The rest of the week was warm and sunny and when the following Monday the sun came out again Dan groaned. His Mum and Dad looked at him in surprise when he constantly grumbled about the weather during breakfast. ‘Whatever is the matter?’ asked Dad. ‘You have the sun, the sea, the beach, new friends, no school and you’re grumbling - why?’
‘Because we want to explore the house’ Dan answered.
Dad laughed ‘Well you will be pleased to hear that rain is expected later today’.
‘Great’ Dan and Rachel shouted. ‘Wait till we tell the others’.
‘Finish your breakfast then and I’ll get the car out’ Dad said.
The children ate their breakfast with such speed that Mum had to slow them down, but at last they were in the car chattering about how they would test the walls and floors and woodwork.
‘What are you expecting to find?’ Dad asked.
‘Treasure’ said Dan.
‘Maybe a map’ Rachel thought.
‘Well I hope you are successful’ Dad said as he opened the car door for them. ‘Enjoy yourselves and I’ll be back for you at 6.p.m.’
The children ran up the garden path as Harry opened the door for them.
‘It’s going to rain, it’s going to rain’ Dan shouted. ‘Isn’t it great?’
‘I know, we heard the weather forecast’ Harry was all smiles. How wonderful that it was going to rain!
‘Shall we swim this morning then after our sandwiches we can start our search for Buried Treasure?’ It was Charlotte, as excited as the others.
This was agreed and so they swam, lay on the warm sand then began their lunch. They took a bite and talked, then took another bite and talked again. In fact there was so much excitement and laughter that lunch took them twice as long!
Then there was the big question - ‘Where do we start our search?’
‘Let’s start in the turret’ Charlotte suggested.
‘No, let’s begin on the ground floor’ - this was from Harry.
‘Have you examined the outside walls?’ Dan wanted to know.
‘The outside walls?!!’ Harry laughed. ‘What are you expecting to find there -the whole front of the house to move?’
The children roared with laughter, and Aunty, hearing them from the kitchen, smiled. She was so pleased the children had met these new friends.
‘The turret!’ Charlotte said decisivley ‘Come on, race you......’
But no sooner were the words out of her mouth than the boys went charging up the stairs. Into the garden room they went and immediately began tapping the walls. The girls decided to search an old trunk first then a desk which had been there for years. They loved the old clothes in the trunk and held them up against themselves imagining what it would be like to wear them. They would have been quite happy playing with the clothes but their brothers reminded them that they were supposed to be searching for clues to the Treasure!
Reluctantly they put the clothes back and started searching the desk. They found nothing, no secret drawers, no maps, no interesting letters - nothing! The boys’ search had also shown nothing out of the ordinary.
Into the second turret room they went.
‘Don’t knock Uncle’s telescope over’ Charlotte warned.
‘We wont need to go beside the window’ Harry answered.
‘Not unless Dan expects the window to move’ teased his sister. It was going to be a long time before the others forgot Dan’s idea of the moving walls! So again they knocked and pushed and put their ears to the walls listening to hear if there was any difference in sound. Nothing! ‘We’ll try the passage next’ said Harry when they were all standing looking rather disappointedly round the room.
‘Yes, it wouldn’t be much fun if we found the secret straight away - would it?’ said Rachel brightly.
‘No, no fun at all’ they agreed and they ran happily into the passage.
Tap, tap, push, pull, twist, on they went along the whole passage - nothing! They looked at each other but were determined to be hopeful so down they went to the second floor looking carefully all the time at the walls and floor.
They began their search in Charlotte’s bedroom and as they stepped inside Rachel said ‘Aren’t you tidy?’
‘Yes, I like to keep it neat’ Charlotte answered rather smugly.
The boys looked at each other and groaned. ‘I think I’d better go and clear mine before you go in’ Harry laughed as he thought of its untidiness.
‘Don’t worry, it’ll be no different from Dan’s room’ Rachel was saying when Dan threw a cushion at her.
‘No you don’t!’ Knowing that a pillow fight could easily follow, Charlotte picked up the cushion, clipped Dan with it, and added ‘We are here to work - come on, get started.’
Amidst much teasing and laughter they set to work on walls and floor. Again they found nothing of interest.
One by one the bedrooms were searched until there was only one left. They were just about to open the door when Aunty shouted up ‘Come and have a drink and some cake. You have been searching for ages, aren’t you tired?’
‘Not really’ they answered wearily as they trudged down to the kitchen glad of the chance to sit down for a while.
‘Would you like another piece of cake?’ Aunty asked when the first ones rapidly disappeared.
They would have liked to say ‘Yes’ but they were keen to get on with their search so they said ‘No, thank-you’ and left the kitchen to search the last bedroom.
‘Well that’s all the bedrooms finished’ Charlotte said as they closed the door.
‘So many rooms round so many corners’ Rachel observed. ‘Do you ever got lost?’
‘We did when we first came’ Harry told her. ‘But not now. We spend all our holidays here so we are used to the cave house.’
The Cave House!! The very sound of it conjured up mystery; strange deeds; smugglers; and, of course, Treasure!
They looked at each other, excitement rekindled - there MUST BE a hidden secret in such a house.
Down to the first floor they ran, each one being eager to be the first to solve its mystery. Room after room was carefully inspected, the sitting room, the library, the dining-room, the play-room, even the kitchen. All wood panels were pressed and pushed, and the walls tapped. They felt they were becoming experts, but still - nothing! They went back into the sitting room and flopped down on the sofas looking at each other.
‘That’s everything’ Harry said. ‘There are no more rooms.’ There was silence, they were tired and disappointed.
‘Should we try the caves again?’ Charlotte asked.
‘No point’ Harry answered. ‘We searched them thoroughly before’.
‘What about the passages, I don’t think we searched those very well’ it was Rachel speaking.
‘Yes we did’ said Dan. ‘We’ve searched everywhere thoroughly’.
Silence. Then ‘No we haven’t’ Dan shouted as he jumped up. ‘There’s one place we haven’t tried!’
The others looked at him wearily. ‘There isn’t anywhere else’ said Charlotte.
‘Yes there is!’ Dan insisted.
‘I know where you mean’ Harry interrupted. ‘You’re thinking of the cellar, aren’t you?’
‘Yes’ said Dan. ‘The cellar, we haven’t tried there yet’.
‘Ugh!’ Charlotte wrinkled her nose. ‘It’s cold and dark and damp down there, we wont find anything.’
‘Yes, we will’ Dan was determined.
‘We never really searched the cellar before’ Harry said to Charlotte. ‘We only had a quick look and you thought you heard mice so you ran off!’
‘Mice?’ Rachel’s eyes were wide with horror. ‘I can’t stand mice scrabbling around in the dark.’
Charlotte agreed with her.
Again the boys looked at each other - ‘Girls really aren’t much fun at times’ they thought.
‘Well we are going.’ Harry was determined. ‘We’ll go there now.’ He was as keen as Dan to find the treasure, or at least SOMETHING to make all their searching worthwhile.
‘Have you any torches?’ Dan asked.
‘Plenty’ Harry answered as he got up, all his weariness forgotten. Two minutes later he returned with four torches.
‘Are you coming?’ he asked the girls.
‘I suppose it wont be too bad with four torches’ Charlotte turned to Rachel.
‘No, and with all the noise the boys will be making the mice wont dare come out’ Rachel agreed as she accepted one of the torches.
‘This way then’ said Harry and led them to the cellar door. Neither of the girls particularly wanted to go down and they hesitated in the doorway.
‘Come on, there aren’t any mice’ Harry shouted up. So the girls went carefully down the stairs and then stood until their eyes got used to the torch light.
‘Right, start searching’ Dan called. ‘You’ll soon get used to being here’.
And once again the tapping and pushing started, on and on it went with almost a sense of desperation knowing there was nowhere else to search. The cellar was their last chance.
They felt the cellar walls inch by inch - there WAS a secret; there WAS Treasure, of this they were certain! And each one was determined that the Cave House would give up its secret.
The time passed, weariness took over, and they were just about to give up when Dan yelled and disappeared.
Elizabeth Aynsley 1995 ©