Hills End by Ivan Southall Page B

strangely, was a little saddened. She had believed Adrian yet she was sorry that Paul had been proved wrong—and Gussie was all confused. She had been so sure that Adrian had been lying. So very, very sure, because Paul had been so sure.
    Suddenly all were talking at once, and Miss Godwin had to raise her voice to a shout. ‘Be quiet!’
    She waited a few moments. ‘That’s better. That’s very much better. Now, no one is to touch a single thing. Before we make any examination I want to photograph everything just as we find it…Adrian, this is the most wonderful, wonderful discovery. My only regret is that I didn’t come a week ago. Imagine it, children—Hills End will be famous. We’ll have anthropologists coming here. Great scholars from all over the world. Children, children, this is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to us. Oh dear, I—I’m really so excited. I’m all of a flutter. Adrian, my boy.’ She thrust her arm round him and hugged him tight. ‘Why didn’t you tell us about the bones, too? Didn’t you think they were important? They’re the bones of the giant kangaroo—and the diprotodon, I think. Adrian, Adrian, these animals have been extinct for tens of thousands—perhaps hundreds of thousands of years…Goodness me, I’m all of a flutter! I—I cannot believe my eyes. I’m going to wake up in a minute. Oh dear, dear, dear!’
    â€˜You won’t wake up, Miss Godwin,’ said Paul. ‘It’s real. Really and truly real.’
    She sighed again, a shivering and breathless sigh. ‘Take the torch, Paul. Shine it on my haversack. I—I must get my things.’
    She was trembling so much she could hardly undo the straps and she took out her camera and her tripod and her flashlight fittings, and suddenly heard the thunderclaps again and felt the cold air that was rapidly expelling the warmth from the caves.
    She looked up with a troubled frown and slowly stood erect, leaving her precious equipment at her feet. ‘First of all,’ she said, ‘I think we’d better take a look at the weather. We mustn’t lose our sense of proportion. These drawings will be here tomorrow—next week—they’ll remain. We must take a look at the weather.’
    â€˜ Now , miss?’
    â€˜Certainly, Adrian. But we must make sure that we don’t lose our cave. It took a long while to find it, even though you were sure you knew where it was. Now, what shall we do?’
    â€˜I’ll go, miss,’ said Paul. ‘I said before it would be all right.’
    â€˜No. We stay together. While you’re with me you’re my responsibility.’ She paused then and could feel something like a cold hand touching her. There was Christopher—Butch—out there, somewhere in the storm. If it were a storm. It might only be sound and harmless fury. There had been no warning of a storm. This was some trick of the weather. Some local disturbance…‘Now what shall we do? Of course, what we want is a ball of string. That’s it. A ball of string. Always be prepared, children. That’s the division between the foolish and the wise.’
    She took the ball of string from her haversack, tied the loose end round a heavy stone, and directed Paul to proceed in front with the torch while she laid out the string behind her.
    So they came again towards the opening, towards a world of frightening sound and vivid lightning flashes, of bitter cold, of violent wind, of torrential rain and hailstones. The hailstones struck the ledge and bounced and were as big as golfballs. They couldn’t approach the opening. They had to stop well back, clear of showering ice and wind-driven rain. The world beyond was like a block of frosted glass—water, ice, and wind in a mass through which they could not see.
    That cold feeling that had reached for Miss Godwin crept through her until