The Story of the Treasure Seekers | Page 7

us sometimes, because his father is
dead, and you must not be unkind to orphans, even if their mothers are
alive. Albert is always very tidy. He wears frilly collars and velvet
knickerbockers. I can't think how he can bear to.
So we said, 'Hallo!'
And he said, 'What are you up to?'
'We're digging for treasure,' said Alice; 'an ancient parchment revealed
to us the place of concealment. Come over and help us. When we have
dug deep enough we shall find a great pot of red clay, full of gold and
precious jewels.'
Albert-next-door only sniggered and said, 'What silly nonsense!' He
cannot play properly at all. It is very strange, because he has a very nice
uncle. You see, Albert-next-door doesn't care for reading, and he has
not read nearly so many books as we have, so he is very foolish and
ignorant, but it cannot be helped, and you just have to put up with it
when you want him to do anything. Besides, it is wrong to be angry
with people for not being so clever as you are yourself. It is not always
their faults.
So Oswald said, 'Come and dig! Then you shall share the treasure when
we've found it.'
But he said, 'I shan't--I don't like digging--and I'm just going in to my
tea.'
'Come along and dig, there's a good boy,' Alice said. 'You can use my
spade. It's much the best--'
So he came along and dug, and when once he was over the wall we
kept him at it, and we worked as well, of course, and the hole got deep.
Pincher worked too--he is our dog and he is very good at digging. He
digs for rats in the dustbin sometimes, and gets very dirty. But we love
our dog, even when his face wants washing.

'I expect we shall have to make a tunnel,' Oswald said, 'to reach the rich
treasure.' So he jumped into the hole and began to dig at one side. After
that we took it in turns to dig at the tunnel, and Pincher was most useful
in scraping the earth out of the tunnel--he does it with his back feet
when you say 'Rats!' and he digs with his front ones, and burrows with
his nose as well.
At last the tunnel was nearly a yard long, and big enough to creep along
to find the treasure, if only it had been a bit longer. Now it was Albert's
turn to go in and dig, but he funked it.
'Take your turn like a man,' said Oswald--nobody can say that Oswald
doesn't take his turn like a man. But Albert wouldn't. So we had to
make him, because it was only fair.
'It's quite easy,' Alice said. 'You just crawl in and dig with your hands.
Then when you come out we can scrape out what you've done, with the
spades. Come--be a man. You won't notice it being dark in the tunnel if
you shut your eyes tight. We've all been in except Dora--and she
doesn't like worms.'
'I don't like worms neither.' Albert-next-door said this; but we
remembered how he had picked a fat red and black worm up in his
fingers and thrown it at Dora only the day before. So we put him in.
But he would not go in head first, the proper way, and dig with his
hands as we had done, and though Oswald was angry at the time, for he
hates snivellers, yet afterwards he owned that perhaps it was just as
well. You should never be afraid to own that perhaps you were
mistaken--but it is cowardly to do it unless you are quite sure you are in
the wrong.
'Let me go in feet first,' said Albert-next-door. 'I'll dig with my boots--I
will truly, honour bright.'
So we let him get in feet first--and he did it very slowly and at last he
was in, and only his head sticking out into the hole; and all the rest of
him in the tunnel.

'Now dig with your boots,' said Oswald; 'and, Alice, do catch hold of
Pincher, he'll be digging again in another minute, and perhaps it would
be uncomfortable for Albert if Pincher threw the mould into his eyes.'
You should always try to think of these little things. Thinking of other
people's comfort makes them like you. Alice held Pincher, and we all
shouted, 'Kick! dig with your feet, for all you're worth!'
So Albert-next-door began to dig with his feet, and we stood on the
ground over him, waiting--and all in a minute the ground gave way,
and we tumbled together in a heap: and when we got up there was a
little shallow hollow where we had been standing, and