Cass and Ranulph looked at each other for a few moments. ‘Could you do that without Austin seeing or finding out?’ he asked. ‘And do you know how to do it?’
‘Luckily, when I was a Brownie, our Brown Owl was very into teaching us low-tech stuff. Tracing withpaper, turning it over, scribbling on the back, all that stuff, was something I got a badge for.’
Ranulph looked a little nonplussed for a moment. ‘Who’d have thought you’d ever need that skill in real life?’
‘I know! But could you lure Austin away from the house, do you think? Were you a Boy Scout, and did you get a badge for luring skills?’
Ranulph laughed. ‘I’m a journalist and my luring skills are first rate, even if I haven’t got a badge.’
‘But seriously, Austin doesn’t seem keen to help with the clear-up, so we’ll need to send him on an errand, and Bastian doesn’t look as if he’ll throw him out.’
‘I’ll see what I can do to get Austin out of the way,’ said Ranulph slowly.
Later, when they were both tucked up in their sleeping bags, it occurred to Cass that when they’d set out – was it only two days ago? – she had felt so shy of Ranulph. Now they were chatting like friends. Except, of course, he made her heart beat faster in a way no friend had ever done.
CHAPTER NINE
Several days went by with everyone doing what they could to help. Ranulph and Cass continued to help rebuild homes, reunite families and deliver supplies. Austin was somehow still at Bastian’s house, pacing around, peering in the bookcases and muttering. When Bastian came in after long days co-ordinating people and supporting his neighbours, Austin asked him about the map.
When Cass wasn’t helping Delphine in the kitchen, with meals and soup for people without camping gas to cook on, she wondered how Bastian managed not to punch Austin – or at least ask him to leave. Delphine was very vocal on the subject and she and Cass spent a merry time in the kitchen making rude remarks about him.
Gradually, the news filtered through that what Ranulph had heard was right. The hurricane had veered off, away from the island at the last minute, reducing its destruction somewhat.
Cass was getting anxious about the map. With the emergency ebbing, the subject of finding the petroglyph would become more pressing for them all.
She had looked at it in daylight (in the bedroom, with a lot of boxes pushed up against the door, knowing this was probably a bit paranoid) and the map definitely needed to be traced so it could be read. But Ranulph still hadn’t managed to draw Austin out of the house.
Finally she managed to get Bastian on his own, following him to an outbuilding. ‘I need your help,’ Cass said.
‘Anything I can do, I will,’ said Bastian. He was preparing Friendly’s dinner, a process that included cooking rice, and, surprisingly to Cass, chicken carcasses.
‘I need to trace the map. It’s illegible. Do you have tracing paper, or anything like that?’ Cass had already searched the kitchen for greaseproof paper but had found nothing.
Bastian nodded. ‘I often make maps. I’m no good at drawing but I can produce a map.’
This was good news. ‘If I could trace it, I could ink in the tracing, but I don’t want Austin to know I’m doing it. I don’t trust him.’
Bastian put a dollop of cooked rice into a large dog bowl. ‘I don’t trust him either, but I don’t think I can contrive to keep the map from him. However, if you traced it, and we gave him a copy, I’m sure he still wouldn’t find the petroglyph. My father didn’t find it and he had the map when it was freshly drawn.’
‘Dad said your father didn’t draw it?’
Bastian shook his head. ‘No. It was drawn by an old man who used to pass the petroglyph every day. Thatwas many years ago now, and the bush has really grown up since then. That’s why the map is so precious. It couldn’t be drawn again unless we found the petroglyph.’
Cass felt stubborn. ‘I still don’t want Austin to know I’ve got it,’ she said. ‘He’ll ask how I came by it and why I’ve been keeping it a secret. And frankly I don’t know why he hasn’t already asked why Ranulph and I are here.’
Bastian laughed. ‘Oh, he has asked. You know there’s a site that’s been uncovered by the hurricane – on the beach?’
‘Ranulph did say something last night.’
‘We found very old delft pottery, possibly belonging to pirates, alongside ancient artefacts of the Kalinago people. Which indicates they co-habited. It hasn’t been seen before. Of course these people were here later than the ones who would have created the petroglyph so it wouldn’t affect Austin’s theory.’ He paused. ‘I told Austin that Ranulph was an archaeologist who had heard about it and come to check it out.’ He laughed. ‘Luckily Austin didn’t ask how Ranulph could have heard of it when we’re cut off from the world, with no internet or anything.’
‘Goodness!’
‘Although Ranulph did study archaeology at university and worked on a project here years ago,’ Bastian went on. ‘So what I told Austin is almost true.’
‘I did know that Ranulph studied archaeology. Has he seen the site?’
‘I’ve told him about it. Of course he is veryinterested. But if you want to trace the map, I’ll take Austin out of the way for a few hours.’ He paused. ‘Of course he doesn’t want there to be a petroglyph. It suits his argument that there were no Kalinago here before Columbus. Better for him for there not to be one.’
