The Mystery of Adventure Island (4 page)

~

As night set in, the boys started a fire. Soon, the dry wood started to crackle and, every now and then, the flames would flare up and light up the surrounding area just that little bit more.

“That was a delicious meal,” Amy said as she finished eating the soup that
had been heated up
on the fire.

Will handed out the steaming cups. “Here’s some hot cocoa to wash it all down.”

As Amy sipped her drink, she glanced up at the dark sky. All that
could be seen
was a full moon. “What about the curse?” she asked, turning towards the others who, like her, were sitting next to the fire.

Joe looked up at the sky and saw the moon. “It does look like a full moon, but I wouldn’t worry. Just because some old guy said something—”

“But he was right about the church,” Sarah interrupted.

Will
looked
at the girls. “Quigley is getting old, and with old age some people tend to forget things and mix fact with fiction. So, just because he was right about the church
doesn’t
mean that he was right about the ghost. We all know that ghosts don’t exist.”

“If you’re scared—” Joe said.

“I’m not scared,” Amy interrupted. She looked at Sarah. “Are you?”

“No,” Sarah replied, putting on a brave face.

“Now that we’ve got that settled, who wants to play a game of snap?” Will said.

~

The moon was high in the sky when Sarah, awakened by a strange noise, sat up. She listened intently but
didn’t
hear anything. She started to lie back down, but then heard the noise once again. She sat back up and shook her sister. “Amy, wake up.”

“Go back to sleep,” Amy mumbled, half asleep.

Suddenly, both girls heard a ghostly laugh. Amy, now fully awake, sat up.
“The boys.
They must be playing a trick on us to make us scared.”

“You don’t think it’s a real ghost?” Sarah asked.

“Of course not.
I’ll show you.” Amy crawled to the end of the tent. She glanced over at the boy’s tent and saw a light flickering. “There, I told you. They’re both awake.”

Amy suddenly grinned. “Why don’t we make some noises and scare the boys?”

Sarah smiled. “Okay.”

The two girls crawled out of the tent and over to the boys tent. Then, when they were right outside the flap, Amy and Sarah started making ghostly noises.

“This is Jeremiah Jones, and I’m coming to get you,” Amy said in the ghostliest voice that she could think of. She tapped on the tent. “I’m a coming, I’m a coming,
I’m
a coming.”

Sarah reached forward and started to open the flap on the tent.

Both girls nearly burst out laughing as they heard the scared voices of the boys as they whispered amongst themselves.

Amy got a stick and poked it through the tent flap. “I’m a…” Suddenly the stick
was grabbed
from the inside and she fell forward into the tent. When she sat up, she saw the grinning faces of the boys in front of her.

“Did you really think you could fool us?” Will said.

“We weren’t scared one bit,” Joe stated.

“I heard you whispering to yourselves,” Sarah said, entering the tent.

“We were play acting. Isn’t that right?” Joe said, looking at Will.

Will nodded.
“Of course.
We had to act as though we were scared. But did you really think we could be scared by a bunch of ghostly noises?”

“Why did you try it on us then?” Sarah asked.

Joe frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Amy stared at the boys.
“The first lot of noises.
They were you, right?”

Suddenly, a loud ghostly sound broke the silence. Everyone yelled out in fright. Sarah scrambled inside the tent and pulled the flap closed. They all huddled at the back of the tent, cramped and scared. As the seconds passed and they heard no more noises, the boys started to relax.

“There’s no such thing as ghosts, so why are we getting all worked up?” Joe said.

“Then what made that noise?” Amy asked.

“Some kind of animal,” Will stated with more confidence than he actually felt.

Sarah froze at the sound of more noises. “What kind of animal?”

A ghostly voice suddenly yelled out. “I am Jeremiah Jones, and you are on my island. And tonight is a full moon.”

The children looked at each other. “It must be someone playing a trick on us,” Joe said.

“What about Quigley?” Amy said.

“Of course!”
Will said. “Though, how did he know we were going to
Rocky
Island
?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to see if there’s a face with this voice.” Joe took his torch and crawled to the flap. He glanced back. “Are you coming or not?”

All four of them crawled out of the tent and stood up on the grass as the noises stopped. In front of them were the dying embers of the fire. It was a clear sky and the full moon shone brightly.

No one
could be seen
.
No animal and no person.

Joe shone the torch from side to side. “Whatever it was, they must…” He paused as the torchlight picked up a ghostly figure.

The children froze. He, if it was a he, was dressed in a flowing white cape.

The ghost yelled out. “I am Jeremiah Jones. If you are not gone by
midnight
tomorrow, I will come and put a curse on you that will last forever. So get off my island!”

Suddenly, there was a puff of smoke that covered the area.
When it drifted away, the ghost was no longer there.

Chapter 6:
A Puzzle

 

“Where did he go?” Joe hurried forward and shone the torch around. No one
could be seen
.

The children listened for the next few moments, but nothing
could be heard
.

“I want to go home tomorrow,” Sarah wailed.

“Wait!” Joe said. “Just because something that looked like a ghost—”

“He was a ghost,” Sarah interrupted. “Did we hear him come? No. Did we hear him go? No. If you think I am going to stay any longer on this island—”

“Just because you’re scared—” Joe shouted.

“Hold on everyone,” Will
interrupted
. “Let’s just all calm down. Why
don’t
we go back to sleep, try to get a good rest, and talk in the morning? There’s nothing we can do tonight, so let’s think our decision over.”

“Well, okay,” Sarah said.

~

The sun shone brightly and the seagulls were circling overhead the next morning as the children ate breakfast. Even a few rabbits
could be seen
hopping around on the grass.

After finishing off a tin of peaches, Sarah glanced around at everyone. “When are we going to leave?”

“Why don’t we have a vote?” Joe suggested. “Put your hand up if you want to stay.” He and Will raised their hands. “
Okay,
and now put up your hand if you want to go.”

Amy and Sarah put up their hands.

Joe stared down at the fire. “Ghosts do not exist, full stop.”

“Well, whatever thing we saw last night, it looked pretty real to me,” Sarah protested.

“Me too,” Amy said.

“What if it was a person dressed up?” Joe suggested. “Just suppose that someone dressed up and pretended to be that religious fellow to scare us off this island.”

“And why would they do that?” Amy questioned.

“I don’t know,” Joe confessed. “But I want to find out.”

Amy glanced at Sarah, then back at Joe. “I’ll give you until
noon
to prove your theory, okay?”

Joe looked at Will. “If that ghost is a fake, we’ll be able to find some evidence.”

Will nodded. “Let’s go and search.”

The children headed to the
church which
was where the boys wanted to search first. Upon reaching the ruin, they split up and searched the area, looking for anything that might indicate that there was someone else on the island.
But
they couldn’t find anything.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything here,” Amy said as she stood in front of the church.

“But I’m telling you,” Joe said, “there are no such things as…” He paused as he heard a ghostly wail.

Then, a moment
later
a ghostly voice shouted out. “Why are you still here?”

Will looked around but he
couldn’t
see anyone. He entered the church, but as the voice shouted out again, he realised it
wasn’t
coming from there. Stepping out, he followed the others to the storehouse.

Amy shouted out as she saw a white figure in front of the lone window near the roof of the building. “Look!”

The others peered up but
couldn’t
see anything. As the ghostly voice fell silent, they questioned Amy.

“What did you see?” Joe asked.

“Something white.
It was someone or something,” Amy stammered. She had gone a bit pale.

“Did you see a face?” Will said.

Amy shook her head. “It was too quick. But there was nothing human about it.” She pointed to the window. “It was right there.”

Leaving the girls standing outside, the boys entered the storehouse and looked up. “What do you think?” Joe whispered.

Will looked up at the rotting timber roof above them, but no one
could be seen
. However,
there was one spot directly next to the window that had not rotted away,
and it was possible someone could have been hiding there. Will walked further into the building as he tried to find a ladder.
But
none could be seen.

“If we had a ladder,” Joe said, “we could place it up against that end.” He pointed to the left hand corner of the storehouse.

The ghost yelled out again. “Come
midnight
and you will be cursed forever! Get off my island! This is my last warning!”

Joe turned to Will. “Let’s get back to the girls before they get too scared.” As they headed back, he spotted something on the ground. He picked it up. It was a cigarette butt.
One that had not been there for long.
He showed it to Will. “Look.”

A grin spread across
Will’s
face. “Gosh! It must be a person up there.”

“But how do we prove it?” Joe asked.

“I’ve got a plan. Just follow my lead.” Will led the way out of the storehouse and found the girls huddled together behind a rock.

“Did you find anything?” Sarah asked.

Will shook his head. “No, let’s go home.”

“I never want to come here again,” Joe said.

Amy looked shocked. “What? But you just said—”

“I was wrong,” Joe interrupted. “Come on, let’s go. Just standing here is giving me the creeps.”

As the two boys hurried towards the hill, Amy shot a glance at Sarah. “What just happened?”

“I don’t know,” Sarah replied, “but I’m happy to be going back. Come on, last one to reach the boys has to make lunch.” She sprinted off after the boys.

~

By the time the children arrived back at the campsite, the girls knew the story behind the boy’s weird actions as they had told them everything.

The girls may have been scared by a ghost
, but if it was a person, which the boys were certain it was, that meant that someone was trying to scare them away.
And
, if someone was trying to scare them away they probably had something to hide.