Part 10 (1/2)

Perhaps it's behind one of these stones. Look! The plaster seems to be loose around these in the middle.” She thrust the weight of her strong young arm against it, directing it at the middle stone of three large ones, but without avail. They never moved the fraction of an inch. Then she began to push all along the sides where the plaster seemed loose. At last she threw her whole weight against it--and was rewarded!

The three stones swung round, as on a pivot, revealing a s.p.a.ce only large enough to crawl through with considerable squeezing.

”Hurrah! hurrah!” she shouted. ”What did I tell you, Doris? There's something else behind here,--another cave, I guess. I'm going through.

Are you going to follow?” Handing her candle to Doris, she scrambled through the narrow opening. And Doris, now determined to stick at nothing, set both candles on the ground, and pushed the struggling and resisting Genevieve in next. After that, she pa.s.sed in the candles to Sally, who held them while she clambered in herself.

And, once safely within, they stood and stared about them.

”Why, Sally,” suddenly breathed Doris, ”this isn't a cave. It's a _cellar_! Don't you see all the household things lying around? Garden tools, and vegetables and--and all that? Where in the world can we be?”

A great light suddenly dawned on her.

”Sally Carter, what did I tell you? This cellar is Miss Camilla's. I know it. I'm _certain_ of it. There's no other house anywhere near Slipper Point. I _told_ you she knew about that cave!”

Sally listened, open-mouthed. ”It can't be,” she faltered. ”I'm sure we didn't come in that direction at all.”

”You can't tell how you're going--underground,” retorted Doris.

”Remember, the tunnel made a turn, too. Oh, Sally! Let's go back at once, before anything is discovered, and never, never let Miss Camilla or any one know what we've discovered. It's none of our business.”

Sally, now convinced, was about to a.s.sent, when Genevieve suddenly broke into a loud howl.

”I won't go back! I won't go back--in that nas'y place!” she announced, at the top of her lungs.

”Oh, stop her!” whispered Doris. ”Do stop her, or Miss Camilla may hear!” Sally stifled her resisting sister by the simple process of placing her hand forcibly over her mouth,--but it was too late. A door opened at the top of a flight of steps, and Miss Camilla's astounded face appeared in the opening.

”What is it? Who is it?” she called, obviously frightened to death herself at this unprecedented intrusion. Huddled in a corner, they all shrank back for a moment, then Doris stepped boldly forward.

[Ill.u.s.tration: She led the others up the cellar steps]

”It's only ourselves, Miss Camilla,” she announced. ”We have done a very dreadful thing, and we hadn't any right to do it. But, if you'll let us come upstairs, we'll explain it all, and beg your pardon, and promise never to speak of it or even think of it again.” She led the others up the cellar steps, and into Miss Camilla's tiny, tidy kitchen. Here, still standing, she explained the whole situation to that lady, who was still too overcome with astonishment to utter a word. And she ended her explanation thus:

”So you see, we didn't have the slightest idea we were going to end at this house. But, all the same, we sort of felt that this cave was a secret of yours and that we really hadn't any right to be interfering with it. But won't you please forgive us, this time, Miss Camilla? And we'll really try to forget that it ever existed.”

And then Miss Camilla suddenly found words. ”My dear children,” she stuttered, ”I--I really don't know what you're talking about. I haven't the faintest idea what this all means. _I never knew till this minute that there was anything like a cave or a tunnel connected with this house!_”

And in the astounded silence that followed, the three stood gaping, open-mouthed, at each other.

CHAPTER XI

SOME BITS OF ROUNDTREE HISTORY

”But come into the sitting-room,” at length commanded Miss Camilla, ”and let us talk this strange thing over. You must be tired and hungry, too, after this awful adventure of coming through that dreadful tunnel. You must have some of this hot gingerbread and a gla.s.s of lemonade.” And while she bustled about, on hospitable thoughts intent, they heard her muttering to herself:

”A cave--and a tunnel--and connected with _this_ house!--What _can_ it all mean?”

They sat in restful silence for a time, munching the delicious hot gingerbread and sipping cool lemonade. Never did a repast taste more welcome, coming as it did after the adventures and uncertainties of that eventful day. And while they ate, Miss Camilla sat wiping her gla.s.ses and putting them on and taking them off again and shaking her head over the perplexing news that had been so unexpectedly thrust upon her.

”I simply cannot understand it all,” she began at last. ”As I told you, I've never had the slightest idea of such a strange affair, nor can I imagine how it came there. When did you say that _Anne Arundel_ vessel was wrecked?”