The Slipper Point Mystery (novella)/Chapter 8

had been a very dull day indeed for Genevieve. Had she been able to communicate her feeling adequately, she would have said she was heartily sick and tired of the program she had been forcibly obliged to follow. As she sat solitary on the porch of Miss Camilla's tiny abode, thumb in mouth and tugging at the lock of hair with her other hand, she thought it all over resentfully.

Why should she be commanded to sit here all by herself, in a spot that offered no attractions whatever, and told, nay ordered, not to move from the location, when she was bored beyond expression by the entire proceeding. True, they had left her eatables in generous quantities (but she had already disposed of these) and picture-books of many attractive descriptions, to while away the weary hours. But the picture-books were an old story now, and the afternoon was growing late. She longed to go down to the shore and play in the row-boat, and dabble her bare toes in the water, and indulge in the eternally fascinating experiment of catching crabs with a piece of meat tied to a string and her father's old crab-net. What was the use of living when one was doomed to drag out a wonderful afternoon on a tiny, hopelessly uninteresting porch out in the backwoods? Existence was nothing but a burden.

To be sure, the morning had not been without its pleasant moments. They had rowed up the river to their usual landing-place, a trip she always enjoyed, though it had been somewhat marred by the fear that she might be again compelled to burrow into the ground like a mole, forsaking the glory of sunshine and sparkling water for the dismal dampness of that unspeakable hole in the earth. But, to her immense relief, this sacrifice was not required of her. Instead they had made at once through the woods and across the fields to Miss Camilla's, albeit burdened with many strange and, to her mind, useless tools and other impedimenta. Miss Camilla's house offered attractions not a few, chiefly in the way of unlimited cookies and other eatables. But her enjoyment of the cookies was tempered by the fact that the whole party suddenly took it into their heads to proceed to the cellar, and, what was even worse, to attempt again the loathsome undertaking of scrambling through the narrow place in the wall and the journey beyond. She herself accompanied them as far as the cellar, but further than that she refused to budge. So they left her with a candle and a seat conveniently near a barrel of apples.

It transpired, however, that they did not proceed far into the tunnel. She could hear them talking and exclaiming excitedly, and discussing whether "this was really twenty-seven," and "Had n't we better count again?" and, "Shall we saw it out?" and other equally pointless remarks of a similar nature. Wearying of listening to such idle chatter, and replete with cookies and russet apples, she had finally put her head down on the edge of the barrel and had fallen fast asleep.

When she had awakened, it was to find them all back in the cellar, and Miss Camilla making the pleasant announcement that they would have luncheon now and get to work in earnest afterward. A soul-satisfying interval followed, the only really bright spot in the day for Genevieve. But gloom had settled down upon her once more when they had risen from the table. Solemnly they had taken her on their laps (at least Miss Camilla had!) and ominously Sally had warned her:

"Now, Genevieve, we 've got something awfully important to do this afternoon. You don't like to go down in that dark place, so we 've decided not to take you with us. You'd rather stay up here in the sunshine, would n't you?" And she had nodded vigorously an unqualified assent to that proposition. "Well then," Sally had continued, "you stay right on this porch or in the sitting-room, and don't you dare venture a foot away from it. Will you promise?" Again Genevieve had nodded. "Nothing will hurt you if you mind what we say, and by and by we 'll come back and show you something awfully nice." Genevieve had seriously doubted the possibility of this latter statement, but she was helpless in their hands.

"And here's plenty of cookies and a glass of jam," Miss Camilla had supplemented, "and we 'll come back to you soon, you blessed baby!" Then they had all hugged and kissed her and departed.

Well, they had not kept their word. She had heard the little clock in the room within strike and strike and strike, sometimes just one bell-like tone, sometimes two and three and four. She could not yet "tell the time," but she knew enough about a clock to realize that this indicated the passing of the moments. And still there had been no sign of return on the part of the exploring three.

Genevieve whimpered a little and wiped her eyes, sad to say, on her sleeve. Then she thrust her hand for the fortieth time into the cooky-jar. But it was empty. And then, in sheer boredom and despair, she put her head down on the arm of her chair, tucked her thumb into her mouth and closed her eyes to shut out the tiresome scene before her. In this position she had remained for what seemed a long, long time, and the clock had sounded another bell-like stroke, when she was suddenly aroused by a sound quite different.

At first she did not give it much thought, but it came again, louder this time, and she sat up with a jerk. Was some one calling her? It was a strange, muffled sound, and it seemed as if it were like a voice trying to pronounce her name.

"Genev—! Genev—!" That was all she could distinguish. Did they want her, possibly to go down into the horrible cellar and hole? She went to the door giving on the cellar steps and listened. But, though she stood there fully five minutes, she heard not so much as a breath. No, it could not be that. She would go out doors again.

But no sooner had she stepped on the porch than she heard it again, fainter this time, but undeniable. Where could it come from? They had commanded her not to venture a step from the porch, but surely, if they were calling her, she ought to try and find them. So she stepped down from the veranda and ran around to the back of the house. This time she was rewarded. The sound came clearer and more forcefully:

"Genevieve!—Genev—ieve!" But where still, could it come from? There was not a soul in sight. The garden (for it was Miss Camilla's vegetable garden) was absolutely devoid of human occupation. But Genevieve wisely decided to follow the sound, so she began to pick her way gingerly between the rows of beans, which were climbing on quite a forest of tall poles. It was when she had passed these that she came upon something that caused her a veritable shock.

The ground in Miss Camilla's cucumber-patch, for the space ten or twelve feet square, had sunk down into a strange hole, as if in a sudden earthquake! What did it all mean? And as Genevieve hesitated on its brink, she was startled almost out of her little shoes to hear her name called faintly and in a muffled voice from its depths.

"Genev—ieve!" It was the voice of Doris, though she could see not the slightest vestige of her.

"Here I am!" answered Genevieve, quaveringly. "What do you want, Dowis?"

"Oh, thank God!" came the reply. "Go get—some one! Quick. We 're—buried in here! It—caved in. Hurry—baby!"

"Who s'all I get?" asked Genevieve. And well she might, for, as far as any one knew, there was not a soul within a mile of them.

"Oh—I don't—know!" came the answering voice. "Go find—some one—any one. We 'll die—here—if you don't!"

Genevieve was not sure she knew just what that last remark meant, but it evidently indicated something serious.

"All wight!" she responded. "I 'll twy." And she trotted off to the front of the house.

Here, however, she stopped to consider. Where was she to go to find any one? She could not go home—she did not know the way. She could not go back to the river—the path was full of pitfalls in the shape of thorny vines that scratched her face and tripped her feet; and besides, Sally had particularly warned her not to venture in that direction—ever. After all, the most likely place to find any one was surely along the road, for she had, very rarely, when sitting on Miss Camilla's porch, observed an occasional wagon driven past. She would walk along the road and see if she could find anybody.

Had Genevieve been older and with a little more understanding, she would have comprehended the desperate plight that had befallen her sister and Doris and Miss Camilla. And fear would have lent wings to her feet and she would have scurried to the nearest dwelling as fast as those feet would carry her. But she was scarcely more than a baby. The situation, though peculiar, did not strike her so much as a matter for haste as for patient waiting till the person required should happen along. As she did n't see any one approaching in either direction, she decided to return to the house and keep a strict eye on the road.

So she seated herself on the porch steps, tucked her thumb in her mouth—and waited. There was no further calling from the curious hole in the back garden, and nothing happened for a long, long time. Genevieve had just about decided to go back and inquire of Doris what else to do, when suddenly the afternoon stillness was broken by the chug chug of a motor-car and the honking of its horn. And before Genevieve could jump to her feet, a big automobile had come plowing down the sandy road and stopped right in front of the gate.

"Here's the place!" called out the chauffeur, and jumping down, walked around to open the door at the side for its occupants to get out. A pleasant-looking man stepped out and gave his hand to the lady beside him, and, to Genevieve's great astonishment, the lady proved to be none other than the mother of "Dowis."

"Well, where's every one?" inquired the gentleman. "I don't see a soul but this wee tot sitting on the steps."

"Why, there's Genevieve!" cried Mrs. Craig, who had seen the baby many times before. "How are you, dear? Where are the others? Inside?"

"No," answered Genevieve. "In de garden. Dowis, she said, 'Come. Find some one!’"

"Oh, they 're in the garden, are they! Well, we 'll go around there and give them a surprise, Henry. Doris will simply be bowled over to see her 'daddy' here so unexpectedly. And I'm very anxious to meet this Miss Camilla she has talked so much about. Come and show us the way, Genevieve."

The baby obediently took her hand and led her around to the back of the house, the gentleman following.

"But I don't see any one here!" he exclaimed, when they had reached the back. "Are n't you mistaken, honey?" This to Genevieve.

"No, they in 'big hole!'" she announced gravely. The remark aroused considerable surprise and amused curiosity.

"Well, lead us to the 'big hole,’" commanded Mrs. Craig, laughingly. "Big hole, indeed! I 've been wondering what in the world Doris was up to lately, but I never dreamed she was engaged in excavating!"

Genevieve, still gravely, led the way through the forest of bean-poles to the edge of the newly sunk depression.

"What's all this?" suddenly demanded Mr. Craig. "It looks as if there had been a land-slide here. Where are the others, little girl? They 've probably gone elsewhere."

But Genevieve was not to be moved from her original statement. "They in dere!" she insisted, pointing downward. "Dowis called. She say, 'Go find some one!’" The baby's persistence was not to be questioned.

Mr. Craig looked grave, and his wife grew pale and frightened. "Oh, Henry, what do you suppose can be the matter?" she quavered. "I do believe Genevieve is telling the truth."

"There's something mighty queer about it." he answered hastily. "I can't understand how in the world it has come about, but if that child is right, there's been a land-slide or a cave-in of some sort here, and Doris and the rest are caught in it. Good heavens! If that's so, we can't act too quickly!" And he ran round to the front of the house shouting to the chauffeur, who had remained in the car:

"There's been an accident! Drive like mad to the nearest house and get men and ropes and spades—anything to help dig out some people from a cave-in!"

The car had shot down the road almost before he had ceased speaking, and he hurried back to the garden.

The next hour was a period of indescribable suspense and terror to all concerned—all, at least, save Genevieve, who sat placidly on Mrs. Craig's lap (Mr. Craig had brought out a chair from Miss Camilla's kitchen) and, thumb in mouth, watched the men furiously hurling the soil in great shovelfuls from the curious "hole." She could not understand why Mrs. Craig should sob softly at intervals, under her breath, nor why the strange gentleman should pace back and forth so restlessly and give such sharp, hurried orders. And when he jumped into the hole, with a startled exclamation, and seized the end of a heavy plank, she wondered at the unnecessary excitement.

It took the united efforts of every man present to move that plank, and when they had forced it aside, Mr. Craig stooped down with a smothered cry.

And the next thing Genevieve knew, they had lifted out some one and laid her on the ground, inert, apparently lifeless, and so covered with dirt and sand as to be scarcely recognizable. But from the light golden hair, Genevieve knew it to be Doris. Before she realized where she was, Genevieve found herself cascaded from Mrs. Craig's lap, and that lady bending distractedly over the prostrate form.

Again the men emerged from the pit, carrying between them another form which they laid beside Doris. And, with a howl of anguish, Genevieve recognized the red-bronze pigtail of her sister Sally.

By the time Miss Camilla had been extricated from the debris, as lifeless and inert as the other two, the chauffeur had returned at mad speed from the village, bringing with him a doctor and many strange appliances for resuscitation. A pulmotor was put into immediate action, and another period of heartbreaking suspense ensued.

It was Doris who first moaned her way back to life, and, at the physician's orders, was carried into the house at once for further ministrations.

Sally was next to show signs of recovery, but over poor Miss Camilla they had to work hard and long, for, in addition to having been almost smothered, her foot had been caught by the falling plank and badly bruised. But she came back to consciousness at last, and her first words on opening her eyes were:

"Do you think we can get that Spode dinner-set out all right?"

A remark that vastly bewildered Mr. Craig, who chanced to be the only one to hear it!

"But how on earth did you and Mother happen to be there, Father, just in the nick of time?" marveled Doris, two days later from the depths of several pillows with which she was propped up in bed.

She had been detailing to her parents at great length the whole story of Sally and the cave and the tunnel and Miss Camilla and the hazardous treasure-hunt that had ended her adventure. And now it was her turn to be enlightened.

"Well," returned her father, smiling whimsically, "it was a good deal like what they call 'the long arm of coincidence' in the story-books, and yet it was very simple, after all. I'd been disappointed so many times in my plans to get down here to see you and your mother, and at last the chance came, the other day, when I could make at least a flying trip, but I had n't even time to let you know I was coming. I arrived at the hotel about lunch-time and gave your mother the surprise of her life by walking in on her unexpectedly. But I was quite disgusted not to find you anywhere about. Your mother told me how you had gone off for the day with your bosom pal, Sally, to visit a mysterious Miss Camilla, and I suggested that we take the car and go to hunt you up. As she was agreeable to the excursion, we started forth, inquiring our way as we went.

"It was a merciful providence that got us there not a moment too soon; and if it had n't been for that little cherubic Genevieve, we should have been many minutes too late. So the next time you go treasure-hunting, young lady, kindly allow your useless and insignificant dad to accompany you!" And he gave her ear a playful tweak.

"Daddy, it was awful—simply awful when that old plank gave way and the earth came sliding down on us!" she confided to him, snuggling down in the arm he had placed around her. "At first we did n't think it would amount to much. But more and more earth came pouring down, and then another plank loosened and Miss Camilla lost her footing and fell, and we could n't make our way out past it in either direction, and still the dirt poured in all around us; and Sally and I tried to struggle up through the top, but we could n't make any progress. And at last that third plank bent over and shut us in so we could n't budge, and Sally and Miss Camilla did n't answer when I spoke to them, and I knew they'd fainted, and I felt as if I was going to faint too. But I called and called Genevieve, and at last she answered me. And after that I did n't remember anything more!" With a shudder, she hid her face in her father's sleeve. It had been a very horrible experience.

"Don't think of it any more, honey. It turned out all right, in the end. Do you know that Sally is around as well as ever, now, and came up to the hotel to inquire for you this morning? She's as strong as a little ox, that child!"

"But where is Miss Camilla?" suddenly inquired Doris. "She hurt her foot, did n't she?"

"She certainly did, but she insisted on remaining in her own home, and Sally begged her mother to be allowed to stay there with her and the undetachable Genevieve, of course, and take care of her and wait on her. So there they are, and there you will proceed in the automobile this afternoon, if you feel well enough to make the visit."

"But what about the treasure?" demanded Doris, her eyes beginning to sparkle.

"If you refer to the trunks and the chestful of articles that we excavated from that interesting hole in Miss Camilla's garden, you do well to speak of it as 'treasure'!" answered her father laughingly; "for beside some valuable old family silver and quite rare articles of antique jewelry, she had there a collection of china and porcelain that would send a specialist on that line into an absolute spasm of joy. I really would not care to predict what it would be worth to any one interested in the subject.

"And you can tell your friend Sally, of the adventurous spirit, that she's got 'Treasure Island' licked a mile (to use a very inelegant expression) and right here on her own native territory, too! I take off my hat to you both. You 've done better than a couple of boys who have been playing at pirates and hunting for their treasure all their youthful days. Henceforth, when I yearn for blood-curdling adventures and hairbreadth escapes, I 'll come to you two to lead the way!"

But under all his banter, Doris knew that her father was serious in the deep interest he felt in her strange adventure and all that it had led to.