Five Face Up to a Challenge - new FF story

[Daisy]

"But that'll take ages!" said Jo, "and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's getting rather hungry," she added with a grin at Dick.
The others laughed and Mr Perton said "I hope you don't mind, but I've arranged with Jake's mother to provide some lunch for us all - I had a feeling this would take rather a long time."
"Well, that'll certainly help our brains to work better." said Dick. "So thanks very much."
After this the children sorted themselves into three groups. Anne stayed with Simon as he was taking an interest in the furnishings and Tinker joined them saying "I don't suppose I'll see much of the boat when it's finished, but I'd like to help choose something."
"I hope you will Tinker!" said Julian. "You've been an important part of this adventure and we'll make sure you can enjoy some sailing with us in the future."
Tinker beamed at Julian and sat down to look at the catalogues with renewed interest.
George decided to ask Jake for some help with the sails question and after a while everyone was busy attending to what interested them most.
Anne looked up a little while later and said "Has anyone dealt with the kitchen things yet? If not, then I had already made a list of some essentials and as I expect that will be mainly my area of activity I'd like a say in it."
"With pleasure!" replied George "I can't think of anything more boring than choosing knives and forks!"
Everyone laughed and by the time Jake's mother appeared with plates of sandwiches and cakes the lists were more or less complete.

[Dick Kirrin]

"I think we have earned or lunch today," grinned Dick. "After all the work we've put in, I no longer think little of office jobs."
"I'm glad to hear that," laughed Mr Perton. "As that will make up a lot of my further life, being at a desk and arranging matters, I mean."
"Oh yes, Mr Perton. With all the hustle about the boat, we nearly forgot to ask about your plans. Any news on them?"
Mr Perton hesitated: "Well, there is two fields of business that I'd love to venture and invest in. The first one is something you should like, namely arranging tours and trips for holidaymakers of all kinds, from school trips to cruises for elderly people who need a change of air for health reasons. And the second one is about shipping of cargo. In both businesses, I feel I could succeed as I'm quite good at organising, you see."
"No doubt about that," replied Dick. "You were not only offering a boat to us, but you also had three different ones to choose from within two days."
Mr Perton laughed. "The compliment has been gratefully received. And now if you don't mind the sandwiches look too mouth-watering. I simply need to have one."
"That should be my line," laughed Dick. "So I shall join you."
As he reached out for a ham and egg sandwich, Dick reflected how curious life was. Now he munching away with a man he had first regarded as ruthless criminal, then as a man in serious trouble with faults but altogether rather humane and now as someone who had a well-hidden but nevertheless good nature.
He smiled at the notion. Jo, who had watched him, nodded and winked at him. She had read his mind and her lips moved to a smile, too.
When the plates were empty everybody felt he or she had eaten enough for a while at least, Jake's mother returned with a tray. A big brown teapot and some mugs were on it. "I think you should discuss the plans over a cup," she said.

[Daisy]

"This is very welcome." said Anne as she helped to give out the cups of tea. "We've all been very busy, but I think we're reaching the end."
"Yes," said Mr Perton. "I think we're about ready to make out a firm order. Will you all just check I have the lists correct?"
"With pleasure." said Julian with a sigh of relief.
Everyone listened carefully while Mr Perton read through the lists for the various items the children had selected. As he finished Simon Richards leaned forward and said,"That's a very impressive list. I hope you will let me pay for the items Anne and I selected for 'my' cabin!"
"Of course," replied Mr Perton. "I'll settle it with you later if you don't mind. Now children, what are you going to do for the rest of the day?"
"I think Jake wants us to restore his boats to their usual appearance," said George. "The bunting needs to be removed and one or two other jobs need to be done too."
Jake nodded in agreement. "If you're all ready, we can go and do that now." he said.
"Yes please," said George. "I'm dying to stretch my legs, and I'm sure Timmy would enjoy a little excercise too."
A few minutes later they were all aboard the two boats and it wasn't long before all traces of the decorations had disappeared. "Would you like a little sail now?" asked Jake. "You won't have many more chances before you go home will you."

[Dick Kirrin]

"That's a super idea," said Jo. George looked at them. "What's a matter, George?" asked Jake.
"Well, it would be lovely to take our boat, but I suppose it cannot be done," replied George.
"In a sea so calm, I don't see why not," replied Jake. "We'll have to be careful and we cannot use the engine as heating up would cost too much time, but we could make do with the sails."
"Are you sure they are safe?" asked Julian. "You wanted them replaced, didn't you?"
"Yes," replied Jake. "They ought to be replaced, and I wouldn't trust them in a fierce storm, but they'll work fine in a sea like this."

[Daisy]

Julian still looked rather doubtful. He had been somewhat surprised that Jake had agreed to George's wistful suggestion.
"Are you sure it'll be OK?" he asked Jake.
"It'll be a good chance to see the state of the existing sails." replied Jake. "I don't expect we'll get very far though, so if you would prefer to use my boat that'll be OK by me!"
Julian would very much have preferred that but he knew George would be very annoyed if he expressed such a view when Jake had so unexpectedly gone along with her.
"No, let's have a go with our new boat then." he said.
"Should we ask Mr Perton first?" asked Anne who was also feeling rather overawed by the size of their new boat and was a bit worried about what George wanted to do.
"Well it might be a good idea." said Dick. "He might want to come and check something from our list and if the boat had gone...."
"He'd be able to see where it was." interrupted George.
"But it might delay the ordering of the items." said crafty Dick, knowing George was very impatient to take complete ownership of the cruiser.
George hesitated, then turning round she quickly ran up to the shed and disappeared inside.
A few moments later she reappeared beaming happily. "Mr Perton says it's a good idea to check the sails, so we can have a go for a little while."
The children all crowded onto the cruiser and once aboard they turned to Jake for help with the sails.
"With the sea so calm are we likely to move very far at all?" asked Dick looking at the harbour water which looked more like a calm inland lake than a sheltered bay fed by the sea.
"Let's get some sail up and see what happens, shall we?" asked Jake.

[Dick Kirrin]

Julian, Dick and Jake unfurled some sails and under George's supervision they were soon up and in the wind. Jake nodded approvingly: "Whoever constructed the rigging, they certainly knew what they were doing," he said. "This is going to be a very fast craft in any wind once we are done with it. The rigging is OK, the cloth needs replacement, but that's more or less all."
"Won't Mr Perton be happy," laughed Dick. "He's going to save some money."
Julian inwardly had to admit that George's idea had been a good one and when she asked him to take over the wheel, he gladly did. Immediatly, he realized how easy the cruiser moved and how well he could handle it.
"Why on earth did the navy commit it to surplus, I wonder," he said.
"Well, it's because of the steam engine, mainly. And nowadays, they have so called speed boats and these can chase nearly any other vessel in nearly any weather and sea, that's why," replied Jake. "But I must admit, that even though I knew it was a great vessel, I'm still surprised how great it is and that's nothing to what it'll be like when it's ready."
In the meantime, Jo, Anne and Tinker had done an inspection of the cabins, mess and galley.

[Daisy]

They wandered around picturing the things they had chosen from the catalogues in their places. Anne stood in the doorway of 'Simon's' Cabin and closed her eyes. She could clearly see in her imagination the cushions, bed covers and curtains she had decided upon and sighed with pleasure at the thought of actually making everything shipshape. Dick, who had crept up to join them, grinned and nudged Jo. "Just look at Anne!" he said. "I wonder where she is!"
"Not far away." said his sister indignantly as she opened her eyes and glared at him. "I was just picturing our things as they will be when everything's arrived. I wonder how much will be left for us to see to when Mr Perton has bought everything."
"Well I can't see him wanting to make up beds and hang curtains." said Dick with a laugh. "I think you'll find plenty to do Anne."
Julian and George were enjoying themselves as the cruiser nosed its way towards the harbour mouth.
"No further!" called Jake, "We must turn round now. See how you can manage that with the bit of sail we have!"
With some difficulty George managed to move the sails so they caught the wind from another angle, and slowly the boat made a wide arc as it turned.
"I think we'll need engine power for this sort of manoevre." said Julian. "Where do you think we will be able to keep it George?"
"I'm not sure." George answered. "It's so much bigger than my other boat, I'm not sure Alf will have room for another."
"Oh well," said Julian, "I expect we can make some arrangements when we get home."
Half an hour later everyone was back in the workshop where Mr Perton had been busy on the phone. He smiled at them as they came in and clustered round to tell him what they needed by way of new sails.
"I've arranged for a couple of men to start work tomorrow." he said. "They'll be stripping and repainting the hulk and doing any decorations you have asked for on the inside too. Jake's father will be on hand to help and advise. He's pleased to have some extra work until the season gets busier, so I think everyone's happy."
"That's great!" said George. "We shall look forward to seeing it when it's finished."

[Dick Kirrin]

"You will - as soon as you break up for the summer. Or is that too long a time to wait?" asked Mr Perton teasingly.
"It is about three months," replied George somewhat sadly.
"All right. I promise to send you photographs once the boat is ready. I'll take one or two pictures every day so you'll have a progress report in the guise of a photo diary," said Mr Perton grinning broadly.

[Daisy]

That's a lovely idea!" exclaimed George. "The only problem is that I shall be getting more and more impatient as the term goes on as I see our beautiful new boat just begging us to come and sail in her."
The others laughed but they knew what she meant!
"By the way," said Dick. "What has Daniel been doing all day? He decided not to come with us this morning and he hurried off towards the police station as soon as we got over to the shore."
"I don't know," said Anne. "I thought he seemed a bit..... what's the word I want?... as if he was thinking about something else instead of what we were going to do."
"Preoccupied perhaps?" asked Julian. "Yes, I thought he seemed to have his mind on other things during breakfast actually."
"We'll find out when we get back I expect." said Jo. "Are we going to set off soon? It must be nearly teatime, so by the time we're back it will be quite late."
"Quite late for what? A meal do you mean?" teased Dick. "If so, I agree with you!"
The children said 'goodbye' to Mr Perton, Simon and Jake and set off back to Demon's Rock.
The arrived on the quayside opposite the lighthouse and were about to get into their boat when a shout stopped them. Turning round they saw the café owner hurrying towards them waving an envelope above his head. Julian went to meet him and took the envelope from him. "Thank you very much." he said politely, frowning at the writing as he spoke.
"It's from your friend," said the café owner helpfully. "He asked me to let you have it as soon as I saw you, so I've been on the lookout ever since."
"Thanks again!" said Julian and he put the envelope into his pocket and jumped down into the boat.
It didn't take long for everyone to get into the living room as they were all curious to know what Daniel had written to them about.
Julian sat down and tore open the envelope. Pulling out the single sheet of paper he scanned it quickly.
"Well, I suppose I should have expected that!" he said, and before the others could shout "What?" he said "Daniel's gone."

[Dick Kirrin]

"Gone?" asked the others in one voice. "But how could he just leave without saying good-bye?"
Julian had read the whole letter now and looked at them. "Well, it was not his wish to take French leave, but there are some cases in Ireland that make it necessary for him to go even though he has still two weeks leave due. Séan was obviously hurt conducting an arrest, nothing serious, but he'll be off on sick leave for some time, so Martin had to order him back, he writes, but he hopes that we'll do our maiden voyage in the new boat over to Ireland and he'd be delighted to take his two weeks off then and spend time with us."

[Daisy]

"That will be something to look forward to." said George, "But I think we'd better have some good practices before venturing as far as Ireland!"
"I should think so!" said Julian."I wouldn't fancy taking our maiden voyage so far away. By the way Tinker, he says he's left your spare key with PC Sharp so you can pick it up when ever you like."
"Oh good," said Tinker. "I suppose he's taken all his stuff if he isn't coming back."
"Of course he will have," said Dick, "We just didn't notice as we came through the bedroom - we were in such a hurry to get upstairs and hear what the envelope contained."
"Let's get someting to eat and we can talk over what we do next." said George.
"What we do next is get ready to go home." said Julian.
"Must we go tomorrow?" asked Jo who was not looking forward to saying goodbye to her friends for a whole term.
"Well, the day after at the very latest." said Julian. "We must collect the bikes and see that everything is left in good order here. Lots to do if you think about it."
"Don't let's think about it tonight then," said Dick, feeling sorry for Jo. "let's have a really fun evening and some good food too!"
They all laughed but although Anne managed to get a nice little meal together for them, they didn't really feel very happy and when Julian suggested an early night, nobody argued.

[Dick Kirrin]

Even though they were tired and had laid down early, sleep wouldn't come easily. Each child thought about the past few weeks. How they had become involved with former enemies who had - or hadn't at all - changed, how they had met Jake and honed their skills at sailing and how narrow some escaped had been.

[Daisy]

CHAPTER 35 LAST DAY AT DEMON'S ROCK

As the grey light of dawn crept in through the windows, Julian stirred in his sleep. Stretching out he managed to kick Dick who woke with a jump. "What's that?" he shouted.
"Sorry," said Julian, "I was just stretching and I didn't mean to kick you. What's the time? Can you see your watch?"
"Just about," grumbled Dick as he squinted at his wrist in the dim light. "Just after 6.30," he said after a moment.
Julian grunted in disgust. "Not time to get up yet then. I haven't slept very well at all. How about you?"
"No, I didn't either." said Dick with a yawn. "so much on our minds I suppose."
"Mmm," said Julian. "Let's try to get another hour shall we?"
Dick glanced across to where Tinker was curled up with Mischief tucked round his neck. "He looks peaceful enough doesn't he." said Dick nodding over in Tinker's direction.
"Yes, I'm surprised your yell didn't disturb him."
The brothers lay quietly for a while, then Dick said quietly "Are you still awake Ju? I can't seem to drop off again."
"Yes," replied Julian. "Same here. have you any ideas how we should plan today? I was just too tired to think clearly last night."
"Well, we'll have to get back to Tinker's place with all the things we borrowed, and remember Anne and Jo left their bikes there too, so we'll need some transport I suppose."
"It might be an idea to get Tinker to ring Jenny and she could arrange for a taxi to come and collect everything, plus Tinker and the two girls. That'll leave George and you and me to ride back without much luggage to bother about."
"Yes, that sounds good." said Dick. "Do you think we'll actually leave today, or can we have one last visit to Jake's to see the boat again and say goodbye to everyone?"
"Let's see what the girls think." said Julian as he sat up and hugged his knees. "We may as well get up now I think."
"OK" agreed Dick, "Mind you, given the choice, George will vote for another visit to see the precious cruiser. I'm sure she thinks of it as more hers than ours!"
Julian chuckled as he crawled out of his sleeping bag. Going over to Tinker he gave the boy's shoulder a gentle shake.

[Dick Kirrin]

The boy awoke slowly and looked at them in astonishment. "Is anything the matter? You two look so much like going into any kind of campaign?"
Julian and Dick told him what they had discussed and asked for Tinker's opinion.
"I like the idea of me phoning Jenny for a taxi, it would really help us with the luggage. And I'm sure she'll be more than happy to cook us a nice dinner tonight. So you could sleep at my place and cycle off to Kirrin tomorrow, couldn't you?"
"Sounds very good, Tinker. Thanks a lot for the invitation," said Dick. "Can we manage all our tasks by late afternoon?"
"I don't see why not. There is not much to do here, we just roll up and tie the bedding, put it into the store room, sweep and clean the floor, pack our things and lock the door behind us."
"And what about saying good-bye to Jake?" asked Julian.
"Jake, Mr Perton and the boat, you mean," teased Dick.
"Whatever. I'm with you as far as the cleaning, storing away and packing goes, we could do that easily in two to three hours I'm sure, but where can we put the stuff till it's going to be collected?" asked Julian.
"We could ask at the coffee shop. That would be a good place to pick us up," suggested TInker.
"All right, I think we have worked it out, let's see what the girls say," said Dick and walked up the stairs.

[Daisy]

The girls looked in astonishment as the boys appeared fully dressed. Timmy trotted over to greet them while George looked at her watch and then at Julian with raised eyebrows.
Julian grinned. "We woke early and decided we might as well get up and have a good start today."
"Why?" asked George suspiciously. "What have you got in mind?"
"Getting ready to leave," said Dick going across to where Jo was still curled up in her rugs. Poking her with his toe he said "Come on sleepy head. Lots to do today!"
"Take Timmy out for me then Ju." said George and we'll get up while you tidy your room."
The boys disappeared again with Timmy. "Not much point in tidying if we're going to be packing up later." said Dick as looked at the mess of rugs and sleeping bags on the floor. "Let's shove everything to one side and do it later."
"OK," said Julian. I'll just give Tim a breath of fresh air and you and Tinker can move the bedding over. See you in a minute."
It wasn't long before they were all in the living room where Anne was busy frying some bacon. Dick sniffed loudly. "How long until it's ready?" he asked hungrily.
"Not long if you help with the rest of the things." said Anne and Jo handed him a handful of cutlery while George wiped Timmy's damp feet on the piece of old towel she kept specially for the purpose.
"What have you discussed for today?" asked Jo when they had all more or less finished their breakfast.
"Tinker has invited us to stay at his place tonight after we've packed up here." said Dick as he swallowed the last of his toast and marmalade.
"So are we going to get a taxi there ?" asked Anne.
"Julian nodded. "Tinker's going to phone Jenny and she can order a taxi to come over for us at whatever time we decide."
"Are we going back to the boatyard?" asked George, as she drained her cup of tea.
Julian grinned as he answered "We thought we might have time to squeeze in a final visit." he said. "I want to tell Jake what we're doing and of course we must say 'goodbye' to Mr Perton and give him your address George."
"I expect he already knows that." said Dick. "But no reason not to remind him of his offer to send some photos of the boat as it progresses."
The others laughed as George looked rather embarrassed. "Well, I hope we might have time to look at the cruiser too." she said. "I'd love to see the actual colour of the paint before we leave."
"Well, if Mr Perton has managed to get everything as quickly as he said he could, maybe we can," said Julian.
"Anyway, are we agreed that we clear up here first, then take everything over while the tide is high. I said earlier we could probably leave our bags at the café, but maybe if we took them to Mr Boogle he could keep them until we go for the bikes."
"Good idea," said Tinker, "But we can pop in and say 'goodbye' at the café anyway, can't we?"
"Yes, of course," said Julian. "Come on let's get started. Anne, can you sort out what needs to be left and what we need to take with us please?"
"OK." said Anne. "There's some food we'll need to take to Jenny, but the utensils were all here so it won't take too long to organise."
An hour or so later the lighthouse looked very clean and tidy. Tinker looked round and sighed. "It doesn't seem like home any more." he said mournfully. "Let's go now!"