They passed out in single file; all except Philos, who had found it simpler to climb up the wall and jump down on the other side.
Iason hid the padlock safely in a big lentisk bush just outside the gate, and then, standing up, faced the others, pointing up the thickly wooded hill.
“Listen you! We are going straight up there, and down on the other side towards Vayonia. I am going to find that cave of which Lambro the shepherd told me.”
Andromache and Nikias gave a united whoop of joy and were rushing forward in the direction of the pointing finger, when Chryseis cried:—
“Stop! Stop! It will be ever so much too far. We had better go to the little chapel of Saint Stathi.”
“We have been there hundreds of times; and I tell you we may never get such a splendid opportunity for the cave again.”
“But to Vayonia! So far …!” objected Chryseis.
“Now, listen!” persisted Iason. “What did father say last week, when I said we wanted to go to Vayonia?”
“He said, ‘We shall see.’ ”
“Well, that does not mean ‘no,’ does it? Only when the grown-ups say, ‘We shall see,’ sometimes it does not happen for a long time, and we want this to happen now, to-day, at once!” Then as Chryseis still hung back, he added, “Of course we will say where we have been, directly we get back. Come, then!”