They were called ingots."
"Most bars of metal are called ingots," said Julian, going red with excitement.
"But as we know there is gold missing from that ship, then it really looks as if ingots here meant bars of gold.
Oh golly!
To think they may still be hidden somewhere under Kirrin Castle.
George! George!
Isn't it terribly, awfully exciting?"
George nodded.
She was trembling all over with excitement.
"If only we could find it!" she whispered.
"If only we could!"
"We'll have a jolly good hunt for it," said Julian.
"It will be awfully difficult because the castle is in ruins now, and so overgrown.
But somehow or 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.