First Sighting

A muffled "Strangers on the lake!", the 'snap' of a pirate's eyeglass being collapsed, then an urgent, "First Mate! First Mate!". Finally, an impatient and reproachful, "Peggy!"

The younger sister woke with a start from her dreaming in the summer's sun. "What is it, Ru – Nancy?" she amended hastily at the black look she was given. It was hard to remember that Ruth wanted to be called Nancy this summer, after she had decided that they were going to be Amazon pirates, and Uncle Jim had laughed and said that pirates were ruthless, so that wouldn't work.

"Jib-booms and bob-stays!" Nancy was determined to do the pirate thing properly, and used what she considered to be proper pirate-talk every second sentence, it seemed to Peggy. It did make it hard to follow at times. "There's a boatful of land-lubbers sailing to Wild Cat Island. Not natives, too small for them, two about our size, two smaller than us. But enemies all the same!"

Nancy beamed with delight, looking thrilled with the prospect of defending her territory from the interlopers. That would be much more fun than trying to get Uncle Jim to spend time with them rather than holing up in his houseboat and writing his boring book. Peggy was more wary, she wasn't nearly as fearless as Nancy was, and was forever being dragged slightly unwillingly into her schemes. But it would be nice to have people of their own age to play with this summer, she thought.

The church bell ringing the hour brought a flurry of activity in the Amazon. "Time for home to stock up on provisions, and make up the war plans!" declared Nancy, hauling up the anchor and setting the boat on a homeward heading.

First Contact

"Do you have the bows? And the green arrows?" Nancy asked for the third or fourth time that morning.

Peggy resisted the urge – again – to roll her eyes. She had checked the bows and bowstrings, tested the arrows and had picked the best one to deliver the declaration of war that Nancy had spent the last few days writing and re-writing, and now Nancy was driving her batty with nagging about them.

"I've got everything we need, you concentrate on getting us close enough so I can fire the arrow into their campsite, " Peggy said firmly. Sailing was what Nancy did best, so she had to think about that, and it was up to Peggy to make sure the declaration was delivered properly.

They had seen the two smaller enemies swimming in the landing area, and then the oldest had returned from the mainland, and the three had gone into the trees, up to the campsite where the fourth had been making breakfast.

"A warning shot first I think, First Mate," Nancy said emphatically, as she expertly steered the Amazon into the secret harbour. "Then we'll deliver the Declaration while they're looking for us."

Peggy, taking aim at the tendrils of smoke showing in the trees, let loose the arrow and squeaked in delight when it went exactly where she wanted it to go. She didn't have much of a chance to celebrate her efforts, as Nancy was pulling the Amazon up onto the shore, and gesticulating wildly to get Peggy's attention onto the next part of their plan.

Peggy sighed inwardly, settled her stocking cap more firmly onto her head and followed Nancy up to the campsite.

They could hear the others communicating by owl hoots as they sneaked into the camp. Nancy hammered a pole carrying the pirate flag Uncle Jim had given them at the start of the summer into the centre of the campsite.

"Done it!" crowed Nancy as they settled down in the entrance of the larger tent. "Here they come! Prepare to repel all boarders!"

First Battle

"Hands up! Halt!" Nancy shouted as the crowns of the enemies heads came into view. "Hands up!" she repeated.

They immediately dropped away again as the oldest of them yelled "Flat on your faces!"

Peggy relaxed slightly, and accidentally loosed the arrow she was holding. Fortunately, it went over the heads of them all and clattered harmlessly into the bushes below. "Peggy, you great galoot! You're not supposed to shoot until you can actually see them."

"Hands up yourselves!" the biggest shouted back to them, and looked like he was going to rush the camp.

Both Nancy and Peggy fired their arrows, and while they were struggling to re-load in the heat of battle, he shouted again, "Now! Before they load again. Swallows for ever!" And the four children rushed across the campsite to the tent.

The Amazons stood to face them, Peggy following Nancy's lead by having an arrow knocked but pointing at the ground. She didn't want to accidentally shoot another arrow into the bushes, they were too time-consuming to replace, and Nancy believed that if she lost it, she had to replace it.

"A parley," Nancy announced, once she had taken in the sizes of their opposition. With the two older children being almost the same ages as Peggy and her, it would be a near-run thing if they decided to fight.

"Let's parley first, and fight afterwards," Nancy said. This way, they could have the fun of a feast and a battle now, and with any luck she would be able to convince them to join up together and fight Uncle Jim.

First Salvo in the War

"Nancy, are you sure we should be doing this? Mother won't be happy if she finds out we're sailing around the lake in the dark." Peggy didn't like the dark, she would have much preferred to get up before sunrise to capture the Swallow. But Nancy was sure that the best way to win the battle was a sneak attack in the dark while the Swallows were asleep in their tents.

"She won't know anything about it," Nancy said confidently. "She will be busy with the party, and when she goes to bed, nothing will wake her until morning. And as long as we're in bed by the time we're called for breakfast, she'll never know."

Nancy prodded Peggy down to the boathouse; if she wasn't pushed at times, Peggy would spend her life never ever having had an adventure.

The left a note for the Swallows in the Amazon's berth, so Captain John would know that he'd been fooled by the pirates. Then they unstopped the mast, and pushed the Amazon into the reeds in mouth of the river near the boathouse, where they could stay concealed until the Swallows arrived.

Nancy's plan was simple. The Swallows would come looking for the Amazon at the boathouse, and meanwhile they would sail to Wild Cat Island and lie in wait for them to return and capture the Swallow while it's crew were sleeping.

But, as the poet wisely said, 'the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley." And so it was with Nancy's plan. Everything went swimmingly until Peggy got a case of nerves and wanted to go home and the Amazon wasn't there anymore.

"You great galoot! Did you remember to tie her up properly?" Nancy exclaimed as she surveyed the empty landing area with her hands on her hips.

"Of course I did Nancy!" Peggy's bottom lip quivered. She was cold and tired and hungry, and she just wanted to go home. It wasn't fair that Nancy blamed her for the Amazon going missing, she made sure it was tied up good and tight, there was no way it would work loose by itself.

"Well, we can't do anything about it now, not while it's still dark. We'll just have to hope the Swallows return in time that we can get home before breakfast." Nancy turned on her heel, and marched up to the campsite. "We'll have to bunk here for the rest of the night, Peggy. Grab a blanket from one of the tents, and I'll see if there's any grub. We'll feel better with grub inside us."

"Does this mean the Swallows win?" Peggy asked as she trailed her sister up to the camp. "They get to be in charge of the war against Uncle Jim?"

"Shiver my timbers, Peggy! I don't know. It depends on whether they have captured the Amazon, which I don't think they could have as they were all in the Swallow earlier today, and they didn't sail back past us down the lake at all." She kicked a rock out of the way on the path, frowning blackly at nothing. She was going to be very unhappy if she didn't get to lead the fleet into battle.

First Interference

The Swallows' plans for next summer were all spoilt in the first few days when the Admiral ran the flagship aground and broke her mast. All aboard were rescued, but the damage had been done. There would be no epic naval battles, and no camping on Wild Cat Island until the ship was repaired.

And the Amazons were in even bigger trouble with the natives – the G.A. had descended on Beckfoot to interfere with their summer plans, trying to make them over into presentable young ladies, which Nancy rebelled against with her entire Amazonian heart.

"Now Mary, you know I just want what is best for you and the girls. Ruth and Margaret are both growing up to be little hoydens, and you give them far too much freedom. They should be learning manners and decorum and becoming a young lady. Not how to sail and swim and other boyish pursuits. It's not right." She tapped her stick on the floor for emphasis. "And I you shouldn't let them associate with those Walker children either. I'm sure that oldest boy is a bad influence."

Mrs Beckett objected, "They're still young, I want them to have fun, be children for as long as they can. There's plenty of time for them to be young ladies when they get older. And the Walkers are a lovely family. I think that Its good for Nancy and Peggy to spend time with them."

She continued, "It's good for Nancy to have someone who grounds her flights of fancy, and John Walker does that. He's a good-hearted boy." Her face softened, memories of her own childhood summers coming to the fore. "He reminds me a good deal of Bob when we were younger."

The tapping of Aunt Maria's cane on the floor broke Molly's reverie. "Now Mary," the G.A. admonished. "Those Walker children are summer visitors. They may never come back here after this summer ends. You shouldn't make plans that will most likely never come to fruition."

Molly Blackett's eyes widened in surprise. "That had never occurred to me. They're still children, it would never have crossed their minds. And I'll thank you to not mention such things again, I won't have my daughters forced into growing up too early with such thoughts."

Great Aunt Maria was taken aback. Molly so rarely contradicted her that she didn't know what to say at first. Then she "harrumphed", and said, "I am sorry you feel that way, Mary. I am only trying to give you the benefit of my years of wisdom. But if you feel that strongly about it, maybe it is time I returned to London and let you be."

First Sparks