THE CALYPSO FARM ADVENTURE

Do you remember our adventurers, Tipu, Tara,Minu and Mohit? Arrey, the same who found the hidden jewels in the haveli. Yes, yes… they are together again.

Tipu and Tara were pacing up and down the driveaway. Their father had gone to the airport to pick up Mohit and Minu. Both the kids had been up and about since the crack of the dawn, making sure everything was ready for their guests. “I wish they would hurry,” said Tara, fidgeting. “Here they are, Yippee. The Fab Four are together again”, shouted Tipu, swinging from the gates.

Soon, there was chaos on the driveway with children shouting, jumping up and down, falling over luggage. Oh! What fun. “Guys, do you remember the adventure at Amala Mausi’s haveli. The stolen jewels and the thieves. So much fun,” said Mohit. “I wish we could have an adventure again. It will be fun,” said Tipu. “No , thanks.” said Minu very sternly, “I wish for a  peaceful holiday.” Tara said, “You will love Goa. We could go down to the sea this afternoon.”  “And stop for cakes at Mrs D’Costas,”said Tipu, rubbing his tummy. “They are epic. You will fall in love with them.” “ Really, " said Mohit, “Can’t wait. Ok, so what’s the plan for the vacation?”

Major Anil Sharma, Tipu and Tara’s father and uncle to Minu and Mohit looked up and said, “Well, I was thinking that maybe you all could go for a few days to a farm on Vanxim island owned by my  friend, Colonel Mendez. He has two children of his own. You guys will have fun with them. What do you think?” “Real farm” , said Minu. “Sounds exciting,” said Tipu. The children were excited and the plan was made.

The next morning saw them driving down the road to Vanxim island. They stopped at the jetty on Mandovi river and took a ferry across. Minu and Mohit were super excited at the ferry crossing. Imagine , you are in a jeep and the jeep is on the boat taking you across a vast river. They docked at the jetty on Vanxim island and were soon moving through narrow gullies amidst the mangrove and cashew trees. 

After a mile or so, they came across “Calypso Farms”, owned by Colonel Mendez. “Hurray, we have reached”, said Tipu as he jumped off the jeep. The gates were open and two gorgeous golden retrievers scampered up to them barking their heads off. “Quiet, Casper. Quiet Bolt”, two voices came in unison from the tree above. Two tousled black haired boys swung down from the tree. “Hello and welcome to Calypso Farms. We are Tim and Tom, your hosts.” “More like pests’, said a dry voice from the verandah. “Come on Anil. Let the kids get acquainted. You come and have a cup of tea. Tim and Tom, help them with the luggage and show them their rooms,” said Col. Mendez. “Yes Sir.” “Right away, Sir” said both saluting in unison.

“Come , we will take you to your rooms. So glad that you decided to visit us. We will have fun. We will show you all our secret spots.” The two boys rambled on as they led the others indoors. The farm was a big rambling house with stairs going up and a big balcony overlooking the kitchen and living area. The bedrooms of the children were tucked away in the attic at the top of a round spiral staircase. There were four rooms. One for the girls, one for the boys, one for tim and tom and one was a common sitting, play room thing. The rooms were spacious and well ventilated. The playroom had shelves of toys and books and things like binoculars, a telescope and even night goggles. “What fun,” said Tipu, trying out the binoculars. 

“The binoculars are excellent for watching birds and sometimes we have spotted a leopard too”, said Tim. “ We have photos of them. We will show you”, said Tom. “But you must be hungry. Come,let’s go down. Annie must have made lunch.” Tara said, “Thank you for having us. We will surely have fun together. Umm. Where is your mom? We must greet her too.” Both the boys looked sad, “Our mom passed away in the pandemic. Papa came back and we have been here since then.” “Sorry to hear that,” said the kids. “We did not know.” “Come, let’s go down. We can’t have a sad face in front of Papa. He gets terribly sad then.” 

The kids came down and were delighted to see the spread on the table. Tipu said, “Food. Good food. I am famished”. “You are always famished,”said Tara. “Complete glutton”. The elders too came in and it was a noisy group which sat down to eat. Afterwards, the kids helped Annie clear up and then went to sit outside in the verandah.

The evening was magical and golden. A kind of hush fell on the island as if everyone was waiting for the sky to be painted in myriad colours. Jacob the gardener came in pushing a trolley of vegetables, fruits and flowers from the side gate. “Tim, Tom, come see what treasures I have got today.” He was an old man, ripened in the sun and wrinkled like the bark of a tree. His hands were big and calloused but they were kind as they lifted purple brinjals and red carrots with their green leafy tops. The guavas looked nice and tart and the pears smelled fabulous. All the kids crowded the trolley. “Oh hello, who are your guests Tim?”. “These are our friends, Jacob. They have come to stay with us. This is Tipu, Tara, Minu and Mohit.” said the twins together. “Lovely to see you all. Here, take the vegetables and fruits to Annie. She will make a nice stew and pear cake with them.”

Jacob’s assistant, Rob, was a sour looking young man. He pushed the vegetables into Minu’s hand roughly. He looked irritated with the kids' arrival as if they had come simply to bother him. “Here, take the stuff quickly. I don’t have time to spare.” He just tumbled everything on the verandah and turned back with the trolley, frowning and looking positively villainous. “What’s his problem?” asked Mohit. “Oh, don’t bother with him”, said Jacob. “You all come to my home tomorrow. I will show you the weaver bird colony I found today.” Then Jacob also went back. The children carried the fruits and vegetables into the kitchen. The elders were still gossiping in the living room so the kids went up to play. 

After dinner, which was again a lovely spread with pear cake as a dessert, the kids were full and sleepy so without more ado, they all went up the stairs to the attic and tumbled in their beds. They all were asleep before the lights went out in the main room. Mohit suddenly woke up, feeling thirsty. He looked for the water bottle on the nightstand but it was not there. It had rolled to the corner of the room. The moon was bright and lighted the room, so Mohit did not switch on the bedside lamp. He scrambled out and went to get the bottle. Just as he was bending down, he saw a flash of light moving down below in the garden.

Mohit walked to the open window and peered out. Yes, there was a light moving along the garden. He quickly woke up Tipu. “Look, there is someone in the garden. Is it a thief?” “I don’t think so. Casper and Bolt would have barked the place down. It must be Jacob or Rob”, said Tipu. “Why would they wander around the garden at night?” wondered Mohit. “Who knows?” said Tipu. “We can ask them in the morning.” Then both went back to sleep.

Next morning, the kids were all busy in the garden as Jacob and Rob came pushing a wheel barrow with fertilisers. “Good morning kids. So are we planting or weeding the garden this morning.Tim, why don’t you take your guests to the lake today. We will be fishing. You can also join us.” All the kids were excited. “Yes we have two spare fishing rods. Let’s all go. I will ask Annie to make some sandwiches.’ said Tom, already tearing in. Mohit just casually asked Jacob, “Jacob where were you in the garden last night?” Tipu was watching both Jacob and Rob carefully. He could swear Rob looked shocked. Jacob just laughed, “Ah no. I never come out of my house at night. My old bones need rest, baba.”, he said. Rob quickly turned away but not before Tipu caught his look of confusion and anger.

What was Rob doing in the garden at night? I think we have an adventure coming up. Poor Tara. She wanted a simple holiday but it looks like her wish will not come true. Next time, we have to follow Rob.

 

CHAPTER 2

Tipu and Mohit looked at each other and nodded. Mohit said very casually, “We saw someone in the garden last night. If it wasn’t Jacob then was it you Rob?” Rob shoved his shears into the pocket and turned around angrily, “What do you mean? Are you spying on me? Anyways , it wasn’t me.” He snatched up his shovel and strode out of the garden. Jacob said grinning, “Oh, our Rob has  a nasty temper. He was always like this. Quick to anger but a nice person.” saying that, Jacob went away too.

 

Everyone at the breakfast table were quiet, then Annie spoke, “Don’t mind him. He is not a bad person. It’s just hard for him after his brother went missing.” Tim and Tom changed the topic, “Why don’t we go to the creek to catch some fish? Annie, can you pack something nice and cold for our picnic lunch.” Annie agreed, “Of course. Go get ready. I will have everything ready in an hour.”

 

The children ran upstairs to get ready. Tiu said, “We must keep a lookout for Rob. I have a feeling he is up to no good.” The others agreed. Soon, Tim and Tom and the others picked up the fishing rods and the packed lunches and were off on the cycles that they found in the shed. The creek lay glittering in the morning sun. A cool breeze blew up just as the kids parked in the shade. Tara and Minu spread a rug under the trees and lay down looking up at the dappled shade of the tree. The boys threw the fishing rods into the lake and sat down to wait for the catch. Time passed slowly, the children felt sleepy and happy. Suddenly, Tim shouted out, “Hey, who is there? Who is standing there?” The children all scrambled up and saw someone running away. “Who was it? Who did you see?” asked Mohit. Tim was a little shaken and answered slowly, “I am not sure who it was. He had a very white thin face and a black mouth. I saw him leaning over our bicycles, so I shouted and he ran away.”

 

“At the cycles!! Let’s go and see,” said Tipu. The children went near the cycles and searched the area around. Just as Minu turned away, a glint caught her eye. She bent down and there just near her cycle was something round and shiny. She picked it up and showed the kids. Tim and Tom looked at the old gold coin and said, “This looks old. Let’s show this to Papa.” “I wonder who that man was and what he was doing with our cycles?”, said Minu.

 

They hurried back home just as clouds gathered and it started raining. “I don’t think Rob will go out today”, muttered Mohit to Tipu. “If he does, we should follow him,”Tipu said softly. The rains did not let up all day. The kids remained in the house, talking about the mysterious man and the old gold coin. Col. Mendez had said it was an old portuguese coin and quite valuable. Why would the mystery man have this in his pocket? 

 

The kids went upstairs after dinner. Tipu and Mohit planned to stay awake. Tim and Tom took down the night glasses,raincoats and torches. All were ready for their adventure in the night if at all Rob showed up. The girls decided to wait up for them. After everyone went to bed, the kids kept watch in the darkened playroom in the attic. Just as Mohit dropped into a doze, he was kicked awake by Tipu. Tipu pointed down. Sure enough, there was a torch and there was the unmistakable figure of Rob. He looked up towards the house as if to check if the children were up but the kids were hiding so he saw no one. They saw him slipping out of the side gate towards the creek which flowed just a few yards beyond. 

 

Tipu, Mohit, Tim and Tom quickly took up their raincoats ,boots and torches and slid down the stairs. They were soon moving in the same direction as Rob. After plodding through puddles for some time , the kids came to a rocky outcrop where the creek flowed into the sea. There, they saw Rob standing at the very edge of the creek on a rock and waving his torch about. The kids hid behind the rocks and watched the scene.Soon , there was an answering gleam from the dark sea and slowly a boat emerged out of the darkness. Few figures jumped out, some boxes were unloaded and then the coast was clear. No one was around. Rob was gone and so were the others. The boys got up from their hiding places and ran towards the edge. They flashed their torches around but nothing was visible. Then suddenly, Tipu tripped over something. He fell with a big crash. The others helped him up and there just by his foot was an iron ring embedded in the rock. “That is surprising. Why would there be a ring in a rock?” asked Tom. “Should we take a look?”, asked Mohit. Tim said, “Not now. We are not fully equipped. We will need to tell someone too before we disappear into the hills. Let’s come back tomorrow morning.” Tipu said, “I agree. I think these were smugglers. They will not come here in the morning so that will be safe. Let’s go”.

 

The boys came back to the side gate. Tipu said, “Should we take a look at the gardener's hut? Just to see if Rob is back or not. He stays with Jacob, right?” They went to the hut near the gate and peeped in. Jacob was snoring away and there was something round on Rob’s bed. “Look,” said Tim, “ I will stop here and see if he comes back.” They left Tim to guard the hut and went back to the house. They quietly went up to the attic and told the waiting girls all about it. “Oooh! What an adventure. We will go with you in the morning. I am not waiting back here and letting you guys have all the fun.” said Tara. 

 

Next morning, Tim told them quietly that Rob had come back pretty late and the thing on Rob’s bed was actually pillows. “Today is an off day for the servants. So we are on our own. Jacob and Rob have gone to the mainland and Annie will go to her village on the next island.” “So, let’s just take a picnic lunch and go and explore that rocky beach”, said Tipu. Soon all the kids were marching out to the beach with their backpacks tufted with sandwiches, fruits and drinks. They reached the rocky beach and the ring in the rock. They carefully checked the beach, then tried to raise the rock. It took all of them tugging and pulling to raise the rock and suddenly the rock just slid away leaving steps going down into the hill. The tunnel, if it could be called that, looked dark and scary. Minu did not want to go in. She and Tom decided to sit and wait for the others. Tipu, Tim, Mohit and Tara stepped in carrying their backpacks and were soon lost in the tunnel. 

 Casper's low growl echoed through the cavern.

The huge underground chamber was lit by a few hanging lanterns. Crates were stacked against the walls, and old fishing nets lay in heaps on the floor.

The dog stood whining before a heavy wooden door reinforced with iron bands.

"There's definitely someone in there," whispered Tara. Tom looked at Casper and said wonderingly, “Someone that Casper knows. Look he is not growling but whining.”. Tom knocked softly. A startled voice answered from inside. "Who's there?" Before the children could reply, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed through the cavern. "Hide!" hissed Mohit.

The four children ducked behind a pile of crates just as Rob entered the cave with three smugglers. The smugglers were unloading boxes from a small underground jetty connected to the creek. One box split open, revealing silver idols wrapped in cloth. The children watched silently. Then disaster struck. Casper, unable to contain himself, gave a sharp bark.

The entire cavern froze. "Someone's here!" shouted one of the men. Within seconds the children were discovered. The leader grabbed Tara by the arm. "So these are the little spies who have been snooping around." The children were searched and marched across the cavern. As they passed Rob, Tara noticed the panic in his eyes. He looked frightened rather than angry.

The children were pushed into the locked room and the door slammed shut behind them. The room was small and damp. Sitting in one corner was a thin young man in torn clothes. He looked exhausted. "Remy!" gasped Tom. The young man introduced himself. "I am Rob's older brother."

Slowly the truth emerged. Months ago Remy had discovered strange activity at the creek and had accidentally witnessed a smuggling exchange. The gang had captured him and hidden him in the cave. They had threatened Rob. "Help us move goods," the gang had told him, "or you'll never see your brother again." Since then Rob had been secretly assisting them while desperately looking for a way to free Remy. "He isn't a bad person," Remy explained. "He's been trapped just as much as I have."

Outside, the smugglers continued loading crates. A little later, footsteps approached again. The children expected another smuggler. Instead, they saw Rob. He glanced nervously over his shoulder. "We don't have much time," he whispered. From his pocket he produced a key. "I'm sorry," he said. "I should have told someone long ago."

The lock clicked open. "You have to get Remy out.” said Rob. "Come with us," said Tara. Rob shook his head. "If I disappear now, they'll know something is wrong. I'll delay them as long as I can. "He pointed to a rusty metal grille hidden behind old boxes. "There's an old drainage passage behind that wall. Years ago, it connected the cave to the farmhouse grounds. "Working together, the children shifted the boxes aside. Behind them was a narrow tunnel blocked by a corroded iron grille. Using a loose metal rod, Mohit and Tom managed to pry it open.

One by one they squeezed through. The passage was cramped and dark. Water dripped from the ceiling. At some places they had to crawl. At others they waded through ankle-deep water. Casper led the way, his nose working furiously. After what felt like forever, a faint light appeared ahead. The tunnel ended beneath the old, abandoned garden shed at the far end of the farmhouse property. A rotten trapdoor concealed the exit. With a shove from Tom and Remy, it creaked open. Fresh air rushed in. They had escaped.

Meanwhile, Minu and Tim had been waiting anxiously on the beach. The tide had risen. More than two hours had passed. "They should have been back by now," said Tim. Bolt suddenly sprang to his feet. The dog barked and ran toward the farmhouse. The children followed. Just then they saw Tara, Tom, Mohit, Remy and Casper emerging from the garden shed. Everyone began talking at once. Within minutes the full story had been told. The twins' father immediately contacted the police and the coastal security authorities. Several police vehicles soon arrived on the island.

Back in the cavern, Rob was carrying out his own plan. Knowing the police would soon arrive, he deliberately delayed the smugglers. He switched labels on the crates. He claimed one shipment was missing. He even convinced the leader that some goods had been left near the creek. The smugglers wasted precious time searching. Then they discovered the empty prison room. "The prisoners are gone!" The leader's face turned red with fury. "Find them!" But it was already too late.

Police officers entered from the tunnel while coast guard boats blocked the creek entrance. The smugglers found themselves trapped. Some tried to escape through the beach tunnel. Others ran toward the underground jetty. Every route was blocked. In the confusion, the leader attempted to flee through a side passage. Casper and Bolt charged after him. The barking dogs forced him into the open, where two officers tackled and arrested him. Within minutes the entire gang was in custody. Officers recovered stolen statues, antique coins, jewellery, rare artefacts and large amounts of cash. The hidden smuggling operation had finally been destroyed.

A few weeks later, a ceremony was held in Goa. The six children stood together on a decorated stage. Tara, Tipu, Mohit, Tom, Minu and Tim received medals for bravery and certificates of appreciation. The police commissioner also thanked Rob for helping rescue the prisoners and exposing the gang. Remy, now free, stood proudly beside his younger brother.

Even Casper and Bolt received special medals attached to shiny new collars. As cameras flashed and everyone applauded, the twins' father smiled. “I invited four children for a peaceful holiday," he said." Instead, I got six detectives."

The audience burst out laughing. The friends exchanged grins. Their holiday had begun with a quiet island farmhouse and ended with a smuggling ring being broken, a family reunited, and six young adventurers becoming local heroes.

And whenever they later looked at their medals, they remembered the dark tunnel beneath a stony beach, the hidden cavern, and the adventure that none of them would ever forget.