"Keep by the door," whispered Mike, through shut teeth, "and if we look like being stuck with the kitchen sink - scoot!"
It proved to be a wildly exciting sort of game, something like Tom Tiddler's Ground, Belinda thought, but with terrible penalties if you were caught. They split up; Belinda and Mike went together, and Jennifer and Eleanor, Eleanor still insisting that she would have nothing to do with it, but eventually carried away by the excitement. They moved about lest the other bidders should spot that the sepulchral voices came from them, but most people were so intent on getting a good bargain that they paid no attention to the four children, more or less crawling about among them. They tried to keep near the door always, but only once had to get away in a hurry when Mike, completely carried away, bid fifteen pounds for a horrible-looking wardrobe that the previous bidder thought she was going to get for three pounds ten.
From VENTURE TO SOUTH AFRICA, Chapter 6, The Golden City. The Eliots are making false bids and bumping up the prices at an auction!
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