"Oh, do let's!" cried the twins, and Tom did a little war-dance on the rocky ledge in excitement. Who knew what they might find on the next island?
That night Jill cooked some potatoes in their skins, and let them go cold to take with them next day.
"We'll cook the sausages that are in the tin, let them go cold, and take those, too," said M. "We can catch some fish to-morrow night for our evening meal when we come home."
The next morning they ran to see if the tide had uncovered the rocks again. Yes—there they stretched grey and green, some quite bare, some covered with seaweed. Very deep rock-pools lay between. The sea itself lay pale blue and sparkling, beyond the line of rocks.
"Come on!" said Andy. "We'd better go now, before the tide turns."
They leapt down from the ledge and ran to the sandy shore. They jumped up on to the rocks, and then began to make their way carefully over them. Some were so slippery that once or twice the children nearly fell into the deep pools. These pools looked exciting. Quite big fish swam in them, and Andy said big edible crabs would be sure to be there.
"But we've no time for fishing about here," he said. "We shall be caught by the tide if we don't make haste."
Sure enough, the tide was on the turn—but before it could reach the jagged line of rocks over which the children were climbing, they had come to the end of them, and had waded through a pool to the sandy shore of the next island.
"Now we're on island number two!" said Tom, capering about. "Golly! I am hungry!"
So was every one. "Well, if we eat all our food now, we shall have to wait ages for our next meal, unless we can find something on this island," said Andy. But he was hungry, too—so they ate their cold sausages and potatoes, and sucked a toffee each.