Five on a Treasure Island (9 page)

"Scientists never do," said George, as if she knew all about them. "But I tell you what— he may go to sleep this afternoon! He sometimes does!"

Julian was left behind in the garden that afternoon. He sat down under a tree and opened a book. Soon he heard a curious noise that made him look up. He knew at once what it was!

"That's Uncle Quentin snoring!" he said in excitement. "It is! Oh— I wonder if I could possibly creep in at the french windows and get our box!"

He stole to the windows and looked in. One was a little way open and Julian opened it a little more. He saw his uncle lying back in a comfortable arm-chair, his mouth a little open, his eyes closed, fast asleep! Every time he took a breath, he snored.

"Well, he really does look sound asleep," thought the boy. "And there's the box, just behind him, on that table. I'll risk it. I bet I'll get an awful spanking if I'm caught, but I can't help that!"

He stole in. His uncle still snored. He tiptoed by him to the table behind his uncle's chair. He took hold of the box.

And then a bit of the broken wood of the box fell to the floor with a thud! His uncle stirred in his chair and opened his eyes. Quick as lightning the boy crouched down behind his uncle's chair, hardly breathing.

"What's that?" he heard his uncle say. Julian didn't move. Then his uncle settled down again and shut his eyes. Soon there was the sound of his rhythmic snoring!

"Hurrah!" thought Julian. "He's off again!"

Quietly he stood up, holding the box. On

tiptoe he crept to the French window. He

slipped out and ran softly down the garden

path. He didn't think of hiding the box. All he

wanted to do was to get to the other children

and show them what he had done!

He ran to the beach where the others were

lying in the sun. "Hi!" he yelled. "Hi! I've got it! I've got it!"

They all sat up with a jerk, thrilled to see

the box in Julian's arms. They forgot all about

the other people on the beach. Julian dropped

down on the sand and grinned.

"Your father went to sleep," he said to

George. "Tim, don't lick me like that! And George, I went in— and a bit of the box dropped on the floor— and it woke him up!"

"Golly!" said George. "What happened?"

"I crouched down behind his chair till he went to sleep again," said Julian. "Then I fled. Now— let's see what's in here. I don't believe your father's even tried to see!"

He hadn't. The tin lining was intact. It had rusted with the years of lying in the wet, and the lid was so tightly fitted down that it was almost impossible to move it.

But once George began to work at it with her pocket-knife, scraping away the rust, it began to loosen— and in about a quarter-of-an-hour it came off!

The children bent eagerly over it. Inside lay some old papers and a book of some kind with a black cover. Nothing else at all. No bar of gold. No treasure. Everyone felt a little bit disappointed.

"It's all quite dry," said Julian, surprised. "Not a bit damp. The tin lining kept everything perfect."

He picked up the book and opened it. "It's a diary your great-great-great-grandfather kept of the ship's voyages," he said. "I can hardly read the writing. It's so small and funny."

George picked up one of the papers. It was made of thick parchment, quite yellow with age. She spread it out on the sand and looked at it. The others glanced at it too, but they couldn't make out what it was at all. It seemed to be a kind of map.

"Perhaps it's a map of some place he had to go to," said Julian. But suddenly George's hands began to shake as she held the map, and her eyes gleamed brilliantly as she looked up at the others. She opened her mouth but didn't speak.

"What's the matter?" said Julian, curiously. "What's up? Have you lost your tongue?"

George shook her head and then began to speak with a rush. "Julian! Do you know what this is? It's a map of my old castle— of Kirrin Castle— when it wasn't a ruin. And it shows the dungeons! And look— just look what's written in this corner of the dungeons!"

She put a trembling finger on one part of the map. The others leaned over to see what it was— and, printed in old-fashioned letters was a curious word.

INGOTS

"Ingots!" said Anne, puzzled. "What does that mean? I've never heard that word before."

But the two boys had. "Ingots!" cried Dick. "Why— that must be the bars of gold.

They were called ingots."

"Most bars of metal are called ingots," said Julian, going red with excitement. "But as we know there is gold missing from that ship, then it really looks as if ingots here meant bars of gold. Oh golly! To think they may still be hidden somewhere under Kirrin Castle.

George! George! Isn't it terribly, awfully exciting?"

George nodded. She was trembling all over with excitement. "If only we could find it!" she whispered. "If only we could!"

"We'll have a jolly good hunt for it," said Julian. "It will be awfully difficult because the castle is in ruins now, and so overgrown. But somehow or other we'll find those ingots. What a lovely word. Ingots! Ingots! Ingots!"

It sounded somehow more exciting than the word gold. Nobody spoke about gold any more. They talked about the Ingots. Tim couldn't make out what the excitement was at all. He wagged his tail and tried hard to lick first one and then another of the children, but for once in a way not one of them paid any attention to him! He simply couldn't understand it, and after a while he went and sat down by himself with his back to the children, and his ears down.

"Oh, do look at poor Timothy!" said George. "He can't understand our excitement.

Tim! Tim, darling, it's all right, you're not in disgrace or anything. Oh, Tim, we've got the most wonderful secret in the whole world."

Tim bounded up, his tail wagging, pleased to be taken notice of once more. He put his big paw on the precious map, and the four children shouted at him at once.

"Golly! We can't have that torn!" said Julian. Then he looked at the others and frowned. "What are we going to do about the box?" he said. "I mean— George's father will be sure to miss it, won't he? We'll have to give it back."

"Well, can't we take out the map and keep it?" said Dick. "He won't know it was there if he hasn't looked in the box. And it's pretty certain he hasn't. The other things don't matter much— they are only that old diary, and a few letters."

"To be on the safe side, let's take a copy of the map," said Dick. "Then we can put the real map back and replace the box."

They all voted that a very good idea. They went back to Kirrin Cottage and traced out the map carefully. They did it in the tool-shed because they didn't want anyone to see them. It was a queer map. It was in three parts.

"This part shows the dungeons under the castle," said Julian. "And this shows a plan of the ground floor of the castle— and this shows the top part. My word, it was a fine place in those days! The dungeons run all under the castle. I bet they were pretty awful places. I wonder how people got down to them."

"We'll have to study the map a bit more and see," said George. "It all looks rather muddled to us at present— but once we take the map over to the castle and study it there, we may be able to make out how to get down to the hidden dungeons. Ooooh! I don't expect any children ever had such an adventure as this."

Julian put the traced map carefully into his jeans pocket. He didn't mean it to leave him. It was very precious. Then he put the real map back into the box and looked towards the house. "What about putting it back now?" he said. "Maybe your father is still asleep, George."

But he wasn't. He was awake. Luckily he hadn't missed the box! He came into the dining-room to have tea with the family, and Julian took his chance. He muttered an excuse, slipped away from the table, and replaced the box on the table behind his uncle's chair!

He winked at the others when he came back. They felt relieved. They were all scared of Uncle Quentin, and were not at all anxious to be in his bad books. Anne didn't say one word during the whole of the meal. She was so terribly afraid she might give something away, either about Tim or the box. The others spoke very little too. While they were at tea the telephone rang and Aunt Fanny went to answer it.

She soon came back. "It's for you, Quentin," she said. "Apparently the old wreck has caused quite a lot of excitement, and there are men from a London paper who want to ask you questions about it."

"Tell them I'll see them at six," said Uncle Quentin. The children looked at one another in alarm. They hoped that their uncle wouldn't show the box to the newspapermen. Then the secret of the hidden gold might come out!

"What a mercy we took a tracing of the map!" said Julian, after tea. "But I'm jolly sorry now we left the real map in the box. Someone else may guess our secret!"

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THE next morning the papers were full of the extraordinary way in which the old wreck had been thrown up out of the sea. The newspaper men had got out of the children's uncle the tale of the wreck and the lost gold, and some of them even managed to land on Kirrin Island and take pictures of the old ruined castle.

George was furious. "It's
my
castle!" she stormed to her mother. "It's my island. You said it could be mine. You did, you did!"

"I know, George dear," said her mother. "But you really must be sensible. It can't hurt the island to be landed on, and it can't hurt the castle to be photographed."

"But I don't want it to be," said George, her face dark and sulky. "It's mine. And the wreck is mine. You said so."

"Well, I didn't know it was going to be thrown up like that," said her mother. "Do be sensible, George. What can it possibly matter if people go to look at the wreck? You can't stop them."

George couldn't stop them, but that didn't make her any the less angry about it. The children were astonished at the interest that the cast-up wreck caused, and because of that, Kirrin Island became an object of great interest too. Sightseers from the places all around came to see it, and the fishermen managed to find the little inlet and land the people there. George sobbed with rage, and Julian tried to comfort her.

"Listen, George! No one knows our secret yet. We'll wait till this excitement has died down, and then we'll go to Kirrin Castle and find the ingots."

"If someone doesn't find them first," said George, drying her eyes. She was furious with herself for crying, but she really couldn't help it.

"How could they?" said Julian. "No one has seen inside the box yet! I'm going to wait my chance and get that map out before anyone sees it!"

But he didn't have a chance, because something dreadful happened. Uncle Quentin sold the old box to a man who bought antique things! He came out from his study, beaming, a day or two after the excitement began, and told Aunt Fanny and the children.

"I've struck a very good bargain with that man," he said to his wife. "You know that old tin-lined box from the wreck? Well, this fellow collects curious things like that, and he gave me a very good price for it. Very good indeed. More even than I could expect for the writing of my book! As soon as he saw the old map there and the old diary he said at once that he would buy the whole collection."

The children stared at him in horror. The box was sold! Now someone would study that map and perhaps jump to what 'ingots' meant. The story of the lost gold had been put into all the newspapers now. Nobody could fail to know what the map showed if they studied it carefully.

The children did not dare to tell Uncle Quentin what they knew. It was true he was all smiles now, and was promising to buy them new shrimping-nets, and a raft for themselves— but he was such a changeable person. He might fly into a furious temper if he heard that Julian had taken the box and opened it himself, while his uncle was sleeping.

When they were alone the children discussed the whole matter. It seemed very serious indeed to them. They half-wondered if they should let Aunt Fanny into the secret—but it was such a precious secret, and so marvellous, that they felt they didn't want to give it away to anyone at all.