Kidnap Island Page 2

  “My dad usually helps me rig, but he had to go to a meeting this morning,” explained Will. “And don’t talk to me about breakfast, I’ve not had any – dog’s or otherwise.

  “Oooh, poor lil puppy,” teased Jonny. “I’ll get you a nice can of Woofo.”

  “Sod off and get this boat sorted for me. If you’re good, I may take you out for a blast,” grinned Will, thumping Jonny’s arm.

  Jonny was just about to thump Will back when a shout interrupted him.

  “Hey, Will, are you ready yet?”

  Jonny looked up to see a tall, pretty girl with long brown hair come out of the clubhouse. About his age, she was wearing shorts, a spray top, baseball cap and a lifejacket.

  “Oh no,” breathed Will, under his breath. “No, not yet, you can go back and sort your hair out for a bit longer, if you want.”

  “There’s no need to be like that, Will,” she replied haughtily, strolling over to them.

  The well-spoken girl smiled at Jonny. “Hi, I’m Louisa, Will’s cousin.”

  Jonny smiled back, “Hi, I’m Jonny, how y’doing?”

  “Good. Ah what a lovely dog, is he yours?”

  “Yes. Ainslie, say hello to Louisa.” The dog obediently went up to Louisa and politely raised a front paw which delighted the girl.

  “Ahh, he’s so cute and I love Ainsley Harriet.”

  “Er, he’s named after Ben Ainslie, not him,” explained Jonny for the umpteenth time, wishing he’d just called the dog Ben as his dad had suggested.

  “Well, I love him too,” smiled Louisa. “So are we going sailing or what?”

  “Later,” replied Will sulkily. “Jonny and I are going out first, so you’ll have to wait.”

  “Hey, your dad said the two of us were going to spend the day sailing, he didn’t say anything about anyone else.”

  “Well, tough,” said Will. “I’m taking Jonny out.”

  “Hey, why don’t we all go for a sail,” suggested Jonny quickly. He could see the look of disappointment on Louisa’s face and, besides, he thought she was rather nice.

  Her face immediately lit up. “That’s a great idea. Mum packed me and Will a picnic, but there should be enough for all of us, if we get some chocolate from the machine.”

  “I dunno,” said Will doubtfully. “It’s only a two-man dinghy.”

  “Oh don’t be soft, Will,” replied Jonny, with a smile. “We’re not fully-grown, so there’s plenty of room. I’ve had four people in my boat, and yours is bigger. Come on, it’ll be fun. The tide’s just on its way in so we can be out most of the day.”

  “All right,” grinned Will. He was often a stubborn boy, but found it impossible to argue with Jonny’s good-natured personality and ready smile, not to mention Ainslie’s constant licks. “Come on, let’s get it into the water. Louisa, you get us a load of chocolate.”

  Louisa ran up to the clubhouse while the boys pulled the boat down the slipway. Jonny winced as the cold water lapped his bare legs.

  “Don’t you ever wear shoes,” asked Will.

  “Nah, not in the summer, too much hassle. Besides, wet-boots are for softies.”

  “Sensible people more like; at least I’m nice and warm. Here, grab the bow while I take the trolley back up.”

  Jonny held the boat’s bow so that it pointed into the wind and the sails flapped noisily, while Will struggled to pull his shiny new launching trolley up past the high water mark. Jonny looked admiringly at the crisp new carbon sails and thought of the stained and shapeless sails on his boat.

  “Right, let’s go,” yelled Will as he and Louisa waded into the water. “I’ll helm. Louisa, you jump in and look after the jib. Jonny, push the bow out.”

  Jonny grinned to himself as Will clumsily clambered into his boat. Louisa followed rather more elegantly and took her place at the front of the cockpit, squealing as Ainslie took a flying leap on top of her. “OK!” shouted Will, and Jonny pushed the bow off and jumped in as the wind caught the sails. They were off!

  Before long, the boat was flying along on a broad reach – the fastest point of sailing, at right-angles to the fresh wind – the three children and the dog yelping with pleasure each time the bow hit a wave and the spray flew over them. “This is great,” shouted Jonny. “Let’s get the genny up,” referring to the gennaker, the large, balloon-like sail that gives extra power when sailing downwind.

  “Er, don’t you think it’s too windy,” asked Will doubtfully.

  “Nah, it’s perfect. Come on, hoist it up, and I’ll furl the jib.”

  “OK, if you reckon,” said Will reluctantly, pulling the halyard; the rope that hoists the big sail.

  Louisa, who’d obviously done plenty of sailing in her time, pulled in the sheet as the big purple sail went up. As the wind filled it, the boat shot forward and rose onto the plane, going faster than ever.

  “This boat’s wicked!” Jonny shouted as he leaned over the side to counterbalance the sail. “I love it!”

  Will, however, was struggling with the tiller. Jonny could tell that he’d not used the boat in this sort of wind before, but didn’t want to embarrass him by saying anything.

  Suddenly, a strong gust came up that Will hadn’t spotted. The boat heeled over and water began coming over the leeward gunnel. Will immediately pushed the tiller away from him to bring the boat into the wind, forgetting that you have to do the opposite when flying a gennaker.

  The next thing the dinghy had capsized, and Will and Louisa found themselves in the water with Ainslie paddling alongside; he was used to this sort of activity. “Where’s Jonny?” spluttered Louisa, spitting saltwater out of her mouth.

  “I’m here,” called Jonny. Louisa and Will looked up and there was Jonny, sitting astride the upturned boat grinning down at the two wet children in the water. “There’s no way I’m getting soaked. I’ll pull her up and you two keep in the cockpit. You’ll need to get the genny down first though.”

  After a bit of a struggle, the two children in the water managed to get the soggy gennaker back into its chute, then Jonny climbed onto the centreboard protruding from the bottom of the hull so he could use his weight to lever the boat upright. As he struggled, Jonny caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. Was that a person running into the trees on Folney Island? He was sure it was.

  Puzzled, Jonny put all his efforts into righting the boat and, as it came up, Will and Louisa were scooped neatly into the cockpit and Jonny rolled in from the other side, still as dry as ever. A sodden Ainslie scrambled in over the transom.

  “Sorry about that guys,” said Will. “I’m really not used to this boat yet.”

  Jonny grinned at his new friend and admired his honesty. “That’s OK. It’s how you learn, doing stuff like that.”

  “I guess so. Do you wanna helm for a bit?”

  “You’re on!” Jonny grinned as he swapped places with Will. “Let’s get the genny up again.” Not one to waste time when sailing was involved, he pulled at the halyard and soon had the big sail back up. This time there was no risk of a capsize; Jonny had been sailing since he was six and keeping the speeding dinghy on track was second nature to him.

  “Fantastic!” he yelled. “Let’s shoot down to Sandy Head for a picnic.”

  An hour’s exhilarating sail later, the three children were sitting on the quiet beach munching sandwiches and basking in the warm sun, Will’s boat pulled up safely on the soft sand and Ainslie sniffing around in the dunes.

  “Did anyone else see someone on the island?” asked Jonny.

  “Oh no, not your mermaid again,” joked Will, pushing Jonny over.

  “It’s not a mermaid. When we capsized, I’m sure I saw someone running into the trees. Mermaids can’t run!”

  “Er, sure you didn’t bang your head on the boom? Still, at least you didn’t crash into anyone this time,” teased Will.

  “What are you two on about,” asked Louisa, puzzled by the boys’ discussion, which made no sense to her.

&nb
sp; “Jonny’s having fantasies about mermaids on the island,” said Will.

  “It’s not a mermaid,” shouted Jonny, kicking sand at Will.

  “Hey mind my sandwich!”

  “It really is a sandwich now,” laughed Louisa. “So, tell me what you saw.”

  Jonny, feeling a bit embarrassed, explained to Louisa about the face and the person he thought he’d seen. By now, he was beginning to think that he’d imagined it, so was pleased that the sensible girl took him at least half seriously.

  “No one should be on the island, but why don’t we sail in close on the way home, then we can get a better look?” she suggested. “So long as we don’t land, we should be safe enough.”

  “Good idea,” said Will. “We can drop Jonny off to kiss his lovely mermaid.”

  Chapter Three

  By the time the children were heading back from Sandy Head, the tide was on its way out and the wind had dropped, so they were struggling to sail up the harbour to the sailing club. Will lolled in the stern of the boat, sipping a bottle of coke and steering with his foot, while Louisa and Jonny were at the front of the cockpit, one on each side of the boat to keep it upright. Ainslie, meanwhile, was fast asleep between them, snoring gently.

  “Boring,” sighed Will.

  “It’s relaxing,” replied Jonny lazily. “What’s the rush?” Jonny took the attitude that any form of sailing, whether haring along in a gale or drifting slowly in the sunshine, was better than being on dry land.

  “S’pose so,” said Will. “Hey, look at sleeping beauty over there.”

  Will pointed to Louisa, who’d fallen asleep in the bottom of the cockpit, her mouth half open. Before Jonny could stop him, Will had leant over the side, scooped up a handful of water and chucked it in her face. Louisa jumped up with a yelp, as did Ainslie who’d also got splashed.

  “Will! You sod,” she screamed as she threw a handful of water back. Before long, all three children were splashing each other, giggling wildly, and were soon all soaked to the skin. No one was holding the tiller while this was going on and no one noticed that they were drifting closer and closer to Folney Island.

  Suddenly Jonny, from the corner of his eye, saw something move on the nearby island. “Look,” he shouted, and pointed at a tree.

  “Don’t give me that,” replied Will, thinking that Jonny was trying to distract the other children so he could give them a soaking. Instead of looking, Will stood up in the boat to reach over to Jonny to punch him but, at that moment, the boat turned with the breeze and gybed. The boom flew across, knocking Will neatly into the water.

  Jonny was well trained in man-overboard drills and immediately took control. “Furl the jib,” he yelled to Louisa as he grabbed the tiller to turn the boat round. Luckily, the low wind meant that Will was in no real danger, the boat had not travelled far since he fell in and, besides, he had his smart new buoyancy aid on.

  However, Will soon found out he didn’t even need a buoyancy aid. “Blimey, this water’s shallow,” he exclaimed. “Look, I’m touching the bottom!” The others could see that Will’s head and shoulders were well clear of the water.

  “Better get the centreboard up,” Jonny said to Louisa, and the girl obediently pulled the board up before it, too, hit the bottom.

  “Hi there,” called a voice from the shore.

  Chapter Four

  Will tried to turn around and immediately lost his balance, falling face down into the water. A boy came down to the water’s edge, laughing uncontrollably.

  “Gee, you really are making a mess of this, aren’t you?” he giggled with an American accent. The boy was about the same age as the other children, and had a face full of freckles under short-cropped black hair. He was wearing shorts, a tee-shirt and, like Jonny, was barefooted. “Here, take my hand,” he said, offering Will his hand. Will took it and the boy pulled him up out of the water, and then promptly let go, letting Will fall backwards with a splash.

  Now it was Jonny and Louisa’s turn to laugh. “Nice one,” smiled Jonny to the stranger as he dropped the mainsail. Will, though, didn’t think it was funny at all and went for the boy. The newcomer was too quick for him, however, and neatly side-stepped, letting Will once again fall forward into the cold salty water. Will got up and lunged again, now in shallower water. He hurled himself onto the boy and pushed him to the ground, punching his chest. Ainslie thought this was very funny and ran round and round the children barking loudly.

  “Hey, stop that!” Jonny and Louisa ran up and pulled the fuming Will off the boy. The four children stood and looked at each other. “What are you doing here, anyway?” asked Will.

  “I could ask you the same question,” replied the American. “No one is allowed on this island.”

  “So what are you doing here?” asked Jonny.

  “Yeah, this is private and dangerous,” pointed out Will. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” grinned the boy. “I own this island and there’s nothing whatsoever dangerous about it, unless you’re stupid enough to fall out of a boat near it.”

  Will looked as if he was about to hit the boy again, so Louisa stepped between them. “Don’t be daft, how can you own an island?” she asked. “Besides, this is owned by the Navy, everyone knows that, and the ground’s poisonous.”

  “Actually, that’s a good point,” said Will, looking around nervously, as if the ground was about to swallow him up. “Shouldn’t we get off here pronto?”

  “Gee, you Brits are so gullible,” laughed the American. “Who told you that?”

  “Er, everyone knows it,” replied Jonny, somewhat doubtfully. “The Navy dumped some sort of chemicals here during the war and the ground’s all messed up. Look, there are signs everywhere, too.” He pointed to a rather scruffy hand-painted sign saying ‘Danger, Keep Out!’ and, as he did, he thought that, actually, it didn’t look particularly official.

  “So what’s the story?” asked Will. “And don’t give us any bull about owning the island. What’s your name, anyway?”

  “I’m Eric,” said the boy. Louisa nudged Will in the ribs as he suppressed a giggle. “Come on up the beach and I’ll explain, but please don’t accuse me of telling lies, because I don’t.”

  The four children walked up towards the trees and slumped down on the warm, dry sand, chucking their buoyancy aids next to them. Will looked distrustfully at the mysterious American, thinking he had a daft name for a boy, but Louisa and Jonny had warmed to him, especially after his prank with Will in the water. They all introduced each other.

  Ainslie made a big fuss of Eric and, once again, Jonny knew that he trusted the boy as Ainslie always seemed to be good judge of character. “Hey, get off, you mad hound,” Eric said as Ainslie licked his face. “What do they call you?”

  “He’s Ainslie and he’s mine,” said Jonny.

  “Ah, just like the Olympic sailor, right?”

  “You’ve got it,” grinned Jonny, delighted that, for once, someone had made the right connection. “Are you into sailing?”

  “No, but I was hooked on the Olympics and had an app on my phone which kept track of all the gold medal winners. I’m a bit geeky like that.”

  “Want some chocolate?” Louisa said, offering Eric a bar and chucking one each to Jonny and Will.