Aunt Effie and the Island That Sank Read online

  starboard the right side of a ship looking ahead

  staysail (stays’l) triangular sail set inside the jib

  stow your gab shut up!

  stringers tree trunks used as main bearers for a bridge

  tack to change the direction of a sailing ship

  taihoa hold on, take it easy, in a while

  tally on take or catch hold of a rope

  Tamihana, Wiremu a great 19th Century Maori leader of Ngati Haua (see The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography; www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/)

  tampion a plug in the mouth of a cannon, to keep it clean and dry

  tawa a New Zealand tree

  tea-tree a New Zealand scrub with sharp-tasting berries and leaves “It might be called tea-tree, but it tastes like yuk!” —Casey.

  thigh waders very long gumboots

  transom part of the stern

  truncheon a policeman’s short cudgel

  wad a disc of cloth or paper that holds the charge and the cannonball in the barrel

  waipiro stinking water, swamp water, or alcohol

  weather helm a ship’s tendency to come up into the wind

  wharfinger somebody in charge of a wharf

  whim a bush winch or windlass like a capstan, used to haul logs and heavy loads

  wideawake a broad-brimmed, low-crowned felt hat

  Wind in the Willows, The “If you want to know more of messing about in boats, and driving magnificent cars, read The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.” —Jessie.

  Zeppelin a German-designed airship “I’m going to fly a Zeppelin when I grow up.” —Lizzie.

  The Deaf Old Author

  Before I went deaf, I used to talk about my writing to kids in schools, and they always asked, “Where do you get your ideas from?” But I was too cunning for them. I knew that if I told those kids my secret, they’d write their own books, and they wouldn’t buy mine.

  If you promise not to tell, here’s my secret: I used to pinch my ideas from things kids said. Now I’m deaf and can’t hear the kids, I have to climb in the school windows after dark and read their stories on the wall. That way, I can still steal their ideas.

  Here’s another Aunt Effie story. Every idea in it, I stole off some kid. But don’t tell them, or they’ll start hiding their stories, and I’ll run out of ideas for another book.

  —Jack Lasenby

  Also by Jack Lasenby

  Charlie the Cheeky Kea 1976

  Rewi the Red Deer 1976

  The Lake 1987

  The Mangrove Summer 1989

  Uncle Trev 1991

  Uncle Trev and the Great South Island Plan 1991

  Uncle Trev and the Treaty of Waitangi 1992

  The Conjuror 1992

  Harry Wakatipu 1993

  Dead Man’s Head 1994

  The Waterfall 1995

  The Battle of Pook Island 1996

  Because We Were the Travellers 1997

  Uncle Trev’s Teeth 1997

  Taur 1998

  The Shaman and the Droll 1999

  The Lies of Harry Wakatipu 2000

  Kalik 2001

  Aunt Effie 2002

  Harry Wakatipu Comes the Mong 2003

  Aunt Affie’s Ark 2003

  Copyright

  I am grateful for the assistance of Creative N.Z. — the Arts Council of New Zealand. Their grant in 2002 helped me complete work on this book.

  This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior permission of Longacre Press and the author.

  Jack Lasenby asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  © Jack Lasenby

  ISBN 978 1 77553 124 1

  First published by Longacre Press 2004

  30 Moray Chambers, Dunedin, New Zealand.

  Book and cover design by Christine Buess

  Map on page 8 by Katy Buess

  Cover illustrations by David Elliot

  Printed by McPherson’s Printing Group, Australia