Swallows and Amazons

The other children finish putting together the Blackett girls’ tent as Nancy rows back to the island with her uncle in pursuit. He asks to come ashore and says that he wants to apologize to John. He does so, calling his own behavior “beastly” and asking to shake hands. Near tears, John puts out his hand.

The Blackett girls explain why they had planned to go to war with Jim and force him to either walk the plank or cooperate in their games. He readily agrees to the war, and they plan it for the next day. The Walkers introduce themselves and invite him to dinner, where he shows his true colors by referring to Titty respectfully as “Able-seaman.”

After dinner, they discuss the burglary, and Titty tells Jim about hearing the men in the rowboat leave the “treasure” on Cormorant Island. Jim shakes her hand and says that if they can find the box, he will give her anything she wants. Furthermore, he promises Nancy that if he gets his manuscript back, he will never turn “native” again. They row over to the other island but don’t see the box.

At three o’clock the next day, the children sail to the houseboat with the plan of attacking it from opposite sides. Jim is flying the flag of Siam (modern-day Thailand). Susan blows her whistle, and Jim blows one back and shoots off his cannon. They board the houseboat as Jim charges them with two cushions in a pillow fight. All the children jump on Jim and bring him down, and Titty strikes his flag. They tie him to the mast and accuse him of his crimes, chief of which are treachery and desertion. They vote on making him walk the plank, and John and Susan hesitate until Nancy says that he will not be tied up so that he can swim.

They drag him to a diving board as he begs for mercy and then jumps into the water. The children are a little nervous until he surfaces, pretending there are sharks in the water. After he promises never to be in league with “natives” again, the children throw him a rope ladder. Back onboard, he ushers the children to a banquet belowdecks. They all agree to a fishing trip the next day, the Walkers’ last one. Titty plans instead to take another look for the treasure on Cormorant Island along with Roger. Jim plays his accordion, and the children dance a hornpipe.

Titty and Roger row off to Cormorant Island as the others fish. Titty finds a pipe dropped by one of the burglars and realizes that the treasure must be nearby. When they stop to build a fire, Titty pulls at a stone that moves easily and reveals the stolen box, which is too heavy to lift.

The fishing party decides to check on Titty and Roger on their way home and offer them a tow back to Wild Cat Island. When Titty tells Jim that they found the box, he says, “Well done, Able-seaman!” (313). Jim unlocks the box and displays his typewriter, diaries, and manuscript. Nancy is all for finding and hanging the burglars, but Jim doesn’t want to send them to jail. Instead, he quickly carves a fish out of a piece of wood and ties it to the pipe to let the burglars know that the treasure has been safely recovered. He writes on the fish, “Honesty is the best policy” (315).

Jim advises the children against writing books and asks what he can give Titty as a reward. She says that she would like him to bring a parrot back from his next journey. As she steers the Swallow, she reflects that she had been right about the treasure. Back at camp, a storm is coming. They clean a giant pike caught on the fishing expedition and cut it up for steaks. After dinner, they add the spot where the treasure was found to John’s chart.

Nancy says that they should plan their expeditions for next year and suggests that they explore north and south of the island. When it is nearly dark, Jim arrives with a large cage and puts it down next to Titty. It is his parrot, with a note thanking Titty for saving his “[l]ife”—his memoir. “Pieces of eight!” cries the parrot for the first time. He continues the discussion of plans for next year, such as sailing to the Azores, and then departs. The children go to bed.

The storm arrives with a crash of thunder, followed by lightning. Titty calls out to Susan, who reassures her. The rain enters their tents, and they hide their clothes under oil cloths to keep them dry. The wind picks up, felling branches and blowing the trees from which the tents are hung. Susan and Titty’s tent collapses on them (and the parrot), and they run to the Blackett girls’ tent. John rescues his barometer, chronometer, and lantern, and they all huddle in the Amazon tent.

John and Nancy, along with Titty, decide to make sure that the boats are safe; they are. Titty pauses to watch the storm from a cliff in the harbor. When they return, the children stay up and tell fanciful adventure stories about how the ships sank in the storm and they were shipwrecked on the island. The storm ends as morning arrives.

The children have breakfast, and then the “natives” arrive to make sure they are all safe. Mrs. Dixon brings milk and some hot porridge, and then Jim Turner rows over. Mother and Mr. Jackson also arrive with cocoa and dry clothes. Finally, Mrs. Blackett appears in a motorboat. Mrs. Dixon, taking her leave, wonders if they will come again next year. When Titty says that they will come every year forever, Mrs. Dixon replies, “Aye […] we all think that when we’re young” (341).

Mrs. Blackett suggests that her girls return with her and tow the Amazon, to which Nancy reacts in horror. Similarly, the Walkers plan to return to the farm under sail, not with Mother. Before the two mothers travel back together, Mrs. Walker promises to return next year.

The children are glum after the adults leave. Peggy mentions school, and Nancy says that they won’t be at school forever. When they grow up, they’ll “live here all the year round” (345). Titty agrees. John says that he and Roger will go to sea but will always return to the island on leave. They load up the boats and begin sailing to a cove, where they will have their tea. As they pass a lake steamer, the passengers cheer for the children who have found Jim’s stolen box. A sailor lowers the steamer’s flag to half-mast and then raises it again. The Swallows and Amazons do the same with their flags.

After tea, the two crews sail home, passing Wild Cat Island on the way. For each child, it means something different. John remembers making the leading lights and swimming around it, Roger remembers swimming for the first time, Susan remembers the camp and cooking, and Titty remembers being alone on the island and capturing the Amazon. They shout goodbyes to Jim and then, as they near Holly Howe Farm, to each other. Each crew cheers for the other.