chapter 19 the most exciting adventure we've ever had!
after all the excitement of the afternoon the children felt lazy. the twins went off to feed thechickens. 'better late than never!' they said, together.
'where are mr. henning and mr. durleston and that awful junior, mrs. philpot?' asked george,getting up to help with the washing of the tea-things.
'oh, mr. henning came in to say he and mr. durleston were going to a meal at a hotel, and takingjunior too,' said mrs. philpot. 'he seemed very pleased with himself indeed. he said that they hadbroken through to the cellars of the old castle, and expected great things - and that maybe a secondcheque of ?250 would be coming soon!'
'you won't take it, though, will you, mrs. philpot?' said julian quickly, overhearing what was beingsaid. 'the things down in that cellar will be worth much more than any money mr.
henning is likely to offer you. he'd only take them to america and sell them for vast sums and makea huge profit. why should you let him do that?'
'that nice old man, mr. finniston, down in the little antique shop, would know what everything wasworth,' said george. 'and he's a descendant of the long-ago finnistons of finniston castle, isn't he -he'll be thrilled to bits, when he hears what's been happening!'
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'we'll send word for him to come up tomorrow,' decided mrs. philpot. 'after all, mr. henning has hisadviser - that surly mr. durleston. we'll have mr. finniston for ours. great-grand-dad would bepleased about that - they're great friends, those two.'
there was however, no need to send for mr. finniston, for great-grand-dad had himself gone downstraight away to tell the great news to his old crony. what a talk they had together!
'gold coins - jewellery - suits of armour - swords - and goodness knows what else!' said great-grand-dad for the twentieth time, and old mr. finniston listened gravely, nodding his head. 'that splendidbig sword!' went on grand-dad, remembering. 'just right for me, william! look, if ever i've livedbefore, that old sword once belonged to me! i feel it! that's one thing i won't sell, mind! i'll keep itjust for the sake of swinging it round my head, when i lose my temper!'
'yes, yes - but i hope you'll be sure to stand in the middle of an empty room if you do that,' said mr.
finniston, a little alarmed at the fierce look in the old man's eye. 'you won't be allowed to keep all themoney, i'm afraid - there's such a thing as 'treasure trove', you know - some finds go to the crown,and i fear that will be one of them. but the jewellery's different - and the suits of armour - and theswords! you'll be able to make a mint of money on those!'
'enough for two new tractors?' said great-grand-dad. 'enough for a new land-rover? that one mygrandson has, it jolts every bone in my body! look now, william - we've got to get men digging onthat site - uncovering all those cellars. what say we keep on the men that fellow henning's got? weshan't let him excavicate, or whatever it's called, any more. ha! that fellow gets under my skin, andsets me itching all over. now i can scratch him out! and see here, william, you'll shut up this shop ofyours and be my adviser, won't you? i won't have that american talking me down - or that fellowdurleston!'
'you'd better stop talking for a bit, grand-dad you're getting too red in the face,' said mr.
finniston. 'you'll go pop if you excite yourself much more! go home now, and i'll be up tomorrowmorning. i'll arrange about the workmen too. and don't you play about with that old sword too much- you might cut off somebody's head by mistake!'
'so i might, so i might,' said great-grand-dad, with a sly look in his eye. 'now, if that junior got inthe way when i was swinging my sword... it's all right, william, it's all right! just my joke, you know,just my joke!'
and chuckling deep down in his long beard, great-grand-dad strode off, turned up the little lane andwalked back to the farm-house feeling very pleased indeed with life!
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mr. henning, mr. durleston and junior did not come back that night. apparently they were all soexcited over the excavations they had made in the drilling down through the cellar roof, that theystayed too long at the hotel and decided to spend the night there, much to mrs. philpot's relief.
'most farm-people like to go to bed about nine o'clock,' said mr. henning, 'and it's already gone thatnow. we'll go over tomorrow morning and we'll get them to sign that agreement you've drawn up,durleston. they're so short of money they'd sign anything. and mind you cry down what we thinkwe've found, so that they won't expect any more than ?250. we're going to make our fortunes overthis!'
so, next morning the two men, with an excited junior, whom mr. durleston found most annoying,arrived at the farm-house at about ten o'clock. they had telephoned to say they would be there then,and would bring the agreement with them, '... and the cheque, mrs. philpot, the cheque!' purred mr.
henning down the phone.
when they arrived there was quite a company there to greet them! there was old great-grand-dad,his grandson mr. philpot and his wife, the twins, of course, and old mr. finniston, sniffing a fight, hisdull eyes bright this morning, for the first time in years! he sat at the back, wondering what wasgoing to happen.
all the five were there too, timmy wondering what the excitement was. he kept as close to georgeas he could, and growled at snippet every time the excited little poodle came near.
snippet didn't mind! he could always growl back!
a car purred up the drive, and in came mr. henning, mr. durleston and junior, whose face was onebig grin.
'hallo, folks!' said junior, in his usual jaunty manner. 'how's tricks?'
nobody answered except timmy, and he gave a small growl, which made junior skip out of the wayquickly. 'you shut up,' he said to timmy.
'did you have your breakfast in bed at the hotel, little boy?' suddenly said george. 'do you rememberthe last time you had it in bed here, and timmy pulled...'
'aw shucks!' said junior, sulkily. 'skip it, sister!' he subsided after that, and sat down by his father.
then began a short, sharp and satisfactory meeting - from mr. philpot's point of view!
'er - mr. philpot - it's my very great pleasure to say that i have been advised by mr. durleston to offeryou a further cheque for ?250,' said mr. henning smoothly. 'while we are rather 83disappointed in what appears to be in the cellars of the castle, we feel it would only be fair to offeryou the sum we suggested before. is that right, mr. durleston?'
'absolutely,' said mr. durleston in a business-like voice, and glared round through his horn-rimmedglasses. 'i've the agreement here. mr. henning is being very generous. very. the cellars are mostdisappointing.'
'i'm sorry about that,' said mr. philpot. 'i hold a different opinion - and my adviser, mr.
finniston, upholds me in this. we are going to excavate the site ourselves, mr. henning - and then, ifany disappointment lies in wait, we shall be the ones to suffer, not you.'
'what's all this?' said mr. henning, glaring round. 'durleston, what do you say to that? bit of double-crossing, isn't it?'
'offer him ?500,' said mr. durleston, looking startled at this unexpected set-back.
'you can offer me five thousand if you like, but i tell you, i prefer to do the excavation myself on myown land,' said mr. philpot. 'what is more, i will return you the cheque you gave me yesterday - andas i intend to keep on the men you engaged, i will pay them myself for their work. so do not troubleto dismiss them. they will now be working for me.'
'but this is monstrous!' shouted mr. henning, losing his temper, and jumping to his feet. hebanged on the table, and glared at mr. and mrs. philpot. 'what do you expect to find in those derelictold cellars? we drilled right through yesterday, and there's practically nothing there! i made you avery generous offer. i'll raise it to a thousand pounds!'
'no,' said mr. philpot, quietly. but great-grand-dad had had enough of mr. henning's shouting andraging. he stood up too, and bellowed so loudly that everyone jumped, and timmy began to bark.
snippet at once fled to the kitchen cupboard and hid there.
'ha! now you listen to me!' bellowed great-grand-dad. 'this farm belongs to me, and mygrandson, and it'll go to my great grandson, sitting yonder. a finer farm there never was,and my family's had it for hundreds of years - and sad it's been for me to see it go down hill for lackof money! but now i see money, much money - down in those cellars! ha!
all the money we want for tractors and binders and combines and the lord knows what! we don'twant your money. no, sir! you keep your dollars, you keep them. offer me five thousand if youlike, and see what i'll say!'
mr. henning turned swiftly and looked at mr. durleston, who at once nodded. 'right!' said theamerican to great-grand-dad. 'five thousand! done?'
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'no!' bawled great-grand-dad, enjoying himself more than he had done for years. 'there's gold downin those cellars - jewels - suits of armour - swords, daggers, knives - all of them centuries old... and...'
'don't hand me stories like that,' said mr. henning, sneeringly. 'you old fibber!'
great-grand-dad banged his clenched fist down on the table and made everyone almost fall off theirchairs. 'twins!' he roared. 'fetch those things you got yesterday - go on, fetch them here.
i'll show this american i'm no fibber!'
and then, before the astounded eyes of mr. henning and mr. durleston, and of junior, too, the twinslaid the gold coins, the jewellery, and the swords and knives on the table. mr. durleston stared as ifhe couldn't believe his eyes.
'well - what do you say to that?' demanded great-grand-dad, banging on the table again.
mr. durleston sat back and said one word. 'junk!'
then it was old mr. finniston's turn to stand up and say a few words! mr. durleston, who hadn'tnoticed the quiet old man sitting at the back, was horrified to see him there. he knew he was learnedand knowledgeable, for he himself had tried to pick his brains about the old castle-site.
'ladies and gentlemen,' said mr. finniston, just as if he were addressing a well-conducted meeting, 'iregret to say that, speaking as a well-known antiquarian, i do not consider that mr.
durleston knows what he is talking about if he calls these articles junk! the things on the table areworth a small fortune to any genuine collector. i could myself sell them in london tomorrow for farmore than any sum mr. durleston has advised mr. henning to offer. thank you, ladies andgentlemen!'
and he sat down, bowing courteously to the assembled company. anne felt as if she wanted to claphim!
'well, i don't think there's any more to say,' said mr. philpot, getting up. 'if you'll tell me what hotelyou'll be staying at, mr. henning, i'll have your things sent there. you will certainly not wish to stayhere any longer!'
'pop, i don't wanna go, i wanna stay here!' howled junior, most surprisingly. 'i wanna see the cellarsexca-exculpated! i wanna dig down! i wanna stay!'
'well, we don't want you!' said harry, fiercely. 'you and your peeping and prying and listening andboasting and tale-bearing. cissy-boy! breakfast in bed! can't clean his shoes! howls when he can'tget his own way! screams when...'
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'that's enough, harry,' said his mother sternly, looking quite shocked. 'i don't mind junior staying onif he'll behave himself. it's not his fault that all this has happened.'
'i wanna stay!' wept junior, and kicked out peevishly under the table. he unfortunately caughttimmy on the nose, and the dog rose in anger, growling and showing his teeth. junior fled for hislife.
'do you wanna stay now?' shouted george, as he went, and the answer came back at once.
'no!'
'well, thanks, timmy, for helping him to make up his mind,' said george, and patted the big dog.
mr. henning looked as if he were about to burst. 'if that dog bites my boy, i'll have him put to sleep,'
he said. 'i'll sue you, i'll...'
'please go,' said mrs. philpot, suddenly looking tired out. 'i have a lot of baking to do.'
'i shall take my time,' said mr. henning, pompously. 'i will not be turned out suddenly, as if i hadn'tpaid my bills.'
'seen this sword, henning?' said old great-grand-dad, suddenly, and snatched from the table the bigsword that he so much liked. 'beauty, isn't it? the men of old knew how to deal with their enemies,didn't they? they swung at them like this - and like this - and...'
'here, stop! you're dangerous! that sword nearly cut me!' cried mr. henning in a sudden panic.
'will you put it down?'
'no. it's mine. i'm not selling this,' said great-grand-dad, swinging the sword again. it hit the light-bulb above his head, and the glass fell with a clatter. mr. durleston deserted mr. henning and fledout of the kitchen at top speed, colliding violently with bill, who was just coming in.
'look out - he's mad - that old man's mad!' shouted mr. durleston. 'henning, come along before hecuts off your head!'
mr. henning fled too. great-grand-dad pursued him to the door, breathing blood and thunder, andthe two dogs barked in delight. everyone began to laugh helplessly.
'grand-dad - what's got into you?' said mr. philpot, as the old fellow swung the sword again, his eyesbright, a broad grin on his wrinkled old face.
'nothing! i just thought that only this sword would get rid of those fellows. do you know what i callthem? junk! ha - wish i'd thought of that when they were here! junk! william finniston, did youhear that?'
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'now you put that sword down before you damage it,' said mr. finniston, who knew how to managegreat-grand-dad, 'and you and i will go down to the old inn and talk over what we're going to doabout all this treasure trove. you just put that sword down first - no, grand-dad, i am not going totake you into the inn carrying that sword!'
mrs. philpot heaved a sigh of relief when the two old fellows went off down the lane, leaving thesword safely behind. she sat down, and, to the children's horror, began to cry!
'now, now - don't take any notice of me!' she said, when the twins ran to her in dismay. 'i'm cryingfor joy - to have got rid of them - and to know i've not got to pinch and scrape any more -or to take in visitors. to think that your dad can buy the farm machinery he wants - and... oh dear,what a baby i am, acting like this!'
'i say, mrs. philpot - would you like us to leave too?' asked anne, suddenly realizing that she and theothers were ranked as 'visitors', and must have been an added burden for poor mrs. philpot.
'oh no, my dear, no - you're not really visitors, you're friends!' said mrs. philpot, smiling through hertears. 'and what's more i shan't charge your mothers a single penny for having you here - see whatgood fortune you've brought us!'
'all right - we'll stay. we'd love to,' said anne. 'we wouldn't miss seeing what else is down in thosecastle cellars for anything. would we, george?'
'gosh no!' said george. 'we want to be in on everything. this is just about the most excitingadventure we've ever had!'
'we always say that!' said anne. 'but the nice part about this one is - it isn't finished yet! we'll beable to go and watch the workmen and their drills. we'll be able to help in moving all the exciting oldthings out of their hiding places - we'll hear what prices you get for them - and see the new tractor!
honestly, i really do believe the second part of this adventure will be better than the first! don't youthink so, timmy?'
'woof!' said timmy, and wagged his tail so hard that he knocked snippet right over.
well, good-bye, five! enjoy the rest of your adventures, and have a good time - and do make surethat grand-dad is careful with that great old sword!
the end
