The others laughed. It sounded so funny. But they were all angry about their beach being spoilt.

“I’ll clear up the mess and burn it,” said Mike.

“Wait a minute!” said Jack. “We might find some of the things useful.”

“What! Old banana skins and orange-peel!” cried Mike. “You’re not thinking of making a pudding or something of them, Jack!”

“No,” said Jack, with a grin, “but if we keep the tin and a carton and the empty cigarette packet in our cave-cupboard, we might put them out on the beach if anyone else ever comes - and then, if they happen to find the remains of our fire, or a bit of string or anything like that - why, they won’t think of looking for us - they’ll just think trippers have been here!”

“Good idea, Jack!” cried everyone.

“You really are good at thinking out clever things,” said Peggy, busy getting the fire going. Its crackling sounded very cheerful, for they were all hungry. Peggy put some milk on to boil. She meant to make cocoa for them all to drink.

Mike picked up the cigarette packet, the tin, and one of the cardboard cartons. He washed the carton and the tin in the lake, and then went to put the three things away in their little cave-cupboard. They might certainly come in useful some day!

Nora brought in five eggs for breakfast. Peggy fried them with two trout that Jack had caught on his useful lines. The smell was delicious!

“I say! Poor old Daisy must be milked!” said Jack, gobbling down his breakfast and drinking his hot cocoa.

Suddenly Nora gave a squeal and pointed behind him. Jack turned - and to his great astonishment he saw the cow walking towards him!

“You wouldn’t go to milk her in time so she has come to you!” laughed Peggy. “Good old Daisy! Fancy her knowing the way!”

There seemed quite a lot of jobs always waiting to be done each day on the island. Daisy had to be milked. The hens had to be seen to. The fishing-lines had to be baited and looked at two or three times a day. The fire had to be kept going. Meals had to be prepared and dishes washed up. Willow House had to be tidied up each day, for it was surprising how untidy it got when the four children were in it even for an hour.

“I’ll milk Daisy each morning and Mike can milk her in the evenings,” said Jack, as they sat eating their breakfast that morning. “Nora, you can look after the hens. It won’t only be your job to feed them and give them water and collect the eggs, but you’ll have to watch the fence round the hen-yard carefully to see that the hens don’t peck out the heather we’ve stuffed into the fence to stop up the holes. We don’t want to lose our hens!”

“What is Peggy going to do?” asked Nora.

“Peggy had better do the odd jobs,” said Jack. “She can look after the fire, think of meals and tidy up. I’ll see to my fishing-lines. And every now and again one or other of us had better go to the top of the hill to see if any more trippers are coming. Our plans worked quite well last time - but we were lucky enough to spot the boat coming. If we hadn’t seen it when we did, we would have been properly caught!”

“I’d better go and get the boat out from where I hid it under the overhanging bushes, hadn’t I?” said Mike, finishing his cocoa.

“No,” said Jack. “It would be a good thing to keep it always hidden there except when we need it. Now I’m off to milk Daisy!”

He went off, and the children heard the welcome sound of the creamy milk splashing into a saucepan, for they still had no milking-pail. Mike and Jack were determined to get one that night! It was so awkward to keep milking a cow into saucepans and kettles!

Peggy began to clear away and wash up the dishes. Nora wanted to help her, but Peggy said she had better go and feed the hens. So off she went, making the little clucking noise that the hens knew. They came rushing to her as she climbed over the fence of their little yard.

Nora scattered the seed for them, and they gobbled it up, scratching hard with their strong clawed feet to find any they had missed. Nora gave them some water, too. Then she took a look round the fence to see that it was all right.

It seemed all right. The little girl didn’t bother to look very hard, because she wanted to go off to the raspberry patch up on the hillside and see if there were any more wild raspberries ripe. If she had looked carefully, as she should have done, she would have noticed quite a big hole in the fence, where one of the hens had been pecking out the bracken and heather. But she didn’t notice. She picked up a basket Peggy had made of thin twigs, and set off.

“Are you going to find raspberries, Nora?” called Peggy.

“Yes!” shouted Nora.

“Well, bring back as many as you can, and we’ll have them for pudding at dinner-time with cream!” shouted Peggy. “Don’t eat them all yourself!”

“Come with me and help me!” cried Nora, not too pleased at the thought of having to pick raspberries for everyone.

“I’ve got to get some water from the spring,” called back Peggy; “and I want to do some mending.”

So Nora went alone. She found a patch of raspberries she hadn’t seen yesterday, and there were a great many ripe. The little girl ate dozens and then began to fill her basket with the sweet juicy fruit. She heard Jack taking Daisy the cow back to her grassy field on the other side of the island. She heard Mike whistling as he cut some willow stakes down in the thicket, ready for use if they were wanted. Everyone was busy and happy.

Nora sat down in the sun and leaned against a warm rock that jutted out from the hillside. She felt very happy indeed. The lake was as blue as a forget-me-not down below her. Nora lazed there in the sun until she heard Mike calling:

“Nora! Nora! Wherever are you! You’ve been hours!”

“Coming!” cried Nora, and she made her way through the raspberry canes, round the side of the hill through the heather and bracken, and down to the beach, where all the others were. Peggy had got the fire going well, and was cooking a rabbit that Jack had produced.

“Where are the raspberries?” asked Jack. “Oh, you’ve got a basketful! Good! Go and skim the cream off the milk in that bowl over there, Nora. Put it into a jug and bring it back. There will be plenty for all of us.”

Soon they were eating their dinner. Peggy was certainly a good little cook. But nicest of all were the sweet juicy raspberries with thick yellow cream poured all over them. How the children did enjoy them!

“The hens are very quiet to-day,” said Jack, finishing up the last of his cream. “I haven’t heard a single cluck since we’ve been having dinner!”

“I suppose they’re all right?” said Peggy.

“I’ll go and have a look,” said Mike. He put down his plate and went to the hen-yard. He looked here - and he looked there - he lifted up the sack that was stretched over one corner of the yard for shelter - but no hens were there!

“Are they all right?” called Jack.

Mike turned in dismay. “No!” he said. “They’re not here! They’ve gone!”

“Gone!” cried Jack, springing up in astonishment. “They can’t have gone! They must be there!”

“Well, they’re not,” said Mike. “They’ve completely vanished! Not even a cluck left!”

All the children ran to the hen-yard and gazed in amazement and fright at the empty space.

“Do you suppose someone has been here and taken them?” said Peggy.

“No,” said Jack sternly, “look here! This explains their disappearance!”

He pointed to a hole in the fence of the hen-yard. “See that hole! They’ve all escaped through there - and now goodness knows where they are!”

“Well, I never heard them go,” said Peggy. “I was the only one left here. They must have gone when I went to get water from the spring!”

“Then the hole must have been there when Nora fed the hens this morning,” said Jack. “Nora, what do you mean by doing your job as badly as that? Didn’t I tell you this morning that you were to look carefully round the fence each time the hens were fed to make sure it was safe? And now, the very first time, you let the hens escape! I’m ashamed of you!”