Mike, Peggy, and Nora stared at Jack in amazement. What a surprising boy he was! However could they get a cow and hens?

“Hurry up and get the supper, girls,” said Jack, smiling at their surprised faces. “I’m hungry. We’ll think about things to-morrow. We’ll have our meal now and a quiet read afterwards, then to bed early. To-morrow we’ll go on with the house.”

Soon they were munching bread and margarine, and eating lettuce. They saved the currants for another time. Then they got out books and papers and sprawled on the soft heather, reading whilst the daylight lasted. Then they had a dip in the lake, threw on their clothes again, and settled down for the night in their heathery beds.

“Good-night, everyone,” said Mike. But nobody answered - they were all asleep!

The next day, after a meal of fish and lettuce, the children were ready to go on with the building of their house in the willow thicket. It was lucky that Jack had caught more fish on his line that morning, for stores were getting low. There were still plenty of potatoes, but not much else. Jack made up his mind that he would have to take the boat and see what he could bring back in it that night. There was no doubt but that food was going to be their great difficulty.

All morning the four children worked hard at the house. Jack cut down enough young willows to make the walls. Mike dug the holes to drive in the willow stakes. He and Jack drove them deeply in, and the girls jumped for joy to see what fine straight walls of willow the boys were making.

The willow stakes were set a little way apart, and Jack showed the girls how to take thin, supple willow branches and weave them in and out of the stakes to hold the walls in place, and to fill up the gaps. It was quite easy to do this when they knew how, but they got very hot.

Mike went up and down to the spring a down times that morning to fetch water! They all drank pints of it, and were glad of its coldness. The sun was really very hot, though it was nice and shady in the green willow thicket.

“It begins to look like a house now,” said Jack, pleased. “Look, this front gap here is where we shall have the door. We can make that later of long stakes interwoven with willow strips, and swing it on some sort of a hinge so that it opens and shuts. But we don’t need a door at present.”

That day all the walls were finished, and the girls had gone a good way towards weaving the stakes together so that the walls stood firmly and looked nice and thick.

“In the olden days people used to fill up the gaps with clay and let it dry hard,” said Jack. “But I don’t think there’s any clay on this island, so we must stuff up the cracks with dried bracken and heather. That will do nicely. And the willow stakes we have rammed into the ground will grow, and throw out leaves later on, making the wall thicker still.”

“How do you mean - the stakes we have cut will grow?" asked Mike in surprise. “Sticks don’t grow, surely!”

Jack grinned. “Willow sticks do!” he said. “You can cut a willow branch off the tree - strip it of all buds and leaves, and stick it in the ground, and you’ll find that, although it has no roots, and no shoots - it will put out both and grow into a willow-tree by itself! Willows are full of life, and you can’t stamp it out of them!”

“Well - our house will be growing all the year round, then!” cried Nora. “How funny!”

“I think it’s lovely!” said Peggy. “I like things to be as alive as that. I shall love to live in a house that’s growing over me - putting out roots and shoots and buds and leaves! What shall we call our house, Jack?”

“Willow House!” said Jack. “That’s the best name for it!”

“It’s a good name,” said Peggy. “I like it. I like everything here. It’s glorious. Just us four - and our secret island. It’s the loveliest adventure that ever was!”

“If only we had more to eat!” said Mike, who seemed to feel hungry every hour of the day. “That’s the only thing I don’t like about this adventure!”

“Yes,” said Jack. “We’ll have to put that right! Don’t worry. We shall get over it somehow!”

That night there was nothing much to eat but potatoes. Jack said he would go off in the boat as soon as it was dark, to see what he could find at his old farm.

So he set off. He took with him a candle, set in the lantern, but he did not light it in case he should be seen.

“Wait up for me,” he said to the others, “and keep a small fire going - not big, in case the glow could be seen.”

The other three waited patiently for Jack to come back. He seemed a long, long time. Nora stretched herself out on the old rug and fell asleep. But Mike and Peggy kept awake. They saw the moon come up and light everything. The secret island seemed mysterious again in the moonlight. Dark shadows stretched beneath the trees. The water lapped against the sand, black as night, close by them, but silvered where the moon caught it beyond. It was a warm night, and the children were hot, even though they had no covering.

It seemed hours before they heard the splash of oars. Mike ran down to the edge of the water and waited. He saw the boat coming softly over the water in the moonlight. He called Jack.

“Hallo, there, Jack! Are you all right?”

“Yes,” said Jack’s voice. “I’ve got plenty of news too!”

The boat scraped on the sand and stones. Mike pulled it up the beach, and Jack jumped out.

“I’ve got something here for us!” said Jack, and they saw his white teeth in the moonlight as he grinned at them. “Put your hands down there in the boat, Nora.”

Nora did - and squealed!

“There’s something soft and warm and feathery there!” she said. “What is it?”

“Six of my hens!” said Jack; I found them roosting in the hedges! I caught them and trussed them up so that they couldn’t move! My word, they were heavy to carry! But we shall have plenty of eggs now! They can’t escape from the island!”

“Hurrah!” cried Peggy. “We can have eggs for breakfast, dinner, and tea!”

“What else have you brought?” asked Mike.

“Corn for the hens,” said Jack. “And packets of seeds of all kinds from the shed. And some tins of milk. And a loaf of bread, rather stale. And lots more vegetables!”

“And here are some cherries,” said Nora, pulling out handfuls of red cherries from the boat. “Did you pick these, Jack?”

“Yes,” said Jack. “They are from the tree in our garden. It’s full of them now.”

“Did. you see your grandfather?” asked Mike.

“Yes,” grinned Jack, “but he didn’t see me! He’s going away - to live with my aunt. The farm is to be shut up, and someone is to feed the animals until it’s sold. So I think I shall try and get my own cow somehow, and make her swim across the lake to the island!”

“Don’t be silly, Jack,” said Peggy. “You could never do that!”

“You don’t know what I can do!” said Jack. “Well, listen - I heard my Granddad talking to two friends of his, and everyone is wondering where we’ve all gone! They’ve searched everywhere for us - in all the nearby towns and villages, and in all the country round about!”

“Oooh!” said the three children, feeling rather frightened. “Do you suppose they’ll come here?”

“Well, they may,” said Jack. “You never know. I’ve always been a bit afraid that the smoke from our fire will give the game away to someone. But don’t let’s worry about that till it happens.”

“Are the police looking for us, too?" asked Peggy.

“Oh yes,” said Jack. “Everyone is, as far as I can make out. I heard Grandad tell how they’ve searched barns and stacks and ditches, and gone to every town for twenty miles round, thinking we might have run away on a lorry. They don’t guess how near we are!”

“Is Aunt Harriet very upset?” asked Peggy.

“Very!” grinned Jack. “She’s got no one to wash and scrub and cook for her now! But that’s all she cares, I expect! Well, it’s good news about my Granddad going to live with my aunt. I can slip to and fro and not be seen by him now. My word, I wished Mike was with me when I got these hens. They did peck and scratch and flap about. I was afraid someone would hear them.”