The Secret of the Lonely Isles (4 page)

‘Boats sink,' said Neenie. ‘I like the ground better.'

Ella stayed with them for a few days, and Jem noticed how much more relaxed his mother was. She spent a lot of time with Ella, either walking in the garden, or sitting on the verandah with cups of tea, talking softly. Steve seemed calmer and better tempered, and Maddy, still grounded, stopped sulking and even played a few games of cricket in the backyard with Jem, Tyler and Zac like she used to. She helped them make bows and arrows out of sticks and string and they set up a target behind the laundry and fired wild shots all over the garden, terrifying the chickens.

Life seemed to be slowly getting back to normal.

‘We're going sailing? In a boat?' said Jem, in a horrified voice. ‘You're kidding, right?'

They were standing on the verandah, watching as Ella's little car rounded the bend and disappeared down the road. Maddy said nothing, she just looked stricken.

‘Are you serious?' Tyler was ecstatic. ‘Man, that'd be so cool!'

‘Dad's specialist wants to see him at his clinic in Adelaide,' said Karen. ‘He thinks maybe his medication isn't quite right, and that he should have been making better progress than he has. He wants to put Dad through some different rehab as well, so we'll be away a little while. Ella's offered to take you guys away for a sail, so it would work out well for us. Dad and I can go to Adelaide, and you can all have a fantastic holiday on the
Freya
for a couple of weeks.'

‘A couple of weeks? But – but – what about school? School goes back in another week. How can we miss school?' Maddy threw her hands in the air.

‘I've already spoken to the principal and she doesn't have a problem with it. You'll only miss a week or so.'

‘Cool!' Tyler was ecstatic.

‘But – but Ella wouldn't want to look after us on a little boat. I mean, none of us can sail, we'd just get in her way. It'd be useless!' Jem looked desperate.

‘Well, she's been sailing alone for years, so I guess she
can do that by herself. You won't have to do anything, just go along for the ride.' He could hear a note of pleading in her voice. ‘It'll be fun, Jem, really it will!'

‘Yeah,' said Tyler. ‘C'mon, Jem, it'll be great!'

Jem took a deep breath and blew out his cheeks. It looked like he was going sailing, whether he liked it or not.

Maddy gave a wail and rushed off to her bedroom.

Time seemed to pass in a blur after that. Karen and Steve flew south to see Steve's specialist almost immediately, and Ella moved into the house to look after Maddy, Jem and Tyler until they were ready to leave on
Freya
. Tyler was ecstatic – Zac would be coming with them. Karen and Carol had been talking and decided it would be good for Zac to have a break away from home too, and he was looking forward to the adventure as much as Tyler. Carol would look after Neenie while everyone was away. Maddy had reverted to sulking again. She
spent a lot of time on the phone. She didn't want to go sailing for two weeks, she wanted to be with her friends. ‘And talk about boys,' said Tyler disgustedly. Jem just kept hoping it was all a mistake and that they wouldn't really be going.

Ella eyed them over her cup of tea at breakfast the morning after Steve and Karen had left.

‘Would you people be interested in a treasure hunt?'

They looked blankly at her.

‘A treasure hunt?' said Tyler. ‘What, gold 'n' jewels 'n' stuff?'

‘
Pirates'
treasure?' asked Zac hopefully.

‘Well, not pirates, but something precious that was lost a long time ago. While I was sailing around the world, I was also researching some history – that's been my profession for the last thirty years. I'm an historian, and in between teaching jobs, I do historical research. Many years ago I came across some – well, a
story
that caught my attention, and I search for information about it whenever I have a chance.'

‘What kind of
story
?' Maddy was in a bad mood. Or a worse one than usual. She'd been hanging round the phone, beating everyone else to it when it rang, and acting as if it was a personal insult when it wasn't for her. She frowned at the wall as if she really didn't care about the answer.

‘A mystery story. Almost one hundred years ago, a group of people left England and sailed to Australia with the idea of starting a colony on an island off the north coast, away from the troubles in Europe at the time. The ship was known to have arrived at Batavia, as Jakarta was then called, but there's no record of it after that. Later on, rumours began coming out of Arnhem Land about a group of Europeans living somewhere along the north coast. They were called “The White Tribe of Arnhem Land”. Most historians think it's only a legend and that the ship just struck a reef and sank. A few searches were made, and nothing was ever found. But I always think that rumours start somewhere.'

‘Well why would you want to find it
anyway
?' asked Maddy sullenly. ‘There wouldn't be anything there now, just a few old skeletons maybe.'

Ella gazed thoughtfully at her, and said, ‘Well, the ship was carrying something very valuable.' She sipped at her tea. ‘There was a priceless gold statue on board, which was picked up at Cochin, in India, for the ship's owner back in England. It's never been seen again.'

‘What kind of statue?' asked Tyler.

‘A solid gold gryphon, believed to be over two thousand years old. The owner had arranged for the captain to collect it from a dealer in Cochin when the ship stopped there on its way to Australia.'

‘What's a gryphon?' said Zac.

‘A gryphon is a beast of legend, very old legend. It was supposed be half-eagle and half-lion, and twice as fierce as both of them. The myths originated in India, but many countries have gryphons in their mythology.' She reached into a bag at her feet, and pulled out a picture of a strange creature with the head and wings of an eagle, and the body and hindquarters of a lion.

‘I imagine the owner was a very wealthy man, and he already had a ship named the
Gryphon
, so he wanted the statue to go with it. It's extremely valuable, and people have been searching for it for years, but no one's ever found a trace of the ship, or the statue.'

Jem was a bit puzzled. Ella didn't seem like the kind of person who'd be interested in chasing after a gold statue, no matter how valuable it was.

‘If we found this gr-griffy thing, if it's worth so much money, do we get a reward or something?' Tyler eyed Ella with interest. She smiled back at him.

‘Quite possibly. But you'd certainly get your picture in the paper.'

Tyler and Zac grinned at each other and said, ‘
Cool!
'

Ella put her cup down and pushed her chair back from the table. ‘I've got some checking to do at the library before we leave, and I think you could help.'

‘When are we leaving?' asked Maddy. ‘I just need to call Aleisha first.'

The Northern Territory Library was a high-ceilinged room inside the Parliament building, cool and quiet, and full of books and computers. People were clicking softly away at keyboards, poring over books at reading tables, or relaxing in comfortable chairs reading the interstate newspapers. Ella walked up to the information desk, trailed by the others. A young man holding a laptop and an armful of folders was waiting for someone to return with a book. Ella nodded to him, and smiled at the attendant who came up to help her.

‘Hello, I'm Dr Ella Tremayne. I called you a few days ago about the
Gryphon
papers?' The attendant nodded and disappeared into a back room while Ella led the others to a long table under a bright window.

‘Are you a doctor, Ella?' asked Jem.

‘Yes, but not a medical doctor. I have a doctorate in History. I did my thesis on the mythology of the Cornish people. It was a very long time ago.' She looked around. ‘It's quite busy here today.' As if to prove her point, the young man sat down at the far end of the table, opened his laptop and book and bent his head to them, ignoring the little group at the opposite end.

The attendant reappeared, carrying a thick cardboard folder and a pile of white gloves. She placed the folder carefully on the table, instructed them to be sure to put the gloves on before touching anything, and left them to it.

‘What's with the gloves?' said Maddy. ‘Is this stuff toxic or something?'

Ella shook her head. ‘No, just old and precious. The gloves are to protect the documents inside from the oil and acid on our hands. I asked the library a few days ago if we could look at these.' She opened the folder, and drew out a smaller thinner one. The dry, musty smell of old paper filled their nostrils.

‘These are original documents about the proposed settlement. It was being sponsored by a businessman in England, and he and others wrote letters to the Australian Government and the Northern Territory Administrator about it, around 1909 to 1911. There may be something that's been missed, that might give us a clue about where the ship ended up. Read the document you have carefully, and let's see what we can find.'

It was hard work. The pages were yellowed and sometimes crumpled. Worse, the writing was thin and spidery, with great loops and swirls, which made it difficult to understand. They pored over them,
muttering to each other for about an hour before Ella said finally, ‘I don't believe there
is
anything here. I thought it was best to check one last time, in case I missed something. I've seen copies of these before but it's always best to study the originals.'

Ella gathered up the papers, and placed them carefully back inside the folder.

‘So what now?' asked Jem hopefully. If they weren't able to find any clues, maybe the trip would get called off …

‘We'll sail in two days' time, after we've provisioned
Freya
. By then we might have a better idea of where we should be looking.' She stood up and led the way to the front desk.

‘How can you find this place if you haven't got a clue where it is?' asked Maddy. She looked bored and annoyed as she stripped off the cotton gloves and dropped them on the counter.

‘Oh, I have lots of other clues,' said Ella, smiling mysteriously. ‘We'll go and visit one of them tomorrow.'

That night Ella took them all out for pizza at a nearby café overlooking the sea. It was Jem's favourite restaurant, and he hadn't been here since before Steve's accident. Sitting at a big table on the wide verandah,
watching the sun go down in a smoky red haze over the sea, and sniffing the mouth-watering smell of hot pizza while hoeing into baskets of fresh garlic bread, he felt almost cheerful.

And the pizzas, when they came, were as good as they smelled. Jem had ordered his favourite – tomato, basil, bacon, double cheese and anchovies, while Tyler and Zac had pizzas with every possible topping they could think of. Maddy picked at hers and kept excusing herself to use the phone, saying she had to call Aleisha. At one point Jem could see her sitting at the counter talking to someone. He couldn't see who it was. Probably one of her dumb girlfriends, he thought, and picked up another slice of pizza.

‘Hey you guys, how's it goin'?'

They looked up to see Zac's brother Ricky standing beside them, a takeaway pizza in his hands.

They introduced him to Ella, who shook hands with him, then excused herself and went off to pay the bill.

‘So, the big sailing trip's happening soon, huh?' said Ricky.

‘Yeah, worse luck,' answered Jem gloomily.

‘What, you don't wanna go? What's wrong with you, it'd be real cool!' Ricky shook his head.

‘Jem thinks we're gunna hit a rock and sink,' said Zac with a grin.

‘Yeah, he reckons we're gunna get lost and never find our way home again,' added Tyler, elbowing Jem in the ribs.

Ricky laughed. ‘No way, mate. Boats have computers and all kinds of stuff to find their way around. They have a GPS on board so you always know exactly where you are. These days it's like driving down the highway. You'll be fine!'

Jem very much doubted it would be anything like driving down the highway. ‘What's a GPS?'

‘Global Positioning System. It's this device that bounces a signal off a satellite and tells you exactly where you are. It's cool. We sell 'em in the dive shop.' He shifted his pizza to his other hand and said, ‘Better push off. Pizza's gunna be cold.' He looked around for someone, spotted him, and called out, ‘Hey Drake, let's go, bro.'

Jem looked up and saw a young dark-haired man walking towards Ricky, Maddy behind him. ‘Hey, it's that creepy guy Maddy likes,' whispered Tyler. ‘He knows your brother, Zac.'

The two young men left the café, and Maddy sat down at the table and glared at the three boys.

‘Don't you say a word,' she hissed, as Ella came back to the table.

Jem just made a face at her and looked away. He couldn't work his sister out these days.