nother lantern at the entrance
here. I may need help."

Ruth Stuart snatched a lantern from one of the countrymen and stepped
promptly up beside the young man. He nodded.

"Do not try to follow me in here unless I tell you to. I must first find
out what is in here."

"Do you think they are there?" she asked in a half whisper.

"Yes. Probably below somewhere," he answered, thrusting the lantern
ahead of him and crawling into the opening he had made.

Bob found himself in a narrow chamber formed by a gable that had been
shut off and enclosed by the partition. He did not trouble himself at
that moment to investigate the strangeness of the disappearance of his
maul. Instead, he began going over the little room cautiously. The light
from his lantern soon revealed a hole in the floor about a yard square.

"Don't lean against that partition on your life," he called. Those near
the entrance to the gable apartment drew back a little. They gazed at
the apparently solid wall to the left of the hole, in respectful
silence. Bob lowered his lantern into the hole and peered in. It
appeared to extend down a long distance. A trap door that evidently was
intended to cover the opening, lay to one side of the opening. As he
peered in he saw that the opening revealed a bricked-in shaft.

"A chimney, as I live!" he exclaimed. Then he raised his voice in a
long-drawn shout.

"Hello-o-o down there!" There was no response. Stevens called again. A
faint wail drifted up through the shaft. Ruth, at the panel, hearing it,
uttered a scream of joy.

"They're there! They're there!" she cried.

For the first time since his arrival at the house, Bob Stevens showed
traces of excitement in his face, but his voice was calm when he spoke.

"Get a rope, quickly. A long one," he commanded.

Ruth, Olive and Tommy crowded into the narrow opening, unable to
restrain their impatience longer.

"Be careful," warned Bob. "This floor doesn't seem to be very strong."

The three held their ground, however.

"Hello-o-o down there! Are you hurt?"

They were unable to distinguish the words of the reply, but it evidently
was made by Barbara.

"There's a ladder," exclaimed Tommy, starting to go down it. Stevens
hauled him back.

"Keep out. It looks shaky. I am going down there myself. That's why I
sent for a rope. I don't want to fall in, too. Men, I want you to stand
by to lend a hand on the rope. Keep it fairly taut, but don't hold me
back."

When