IMPRISONED IN A CHIMNEY.
Frank found that there was nothing whatever in his room to demand his
attention, and so, after he had unpacked his grips and put away their
contents, he went down High Street to call on Page.
The house in which Page had taken a room was made of stone. Its walls
were very thick, the ceilings low, and everything about it made it seem
like a relic of the last century.
This is indeed what it was. In former days it had been the residence of
one of the wealthiest men in New Haven, but that was long ago; for years
it had been used wholly as a lodging house.
Page's room was on the second floor. It was very large and cheerful.
Three windows looked out on the street and in each of them was a broad
seat provided with heavy cushions.
On the opposite side of the room there were two old-fashioned benches
built against the wall. Between the ends of these benches and right in
the middle of that side of the room was one of the ancient chimneys of
the house.
It came out three or four feet into the room and gave the place an
antique and interesting appearance. Page had hung a lot of ornaments in
the way of fencing foils, boxing gloves, baseball bats, and other
materials used by students, upon this chimney.
After Frank had taken a general look around the room he said:
"It's a nice old den, Page, and I think the chimney there is the best
part of it. What a pity that there isn't a fireplace. There ought to be,
and it strikes me that there was at one time."
Saying this, he knelt down before the chimney and examined the stones of
which it was made. These had been painted white. Frank thought he could
see a line that indicated what had once been an opening. Page watched
him in silence.
"There certainly was a fireplace here at one time," said Frank, rising,
"and if I were in your place I'd have the stones cut away so that you
can use it again. An open wood fire there would look immense in winter."
"That's a good scheme, Frank," responded Page, "and it was that chimney
that led me to speak of the room. I didn't know it when I hired the
place, but since I've got in I've discovered that--well, I'll show you."
With this he stooped over by the chimney, put his hand upon what
appeared to be a little projection from one of the stones, turned it,
and opened a door.
Within the door there was revealed an old-fashioned fireplace, deep and
high. All it needed was andirons and poker to make it complete.
"Well, that's funny!" exclaimed Frank.
"Isn't it?" returned Page. "I got on to the thing wholly by accident.
When I was hanging up some of the things there I stumbled and caught
hold of that little projection for support.
"The thing turned in my hand, and the first thing I knew the door was
open. It opened a little hard, showing that the thing hadn't been used
for a long time."
"Didn't the owner of the house speak of it?"
"I don't think he knows anything about it."
"Have you told him?"
"Not much!"
"Why not?"
"Well, because it just struck me that such a place as this was a kind of
a secret worth keeping. You can see for yourself that it was the evident
intention of the person who set up this door that it should be a secret.
The hinges are perfectly concealed, and it has been fitted in and the
edges painted in such a way that only the closest inspection would give
a fellow a suspicion that there was any opening there."
At this moment there was a knock, and Browning came in.
"I thought you were coming next week?" exclaimed Page.
"Well, I found I'd nothing better to do than run down here. What's that
you're looking at?"
The boys explained the matter to him, and in his slow way he admitted
that if they were sophomores it would be quite possible to utilize this
secret door in the course of hazing freshmen.
"As we're not in the hazing business now," he said, "I can't see any use
for the place, Page, except for you to hide in when your creditors
call."
"Huh!" retorted Page, "it's my habit to keep my bills paid."
"It'll make you unpopular if the fellows know that."
"I was telling Page," said Merriwell, "that if I had the room I'd take
down that door entirely, get some andirons and burn a log of wood on a
winter evening."
"That's a good scheme," returned Browning, "but if I should do anything
of that kind I should never get a stroke of work done here; this room
was never meant to study in, but it's an ideal loafing place."
With this he threw himself upon one of the window seats and looked out.
The others took places on the other windows and for a few minutes their
conversation turned upon college topics.
Then Browning, who was a little restless, as most students are
immediately after a vacation, said he would have to be going. Page urged
him to wait, but he shook his head.
"By the way," he said, with his hand upon the door, "I've got some
news."
"Well?" said both the others together.
"I regret to say it isn't pleasant news, but it may be important to you
two; it certainly is to me."
"Spring it!" exclaimed Page.
"Cut the preface!" said Merriwell.
"Babbitt has announced an examination for juniors in mathematics."
"What!"
Merriwell and Page were so surprised that they sat down suddenly.
Browning remained standing by the door.
"It's a fact," he said.
"But what can that mean?" asked Merriwell. "We had our regular
examination last spring."
"I know we did, but Babbitt's going to have another just the same."
"Where did you learn it?"
"On the bulletin board, of course. The notice was put up not more than
an hour ago."
"When is it to be?"
"Three days from now."
Page looked blankly at Merriwell.
"I never was any good at mathematics," he said, "and after a summer
without a thought of it I don't believe I could do an ordinary sum in
multiplication."
"Well," responded Frank, doubtfully, "it can't be that the examination
will have any serious consequences for us fellows if we passed last
spring."
"There's no telling how serious Babbitt may make it," said Browning.
"The notice on the bulletin board, of course, doesn't give any
explanation, but I met Frost, the fellow who graduated a couple of years
ago, you know, with high honors in mathematics, and who was made
instructor in one of the lower departments of that course.
"I knew Frost quite well when he was a student, so I asked him if he
knew anything about this."
"What did he say?"
"He smiled a little queerly and answered that Professor Babbitt had his
own ideas."
"In other words, Frost wouldn't tell?"
"Oh, no, that's not it; Frost is a member of the faculty now, you see,
and of course he has to speak very respectfully of the older men.
"I got a very distinct idea that Frost regarded Babbitt's examination as
all nonsense, but he did explain to me what Babbitt's idea about it is."
"That's what we want to know."
"It's just this way," said Browning, sitting down. "It seems our class
is enlarged by the addition of quite a number of men who have graduated
from or studied at other colleges.
"They have applied for admission into the junior class, and there's got
to be an examination for them, of course; in fact, the examination for
such candidates is going on now."
"That's quite a usual thing," remarked Merriwell.
"Yes, certainly, but Babbitt has declared that the examination of last
spring was very unsatisfactory. He says men can't go ahead in
mathematics unless what they have done before is thoroughly learned, and
he proposes to find out just what sort of talent there is in our class
before he begins a year's work."
"He'll find out what I can't do!" groaned Page.
"Probably he knows that already," said Merriwell.
"That's the substance of it, anyway," added Browning. "Babbitt's idea is
to strike an average as to what the class can do and proceed from that."
"Then I shouldn't think," said Merriwell, "that the examination should
have any terrors for us."
"You'd think," exclaimed Page, "that Merriwell looked at an examination
as he would a plunge in the surf, just a little dip for the fun of it,
and it's all over. It won't be so with me."
"Don't worry," responded Frank, "you've got three days in which to
cram."
"And that's just what I'll do, I'm thinking."
Page dropped his chin upon his hands and looked gloomily at the floor.
"I'm sorry to give you unpleasant news," said Browning, rising, "but I
told you I thought it was important. So long."
With this he went out.
"Oh, well," said Page, after a moment, "I'm not going to be knocked out
by that! I'll just go into the examination and do as well as I can and
take chances; that's what the rest of us have got to do."
"That's the best way to look at it," Frank answered, "and I don't think
I shall bother my head with cramming for it.
"If I were you, Page, I'd go down to some of those second-hand stores on
the street and see if you can't pick up a pair of old-fashioned
andirons. You don't want to get new ones, you know, for a place like
this, they wouldn't seem appropriate."
"That's so," Page answered, with a queer smile, "I believe I'll adopt
your suggestion at once. How would you place them?"
"Why, just as they are placed in every other fireplace," Frank answered,
"one on each side; that is, if the old chimney will draw."
"Perhaps it won't," said Page.
"I hadn't thought of that," continued Frank. "It may be that the place
was closed up because the chimney was defective. Let's see if we can
find out."
So saying, he knelt and entered the fireplace. Once inside it was easy
to stand upright, for the chimney was broad, and as he looked up he
could see that it ran with a slight incline clear to the roof.
"There's nothing to prevent a fire from being built here," he said, with
his eyes turned upward. "Such a chimney as this would draw like a
furnace."
Page made no response.
"I declare," Merriwell added, "it makes me wish that winter had come so
that I could see a roaring old blaze of logs here. Doesn't that strike
you about right?"
As Page made no response, he turned to look at his classmate, and then
discovered that the secret door to the fireplace had been closed.
With his eyes turned upward and seeing the little patch of light at the
top of the chimney he had not noticed that the light from the room had
been shut off.
"Hello, there!" he called, feeling along the wall to find the door. "I'm
no freshman."
There was no sound from Page's room. Frank found a match in his pocket
and struck it. From inside it was easy enough to distinguish the
outlines of the secret door that concealed the fireplace.
It was not possible, however, to discover any way by which it might be
opened. The latch was the kind used on doors, but strong, and with no
knob on the inside.
Frank pushed against the door with some force. It did not yield in the
least degree.
"Seems to me," he thought, "that Page has a queer idea of fun to lock me
in like this. I've a good mind to kick the door down."
He thought a moment before deciding to do this, and reflected that it
would hardly be a good-natured way of treating the joke.
If Page meant to have some fun with him by making him a prisoner, the
joke would be all the more successful if Merriwell should get mad about
it and break open the secret door.
"I think," thought Frank, "that I'll get even with Page for this in a
way that will surprise him."
His match went out just then and he began to feel in the darkness of the
stones that made the chimney. They were untrimmed stones, so that the
interior surface was very irregular.
Just above his hand, but within reach, was an iron bar crossing the
chimney; it was put there to bind the walls.
Frank drew himself upon this and then, being in the narrow part of the
chimney, was able to work his way upward by clinging with hands and feet
to the rough edges of the stones.
It was slow progress, but not difficult, and sure. The only question
would be whether the opening at the top of the chimney would be large
enough to permit of his crawling through.
He had got about halfway up when he halted in his journey. He had heard
voices, and he recognized both of them.
He knew that he was on the level of the room above Page's, and he
realized that the sounds of talking came to him distinctly because there
was a fireplace there that connected with this same chimney.
The voices he heard were those of Prof. Babbitt and Instructor Frost.
"The fact is, Frost," Babbitt was saying, "I'm aiming this examination
at certain men in the class, and I've no hesitation in saying so.
There's that fellow, Merriwell, for example; I'd like to force him to do
more studying."