"Well, come on then—let's take all we want," said Tom, feeling so hungry that he couldn't wait a minute longer. "we'll keep a careful account of everything we take, and pay the bill and a little more, when we find out who owns this very curious larder."
"You're right, Tom," said Andy, in a puzzled voice. "It is a very—curious-larder!"
Chapter 8
Odder and Odder
The children each chose what they thought they would like to take away. Sugar they wanted, and salt. The tinned butter would be splendid, and any tins of meat and fruit. Jill thought she might be able to make some rolls of bread with the flour, or, at any rate, some scones. They took tins of powdered milk too, and each child carried quite a- heavy load down the narrow passages that led from the Round Cave to the shore-cave.
When they reached the open air Tom took a deep breath and set down his load. "My goodness, it was stuffy up there," he said.
"What puzzles me is why it wasn't more stuffy than it was," said Andy. "Air must get into that Round Cave through some hole we didn't see. Pick up your things, Tom, the tide is coming in. We can't stay on this beach. The sea will reach the cave before long."
"It's all right for about ten minutes," said Tom, pulling a fat little notebook from his pocket. "I just want to jot down a list of all the things we've taken, in case we eat them up and then forget what we had."
"Tom's always so honest," said Jill. "Well, I'll tell you the things, Tom, and you can write them down. Three tins of pineapple. One big bag of sugar. Three tins' of tongue. Four tins of-"
"Not so fast, not so fast," said Tom, busy writing. He wrote everything down, shut his notebook with a snap, and pushed it back into his pocket. Then he picked up bis load and followed Andy up the steep, rocky path.