ot scared, are you, Fred!"

"No, I don't think so."

"Then you may have first try if you like. What do you say?"

"Nothing," replied Fred. "I feel as if I should like to, but all the
same I don't like. Let's try with a stick. There may be something
nasty there; perhaps rats."

"They wouldn't have stopped; but you're right. Go down and fetch a
stick."

"You will not try till I come back?" said Fred, doubtingly.

"No, I shall not try. Make haste."

Fred was not long running down to one corner of the hall, and obtaining
a stout ashen cudgel, which he handed to his companion, who, after a
moment's hesitation, thrust in the staff, and found that the opening was
about half as deep again as the height of the step; but though he tapped
the bottom, which seemed to be firm, and tried from side to side, there
was nothing solid within, nothing but a fine, impalpable dust, which
made its presence known, for both lads began to sneeze.

"I'm glad there are no bones in it," said Scarlett. "It was only meant
to put something in; made on purpose, I suppose. Just a long box:
nothing more, and--Halloa!"

"What have you found?"

"Nothing, only that it's all open at the back, and I can--yes, so I
can!--reach right back; yes, as far as the stick will go."

"That place wouldn't be made for nothing, Scar," cried Fred. "I know.
That's the way to somewhere."

"Nonsense!"

"I don't care; I know it is, and you see if--"

"Some one coming," whispered Scarlett, stooping down and dragging the
board toward him, when there was a sharp crack, and the stair was once
more firm, just as steps were heard coming along the corridor, and one
of the servant-maids passed along the gallery and entered a room at the
end.

"Wait a bit," whispered Scarlett, as soon as the maid had passed out of
hearing. "We'll get a bit of candle and lock the end door, and then
we'll see what this means; for, as you say, it must have been made for
something. But it can't be a way anywhere, or they would have made it
upright like a door."

"If they could," said Fred, thoughtfully. "Perhaps it was meant for
people to go through lying down."

"Well, wait a bit," said Scarlett, "and we'll see."

Unkind people say that girls have the bump of curiosity greatly
developed, far more so than boys. This is a vulgar error, for the
latter are quite as eager to know as their sisters, and from the moment
that the heavy oak board was replaced, Fred Forrester and