Pigeon Post
From Arthur Ransome Wiki
Pigeon Post is the sixth book in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of children's books, published in 1936. It won the first Carnegie Medal awarded for children's literature.
This book is one of the few Swallows and Amazons books that does not feature sailing. The action takes place in late July - early August 1932, on and under the fells surrounding the Lake.
Contents |
[edit] Source and dedication
Ransome made use of the mining and prospecting knowledge and experience of his friend, Oscar Gnosspelius, who features in the book as Squashy Hat. The book is dedicated to him. There is also an acknowledgment As usual I have to thank Miss Nancy Blackett for help with the illustrations.
[edit] Characters
- Swallows: John, Susan, Titty, Roger Walker
- pigeons: Homer, Sophocles, Sappho
- Amazons: Nancy [Ruth], Peggy Blackett
- the Ds Dorothea, Dick Callum
- Molly Blackett
- Slater Bob
- "Squashy Hat" (Timothy Stedding)
- Captain Flint
- Minor characters (those in parentheses are "offstage"): ("Timothy the armadillo"), Mrs Tyson, Robin Tyson, Beckfoot cook M Braithwaite, Colonel Jolys, porter at Strickland Junction station, Mrs Newby (farmer's wife on train), engine-driver & fireman on train, (guard at station), Robert (porter at Rio station), (boy who brings milk to Beckfoot from Low Farm, presumably Jacky Warriner), boatman at Rio pier, Dick Elleray (hire driver), hedgehog, 3 men from Atkinson's farm, farmhand from Tyson's farm
[edit] Boats etc
Amazon, Beckfoot rowboat, Rattletrap car
[edit] Plot summary
The Swallows, the Amazons and the Ds are camping in the Blackett family's garden at Beckfoot. The Swallow is not available for sailing. James Turner (Captain Flint) has sent word that he is returning from a prospecting expedition to South America and has sent Timothy ahead. They deduce that Timothy is an armadillo and make a box for him, but he does not arrive. Slater Bob, an old slate miner, tells them a story about a lost gold seam in the fells. As Captain Flint has been unsuccessful in his prospecting trip, plans are made to prospect for gold on High Topps instead.
They move camp to Tyson's Farm to be closer to the prospecting grounds but they find this is little improvement as Mrs Tyson does not allow them to cook over a campfire because of the drought conditions and her fear of fires. Titty eventually finds a spring by dowsing and they move to Camp Might Have Been closer to the Topps. To keep in touch with Beckfoot, they send one of the pigeons with a message every day.
The prospectors explore the area and enter several old mine workings. They notice a rival they call Squashy Hat who is also prospecting. After days of prospecting, gold is found at Golden Gulch and they collect enough to melt down into an ingot in a blast furnace. Unfortunately it disappears when the crucible is broken and Dick Callum has only a small amount to test with aqua regia. Captain Flint returns, and explains to Dick that aqua regia will dissolve almost anything. The point about gold is that it won't dissolve in anything else.... What they have found is copper ore (copper pyrites) not gold.
But a pigeon (Sappho) arrives with an urgent message about fire on the fells. They alert Colonel Jolys' volunteer fire fighters and rush to help save High Topps. The fire is extinguished, Captain Flint is quite satisfied with finding copper: "but it's copper we've been trying for." Squashy Hat turns out to be his friend Timothy, who has been too shy to introduce himself at Beckfoot.
[edit] Cross-references and chronology
References to other books in the Swallows and Amazons series confirm the date of Pigeon Post's setting in the summer of 1932:
- The SADMC took the path up Kanchenjunga to meet Slater Bob following the path of the year before (referring to Swallowdale) (PP3).
- The burglary of Captain Flint's houseboat took place two years since and the freezing-over of the Lake was last winter (Mrs Newby, PP1).
- The Ds have been learning sailing on the Broads (PP2).
[edit] Timeline
Numbers are days (but not actual dates) in late July - early August 1932, names are chapter titles.
- (6.05pm to be exact, see PP1. They cross the Lake at 7.14pm, see PP2) Beginning Already • The Plan
- Consulting Slater Bob • Mrs Blackett Makes Conditions
- Pioneers and Stay-at-Homes • News From the Wilderness
- Trek to Tyson's • High Topps • Two Kinds of Camping Places
- Prospecting • Fending Off the Enemy
- Pot of Paint • Can't Anybody Dowse
- Desperation • Titty Makes Up Her Mind To Do It
- Sinking the Well
- Shifting Camp
- The White Spots
- Roger Alone • What's Become of Him?
- Staking Their Claim • Crushing and Panning
- Jack-in-the-Box • Buried Alive • Hurrying Moles • "We've Got to Do It All Ourselves"
- A Run on Blowpipes
- Charcoal-Burners
- Blast Furnace
- Disaster • Smoke Over High Topps • In the Gulch • At Beckfoot • The Natives • The End
[edit] Notes
- Captain Flint has been away in South America (River Plate, according to his postcards; and Pernambuco a week before the action starts in the story).
- Mrs Jackson at Holly Howe has visitors for the next 2 weeks.
- Bridget has whooping cough--on the day before the story starts, she was only whooping 2 times a day.
- The Swallows have come straight from school--Roger & Titty both had a long day's journey from the south; John and Susan's schools are not so far from the Lake.
- the Ds were not supposed to be there "for ages yet" because Mr Callum was correcting exam papers.
- The entire group is camping in the Beckfoot garden until Mrs Walker comes up to Holly Howe. Swallow belongs to the Jackson's, so they won't have her until then.
- Beckfoot is being re-decorated--painters, plasterers, paperhangers, etc.
- Susan got a mincing machine for her birthday.
- Roger has been promoted to able-seaman (from ship's boy).
- Mrs Blackett's father and Slater Bob went to Africa together to prospect for gold.
- The Billies or charcoal burners are away at the low end of the Lake this summer.
- Dundale, Ling Scar, High Topps, Grey Screes, Greenbanks are all locations mentioned; Grey Cap, Slate Crop, Brown's Dog, Jimson's, Giftie, and Old Level are all names of mines mentioned.
- The story mentions that the first miners in the area were German copper miners in the time of Queen Elizabeth I.
- Daddy (Ted Walker) is in China.
- The matches the kids use come in a box with a picture of Noah's Ark on it.
- On Day 17, Mrs Blackett tells Dick that his parents will be at Dixon's on the day after tomorrow; Mrs Walker and Bridget will be staying at Beckfoot for a day or two before going to Holly Howe.
- Colonel Jolys's telephone number is Fellside 75.
[edit] External link
| Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series | |||||
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Swallows and Amazons | 'Their Own Story' | Swallowdale | Peter Duck | Winter Holiday | Coot Club | Pigeon Post | We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea | The Big Six | Secret Water | Missee Lee | The Picts and the Martyrs | 'Coots in the North' | Great Northern?
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