Free Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton Page B

other we'll find those ingots. What a lovely word. Ingots! Ingots! Ingots!"
    It sounded somehow more exciting than the word gold. Nobody spoke about gold any more. They talked about the Ingots. Tim couldn't make out what the excitement was at all. He wagged his tail and tried hard to lick first one and then another of the children, but for once in a way not one of them paid any attention to him! He simply couldn't understand it, and after a while he went and sat down by himself with his back to the children, and his ears down.

    "Oh, do look at poor Timothy!" said George. "He can't understand our excitement.
    Tim! Tim, darling, it's all right, you're not in disgrace or anything. Oh, Tim, we've got the most wonderful secret in the whole world."
    Tim bounded up, his tail wagging, pleased to be taken notice of once more. He put his big paw on the precious map, and the four children shouted at him at once.
    "Golly! We can't have that torn!" said Julian. Then he looked at the others and frowned. "What are we going to do about the box?" he said. "I mean— George's father will be sure to miss it, won't he? We'll have to give it back."
    "Well, can't we take out the map and keep it?" said Dick. "He won't know it was there if he hasn't looked in the box. And it's pretty certain he hasn't. The other things don't matter much— they are only that old diary, and a few letters."
    "To be on the safe side, let's take a copy of the map," said Dick. "Then we can put the real map back and replace the box."
    They all voted that a very good idea. They went back to Kirrin Cottage and traced out the map carefully. They did it in the tool-shed because they didn't want anyone to see them. It was a queer map. It was in three parts.
    "This part shows the dungeons under the castle," said Julian. "And this shows a plan of the ground floor of the castle— and this shows the top part. My word, it was a fine place in those days! The dungeons run all under the castle. I bet they were pretty awful places. I wonder how people got down to them."
    "We'll have to study the map a bit more and see," said George. "It all looks rather muddled to us at present— but once we take the map over to the castle and study it there, we may be able to make out how to get down to the hidden dungeons. Ooooh! I don't expect any children ever had such an adventure as this."
    Julian put the traced map carefully into his jeans pocket. He didn't mean it to leave him. It was very precious. Then he put the real map back into the box and looked towards the house. "What about putting it back now?" he said. "Maybe your father is still asleep, George."
    But he wasn't. He was awake. Luckily he hadn't missed the box! He came into the dining-room to have tea with the family, and Julian took his chance. He muttered an excuse, slipped away from the table, and replaced the box on the table behind his uncle's chair!
    He winked at the others when he came back. They felt relieved. They were all scared of Uncle Quentin, and were not at all anxious to be in his bad books. Anne didn't say one word during the whole of the meal. She was so terribly afraid she might give something away, either about Tim or the box. The others spoke very little too. While they were at tea the telephone rang and Aunt Fanny went to answer it.
    She soon came back. "It's for you, Quentin," she said. "Apparently the old wreck has caused quite a lot of excitement, and there are men from a London paper who want to ask you questions about it."
    "Tell them I'll see them at six," said Uncle Quentin. The children looked at one another in alarm. They hoped that their uncle wouldn't show the box to the newspapermen. Then the secret of the hidden gold might come out!
    "What a mercy we took a tracing of the map!" said Julian, after tea. "But I'm jolly sorry now we left the real map in the box. Someone else may guess our secret!"

Chapter Ten
AN ASTONISHING OFFER
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    THE next morning the papers were full of the