Arthur Ransome - Swallows and Amazons (Complete Series)

“We could go to the China Seas to see daddy,” said Susan.

“We could discover new continents,” said Titty. “America can’t fill everything. There must be lots that haven’t been found yet.”

“We’d go to Zanzibar and bring back a whole shipload of parrots, grey ones, talking like fun,” said Peggy.

“And monkeys,” said Roger.

“I like green parrots best,” said Titty.

“Look here,” said Nancy Blackett, “we are forgetting all about this parley. We can’t fight Captain Flint all the time. But we can practise. We mustn’t sink each other’s ships. . . .”

“Nobody shall sink Swallow,” said Roger fiercely.

“All right,” said Nancy, “nobody’s going to. But it’ll be very good practice for us to try to capture Swallow, and for you to try to capture Amazon. The one who wins shall be flagship. There’s always a flagship in a fleet. If you capture Amazon, then Swallow will be flagship and Captain John will be commodore. If we capture Swallow, then Amazon will be flagship and I’ll be commodore. Beginning from to-morrow.”

“And when that’s settled, we’ll go and take the houseboat,” said Titty.

“But,” said John, “you know where we keep Swallow, because you know we are here. If we don’t guard her, you can easily take her. But we don’t know where you keep Amazon.”

“You saw where we went yesterday.”

“We saw you go behind a promontory on the western coast.”

“Well, if you go beyond that promontory you’ll find the mouth of a river. That’s the Amazon River. Not far up it on the right bank, that’s the left bank as you sail up from the lake, there’s a boathouse. It’s a stone boathouse, with a big wooden skull and cross-bones that we made fastened over the front of it. In it there’s a motor launch that you mustn’t touch because it belongs to the natives, and there’s a rowing boat and also Amazon when she’s at home. Now you know.”

“Half a minute,” said John, “I’ve got a chart here.”

He got the guide-book and opened it at the map which showed the whole length of the lake. Nancy Blackett showed him the river Amazon. It had another name on the map. John gave her the pencil.

“You mark where the boathouse is,” he said.

Captain Nancy made a mark with the pencil in the right place.

“It’ll be a cutting-out expedition only,” she said. “It’s agreed that whoever wins is to be as careful with the other boat as with their own.”

“That’ll be us,” said Peggy. “Nancy always does a thing if she says she will.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Captain John.

“Beginning from to-morrow,” said Captain Nancy.

“Look here,” said Susan, “hadn’t we better have dinner before all the lemonade has gone.”

“Jamaica rum,” said Titty, with reproach.

“We’ve got a lot of sandwiches,” said Peggy.

“We’ve got pemmican,” said Susan, “and sardines. We finished the meat pie and the next one doesn’t come till to-morrow.”

“What a pity we haven’t been fishing,” said Titty. “We might have been able to give you some fried shark.”

“We like sardines just as well,” said Peggy.

There was a stir in the camp. Peggy, the mate of the Amazon, seemed to be in charge of the ship’s food, like Susan, the mate of the Swallow. With Titty and Roger to help them, they set about making ready a meal. They put fresh wood on the fire and blew up the embers to boil the kettle. They agreed that it was best to have boiling water for washing up and for making tea in case the little barrel did not hold out. Then there were sardine tins and a tin of pemmican to open, and sandwiches and a cake to be brought from the Amazon.

The two captains did not move at first, but watched the business of their crews.

At last John said, “Look here, Captain Nancy, I wish you’d tell me about the marking of the harbour.”

“It’s quite simple, Captain John,” said Nancy. “Come along and I’ll show you while our tars are rigging the meal.”

They walked together to the harbour, meeting Peggy with the basket full of cake and sandwiches on the way. When they came to the harbour they were alone, for which Captain John was glad. He went straight to the stump of a tree with a cross on it.

“I found this at once,” he said.

“And you didn’t find anything else,” said Captain Nancy. “That’s because we are Amazon pirates and keep our marks secret. One of them is no good without the other, and the other isn’t marked at all.”

“How is it a mark then?” said John.

Captain Nancy squatted on the beach and drew a half circle. “Suppose this is the harbour,” she said, “and these are the rocks outside.” She put some big stones in about the position of the rocks outside the harbour. “You want to come in. Well, a straight line like that brings you clean through the rocks without touching any of them. Draw the line a bit longer, right into the harbour and up on the beach. Your marks must be on that line. Take this for your first mark.” She planted a twig. “That’s the stump with the cross on it. Now you find anything else that you can see over the first mark and also on the same straight line. It can be anything. There’s no need to mark it if you know it. Then when you want to come into the harbour from outside all you have to do is to keep the two marks one behind the other. So long as you do that you will be on the straight line that brings you safe through between the rocks. Even if the lake—the sea—is high, so that some of the rocks are under water, you can sail in without looking at them if you keep your two marks one behind the other.”

“ ’Um,” said Captain John.

“Hop into Amazon, and I’ll take her out and show you.”

John stepped into Amazon. Nancy Blackett shoved off and took her right outside the rocks, so that they were in the open sea. Then, sculling with an oar over the stern, she brought her round so that she was headed towards the island.

“Now,” she said, “do you see the stump with the cross on it?”

“Yes,” said John. “I can see the cross all right. The stump is hard to see against the beach. It’s the same colour.”

“That’s why we had to paint the cross,” said Nancy. “Now, look above it to the right and you’ll see the fork of a tree with a big patch of bark off it just below the fork. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“That’s the other mark. As it is now there are rocks between us and the harbour. But, if I bring her up a bit, you’ll see that fork of a tree come nearer to the marked stump until it’s exactly over it. Then we can go straight in. Sing out as soon as the two are in a straight line.”

“They’re in a straight line now,” said Captain John.

“Right,” said Captain Nancy. “Now, I’m not going to look at anything again. I’ll simply scull and keep my eyes looking at the bottom of the boat. You watch those two marks and tell me the moment they are not one above another.”

She began sculling fast over the stern, and the Amazon moved in towards the rocks.

“The fork is to the right of the stump,” sang out John.

Nancy sculled away, slightly altering her direction. “How is it now?” she said.

“In line.”

She went on sculling.

“Fork showing on the left . . . in line again . . . showing on the left . . . in line . . . fork showing on the right . . . in line.”

Nancy never looked up, but altered the direction of the boat a little every time John said that the marks were out of line. The Amazon moved on between the rocks and came at last into the harbour.

“We’re through,” said John. “That was jolly good work.”

“It’s quite simple,” said Captain Nancy. “Captain Flint taught us, last year when he was Uncle Jim, before he went bad. That’s the way all harbours are marked, with two marks, showing how to steer into them. Really, of course, they ought to have lanterns on them, for coming in at night. With lanterns on the marks you could come in through the rocks even if it was perfectly dark.”