The Aeroplane of Adventure

©2009 David Marlor

This novel is based on the characters created by Enid Bylton in the Adventure Series. In this regard, it is the ninth adventure and follows The River of Adventure.

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Chapter 12: Night Signals

The next day the boys went down to the saltwater pool to see if they could solve one of the mysteries. They explored all around the pool, but could see nothing out of the ordinary. Philip dived into the pool and explored near the place that Lucy-Ann had seen her "monster." He could see nothing.

The children passed the rest of the day lazing around in the sun. Jack caught two more fish and they had those for dinner.

That night, Jack awoke with a start. At first he didn't know what had awoken him. Then suddenly an extra strong gust of wind caused the tree to sway, making Jack feel like he was on a boat pitching and tossing on the waves. Kiki was awake too and she flew down and settled on his shoulder.

Jack scratched her bill. "It's a windy night, Kiki. I hope we don't get blown out of this tree. What's that, Kiki?"

Above the sound of the rustling leaves, Jack could hear another louder noise. "I believe that's the sea crashing on the rocks, Kiki," said Jack in awe. The wind was really quite strong now and Jack was beginning to worry that living in the tree might not be such a good idea after all.

He heard Philip stirring next to him. "What's up?" asked Philip, seeing Jack sitting up with a worried look on his face. Just as he said it, another strong gust of wind shook the tree.

"Whew," said Philip. "Is that the wind?"

Jack nodded. "I'm going to climb up the ladder to the lookout and see the waves on the rocks. It must be an amazing sight."

"I'll come too." said Philip getting up. "Let me check on the girls in case they're awake and scared." Philip went down the ladder to the lower deck. He came back in less than a minute. "They're both flat out," he said with a grin. "Come on, let's see what the waves are like. Oh, you want to come too, do you?"

Morris the mynah bird had awoken at the sound of Philip's voice and was watching him with doleful eyes. Philip picked the bird up and placed it on his shoulder. Jack led the way up the ladder. It really wasn't very difficult to climb, even though the tree took an extra big sway every now and again. Jack helped Philip climb up onto the platform. Immediately the boys felt the cool strong wind gusting around them.

"We'd better hold on," said Jack. "This wind is unbelievable. They stood on the platform, holding tight to a convenient branch.

Jack parted the leaves and the boys could see the spray from the waves splashing high off the rocks.

"Even though it's windy, it's a clear night," said Philip. "Just look at those bright stars." The boys stood and watched the waves a little longer.

"Come on," said Philip who was getting cold. "Let's get back down and go back to sleep. The girls will worry if they wake up and we're not there."

Jack was just about to turn a go down the ladder when he saw something inland. "What was that?" he asked, puzzled, grabbing a branch to steady himself as an extra powerful gust of wind shook the tree.

"What?" asked Philip, holding tight to the ladder's vines. He carefully pulled himself back up and rejoined Jack on the platform.

Jack held the leaves apart and pointed. "Up there, I thought I saw a bright light, like a flash. There!" Both boys saw it this time.

"It looks like a signal," said Philip watching. "Look. Isn't that Morse code or something?

"I think it is," said Jack. "But where is that light coming from? Let me see. If that's the pool down there, and there's the stream, then that must be on top of the hill."

"I bet you're right," said Philip. "Look, it's stopped again." The boys watched a little longer but the light didn't come back on.

"That's strange," said Philip shivering. "I wonder what's going on on this island?" The puzzled boys climbed back down and soon curled under their warm blankets. Philip was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Jack lay awake a while longer, puzzling over the events of the past few days.

The next morning, the boys told Lucy-Ann and Dinah of their night adventure. Lucy-Ann shivered. "Golly. A light flashing from the top of the hill. Whatever for?"

"You know," said Jack as they ate their breakfast on a large rock by the side of the upper pool. "You know, I really think that Philip and I should go up the hill tonight and see if we can learn anything. Don't look at me like that, Lucy-Ann, you jolly well know that Bill will want to know what's going on."

Dinah was a little doubtful about being left alone. "What if you get caught, or something happens?" she said to the boys. "What will Lucy-Ann and I do then?"

"We won't get caught," said Philip. "You know that we're good at hiding and finding out things."

In the end the girls agreed to let the boys go alone and see if they could figure out what the light on top of the hill was for. The girls would stay in the treehouse where they would be safe. The boys decided they would set off a couple of hours before dark, so they could find their way.

"We can easily find a place to hide," said Jack to a worried Lucy-Ann. "We'll take something to drink and some tins of food and some blankets. We'll be quite all right. Then we'll come back down at first light."

The children spent the day exploring some small caves they'd found the day before. There wasn't much to see and most of them smelled like rotten seaweed. Lucy-Ann wrinkled up her nose. "Poo! What a stink," she said to the others.

"Poo," said Kiki. "Poo. Poo, Pah."

Morris, sitting on Philip's shoulder, listened to Kiki. "Poo," said Morris to Kiki. Morris's wing and flying were improving every day and that pleased Philip.

Once the children got back to their hot pool and treehouse, the boys began preparing for the night.

"Don't forget your torch, Tufty," said Jack as they packed. "And some rope, food and drink."

The boys sat with the girls watching the waves. "Well, we'd better go," said Philip looking at his watch, "if we want to get up that hill before nightfall. Here, Lucy-Ann, take Morris will you?" Morris jumped onto Lucy-Ann's shoulder and sat there telling Lucy-Ann to shut up. Lucy-Ann took the bird by the legs in case it decided to follow Jack and Philip. Kiki, on Jack's shoulder, gave a loud nasty-sounding laugh, obviously directed at Morris who was staying behind. The boys said goodbye to the girls and began the long hike to the top of the hill.

Continues tomorrow...

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