Secret Series - 01 - The Secret Island by Enid Blyton

Author:Enid Blyton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Children's Fiction
Published: 1938-02-24T00:00:00+00:00

The Caves in the Hillside

The days slipped past, and the children grew used to their happy, carefree life on the island. Jack and Mike went off in the boat one night and fetched the old milking-pail from Aunt Harriet’s farm, and a load of vegetables from the garden. The plums were ripening, too, and the boys brought back as many as would fill the milking-pail! How pleased the girls were to see them!

Now it was easy to milk Daisy, for they had a proper pail. Peggy cleaned it well before they used it, for it was dusty and dirty. When Jack or Mike had milked Daisy they stood the pail of milk in the middle of the little spring that gushed out from the hillside and ran down to the lake below. The icy-cold water kept the milk cool, and it did not turn sour, even on the hottest day.

Jack got out the packets of seeds he had brought from his grandfather’s farm, and showed them to the others. “Look,” he said, “here are lettuce seeds, and radish seeds, and mustard and cress, and runner beans! It’s late to plant the beans, but in the good soil on this island I daresay they will grow quickly and we shall be able to have a crop later in the year.”

“The mustard and cress and radish will grow very quickly!” said Peggy. “What fun! The lettuces won’t be very long, either, this hot weather, if we keep them well watered.”

“Where shall we plant them?” asked Mike.

“Well, we’d better plant them in little patches in different corners of the island,” said Jack. “If we dig out a big patch and have a sort of vegetable garden, and anyone comes here to look for us, they will see our garden and know someone is here! But if we just plant out tiny patches, we can easily throw heather over them if we see anyone coming.”

“Jack’s always full of good ideas,” said Nora. “I’ll help to dig and plant, Jack.”

“We’ll all do it,” said Jack. So together they hunted for good places, and dug up the ground there, and planted their precious seeds. It was Peggy’s job to water them each day and see that no weeds choked the seeds when they grew.

“We’re getting on!” said Nora happily. “Milk and cream each day, eggs each day, wild raspberries when we want them, and lettuces, mustard and cress, and radishes soon ready to be pulled!”

Jack planted the beans in little bare places at the foot of a brambly hedge. He said they would be able to grow up the brambles, and probably wouldn’t be noticed if anyone came. The bean seedlings were carefully watched and nursed until they were strong and tall, and had begun to twist themselves round any stem near. Then Peggy left them to themselves, only watering them when they needed it.

It was sometimes difficult to remember which day it was. Jack had kept a count as best he could, and sometimes on Sundays the children could hear a church bell ringing if the wind was in the right direction.

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