Chapter 24
Mummy was really very good indeed at being an Amazon pirate. Jane and Julia (and Susie) had been Amazon pirates since they were born, but as Susie had pointed out they couldn't really remember that long. Mummy had been an Amazon pirate for much, much longer so it wasn't really surprising that she was easily the best at being marooned properly and didn't even mind when it went on for quite a long time.
They would have done a bit better at building the shelter, Jane thought, if Julia hadn't kept telling Mummy that it was their shelter and that Mummy wasn't to help. Perhaps it was the failure of the shelter that made Julia start to worry that Uncle Roger had forgotten about them and had gone straight back to Beckfoot. Mummy told Jane to take Robert with her and go and sit under the Lookout Pine and then Mummy started to make a shelter without saying anything about it. She just did it. Julia started to help her. The longer they were marooned, the happier Mummy seemed to be. That probably meant Mummy was a proper pirate.
When Jane saw Uncle Roger coming back down the field towards Swallow, there was someone with him. Jane didn't think much about that until she saw that the person got into Swallow too. Jane wondered who it – and then remembered that a look-out's duty was to warn the others, not sit about wondering who it was. It was quite difficult to persuade Rob to leave the pine cones and come back to the camp with her.
Mummy grinned when Jane told her there was another person in the boat. Jane thought that meant the plan was working.
The other person was the lady who had sat next to them at the Easter play. Jane knew she worked for the Dixons, but wasn't really sure why Uncle Roger had brought her back with him. Jane didn't mind too much, though. Miss Marlow was a sensible sort of person who didn't say silly things, such as "Oh look, you've got a pretty dress on." which was what Brenda's mother had said to Julia. It was, after all, unlikely that Julia would fail to notice that she was wearing her best dress.
Miss Marlow didn't seem quite as cheerful as she had been at the play. Perhaps that was not surprising. The play had been jolly good and quite exciting, even though everyone knew what was going to happen anyway. She had brought a can full of milk with her, though.
Mummy seemed almost in a hurry to get tea over with. This was made a bit easier by the fact that Uncle Roger and Miss Marlow didn't seem to want to talk very much. Jane would still have rather liked some more to eat when Mummy suggested that Roger and Miss Marlow sail them across to the west side of the Lake and they would walk home while Roger took Miss Marlow for a sail in Swallow. Jane didn't think this was a very good idea, but it was probably part of Mummy's plan. In the end they compromised and Uncle Roger sailed them all as far as Auntie Titty's cottage and they walked back from there. Robert got tired and whiney quite soon and Mummy carried him. Glancing back, Jane thought that Swallow was heading back to the island. Anyone would want to see Wild Cat island, of course. Jane rather wished she had been allowed to stay on Swallow and help show Miss Marlow the best bits.
It was bedtime by the time Uncle Roger came back to Beckfoot. Perhaps he hadn't been sailing in the dark exactly, but he must have been sailing in the twilight for the last bit of the way. Jane could hear him humming "wraggle-taggle gypsies" and then a murmur of voices in the hall. She couldn't pick out many words, but she heard the word "devious" and heard Mummy chuckle and say "but you have to admit it worked" and then there was a further conversation with the words "race" and "both of them" and "enough wind". Tomorrow was Sunday. Monday and school were ages away. There were plenty of hours for adventure. Jane tried to work out exactly how many, but fell asleep before she had finished.