chapter 16 the secret way

all the children were so excited that they got into each other's way. julian pushed them back.

'let's be sensible! we can't all make the opening wider - let harry and me get at it with the tools- and we'll soon make it bigger!'

it took only a minute to hack away at the sides of the hole to make it big enough for even julian toclimb through. he stood there panting, smiling broadly.

'there - it's done! i'll get in first. everyone got torches? we shall need them! it's going to be dark inthere!'

he clambered up and into the hole. he had to crawl on hands and knees for a little way, and then thehole suddenly went downwards and became considerably bigger. julian could walk in it, if he bentdown, for at that point the tunnel was about three feet high.

he called back to the others. 'follow me! take hold of each other's coats or jerseys and hang on.

it's as dark as pitch in here!'

george followed after julian, then anne, then dick, then harry. timmy went with george, of course,pushing and shoving like all the rest. everyone was excited, and nobody could talk in a normal voice.

they all shouted!

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'i'll give you a hand! one good shove and you're in!'

'i say - isn't it dark!'

'what a crawl! i feel like a fox going into its den!'

'timmy, don't butt me from behind like that! i can't crawl any faster!'

'ah - thank goodness i can stand up now! what size of rabbit do you think made this burrow!'

'it was made by water at some time perhaps. don't shove, timmy!'

'water doesn't run uphill, ass! hang on to my coat, harry. don't get left behind.'

julian, bent almost double at times, walked carefully along the narrow tunnel, which went steadilydownwards. soon it widened and became higher, and then it was easier to walk in comfort.

'do you suppose this is the right secret way?' called george, after a time. 'we don't seem to be gettinganywhere.'

'i can't tell. in fact we shan't know till we find something hidden somewhere - if we ever do!'

a sudden scuttering noise in front of him made julian stop suddenly. immediately everyone bumpedinto the one in front, and there were shouts at once.

'what's up, ju?'

julian's torch shone on to two pairs of bright, frightened eyes. he gave a laugh.

'it's all right - just a couple of rabbits using our burrow! there are small holes running out of thetunnel which, i imagine, are rabbit burrows. i bet we're giving the bunnies a shock!'

the tunnel wound about a good deal, and then suddenly the rather soft ground they were treading onturned to rock. the passage was now not so high, and the children had to bend down again. it wasmost uncomfortable.

julian stopped once more. he had heard another sound. what was it?

'water!' he said. 'there must be an underground stream here! how thrilling! everyone all right?'

'yes!' shouted those behind him. 'get on, julian - let's see the water!'

the tunnel suddenly ended, and julian found himself in a big cave with a fairly high roof.

almost in the middle of it ran a stream - not a very big one, and not a very fast one. it gurgled alongin a small channel of rock, which it had carved out for itself through hundreds of years.

julian shone his torch on it. the water looked very black and glittered in the light of the torch.

the others came one by one out of the tunnel and stared at the underground stream. it looked 68rather mysterious, slipping through the cave, gurgling quietly as it disappeared through a hole at oneend.

'queer,' said dick.

'it's not unusual, this,' began harry. 'in some parts of the country round about here, the ground belowour feet is honeycombed with little streams. some come up as springs, of course, some join otherstreams when they come out into the open, others just run away goodness knows where!'

julian was looking up round the cave. 'does our tunnel end here?' he wondered. 'is the where we haveto look for whatever is hidden?'

'we'll have a look round the cave and see if there are any exits,' said dick. using their torches the fiveseparated, timmy keeping close to george, not seeming in the least surprised at this undergroundadventure.

'i've found another tunnel over here, leading out of the cave!' called dick. no sooner had he said thatthan anne called out too.

'there's one here as well!'

'now - which do we take?' said julian. 'how annoying that there should be two!'

'would the fellow - what's his name - paul - have marked the correct underground way on his plan?'

said george. 'i mean - i don't see how he could possibly expect either himself or anyone else to findwhat he had hidden, if there are numbers of passages to choose from down here!'

'you're right!' said julian. 'let's look about and see if we can find anything to help us.'

it wasn't long before dick gave another shout. 'it's all right! this is the passage to take, over here- the one i found just now. there's an arrow drawn in white chalk on the wall.'

everyone crowded over to dick, stepping across the little stream as they did so. dick held his torchup and they all saw the white arrow, drawn roughly on the wall.

julian was pleased. 'good. that helps a lot! it shows we're going the right way - and that this is thesecret way that paul chose. come on!'

they entered the tunnel, left the little stream behind, and went on again. 'anyone got any idea inwhich direction we're going?' called dick. 'east, west, north, south?'

harry had a compass. he looked at it. 'i think we're going rather in the direction of the old romancamp,' he said.

'ah - that's interesting,' said julian. 'this tunnel was probably used in olden times.'

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'guy and i have seen the plan of the camp as it probably used to be,' said harry. 'and there are plentyof tunnels and caves and holes shown on it - just roughed in, not a proper plan of them.

gosh - i never thought i'd be exploring one! my father warned me not to, in case of roof-falls andthings like that.'

the tunnel suddenly forked into two. one passage was nice and wide, the other narrow. julian tookthe wide one, thinking that the other was really too narrow to get through. rut after a minute of two,he stopped, puzzled.

'there's a blank wall of rock here - the tunnel's ended! we'll have to turn back! i suppose we shouldhave taken that very narrow opening.'

they went back, harry leading the way now. timmy suddenly took it into his head that he would liketo lead, too, and made himself a real nuisance, pushing his way between everyone's legs!

they came back to the fork. harry shone his torch in at the second opening, the very narrow one.

there, clearly marked on the right hand wall, was a white arrow in chalk!

'we're idiots,' said dick. 'we don't even look for the sign-posts! lead the way, julian!'

this tunnel was very narrow indeed, and had rough, jutting rocky sides. there were loud 'aahs!'

and 'oohs!' as elbows and ankles were knocked against hard rock.

and then again there came a blank wall of rock in front of julian, and again he had to stop!

'can't go this way either!' he said. 'there's a blank wall again - this is a blind alley too!'

there were cries of dismay at once.

'blow! it can't be!'

'what's gone wrong! look all round, ju - flash your torch down at your feet and above your head!'

julian shone his torch over his head, and gave an exclamation.

'there's a hole above my head!'

'is there a white arrow anywhere?' called harry.

'yes! and it's pointing up, instead of forwards!' called back julian. 'we're still all right - we've got togo upwards now - but how?'

george, who was just behind him, shone her torch on the side-walls. 'look!' she said. 'we can easilyget up to the hole. there are rough, natural steps up - made by ledges of rock. look, julian!'

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'yes,' said julian. 'we can manage to get up quite easily, i think. george, you go first - i'll give you aboost up.'

george was delighted to go first. she put her torch between her teeth, and began to climb up theledges, julian pushing her as best he could. she came to the hole and immediately saw that it wouldbe quite easy to hoist herself through.

'one more boost and i'll be through!' she called to julian. and with one last heave george, was up,rolling on the floor of a small cave above! she called down in excitement to the others.

'i believe this is the place where those things are hidden! i can see something on a ledge. oh, do buckup!'

the others followed eagerly. dick slipped off the rocky ledges in his excitement and almost squashedpoor harry as he fell on him. however, everyone was up at last, even timmy, who was the mostdifficult of all to heave through! he seemed to have far too many vigorous legs!

harry found no difficulty at all. 'i'm used to this kind of thing,' he said. 'guy and i have explored awhole lot of tunnels and caves in hills and other places.'

george was pointing her torch at a broad ledge of rock. on it was a brown leather bag, and beside it,marked on the rock, was a very large arrow indeed.

julian was overjoyed. he picked up the bag at once. 'my word - i hope there's something in it!'

he said. 'it feels jolly light - as if it's empty!'

'open it!' cried everyone - but julian couldn't. it was locked - and alas, there wasn't a key!