CHAPTER XV.
A PILE OF SCRAP LUMBER.
Conditions and developments seemed to work favorably for themysterious trappers of the Camp Fire Girls. In the first place, whenMrs. Stanlock returned home and found the house without an occupant,except Kittie Koepke, who was working away very quietly in thekitchen, it was difficult for her to suspect anything wrong.
"Where are the girls, Kittie?" she inquired, and the other replied,with a suggestion of foreign accent:
"Oh, they just gone out for a walk. They be back soon, I guess."
"I hope they didn't go far," Mrs. Stanlock said, concernedly. "Theyought to be very careful. It will be getting dark before very long.It's cloudy and looks like more snow. How long have they been gone?"
"About half an hour," Kittie answered. "I went out to the drug storeto get something for my toothache, and when I came back they wasgone."
This was the first reference that Mrs. Stanlock heard regardingKittie's toothache, but she accepted the statement for its face valueand waited hopefully for an early return of her daughter and herdaughter's guests. Half an hour went by and the girls did not appear.Darkness was now visibly gathering. Mrs. Stanlock was becoming uneasyand called up her husband's office, but Mr. Stanlock had alreadystarted for home. By the time he arrived, the good woman was almostprostrated, so rapidly were fear and apprehension taking possession ofher.
The big coal operator scented danger at once. Immediately aftergathering the principal details of the day's occurrences, he got thepolice station on the wire and communicated them to the officer incharge.
Drastic measures were resorted to at once. The day shift of uniformedand ununiformed guardians of the law was summoned back to duty, and aposse of available citizens were sworn in.
About 7 o'clock a posse of citizen policemen, led by three or fouruniformed members of the regular force, began a canvass of theneighborhood to discover information that might suggest a clew as tothe whereabouts of the missing girls. Half an hour later a womaninformed one of the canvassers that she had seen eight or ten girlsenter the yard of the old Buckholz place between 3 and 4 o'clock, buthad not noticed whether they went into the house or not. The man towhom this statement was made blew a whistle as an agreed signal to theother searchers that he had important information and soon a score ofthem were running toward him from all directions.
A comparison of notes disclosed the fact that another member of theparty of canvassers had received a similar statement from anotherresident in the neighborhood. It was decided, therefore, to delay nofurther but to proceed at once to the house in question, while one ofthe men hastened to Mr. Stanlock with news of developments in orderthat he might be present and direct the next move.
The latter was waiting at home, ready to answer a telephone orpersonal call from any of the central points of investigation. Thenervous strain of the apparent certainty, by this time, that thedisappearance of Marion and her guests portended serious developmentshad compelled Mrs. Stanlock to take to her bed and summon a physicianand a nurse. The call from the searchers in the neighborhood took Mr.Stanlock from her bedside, and so speedily did he respond to it thathe was at the entrance of the Buckholz house almost as soon as theparty of citizens and uniformed policemen.
"Don't hesitate, men," he urged. "I know the owner of this house verywell and will take all responsibility for damages on my own shoulders.If the door won't give, break it down."
"Maybe there is somebody at home," Lieutenant Larkin suggested. "Let'sring the bell first"
"Well, come on," said Mr. Stanlock. "We'll soon find out if there'sanyone in the house."
He led the way up the weather-beaten but fairly well preserved stepsand pulled the knob of the old fashioned doorbell. Then they waitedexpectantly, straining their ears to catch the sound of the approachof someone within. But no such sound reached them.
It appearing evident now that the house was temporarily without aninmate, the searchers for the thirteen mysteriously vanished girlsdecided to force their way in. Under ordinary conditions, this actwould have been recognized as burglary, but the present circumstanceswere so extraordinary that legal consequences had no terrors for anyof those present. Accordingly an examination was made of the two firststory windows, two of which were found unlocked. With the aid of a boxdiscovered under the rear porch, several of the men climbed in one byone and found themselves in a large unfurnished room, architecturallyintended, perhaps, as a dining room. Each of the three uniformedpolicemen carried an electric flashlight and with the aid of these anexamination of the house was begun.
But not a trace of the missing girls could be found.
"What next?" one of the men asked.
"The basement," suggested Lieut. Larkin.
Mr. Stanlock opened the door at the head of the stairway and flashedhis light down the steps.
"Wait a minute," he said, barring the entrance. "Let's examine theground as we go. These steps have dust on them, and there are shoeprints in the dust, and, yes, sir, as sure as you are alive, they arethe prints of women's shoes, and there are a lot of 'em, unless I'mmistaken. Be careful now, men. Follow me single file and come downalong the left side of the stairway as close the wall as possible soas not to spoil those footprints in the dust."
"Look out," said Mr. Stanlock. "There may be some desperate charactersdown there with guns. Better let me go first--I have most at stake."
"Not much!" replied the lieutenant. "We'll never win the European warwithout charging the trenches. All I ask is that you get the fellowthat gets me. So here goes."
Cautiously he descended the stairs, followed by the five men who hadentered the house with him. But their anticipations were groundless.Not a sign of human life did they find in the large, square, deepbasement, or cellar, more properly.
Some of the men looked puzzled, Mr. Stanlock was evidently laboringunder increasing distress, but Lieut Larkin's curiosity seemed togrow.
"Some queer stories have been told about this place," he said; "andI'm wondering if now is not the time to put them to a test. They arepretty wild stories, almost as wild as haunted house yarns, but theremay be thing to them."
"I've heard something about them myself," said Mr. Stanlock. "Yourefer to the stories about the building of this house over an oldmine, I suppose? This cellar was said to have been the mouth of theshaft of the mine enlarged."
"That's it," the lieutenant replied. "Now, let's look about and see ifthere is anything to it."
He began to flash his light over the floor, walls, and contents of thecellar. The latter consisted principally of barrels, boxes and anondescript pile of scrap lumber. Most of this was heaped against thesouth wall.
Presently something in the pile of lumber held the attention of thelieutenant, who began to examine it more closely.
"Look here," he said, addressing Mr. Stanlock. "Do you see anydifference between this pile of lumber and that dry goods box overthere?"
"I was just noticing that there was a heavy covering of dust on thebox and little or none on the top pieces of lumber," the mine owneranswered.
"That's just it," continued Lieut. Larkin, "and it can mean only onething, that this pile of lumber has been moved recently. Now, thequestion, in view of the fact that the missing girls were seenentering this place today and in view of the shoe prints on the cellarstairway and the fact that they are not in the basement now is, Why?"
"The best way to find out is to move it again," suggested SergeantHiggins.
"Exactly," agreed his superior officer. "Now, Johnson, you go upstairsand inform the other men what we are doing. We don't want them downhere, for there's nothing they can do. Moreover, we don't want anymore traveling up and down those steps than is absolutely necessary.Be careful, Johnson, on your way up."
"Excuse me, lieutenant," interposed Mr. Stanlock in a weak voice thatbespoke the distress under which he was laboring. "I think I won'tremain down here just now. I'll go up and carry that message to themen, if you wish. Let me know as soon as y
ou can what you find."
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