We crowded round the edge but it didn’t feel safe, so me and Brian sat down with our legs hanging over and Connor went round and crouched over the other side to watch what he was doing.

He dug in and shifted the earth into the big puddle behind him. His sandals were getting splashed. His foot went backwards into the mud. The backs of his legs got spattered. ‘I can help,’ Connor said, but Manus ignored him.

‘Shall we have a funeral?’ said Brian.

‘No, we’re just gonna bury it,’ Manus said.

He dug in some more and pushed a big lump of earth rolling down into the ditch, splashing up to his shorts. It didn’t stop him, he went on whacking into the wall of earth like it was gonna open up and swallow him.

‘Look at that,’ Brian whispered, leaning his arm on my shoulder so I could feel myself falling in. I held the back of his jumper and told him don’t push me.

Manus looked up at us and scowled as he took a swing but this time he hit a stone and it hurt his wrist. He dropped the shovel and held his wrist up till the pain went.

‘Why won’t you let me?’ Connor said.

Manus looked up at him like it was his fault there was a stone there, ‘Why should I?’

‘Because you let ’em walk all over you!’

That was it, I scrambled back from the edge and tried to drag Brian but he pulled away from me and nearly fell in, shouting ‘Oi!’ Then he fell in, and landed up to his feet in the muddy puddle. His hands and bum were muddy from the slide, he had splashes up to his knees, and a splash in his face. He looked up at me like I’d pushed him.

‘Gis that shovel out the mud,’ Manus said, looking at him. ‘See what we gotta put up with?’

Because Brian laughed and gave Manus the shovel, I went round to Connor to be on his side, but that felt wrong because then Manus tapped to see where the stone was and there was the metal sound of a clunk. He did it again, and it was a clink. He dug round, scraping away, and there was something metal stuck in the mud.

‘What is it?’ Connor said.

Manus dug some more where it was wedged in to get it loose. It started to come out, he dropped the shovel and started pulling side to side. As he tugged it looked like a metal tray stuck upside down, but then the whole thing slid out into his hands, and he was looking down at a rusty, muddy box.

‘It’s treasure,’ said Brian.

Manus wiped away the mud, and as the metal came out his face changed and his eyes shone.

‘Why can’t we come?’ I said.