to attract the attention of any one not
looking for them.

"Crickets!" cried Bob. "There's a jolly place for the precious poke to be
located. I'm going down cellar to see if I can find traces of that
mason's work. Come on, Clair."

The two boys flew off, and the ladies remained discussing the wonderful
discovery, and examining the old chimney-piece.

"I can see it was a bedhead now," said Mabel; "but I never suspected it
before. What a splendid mantel it makes. Didn't you ever hear its
history, Grandy?"

"No, dear. It must have been put there when the house was built, I think.
Though, of course, it may have been added later. But it was all before my
time. I married your grandfather Cromarty and came here to live in 1855.
The building and decorations then were all just as they are now, except
for such additions as Marmaduke made. He may have had that mantel set up
in earlier years--I don't know. He was very fond of antique carvings."

Back came the boys from the cellar.

"The whole chimney is bricked up," Sinclair explained. "We couldn't get
into it without tearing it all down. And do you know what I think,
Grandy? I think it would be wiser to take away the chimney-piece up here,
and do our investigating from this end. Then, if we find anything, it
will all be in this room, and not in the cellar, where the servants can
pry about."

"I quite agree with you," said Mrs. Cromarty, "and I put the whole matter
in your hands. You and Robert are the sons of the house, and it is your
right to manage its affairs."

"Then I say, tear it down at once," cried Bob. "We needn't damage the
carving itself, and all that we break away of plaster or inner woodwork
can easily be repaired, whatever our success may be."

"Shall we begin now?" asked Sinclair, doubtfully. He was not so impetuous
as Bob, and would have been quite willing to study over the matter first.

"Yes, indeed!" cried his impatient brother. "I'm not going to waste a
minute. I'm glad I'm a bit of a carpenter. Though not an expert, I can
tear down if I can't build up."

"But we must take it down carefully," said Sinclair. "These screws must
come out first." But Bob had already gone for tools, and soon returned
with screw-drivers, chisels, gimlets, and all the paraphernalia of a
carpenter's well-appointed tool-chest.

"Here goes!" he cried, as he put the big screw-driver in the first screw.
"Good luck to the Cromartys and three cheers for Uncle Marmaduke and
Pa