Journey to the River Sea

Mr Carter was out bullying his workers somewhere, but when he saw the boat he came in quickly. Mrs Carter brought Mr Low and Mr Trapwood into the dining room where Miss Minton was giving the twins dictation.

‘Fetch Maia,’ she ordered the governess. ‘These gentlemen want to question everybody.’

The crows sat down twitching their black trousers up at the knee so as to keep the creases in. They liked the Carters’ dining room: the smell of Lysol, the shrouded windows. A decent British household at last. Maia was brought in. She recognized them at once, and the twins saw that she had turned pale.

Mr Trapwood did not waste any time. ‘Some of you know already what I am going to say. We have come from England to find a missing boy – the son of Bernard Taverner. It is now very important that he is found and brought back before the Bishop sails. The reward for news of him has been doubled. Now I want you to think very, very carefully whether you have any idea of where such a boy might be hiding.’

Maia looked up. ‘Why is he hiding? Why doesn’t he come forward? Why doesn’t he want to go back to England?’

The crows frowned. ‘Whether he wants to go back or not has nothing to do with it. The boy must go back, and at once. It is a matter of life and death.’

‘If we tell you something useful, will we get the reward?’ asked Beatrice.

‘Certainly.’

The twins looked at each other. ‘We think Maia is hiding him,’ said Beatrice. ‘I had toothache last night and I woke up and I saw her sneak out to that end hut where the rubber workers used to live. The one that was empty.’

‘We don’t know for certain but that’s what we think,’ said Gwendolyn.

‘She goes outside sometimes when she’s supposed to be in bed.’

‘No. Honestly. That’s nothing to do with—’ Maia had jumped up from her chair. ‘I don’t know anything about the boy you’re looking for.’

‘All the same, I think I might ask these young ladies to take us to the hut they describe. Have I your permission, Mrs Carter?’

‘Certainly. But if Maia has been deceiving us she will be most seriously punished.’

Miss Minton had come to stand beside Maia. ‘If Maia has really been hiding someone she will certainly be punished. But I find this hard to believe.’

‘It isn’t Bernard Taverner’s son. Honestly—’

But it was too late. The crows had risen, and now everybody moved out of the bungalow, down the side path and towards the huts of the Indians. Furo and Tapi and old Lila were standing outside their door, looking on in silence.

Miss Minton had taken Maia by the arm, as if she expected her to run away. Her nutcracker face was closed and angry.

Mrs Carter moved past the huts as if she were walking through an open drain, and the twins held their noses as they passed the pot-bellied pig.

‘Please,’ began Maia, and stopped as Miss Minton’s steely fingers dug painfully into her arm.

‘Be quiet, Maia,’ she said.

The hut was locked, but that didn’t help them. Mrs Carter shouted to Tapi to bring the key, and Tapi disappeared into her hut. She was away a long time but eventually, sulkily, she brought the key.

‘Empty,’ she said to the crows. ‘Not inside. Nada. All gone away.’

‘We shall soon see,’ said Mrs Carter and took the key.

Maia bit her lip and stared at the ground.

The lock was stiff. ‘Give it to me,’ said Mr Carter, taking the key from his wife. He fumbled for a while, then managed to turn it. The door swung open.

There was a loud screech, a flutter of black wings – and a trapped bird flew out, sending Mrs Carter reeling backwards.

Then silence. On the floor of the hut was an old blanket, a candlestick with a spent candle, and nothing else.

The hut was empty.

Nobody in the Carters’ bungalow slept well that night.

The twins lay in bed thinking about the money that had escaped them.

‘I was going to get that blue silk cloak in Fleurette’s window,’ sighed Beatrice.

‘It wouldn’t suit you. The neck’s too low.’

They began to argue, but then remembered that neither of them could buy the cloak.

‘All the same, I think Maia knows something. Did you see how worried she looked when they were opening the hut?’

‘She’s just the sort of person who would be on the side of a runaway. Look how she tried to shelter Clovis.’

‘But the Taverner boy isn’t just a runaway. He’s a criminal. He must be or they wouldn’t be so keen to catch him.’

‘Well I’m going to watch Maia. I don’t trust her at all.’

In their bedroom down the corridor, Mr and Mrs Carter too were thinking of all that could be done with the reward for the capture of Taverner’s son.

‘We could go back to England for a visit. I’m sure Lady Parsons would be pleased to have us to stay.’