Quintus Oakes: A Detective Story

  _CHAPTER X_

  _The Cellar_

  Meantime our first experience at the Mansion, previously recorded, badefair to be a serious one. When Oakes had collapsed on his return fromthe cellar Dr. Moore fortunately was sufficiently recovered to reach hisside in a few seconds.

  "Elevate his feet, Stone. He'll be all right in a few minutes; he hasfainted."

  I did as directed, and Moore threw the half of a pitcher of water on theunconscious man's neck and face. Gravity sent the blood back to hishead, and when the water touched him, he gasped and presently opened hiseyes. Then we carried him to the bed.

  In an instant he attempted to rise, but the Doctor refused to allow it,giving him instead an enviable drink from his flask. "Keep your guns byyou," said Oakes, "and give me mine."

  The tension had told on me, and Moore was now by far the best man. Hesmiled and ordered me to take a drink also, and to sit down. I obeyed,for I felt, after the excitement, as limp as a boy after his firstcigar.

  Dr. Moore was examining Oakes's head. "Fine scalp wound," said he, andproceeded to sew it up and dress it. His pocket case came in handy. Hehad been wise to bring it. "Hurt anywhere else, old fellow?" asked he.

  "No; sore as the devil all over, that's all," and Oakes arose, took offhis coat, and began to bathe his face. "Keep an eye on that door," saidhe.

  I was myself now, and took my chair to the hall door, sitting where Icould command the head of the stairs and could also hear anyone whomight approach from below.

  "What happened?" asked Moore.

  "Well, nothing very much," said Oakes; "only I guess I got a mighty goodlicking."

  "You look it," said I. "Did you shoot for help?"

  "Yes, I did. I could not _shout_. The shots saved my life."

  "How? Did you kill anyone?"

  "Don't know, only the other party kindly quit killing me when I began toshoot. I heard something drop, however, and there may be a dead bodysomewhere."

  The shots had aroused the household, and we heard shouting and criesfrom the Cooks and from Annie. Soon they appeared, hunting for us, alldistraught and frightened. They said they were in the kitchen when theyheard the shots, and did not know whence they came. This was probable,as the cellar was away from their section. Annie cried when she sawOakes, and ran out to bring in more help. One of the gardeners returnedwith her, and as he came into the room I received the impression of asilent, stern-looking man, past forty and rather strong in appearance,although not large. He had seen better days.

  "Ah!" said he; "ye have run up aginst it agin, sorr. It's nerve ye have,to go nigh that room after what ye got last time." Oakes looked at meand at Moore, and we saw he wished us to keep silent.

  "Yes! I shan't try it again in a hurry. What's your name?" he asked.

  The question came quick as a flash. I knew he was trying to disconcertthe fellow.

  "My name is Mike O'Brien, sorr, gardener; you remimber, 'twas me thathelped you last time, sorr."

  "You mean you stood by and let the others help me, Mike."

  We knew now that this was the indifferent gardener of whom Oakes hadspoken.

  "Thrue for ye, sorr; 'twas little enough I did, and that's a fact; I'mnot used to being scared to death like ye be, sorr." Was that anunintentional shot, or was it a "feeler"?

  Oakes had a sharp customer before him, and he knew it.

  "Where were you when you heard the shots, Mike?"

  "In the woods at the front of the house. I was raking up the leaves, bethe same token."

  "What did you see?" Oakes spoke in a commanding voice and fingered thebreech of his revolver in a suggestive way.

  "I seen a shadow come out av the cellar door."

  "What door?"

  "The _only_ cellar door; near the side av the house, sorr."

  "What sort of a shadow?"

  "'Twas the shadow av a man, and a big one. The sun cast it on the sideav the house, sorr."

  Oakes thought a moment, then arose and said: "Step here, Mike, and pointout the side of the house you mean."

  Mike hesitated. The other servants withdrew at Oakes's suggestion thathe wished to talk with the gardener. The latter advanced. We felt thatOakes was trying to spring a trap.

  "The side of the house where the cellar door is," reiterated Mike.

  "Nonsense, O'Brien. Your story is impossible. The sun was then in theeast and the shadow would have been thrown on the east wall. There is nodoor on that side; it is on the west side of the house."

  O'Brien looked at Oakes defiantly.

  "Yer intirely wrong, sorr. _There is_ the cellar door to the east." Hepointed to a hatch, opening about forty feet from the house, near thewell. "The door _ye_ saw on the west is niver opened--'tis nailed up."

  The tables were turned. Oakes was disconcerted.

  "If what you say is true, you have my apology. I have not investigatedclosely."

  "So I thought, sorr," was the answer. And we all wondered at the amazingcoolness and self-possession of the man. It was one against three, andhe had held his own.

  "Sit down, Mike," said Oakes. "How long have you been here?"

  "Only a matter av six weeks. I came from New York and tried for a job.Maloney, the head man, giv me wan."

  "Where is Maloney?"

  "He was in the tool-house whin I come by, sorr. He didn't hear thecommotion, being sort o' deef."

  "All right, Mike! Stay where you are a moment." Then Oakes turned to us.

  "Just after Moore was attacked I heard a sound like a quick footstep,and having certain suspicions of my own, made a dash for the cellar. Ifound there was no cellar under the north wing; but toward the west, anddirectly beneath the dining-room, was a door. As I opened it all wasdark; but my eyes soon accustomed themselves to the light, and I madeout a good-sized chamber--and what I took for a man near the fartherend. I remained silent, pretending I had seen nothing, and, closing thedoor, made a movement back up the cellar stairs. There I waited forabout five minutes. The ruse worked. The door of the chamber opened, anda man, dressed in a dark cloak and a mask, partly emerged, and, I_thought_, started for the other stairs at the west end of the cellar. Ijumped and grappled with him, but he struck me with the butt end of arevolver, and I was dazed; in another minute, he was punishing meseverely. I fired two shots, then he threw me away from him anddisappeared. He was stronger than anyone I ever met," said Oakes,apologetically, "a regular demon, and he got in the first blow. I thinkI wounded him, however."

  "What shall we do?" said Moore.

  "Go quickly and investigate," was the answer. "Here, Mike, you lead theway."

  Mike did not hesitate. If playing a game, he did it well.

  "Want a gun?" said Oakes.

  "No, sorr, not if youse all are armed. Guess we can give him all thescrap he wants."

  We descended the stairs, Oakes last, as became his condition. He touchedMoore and myself, and pointed to Mike. "Watch him; he may be alreadyarmed," he whispered.

  The cellar was lighted by one window at the western end. A door at thesame end, which evidently led to some stairs, was padlocked, and, asOakes said, had not been recently opened. The dust lay upon itundisturbed and the padlock was very rusty. This corroborated Mike'sstory. The door above that opened on the ground. It was boarded up, hesaid.

  No means was found of passing beneath the dance hall, as Oakes had said.From the lay of the ground, we concluded that the cellar was very lowthere and not bottomed--a shut-in affair such as one finds in oldbuildings of the Colonial epoch. Across the cellar, to the otherside--the south--the same thing pertained except at the westernextremity under the dining-room; there a door opened into a cellar roomor chamber.

  "Here! take this," said Oakes, handing Mike a small pocket taper. "Lightit."

  Mike did as told, and stepped into the room, I after him. Oakes held thecellar door open, and I, happening to look at him, saw that he waswatching Mike as a cat watches a mouse. He had dropped a match at themoment, and, with his eye still on the gardener
, stooped to pick it up.His hand made a swift, double movement, he had the match and somethingelse besides; but Mike had not observed, and I, of course, said nothing.

  The room was low and without windows, but the air was remarkably cleanand fresh. "Plenty of ventilation in here," said I.

  "Yes, and blood too," said the gardener.

  Sure enough, the floor was spattered with it.

  "Mine, I guess," said Oakes. "Moore, kindly fetch a lamp from upstairs.Ask Annie for one."

  Moore went, and soon brought down a small lantern. We could hear Cook'svoice at the head of the stairs; also his wife's and Annie's. It was thelong-expected hunt that no one had ever before made, and which mightclear up the mystery at any time.

  By the better light we saw evidences of the struggle that had takenplace--a strip of Oakes's coat, and a piece of glazed red paper an inchor so long, and perhaps half as broad--white on one side, red on theother.

  "Piece of a mask," said I; and Oakes placed it in his pocket.

  Dr. Moore walked to the east side of the room, where he and I saw a doorin the wall, and some plastering on the floor under it. Mike was busyexamining a heap of rubbish at the other end. His conduct had been mostexemplary. Moore turned the light on the door, and we three observed itfor a moment. Mike had not seen it distinctly, if at all.

  "Moore, come here," said the detective, retreating; and the Doctorfollowed with the light.

  "Come on, Stone." I left the room with them.

  "Curious!" he heard Mike say behind us.

  "What is curious?" asked Oakes.

  The smart hired man answered. "Mr. Clark, the air is good in here. Wheredoes it come from?"

  "I guess we have learned all we need this time, Mike," was the reply,and the gardener came out reluctantly.

  Oakes had seen the door in the wall: it was all he wanted to know. Heclosed the outer entrance of the room, and called to Cook for hammer andnails. The man brought them quickly; then the leader took a board thatwas standing against the wall, and Mike and Cook nailed it across thedoor from frame to frame.

  "Mr. Clark, ye will _have_ the devil now, sorr," said Mike.

  Oakes took a pencil out of his pocket and wrote "Clark" on one end ofthe board; then with a single movement continued his hand over its edgecarefully, and on to the frame, where the line terminated in a secondsignature--"Clark."

  "Anyone removing that board has got to put it back to match that line,"said Oakes, "and that with a board is practically impossible wherenailing has been done. Now for the exit that opens near the well."

  We went back through the cellar hall and found at the east end a doorajar. It did not lock, and was hung on rusty hinges. Beyond was a darkpassage.

  "Where does this lead, Mike?"

  "To the opening by the well, sorr."

  "How do you know?"

  "I don't know, myself, but Maloney said the outside opening by the wellled into the cellar; Cook says so, too. 'Tis a passage they used in wetweather, sorr."

  "Mike, you and Cook go round and guard that outer door by the well. Openit. I'm going through."

  "Mr. Clark, don't go in there alone!"

  "I'll attend to that," said Oakes. "You go with Cook."

  The two went to the well and lifted the hatch door. As they did so,Oakes held a lighted match inside one end of the tunnel. It blewstrongly toward us; the air was rushing in, and we knew the passage ledto the opening. We heard their voices calling to us. Dr. Moore spoke.

  "Oakes, you shall _not_ go in there; you have done enough to-day; youare a wounded man." I caught up the lantern and my revolver, and Moorefollowed.

  "Hold on!" said Oakes. "You are in the most dangerous part; don't berash. Here, Stone, you go first--and Moore, you follow about ten feetbehind, without a light, in order that you may be undetected. Takematches. I'll stay here with the taper, and watch. When you get to theother end, don't go up the steps leading to the ground until both Mikeand Cook show themselves. We know nothing about them, you know. Becautious. The man we want went out this way, whoever he is."

  I threw the light ahead and advanced some ten feet. I heard Moorefollowing. "Careful!" said he in a whisper.

  Again I threw the light ahead, and beheld only the walls of the squaretunnel. I could hear the breathing of Moore behind me. I knocked on thewall here and there with my revolver; it rang true and solid. Wegradually advanced until we beheld the daylight and saw the men waitingat the head of the stone steps.

  I ascended. Moore took the lantern and called back to Oakes, addressinghim as Clark. In a moment he came.

  "Stay where you are, Stone," said he to me. "Come here, Mike."

  Mike descended willingly enough. I watched Cook and looked all around.

  "Open that door." Oakes pointed to a little wooden opening in the sideof the stairs. Mike obeyed, but instantly closed it again with a bang.

  "A man!" said he.

  Oakes and Moore levelled their revolvers.

  "Come out," said the detective, "or take the consequences. I shallshoot."

  Mike opened the door again, hiding his figure behind it for protectionas it swung out. I expected to see some one shot, but Moore threw thelight in, and instantly Oakes dived forward into the alcove of stone. Wecould hear him chuckle. Cook, at my side, was standing on one leg in hisexcitement. Then Dr. Moore burst into laughter.

  "What is it? What's the matter?" I cried. I could not see very well, andran half-way down. Oakes was standing beside Moore, trying to lookgrave. In his hand was a red paper mask and a long black robe!

  O'Brien looked on, his eyes twinkling, but his face serious. "I'mthinking it's lucky, Mr. Clark, sorr, that ye saved yer ammunition,"said he.

  "Yes," retorted Oakes, "and it's still more fortunate you're a goodactor."

  O'Brien's somewhat insolent manner changed instantly to one of civility,and Oakes turned to us.

  "No wonder some said there was a woman in this affair."

  Then he ordered the hatch door nailed down, and handed the things to me."Please take these upstairs, Stone; we must investigate this morefully," and we withdrew to discuss our findings.

  "What do you think of O'Brien, Oakes?" I asked. "He seems to be a coolsort of a customer."

  "Yes, he is no ignoramus. He's a shrewd fellow, and a deep one; but Ihave learned a few things."