chapter 9 a little exploration

the five walked off together, timmy at the back, delighted to have all his friends with him again. hekept nudging first one person's heels and then another, just to remind them that he was there.

as they came near the old camp, they saw a boy sitting beside a bush, reading.

'there's that boy we told you of!' said george. 'see?'

'he looks fairly ordinary,' said dick. 'very absorbed in his book, i must say. determined to take nonotice of us!'

'i'll speak to him,' said george. so, as they drew near, she called to the boy.

'hallo! where's jet?'

the boy looked up, annoyed. 'how do i know?'

'well, he was with you this morning,' said george.

'he was not,' said the boy. 'he's never with me! please don't disturb me, i'm reading.'

'there you are!' said george to the others. 'he came to see us this morning with jet - and now he saysthe little dog is never with him. quite, quite mad!'

'or plain rude,' said dick. 'not worth bothering about, anyway. well, if he's not doing any excavatingin his roman camp, perhaps we can explore it without being ordered off!'

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they walked on slowly and came to the camp, and at once heard a cheerful whistling going on, andthe sound of someone digging. george looked over the top of the dug-out trench in surprise.

she almost toppled in, she was so amazed at what she saw!

the boy was there, digging carefully, whistling as he did so! he brushed his tousled hair from his hotforehead and caught sight of george and the others. he looked rather astonished.

'how on earth did you get down here so quickly?' said george. 'do you have wings or something?'

'i've been down here all the afternoon,' said the boy. 'for at least an hour, i should think.'

'fibber!' said george. the boy looked very angry, and shouted back at once.

'i'm tired of you two girls - and now you've brought your friends too, i suppose you think you cancome and aggravate me even more!'

'don't be a fathead,' said dick, feeling as puzzled about this boy as george and anne had been.

how in the world had he run around them and got down in the trench so quickly? did he enjoyplaying tricks like that? he really didn't look mad!

'is this your property, this old camp?' asked julian.

'no. of course not. don't be daft!' said the boy. 'as if i could own a whole camp like this! it wasdiscovered by my father some time ago, and he gave me permission to work here for the hols. it'spretty exciting, i can tell you. see my finds?'

he pointed to a rough shelf where stood a broken pot, something that looked like an old brooch, along pinlike thing, and part of a stone head. julian was at once interested. he leapt down into thetrench.

'i say - you've certainly got something there!' he said. 'any coins too?'

'yes - three,' said the boy and put his hand in his pocket. 'i found this one first - then these two closetogether yesterday. they must be hundreds and hundreds of years old.'

by this time all the others were down in the trench too. they looked about with much interest.

evidently the place had been well excavated by experts, and now the boy was working here and thereon his own, hoping to find something that had been overlooked.

dick went out of the trench and began to clamber about over the great stones and rocks. a smallanimal suddenly caught his eye - a young rabbit.

it stared at him in fright and then disappeared behind a slab of stone. it peeped out at dick again, andhe was amused. he went cautiously over to the slab, and the little rabbit disappeared - but 38soon two or three whiskers poked out. dick got down on hands and knees and looked behind the slab.

a dark hole was there.

dick pulled out his torch and flashed it into the hole, wondering if the small rabbit was hiding there,or whether it was the entrance to a burrow.

to his surprise there was a very big hole indeed - a hole that seemed to go down and down and down- his torch could make out no bottom to it.

'it's far too wide for a rabbit-hole,' thought dick. 'i wonder where it leads to, i'll ask that boy.'

he went back to where the boy was still showing his things to julian, talking eagerly. 'i say,'

began dick, 'there's a most interesting hole behind one of the stone slabs over there - what is it?'

'oh that - my father says it was explored and that it was only a place for storages - meat in hotweather, or loot, or something like that. actually nothing whatever was found there - mostuninteresting. as a matter of fact it may be nothing to do with the camp at all.'

'i say, look - here's another shelf with things on it,' said george, suddenly spying a little collection ofthings on a rough shelf in another part of the trench. 'are these yours too?'

'those? no,' said the boy. 'nothing to do with me at all. don't touch them, please.'

'whose are they then?' asked george, curiously. the boy took no notice whatever of her question andwent on talking to julian. george took down a beautiful little round pot.

'hey! i told you not to touch those!' yelled the boy, so suddenly and angrily that george almostdropped the pot. 'put it back - and clear out if you can't do what you're told.'

'easy, old man, easy!' said julian. 'no need to yell at her like that. you scared that little dog of yoursand made him jump almost out of his skin! we'd better go, i think.'

'well - i don't like being disturbed too much,' said the boy. 'people always seem to be wanderingaround. i've turned off quite a lot.'

'people?' said julian, remembering anne's story of two or three figures standing outside the cottagethe night before, and of someone looking in. 'what kind of people?'

'oh - nosey ones - wanting to get down and explore - disturbing me - it's surprising how many idiotsthere are wandering about this lonely place,' said the boy, picking up a tool again and setting to work.

he grinned suddenly. 'i don't mean you. you really know something about this kind of thing.'

'was anyone about last night?' asked julian.

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'well - i rather think so,' said the boy. 'because jet here barked like mad. but it might have been thestorm that frightened him - not that he's usually frightened of storms.'

'what's your name?' asked dick.

'guy lawdler,' said the boy, and dick whistled.

'my word - is your father the famous explorer, sir john lawdler?' he asked. the boy nodded.

'well, no wonder you're so keen on archaeology!' said dick. 'your father's done pretty well in thatline, hasn't he?'

'come on, dick!' said george. 'let's go now. we might have time for a swim in the pool. we forgotto tell you about that.'

'right,' said dick. 'come on, julian. good-bye, guy!'

they left the rather desolate old camp and went back to the cottage to get their swim-suits andchange. it wasn't long before they were running over the heather to the pool.

'hallo - guy's having a swim!' said dick, in surprise. sure enough, a boy was there, his hair fallingover his forehead as usual.

'hey, guy!' shouted george. 'have a swim with us!'

but the boy was already getting out of the water. dick shouted. 'wait a minute - don't go. we'd liketo have a swim with you, guy!'

the boy turned defiantly. 'don't be an ass!' he said. 'my name's not guy!'

and, leaving four astonished people behind him, he ran lightly over the heather and disappeared.

'there you are - he's mad after all!' said anne. 'don't bother about him. come on in - the water'slovely and warm.'

they lazed about afterwards and began to feel hungry. 'though how any of us could feel hungry aftereating about fifty sandwiches between us at dinner-time, i don't know!' said dick. 'race you back tothe cottage, ju!'

they changed back into ordinary clothes and then had tea - fruit cake, shortbread biscuits, and tinnedpineapple on bread. they kept the juice and diluted it with cold spring water - it was simplydelicious.

'now let's explore the cottage,' said dick.

'we already have, anne and i,' said george. 'so i don't expect you'll find anything much.'

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they went methodically through the old house, and even up the old stone stairway to the two roomsupstairs - though they could hardly be called rooms, for they had very little roof and not much wall!

'nothing much here, that's certain,' said dick clattering down the stone stairway. 'now let's go to theout-buildings - not that there's much left of them either!'

they examined everything, and came last of all to the old stables. it was dark inside, for the windowswere very small, and it was some seconds before anyone could see properly.

'old mangers,' said dick, touching them. 'i wonder how long ago it is since they were used -and...'

'i say!' said george, suddenly. 'there's something funny here. anne, look - this bit of floor wasundisturbed yesterday, wasn't it?'

anne looked down at the big white flagstone on which george was standing. it was quite obviousthat it had been lifted, for the edges were not as green with moss as the others were, and the stone hadbeen put back a little crookedly.

'yes - someone's been interested in this stone - or in what is beneath it!' said dick. 'i bet something isburied underneath!'

'those men last night - that's what they came about!' said george. 'they went into these stables andlifted this stone. why?'

'we'll soon find out!' said julian. 'come on everyone, loosen it with your fingers - then we'll heave itup!'