er gaze went
darting about the room in a most convincing way. Some minutes passed
before the old woman could be quieted. Then King explained his action.
He swore solemnly, if sheepishly, that he could not have been mistaken,
and yet the owner of that eye had vanished as if swallowed up by the
mountain.

Baron Dangloss was convinced that the young man had seen the eye.
Without compunction he began a search of the room, the old woman looking
on with a grin of glee.

"Search! Search!" she croaked. "It was the Spirit Eye! It is looking at
you now, my fine baron! It finds you, yet cannot be found. No, no! Oh,
you fools! Get out! Get out! All of you! Prince or no Prince, I fear you
not, nor all your armies. This is my home! My castle! Go! Go!"

"There was a man here, old woman," said the Baron coolly. "Where is he?
What is your game? I am not to be fooled by these damnable tricks of
yours. Where is the man?"

She laughed aloud, a horrid sound. The Prince clutched Tullis by the leg
in terror.

"Brace up, Bobby," whispered his big friend, leaning down to comfort
him. "Be a man!"

"It--it's mighty hard," chattered Bobby, but he squared his little
shoulders.

The ladies of the party had edged forward, peering into the kitchen,
alarm having passed, although the exclamation "boo!" would have played
havoc with their courage.

"I swear there was some one looking through that crack," protested King,
wiping his brow in confusion. "Miss--er--I should say--_you_ could have
seen it from where you stood," he pleaded, turning to the lady in grey.

"Dear me, I wish I had," she cried. "I've always wanted to see some one
snooping."

"There is no window, no trap door, no skylight," remarked the Baron,
puzzled. "Nothing but the stovepipe, six inches in diameter. A man
couldn't crawl out through that, I'm sure. Mr. King, we've come upon a
real mystery. The eye without a visible body."

"I'm sure I saw it," reiterated Truxton. The Prince's aunt was actually
laughing at him. But so was the Witch, for that matter. He didn't mind
the Witch.

Suddenly the old woman stepped into the middle of the room and began to
wave her hands in a mysterious manner over an empty pot that stood on
the floor in front of the stove. The others drew back, watching her with
the greatest curiosity.

A droning song oozed from the thin lips; the gesticulations grew in
weirdness and fervor. Then, before their startled eyes, a thin film of
smoke began to ris