Part 11 (1/2)
The girls ran up into the sandhills to change, but before Prue disappeared she returned to the boys with a basket et
”Here are soht youtime yet till tea- tio in for the peculiar entertainirl with brown curls who did not talk slang and went about distributing buns to hungry boys ”Her for irls were soon back, all in navy-blue bathing-suits, knickers below, and a belted tunic reaching to their knees above--too much clothed for Mollie's taste; she liked to be skirumbles after they have been in a Circle--at least, not for the next twenty-four hours--so Mollie endured her substantial garot all about theirls waded out to the raft, which the boys had launched They climbed on board and were soon in fairly deep water Mollie and Prudence slipped off and left lazy Grizzel alone on deck, sitting cross-legged like a little tailor, one arently up and down on the calm sea, while the children swam, ducked, and played about in the clear, sun-war porpoises As Grizzel sat idly watching the rest, her eyes fell upon an object which floated at a little distance from the raft It was a bottle--a common beer-bottle--its cork rammed well in and sealed with red wax
”What's that?” she called to Hugh, pointing to the bottle as it danced about, twirling round and round, tossing from side to side in the wide ripples sent out by the children and the drifting raft
They all e from the deep,” cried Jerry; ”probably fro the nearest, caught it by its red neck, and the whole party collected on and about the raft to see ould happen next
But Hugh refused to break the bottle until they went ashore again
”The sea lass would get on deck and cut us; we'll pull her in now and read the ot under way and, practice h and dry on the beach, and the _Nancy Lee_ dragged up and co, and Hugh cautiously knocked off the neck of the bottle with a stone He drew out a paper, which had been carefully rolled round a thin bamboo stick and tied with a red ribbon There was no date on the paper, nor was there any sign to shohere the bottle had been thrown in, but written in large, clear round-hand was the following e:
IF THE FINDER OF THIS BOTTLE WILL SEARCH THE CAVE UNDER _THE DUKE'S NOSE_ HE WILL FIND SOMETHING TO HIS ADVANTAGE
”Hidden treasure,” said three boys all at once ”Where is The Duke's Nose?” asked dick
”Never heard of it,” answered Hugh, looking hard at Jerry, whose nose was distinctly aquiline and promised to be more so in the future ”You aren't a duke by any chance, I suppose?” he asked
”No, old sport, I'rin, ”and if I were, the only treasure you would find in the cave under my nose would be some jolly sharp teeth, and they wouldn't be at all to your advantage either”
”It's probably aested; ”I expect if ent there and walked round ould see so that looked like a duke's nose”
”But there aren't any big enough to have a cave under them,” said Prudence; ”they are all quite little rocks”
”It will be a bit of the cliff, most likely,” said dick, ”in fact it is alreed that this was probable ”What do you think the hidden treasure will be?” asked Grizzel ”A sack of diamonds and rubies?”
”I hope not,” said Jerry, ”for, if it is anything of that sort, ill have to give it up If ere caught trying to sell diamonds we'd be copped at once, and the bobbies would think the bottle story was all made up I expect we'd all be put in jail, and it would be jolly aard for dick and ot back to school I think I see the Old Man's face e explained that we couldn't come because ere in an Australian prison in the year 1879 for stealing diamonds I don't think!”
”Schoolmasters and mistresses are extraordinarily stupid sometimes,”
said Mollie reflectively ”They are so hard to convince, even about quite sis, if they don't want to be convinced But I shouldn't care for diamonds myself I'd like a swanky tennis- racket”
”I'd like a revolver, latest pattern,” said Jerry
”I should like a first-class ca,” said dick
”I'd like a nice little -machine,” said Prue
”I'd like six pairs of stilts,” said Grizzel, ”and then we could all walk home on them”