Timothy had leapt down into the hole when George had jumped. He now ranahead of the children, puzzled at their wanting to explore such a cold,dark place. Both Julian and Dick had torches, which threw broad beamsbefore them.There was not much to be seen. The Secret Way under the old house wasnarrow and low, so that the children were forced to go in single file,and to stoop almost double. It was a great relief to them when thepassage became a little wider, and the roof a little higher. It was verytiring to stoop all the time."Have you any idea where the Secret Way is going?" Dick asked Julian. "Imean—is it going towards the sea, or away from it?""Oh, not towards the sea!" said Julian, who had a very good sense ofdirection. "As far as I can make out the passage is going towards thecommon. Look at the walls—they are rather sandy in places, and we knowthe common has sandy soil. I hope we shan't find that the passage hasfallen in anywhere."They went on and on. The Secret Way was very straight, thoughoccasionally it wound round a rocky part in a curve."Isn't it dark and cold," said Anne, shivering. "I wish I had put on acoat. How many miles have we come, Julian?""Not even one, silly!" said Julian. "Hallo—look here—the passage hasfallen in a bit there!"Two bright torches shone in front of them and the children saw that thesandy roof had fallen in. Julian kicked at the pile of sandy soil withhis foot."It's all right," he said. "We can force our way through easily. Itisn't much of a fall, and it's mostly sand. I'll do a bit of kicking!"After some trampling and kicking, the roof-fall no longer blocked theway. There was now enough room for the children to climb over it,bending their heads low to avoid knocking them against the top of thepassage. Julian shone his torch forward, and saw that the way was clear."The Secret Way is very wide just here!" he said suddenly, and flashedhis torch around to show the others."It's been widened out to make a sort of little room," said George."Look, there's a kind of bench at the back, made out of the rock. Ibelieve it's a resting-place."George was right. It was very tiring to creep along the narrow passagefor so long. The little wide place with its rocky bench, made a verygood resting-place. The four tired children, cold but excited, huddledtogether on the queer seat and took a welcome rest. Timmy put his headon George's knee. He was delighted to be with her again."Well, come on," said Julian, after a few minutes. "I'm getting awfullycold. I do wonder where this passage comes out!""Julian—do you think it could come out at Kirrin Farm-house?" askedGeorge, suddenly. "You know what Mrs. Sanders said—that there was asecret passage leading from the Farm-house somewhere. Well, this may bethe one—and it leads to Kirrin Cottage!""George, I believe you're right!" said Julian. "Yes—the two housesbelonged to your family years ago! And in the old days there were oftensecret passages joining houses, so it's quite plain this secret wayjoins them up together! Why didn't I think of that before?""I say!" squealed Anne, in a high, excited voice, "I say! I've thoughtof something too!""What?" asked everyone."Well—if those two artists have got Uncle's papers, we may be able toget them away before the men can send them off by post, or take themaway themselves!" squeaked Anne, so thrilled with her idea that shecould hardly get the words out quickly enough. "They're prisoners at theFarm-house because of the snow, just as we were at the Cottage.""_Anne!_ You're right!" said Julian."Clever girl!" said Dick."I _say_—if we _could_ get those papers again—how wonderful it wouldbe!" cried George. Timmy joined in the general excitement, and jumped upand down in joy. Something had pleased the children, so he was pleasedtoo!"Come on!" said Julian, taking Anne's hand. "This is thrilling. IfGeorge is right, and this Secret Way comes out at Kirrin Farm-housesomewhere, we'll somehow hunt through those men's rooms, and find thepapers.""You said that searching people's rooms was a shocking thing to do,"said George."Well, I didn't know then all I know now," said Julian. "We're doingthis for your father—and maybe for our country too, if his secretformula is valuable. We've got to set our wits to work now, to outwitdangerous enemies.""Do you really think they are dangerous?" asked Anne, rather afraid."Yes, I should think so," said Julian. "But you needn't worry, Anne.You've got me and Dick and Tim to protect you.""I can protect her too," said George, indignantly. "I'm as good as a boyany day!""Yes, you are, really," said Dick. "In fact, you're fiercer than any boyI know!""Come on," said Julian, impatiently. "I'm longing to get to the end ofthis passage."They all went on again, Anne following behind Julian, and Dick behindGeorge. Timmy ran up and down the line, squeezing by them whenever hewanted to. He thought it was a very peculiar way to spend a morning!Julian stopped suddenly, after they had gone a good way. "What's up?"asked Dick, from the back. "Not another roof-fall, I hope!""No—but I think we've come to the end of the passage!" said Julian,thrilled. The others crowded as close to him as they could. The passagecertainly had come to an end. There was a rocky wall in front of them,and set firmly in it were iron staples intended for footholds. Thesewent up the wall and when Julian turned his torch upwards, the childrensaw that there was a square opening in the roof of the passage."We have to climb up this rocky wall now," said Julian, "go through thatdark hole there, keep on climbing—and goodness knows where we come out!I'll go first. You wait here, everyone, and I'll come back and tell youwhat I've seen."The boy put his torch between his teeth, and then pulled himself up bythe iron staples set in the wall. He set his feet on them, and thenclimbed up through the square dark hole, feeling for the staples as hewent.He went up for a good way. It was almost like going up a chimney shaft,he thought. It was cold and smelt musty.Suddenly he came to a ledge, and he stepped on to it. He took his torchfrom his teeth and flashed it around him.There was stone wall behind him, at the side of him and stone above him.The black hole up which he had come, yawned by his feet. Julian shonehis torch in front of him, and a shock of surprise went through him.There was no stone wall in front of him, but a big wooden door, made ofblack oak. A handle was set about waist-high, Julian turned it withtrembling fingers. What was he going to see?The door opened outwards, over the ledge, and it was difficult to getround it without falling back into the hole. Julian managed to open itwide, squeezed round it without losing his footing, and stepped beyondit, expecting to find himself in a room.But his hand felt more wood in front of him! He shone his torch round,and found that he was up against what looked like yet another door.Under his searching fingers it suddenly moved sideways, and slidsilently away!And then Julian knew where he was! "I'm in the cupboard at KirrinFarmhouse—the one that has a false back!" he thought. "The Secret Waycomes up behind it! How clever! Little did we know when we played aboutin this cupboard that not only did it have a sliding back but that itwas the entrance to the Secret Way hidden behind it!"The cupboard was now full of clothes belonging to the artists. Julianstood and listened. There was no sound of anyone in the room. Should hejust take a quick look round, and see if those lost papers were anywhereabout?Then he remembered the other four, waiting patiently below in the cold.He had better go and tell them what had happened. They could all comeand help in the search.He stepped into the space behind the sliding back. The sliding doorslipped across again, and Julian was left standing on the narrow ledge,with the old oak door wide open to one side of him. He did not bother toshut it. He felt about with his feet, and found the iron staples in thehole below him. Down he went, clinging with hands and feet, his torch inhis teeth again."Julian! What a time you've been! Quick, tell us all about it!" criedGeorge."It's most terribly thrilling," said Julian. "Absolutely super! Where doyou suppose all this leads to? Into the cupboard at KirrinFarm-house—the one that's got a false back!""Golly!" said Dick."I _say_!" said George."Did you go into the room?" cried Anne."I climbed as far as I could and came to a big oak door," said Julian."It has a handle this side, so I swung it wide open. Then I saw anotherwooden door in front of me—at least, I thought it was a door, I didn'tknow it was just the false back of that cupboard. It was quite easy toslide back and I stepped through, and found myself among a whole lot ofclothes hanging in the cupboard! Then I hurried back to tell you.""Julian! We can hunt for those papers now," said George, eagerly. "Wasthere anyone in the room?""I couldn't _hear_ anyone," said Julian. "Now what I propose isthis—we'll all go up, and have a hunt round those two rooms. The menhave the room next to the cupboard one too.""Oh good!" said Dick, thrilled at the thought of such an adventure."Let's go now. You go first, Ju. Then Anne, then George and then me.""What about Tim?" asked George."He can't climb, silly," said Julian. "He's a simply marvellous dog, buthe certainly can't climb, George. We'll have to leave him down here.""He won't like that," said George."Well, we can't carry him up," said Dick. "You won't mind staying herefor a bit, will you, Tim, old fellow?"Tim wagged his tail. But, as he saw the four children mysteriouslydisappearing up the wall, he put his big tail down at once. What! Goingwithout him? How could they?He jumped up at the wall, and fell back. He jumped again and whined.George called down to him in a low voice."Be quiet, Tim dear! We shan't be long."Tim stopped whining. He lay down at the bottom of the wall, his earswell-cocked. This adventure was becoming more and more peculiar!Soon the children were on the narrow ledge. The old oak door was stillwide open. Julian shone his torch and the others saw the false back ofthe cupboard. Julian put his hands on it and it slid silently sideways.Then the torch shone on coats and dressing-gowns!The children stood quite still, listening. There was no sound from theroom. "I'll open the cupboard door and peep into the room," whisperedJulian. "Don't make a sound!"The boy pushed between the clothes and felt for the outer cupboard doorwith his hand. He found it, and pushed it slightly. It opened a little,and a shaft of daylight came into the cupboard. He peeped cautiouslyinto the room.There was no one there at all. That was good. "Come on!" he whispered tothe others. "The room's empty!"One by one the children crept out of the clothes cupboard and into theroom. There was a big bed there, a washstand, chest of drawers, smalltable and two chairs. Nothing else. It would be easy to search the wholeroom."Look, Julian, there's a door between the two rooms," said George,suddenly. "Two of us can go and hunt there and two here—and we can lockthe doors that lead on to the landing, so that no one can come in andcatch us!""Good idea!" said Julian, who was afraid that at any moment someonemight come in and catch them in their search. "I and Anne will go intothe next room, and you and Dick can search this one. Lock the door thatopens on to the landing, Dick, and I'll lock the one in the other room.We'll leave the connecting-door open, so that we can whisper to oneanother."Quietly the boy slipped through the connecting-door into the secondroom, which was very like the first. That was empty too. Julian wentover to the door that led to the landing, and turned the key in thelock. He heard Dick doing the same to the door in the other room. Heheaved a big sigh. Now he felt safe!"Anne, turn up the rugs and see if any papers are hidden there," hesaid. "Then look under the chair-cushions and strip the bed to see ifanything is hidden under the mattress."Anne set to work, and Julian began to hunt too. He started on the chestof drawers, which he thought would be a very likely place to hide thingsin. The children's hands were shaking, as they felt here and there forthe lost papers. It was so terribly exciting.They wondered where the two men were. Down in the warm kitchen, perhaps.It was cold up here in the bedrooms, and they would not want to be awayfrom the warmth. They could not go out because the snow was piled ingreat drifts round Kirrin Farm-house!Dick and George were searching hard in the other room. They looked inevery drawer. They stripped the bed. They turned up rugs and carpet.They even put their hands up the big chimney-place!"Julian? Have you found anything?" asked Dick in a low voice, appearingat the door between the two rooms."Not a thing," said Julian, rather gloomily. "They've hidden the paperswell! I only hope they haven't got them on them—in their pockets, orsomething!"Dick stared at him in dismay. He hadn't thought of that. "That _would_be sickening!" he said."You go back and hunt _everywhere_—simply _everywhere_!" orderedJulian. "Punch the pillows to see if they've stuck them under thepillowcase!"Dick disappeared. Rather a noise came from his room. It sounded as if hewere doing a good deal of punching!Anne and Julian went on hunting too. There was simply nowhere that theydid not look. They even turned the pictures round to see if the papershad been stuck behind one of them. But there was nothing to be found. Itwas bitterly disappointing."We can't go without finding them," said Julian, in desperation. "It wassuch a bit of luck to get here like this, down the Secret Way—rightinto the bedrooms! We simply _must_ find those papers!""I say," said Dick, appearing again, "I can hear voices! Listen!"All four children listened. Yes—there were men's voices—just outsidethe bedroom doors!
