chapter 18 a great story to tell!
the twins tore down to the farm-house, and saw their mother, still looking for them. they flungthemselves on her, and she gave them a loving shake.
'where have you been? you're an hour late for tea, all of you. i've been so worried. mr. henning toldme some story about you digging up on the hillside!'
'mother! we're ravenous, so let's have tea and we'll tell you some great news,' said the twins, bothtogether. 'mother, you will be astonished. where's dad - and great-grand-dad too?'
'they're still at the tea-table - they were late too,' said mrs. philpot. 'they've been out looking for youall! great-grand-dad isn't very pleased. what in the world have you brought with you?
surely those are not swords?'
'mother, let's have tea first and we'll tell you everything!' said the twins. 'must we wash?
oh blow - all right, come on, everyone, let's wash. and we'll put our treasures down in the darkestcorner, so that dad and great-grand-dad won't see them till we're ready to show them!'
77
soon they were all sitting down at the tea-table, glad to see a wonderful spread! great slices ofthickly buttered bread, home-made jam, home-made cheese, a fat ginger cake, a fruit cake, a dish ofripe plums, and even a home-cooked ham if anyone wanted something more substantial!
mr. philpot and old great-grand-dad were still at the table, drinking a last cup of tea. mrs.
philpot had told them that the children had to wash, but would tell all that had happened when theycame to their tea.
'ho!' said great-grand-dad, frowning till his great bushy eyebrows almost covered his nose.
'when i was a boy i dursent come in one minute late for my meals! you twins have worried yourmother - that's bad!'
'we're awfully sorry, great-grand-dad,' said the twins, in unison. 'but just wait till you hear ourstory. julian - you tell it!'
and so, between great munches of bread and butter, ham sandwiches, and slices of cake, the storywas told, all the children joining in now and again.
great-grand-dad already knew that mr. henning had been given permission to excavate, and that acheque for ?250 had been given to mr. philpot. he had flown into a terrible temper, and only whenmrs. philpot had sobbed and said that she would give it back, though she could hardly bear to partwith it, had great- grand- dad given in. now ready to fly into another rage, he listened to thechildren's story. he forgot to drink his cooling tea. he forgot to fill his pipe. he even forgot to ask asingle question! never had he heard such a wonderful, glorious tale in his life!
julian told the story well, and the others filled in any bits he left out. mrs. philpot's eyes almost fellout of her head when she heard how snippet and nosey had gone into the rabbit-burrow and comeout with a broken sword and a ring!
'but - but where did ...' she began, and listened again, to hear how dick and julian had enlarged theburrow, crawled right through it, and slid down into the long-lost secret tunnel!
'ha!' said great-grand-dad, getting out his great red handkerchief, and dabbing his forehead with it.
'ha! wish i'd been there. go on, go on!'
julian had stopped to drink his tea. he laughed and went on, describing how they had all gone up thetunnel with their torches, the dogs with them. 'it was dark and smelly, and suddenly we heard aterrific noise!' he said.
'it got right inside our heads!' put in anne.
78
'what was it, what was it?' said great-grand-dad, his eyes almost as big as the saucer in front of him.
'the noise of the men drilling up on the old castle-site,' said julian, and great-grand-dad exploded inwrath. he pointed his pipe at his grandson, the farmer.
'didn't i tell you i wouldn't have those men on my farm?' he began, and then calmed down as mrs.
philpot patted his arm, shushing him. 'go on, julian,' she said.
and then came the really exciting part, the story of how they came into the actual cellars of the castle- the stone archways - the age-old dust...
'and the echoes!' said anne. 'when we whispered, a hundred other whispers came back!'
when julian described their finds - the old armour, still good, but black with age - the rack of swordsand knives and daggers - the chest of gold...
'gold! i don't believe you!' shouted great-grand-dad. 'you're making that up, young man.
don't you pile up your tale too much, now. stick to the truth.'
the twins promptly took some of the gold coins out of their pockets, still brilliant and shining.
they laid them on the table in front of the three amazed grown-ups.
'there you are! they will tell you if we are making up all this or not - these gold coins! they willspeak more loudly than words!'
in awe mr. philpot picked them up, and passed them one by one to the old man, and to his wife.
great-grand-dad was dumbfounded and dumbstruck. he simply could not say a single word. hecould only grunt and puff as he turned the coins over in his great horny hand.
'are they really gold?' said mrs. philpot, quite overcome at the sudden appearance of the shiningcoins. 'trevor - will they belong to us? does it mean - does it mean that we'll be well enough off tobuy a new tractor for you - and...'
'depends how much of this stuff there is, up in those old cellars,' said mr. philpot, trying to keepcalm. 'and depends on how much we're allowed to keep, of course. might belong to the crown bynow.'
'the crown!' roared great-grand-dad, standing up suddenly. 'the crown! no, sir! it's mine!
ours! found on my land, put there by our ancestors. yes - and i'll give old mr. finniston down in thevillage a share, so i will. he's been a good friend of mine for years!'
the children thought that was quite a good idea! they then showed the jewellery they had brought,and mrs. philpot marvelled at it, tarnished though it was.
79
but the swords and daggers brought the greatest excitement to old great- grand- dad and hisgrandson, mr. philpot! as soon as they heard that the children had actually brought back some of theold weapons, the two men got up and went to get them. great-grand-dad picked up the biggest andheaviest of the swords, and swung it dangerously round his head, looking like a reincarnation ofsome fearsome old warrior, with his great beard and blazing eyes.
'no, no, grand-dad!' said mrs. philpot in fright. 'oh, you'll knock down the things on the dresser- there, i knew you would! bang goes my meat-dish!'
and down it went, crash! timmy and snippet almost jumped out of their skins, and began to barkfrantically.
'sit down, all of you!' cried mrs. philpot to the excited dogs and the men. 'let julian finish hisstory! great-grand-dad, sit down!'
'ha,' said great-grand-dad, a broad smile on his face, sitting down in his chair. 'ha! did me good toswing that sword. where's that american? i might try it out on him!'
the children roared with delight. it was great to see the old man so delighted. 'go on with that tale ofyours,' he said to julian. 'you tell it well, boy. go on! now, ma, don't you take my sword away. i'mkeeping it here, between my legs, in case i want to use it. ha!'
julian quickly finished his tale, and told how they had walked back down the passage and found theirburrow entrance fallen in - and then gone right down the rest of the tunnel and come at last into thelittle stone-walled room.
'and we couldn't get out,' said julian. 'there was a great wooden trap-door over our heads, and on itlay a dozen or so sacks - heavy as lead! we couldn't lift it. so we yelled!'
'so that's where the secret passage led to!' said mr. philpot. 'how did you get out?'
'we yelled and hammered, and bill and jamie heard us, and pulled off the sacks, and lifted up the oldtrap-door,' said julian. 'gosh, we were glad to see them! we thought we might be lost for ever! jamieknew about the little stone vault down under the chapel floor - but he thought it was just an old store-room!'
'i've never heard of it before,' said mrs. philpot, and old great- grand- dad nodded his head inagreement.
'no more have i,' he said. 'for as long as i can remember the floor of that old chapel has been piledwith sacks, and what bits i could see of the floor were covered with thick dust. yes, even when i wasa boy, playing hide and seek in the old place, it was full of sacks - and that's every bit 80of eighty-five years ago now! well, well - seems like yesterday i was playing in there with a cat andher kittens!'
'there's a cat and her kittens there now,' said anne.
'ay, little lass - and there'll be a cat and her kittens there when you're an old, old woman!' said great-grand-dad. 'there's some things never change, thanks be to the lord. well, well - i can sleep easy ofnights now - i reckon you and the farm will be all right trevor, with the money you'll make out ofthose old finds - and i'll live to see the twins growing up and handling the finest farm in dorset, so ishall - with everything new-fangled they want, bless their bonny faces!
and now i'll just have one more swing with that sword!'
the children fled! great- grand- dad looked years younger already - and goodness knows whatdamage he would do with that great sword! what an afternoon it had been - one they would neverforget!
