“Means they’re magic, silly, so’s they can tell you where they are,” responded Judy.
“Hur!” said Jack. “Be a jolly sight better, then, if they said it straight out! Wouldn’t the thieves get a shock if the jewels took to yelling ‘Here I am!’ whenever they tried to hide them!”
“It would be a great advantage to me,” Dr. Firth said, laughing. “You two might keep your ears well open, in your joyous wanderings—they say that magic still lingers where there are children. An old fogy like myself would have no chance of hearing my lost property bleat.”
“Is there a reward?” demanded the practical Jack.
“There is—I’ve offered £500, already, for the conviction of the thief. If you get the jewels without the robber the reward will be less, so you might as well make a thorough job of it.”
“I could do with £500,” said Jack solemnly. “I awfully want a yacht all of my own!”
“You’re a nasty little grab-all,” stated his sister. “People don’t take rewards from friends, do they, Mother?”
“Certainly not.”
“Oh well, the fun of getting them would be worth it,” said Jack, though with some regret. “But you know jolly well you’d like that yacht yourself, Ju. Anyhow, I vote we start hunting now. May we, Mother?”
“I suppose so,” she said—“if you don’t go into very wild places. No, you are not to go, Miss Earle.” She put a restraining hand on mine as I made a movement to rise. “They cannot get into much harm, and you know that you did not sleep well. Be home in good time, children.”