CHAPTER XV
AN AMAZING OCCURRENCE
BOB was on his feet again ere the dust had settled in the room.
"Don't be alarmed," he cried. "There is no danger so long as you keepaway from that partition. That is where the trouble lies."
"Where--where is the hammer?" cried Grace.
Stevens stepped forward and looked for the maul on the floor near thebaseboard, but finally glanced up with a perplexed expression in hiseyes.
"The maul has disappeared, too," he said.
There was a gasp following this announcement. But the young man was notdisturbed.
"I understand a little of what all this means," he said. "The maul hasgone. If someone will get me an axe I will chop down this partition nearwhere I struck it with the maul."
"Is there some secret there?" whispered Mr. Presby over Bob's shoulder.The young man nodded.
"Yes. I have an idea what it is. However, we shall see."
When the axe was brought he chose his location with some care, thenbegan chopping away, swinging the axe in a manner that showed him to beno novice at that sort of work. The axe went through the partition soonafter that. Using the back of the tool, he began smashing in the boards,here and there employing the blade to cut through a scantling or abrace. Soon after he had laid open a dark recess behind the partition.
Tom pushed forward and was about to crawl in when the young man stoppedhim.
"Better be careful, young man! That may be a pitfall, and I suspect thatit is."
The others were too amazed to speak. Still another secret in the oldhouse had been revealed. But the sudden disappearance of the maul wasstill unexplained, though Stevens had his own idea about this. He begancutting further. A tremendous crash followed a moment of chopping. Hesprang back to await developments. There were none.
"There, I think I have drawn the monster's teeth," he said, reaching fora lantern. "One of you will please hold another lantern at the entrancehere. I may need help."
Ruth Stuart snatched a lantern from one of the countrymen and steppedpromptly up beside the young man. He nodded.
"Do not try to follow me in here unless I tell you to. I must first findout what is in here."
"Do you think they are there?" she asked in a half whisper.
"Yes. Probably below somewhere," he answered, thrusting the lanternahead of him and crawling into the opening he had made.
Bob found himself in a narrow chamber formed by a gable that had beenshut off and enclosed by the partition. He did not trouble himself atthat moment to investigate the strangeness of the disappearance of hismaul. Instead, he began going over the little room cautiously. The lightfrom his lantern soon revealed a hole in the floor about a yard square.
"Don't lean against that partition on your life," he called. Those nearthe entrance to the gable apartment drew back a little. They gazed atthe apparently solid wall to the left of the hole, in respectfulsilence. Bob lowered his lantern into the hole and peered in. Itappeared to extend down a long distance. A trap door that evidently wasintended to cover the opening, lay to one side of the opening. As hepeered in he saw that the opening revealed a bricked-in shaft.
"A chimney, as I live!" he exclaimed. Then he raised his voice in along-drawn shout.
"Hello-o-o down there!" There was no response. Stevens called again. Afaint wail drifted up through the shaft. Ruth, at the panel, hearing it,uttered a scream of joy.
"They're there! They're there!" she cried.
For the first time since his arrival at the house, Bob Stevens showedtraces of excitement in his face, but his voice was calm when he spoke.
"Get a rope, quickly. A long one," he commanded.
Ruth, Olive and Tommy crowded into the narrow opening, unable torestrain their impatience longer.
"Be careful," warned Bob. "This floor doesn't seem to be very strong."
The three held their ground, however.
"Hello-o-o down there! Are you hurt?"
They were unable to distinguish the words of the reply, but it evidentlywas made by Barbara.
"There's a ladder," exclaimed Tommy, starting to go down it. Stevenshauled him back.
"Keep out. It looks shaky. I am going down there myself. That's why Isent for a rope. I don't want to fall in, too. Men, I want you to standby to lend a hand on the rope. Keep it fairly taut, but don't hold meback."
When all the arrangements had been made, Bob started down the ladder. Hehad gone not more than four or five feet when he found that the ladderextended no further. It appeared to have been broken off. He called tothe men to lower away. Finally his feet reached something soft. At firstthe horrified thought came to him that it was the body of one of thegirls for whom he was in search. Instead, what he had found proved to bea piece of an old mattress with a bundle of old clothes heaped on it.This was something like seven feet from the opening through which he haddescended.
He heard a moan from beneath the heap of old garments. He tore themfeverishly aside. Mollie lay before him, pale and with eyes closed.Stevens uttered a shout.
"I've got Miss Mollie. She is injured. Stand by to pull her up when Igive you the word," he directed in a tone of excitement. Quicklysecuring the rope under her arms, he bade them haul away, he lifting thegirl as high as his arms would reach, then grasping her feet, lendingsuch assistance as possible in this way. She was quickly in the arms ofher friends, who bore her downstairs to her own room and set to work torevive her.
Now came the next stage of Bob Stevens' work. He could not imagine whereBarbara could be. Just at this point he discovered a bend in thesupposed chimney. This he decided was in order to avoid someobstruction on the second floor of the house. He found an opening in theplatform scarcely large enough to admit his own broad shoulders. There,unmistakably was a ladder, made of thin strips of iron, bolted to thechimney itself.
"I'm going further down," he shouted to those above. "Don't pull unlessI call upon you to do so. Are you down there, Miss Barbara?"
"Yes," came the answer. It sounded very far away. Bob knew that theyoung woman must be a great distance below him, or else there wasanother bend in the chimney that shut off the sound of her voice.Perhaps, too, there was another landing. One might expect to meet withanything in this house of mysteries.
"The other one is all right," yelled the young man to those above. "Keepup your courage, Miss Barbara. I will be with you as soon as I can getdown. Can you climb up?"
"No." He did not catch what followed. Bob was climbing down the narrowladder, prudently keeping the rope about his waist in case the laddershould give way. He carried the lantern with him on his descent, whichhe made with considerable caution. He feared that were he to dislodge abrick or a section of the ladder, it might fall on the girl below andseriously injure her. Why she should be so far below the narrowplatform where he had found Mollie Thurston he did not pause to askhimself. The urgent work of the moment was to get Barbara out as quicklyas possible.
"Is there no end to this?" muttered the young man. He figured that hemust be somewhere in the vicinity of the cellar. Barbara's voice, nowstrong and clear, halted him suddenly.
"Be careful," she warned. "The ladder doesn't reach all the way down.You will fall if you don't step carefully."
"Where are you?" he cried. "Goodness, I'm glad to hear your voice! Ifeared you had been killed."
"I don't know how this happened. I am down here. That is all I can tellyou about it."
Stevens had reached the end of the ladder by this time. He lowered hislantern, directing her to take it from the rope, then observing that hewas not more than half a dozen feet from the bottom, he dropped lightlydown beside her.
"Did you fall down here?" he asked.
"The last several feet I did," she answered. Bab was pale, but her eyeswere bright.
"Then how did you get down this far? Didn't the landing stop you?"questioned the young man while looping the rope under Barbara's arms.
"Yes, the landing stopped me. I thought I surely h
ad been killed, butafter a little I pulled myself together and screamed for help. I guessno one heard me."
"They were excited. The house is in an uproar. Your sister is in thehands of her friends. I think she will be all right."
"My sister?" questioned Bab, opening her eyes wide.
"Yes. Didn't you know she fell in, too?"
"Tell me--was she--how did it happen?" demanded Bab, all in one voice."Oh, it was awful! Mollie fell in, you say?"
"Yes. I got her out with the help of the others. You haven't answered myquestion. Why did you come on down here?"
"I thought there might be an opening at the bottom. This chimney wasintended to be used for climbing. Hurry. I want to see Mollie."
Barbara was in a fever of excitement. She could not see why sheshouldn't climb the rope. Stevens advised her to calm herself, sayingthat when she reached the ladder she might climb, but not to cast offthe rope.
"When you reach the top tell them to lower the rope again, so I can getout."
Barbara suddenly collected herself.
"Oh, forgive me for my thoughtlessness. You go on up. I can comelater."
Bob Stevens merely smiled, then raised his voice in a shout to the mento pull up. He lifted Bab up with apparent ease, for he was a muscularyoung man. The rope began to move up slowly. He helped Barbara until shehad reached the ladder, then after seeing her safely on her way, andwhen she was no longer visible, the young man picked up his lantern andbegan to look about him.
The chimney reached clear to the bottom of the pit in which he wasstanding. A short passage underground led off from the pit. He followedit for about thirty yards, when it ended abruptly against a solid moundof earth. Investigation showed that this earth had caved in, thusblocking what had once been a long passage. Little particles of dirtshowered down on his head as he stepped carefully about, indicating thatthe rest of the roof might cave in at any moment.
"The silence of the tomb," muttered Bob. "What a place in which to beburied alive! I can imagine what that poor little girl must havesuffered in here without a light, not knowing whether she ever would befound again. There's pluck for you. I know I should have been scaredstiff. What a house of mystery this is! If it were mine I would pull itto pieces to satisfy my curiosity if for no other reason. But thetreasure? Can it be possible that we have stumbled upon the hiding placeof the real treasure? I'm going to investigate this place later on. Mr.Presby's ancestors must have been regular woodchucks. At least they weregreat burrowers. Hold on; there must have been some sort of streamthrough here by the looks of the ground. The tunnel was already made.All it needed was covering and filling. I begin to see. The familiesused it for getting away when the Indians got too busy. But I hear therope. I want to examine that attic."
Bob held up his lantern to look for the rope when a ray from the lanternglinted on something bright in a niche in the chimney near the base,from where a brick had been pried out. He held the lantern closer, hiseyes grew large, then the young man gave a whoop that was heard farabove him in the attic.