‘Smugglers,’ I replied at once.
‘But there couldn’t have been smugglers here. We’re miles from the seaside,’ said Lionel.
‘That’s why they came, of course,’ I said. ‘It was a safe place. The coastguards would look everywhere at the seaside but they wouldn’t think of looking here.’
‘True,’ said Rosamund.
I could see that they were interested and, certain that none of them had read my Chatterbox, I went on, ‘They were called the Nightriders because they rode by night. They had to get the treasure to London and, if you come to think of it, we are plumb in the way between London and the sea.’
After I had said this I wondered if I was right, but to my relief the older ones, who knew a little geography, agreed that this was so.
‘Let’s go and dig it up,’ said Peter who, being young, thought things much easier than they are.
‘We might at any rate go and inspect the grotto,’ said Rosamund.
We went off to the corner of the garden where the grotto was. It looked very mysterious and a very suitable place for buried treasure, and even I began to think that there might be some there. Straggly laurel bushes cast a shadow over it, and the steps leading down to it glistened with damp.
Lionel descended the steps, unlocked the door and looked in. There were no windows, but a greenish light came through a ventilator in the roof, and when the door was wide open one could see all round the curious little place.
‘I suppose it was the smugglers who brought all those shells with them,’ said Rosamund, pressing close behind Lionel.
‘Of course it was,’ he answered. ‘And now to find where the treasure is hidden.’
Christmas with the Savages
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First published 2016
‘Christmas with the Chrystals’ first published 1959 by Basil Blackwell.
Reprinted in The Puffin Book of Christmas Stories first published 1984 by Faber and Faber, published in Puffin Books 1986
Author’s text including ‘My Christmas Holidays’ and ‘What Happened to Pauline, Petrova and Posy’ published in The Noel Streatfeild Christmas Holiday Book first published 1973 by J. M. Dent
Extract from Ballet Shoes first published 1936 by J. M. Dent; extract from Tennis Shoes first published 1937 by J. M. Dent; extract from Circus Shoes, first published as The Circus is Coming 1938 by J. M. Dent; extract from Theatre Shoes, first published as Curtain Up 1944 by J. M. Dent
Text copyright © Noel Streatfeild, 1959, 1973
Illustrations in ‘Christmas with the Chrystals’ by Jill Bennett, copyright © Jill Bennett, 1959
Illustration from Ballet Shoes copyright © Ruth Gervis, 1949
Every effort has been made to trace the owner of the rights for the artwork by D. L. Mays in Tennis Shoes and Theatre Shoes. The publisher would be very glad to hear from the copyright holder.
The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted
Cover illustration by Dinara Mirtalipova
ISBN: 978–0–141–37774–2
All correspondence to:
Puffin Books
Penguin Random House Children’s
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* In 1958, when this story was written, £100 was worth a great deal more than it is today.
Noel Streatfeild, Christmas With the Chrystals Other Stories
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