Where the Action Is

Chapter 7 - Adrian, Man of the Sea

The tender was a fishing boat, about 40 feet long, and as the sea was not rough at all, no-one was seasick, and the voyage out to the radio station was rather a pleasant one, in the pale light of the morning, under a powder-blue, cloudless sky. As they drew nearer, the towers seemed to rise out of the sea, the two hundred foot mast rising about the great central tower. As they drew closer, jack saw that the forts were much larger than she had imagined, and higher. She began to wonder how on earth she would get up there, and once up, how she would get down. And mingled with this apprehension, was excitement, that she would at last meet Adrian, who she had always wanted to meet. She turned round, and saw that the shore was now disappearing in the morning mist. The forts were about five miles out to sea, whereas White Sands was officially two and three quarter miles out, for a headland jutted out into the water. White Sands was really only half a mile from Radio Madeleine, and so as they came up to the grey towers, White Sands Towers were clearly visible.

After what seemed an age, the tender at last arrived at the tower which was nearest to the land, that is, the westernmost one. The people above on the deck of the tower sprang into action, and winched down a sort of cage made of wood on a sturdy cable. When this reached the deck of the boat, the captain of the tender told them to go in, two at a time. Max and Impie were keen on the idea, and so they went in first. The cage consisted of a wooden platform around which wooden bars had been put to form a railing with a gate in it. Max and Impie went in through the gate, shut it and were winched up. Jack and Juliett held their breath, but there was not much wind, and so their upward journey was safe and they arrived on the gangway around the tower. Then it was Jack and Juliett's turn to be winched to the fort. They sat down on the floor of the cage, not daring to look down, but only up. Soon they too were up on the fort.

Adrian Leslie, Alan Love, and Dirk Harvey were waiting for them on the forts, along with some of the crew.

'Hello,' said Adrian, 'now, which one of you is Jacynth?'

'I am,' answered Jack, 'and this is Juliett Thelstone, daughter of Lord Thelstone. This is my sister Imogene, we call her Impie, ahd this is my brother Max,' presenting them.

'Oh, I see,' said Adrian. 'Well, this is Dirk Harvey, and this is Alan Love,' as the two came forward.

There was no strain about this meeting, it was almost a friendly reunion. They saw that ~Adrian was even more handsome than his photograph showed him to be. His black hair shone in the sunlight, and his blue eyes sparkled with fun. Alan Love was very young and gentle, with the same sort of laughing eyes that Adrian had, except they were brown, and vivid. Dirk Harvey was not exactly handsome, but he had a wonderful sense of humour.

‘Well, we must show you to your quarters,’ said Adrian, ‘then we’ll show you around. Oh, here comes James.’

James Dennis, chief disc jockey with the station, came out of the door of the tower. He was taller than Adrian and Alan, and older, but he was good natured. Adrian introduced him to their visitors.

‘Pleased to meet you,’ said James, ‘I’ll show you where you are to stay. Your rooms are at the top of the North Tower. You Jacynth, and Juliett, will share a room. Imogene will have the small room joined on, and Max another small one. But you’ll see.’

‘Thanks,’ said Jack, ‘but please don’t call us by our long names, we’re sort of friends. My nickname is Jack, and we call Imogene Impie, because she’s a little imp!’

James laughed, ‘She’d better not wreck my radio station!’ he said. ‘Come on then.’

The crew had now unloaded the children’s luggage, and some supplies, which they were carrying to the kitchen tower. The girls and Max took their things, and followed James and the DJs. They led them around the gangway round the tower, across the catwalk at the back to the central tower, then around that and finally into the North Tower. Then up some stairs, where there were three doors. In the tower, it was like a log cabin, and the rooms were smallish, well-furnished and clean. The first one, larger than the others, was Jack and Juliett’s. They were left for a while to sort things out, while Max and Impie were shown their rooms. They didn’t have much to sort out, so it did not take them long to get things arranged. They they went to see if Max and Impie were ready. When they were ready, everyone went downstairs to where the disc jockeys were waiting for them, to show them around the fort.

They found Adrian only there. He explained that the others had work to do, and anyway, they were his visitors. ‘Where shall we go first?’ he asked.

‘Oh, the studios, of course!’ cried everyone at once.

‘Right, come on then,’ said Adrian. ‘Follow me!’ And he led them out of the door of the North Tower, and onto the catwalk leading to the Central Tower.

Soon they were at the entrance to the tower. Adrian led them through the door and up some stairs, at the top of which there was a small anteroom, separated from the studio by a soundproofed wall with a door in it. This wall, he said, had been added when the fort was converted to a radio station. He opened the door: ‘Now’, he said, be quiet, because we don’t want anyone to hear you.’

There was no-one in this studio they were in. It was smaller than they expected. There was a panel covered in dials and switched, there were turntables, microphones and machines for playing tapes on and mysterious lights and much more besides. Max was very interested, and seemed to understand it better than the girls.

‘This is Studio 2,’ said Adrian. ‘It is sometimes used for programmes, but generally for news. Ah, here comes Jacky della Faro, the Chief Engineer, you know. He’ll explain things to you. Jacky, these are our visitors.’ And he introduced them to the engineer.

‘Hello,’ said Jacky, ‘now I expect you want to know what this is all about, don’t you?’

‘Ooh, yes please,’ said everyone.

So Jacky explained things to them. He showed them what all the switches and dials were for, and he showed them the little window which allowed you to see into the other studio.

‘Angus McDuncan is doing a show at the moment, as you can see,’ said Jacky. ‘When he puts on a record, and turns off the microphone, so that the world doesn’t hear you, we can go in there.’

‘How on earth do you know which switch does which?’ Juliett asked Adrian.

‘We have to learn,’ said Adrian. ‘We wear earphones, so that we can hear what’s going on, so that makes it easier. If anything goes wrong, we send for Jacky here. Don’t we?’

Jacky grinned. ‘Yes, you do, and at the most awkward times, too!’ He looked through the little window to the next studio. ‘I think Angus is ready for us now. Come on.’

So everyone trouped into the next studio, Studio 1. Everyone, that is, except Jacky the engineer, who was busy with a cassette machine in Studio 2 now. Angus McDuncan had put on a long record, so they could have a quick look around the studio. It was slightly larger than Studio 2, and the arrangement was different. On top of the cassette machines was pile on pile of cassettes, and on the desk where Angus sat were piles of records and letters. Angus turned and grinned at them, but he was too busy sorting through the piles of records to say anthing. Adrian told him who they were, and he said that he hoped they liked it, then went back to his work. Adrian explained what he was doing. They noticed that Angus wore earphones, which he had to take off when they talked to him. Then the record came to an end, and they had to leave the studio. They now knew quite a lot more about radio than they had before.

For the next hour or so, Adrian showed them around the fort. They saw where the crew lived and ate, and the record library and many other places. They met Captain Jan Neilson, who was Dutch, and his crew; Johann the cook, Rick the steward, and Marty and Chuck, the other engineers. They also met the other DJ then on the forts, Noel Llewellyn, and had more chances to speak to the others, Dirk Harvey, James Dennis, Alan Love, and Angus McDuncan when he finished his programme later. It was all so exciting, and James Dennis told them that they were free to go about the forts as they wished, so long as they disturbed no-one and didn’t go into the studio without permission.

That day they had lunch in the mess with everyone, which was to become a commonplace thing, but the first time was fun. Adrian was a good host, he was charming and everyone took to him. He saw the danger of their situation, and was only too pleased to help out.

The first three days on the forts were uneventful. The sun shone, the sea was calm and blue, the air was fresh. Letters arrived from home by the tender. The Police had found nothing yet. They as yet had no suspects, but the smugglers obviously were the ones they were after. Adrian and Juliett discussed the affair, and Adrian told her of the strange boats he had seen at the other fort.

‘I wonder how long we will have to stay here,’ said Juliett.

‘Why, don’t you like it?’ said Adrian, a little unhappy.

‘No, of course not, Adrian, we love it, but I was just wondering,’ said Juliett and she gently kissed his cheek.

The police were watching the fort from the shore, but they dared not go out to it without rousing suspicion. And so a week went by on Fort Madeleine. The tender came on the Monday, and James Dennis, Angus McDuncan and Noel Llewellyn left the forts, while Norman Clive, Yale Ross, and Sean Perry cam on. The young visitors met them, and liked them at once, Sean Perry with his soft Irish voice and his fiery eyes, the darkly good-looking Yale Ross with very long hair and a Birmingham accent, and the happy Australian, Norman Clive. The next day it rained, and everyone had to wear raincoats to cross the catwalks. The sea and sky were grey, but the girls helped sort out records, and Max helped the engineers replace valves. They had helped before, the girls in the kitchen and the running of the living side of the fort, Max with the radio side, but now they spent all day working. It rained for two days, but everyone was happy, for all seemed peaceful on the forts, and with the charming company of Adrian and his people, no-one could be unhappy. But they could not be too peaceful, they had to keep a look out for danger, the smugglers might find out that their ‘enemies’ were on the forts. And they did, for while the children were out of the way, they raided Grey House, now empty of occupants, and narrowly avoided capture by the Police, who had foreseen this, and sent the occupants of Grey House away, Greer and Graham Blaire to the hotel in Thelstone and the Blundells to the Inn at Dana, the next town. Mrs Webster, the housekeeper, went to stay with her son at Elmsted, some miles away. Lord and Lady Thelstone had left for their London house.

And so these cruel villains made plans to find their intended victims.

Plan of Fort Madeleine