Pigeon Post
 | |
| Author | Arthur Ransome |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Arthur Ransome |
| Language | English |
| Series | Swallows and Amazons |
| Genre | Children's books |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
Publication date | 1936 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-613-77235-0 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| Preceded by | Coot Club |
| Followed by | We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea |
Pigeon Post is the sixth book in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of children's books. It was published in 1936. This book is one of the few Swallows and Amazons books that does not feature sailing. All the action takes place on and under the fells surrounding the Lake.
Ransome made use of the mining and prospecting knowledge and experience of his friend, Oscar Gnosspelius, who features in the book as a character known as Squashy Hat.
The book won the first Carnegie Medal awarded for children's literature.
Plot summary
The Swallows, Amazons and 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. One of their group eventually finds a spring by dowsing and they move closer to the Topps. To keep in touch with Beckfoot, they send one of the homing pigeons with a message: "A pigeon a day keeps the natives at bay".
While exploring the ground, they notice a rival they call Squashy Hat who also is prospecting. After days of prospecting, gold is found and they collect enough to melt down into an ingot in a charcoal 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. While he explains to Dick that aqua regia dissolves everything (and that gold doesn't dissolve in anything else) and they have found copper ore not gold, a pigeon arrives with an urgent message about fire on the fells. They alert the volunteer fire fighters and rush to help save the 'High Topps'.
The fire is extinguished, Captain Flint is quite satisfied with finding copper and Squashy Hat is revealed as his friend Timothy, who has been too shy to introduce himself to the children.