Part 13 (1/2)

”No - I know it by heart,” said Jack. ”A spring of water is next. Not that I can see one at all - though I wish I could, because I could do with a drink after that hot scramble. My hands are filthy, and so are my knees.”

”Yes, we could all do with a jolly good wash now,” said Philip. ”A good old rub and a scrub.”

”Rubbenascrub,” said Kiki, and went off into one of her dreadful cackles.

”Stop it, Kiki,” said Jack. ”I'll give you a rubbenascrub in a minute.”

There was no spring of water to be seen. Lucy-Ann began to look very disappointed.

”Cheer up!” said Jack. ”We may not be able to see the spring from this wall of rock - but we can surely find it if it's anywhere near.”

”Let's listen,” suggested Dinah.

So they all stood perfectly still and listened. ”Shhhhhh!” said Kiki annoyingly.

Jack smacked her on her beak. She gave a dismal squawk and sat silent. And, in the silence of the peaceful mountainside, the children heard the tinkle-tinkle of water - a merry, gurgling noise, cheerful and friendly.

”I can hear it!” cried Lucy-Ann in delight. ”It comes from somewhere over there.”

She leapt across to a little thicket of trees, and there, hidden deep in the flower-strewn gra.s.s, bubbled a clear spring, trickling down the hillside, a tiny stream of crystal cold water.

”It starts just up there, look,” said Jack, and pointed to a big bush. The spring bubbled out from below the bush. ”Fourth signpost!”

”Now for the fifth - and last!” said Lucy-Ann excited. ”Oooh - do you think we really are getting near to the treasure? It's really not very far from our waterfall cave. I thought I could hear the faint, distant roar of the fall when I stood listening for the gurgling of the spring.”

”I thought I could too,” said Dinah. ”Now, what do we look for next?”

”The queer-shaped rock,” said Jack. ”You know - like a man in a long cloak, with a round head at the top.”

”Easy!” said Philip triumphantly, and pointed upwards. ”There it is - quite clear against the sky!”

They all looked up. Philip was right. There stood the curious-shaped rock, easy to see against the sky.

”Come on!” said Jack excitedly. ”Up we go! Come along, treasure-hunters!”

They climbed up to where the queer-shaped rock stood. Other rocks lay round about, but this one was much taller, and, because of its height and shape, it stood out among the others.

”Our last signpost!” said Jack. ”And now - where's the treasure?”

Ah, yes - where was the treasure? Lucy-Ann looked about the hillside as if she half expected it to be strewn there. The others began to search for a cave-opening. But n.o.body could find anything.

”Why didn't you ask Otto exactly where to find the treasure, after coming to the last signpost?” complained Dinah, tired and disappointed, coming over to Jack.

”Well, I didn't know we were going to look for it, silly, did I?” said Jack. ”I thought Julius Muller was going to take charge of the treasure-hunt. No doubt if he got as far as this he'd know where the treasure was all right.”

”Well, it's most awfully disappointing to come all this way, and read the map so well, and then not find a thing,” said Dinah, who was cross and tired. ”I'm fed-up. I shan't hunt any more. You can all go on looking if you like, but I'm going to have a rest.”

She flung herself down, and lay fiat, looking upwards at the steep mountainside above her. It was ridged with flat slabs of rock, sticking out here and there like ledges. Dinah examined them lazily with her eyes. Then she sat up suddenly.

”Hi!” she called to the others. ”Look up there!”

They came over to her and looked up. ”See those big ledges of rock sticking out all the way up the cliff-side?” she said. ”Like shelves. Well, look half-way up - see one that sticks out rather far? Look underneath it. Is that a hole there?”

”It does look rather like a hole,” said Jack. ”Maybe a foxhole, though. Still, it's the only sizable hole hereabouts, so we'd better explore. I'll go up. Coming, Tufty?”

”Rather,” said Philip. ”It doesn't look difficult. Aren't you two girls coming too?”

Dinah forgot that she was fed-up, and she joined in the climb to the hole under the ledge of rock. When they got there they found that it was a very big hole indeed. It could not possibly be seen from above, for the shelf of rock stuck right out over it and hid it. It could only be seen from one place below, at a certain angle - and that was the place where Dinah had flung herself down some time back.

”Bit of luck you happened to spot it, Dinah,” said Jack. ”We might have hunted all day and never found it. I wonder if this is the entrance to the real treasure-cave.”

They peered down. The hole yawned below them, dark and appearing rather vast. ”Where's my torch?” said Jack, and, taking it from his pocket, he switched it on.

The children gazed down into the hole. It seemed nothing but a hole. No treasure was there. But, as Jack swung his torch a little further down, Dinah thought she caught sight of a pa.s.sage further back.

”I believe,” she said, almost falling into the hole in her excitement, ”I do believe it goes right back, into a pa.s.sage.”

Kiki flew off Jack's shoulder and disappeared into the hole. A mournful voice floated up to them.

”What's down there, Kiki?” called Jack.

”Three blind mice,” answered Kiki, solemnly and untruthfully. ”Three blind mice. Pop!”

”You're a fibber,” said Jack. ”Anyway - down we go to find the”

”Three blind mice,” said Kiki, and went off into an imitation of Lucy-Ann's giggle.

Chapter 21.

THE STRANGE CAVES.

JACK went down the hole first. He lowered himself right in, and only had to drop about a foot to the ground below.

”Lucy-Ann, you come next,” he said, and helped her down. Then came the others, excited and eager. Had they really found the treasure cave?

”It simply must be the hiding-place for the treasure!” said Jack. ”There isn't another hole or cave anywhere. Now, let me flash my torch round a bit.”

At the back of the hole, as Dinah had thought, there was a pa.s.sage - quite a wide one, and fairly high. A very tall man could have walked down it with ease.

”Come on!” said Jack, his voice shaking with excitement. ”We're getting warm!”

They followed him down the pa.s.sage, Kiki sitting on his shoulder. Lucy-Ann held on to his sleeve, half fearful of what they might find.

The pa.s.sage was wide and high all the way along, but wound about a little. It went downwards, and kept more or less in the same direction, for all its windings - that is, towards the heart of the mountain.

Suddenly the pa.s.sage came to an abrupt end. Jack paused, and gasped. In front of him was a most extraordinary sight.