The pile of things on the kitchen table grew and grew as Susan crossed off the items on her list.
John and Titty came in to show her the new flag and to see how she was getting on.
“Who is going to be doctor?” she asked.
“Surgeon,” said Titty. “It’s always surgeon on board ship.”
“You are,” said John. “You’re the mate. It’s the mate’s job. He comes dancing on to the scene, ‘And well,’ says he, ‘and how are your arms and legs and liver and lungs and bones afeeling now?’ Don’t you remember?”
“Then I ought to take some bandages and medicines and things.”
“Oh, no,” said Titty. “On desert islands they cure everything with herbs. We’ll have all sorts of diseases, plagues, and fevers and things that no medicine is any good for and we’ll cure them with herbs that the natives show us.”
At this point mother came in and settled the question. “No medicines,” she said. “Anyone who wants doctoring is invalided home.”
“If it’s really serious,” said Titty, “but we can have a plague or a fever or two by ourselves.”
John said: “What about a chart?”
Titty said that as the ocean had never been explored, there could not be any charts.
“But all the most exciting charts and maps have places on them that are marked ‘Unexplored.’ ”
“Well, they won’t be much good for those places,” said Titty.