Part 22 (1/2)

”No.” He did not catch what followed. Bob was climbing down the narrow ladder, prudently keeping the rope about his waist in case the ladder should give way. He carried the lantern with him on his descent, which he made with considerable caution. He feared that were he to dislodge a brick or a section of the ladder, it might fall on the girl below and seriously injure her. Why she should be so far below the narrow platform where he had found Mollie Thurston he did not pause to ask himself. The urgent work of the moment was to get Barbara out as quickly as possible.

”Is there no end to this?” muttered the young man. He figured that he must be somewhere in the vicinity of the cellar. Barbara's voice, now strong 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! I feared you had been killed.”

”I don't know how this happened. I am down here. That is all I can tell you about it.”

Stevens had reached the end of the ladder by this time. He lowered his lantern, directing her to take it from the rope, then observing that he was not more than half a dozen feet from the bottom, he dropped lightly down beside her.

”Did you fall down here?” he asked.

”The last several feet I did,” she answered. Bab was pale, but her eyes were 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 had been killed, but after a little I pulled myself together and screamed for help. I guess no one heard me.”

”They were excited. The house is in an uproar. Your sister is in the hands 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 my question. Why did you come on down here?”

”I thought there might be an opening at the bottom. This chimney was intended to be used for climbing. Hurry. I want to see Mollie.”

Barbara was in a fever of excitement. She could not see why she shouldn't climb the rope. Stevens advised her to calm herself, saying that when she reached the ladder she might climb, but not to cast off the rope.

”When you reach the top tell them to lower the rope again, so I can get out.”

Barbara suddenly collected herself.

”Oh, forgive me for my thoughtlessness. You go on up. I can come later.”

Bob Stevens merely smiled, then raised his voice in a shout to the men to pull up. He lifted Bab up with apparent ease, for he was a muscular young man. The rope began to move up slowly. He helped Barbara until she had reached the ladder, then after seeing her safely on her way, and when she was no longer visible, the young man picked up his lantern and began to look about him.

The chimney reached clear to the bottom of the pit in which he was standing. A short pa.s.sage underground led off from the pit. He followed it for about thirty yards, when it ended abruptly against a solid mound of earth. Investigation showed that this earth had caved in, thus blocking what had once been a long pa.s.sage. Little particles of dirt showered down on his head as he stepped carefully about, indicating that the rest of the roof might cave in at any moment.

”The silence of the tomb,” muttered Bob. ”What a place in which to be buried alive! I can imagine what that poor little girl must have suffered in here without a light, not knowing whether she ever would be found again. There's pluck for you. I know I should have been scared stiff. What a house of mystery this is! If it were mine I would pull it to pieces to satisfy my curiosity if for no other reason. But the treasure? Can it be possible that we have stumbled upon the hiding place of the real treasure? I'm going to investigate this place later on. Mr.

Presby's ancestors must have been regular woodchucks. At least they were great burrowers. Hold on; there must have been some sort of stream through here by the looks of the ground. The tunnel was already made.