Thunder from the Sea by Joan Hiatt Harlow

all blown over.”
    Fiona was beginning to feel better, and for the next several days, Tom and Enoch and Thunderwent fishing by themselves. It was a quiet and pleasant time, and Enoch told Tom stories of the sea. Tom especially liked the stories of pirates, like Peter Easton, the “Pirate Admiral” who captured three Spanish treasure ships and divided the bounty with his crew. According to legend, he and other pirates hid their treasures in some of the caves along the Newfoundland shoreline. “They timed the opening of the caves with the tides,” Enoch explained. “Only for a few moments during the day could the caves be entered. And no one knows, of the thousands of caves along the cliffs, which might contain the treasures.”
    Tom had quiet times too. He’d row along the shoreline in his little red punt. Thunder sat in the bow, sniffing at the water or barking at a bird. Sometimes they’d hike toward Eastern Head, peering into the caves that were tucked into the crags and wondering about pirates and treasures.
    One October morning, as he and Thunder were exploring the high ground near Eastern Head and climbing across the enormous boulders, Tom heard something. Thunder heard it too,as he stopped with his ears flicked up, listening.
    Then Tom saw it: a large cave in the cliff. A strange high-pitched, squeaky voice drifted out from within the dark opening.

10 Little Wanderer
    â€œa yedisismeveryowncopy’ouseandnoonecanenterlessisayso!”
    It was Nancy! She and Rowena were standing by the open cave!
    â€œWhat were you singin’?” he asked. “Cheek music?”
    â€œIt’s jannie talk,” Rowena piped up.
    â€œYou know, like the mummers—the jannies,” Nancy said. “They come to houses at Christmastime in their masks and talk their silly jannie talk.”
    Tom had heard of the mummers when he lived at the mission, but had never seen them. He had been told they wore crazy costumes and showed up at Christmastime in an old Newfoundland custom. They were considered too rowdy and wild, so they were often unwelcome. Tom knew theyspoke in weird voices with strange messages to disguise themselves.
    â€œI can’t tell what Nancy’s sayin’ when she talks jannie talk,” Rowena said. “She says she’s speakin’ with real words, but I don’t believe her.”
    â€œTom! Come see our copy house,” Nancy said. “It’s our own secret place, and you can’t tell anyone.”
    â€œWhy would I?” Tom stepped into the cave and was surprised to see how well the girls’ playhouse was hidden in the wall of the cliff. A flat rock was set like a table with pieces of shard. A doll wrapped in a blanket was tucked into a depression which looked very much like a cradle. It was crowded in the cave, so Tom went outside again.
    â€œListen here, Tom,” Nancy said, following him. “This is the place where you can teach me to read. Wait!” She went back into the shallow cave and brought out a canvas envelope. “I have paper, pencils, and a brand new notebook my aunt sent me. We can sit outside, or if it gets cold, we can go into the cave. So sit down right now and help me. You promised.” She sat on a smooth boulder and pulled Rowena into her lap.
    Tom sat next to them while Thunder lay down by his feet. “Do you know your alphabet?”
    â€œI know my alphabet,” Rowena chimed in. “A, B, C, D …,” she sang.
    â€œHush!” Nancy silenced her, and then answered. “I know the alphabet from A to Zed. But I don’t know how to make words with the letters.”
    â€œEvery letter has a sound, sometimes more than one sound,” Tom told her. “There are five vowels you need to learn.” He wrote A E I O U in the notebook, one vowel on each page. He explained each vowel and its sounds. “Say ‘aaah, ay,’” he showed her, beginning with the letter