WORRALS OF THE ISLANDS

by Captain W. E. Johns

VI. WORRALS TAKES A CHANCE (Pages 70 – 80)

The next day, Harry asks if he can go with Worrals and Frecks on the search. They use him to man the guns as that is the job for which he has been trained. Worrals decides a new approach to the search. Remarking how they haven’t seen any natives and believing the noise of the aircraft causes them to hide, Worrals gains some altitude and then cuts the engine and glides over an island. This time they do see natives and when the natives see the plane, they bolt for the cover of the trees. “Children scrambled like little brown monkeys. In an instant there was not a soul in sight”. Worrals decides to land and try speaking to the natives. She engages with a man who speaks pigeon English. “What name blong you?” he asks. Worrals replies “Name blong me Worrals”. Worrals finds out this man is called Oko. Harry comes ashore and sees the two natives who came to his island. Through Oko they make out that nine “Marys” (the pidgin English word for woman) were on an island but nobody knew where the island was. They do establish, through mime, that there is another man, apparently a Sikh policeman from Singapore, also a refuge, who may know more information about the woman. This man is on an island the natives call Maital, but native names are not on the Admiralty charts. Worrals decides to go with Oko in his canoe to this island to meet with the Sikh and see if he can give them any useful information to help their search. Worrals promises to give Oko a gun when they get back. Worrals sets off as a passenger in Oko’s canoe whilst Frecks and Harry return to their base on Ingles Island and arrange to return in two days to pick Worrals up.