19
　　Down in the copper¹ mines
　　Lucy-Ann looked round her fearfully as if she half expected to seesomebody hiding behind a rock.
　　‘I don’t like to think there may be people here we don’t know anythingabout,’ she said.
　　‘Don’t be silly,’ said Jack². They’re down in the mines. Shall we go downthis shaft³ now, and see what we can discover?’
　　The girls didn’t like the look of it, but Lucy-Ann felt that it would beworse to stay up above ground than it would be to go down and keep withthe boys. So she said she would go, and Dinah, who wasn’t going to be leftall alone, promptly⁵ said she would go too.
　　Philip spread the map of the underground mines out on the ground, andthey all knelt down and studied it. ‘See – this shaft goes down to the centreof a perfect maze⁶ of passages and galleries,’ said Philip. ‘Shall we take thispassage here? – it’s a sort of main road, and leads to the mines that wereworked right under the sea.’
　　‘Oh no, don’t let’s go there,’ said Lucy-Ann, in alarm. But the other threevoted to go there, so the matter was decided⁷.
　　‘Now, Kiki, if you come with us, you are not to make a noise,’ warnedJack. ‘Else, if we go anywhere near the miners, they will hear you, and weshall be discovered. See?’
　　‘Eena meena mina mo,’ said Kiki solemnly, and scratched her poll hard.
　　‘You’re a silly bird,’ said Jack. ‘Now mind what I’ve told you – don’tyou dare to screech⁸ or shout.’
　　They went to the head of the shaft. They all peered down, feeling rathersolemn. An adventure was exciting, but somehow this one seemed a bitfrightening, all of a sudden.
　　‘Come on,’ said Philip, beginning to go down the ladder. ‘Nothing canhappen to us really, even if we are discovered. After all, we first came tothis island to see if we could find a Great Auk for

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