RESUM MOONFLEET

Chapter 1: Growing up in Moonfleet

John Trenchard
→ Born in 1745 in Moonfleet (Village situated in the south coast of England).
→ Her parents died when he was 11 and he lived with her aunt Jane (very religious woman, the only books in
the house were bibles and prayer books)
→ He didn’t have any friends, only Mr. Ratsey (neighbor) and Mr. Glennie (teacher and he gave to her
adventure stories to read)
→ He had only one young friend of her own age: Grace Maskew (friendly and popular girl)
→ Mr. Maskew: Most people hated because he helped the authorities to chase smugglers (many were
Moonfleet men, they were very poor) (shipwreck →steal the cargo)

Maskew one night was with the authorities when they chased a fishing boat with contraband. David Block was
with the smugglers in the boat and Maskew shot and killed him. The people of Moonfleet were shocked and
furious. After this, Elzevir Block (David’s father and the owner of Why Not? inn) was more fierce. John went to
the inn with Ratsey.

Chapter 2: Blackbeard and Mohunes (Dunia A)

It was getting dark and Aunt Jane didn’t like it when John was out late. As soon as he heard her snoring, he
crept out of the house. Aunt Jane told John that The Mohune family once owned most of the village (the
emblem was Y and it represents a catapult), by the time John was born, Moonfleet wasn’t prosperous.

His favorite place was the graveyard, but he never went there at night. He wasn’t really afraid of Blckbeard, but
sometimes strange things happened. Once, he had to go to the doctor because her aunt was ill. When he
passed the graveyard, he saw lights moving. Next day, when he saw Ratsey, he asked for the lights he saw but
he said that It was her imagination.

When John was 13, Mr Glennie found the body of a boy called Tommy Brown in the graveyard. Nobody knew
why he was there or how he died. All people in Moonfleet believe that Blackbeard killed Tommy.

Blackbeard was a Mohune. Once he was a prison guard at Carisbrooke Castle and stole a diamond. After he
stole it, he became ill and died. When he was dying said he was sorry and he promised to use it to help the
poor.

One night, there was a terrible storm and the next day they went to the church. When Mr Glennie was giving
his sermon, they heard strange noises coming from the crypt under the church. People thought that the dead
Mohunes were coming but Mr Glennie said that the crypt was flooded because of all the heavy rain.

Chapter 3: In the Graveyard

John went to her favorite place in the graveyard. It was a large flat gravestone hidden by tall trees. The
gravestone was very old and when John was just going to sit down, he saw, on the other side of the
gravestone, a large hole in the ground. He looked inside the hole and jumped down into it. John looked around
and saw an opening passage on one side. He thought it might be Blackbeard's secret place and that maybe the
diamond would be there. He went to his aunt's house to get candles and when his aunt fell asleep he went
back to the graveyard. In the room there were stone shelves filled with coffins around the walls. He was in the
church crypt and there were the Mohune coffins. John discovered that the noises they heard last day were the
smugglers and they were hiding their contraband.
Then John heard voices of men, they were the smugglers. He waited for them to leave and then he tried to
climb a lid, her finger felt something hairy. He thought that was Blackbeard's coffin. Then he touched
something like metal, inside the chain there was a piece of paper with some sentences from the Bible.

When he tried to leave the room he saw that the smugglers had placed a large stone to cover the entrance.

Chapter 4: Rescue
John didn't go to school, people thought that his aunt was sick and that he was taking care of her. When two
days passed, mr. Glennie went to John's aunt's house and she told him she didn't know where he was. Mr.
Glennie went to talk to Elziver and told him that John had disappeared and also that Bobby Farrel said he heard
strange noises in the cemetery. Elziver told Mr. Glennie that they needed to find Ratsey quickly and that John
might be trapped in the crypt.
The 3 men ran to the graveyard and quickly moved the stone. Elzevir jumped into the hole and saw John
immediately. John was unconscious, but he was breathing. When he woke up, he was terrified because he
knew his secret. John lay in bed at the Why not? for two weeks, Mr Glennie went to visit Aunt Jane and she
said that she didn't want John to live in her house anymore and that if he wanted he could stay in the inn. John
went to aunt Jane’s house to get her possessions and she gave to her a small bible.

Chapter 5: Maskew Causes More Problems

Elzivir was a kind man and he was like a father for John, so John was very happy in the Why Not?. Bad things
began to happen with the disagreement about David's gravestone. Everybody liked it, except Maskew. Mr
Clennie wrote fine verses for the stone and that verse said the truth but one day Maskew was furious and came
to the classroom and said to Mr Glennie that he wrote verses for smugglers and if he didn’t remove it he would
destroy the gravestone. After this Maskew took his daughter and left. Grace did not return to that school.

Every five years Elzivi had to sign a new contract to have the inn. So a government official came and there was
a singing ceremony. The person who offers the highest rent will own the inn for the next five years. When the
government official came to Moonfleet to renew the contract for the inn, Maskew entered the inn. When
Erzivir made his bid, Maskew made a bid higher. Maskew shouted a much higher bid than Elzevir’s last offer,
finally he kept the inn. Elzevir told John that they would look for another place to live.

Chapter 6: Dangerous Plans

Elzevir and Ratsey, they sometimes told stories to John of their smuggling experiences.
One of these stories is about a new shipwreck. The sailors told Ratsey that there was a big wreck in the bay.
They had to get there before the authorities. At that very moment, John felt a cold chill come from behind. He
turned around and found the door open, which surprised him greatly, since he thought he had closed it.He
thought someone had opened it and was listening to the conversation. But Elzevir said that there’s nobody out
on a stormy night like this. Only the wind.
John asked Elzevir if he could go with them. At first Elzevir refused, but finally, he agreed.
The next morning John went to the Manor House to see Grace.

They worked throughout the night. At sunrise, all the contraband was on the beach. Suddenly they heard some
noises behind some bushes. There they found Maskew. Elzevir ordered everyone to leave. He was about to kill
Maskew but John stopped him. Suddenly the authorities arrived and started shooting at Elzevir and John. By
mistake they killed Maskew and John broke his leg. Elzevir and John had to go through the sheep path
(dangerous road) so that the authorities would not follow them.
Chapter 7: Clues in Bible
Elziver, after hours carrying John, was exhausted. Elziver told John that they were going to hide in a cave in an
old quarry. Trees and bushes hid the entrance to the quarry. Inside, there was a long path and, deep under the
ground, there were five or six tunnels leading to different directions. They lived in the cave for two months and
Elxiver took care of John. Every night Elzevir went out to find food. One tight Elzevir told to Joh the storie of
that cave, more than a century ago, there was black marble and it was very famous, but now everybody were
afraid because a lot of people died in the quarry because of the tunnels.

John lay for hours thinking about his old life in Moonfleet and about being rich. One day John heard noises in
one of the tunnels, but the voice was Ratsey. John asked him many questions and also explained his plan. He
showed her the paper he found in Blackbeard's locket. Ratsey told him that the numbers on the verses were
wrong. After Ratsey left, he picked up the Bible his mother gave him and found that Ratsey was right, the
numbers were wrong. Joan thought the numbers could indicate words and thought they could be clues to
finding the diamond. Finally he got five words: fourscore, feet, deep, well, north. With these words he was able
to decipher where the diamond was hidden and told Elzevir. John and Elzevir had to go to the Isle of Wight,
because it is where Carisbrooke Castle was.

Chapter 8: Inside Carisbrooke Castle (Dunia M)

They waited for Ratsey's next visit and asked him to help them change their appearance. Two days later, Ratsey
brought them the clothes and some brown dye for their faces and hands. Elzevir has many sailor friends and
one of them could help them to get them to the Isle of Wight. They said goodbye to Ratsey and then John told
Elzevir that before leaving he wanted to see Grace.
It was strange for John to be in Moonfleet again. When Grace opened the door, she didn’t recognise her until
he spoke.
Grace said that she will light a candle in her bedroom window every night. She said it so that if someday John
sails here he will see the light and find his way back.
When he came back, Elzevir said, a boat will take us to Newport. The Elzevir plan went well. He told John that
the castle was used as a prison and was full of French prisoners. The guards were now his friends and took him
to the castle with them. Elzevir had even seen the well.
The next day at 6:00. Will be dressed like workers and carry buckets and tools. They will say that we’re going to
repair the wall of the well. John down the well. At first, he didn't notice anything but he noticed a faint Y sing
on one of the bricks. The sign of Mohunes! He pulled the brick out, behind it, there was a small bag. When he
took the bag, he looked inside and he saw a beautiful diamond. When John reached the surface, the guard hit
Elzevir over the head with a rock and told John to give him the diamond. The guard had a knife in his hand.
Suddenly, Elzevir got up from the ground and stopped the guard from taking the diamond. He finally held it out
involuntarily.

Chapter 9: Trying to sell a Diamond (Dunia A)

At The Drummer Inn, Thomas had interesting news, there was a boat at Cowes sailing for Holland and the
captain agreed to take John and Elzevir. Elzevir told John that they will go to The Hague, in Holland and then
they will find some diamond dealers in the city. Elzevir found a man called Albers and he had his address. When
they were in Albers house there were two men with Albers. Albers inspected the diamond and John saw a
gleam in his eye, but it disappeared and told them that the diamond was fake. Elziver grabbed the diamond
from Albers hands and threw it out of the window and said to John that he had to forget about the diamond.
On the way back to the inn John remembered Albers' eyes when he saw the diamond for the first time and
realized that he had fooled them. John and Elziver went back to Albers' house to take the diamond, but since it
was from the inside, nothing could be seen. When John found the diamond, the two men who were with
Alberss appeared, carrying long sticks and a dog. They grabbed the diamond from John's hands and a few hours
later, Elzevir and John were in a cold prison cell.

Chapter 10: Prision! (Dunia M)

For weeks, they lived in a small, airless cell. They lay on dirty straw with our feet in chains, and had only dry
bread to eat. The day of the trial came, where they tried against the truth but nobody believed them. Albers
was a rich person and everyone believed him even though his argument was false. The judge gave them a life
sentence in a prison work camp.
John told Albers that the diamond was cursed and that it would be as bad as what was happening to him, since
he never believed in it until that very moment.
They were taken to their prison and John was separated from Elzevir. He was in a different work group.
Those were terrible years. One day the guards came to get him and took him to a small room where they
burned his cheek with the letter Y .
Years went by and one day the soldiers came as they were being transferred to Java to work in the Dutch sugar
plantations. They told him that this place was much worse than the one he was in. It was a frightening thought
but even worse was the idea of going so far away. Since they were going to Europe. He would never see
England or Moonfleet again.

Chapter 11: A Storm at Sea (Carla)

John see for last time Europe and the Dutch sailors pushed them into a dark cabin below the deck: they lay
there for days, and they had the rotten food that sailors refused to eat
- the ship began to roll from side to side and elzervir knew that a bad storm was coming. water came in
through cracks in the wood and a sailor appeared and threw them a large key: they unlocked their
chains and climbed out of the dirty cabin: akk the sails were torn and the deck was empty. elzevir told
that it was better to stay on the ship, but they didn’t listen and they struggled to row to safety, the
waves rolled over them and their lifeboats disappeared: they held tightly to the rail as wild winds and
huge waves. suddenly, john saw land: the southern coast of england: they saw grace’s candle
Then, the ship began to broke and they jumped: some men on the beach threw them a rope: john hardly
catches the rope. elzevir moved back towards john and grabbed his shoulders and pulled him till his hand. They
go to the Why not ? and John asksfor Elzevir. So, John discovers that he was talking with Ratsey: 10 years have
passed until they didn’t see each other. Elzevir gave his life to save john (he is dead).

Chapter 12: The Letter from Holland (Carla)

John is now with Ratsey and Mr. Glennie and he tells them that he has to go to the beach to find Elzevir’s
body: John thinks that his dearest friend is dead and he has lost the only girl he ever wanted to marry.
Suddenly, Grace appears and she’s now a woman. Grace says that he still loves John, but John says that he can’t
Marry her because he’s poor.
- they decided to bury elzevir in the Moonfleet graveyard and they will carve them on his gravestone
Mr Glennie has to tell an important thing: about eight years ago, she received a letter from a lawyer in Holland
that said that Mr Albers became ill and his luck in business changed. Then, Mr Albers said that he was sorry
because he had cheated John Trenchard and stolen his diamond, so he decided to leave him all his money in his
will. Now John is rich: all people in Moonfleet came to John and Grace wedding
- the money was spent in: rebuilt the houses for old sailors and built a new schoolhouse and a
marvellous lighthouse in Moonfleet Bay, they out beautiful new windows and furniture in the church,
and sealed the Mohune crypt. They also repaired the Why Not? and now is the most popular inn in
the area. Grace and John live in the Manor House with their children: john little Grace and Elzevir,
their eldest child. He thinks that anybody else ever survived a shipwreck in Moonfleet Bay in a storm
as terrible as the one on the night that Elzevir saved John. He hopes John rests in peace.