The other children listened in the greatest excitement. It sounded too good to be true. Could it be as easy as all that?
“Jack, can we really do it?” said Mike. “It sounds all right - and those willow-trees are just the right distance from one another to make a good big house - and their top branches will certainly overlap well.”
“Oh, let’s begin, let’s begin!” cried Nora, impatient as usual, dancing up and down.
“I’ll climb up this first willow-tree and swing the branches over with my weight,” said Jack. “All you others must catch hold of them and hold them till I slip down. Then I’ll climb another tree and bend those branches over too. We’ll tie them together, and then I’ll climb up the other trees. Once we’ve got all the top branches bending down touching one another, and overlapping nicely, we can cut long willow-sticks and lace our roof together. I’ll show you how to.”
Jack swung himself up into one of the little willow-trees. It was only a young one, with a small trunk - but it had a head of long, fine branches, easy to bend. Jack swung them down, and the girls and Mike caught them easily. They held on to them whilst Jack slid down the tree and climbed another. He did the same thing there, bending down the supple branches until they reached and rested on top of those bent down from the other tree.
“Tie them together, Mike!” shouted Jack. “Peggy, go and find the rope I brought.”
Peggy darted off. She soon came back with the rope.
Mike twisted it round the branches of the two trees, and tied them firmly together.
“It’s beginning to look like a roof already!” shouted Nora, in excitement. “Oh, I want to sit underneath it!”
She sat down under the roof of willow boughs, but Jack called to her.
“Get up, Nora! You’ve got to help! I’m up the third tree now - look, here come the top branches bending over with my weight - catch them and hold them!”
Nora and Peggy caught them and held on tightly. The branches reached the others and overlapped them. Mike was soon busy tying them down, too.
The whole morning was spent in this way. By dinnertime all the six trees had been carefully bent over. Jack showed Mike and the girls how to weave the branches together, so that they held one another and made a fine close roof. “You see, if we use the trees like this, their leaves will still grow and will make a fine thick roof,” said Jack. “Now, although our house has no walls as yet, we at least have a fine roof to shelter under if it rains!”
“I want something to eat,” said Nora. “I’m so hungry that I feel I could eat snails!”
“Well, get out four eggs, and we’ll have some with potatoes,” said Jack. “We’ll boil the eggs in our saucepan. There’s plenty of potatoes, too. After the eggs are boiled we’ll boil some potatoes and mash them up. That will be nice for a change. We’ll nibble a few carrots, too, and have some of those cherries.”
"We do have funny meals,” said Peggy, going to get the saucepan and the eggs, “but I do like them! Come on, Nora, help me get the potatoes and peel them whilst the eggs are boiling. And Mike, get some water, will you? We haven’t enough.”
Soon the fire was burning merrily and the eggs were boiling in the saucepan. The girls peeled the potatoes, and Jack washed the carrots. He went to get some water to drink, too, for everyone was very thirsty.
“You’d better catch some more fish for to-night, Jack,” said Peggy. “I hope our stores are going to last out a bit! We do seem to eat a lot!”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” said Jack, watching the potatoes boiling. “I think I’ll have to row to land occasionally and get more food. I can get it from Granddad’s farm. There are plenty of potatoes there, and I can always get the eggs from the hen-house. Some of the hens are mine - and there’s a cow that’s really mine too, for Granddad gave her to me when she was a calf!”
“I wish we had hens and a cow here!” said Peggy. “We should have lots of milk then and plenty of eggs!”
“How would we get hens and a cow here?” said Mike, laughing. “I think Jack’s idea of rowing across to land sometimes is a good one. He can go at night. He knows the way, and could get back before day breaks.”
“It’s dangerous, though,” said Peggy. “Suppose he were caught? We couldn’t do without Jack!”
The children ate their dinner hungrily. They thought that eggs and potatoes had never tasted so nice before. The sun shone down hotly. It was simply perfect weather. Nora lay down when she had finished her meal and closed her eyes. She felt lazy and sleepy.
Jack poked her with his foot. “You’re not to go to sleep, Nora,” he said. “We must get on with our house, now we’ve started. You two girls clear up as usual, and Mike and I will get back to the house. We’ll start on the walls this afternoon.”
“But I’m sleepy,” said Nora. She was rather a lazy little girl, and she thought it would be lovely to have a nap whilst the others got on with the work. But Jack was not the one to let anyone slack. He jerked Nora to her feet and gave her a push.
“Go on, lazy-bones,” he said. “I’m captain here. Do as you’re told.”
“I didn’t know you were captain,” said Nora, rather sulkily.
“Well, you know now,” said Jack. “What do the others say about it?”
“Yes, you’re captain, Jack,” said Mike and Peggy together. “Ay, ay, sir!”
Nobody said any more. Nora and Peggy washed up in the lake and cleared the things away neatly. They put some more wood on the fire to keep it burning, because Jack said it was silly to keep on lighting it.
Then they ran off to join the boys in the willow thicket.
Jack had been busy. He had chopped down some willow saplings - young willow-trees - with his axe, and had cut off the longer branches.
“We’ll use these to drive into the ground for walls,” said Jack. “Where’s that old spade, Mike? Did you bring it as I said?”
“Yes, here it is,” said Mike. “Shall I dig holes to drive the sapling trunks into?”
“Yes,” said Jack. “Dig them fairly deep.”
So Mike dug hard in the hot sun, making holes for Jack to ram the willow wood into. The girls stripped the leaves off the chopped-down trees, and with Jack’s knife cut off the smaller twigs. They trimmed up the bigger branches nicely.
Everyone worked hard until the sun began to go down. The house was not yet built - it would take some days to do that - but at any rate there was a fine roof, and part of the wall was up. The children could quite well see how the house would look when it was done - and certainly it would be big, and very strong. They felt proud of themselves.
"We’ll do no more to-day,” said Jack. “We are all tired. I’ll go and see if there are any fish on my line.”
But, alas! there were no fish that night!
“There’s some bread left and a packet of currants,” said Peggy. “And some lettuces and margarine. Shall we have those?”
“This food question is going to be a difficult one,” said Jack thoughtfully. “We’ve plenty of water - we shall soon have a house - but we must have food or we shall starve. I shall catch rabbits, I think.”
“Oh, no, Jack, don’t do that,” said Nora. “I do like rabbits so much.”
“So do I, Nora,” said Jack. “But if rabbits were not caught, the land would soon be overrun with them, you know. You have often had rabbit-pie, haven’t you? And I guess you liked it, too!”
“Yes, I did,” said Nora. “Well, if you are sure you can catch them so that they are not hurt or in pain, Jack, I suppose you’ll have to.”
“You leave it to me,” said Jack. “I don’t like hurting things any more than you do. But I know quite well how to skin rabbits. It’s a man’s job, that, so you two girls can leave it to Mike and me. So long as you can cook the rabbits for dinner, that’s all you need worry about. And ever since Peggy said she wished we had a cow and some hens, I’ve been thinking about it. I believe we could manage to get them over here on to the island - then we would be all right!”
Mike, Peggy, and Nora stared at Jack in amazement. What a surprising boy he was! However could they get a cow and hens?
“Hurry up and get the supper, girls,” said Jack, smiling at their surprised faces. “I’m hungry. We’ll think about things to-morrow. We’ll have our meal now and a quiet read afterwards, then to bed early. To-morrow we’ll go on with the house.”
Soon they were munching bread and margarine, and eating lettuce. They saved the currants for another time. Then they got out books and papers and sprawled on the soft heather, reading whilst the daylight lasted. Then they had a dip in the lake, threw on their clothes again, and settled down for the night in their heathery beds.
“Good-night, everyone,” said Mike. But nobody answered - they were all asleep!
All morning the four children worked hard at the house. Jack cut down enough young willows to make the walls. Mike dug the holes to drive in the willow stakes. He and Jack drove them deeply in, and the girls jumped for joy to see what fine straight walls of willow the boys were making.
The willow stakes were set a little way apart, and Jack showed the girls how to take thin, supple willow branches and weave them in and out of the stakes to hold the walls in place, and to fill up the gaps. It was quite easy to do this when they knew how, but they got very hot.
Mike went up and down to the spring a down times that morning to fetch water! They all drank pints of it, and were glad of its coldness. The sun was really very hot, though it was nice and shady in the green willow thicket.
“It begins to look like a house now,” said Jack, pleased. “Look, this front gap here is where we shall have the door. We can make that later of long stakes interwoven with willow strips, and swing it on some sort of a hinge so that it opens and shuts. But we don’t need a door at present.”
That day all the walls were finished, and the girls had gone a good way towards weaving the stakes together so that the walls stood firmly and looked nice and thick.
“In the olden days people used to fill up the gaps with clay and let it dry hard,” said Jack. “But I don’t think there’s any clay on this island, so we must stuff up the cracks with dried bracken and heather. That will do nicely. And the willow stakes we have rammed into the ground will grow, and throw out leaves later on, making the wall thicker still.”
“How do you mean - the stakes we have cut will grow?" asked Mike in surprise. “Sticks don’t grow, surely!”
Jack grinned. “Willow sticks do!” he said. “You can cut a willow branch off the tree - strip it of all buds and leaves, and stick it in the ground, and you’ll find that, although it has no roots, and no shoots - it will put out both and grow into a willow-tree by itself! Willows are full of life, and you can’t stamp it out of them!”
“Well - our house will be growing all the year round, then!” cried Nora. “How funny!”
“I think it’s lovely!” said Peggy. “I like things to be as alive as that. I shall love to live in a house that’s growing over me - putting out roots and shoots and buds and leaves! What shall we call our house, Jack?”
“Willow House!” said Jack. “That’s the best name for it!”
“It’s a good name,” said Peggy. “I like it. I like everything here. It’s glorious. Just us four - and our secret island. It’s the loveliest adventure that ever was!”
“If only we had more to eat!” said Mike, who seemed to feel hungry every hour of the day. “That’s the only thing I don’t like about this adventure!”
“Yes,” said Jack. “We’ll have to put that right! Don’t worry. We shall get over it somehow!”
That night there was nothing much to eat but potatoes. Jack said he would go off in the boat as soon as it was dark, to see what he could find at his old farm.
So he set off. He took with him a candle, set in the lantern, but he did not light it in case he should be seen.
“Wait up for me,” he said to the others, “and keep a small fire going - not big, in case the glow could be seen.”
The other three waited patiently for Jack to come back. He seemed a long, long time. Nora stretched herself out on the old rug and fell asleep. But Mike and Peggy kept awake. They saw the moon come up and light everything. The secret island seemed mysterious again in the moonlight. Dark shadows stretched beneath the trees. The water lapped against the sand, black as night, close by them, but silvered where the moon caught it beyond. It was a warm night, and the children were hot, even though they had no covering.
It seemed hours before they heard the splash of oars. Mike ran down to the edge of the water and waited. He saw the boat coming softly over the water in the moonlight. He called Jack.
“Hallo, there, Jack! Are you all right?”
“Yes,” said Jack’s voice. “I’ve got plenty of news too!”
The boat scraped on the sand and stones. Mike pulled it up the beach, and Jack jumped out.
“I’ve got something here for us!” said Jack, and they saw his white teeth in the moonlight as he grinned at them. “Put your hands down there in the boat, Nora.”
Nora did - and squealed!
“There’s something soft and warm and feathery there!” she said. “What is it?”
“Six of my hens!” said Jack; I found them roosting in the hedges! I caught them and trussed them up so that they couldn’t move! My word, they were heavy to carry! But we shall have plenty of eggs now! They can’t escape from the island!”
“Hurrah!” cried Peggy. “We can have eggs for breakfast, dinner, and tea!”
“What else have you brought?” asked Mike.
“Corn for the hens,” said Jack. “And packets of seeds of all kinds from the shed. And some tins of milk. And a loaf of bread, rather stale. And lots more vegetables!”
“And here are some cherries,” said Nora, pulling out handfuls of red cherries from the boat. “Did you pick these, Jack?”
“Yes,” said Jack. “They are from the tree in our garden. It’s full of them now.”
“Did. you see your grandfather?” asked Mike.
“Yes,” grinned Jack, “but he didn’t see me! He’s going away - to live with my aunt. The farm is to be shut up, and someone is to feed the animals until it’s sold. So I think I shall try and get my own cow somehow, and make her swim across the lake to the island!”
“Don’t be silly, Jack,” said Peggy. “You could never do that!”
“You don’t know what I can do!” said Jack. “Well, listen - I heard my Granddad talking to two friends of his, and everyone is wondering where we’ve all gone! They’ve searched everywhere for us - in all the nearby towns and villages, and in all the country round about!”
“Oooh!” said the three children, feeling rather frightened. “Do you suppose they’ll come here?”
“Well, they may,” said Jack. “You never know. I’ve always been a bit afraid that the smoke from our fire will give the game away to someone. But don’t let’s worry about that till it happens.”
“Are the police looking for us, too?" asked Peggy.
“Oh yes,” said Jack. “Everyone is, as far as I can make out. I heard Grandad tell how they’ve searched barns and stacks and ditches, and gone to every town for twenty miles round, thinking we might have run away on a lorry. They don’t guess how near we are!”
“Is Aunt Harriet very upset?” asked Peggy.
“Very!” grinned Jack. “She’s got no one to wash and scrub and cook for her now! But that’s all she cares, I expect! Well, it’s good news about my Granddad going to live with my aunt. I can slip to and fro and not be seen by him now. My word, I wished Mike was with me when I got these hens. They did peck and scratch and flap about. I was afraid someone would hear them.”