e. Her hair
was plastered tight to her skull and she was protecting her eyes from
the fury of the rain with her hands.

Val sent the boat inshore until it bit into the crumbling surface of the
levee with a shock which threatened his balance. Ricky snatched at the
painter and held steady while he jumped. They made the boat fast and Val
landed the chest. The passenger did his own disembarking, making his way
into the garden without a backward look. Then Val demanded an
explanation.

"What are you doing here?" he tried to out-screech the wind.

In answer she clapped her wet, muddy hand across his mouth and pulled
him back from the levee.

They reached the semi-shelter of a rotting summer-house where he put
down the chest. Ricky pushed her wet hair out of her eyes. It was
impossible for them to hear each other without screaming madly.

"Jeems told me--after you left--Val! How could you be so mad!"

"I made it." He touched the chest with his toe. "After we had
practically kidnapped him, we couldn't let his belongings just float
away. But why are you out here? And where did that boat come from?"

"I came out here after Jeems told me. I'm all right." She laughed
shakily. "I've got my oldest clothes on--and this," she touched her
cape. "I couldn't stay in there--waiting--after I knew. And I didn't
want Rupert to ask questions. So I said that I was going to bed with a
headache. Then I slipped out here to the levee. And I hadn't been here
two minutes before that boat came downstream. There were four men in it
and they got out and went into the bushes over there. And, Val, Rupert
is down at the other end of the garden where they are having trouble
with the levee. Holmes and Creighton went down to see if they could
help, too, just after you left. There's nobody but Charity up at the
house with Lucy and Letty-Lou. Val, what are we going to do?" she
appealed to him.

"First I'll investigate these visitors," he said easily, though he felt
far from easy within.

"Me too," she said firmly if ungrammatically, and since Val could not
wait to argue, she went along.

They took the route she had watched the invaders follow, wriggling
through wet bushes and around trees.

"Val, look out!" She grabbed his arm and so saved him from tumbling
headlong into a black hole in the ground. Vines and a small shrub or two
had been ruthlessly torn out to bare the opening. It was here that the
visitors must have gone to earth. And then Val ha