The Digglers

An Adventure

The days went by and as they passed a firm friendship grew between the girls. It was the best Christmas either had spent. The Snowman had got his hair back, even though it was now yellow! Just as if a magic wand had been waved, the wood was beginning to wake up and enjoy the new friendship that was taking place. Flowers began to pop their heads and want to know what was going on around them. Buds on the trees grew fatter and birds were singing their songs. Animals too were waking from their winter sleep and looking for their stores of food. The girls saw many animal tracks in the snow, but alas the snow was melting and with it their friend, Snowman.
'If only we could keep him', sighed Lucy.
Diane thought for a minute. 'Perhaps we can, well just a bit of him.'
She ran back home and found an old glass bottle in the shed and she put in some snow that had been part of Snowman.
'We can put it him the fridge and next year when the snow comes we can put him with the new snowman.'
The girls also replanted the Christmas tree and promised to come back for him next year.

The next day, Diane's dad was going fishing. Diane had been many times but Lucy hadn't and she wanted to go.
'I'll give fifty pence to the one who catches the largest fish,' he said.
In the morning, Lucy was the first up and she went into the wood. The Snowman was no-where to be seen, he had melted during the night.
'What a wonderful place,' she said. 'I hope I can stay here forever.
When she got back to the cottage, Diane was helping her mum to get breakfast. Diane's dad had gone to the beach to dig for worms to use as bait. Lucy was so excited she could hardly eat her breakfast. At last breakfast was over.
'Good-bye, Snowman, see you tonight', said Diane looking at the fridge.
'Who are you talking to?' asked her mum.
'Snowman, he's in the fridge'.
'What! Get him out at once!' said her mum looking very worried and wondering if she dare open the fridge.
'Yes,' said her dad sternly. 'You've gone too far this time. There will be no fishing for you today. When you've cleared up the mess, go straight to your room and stay there.'
'But it's only a bit of him and he's in a bottle', and she went to get him out.
'There he is. I've kept a bit of his hair and his two eyes and next year we'll put him with the new snowman.'
'All right,' said her mum who had decided she had had enough. 'I think it's time you all went fishing. Don't forget to come back with a big one!'
Lucy carried the sandwiches, Diane the fishing rods and her father the bait as they made their way down to the boat and the start of a very eventful day.

Diane's dad rowed round the island towards the open sea. At last he stopped rowing and said it was a good place to fish. At the bottom of the boat was a bucket.
'What's that for?' asked Lucy.
'We don't kill all the fish we catch,' explained Diane. 'We put them all in the bucket. The biggest we keep, the rest we put back in the sea.'
They started to fish. It wasn't a pleasant day, it was rather dull but it wasn't raining. After about an hour they had only managed to catch three fish and they weren't very big. Diane was hungry and wanted to eat the sandwiches.
'We'll have something to eat now, spend another hour fishing and then go back home,' decided her dad.
'How do you like fishing?' Diane asked Lucy.
'Not very much, I don't like putting the worms on the end of the hook,' said Lucy as she dropped part of her sandwich into the bucket for the fish to eat. Lucy soon changed her mind about fishing when she managed to catch a large fish and was sure she would win the fifty pence promised by Diane's dad.
'Right, that's it, girls. We'll keep Lucy's fish and put the rest back and set off for home.'
Whilst her dad was putting the unwanted fish back, Diane turned to look at the island. She didn't see the island but what she did made her go cold with fear. Heading straight towards the boat was a thick wall of fog and it would soon engulf the boat.
'Quick!' shouted her dad. 'We must try and get back to the island.'
It was too late. They were surrounded by the fog.
'What are we going to do?' asked Diane who was now frightened.
'There's nothing we can do,' said her dad who had stopped rowing. 'We will just have to sit here and hope that the fog clears. What you can is listen. We are in a busy channel. Large ships pass this way to the port on the mainland.' He didn't want to make the girls more frightened by telling them that a large ship could easily crash into them.
'When it is foggy, a ship uses a siren. It's much like a horn on a car. You listen and if you hear one let me know.'
The two girls sat listening. Apart from the lapping of the water on the side of the boat it was quiet. After what seemed a long time, Diane thought she could hear something. It was a long way off. She listened. There it was again.
'Did you hear that?' she asked her dad and Lucy. They hadn't but now they too were sat listening. At last everyone could hear a siren.
'It'll never see us in this fog!' shouted Diane's father. 'If we stay here the ship will smash into us! We have to get away. Now listen carefully and tell me which side you think the noise is coming from.'
The girls sat perfectly still listening.
'Over there!' they shouted both pointing to the same place.
'Right, then that's the way we will go,' he shouted and picking up the oars he began to row in the opposite direction.
At first the noise of the siren got louder but then it seemed to get further away. After rowing for quite some time one of the oars touched the sea-bottom.
'We are coming to some land. At least we will be safe here until the fog clears'.
They jumped out of the boat and dragged it up the beach relieved to be on dry land. The fog was still thick and they no idea where they were.
Diane's dad found a small cave in some rocks.
'We can shelter in here for the time being,' he said.
They found some driftwood that had been washed into the cave. It was dry and Diane's father had some matches and soon they were sitting by a comforting fire. They could see again. Some fog had drifted into the cave but it wasn't as bad as outside.
Every few minutes one of the girls would go outside and see if the fog had cleared. It hadn't and it was beginning to look as if they were going to spend the night in the cave.
'I'm hungry,' said Diane.
'I'm not surprised,' said her dad looking at his watch. 'It's eight o'clock.'
He then remembered Lucy's fish that was still in the bucket. He went to get it and was soon cooking the fish over the fire. Whilst they were eating the fish, Diane began to dream about the cave and wondered if long ago pirates had stayed in this cave and they too had eaten fish like she was.
The girls were now very tired and were soon asleep.
The next morning when they woke they found Diane's father cooking some more fish.
'Morning you two, want some fish?'
Diane noticed that instead of cutting three pieces of fish, he had cut four.
'What's the extra piece for?' she asked.
'It's for your mum,' he answered. 'She's joining us for breakfast.'
'How can she when we don't know where we are?' said Diane puzzled.
'Oh, yes we do. Go and take a look outside.'
The two girls rushed outside. The fog had gone and it was a bright sunny morning. Walking towards them was Diane's mum. The beach they had spent the night on was the very same beach at the bottom of their garden! Diane and Lucy could hardly eat their breakfast for laughing.
Diane's mum was relieved to see them safe and sound.
'Next time you go fishing,' she said. 'I'll have to come with you to make sure you don't get lost!'
It was a long time before Diane and Lucy went fishing again and they christened the cave they had spent the night in 'Fisherman's Rest'.