THE IMPOSSIBLE HAPPENS
The girls and their chaperon continued their staring. Jeff calmly
waited on the roof, with his kite held in his hand.
"I don't suppose there is any danger if the man inside the house simply
writes to tell us why he is imprisoned there," protested Madge, trying
to help the situation for her chum.
"I hope not," faltered Miss Jenny Ann, "but you know it is very
unfortunate for us to make enemies of the men whom we intend to ask to
help us by interfering with their prisoner. What possible business
have we with the misfortunes of this total stranger?"
"I know, Miss Jenny Ann," agreed Phil, "but if the man tells us who he
is, and why he is imprisoned in this place, we can tell his friends of
his sad fate after we get away from the island."
Jeff was seen drawing up the tail of his kite with excited jerks. He
slid off the roof and came hurrying toward the three women. He motioned
to Phil to come away with him to receive the message he had for her.
But Phil pointed to their chaperon and signified that she had been
taken into the secret. Then Phil untied the piece of paper from the
tail of the deaf and dumb boy's kite.
The most impossible things in this world are the things that actually
happen. Nothing in fiction is so strange as the facts that take place
every day before our eyes. Miracles occur every hour and moment.
Phil opened the note slowly. She passed it to Miss Jenny Ann, but her
chaperon insisted that Phil read it first.
The note was written in a firm, bold hand.
"Boys, can't you help a fellow in distress?" the note began. "You must
mean to try to aid me, or you would not have sung outside my prison
house, or sent me this paper and pencil. I am afraid you are very
young. Your voices sounded so. I don't wish to get you into trouble,
but if you can think of any way to get me out of this hole, I will
defend you with my life against the men who are keeping me a prisoner.
I have done no wrong. I am perfectly sane. The people who have
imprisoned me wish to keep me out of the world until they have a chance
to steal my work. I have been kept here so long that I have been
growing desperate. But to know that there is some one interested in my
fate has cheered me. I will stick it out now. Can you let me know your
names, and where on the face of the earth I am kept a prisoner? If you
are not strong enough to get me out of this place, will you, in
Heaven's name, telegraph to the Navy Department in Washington for me?
Say that Lieutenant James Lawton is being held as a prisoner. Say that
he is not a traitor and that he has not run away from his country to
sell his invention to a foreign government. Tell the authorities to
send troops, or a battleship, if it is necessary, to get me away from
this place. Yours truly, Lieutenant James M. Lawton, U.S.N."
Phil turned white. She was sick and faint with surprise. One look at
her friend was enough. Madge ran for a dipper of cold water. Phil had
just handed her note to Miss Jenny Ann when Madge flung the water in
her face. Phil gasped and sputtered indignantly. But she could not
speak on the instant.
When Miss Jenny Ann read the note Madge wished she had saved half her
dipper of water for her chaperon. Miss Jenny Ann turned as red as Phil
did white. "It's quite impossible!" she ejaculated. "I can not believe
it is true."
"Have you both gone crazy?" demanded Madge excitedly. "Please let me
see the letter that has affected you both so dreadfully." Madge took
the note from her chaperon's limp hand. Then she dropped down on the
ground.
"Jimmy Lawton!" she muttered in confusion. "Is it the same young man we
met at Fortress Monroe? He simply can't be imprisoned on this
ridiculous out-of-the-world island with us!"
The three dazed women said nothing more for a few seconds. They gazed
stupidly ahead of them.
"What ought we to do?" asked Phil finally.
"Get Lieutenant Lawton out," answered Madge promptly.
"But, children, we shall be murdered if we make the attempt," faltered
Miss Jones.
"Not if we can manage to get Lieutenant Lawton out of that place before
his jailers return," declared Madge calmly.
Miss Jenny Ann Jones felt the situation slipping out of her fingers.
She was ardently anxious to help Jimmy Lawton, if it were possible to
aid him without bringing trouble on her girls. She felt suddenly drawn
toward Jimmy. Here was a friend on the deserted island. She felt a
curious intimacy and sympathy for him. She knew the young officer would
help them to make their escape if only he were free.
"How can we ever get into that house?" questioned Phil. "The front and
back doors are strengthened with heavy beams. We can't beat them down."
Madge shook her head. "Even if we make our way through one of those
doors, we would still not have found the prisoner. He must be locked in
an inside room."
The three young women sat in gloomy silence.
The gypsy woman peered out of her tent. The intruders seemed to be in
no mischief. She could safely leave her master to attend to them. Jeff,
the deaf and dumb boy, had taken up his position as guard outside the
front door of the house. He gave the impression of a sentry who had
never left his post.
Could any situation be more hopelessly difficult? Phyllis, Madge and
Miss Jenny Ann were within a few yards of their friend, whom they had
every disposition in the world to help out of his prison house. But how
were three girls, without a single tool of any kind, to break open a
house that had been strongly fortified with heavy beams to resist any
attack from the inside or outside.
"Phil," breathed Madge at last, "I believe I have thought of a scheme
to rescue Jimmy Lawton. You and Miss Jenny Ann may think it a perfectly
mad one. It is pretty daring, and Lieutenant Lawton will run the risk
of losing his life. But if he has the courage----"
"Lieutenant Lawton is a sailor. I don't believe he will be afraid of
anything," declared Phil. "But what do you mean? I can't think of any
plan by which we can get him out of that place before those wicked men
return to stop us."
Madge slipped her hand inside the pocket of her sweater. She brought
out a box of safety matches. "I thought we could set fire to the house
and burn down the outside door," she proposed. "I suppose I am silly to
speak of it."
She read blank disapproval in the face of Miss Jenny Ann. Phil did not
wait to discuss the idea with either of them, but leaped to her feet.
She rushed around the far side of the house. The biggest stone she
could lift, she hurled into the side of the house.
"Lieutenant Lawton!" she shouted. "We are your friends. Your jailers
are away. We are going to try to help you out now if we can. We shall
set fire to the house and batter in the front door. You may run the
risk of being burned up inside the house, but are you willing to take
the chance?"
Phil's voice sounded as though it came from a great distance off.
Still, the young man inside the house heard her words. The house that
kept him prisoner was built of wood, but iron bars had been put up
across the windows, and heavy logs were jammed against the doors. It
had been utterly impossible for Lieutenant Lawton to make his escape
without help from the outside. He had made a friend of the deaf and
dumb boy, but the latter had neither the courage nor the skill to get
the young man out alone.
At Phil's words Lieutenant Lawton cried out in rapture: "Willing to
take a chance? I should say I am! Make your fire in a hurry. But I say,
boys, if you see my jailers coming while you are at work, take to the
woods. Hide there. Once you get this beastly place afire, I will manage
to make my way out. All I ask is a fighting chance."
Madge came up with her precious matches. Miss Jenny Ann stationed
herself to watch for the return of the two men they feared.
Phil, Madge and Jeff gathered a pile of light, dry wood and placed it
just in front of the heavy log door. Jeff brought the ax which he used
for his wood-chopping and laid it at Phil's feet.
It was difficult work to get the wood ablaze without paper. Finally a
few tiny sticks caught and blazed up. A moment later they died down
into a little heap of embers, without even faintly scorching the wooden
door that they were expecting to set on fire. A few moments of hope,
then nothing but burnt-out ashes.
The situation looked desperate. The girls had plenty of matches, yet
they could not start a blaze without paper. It would take so long to
coax the great logs to kindle from the bits of trash. And Jeff dared
not go inside the tent for paper and kindling, for fear his mother
would discover what they were doing.
Miss Jenny Ann was growing more nervous every minute. "Hurry!" she
cried every few seconds. "I am sure those men will return before you
ever get the wretched place afire. What is taking you so long?"
"We have no paper to make the fire burn, Miss Jenny Ann," cried Phyllis
in desperation.
"Paper!" returned their chaperon in disgust. "Have you children lived
for two weeks on a desert island without learning to make what you have
serve for what you desire?"
Miss Jenny Ann slipped out of her white cotton petticoat and ran to the
house to present it to Phil. "Here, use this for paper," she insisted.
"I have on a heavy serge skirt and shall not miss it."
Cotton is almost as inflammable as paper. Carefully, Madge, Phil and
the deaf and dumb boy made another pile of little and big sticks just
outside the door they desired to burn down. Miss Jenny Ann's petticoat
lay, as a sacrifice, underneath the pyre. The skirt started a splendid
blaze. Madge and Phil fanned the flames gently toward the front door.
The chips caught, then the larger sticks, at last one of the logs of
the door smouldered and flamed.
It took only a short time to get a fair fire started. But it seemed a
long time to the workers--and a century to the man who waited inside.
He said nothing, gave no directions. He only walked up and down the
small room that held him fast like a caged lion.
Half of the lower log of the door burned away. Phyllis seized the ax.
It was easy to cut through the half burnt log. She made a hole large
enough to crawl through. The flame was only flickering about its
outside edges when she crept inside the house with her lap full of
sticks, and Madge's box of matches in her hand.
Madge saw her chum disappear into the house with horror. There was no
danger at the time. The front of the wooden house was burning slowly.
But if the entire front should blaze up, Phil, as well as Lieutenant
Lawton, might be imprisoned inside.
Phil was not in the least alarmed. Once inside the dark house she found
herself in a square room. A hall led out of it with a room on each
side. There was no question about which room was Jimmy Lawton's prison.
Heavy logs were braced against this door and a big, iron chain fastened
it on the outside. It was indeed a prison cell.
Phyllis dropped down in front of this door and made her second pyre.
This time her own petticoat was used as a burnt offering.
"The front of the house has begun to burn," she explained quietly to
Lieutenant Lawton. She did not mention that a friend had come to his
aid. This was no time for unnecessary explanations.
"All right," the young man answered briefly. "Don't you think you had
better get out pretty soon? The fire will be creeping toward you."
Phil made no reply. She now saw that her second fire was beginning to
catch. She must burn away this inside door, or else Jimmy Lawton would
be caught in a trap. The door was chained and would not be easy to
break down.
Phyllis Alden had acquired one habit of a boy during her brief life in
the woods. She always carried her pocket knife with her. To-day she was
grateful for the habit. There was a small crack between two of the
thick boards of the door. While she waited for her fire to burn Phil
whittled at this slit, until the opening was large enough to slip the
knife through.
"Make the opening as large as you can," she suggested to the prisoner.
For the first time during his weeks of imprisonment Jimmy Lawton had
something with which to work for his freedom. He cut furiously at the
door, while Phil continued to fan the fire toward it with her skirt.
Both of them forgot, for the moment, what might be taking place on the
outside of the house. They were intent only on demolishing the hateful
door behind which Lieutenant Lawton had been forced to remain so long.