But it was not easy to do this, for some of the bundles were letters and old bills, and the old-fashioned writing was too difficult for either of them to read. After some hesitation, Jon put these on one side, meaning to come back to them if they could not find something more exciting. They picked out two of the books next and banged so much dust out of them that Penny sneezed violently.

There was another big, flat book next, and in this was pasted a number of newspaper cuttings. They looked at a few of these and found that they all referred to smuggling and smugglers on Romney Marsh. There were also some descriptions, cut from old magazines, of the capture of a gang of smugglers and of their trial in the old Court-house in Rye. Another article, cut out and pasted in the book, told the story, illustrated by quaint, old-fashioned engravings, of the Battle of Brookland.

Then they found the roll, easily the most exciting discovery so far. Penny held one end while Jon unrolled it from the other and held it down. They saw at once that it was a rather primitive, sketchy map and, when they had turned it round and got it the right way up, Jon realized that it was an attempt to show part of the Marsh near Rye and the coast beyond it to the west.

"Look, Penny! That's Rye, because he's drawn it on its hill... and there's something drawn on the sea just by Rye... What is it? A bird?"

"Of course it's not a bird!" she shouted as she held down her end again. "It's us, Jon! It's the Dolphin. At least it's meant to be a dolphin, I think, and it's got a silly grin on its face, so I s'pose that means it's gay."

Jon looked admiringly.

"P'raps you're right," he said. "It might be! But why should the man who drew this map suggest the Dolphin?"

"Because of the treasure, silly! I bet this map is the clue, and I bet it's in the Dolphin somewhere - the treasure, I mean!"

"There's nothing written on it or drawn on it that looks like treasure though... Let's look at some of the other things. Winchelsea is shown, look, and he's drawn a little hill or volcano down by the sea, there... And that's a windmill, there - and here's another at the back of Rye, and it looks as if it's in the middle of a wood, which is stupid..."

"Jon!" she said hoarsely. "Jon! Don't you see, we've got it! He said 'the old mill' on the telephone. There you are! There it is!"

"Well, here are two," Jon agreed, "and we don't know which one. There's something here which might be a mill."