The Happy Adventurers

iggers or

AR

t it is very important for us to keep notes, in case the Thingu

read it, I mean we read your letter and ate it-anyway, we were looking at that photograph and thinking that the boy looked a pretty decent sort, and wishing we were him instead of ourselves when suddenly he appeared! He really did, I'm not making this up. At the window just where the parrot was yesterday. And the funny thing is that we don't usually sit at that desk for maths, but the other room was having something done to it, so we did yesterday. The chap stared at us, and Y. O. said, 'Hullo!' and he said, 'Hullo!' And Y. O. said, 'Who are you?' And he said, 'I'm a Time-traveller!

affec.

IC

or obviously she could not continue sending away photographs without causing remarks to be made and questions asked. She

ver. But the fact was that, after the first surprise of seeing them, she had forgotten. "I forget about Now and only

he June sunshine that Mollie thought she might almost see a bud swell into a full-blown rose if she watched steadily enough. Caroline Testout had already dropped some of her pink blossoms, which lay scattered about the path in rosy patches, reminding Mollie of Grizzel and her shells. She smiled to herself and then sighed, as her eyes wandered from the rose-garden to the long red brick wall beyond, where the sweet cherries grew.

" she said to Aunt Mary, who sat near, reading the Aer

am sorry you are feeling so crowded up," she said.

h, much worse places than ours. Sometimes I wonder how people can live in them, and yet Mother says they are not the worst. There is simply no room for children to play, so they play on the streets and sometimes get killed. The Girl Guides are going to help, but it takes a long

sewing, "and there are the holidays for thinking in. I wouldn't think too much, if I were you. You'll get plenty o

a tremendous lot of things to be done, Aunt Mary. And things have to be thoughts long before they are things.

y agreed, "but you are wandering from your subj

eat Britain greater, and I can't think of a way. I s

matter of fact there is room enough, in the country, but people prefer to live in

es. They are good, but they aren't enough. Too many children die. Mother goes to a children's home once a week, and she took me once. You should just see those babies. And they coul

l sorts of complications when it comes to shifting camp from the Old World to the New. But perhaps-perhaps if everyone in this o

r as she played to Mollie that afternoon, for her fingers wandered of

ng, the sigh

rd times, come

e lingered around

es, come aga

in the garden, and thought she would rest her eyes by closing them for five minutes. "

ng hum of a foolish bee, who had got on the wrong side of the window and was now making vain efforts to fly home again through the glass. A delicious sce

e clock. "Ten minutes.

world for her overworked little brain. I wish I could fill Chauncery with children, and let them run wild in the garden." She felt, not for the first

came and look

aimed, with a smile. "N

tting ve

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weet scents, and the balmy air, so different from the cold winds of early spring. Presently sh

"Prue must have come and found m

among the glossy dark leaves, sending its perfume out with the warm wind far and near. Before her, divided from the grove by a narrow, roughly fenced road, Mollie saw a wide, undulating plain, its surface covered somewhat scantily with coarse grass and occasional clumps of bracken. There were gum trees, large and small, their thin blue-green leaves

oup of children crossing the scrub land in front. In spite of wide hats and sunbonnets they were easily recognizable. The boys were walking in front and carried spades and pickaxes over their shoulders; the two girls were loi

ickly got rid of-jealousy not being part of a Girl Guide's equipment. She put her hands up to her mouth in the way she had seen the Australians do, and shou

u going to d

d we sift the diggings in this cradle, which rocks in the water so that all the dirt runs out and the gold stays in-at least, it woul

d a green one. I polished them with all my might, but I lost them except the green one. I hid it in a tree like the person who shot an arrow

down their tools, and Hugh studied the l

e I have found yet. The soil in these old alluvial beds is often auriferous," he went on; "Mr. Fraser says this was once quite a respectable river, but years of dry seasons shrank it

?" Dick asked anxiously, as a brea

poke and planting it upright in the sandy soil. "First we must peg out our claims. There's a good

w in their lot with Hugh, who was the only one among

gested, quite forgetting in his interest that Time-travellers cannot carry profit

ch to begin operations; "but we are pretty sure to find something. Australian soil is extra

s," Prudence said nervo

ion. "Why the dickens should we find aunts in a river-bed? Do they all drown them

emphatically, "I never met a nice ant in

e Tom's Cabin and Aunt Chloe floating in the back of his brain. "I thought yo

ustralians blacks when she spoke of them and a-borry-jines when she read about

re's lots of 'em in India," he said, "b

ans that they devour no

l through all his books from one end to t

be quaint old birds then,

ds at all, they're a

sion: "Ho, ho, ho! One of you is talking about aunts-your Aunt Maria-and the other is talking ab

sluggard'," Mollie quo

to recover from this

Mary-bites like red-

neatly round his last peg as he spoke. "If you go on laughing like

d their spades, and the girls carried the turned-up sand to the creek, washing it with the utmost care in the cinde

oldmine shares had struck a reef, and she got so rich she simply didn't know what to do with her money. She came to see Papa about it. She was an old maid, so naturally there wasn't much she wanted. You never know who is going to be rich and who poor, with a

in a tree near here. I am tired of gold-digging, and my feet

ugh to hold several people; for some distance around its roots protruded through the ground like old bones. Grizzel disappeared into

e-grove lovingly. Di

hings in the world; if we eat enough we will be ready to make a fresh sta

pleasant. The beautiful fruit hung invitingly from the branches with a colour and fragrance unknown to Lo

oods best," Hugh remarked, "but perhaps o

opulent-looking globes of rich golden yellow. For a time silence reigned, while six people covered themselves with juice, "Like the ointm

ets lay about like that," he said rather

eed the others, "m

k how nice it would be if you were in the very middle of a scorching desert, and dying of thirst like the men in Fi

ver found a beautiful orange tree in the middle of a deser

said huffily. "I am going to bathe my feet in the cre

tch. You won't get any if we

er head. No one took any notice of these little amenities. No one remembered that the ointment which ran down Aaron's beard was like brethren

ew place," said Hugh; "the light wi

ot sunshine with some reluctance. But gold-digging is not mere play, as Hugh reminded them. If you want to

their shoes. They were hot and thirsty, and into the minds of four of them crept a suspicion that Grizzel had chosen the better way of spending the time. They could see her sitting on a boulder, her feet in the water and her hands occupied with her crystal, which she was rubbing in a leisurely way on a stone, as one sharpens slat

his spade and stretchin

a gummy tree and sit beside Carrots for a bit. I'd li

while daylight lasted. "We've done something," he said, as they took off their s

s hands in his pockets, "I could have told you that without d

ocess of elimination. You've got to do it with almost everything worth having really. You've only got to look at this river bed

thing particular about the river bed. It doesn't look half so

ry the old place again. I shall go on trying till I find something, either gold

tone in it, "I have rubbed a bit off one side at last

m of her hand. Six sides were dull and colourless,

he sun." She turned the crystal over and held it up as she spoke. A dazzling flash of pale-green light darted out, as tho

, in a startled voice. "Is it

as she had done, and again the pale-green light flashed out. He moved it slightly from s

nd," said Prudence

n the place we dug last year. Grizzel found it, but it was me that looked for it, b

bbed it so hard you w

. "She rubbed that bi

," he explained more calmly. "It takes months to cut and polish a diamond properly. Grizzel's pret

zel said, with a sigh. "If I did nothing else all day long b

long to?" Jerry asked.

iles around the land is his. Tha

Fraser's, not yours or Gr

er said I might have all the gold I

at is a different thing. If it really is a diamond it is probably pretty valuable-perhaps

course we'll tell him we have fo

ubbed it and it slept under my pillow, and I hid it and

y for it," Mollie suggested soothingly, "and then

" Grizzel repeated, tears starting to her eyes. "Why should Mr. Fraser take my sto

vely, "whether you found it or not. If you keep it you

el cried passionately. As she spoke she snatched the crystal from Hu

ollowed, bent upon comforting her. Mollie looked s

more. But that was a good diamond; I'd have liked to show it

f balls of all sizes from footballs to golf-balls, had taken accurate note of the spot where that lit

tle kid; she'll be sorry by and by, and, besides, the old chap ought to have his diamond if it really is a diamond. Diamonds are

scene of the late disaster, and then transferred his attention to the creek. At the point where he stood the water was comparatively deep; it had evidently for

and drop off at the sha

sharp or the circ

nd soon slid off into the shallow stream. As he had predicted, the water there barely reached to his knees. He scrutinized the ever-widening circle, now faint and irregular, and, calculating the distance from its

handful of shingly sand from the river bottom. He stood up, letting the water run away through his tightly closed fingers. As

ard, my boy-your eye is pretty well in and no mistake. Come out of that, my y

rs, now far ahead. "I'll put him back in the hollow trunk where Grizzel hid

o were awaiting his arrival seated on the top of a slip-r

een doing?" Hugh demanded

ok round," Dick answere

o a little prosp

, you beast?" Jerry ask

affecti

head. "Who is Mr. Fraser?" he asked Hugh,

in China. He's awfully fond of gardening, and pictures, and that sort of thing, like my mater. He's a merchant and he owns ships. He's a great friend of the pater's, and he comes in about once a week to hear the mater

t wonder if he got it from some old coaching inn of the olden times-though, of cour

n a couple of women to look after them. Other times he only has his heathen Chinee lot, and jolly good they

. "Never lose a chance of having puppy-tai

s-nest tarts our old woman at the tuck-shop used

ubles in your own kit-bag, and smile, smile, smile". Hugh shouted to them to hurry up or they would be late for tea, and soon the little party was under way again, as cheerful as if diamonds had never been

yst," Mollie said admir

h a purple house

ich Mollie had been in. They entered by a side door which opened straight on to a narrow stai

aby?" Mollie asked, as they washed away

t ship to-morrow, so they aren't coming up till

migrant ship?

ut for nothing, or for very little, and then they go to work here. Mamma is getting a new cook because ours is going to be married. And Papa

"Are they ever married? I mean-do

, Mollie? The boys are getting im

ge bamboo house; the fourth wall was unbroken but for one door. The room was painted white, and the floor covered with fine white Chinese matting, over which lay a few Eastern rugs, their once rich and glowing colours now dimmed by time and the tread of generations of feet. Through the wide-open French windows could be seen the long, graceful streamers of wistaria, hangin

, such shining silver, or such delicately transparent china cups and saucers. Even Grannie's well-kept table paled before the exquisite freshness of this one. As for the food part-there was a crystal bowl of yellow clotted cream, a plate of gossamer balls which were probably intended to p

was a sound of footsteps on the matting, and a Chinese servant a

alled Hugh, under the impression that he

"He talkee my, wanchee cook makee one piecee burfday-cak

ovingly. "Cook makee jolly-good cakee, me eat jolly-good cakee. C

yes closing up under his slanting eyebrows, and his bl

ked anxiously. "S'pose you wanc

d politely. Ah Kew nodded his head again and departed, his pi

grown-up person was present to make sensible remarks about not eating too m

ft a message to say that he expected to find everyone fast asleep in bed when he got back; so, after a tour of explora

nds. What if a blackfellow stole it, or the tree fell down in the night, or got burnt up. It is true that none of these things had happened during the months in which it had lain there before, but then no one had known that it was valuable. It would be just like luck, or rather unluck, if something happened this particular night. Dick's knowledge of diamonds was so small that it could be hardly said to exist, and he now began to have nightmarish visions of huge sums of money-thousands of pounds perhaps, lost through his f

scoot down to the bottom of the scrub-land, and collect that diamond? It would be better than tossing about in bed, and afterwards he would go calmly to sleep. The

retty tough-he decided to try, and if he fell-well, he had smashed himself up before this more than once, and no doubt would do so again. A few tumbles more or les

keeping well in the shadow of the hedge in case Ah Kew's beady eyes should be on the outlook. So long as he was within the grounds of the house

things as ghosts. All the tales he had ever read about Australia suddenly started up in his mind-tales of deadly snakes, of bushrangers, of blackfellows, who had methods of their own of doing you in. One might go through a good deal without being actually

le. He could hear the sound of that little waterfall quite distinctly, and see the moonlight on the rippling shallows of the

woman was being murdered or tortured. Blackfellows, probably, as Ned Kelly made a point of not hurting women-at least so it said in

y ass to imagine all that rubbish about it, and a much sillier ass to leave his safe b

spoke in this world, sweeter in Jerry's ear, Dick knew, than the finest poetry ever written. He gathered himself together and went on. It would never do to begi

cool and lovely by day, did not lo

side the tree. The child of the murdered woman, he thought. So the blacks were near-perhaps inside the tree at this very moment. The idea flitted across his mind that there was an extraordinary difference between reading about a thing and experiencing it. As the child's sob

nt the crying stopped

I'm sorry, God; I'll be good if you'll make a miracle. Only

rth did she get there? She'll be frightened into fits if she sees me." He moved back a li

ou there, kiddy? It's Dick calling. Are

n: DICK STAR

er little dressing-gown, her face blotched with tears and her curls crushed and

ry. My poor little diamond, all those years and years shut up in the ground! It had just one look at the s

his throat as the thin little

moment." He groped round, and in another minute the stone was in his hand. He turned

! I thought it would happen! I just thought God hadn't forgotten the w

d Grizzel was far too preoccupied with her own joy and relief to wonder what had b

t's ever so late and we'll be cotc

leep, thinking of my little diamond in the cold river-" at that

eeping out of the hollow. "They scream exactly like people b

rying child! Suppose he had gone back! Thank

ey had reached the slip-rail and were climbing over, wh

t this hour of night, or rather morning? Do you know it

hich crystals, gold-mines, diamonds, wickedness, and miracles were all jumbled together, that Mr. Fraser

s of his head, and soon both Dick and Grizzel were s

m part. If you really have found a diamond-mine, youngsters, something will have to be done about shares. Who finds keeps, you know. We'll have the place properly surveyed and see what happens. But

le on them, at least not in a way that would be of any immediate practical use to them when they got back to London. And a fortune apiece would have come in so

r will get her trip home, and the Pater needn't worry about bills and subscription lis

*

ing minutes into hours, hours into days

she said, "

?" asked Aunt Mary, precedi

n to laugh. "I don't suppose you ever bit