"I know where to go
first. Just follow me!"
"And there'll be signs, remember," Uncle Felix shouted as he followed.
"Whoever finds a sign must let the others know at once."
They began with the feeling that they would discover the Stranger in a
moment, sure of the places where he had tried cleverly to conceal
himself, but soon began to realise that this was no ordinary game, and
that he certainly knew of mysterious spots and corners they had never
dreamed about. It was as Tim declared, "an enormous hide." Come-Back
Stumper's cunning dive into bed was nothing compared to the skill with
which this hider eluded their keen searching. There was another
difference too. In Stumper's case their interest had waned, they felt
they had been cheated somehow, they knew themselves defeated and had
given up the search. But here the interest was unfailing; it increased
rather than diminished; they were ever on the very edge of finding
him, and more than once they shrieked with joy, "I've got him!"--only
to find they had been "very hot" but not quite hot enough. It was,
like everything else upon this happy morning, endless.
It continued and continued, as naturally as the rivulet that ran for
ever downhill to find the sea, that nothing, it seemed, could put a
stop to, much less an end.
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