However, it was not very long before they reached her side, and she was able to explain the situation. A few more excited coo-ees brought the boys back, and the question became: What to do next? The sun was getting perilously near the horizon, and once it dropped behind the sea, darkness would fall rapidly and the rocks be really unsafe, especially as the tide was now coming in.
"We must get up frightfully early in the morning," said d.i.c.k at last, "and come along before breakfast. n.o.body is likely to find that treasure in the next ten hours or so."
With many backward looks they resumed their homeward trek. It was hard luck to have to leave the treasure when, perhaps, they had almost found it, but Mamma"s word was law, and if they broke their promise about getting home, or at least meeting Papa, it was quite possible that to-morrow would be spent by the girls in doing French verbs and making b.u.t.tonholes.
The children slept soundly all night in their funny little bunks.
Early in the morning a small figure slipped into the boys" room and shook first one boy and then another by the shoulders. d.i.c.k and Jerry woke up after a few grunts; Hugh as usual was a sleepy-head.
"Leave him to us," d.i.c.k said confidently, "_we"ll_ get him up-- you"ll see."
"Tell him to come by Gobbler"s Hollow," ordered Grizzel; "you"ll find us there. Don"t stop to wash."
When the boys were half-way across the sandhills, they saw a thin column of blue smoke rising from somewhere among the low scrubby trees, and a minute after a delicious smell greeted their unducal noses--a smell of wood-smoke and toast combined.
"It"s the girls making grub," Hugh explained to the other two; "they"re great on grub." He might have added that he was great on it himself, so far as eating it was concerned. Certainly d.i.c.k and Jerry were very pleased to know that they had not to wait until half-past eight for breakfast, for the fresh sea air had given them ravenous appet.i.tes. They found the girls in Gobbler"s Hollow--appropriately so named by Hugh--bending over a gipsy fire. The inevitable billy- can hung from a tripod, and the steam from it mingled with the smoke of the fire. Mollie was toasting bread, which Prudence b.u.t.tered with a lavish hand, and Grizzel was sh.e.l.ling hard-boiled eggs.
"I call this top-hole," d.i.c.k announced, as he squatted down on the sand and took his tin mug from Mollie, who had begged to be allowed to make the tea as she had seen Grizzel make it before. "It will buck us up no end and make us as sharp as needles."
They were in a hurry to get on; so when breakfast was done they pushed the mugs and knives into the hollow of a bush, which Grizzel explained was their storeroom. Later in the day the girls would come back and tidy up; for the present the great thing was to get to the cave as quickly as possible. They had two clear hours before them in which to make their search.
The tide was at its lowest, and there was a broad stretch of wet sand between the sandhills and the sea. Wide shallow pools of water had been left behind by the receding waves, while here and there lay long heavy drifts of seaweed, shining darkly in the early rays of the morning sunlight. The children splashed their way along, their eyes fixed on the flagstaff hut. As they drew nearer they left the sea and steered for the cave, the entrance to which was plain enough now that they knew where to look for it.
"It"s such a conspicuous sort of cave," Hugh said, "I don"t see how anyone could miss finding treasure unless it is buried very deep."
Caves have always a certain amount of mystery about them, but this one was undoubtedly as ordinary looking a cave as one could find. It did not burrow very far back into the cliff side, and what there was of it was open to the daylight and contained no lurking dark corners. The walls were rough and rocky but not high; the roof was, as Jerry said, nothing particular, and the floor was of shingle and rather wet, as if the sea, now so far away, had paid it a visit not so very long ago. But, as the rocks and stones before the entrance were dry, it was obviously not the tide which had washed the floor.
"It must be a spring or something," Hugh said; "let"s taste and see--" he stooped as he spoke and scooped up a handful of water, which he put to his lips.
"Thought so; it"s quite fresh and sweet--that"s rather a find--jolly useful for picnics, it will save us carting water about--by jinks!"
he exclaimed, looking round at the others with an expression of blank dismay; "do you suppose _that"s_ what we were to find to our advantage?"
They all stared hard at the shining wet stones, through which the trickle of water was now plainly discernable. Then they stared round the cave again. There did not seem to be a place where treasure _could_ be hidden. Moreover, there were traces of a not very remote picnic--the dead ashes of a gipsy fire, one or two crumpled-up b.a.l.l.s of paper, some broken bottles!
"That"s it," said Jerry at last. "It was probably the people who had that picnic--those broken bottles are the same as the one we found.
They played c.o.c.k-shy with them, and then thought it would be a lark to chuck one into the sea. What a jolly old sell!"
"We"ve had a nice morning anyhow," said Prudence, "and the spring certainly _will_ be an advantage when we"ve got used to it not being a sewing-machine and bull-dogs and things."
"I somehow don"t believe it is the spring," said Mollie thoughtfully, still staring about her. "There is something about the way that paper is written; it doesn"t look like the writing of the sort of person who plays that kind of joke--and of course it would be meant for a joke. Let"s all stand quite still in a circle back to back, and each stare hard all over the bit of cave that comes in front of us, and see if there isn"t a sign of some sort."
They agreed that there would be no harm in trying this plan, though the boys" hopes were small. d.i.c.k and Jerry were uneasily conscious that they were "the sort of person" who would have thought that bottled message an excellent joke--to play on someone else!
So they stared. They even circled slowly round so that each part of the cave was examined with meticulous care by six pairs of eyes in turn. But it was all in vain; the cave only seemed to become more and more ordinary the longer they looked at it.
"There"s not a place where you could hide a thimble," Prue said sadly, "let alone a treasure."
"What"s that?" Grizzel called out suddenly, pointing to the broken bottles in the corner.
After all there _had_ been a dark spot, and with the brightening daylight that dark spot had all at once lighted up, and there lay a bottle, the very twin of the one they had found in the sea, red sealing-wax and all. The boys made a dive for it, but d.i.c.k stopped abruptly and held back the others: "Grizzel saw it first, let her open it too," he said.
Grizzel advanced, and picking up the bottle held it to the light-- yes, there was a message plainly to be seen.
"I think one of you had better break it open," she said; "I"d probably cut my fingers."
Hugh solemnly knocked off its head and drew out the paper. It was written in the same round, clear handwriting:
IF THE PERSON WHO FINDS THIS BOTTLE WILL ASK FOR MR. BROWN AT THE DUKE"S NOSE, HE WILL HEAR OF SOMETHING TO HIS ADVANTAGE.
"Why the d.i.c.kens couldn"t they have said that first shot?" Jerry exclaimed.
"I expect Mr. Brown will tell us to go to the d.u.c.h.ess"s Toes and hear of something to our _dis_-advantage," said Hugh sarcastically.
"If we are going to look for Mr. Brown we will have to hurry," said Prudence, who had gone to the entrance of the cave and was scrutinizing the beach; "by the look of the shadows I should say it was a good bit after seven. In not much more than an hour we must be sitting down at breakfast tidy and brushed."
They found when they came out that there was a footpath up to the Duke"s Nose--a very steep and boulder-strewn path, but quite a possible one for them all; so they went for it manfully and womanfully and were soon at top. But alas! the door of the hut was closed and locked; no one answered their repeated knocks, and they came to the unwilling conclusion that the place was empty.
"Blow!" said d.i.c.k at last. "Why couldn"t the old treasure-hider put his old treasure in an easier place?"
"If he had, someone else would have found it," Mollie remarked sensibly, "and anyhow it is a lark searching for it."
At that moment a man"s figure could be seen coming towards the hut; he was swinging a billy-can by the handle.
"That"s the man I saw last night," exclaimed Grizzel; "I expect he is Mr. Brown."
The man was rather surprised to see six children congregated before his hut door at that hour of the morning. Prudence was pushed forward as spokeswoman. "Please, are you Mr. Brown?" she asked, in her most polite voice.
"I am, miss. Anything I can do for you?"
"We found this piece of paper," she said, showing the latest message to him, "and we brought it to you like it says."
The man grinned broadly--he had a nice grin, the children thought-- "You"ve found it, have you? Well, that beats me! That"s darned clever of you. Our little Missie will be no end bucked to hear that bit o" news; she was mighty taken up with her messages, she was.
You"ll have to wait a bit, though. I can"t leave this place before twelve noon. You be on the beach above where that big hump o"
seaweed is at twelve-thirty to-day, an" you"ll see--" the man broke off and grinned again.
"What?" asked several excited people at once.
"That"s tellin"," said Mr. Brown; "just you wait an" you"ll see somethin" to your advantage, same as it says here."
It was terribly hard to have to leave the treasure at this thrilling stage, but there was nothing else to be done, especially as it was getting late, and they would have to hasten their steps as it was, if they were to reach home in time for a proper tidy-up before breakfast. Mamma was very particular about many things, but she was particularly particular about coming to table with clean hands and freshly brushed hair.
They were at the trysting-place long before half-past twelve. n.o.body had a watch, but the Australian children had a device of their own for telling the time.
"You stand on one foot," Hugh explained, "and twirl round with your other big toe in the sand--like this. That makes a circle to fit your own shadow. Then you stand in the middle and see where the shadow hits the circle. And then you guess the time near enough for all practical purposes. It"s quite simple."
"Did you invent that sort of clock yourself?" Mollie asked deferentially.
"There wasn"t much to invent," Hugh replied modestly; "it"s on the same principle as a sundial. I only applied my legs."