Aunt Jane's Nieces on the Ranch Part 18

"But-Miguel, Miguel!" pleaded Arthur, earnestly, "can't you remember how the wall opens? Think! Think carefully."

"I do theenk, Meest Weld; I theenk till I go sleep, an' you find me here."

"Now, let's do some thinking ourselves," suggested Beth. "The opening that leads into the wall must be from this very room. Miguel thinks so, too, and that's why he came here. Let us examine the wall."

They undertook to do this, holding the lamps close to the adobe blocks and inspecting every crack. The cement used in joining the blocks had crumbled away at the outer edges in almost every instance, and it was impossible to tell if any block was removable or not. Miguel or Arthur pushed hard against every block in the room, from those nearest the floor to those far above their heads; but not one yielded a hair's breadth.

"Suppose we go outside," said Patsy. "Perhaps there is some window, or grating, that will give us a clue."

So they took old Miguel's lantern and went into the garden where they could view the outer side of the wall. A tangle of climbing vines grew against the wing, but there was no window or other opening on the first floor. Above, on the second floor, were two windows, one of which admitted light and air to the blue room.

"How about the other window?" asked Beth.

"That," said Arthur, "must be in an unused room at the end of the corridor. We have never furnished it."

"I think it might be well to examine that room," suggested Patsy.

So they reentered the house and, followed by Miguel, ascended to the second floor. The door of the library was ajar and those seated there, seeing Arthur and the girls pa.s.s, came trooping out to ask what they were doing.

Patsy briefly explained the new theory they had conceived to account for the disappearance of baby and the two nurses, and the idea was so startling that all became eager to join in the investigation.

They invaded the vacant room in a body, several of the men carrying lamps. It was in size and shape a duplicate of the blue room, with its one window deeply embedded in the wall, the surface of the embrasure being covered with heavy redwood planks.

From the fact that this room lay directly over the small one occupied by Inez, in which was the wall cavity they had recently explored, they conceived the idea that the wall here might also be hollow. Pounding upon it, however, had no effect in determining this, for kiln-baked adobe is not resonant and it was impossible to discover from any surface indication whether there were eight feet of closely set blocks or less.

Careful search for any sign of an opening proved futile.

Finally old Miguel said:

"Next room was room of Senor Cristoval. Eet was room hees father live in, too; the old senor who build thees part of house. If there ees way to get in wall, from upstairs, it ees there."

"To be sure," said practical Beth, catching at the suggestion; "it was there that Major Doyle heard the baby cry."

So on they all trooped into the blue room, where the wall was likewise carefully inspected. While this was being done Rudolph looked at his watch and found it was after four o'clock.

"It will soon be daylight," said he to his wife. "What a night it has been! It seems a month since we arrived here and found Toodlums gone."

Old Miguel had been silent and un.o.btrusive in the vacant room, but here he was as eager in testing the wall as any one of them.

"You see, it's this way," Patsy was saying; "if the major could hear baby cry, through this wall, those inside could hear us, if we called to them. Who among us has the clearest, the most penetrating voice?"

"Suppose _I_ try?" squeaked Runyon, earnestly; but those who considered the remark at all merely gave him scornful looks.

"Let Rudolph call," said Helen. "I think his voice might penetrate the pyramids of Egypt."

Rudolph went close to the wall and shouted:

"h.e.l.lo, there! Baby! I-nez!-eh-eh-what's the other girl's name?"

"Mildred," said Beth.

"Mil-dred!" shouted Dolph; "Mil-dred!"

He paused between each name, which he roared so loudly that he nearly deafened those in the room, and everyone listened intently for a response.

No answer.

"Perhaps they're asleep-worn out," said Uncle John. No one now seemed to doubt that the missing ones were imprisoned in the wall.

"Let Beth try," suggested Patsy.

Beth had a clear, bell-like voice and from where she stood she called out the names of Inez and Mildred. Then, in the stillness that followed, came a m.u.f.fled cry in return-a cry that set all their nerves quivering with excitement.

The mystery was solved at last.

Beth repeated the call and now the answer was clearer, though still indistinguishable. It was a voice, indeed, but whose voice they could not tell. But now, to their astonishment, came another sound, quite clear and distinct-the wail of a baby voice.

"That settles it!" cried the major, triumphantly. "Was I right, or wrong? Was it a nightmare, or was I crazy?"

"Neither one, my dear sir," replied the doctor. "You declared you heard a ghost."

Arthur was capering about in frantic joy.

"She's alive-my baby is alive!" he exclaimed.

"And probably she was sound asleep until your infernal yelling awakened her," added the major.

"It wasn't _our_ yelling," said Uncle John, as delighted as even the father could be; "it was the yelling of whoever is inside, there, that frightened the baby. Thank goodness the dear child could sleep during all these weary hours, when we have been wearing our hearts out with anxiety."

"We have yet cause for anxiety," declared Patsy, "for little Jane is not rescued yet, by any means, and presently the poor thing will become very hungry and suffer for lack of food. We now know where baby is, but we can't get at her; nor can Mildred or Inez find a way to get her out, or they would have done so long ago."

"Very true," agreed Helen Hahn, gravely. "Unless we can soon find a way to get to them, all three will starve."

"Why, we will pull down the wall!" cried Arthur.

"Dynamite it!" piped Bul Run.

"Be sensible!" counseled Uncle John sternly. "We are wasting precious time. Miguel," turning to the ranchero, "get some of your men, with picks and crowbars, and fetch them here quickly."

The Mexican, who seemed bewildered by the discovery of the missing ones, although he had himself been the first to suspect where they were, started at once to obey this order. When he had gone, Patsy said:

"Of course there is some easy way to get inside the wall, and to get out again. Are we so stupid that none of us can penetrate the secret of the cunning Spaniard who built this place?"

The challenge merely led them to regard one another with perplexed looks.

"The fact that they're alive, after all these hours," said young Hahn, "is proof that they are supplied with air, and plenty of it. Then there is an opening, somewhere or other."

"Also," added Arthur, reflectively, "they are now opposite the second story rooms, when they must have entered the hollow wall at the first floor-perhaps from the nursery. That proves there is a stairway, or at least a ladder, inside."

At this moment a maid entered to say that Mrs. Weldon had awakened and was calling hysterically for her baby. The doctor and Patsy at once hurried to Louise's bedside, where the girl said: