The Camp Fire Girls Solve a Mystery; Or, The Christmas Adventure at Carver House

ically. "Tell her that the ladies-in-waiting are the dearest that ever lived, and the three court jesters are the funni

er rapture they did not scold Hinpoha for letting the cat out of the bag before the time set. To have given her those two extra days of happiness was worth the

"Oh, please live that long, so you can help us do all we've planned." Nyoda smiled back in

she said now, stopping in the act of dra

d to go and se

her big box of delicacies for Mrs. Deane. With her went Migwan a

ilt-in bookcases in the library, and had Nyoda's permission to take out all the books and look. Justice and Slim and the Captain had promised to help take out the books. Sylvia w

ng out the books and replacing them, but Katherine would stop to read, and Slim soon fell asleep with his head against the seat of a chair. Justice spied Slim after

apanese fellow down in Washington taught it to me. Let me practice it on you, will y

ed with a series of operations that rolled his bi

rning finger to her lips. "Don't you see that Sylvia has fallen asl

nd continued their wrestling, and the Captain aba

p the stairway!" said the Captain, as

ery inch of the way, but, nevertheless, went up steadily, step by step. Sahwah and Katherine, drawn by

e landing was as far as Justice could get him. Justice leaned over him and tried another trick to break his grip on the post and the two were see-s

ed the Captain. "Lo

g out of its place, sliding out over the bottom flight of stairs as smoothly and silently as though on oiled wheels. The five stood still and blinked stupidly at the phenomenon, unable to believe their eyes. The lan

enses first. "The secret pas

irks!" exclaim

Katherine curiously. "Where

e Captain shoo

for dear life when all of a sudden something clicked inside of it. Then the Captain yelle

t it and it turned under his hands. There was a click, faint, but audible to the eagerly listening ears, and the landing began

alls by tapping on the panels! If it hadn't been for Slim we could have spent all the rest of our lives looking for it and never would have fou

ake it open up ag

ently there came the now familiar click and

aptain, going to the edge o

there?" ask

s to peer into the darkness, "at least that's all I can see

bout six feet square, whose walls and floor were of stone. The top was open to allow the passage of the ladder. The Captain figured out that he was standing level with the flo

ere?" asked Sah

in it," replied the Captain, re

d the top. "It's outside. There's a door down there that probably opens

and it was she who went down the lad

he first thing its light fell upon was a broken glass jar, lying in a corner, and from it there extended across the floo

exclaimed.

at must have made the footprints on the stairs! The man must

tonishment. How clear it all was now! The footprints beginning under the stair landing-t

ing his finger, which had a bright red daub on the e

ave spilled it hims

rglar know about this secret

re not prepar

told somebody,

eem to know about it hi

I'll bet he does, just

nto the house!" Sahwah defended stoutly. "He's as true as steel

end of the passage himself, by acciden

impatiently, "let's go and s

down close beside the ladder. This rope came through the opening above them; that was as far

ee what happen

click that had followed the twisting of the stair post. In a moment the light that had come down through the opening

oing. A fellow on the inside could get out, and a fellow on the outside

" asked the Captain.

hem in the narrow space in which they stood. A rush of cold air greeted them.

ome steps do

x steps down brought them to the floor of a rock-

tice. "All the cellar walls of Carver House are made o

he hill," said the Captain. "It's a regular g

way of escape!" remar

ound way of escape?" asked Katherine wonder

while. No doubt they concealed American soldiers in their home at times. This passage was probably built as a means of entrance and escape when things got too hot up ab

had, getting in and out of this house, right under the nose of the British! Suppose they suspected he was in the house and came in to search for him? He'd just turn the post o

age comes out," urged the Captain,

eply downward, with fr

wn the hill," s

ng down the inside of

sage under Niagara Falls," said S

they came out in a good-sized chamber whos

ith dozens of voices. A cold draught played upon them from somewhere, and, although they all had on sweaters and caps

able stood two tall bottles, thickly covered with dust, and between them was a grinning human skull wi

d down here!"

s Uncle Jasper playing pirate. S

hest, likewise painted bright red, with a hug

t he mentions in his diary," said Sahwah. "Of course

was a place to inspire terror in the heart of a luckless captive. Skulls and cross bones were painted all over the rocky walls, grinning reflections of the one

t have had a better one. It seems as if any minute we'll hear a voice muttering, 'Pieces of eight, piece

n on a dead

And a bott

the echoes gave back from all aro

drank the molasses and water that they used for

he was a boy," sighed the Captain. "He must

at what's in the ch

den swords, several tomahawks, a white flag with a skull and cross bones done on it in India ink, a stuffed alligator, a ship's compass, a section of a hawser, a heavy iron cha

r a bunch of real Indian arrow heads

es," said Justice knowi

tell?" aske

acteristics of the dreaded

use they didn't know anything about arrow heads

ly. "I thought I had fun when I was a kid, but Uncle Jasper Car

back with Uncle Jasper to his lively boyhood and saw a panorama of delightful play

nder which was carved the legend, "Frends til Deth." When Sahwah saw it she could not keep back the tears at the thought of this wonderful boyish friendship which had endured through thick and thin, and then had ended

had been replaced in the chest. At a point opposite to the passage by which they had entered the cave another passage

he Captain, lighting t

the Captain, when they had gone some

over with bright red paint, but here and there the paint had chipped off, showing the metal underneath. It was set into a doorway of brick and mortar. Ov

, and then they saw they

another house!" said the

previous summer. "We often used to poke around in it and wonder who had lived in it. In the old days it must have been a place of

nd up into the house," said the Capta

from the floor to the low ceiling, all but a few inches at the top and a few inches at the one side, where an irregularity in its contour did not fit against the strai

getting out around that rock," said

o get over, or around it, or through it,

this end?" asked Justice in perplexity. "Ther

e decidedly, "unless he really wa

ell after he was in,"

in, how does it happen that the door here wa

ustice. "I don't belie

ge at all," said Slim. "Maybe he did come in thro

He stepped into it and tracked it down the st

He jumped convulsively, lost his footing, and pitched over against the door, which went shut with a ban

h lent a hand, but not a bit would the door budge. They gave it

said Justice in a v

over from the jar when the

it could," said J

the latch latched itself, and there I was, caught like a mouse in a trap. I couldn't pull my skirt loose and I couldn't unlatch the door from the outside. There was n

tice gloomily. "With the passage blocked at this end, a

or down," sug

at are we going to break it down with? You can't

g frantically with their fists, and

but there's never a dent in the door. You'd think the old thing would be rotten down here in this hole, but it's so covered wi

l somebody hears us and

," said Justice. "We're on the lo

in and again until their ears ached with the racket their voices made

can he

realization came t

tarve to death?" asked Sahwah in an awe-stricken voice,

rve," said Justice pessimistically,

yoda will find the stair landing open and will come after us," she finish

y won't find it open, because I closed it several times, but I le

went up at his words and t

terminedly, after a minute. "We were shut up i

on the outside, not on the inside

trying to stop shivering, "and we had eaten so many strawber

decidedly. "I've bee

e impatiently. "I guess you'll last

atherine with a shudder of something b

own with!" sighed Justice. "It would take a b

aid Sahwah with a sudden reminiscent giggle. "He could

, and we are," rem

egretfully. "She was so sound asleep, though, I couldn't bear to waken her. If she only knew

o agitated about it that he dropped the biggest electric flashlight on the floor and put it out of commis

ce, "so they'll last. We can f

sively and the boys instinctively moved nearer together. Conversation dropped off after a while

canny stillness. It was a slight sound, but to their strained nerves it was as startling as a cannon shot. It

" said Sahwah, s

ng his hand over his ear in an attempt to locate th

iled to find it. He turned the light out again. Then in the da

g louder," s

Sahwah positively. "They'

ut a doubt the sound of a footfall drawing nearer

s found the passage!" shrieked S

anded Justice, "and let

snap of the lock on the other side of the door. Slim, who was nearest, flung himself upo

d crowded out into the pas

d answered them. Justice and the Captain sprang their flashlights and looked

ned the latch a

chills ran down their spines. The same thought of a supernatural agency had

clared Katherine flatly. "Ghosts do

opened the trap, and came out through the landing just as Nyoda, arriving home, was taking off her furs at the

zement, when they found out that they had never even been m

as Nyoda when he saw the opening in the landing

were coming to let us out," said Sahwah, "

, helping me overhaul the motor of the

e-door?" cried the fi

that made the footprints on the stairs! He got in through