“I hid it down in the cellars beyond our room - and locked the door leading there - and here’s the key,” grinned Julian, holding up a large key.

“You never told us!” said George. “Julian, you’re a genius! How do you manage to think of things like that?”

“Oh - just brains!” said Julian, pretending to look modest, and then laughing. “Come on - if I don’t get warm quickly I’ll have a most almighty chill!”

Chapter Twenty

In the moonlight

They paddled rapidly away. Dick took a last glance back to make sure that the cork and the box were still bobbing on the water to mark the place where the sunken boat lay. Yes - they were still there.

“It’ll be maddening if it’s cloudy tonight and the moon doesn’t come out,” said George, as they paddled. “We shouldn’t be able to see Tock Hill, Tall Stone and the rest - and we might paddle for ages in the dark without spotting our cork-and-box mark.”

“Don’t cross your bridges before you come to them,” said Dick.

“I’m not,” said George. “I was only just hoping that wouldn’t happen.”

“It won’t,” said Julian, looking at the sky. “The weather’s set fine again.”

As soon as Maggie saw the children coming back again, she and Dirty Dick disappeared into their tents. Julian grinned. “They’ve heaved a sigh of relief and gone to have a snack,” he said. “I could do with one myself.”

Everyone felt the same. Paddling was hard work, and the air on the lake was keen - quite enough to give anyone a large appetite!

They pushed the raft into its hiding-place again.

Then they made their way to the old house. They went down into the cellar room. Timmy growled and sniffed about again.

“I bet Maggie and Dirty Dick have been here, snooping round again,” said George. “Looking for their pork-pie and ham! Good thing you locked it up, Ju!”

Julian unlocked the door into the cellars beyond, and brought out the food. “A large toad was looking at it with great interest,” he said, as he brought it back. “Timmy also looked at the toad with interest - but he’s wary of toads by now. They taste much too nasty when pounced on!”

They took the meal up into the sunshine and enjoyed it. The orangeade was finished so they drank the cold clear water, pumping some vigorously.

“Do you know it’s a quarter to three?” said Julian amazed. “Where has the time gone? In a couple of hours or so it will be dark. Let me see - the moon will be well up about eleven o’clock. That’s the time to go, I think.”

“Please don’t let’s,” said Anne. Julian put his arm round her.

“Now you know you don’t mean that, Anne,” he said. “You know you’ll enjoy it all when the time comes. You couldn’t bear to be left out of it! Could you?”

“No, I suppose I couldn’t,” said Anne. “But I don’t like Maggie and Dirty Dick!”