chapter 13 on watch in the cottage

it was getting dark - and under the gorse-bush it was very dark indeed! all the five had managed tosqueeze in there, and timmy too. one torch only was allowed to be used at a time, to save thebatteries of the others.

the five were having supper. the ham was now practically finished, but there were still a fewtomatoes and plenty of cake.

julian opened the last tin of sardines, and made some sandwiches for himself and dick to take withthem. he also wrapped up two enormous chunks of cake and pocketed two slabs of chocolate each.

'we shall need something to while away the time when we're on the watch tonight!' he said, with agrin. 'i don't know if the weepies and wailies and floating lights will be along to give us a show -but i fear not. they would be wasted on an empty cottage!'

'i do hope you'll be careful,' said anne.

'anne - that's the seventh time you've said that,' said dick. 'don't be an ass. don't you understand thatju and i are going to enjoy ourselves? you'll be the one that has to be careful.'

'how?' asked anne, surprised.

'well - you'll have to be careful of that big black beetle squatting over there,' said dick. 'and mindthat the hedgehog doesn't sit down on your bare legs. and be careful in case a snake wants to sharethis nice safe warm place with you...'

'now you're being an ass!' said anne, giving him a punch. 'when will you be back?'

'we shall be back at exactly the moment you hear us squeezing under here,' said julian. 'now dick -what about it? i think we might be going, don't you?'

'right,' said dick, and began to squeeze out carefully so as not to be pricked more than he could help.

'oh - why are gorse bushes so horribly spiteful! jab jab - anyone would think the bush was trying toprick me!'

the two girls sat quite still when the boys had gone from the bush. they tried to hear their footsteps,but they couldn't. dick and julian trod too softly on the wiry grass.

'i do so hope they'll be...' began anne, and george groaned.

'if you say that again i shall slap you, anne! honestly i shall.'

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'i wasn't saying it,' said anne, 'i was only going to say that i hope they'll be successful tonight.

i'd like to get back to kirrin and have some fun bathing and boating, wouldn't you?'

'yes. and some of joan's marvellous cooking,' said george. 'sausages and mash - and tomatoes withit.'

'yes. and fried plaice fresh from the sea with joan's best chipped potatoes,' said anne. 'i can almostsmell it.'

'woof,' said timmy, sniffing hard.

'there! he thought i meant it!' said anne. 'isn't timmy clever?'

they had a pleasant talk about how very very clever timmy was, and timmy listened and waggedhis tail so hard that he made quite a dust in the gorse-hollow.

'let's go to sleep,' said anne. 'we can't talk all night - and keeping awake won't help the boys!'

they curled up on the rug they had brought and cuddled together - not so much for warmth, becauseit was a hot night, but because there was so little room! anne put out her torch, and the little placeimmediately became black and dark. timmy put his head on george's tummy. she groaned.

'oh tim - be careful, please! i had rather a lot of supper!'

anne giggled and pulled timmy's head close to her. it was comforting to have old timmy there.

she agreed with george that he was the best dog in the whole world.

'i wonder what the boys are doing now,' she said, after a while. 'do you suppose they are in themiddle of something exciting? perhaps they are!'

but they weren't! julian and dick were feeling extremely bored at that minute. they had gonecautiously to the cottage when they had left the girls, not using their torches at all, for fear of givinganyone warning that they were about. they had debated beforehand where would be the best place tohide, and had decided that it would be a good idea to climb up the little stone stair and hide in theroofless rooms above.

'there's no roof there - and hardly any walls,' said dick. 'we can peep over any side to watch -and no one would guess that anyone was above them, spying down! it's a good thing it's such a starrynight - once we get used to the dim light, we shall be able to see fairly well. pity there's no moon.'

they had approached the cottage very cautiously indeed, stopping at every step and listening withbated breath for any sound. but there was none.

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'not even the light of somebody's torch, either,' said dick, in julian's ear. 'i don't think anyone is hereyet. let's get into the cottage and up those stairs as soon as we can.'

they tiptoed into the cottage, not daring to put on their torches. they fumbled across to the littlestone stairway, and climbed it with as little sound as they could. holding their breath made theirhearts thump loudly.

'can you hear my heart thumping?' dick whispered to julian, as they at last stood on the floor of theroofless rooms above.

'no. mine's just the same, thumping away! well, we're safely here. let's just shuffle to and fro andsee if there are any loose stones we might fall over, and so give ourselves away!'

they cleared away a few loose stones, and then sat down silently on the low broken wall of the tworuined rooms. the wind blew gently but warmly. everything was still except the rose- ramblerclimbing over the old house. it moved a little in the wind and made a faint scraping noise. dickcaught his hand on a thorn, and sucked his finger. the rambler was everywhere, across the floor, andover the walls and even up what was left of the little chimney!

the boys had been there for about three-quarters of an hour when julian gave dick a slight nudge.

'here they come!' he whispered. 'see - over there!'

dick looked round and about and then caught sight of a small, moving light, just a prick in thedarkness. it cast a faint glow before it.

'a torch!' he whispered. 'and another - and another! quite a procession! a slow one, too.'

the procession made very little noise. it made its way to the cottage, and then split up.

'having a look to see if we really are gone,' whispered julian. 'hope they won't think of coming uphere.'

'let's get behind the chimney, in case,' whispered back dick. so very quietly they rose and made theirway to where the remains of the chimney stood, a dark shadow in the starry night. the chimney wasquite big, though rather crumbly. the two boys crouched close to it, on the side farthest from wherethe stone stairway came up in the corner.

'someone is coming up!' whispered dick, his sharp ears catching the sound of someone's feet on thestone stairs. 'i hope he gets caught by the rambler - there's a big spray near the top!'

'sh!' said julian.

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someone came right up the stairway, and gave an exclamation of annoyance near the top. 'good!'

thought dick, 'he has got caught by the rambler!'

a torch shone out over the ruined rooms, the crumbling walls and the remains of the chimney.

the boys held their breath, and stood like statues. the light of the torch played over the place for onesecond and then a voice called down the stairs.

'no one here. the kids have gone. we can get on with the job!'

the boys let out a long breath. good - they were safe - for the time being at any rate! the visitorsdown below were no longer cautious - they spoke in ordinary voices and torches flashed all over theplace. then someone lighted two lanterns, and the little cottage shone quite brightly.

'where do we start?' said a voice. 'here, jess - where's that plan?'

'i've got it. i'll spread it on the floor,' said a voice that the boys recognized at once. it was the voice ofthe 'country-woman' who had spoken to them that day! 'not that it's much use. paul's no good atdrawing!'

evidently the searchers were now leaning over the plan. voices came up the stone stairway.

'all we know for certain is that we have to find that white stone slab - and we know the size. but wedon't know the place, except that we think it must be here. after all - we've searched the old romancamp, and there are no slabs there that size!'

julian nudged dick. so some of the visitors that guy had complained of must have been thesesearchers! whatever was it they were looking for, hidden behind a slab of stone?

he knew a minute later! a drawling voice said: 'if we have to get up every great slab in thisneighbourhood, we will. i'm going to find that secret way if it's the last thing i do! if we don't findthat, we don't find those blue-prints - and if we don't find them, we might as well go into the poor-house for the rest of our lives.'

'or prison!' said someone.

'not prison,' said the drawling voice. 'it'll be paul who goes to prison. he managed to steal them, wedidn't!'

'can't you get paul to draw a better plan than this?' said the voice of the 'country-woman'. 'i can'tunderstand half that's written here.'

'he's ill - almost off his head, too,' said someone. 'no good asking him. he had such a time escapingwith those prints, he nearly died. no good asking him, i say.'

'i can't make out this word here,' said the woman. ' 'w-a-d-e-r' - whatever does it mean?'

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'i don't know - wait, though, i do! it might be w-a-t-e-r - water. t not d in the middle.

where's the well? anywhere in this kitchen? that's it, that's it. water! i bet there's a slab over thewell. that's the way to the secret hiding-place!'

julian clutched dick. he was as excited as the man down below. they listened eagerly, strainingtheir ears.

'here's the old sink - and this must be the remains of the pump. the well's underneath this slab -and see, the stone is just about the right size. get busy! buck up, get busy!'