The children rushed up the stone steps at once. Outside, at a safe distance, was Dirty Dick.

“Have you been taking anything of ours?” he shouted.

“No more than you have been taking of ours!” shouted back Julian. “Fair exchange, you know, and all that.”

“How dare you go into our tents?” raged the man, his shock of hair making him look very peculiar in the twilight.

“We didn’t. The dog fetched and carried for us,” said Julian. “And don’t you come any nearer. He’s just longing to fly at you! And I warn you, he’ll be on guard tonight, so don’t try any funny tricks. He’s as strong and savage as a lion.”

“Grrrr,” said Timmy, so fiercely that the man started back in fright. He went off without another word, shaking with anger.

Julian and the others went back to finish a very delicious supper. Timmy went with them - but he planted himself at the top of the cellar steps.

“Not a bad place for him to be in tonight,” said Julian. “I don’t trust that couple an inch. We can give him one of our blazers to lie on. I say - this has boiled up into quite an adventure, hasn’t it? It seems frightful to think we’ll be back at school on Tuesday!”

“We must find the loot first!” said Anne. “We really must. Let’s get out that plan again, Ju. Let’s make sure that Tall Stone is marked on it.”

They got it out and put it on the table. They bent over it once more.

“Yes - Tall Stone is marked at the end of one of the lines,” said Julian. “Tock Hill is at the end of the opposite line. Let’s get the map and see if there is a Tock Hill,”

They got the map, and studied it. Anne suddenly put her finger down on it. “There it is. On the opposite side of the lake from where we saw the Tall Stone, Tock Hill on one side. Tall Stone on the other. Surely that means something.”

“It does, of course,” said Julian. “It is bearings given to show the whereabouts of the hidden goods. There are four bearings given - Tall Stone. Tock Hill. Chimney. And Steeple.”

“Listen!” said Dick, suddenly. “LISTEN! I know how to read that map. It’s easy.”

The others looked at him in surprise and doubt.

“Read it, then,” said Julian. “Tell us what it all means. I don’t believe you can!”

Chapter Eighteen

A very exciting time

“Let’s take all the clues we know,” said Dick, looking excited. “Two Trees. That’s here. Gloomy Water. That’s where the hidden stuff must be. Saucy Jane. It’s a boat that contains the stuff, hidden somewhere on Gloomy Water.”

“Go on,” said Julian, as Dick paused to think.

“Maggie is the next clue - well she’s here, probably an old friend of Nailer’s,” said Dick. “She knows all the clues too,”