chapter 21 the sack at last!

down went the boys again and once more the raft jerked violently. the girls peered anxiously overthe edge, waiting for them to return.

julian and dick were down at the sunken boat in a matter of a second or two. they finished the taskof tying the rope to the waterproof bag. julian gave it a hard jerk, hoping to free it if it were wedgedtightly into the boat. he took the rest of the rope length in his hands in order to take it up to thesurface.

then, bursting for breath again, the two boys shot up to the raft, popping out of the water with loudgasps. they climbed on board.

they took a minute to get their breath and then dick and julian took the rope together. the girlswatched, their hearts beating fast. now was the test! would that waterproof sack come up - or not?

the boys pulled strongly but without jerking. the raft slanted and anne made a grab at the pile ofclothes in the middle. dick fell off into the water again.

he climbed back, spluttering. 'have to pull more smoothly,' he said. 'i felt the sack give a bit, didn'tyou?'

julian nodded. he was shivering with cold, but his eyes were shining with excitement. anne put amacintosh round his shoulders and one round dick's too. they never even noticed!

'now - pull again,' said julian. 'steady does it - steady - steady! it's coming! gosh, it's really coming.

pull, dick, pull!'

as the heavy bag came up on the end of the rope, the raft slanted again, and the boys pushedthemselves back to the other side of the raft, afraid of upsetting everyone into the water. timmybegan to bark excitedly.

'be quiet, timmy,' said george at once. she knew how easily sound travels over water, and she wasafraid the couple in the tents might hear him.

'it's coming - it's there, look - just below the surface!' said anne. 'one more pull, boys!'

but it was impossible to pull the heavy bag on board without upsetting the raft. as it was, the girlsgot very wet when the water splashed over the raft as it jerked and slanted.

'look - let's paddle back to the shore and let the sack drag behind us.' said julian, at last. 'we 86shall only upset the raft. dress again, dick, and we'll get back to the old house and open the sack incomfort. i'm so cold now that i can hardly feel my fingers.'

the boys dressed as quickly as they could. they were shivering, and were very glad to take up theirpaddles and work hard to get the raft back to shore. they soon felt a welcome warmth stealingthrough their bodies, and in ten minutes had stopped shivering. they felt very pleased withthemselves indeed.

they looked back at the bulky object following them, dragging along just under the surface.

what was in that bag? excitement crept over all of them again, and the paddles struck through thewater at top speed as all the four strained to get back as quickly as possible. timmy felt theexcitement too, and wagged his long tail without ceasing as he stood in the middle of the raft,watching the thing that bobbed along behind them.

they came at last to the end of the lake. making as little noise as possible they dragged the raft underits usual bush. they did not want to leave it out on the bank in case maggie and dirty dick saw thatit had been used again, and started wondering.

dick and julian dragged the waterproof sack out of the water. they carried it between them as theywent cautiously back to the house. it looked a most miserable, grotesque place with its burnt-out roof,doorways and windows - but the children didn't notice its forlorn appearance in the moonlight - theywere far too excited!

they walked slowly up the overgrown path between the two broken-down walls, their feet making nosound on the soft mossy ground. they came to the doorway and dragged the bundle into the kitchen.

'go and light the candles in the cellar room,' said julian to george. 'i just want to make sure that thatcouple are not snooping anywhere about.'

george and anne went to light the candles, flashing their torches before them down the stone steps.

julian and dick stood at the open doorway, facing the moonlight, listening intently. not a sound wasto be heard, not a shadow moved!

they set timmy on guard and left him there, dragging the dripping, heavy bundle across the stonefloor of the kitchen. they bumped it down the cellar steps - and at last had it before them, ready to beopened!

julian's fingers fumbled at the knots of the rope. george couldn't bear waiting. she took a pocket-knife and handed it to julian.

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'for goodness' sake, cut the rope!' she said. 'i simply can't wait another moment.'

julian grinned. he cut the rope - and then he looked to see how to undo the waterproof wrapping.

'i see,' he said. 'it's been folded over and over the goods, and then sewn up to make a kind of bag.

it must have kept the loot absolutely waterproof.'

'buck up!' said george. 'i shall tear it open myself in a minute!'

julian cut the strong stitches that closed the covering. they began to unwrap the bundle. thereseemed to be yards and yards of waterproof covering! but at last it was off - and there, in the middleof the mass of waterproof, were scores of little boxes - leather-covered boxes that everyone knew atonce were jewel-boxes!

'it is jewellery then!' said anne, and she opened a box. they all exclaimed in wonder.

a magnificent necklace glittered on black velvet. it shone and glinted and sparkled in the candlelightas if it were on fire. even the two boys gazed without a word. why - it was fit for a queen!

'it must be that wonderful necklace stolen from the queen of fallonia,' said george at last. 'i saw apicture of it in the papers. what diamonds!'

'oooh - are they diamonds!' said anne, in awe. 'oh julian - what a lot of money they must be worth!

a hundred pounds, do you think?'

'a hundred thousand pounds more likely, anne,' said julian, soberly. 'my word - no wonder thenailer hid these stolen goods carefully, in such an ingenious place. no wonder maggie and dirtydick were longing to find them. let's see what else there is.'

every box contained precious stones of some kind - sapphire bracelets, ruby and diamond rings, astrange and wonderful opal necklace, ear-rings of such enormous diamonds that anne was quite sureno one would be able to bear the weight of them!

'i would never, never dare to own jewellery like this,' said anne. 'i should always be afraid of itsbeing stolen. did it all belong to the queen of fallonia?'

‘no. some to a princess who was visiting her,' said julian. 'these jewels are worth a king's ransom. ijust hate the thought of being in charge of them, even for a little while.'

'well, it's better that we should have them, rather than maggie or dirty dick,' said george. she held astring of diamonds in her hands and let them run through her fingers. how they sparkled!

no one could have imagined that they had been at the bottom of a lake for a year or two!

'now let's see,' said julian, sitting down on the edge of the table. 'we're due back at school 88tomorrow afternoon, tuesday - or is it tuesday already? it must be past midnight - gosh, yes, it'salmost half past two! would you believe it?'

'i feel as if i'd believe anything,' said anne, blinking at the glittering treasure on the table.

'we'd better start off fairly early tomorrow,' went on julian. 'we've got to get these things to thepolice ...'

'not to that awful policeman we saw the other day!' said george, in horror.

'of course not. i think our best course would be to ring up that nice mr. gaston and tell him thatwe've got important news for the police and see which police station he recommends us to go to,'

said julian. 'he might even arrange a car for us, so that we don't need to take this stuff about in buses.

i'm not particularly keen on carrying it about with me!'

'have we got to carry all these boxes?' said george, in dismay.

'no. that would be asking for trouble if anyone spotted them,' said julian. 'i fear we'll just have towrap up the jewels in our hankies and stuff them down into the bottom of our rucksacks. we'll leavethe boxes here. the police can collect them afterwards if they want to.'

it was all decided. the four divided up the glittering jewellery and wrapped it carefully into fourhandkerchiefs, one for each of them. they stuffed the hankies into their rucksacks.

'we'd better use them for pillows,' said dick. 'then they'll be quite safe.'

'what! these horrid rough bags!' said anne. 'why? timmy's on guard, isn't he? i'll put mine besideme under the rug but i just won't put my head on it.'

dick laughed. 'all right, anne. timmy won't let any robber through, i'm quite sure. now - we startoff first thing in the morning, do we, julian?'

'yes. as soon as we wake,' said julian. 'we can't have much to eat. there's only a few biscuits and abit of chocolate left.'

'i shan't mind,' said anne. 'i'm so excited that at the moment i don't feel i'll ever eat anything again!'

'you'll change your mind tomorrow,' said julian with a laugh. 'now - to bed, everyone.'

they lay down on their heather and bracken, excited and pleased. what a week-end! and all becausedick and anne had lost their way and dick slept in the wrong barn!

'good-night,' said julian, yawning. 'i feel very very rich - richer than i'll ever be in my life again.

well - i'll enjoy the feeling while i can!'