"Pigeon Post" - a brilliant adventure Quiz

Answer: a homing pigeon in a basket

Homing pigeons are at the centre of this story. In the very first pages the book begins to explain the reason for its title. It's in the story called "Secret Water" that Bridget really begins to look after the ship's kitten called Sinbad.

Answer: Slater Bob

Silver Pete is a character in the "Pocomoto" stories by Rex Dixon. Oscar Gnosspelius is a real person whom Arthur Ransome consulted about Lakeland mines and mining techniques.

Answer: He was prospecting for gold and silver.

Uncle Jim's mining expedition was the inspiration for the Swallows, Amazons and 'D's' to go prospecting up in the hills behind the lake. They desperately want to find some precious metal to show him when he finally gets home.

Answer: In the grounds of the Blackett house at Beckfoot.

Because the Swallows' mother had not arrived in the Lake District the children only had one boat between eight children (the "Amazon") and so they organised themselves into a mining expedition based at Beckfoot. Later camps would take them up into the hills.

Answer: Squashy Hat

Squashy Hat's real name is Mr. Stedding. In the end he turns out to have quite an unexpected connection with Nancy and Peggy and not to be a villain at all.

Answer: an armadillo

The whole team of children get together to build a special hutch to keep the armadillo in and spend a lot of time anxiously consulting the people at the local station about the arrival of "Timothy". Little do they know that Timothy has already arrived.

Answer: Sappho

The first pigeon the Amazons got was called "Homer" by them as he was a homing pigeon. They gave Greek names to the other so that would be appropriate. They only have three pigeons - Homer, Sophocles and Sappho.

Answer: Dick

Dick is the one with the methodical and scientific turn of mind. The others sometimes call him "The Professor". On this occasion he attaches a tin tray to the bell and it makes such a racket that no one can avoid hearing it.

Answer: Tyson's Farm

Atkinson's Farm is the one that is occupied by their deadly rival (Squashy Hat). Both Dixon's Farm and Holly Howe are back down by the side of the Lake. Tyson's Farm is "too comfortable" for Nancy and the others and they feel too "mollycoddled" for their own good.

Answer: He uses a tin of white paint to make a spot on the ground.

What Squashy Hat is doing is painting the spots to indicate the surface residue of the metal he is looking for. The line of white spots will (he hopes) eventually lead him to the underground deposit.Later on the children compare them to leading lights guiding the way to a harbour.

Answer: "The Outlaw of the Broads"

The excitement of doing the "dowsing" and seeing the first stages of the well being dug almost overwhelms Titty and she is glad to listen to Dorothea reading aloud so that it takes her mind off the subject. Dorothea's book is partly inspired by the adventures she had taken part in during the story "Coot Club".

Answer: Roger

Roger is actually bored with prospecting and decides to sneak away from the line of others exploring High Topps. He finds the vein of promising metal just by chance when he is playing at being a gold-miner.

Answer: A pestle and mortar

One of the most striking illustrations in the book is of Nancy sitting there with her protective goggles on pounding the pestle down on to the lumps of quartz at the bottom of the mortar.

Answer: blow pipes

Blow pipes were often used to remove the contents of birds' eggs by egg collectors. However, both Dick and Squashy Hat want them to help heat up the grains of metal dust to turn them into a blob of metal. Squashy Hat is in fact Timothy, Uncle Jim's friend, whom they thought was going to be an armadillo. He was simply too shy to go to Beckfoot.

Answer: Fire Help Quick

All summer there has been no rain. The fire breaks out and catches them unawares. It was caused by careless trippers but Mrs. Tyson thinks for a while the children have caused it by using their blast furnace to melt the metal. Sappho's message gets through to Beckfoot and Uncle Jim calls out the volunteer fell fire fighters under Colonel Jolys.