THE first thing that the children did after breakfast was to fetch the precious box and take it out to the tool-shed in the garden. They were simply longing to force it open. All of them secretly felt certain that it would hold treasure of some sort.
Justin looked round for a tool. He found a chisel and decided that would be just the thing to force the box open. He tried, but the tool slipped and jabbed his fingers. Then he tried other things, but the box obstinately refused to open. The children stared at it crossly.
"I know what to do," said Mary at last. "Let's take it to the top of the cottage and throw it down to the ground. It would burst open then, I expect."
The others thought over the idea. "It might be worth trying," said Justin. "The only thing is— it might break or spoil anything inside the box."
But there didn't seem any other way to open the box, so Justin carried it up to the top of the cottage. He went to the attic and opened the window there. The others were down below, waiting. Justin hurled the box out of the window as violently as he could. It flew through the air and landed with a terrific crash on the crazy paving below.
At once the french window there opened and their Uncle James came out like a bullet from a gun.
"Whatever are you doing?" he cried. "Surely you aren't throwing things at each other out of the window? What's this on the ground?"
The children looked at the box. It had burst open, and lay on the ground, showing a tin lining that was waterproof. Whatever was in the box would not be spoilt! It would be quite dry!
Theo ran to pick it up.
"I said, what's this on the ground?" shouted his uncle and moved towards him.
"It's— it's something that belongs to us," said Theo, going red.
"Well, I shall take it away from you," said his uncle. "Disturbing me like this! Give it to me. Where did you get it?"
Nobody answered. Uncle James frowned till his glasses nearly fell off. "Where did you get it?" he barked, glaring at poor Mary, who was nearest.
"Out of the wreck," stammered the little girl, scared.
"Out of the wreck!" said her uncle, in surprise. "The old wreck that was thrown up yesterday? I heard about that. Do you mean to say you've been in it?"
"Yes," said Theo. Justin joined them at that moment, looking worried. It would be too awful if his uncle took the box just as they got it open. But that was exactly what he did do!
"Well, this box may contain something important," he said, and he took it from Theo's hands. "You've no right to go prying about in that old wreck. You might take something that mattered."
"Well, it's my wreck," said Stephen, in a defiant tone. "Please, Father, let us have the box. We'd just got it opened. We thought it might hold— a gold bar— or something like that!"
"A gold bar!" said her father, with a snort. "What a baby you are! This small box would never hold a thing like that! It's much more likely to contain particulars of what happened to the bars! I have always thought that the gold was safely delivered somewhere— and that the ship, empty of its valuable cargo, got wrecked as it left the bay!"
"Oh, Father— please, please let us have our box," begged Stephen, almost in tears.
She suddenly felt certain that it did contain papers that might tell them what had happened to the gold. But without another word her father turned and went into the cottage, carrying the box, burst open and cracked, its tin lining showing through under his arm.
Mary burst into tears. "Don't blame me for telling him we got it from the wreck," she sobbed. "Please don't. He glared at me so. I just had to tell him."
"All right, Baby," said Justin, putting his arm round Mary. He looked furious. He thought it was very unfair of his uncle to take the box like that. "Listen— I'm not going to stand this. We'll get hold of that box somehow and look into it. I'm sure your father won't bother himself with it, Stephen— he'll start writing his book again and forget all about it. I'll wait my chance and slip into his study and get it, even if it means a spanking if I'm discovered!"
"Good!" said Stephen. "We'll all keep a watch and see if Father goes out."
So they took it in turns to keep watch, but most annoyingly their Uncle James remained in his study all the morning. Aunt Fallonia was surprised to see one or two children always about the garden that day, instead of down on the beach.
"Why don't you all keep together and bathe or do something?" she said. "Have you quarrelled with one another?"
"No," said Theo. "Of course not." But he didn't say why they were in the garden! "Doesn't your father ever go out?" he said to Stephen, when it was her turn to keep
watch. "I don't think he leads a very healthy life."
"Historians never do," said Stephen, as if she knew all about them. "But I tell you what— he may go to sleep this afternoon! He sometimes does!"
Justin 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 James 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 Justin 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. Justin didn't move. Then his uncle settled down again and shut his eyes. Soon there was the sound of his rhythmic snoring!
"Hurrah!" thought Justin. "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 Justin's arms. They forgot all about the other people on the beach. Justin dropped down on the sand and grinned.
"Your father went to sleep," he said to Stephen. "Tim, don't lick me like that! And Stephen, I went in— and a bit of the box dropped on the floor— and it woke him up!"
"Golly!" said Stephen. "What happened?"
"I crouched down behind his chair till he went to sleep again," said Justin. "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 Stephen 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 Justin, 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."
Stephen 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 Justin. But suddenly Stephen'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 Justin, curiously. "What's up? Have you lost your tongue?"
Stephen shook her head and then began to speak with a rush. "Justin! Do you know what this is?
THE MAP
“It’s the map of Aucrea island!” replied Justin.
“I reckoned Dungeons were present there” said Stephan sadly. “Well, What’s written here?” asked Theo abruptly.
"Ingots!" said Mary, puzzled. "What does that mean? I've never heard that word before."
But the two boys had. "Ingots!" cried Theo. "Why— that must be the bars of gold. They were called ingots."
"Most bars of metal are called ingots," said Justin, 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 Aucrea Castle. Stephen! Stephen! Isn't it terribly, awfully exciting?"
Stephen 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 Justin. "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 Timphothy!" said Stephen. "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 Justin. Then he looked at the others and frowned. "What are we going to do about the box?" he said. "I mean— Stephen'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 Theo. "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."
But, they all voted that they would take a copy of the map. They went back to Aucrea 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.
"This shows the dungeons under the castle," said Justin. " 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 Stephen. "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."
Justin 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 cottage. "What about putting it back now?" he said. "Maybe your father is still asleep, Stephen."
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 Justin 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 James, and were not at all anxious to be in his bad books. Mary 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 Fallonia went to answer it.
She soon came back. "It's for you, James," 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 James. 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 Justin, after tea. "But I'm jolly sorry now we left the real map in the box. Someone else may guess our secret!"