cried both the girls; and Tricksy sprang out of the boat
and lifted him in.
Allan looked contemptuous as he pushed off; but Laddie gave a little
yelp of satisfaction, and the little spaniel curled himself cosily in
Tricksy's lap, while Marjorie leaned over and petted him when the boys
were not looking.
The steady strokes of the rowers brought the boat rapidly through the
water, while the herring gulls flew screaming around, and a small
island in the middle of the firth came nearer and nearer.
Presently the sea became shallower, and the boat shot up on the beach.
'Here we are,' said Marjorie, springing out first; 'now you must see
what we've made of the place, Allan. Haul up the boat, Hamish; and
Reggie, you might hand out some of these things. Take care you don't
drop any of them. Every one take something, and let's come.'
Laddie waited impatiently while the articles were distributed among the
party, and then followed his young friends with an anticipatory bark.
Carlo was lifted out by Hamish, and immediately set off to chase a gull
which sailed majestically out to sea, and left him barking on the shore.
'Now, Allan,' said Reggie, his dark eyes twinkling; 'you are going to
see what we've been about.'
The island consisted of a beach, rocky on the one side, sandy on the
other, enclosing a stretch of grass and heather. A tiny hill rose by a
deserted shepherd's hut, and a miniature burn trickled down to the sea.
The place had once been used as a grazing ground for a few sheep, but
of late years had been entirely uninhabited.
'Now look, Allan,' said Reggie, as they stood by the bit of dyke which
protected the windy side of the cottage.
'Wh-e-ew,' said Allan; 'you have made a jolly place of it!'
'Rebuilt the cottage, which had been falling to ruins,' said Reggie.
'That was mostly Neil's doing, and Hamish and I helped. Filled up the
holes in the thatch with fresh heather. We all worked at that part of
it. Then you see we've made a bit of a garden and thrown up the turf
for a dyke on the side where the stone one was broken down. The shells
on the path were brought up from the beach of this very island. Isn't
it jolly?'
'Awfully fine,' said Allan. 'Have you given the place a name yet?'
'Why,' said Marjorie, 'it's our Pirates' Den, and we mean to have all
kinds of fun in it all through the summer. The boat is called the
_Pirates' Craft_ now, and we are going to have no end of fine doings,
particularly if Neil has time to join us.'
Allan shoved his cap to the back of his head, and looked about him
again with brightening eyes.
'Awfully jolly,' was all that he could say. 'Neil, you _are_ a fellow
for hitting upon good ideas.'
'Now come along and see the inside,' said Reggie, leading the way.
'This fine strong door was made by Neil,' said Marjorie; 'a fine time
we had getting it over in the boat. We haven't got glass for the
windows yet, and I don't suppose we ever shall; but it doesn't matter.
What do you think of our kitchen?'
Hamish pushed open the door, and they all crowded in to see how Allan
would look.
'Well,' said Allan, 'you _have_ done a lot to the place!'
The clay floor had been swept dean and had been repaired in places; the
hearth had been cleared out, and a kettle hung from a hook in the wide
chimney. Some gaily-coloured pictures had been nailed up over the damp
stains on the walls, and there were some rough chairs and a somewhat
rickety table. Altogether it was a fairly comfortable little cottage.
'You must have worked very hard at this,' said Allan.
'Indeed we have,' said Marjorie. 'We've been gardening, and hammering,
and carpentering all our spare time since you left; Tricksy and all of
us. We'd never have stuck to it as we did if it hadn't been for Neil.'
'Good old Neil,' said Allan, giving the elder lad a friendly pat on the
shoulder. 'Well, I must say it's an awfully jolly place, and I wish
I'd been here while you were working on it.'
'There's plenty to do yet,' said Marjorie; 'we are going to make all
kinds of improvements. Mother and Mrs. Stewart can't make out how we
manage to spend so much time by ourselves and never come to any harm.'
They stood looking around for a few minutes and then Tricksy's voice
broke in, with a little laugh in it, 'Yes, these are very nice chairs,
and it's a very nice table; but are we going to get anything to put on
it?'
All the others laughed.
'Well,' said Allan, 'now I come to think of it, I _am_ a bit peckish.
What do you say, Hamish?'
'Yes,' said Marjorie energetically; 'bustle about, all of you, and
we'll have some dinner before we do anything else. Get some peats,
will you, Reggie; some of the shepherd's peat-stack is still there, and
it comes in very usefully for us.'
A fire was soon burning on the hearth, and Marjorie suggested that the
boys should go to the rocks on the farther side of the island and try
to catch a few fish while she and Tricksy made scones and boiled the
kettle.
The boys scrambled out as far as they could and threw out their lines;
and when half-a-dozen rock-cod had been caught they returned to find
Marjorie and Tricksy very busy over the fire, while a pile of hot
bannocks smoked beside them.
'Take the dishes and set the table,' said Marjorie, rubbing her eyes,
which smarted a little with 'peat reek,' for the chimney did not vent
very well.
'Where shall we set it?' asked Reggie.
'Outside, of course; what's the good of being in a house when it isn't
raining? Besides, it's smoky here.'
A tablecloth was spread on a sheltered piece of turf, and secured at
the corners with stones to keep it from blowing away; then the dishes
were set out upon it.
'What are the dogs about?' asked Marjorie, coming out of the cottage
with a plate of smoking fish.
'Rabbiting, I bet,' said Reggie, and began shouting, 'Laddie! Carlo!'
In a few minutes there was a scamper, and Laddie's head appeared above
a ridge, waiting with pricked-up ears to know what was required of him.
'Dinner, Lad!' said Reggie.
Laddie gave a yelp, sprang up and turned a somersault in the air and
came running, followed by Carlo, who yapped with excitement, his ears
flying behind him and his curly black coat covered with earth and
stalks from burrowing in the rabbit-holes.
'Trust, Laddie,' said Tricksy; and the collie lay down obediently with
his nose on his paws. Carlo stretched himself beside him, but was
unable to restrain his impatience, and sat up more than once and
begged, undeterred by warnings from Laddie, who feared that his little
friend's disobedience might get him into trouble.
'Isn't it awfully jolly having dinner out-of-doors?' said Marjorie,
whose short curly hair was blowing about her face and glistening in the
sun, while her blue eyes danced with merriment.
'Much nicer than indoors,' said Tricksy. 'I wish we could live here
altogether.'
'Jolly tired you'd get of it,' growled Reggie; 'wait till it rains, and
you find yourself shut up with half-a-dozen other people, and both the
dogs, in one little smoky room. You'd tell another tale then.'
'What I will be wondering, Miss Marjorie,' said Neil; 'iss why you will
all be taking so much trouble to keep every one but ourselves from
knowing that you have this place?'
'It is only for a little while,' replied Marjorie. 'Of course we will
bring father and mother over here for a picnic some day and give them a
surprise.'
'And _my_ father and mother too,' piped Tricksy; 'we wouldn't want to
keep a thing from Mummie, except just for a little while, for fun.'
'Then how iss it that you will be finding so much pleasure in having a
secret just now?'
Marjorie looked out to sea with a puzzled expression.
'I don't know,' she said at last, with a little laugh; 'except that
it's such fun knowing that we've got a secret!'
'I've been thinking,' said Allan, who was lying full length upon a
ridge and looking towards Inchkerra, 'while we are having such a jolly
time of it over here, what must be the feelings of the man who stole
those letters, now he knows that the police are after him!'
The others all looked towards the island, where they could see the low,
grey cottages of the little village.
'It seems strange that they haven't got him yet,' observed Marjorie.
'I met MacLean the constable from Stornwell this morning,' said Hamish,
'and he told me that they had no trace as yet, and that they believed
it must have been done by some stranger who came over from the
mainland, and got away immediately after the robbery.'
'I hope so,' said Allan; 'it isn't nice to think of any of our people
being dishonest.'
'If it was a stranger,' said Reggie; 'they may never catch him.'
'I heard father say that he would be traced by the money-orders,'
replied Allan. 'It seems that there were several post-office orders in
a registered letter addressed to father, and that is one of the letters
that is missing. Father says that the thief is sure to try to make use
of the orders sooner or later, and they have sent the numbers to every
post-office in the kingdom.'
'And then the man will be caught!' said Tricksy in an awestruck tone.
'That will be the best chance of getting him,' replied Allan.
'The fellow will find himself in the wrong box then, won't he, Neil?'
'I suppose he will,' replied Neil, rather absently.
'I hope it won't turn out to have been some one on the island,' said
Reggie.
'I hope not,' said Marjorie, looking over to the green fields and brown
heather moors of Inchkerra. 'Isn't it dreadful to think that it may
have been some one whom we know; some one we have spoken to quite
lately?'
'Well, Miss Marjorie,' said Neil, 'do you not think we had better be
getting the table cleared and the things put away? We have plenty of
work before us, if we are to plant all Reggie's ferns; and we must not
stay too late, for it iss anxious about you that Mrs. Stewart and Mrs.
MacGregor will be.'
'Not they,' said Tricksy; 'no one is anxious when they know that you
are with us, Neil.'
Neil looked gratified, and the young people began to collect the dishes.
'Now, don't you bother about this piece of work,' said Marjorie, when
the boys had carried the plates into the cottage; 'you go and amuse
yourselves out-of-doors while Tricksy and I wash the dishes.'
'I wonder why you don't let them do their share of the disagreeable
work, Marjorie,' said Tricksy a little discontentedly, when the boys
had vanished.
'Pooh,' said Marjorie, with her arms in the hot water; 'what's the
good? They'd only hate it, and besides, boys always do these things
badly.'
When the dishes and cooking utensils had been arranged upon the
shelves, Marjorie and Tricksy went out into the garden, their eyes
somewhat dim with peat smoke.
'Come along and help, you two,' cried Reggie; 'must get these things in
this afternoon, or they'll be dead before we come back again. Bother
it, though; we haven't enough tools to go round.'
'Here, Miss Tricksy,' interposed Neil; 'you take this little spade.
This sharp piece of wood will be doing just as well for me.'
'And I've got a pointed piece of slate; I can scrape holes with that,'
said Allan. 'Take this old trowel, Marjorie; it hasn't a handle, but I
don't suppose you'll mind.'
For a long time the young people worked with a will. The sun beat down
upon the unshaded island, and the breeze blew in from the sea, bringing
a salt taste to the lips and blowing the girls' hair about. The waves
babbled round the shore, and the gulls sailed overhead and screamed.
When the sun's rays began to slant, and the pile of ferns was
diminishing, Neil kept glancing over his shoulder to watch the tide.
'There now, that's done,' said Reggie, pressing the earth round the
roots of the last fern and then rising; 'it's a jolly long time it has
taken us. What shall we do next?'
'I think we ought to go now,' said Hamish. 'What do you say, Neil?'
'It is high time we wass making a start,' said Neil. 'The tide iss
rising fast, and the beach iss half covered already.'
'What a pity,' said Tricksy regretfully; 'we've had such a jolly day of
it, haven't we, Marjorie?'
'Awfully jolly,' replied Marjorie; 'but we'll come again soon.--You'll
come too, won't you, Neil?'
'I will be coming as soon as I can be sparing the time, you may be sure
of that, Miss Marjorie,' replied the lad with a smile.
The dogs were recalled from the rabbit-holes and came, their faces
covered with sand, and the boat was pushed off from the shore.
Half-way across the firth, Marjorie turned and looked back regretfully.
'What a pity we have to go home,' she said. 'It would be awfully jolly
to spend all night in the cottage.'
'Look to your oar, Marjorie,' sang out Allan, for the boat was
beginning to turn round.
In a short time they reached the landing-stones, of which the lower
ones were already submerged.
'Won't you all look in and see Mother before you go home?' suggested
Neil, after the boat had been drawn up and secured to the
mooring-chain. 'She'd be pleased if you'd come and say good evening to
her; and Miss Tricksy, you would be seeing the little puffins that
Hamish gave you; Mother tells me that they're coming along finely.'
Mrs. Macdonnell's cottage was not far distant, and the young people
accepted Neil's invitation.
'I'll just tell Mother that you're here,' said Neil, lifting the latch
and vanishing in the interior of the cottage.
'I wonder who Mrs. Macdonnell has with her,' said Allan, in an
undertone. 'I hear voices inside. Perhaps we had better not go in
this evening.'
They waited for some time; but still no one came to bid them enter.
'This is strange,' said Marjorie. 'I wonder whether Neil has forgotten
us.'
The door was pushed half open, and Neil's face looked out of the
aperture, with his mother's behind him. Both appeared agitated, and
Neil looked at the others as though he did not see them.