death that the fire will spread to this side of the river. And if we
tell her about the ghost--”
“I don’t believe I’d do that,” Miss Ward advised. “And least not for a
day or so. Why disturb her unnecessarily?”
“You’re right,” Judy promptly agreed. “If the ghost makes any more
trouble, Aunt Mattie will find out about it soon enough. Mum’s the
word.”
The train proved to be half an hour late. Finally it rumbled in,
throwing up dust and cinders. Aunt Mattie Meadows was on the last
Pullman car. She was a jolly-faced woman of forty-two, well turned out
in a trim gray suit, with a white carnation in the lapel.
“Hi, Aunt Mattie!” Judy cried, rushing to greet her.
Miss Meadows enfolded her niece in a warm embrace, and then held her
off at arm’s length for a better view.
“Why, you’re brown as an Indian!” she exclaimed. “What have you done to
your complexion?”
“Liberal doses of sun, wind and lake water,” Judy chuckled. She turned
to present Miss Ward and Ardeth.
Miss Meadows greeted them, made a few casual remarks and then sniffed
the air. “Goodness! Do I smell smoke?” she demanded. “Is something on
fire?”
“Only a little brush across the river,” Judy said carelessly. She
picked up her aunt’s suitcase and started for the station wagon.
“Nothing to worry about.”
Aunt Mattie kept sniffing the air. “Dear me, it doesn’t seem a little
fire could make so much smoke. Judy, are you quite sure there’s no
danger? You’re not keeping anything from me?”
“The ranger assured us there is no danger. Don’t give it a thought,
Aunt Mattie.”
Miss Meadows fell silent as she was escorted to the waiting station
wagon. Nevertheless, she kept gazing toward the horizon in the
direction of the river.
Going up the winding mountain road, the woman became increasingly ill
at ease. At each sharp turn, she instinctively braced herself, as if
fearing the car would roll off into a ravine.
“I hope you rented a nice cottage for me, Judy,” she chatted. “You
didn’t write me a word about it.”
“There wasn’t time, Aunt Mattie. In fact, we didn’t have any choice in
selecting the cottage. We had to take the only place available.”
“Is it a quiet place? I’ve had a hard, tiring year, and I do want to
have complete rest.”
“Well, Calico Cottage is off the beaten path,” Judy replied evasively.
“How quiet it will prove to be no one can predict.”
The station wagon rounded a curve and slowed to a standstill. Peering
ahead, the girls saw that a wooden barrier had been placed across part
of the highway, blocking traffic.
“Now what?” murmured Judy. “This wasn’t here when we came down the
mountain an hour ago.”
A state highway patrolman came over to the station wagon. Recognizing
the driver and the occupants, he told them they might proceed.
“We’re checking every car,” he told the group. “We have a report some
hi-jackers, who took a truck at Oelwein, are coming this way. With the
forest service tied up fighting a forest fire, and most of our men
helping ’em, they probably figured they could slip a cargo through.”
“Hi-jackers!” Aunt Mattie exclaimed in dismay. “Judy, what sort of a
place is this?”
“Never a dull moment,” Judy responded lightly. “You’ll love it here!”
“Judy, tell her about your meeting with Joe--” Ardeth began, only to
let her voice trail off as Miss Ward directed a warning glance in her
direction.
The station wagon moved on past the barrier and drew up presently
at Calico Cottage. Aunt Mattie, who had fallen into a weary silence,
suddenly revived at sight of the little house.
“Why, it’s charming!” she cried. “Judy, you couldn’t have found a nicer
place. So peaceful looking, set back among the trees.”
“Let’s hope Calico Cottage lives up to its appearance,” Judy said,
leading the way across the lawn. “Ardeth and I thought we’d stay with
you tonight, so you won’t be lonesome. Do you mind?”
“I’ll be happy to have you! I’m not afraid to stay alone at night,
but I’ll admit I’ll rest easier with someone in the house. Especially
with a forest fire burning at my doorstep, and hi-jackers on the main
highway!”
“It’s not that bad,” Judy protested.
After seeing that Miss Meadows was comfortably settled in the cottage,
Miss Ward decided to return with the station wagon driver to Pine Cone
Camp. Before leaving, she talked privately with Judy.
“Everything should be all right here,” she said, “but if by chance
anything does go wrong, call me at once.”
“We’ll be safe and comfortable,” Judy insisted. “No more ghost scares I
hope.”
“Miss Lubell put a stop to that,” the teacher informed her. “We checked
and learned that it was the Lone Tree girls who attached the bed sheet
to the bushes. They’ve promised not to pull any more tricks.”
After the station wagon had departed, Judy and Ardeth helped Miss
Meadows unpack. Her enthusiasm for the cottage was boundless. She was
especially delighted with the kitchen and went about poking in the high
cupboards over the sink.
“Tomorrow when I am rested, I’ll straighten all the dishes and
rearrange them more to my liking,” she announced. “I never feel that
I’m settled in a place until I’ve cleaned the cupboards.”
With the supplies on hand, Aunt Mattie cooked a magnificent supper,
topping it off with biscuits and a custard pie. The meal finished, she
suddenly collapsed from weariness, leaving the dishes for Judy and
Ardeth.
“I declare, I don’t know what’s come over me,” she apologized. “The
long train ride must have worn me out. I can’t keep my eyes open.”
“Go straight to bed, Aunt Mattie. Ardeth and I will take care of
everything.”
“I believe I will turn in,” Miss Meadows said, covering a yawn. “You’ll
be sure to lock all the doors?”
“Every one,” Judy promised.
The sink was fairly loaded with dishes, for Aunt Mattie did not skimp
on them when she cooked a meal. After scouring the last stubborn pan,
Judy hung up the dish rag with a tired sigh.
“Shall we turn in?” she asked Ardeth.
“We may as well, I guess. Wonder what the girls are doing at Pine
Cone?”
“Singing songs and telling stories by the camp fire, like as not. Wish
you were there, Ardeth?”
“Someone should stay here this first night with your aunt. I don’t
mind, Judy. Do you suppose--”
“We’ll have a serenade from our friend with the flute?” Judy supplied.
“For Aunt Mattie’s sake I hope not. If she hears about a ghost on top
of hi-jackers and a forest fire, she’s likely to pack her suitcase and
leave.”
Ardeth had moved to the open kitchen door. “There isn’t as much smoke
in the air now,” she reported. “Either the wind is carrying it the
other direction, or the fire has died down.”
After closing the windows and making certain the doors were locked, the
two girls presently went to their bedroom which adjoined the one Miss
Meadows had taken.
Judy secretly had made up her mind she would lie awake a long while to
be sure that nothing went amiss in the cottage. However, her bed was so
pleasantly comfortable, that despite her firm resolution, she dozed off
almost at once.
When finally she awakened, it was to find herself being shaken by
Ardeth.
“Get up, lazy!” the latter ordered. “It’s late! Your aunt has been up
for at least half an hour.”
“Jumping fishes!” Judy exclaimed in dismay, dragging herself from
beneath the covers. “I must have slept like a log all night.”
“I know I did,” Ardeth confessed. “What a fine pair of guards we
proved to be!”
“Well, at least nothing went wrong here,” Judy said, pulling on her
shoes. “I’m relieved on that score.”
Dressing fast, the girls hastened to the kitchen. Miss Meadows had the
stove going and was cooking cereal. She appeared pale, however, and
there were dark shadows under her eyes.
“Did you sleep well, Aunt Mattie?” Judy asked politely.
“Very badly.”
Judy and Ardeth exchanged a quick, worried glance. Both hesitated to
ask the question which was foremost in their minds.
“Did--did anything disturb you?” Judy managed finally.
“I never sleep well the first night in a strange place. I was awake for
hours.”
Judy drew a long breath and grinned at Ardeth. But her relief was
brief. For Aunt Mattie went on impressively:
“I’m not sure I’ll like this place as well as I thought last night.
There’s entirely too much traffic on the side road.”
“You mean the main road, don’t you, Aunt Mattie?” Judy corrected.
Miss Meadows stirred the pot of cereal on the stove. “I mean that
highway that runs down the hill toward the river.”
“Why, that’s a private road and it dead-ends,” Judy responded. “There’s
never any traffic in that direction.”
“There was last night,” Miss Meadows insisted firmly. “A truck came
along the highway and stopped so that the headbeams shone almost
directly into my window. The driver flashed them on and off several
times as if in signal. Then, the lights were doused, and the truck
turned down the side road.”
“I can’t imagine a truck using that road at night,” Judy said
thoughtfully. “The road doesn’t go anywhere except to the cave. Perhaps
you were mistaken, Aunt Mattie. Don’t you think the truck might have
gone on down the main highway?”
“I don’t think so,” Miss Meadows replied. “No, I’m sure the truck
turned down the side road.”
No more was said about the matter then. But after the breakfast dishes
had been done, Ardeth and Judy slipped outside for a private talk.
“Do you suppose your aunt was right about those truck lights?” Ardeth
asked, lowering her voice so it would not carry through the open
kitchen window. “And what about that signal?”
“She must have been mistaken,” Judy replied anxiously. “All the same,
we certainly should investigate. Come on, Ardeth! If that truck turned
down the dead-end road, there will be tire marks to prove it.”
_Chapter 13_
THE MISSING KEY
Cutting across the lawn which was heavy with dew, the two girls turned
toward the entrance to the private road. A haze of smoke still hung
above the treetops, but it was evident that the fire which had alarmed
everyone the previous day, now was well under control.
Suddenly, Judy halted, staring at tire marks on the dirt road.
“Aunt Mattie was right!” she exclaimed. “A big truck did turn off the
main highway!”
“The tire prints are plain to see,” Ardeth agreed, equally startled.
“But what would a heavy truck be doing here? The road dead-ends.”
“It seems odd.”
“Perhaps the driver only pulled off the pavement to fix a tire.”
Judy shook her head. “The tracks plainly go down the slope toward the
cave,” she pointed out.
“Mightn’t it have been a forest ranger fire fighting truck?”
“That’s so,” Judy acknowledged, “it might have been. Maybe that would
explain the headlight signals Aunt Mattie reported seeing. I can’t
imagine though, why a Forest Service truck would use this road at
night. The fire was across the river.”
As the girls considered whether to go farther down the private road,
they heard the rattle of a milk wagon approaching on the main highway.
“It’s Bart!” Judy cried.
The delivery truck stopped some distance away, but after milk had been
left at Calico Cottage, came on down the road. Bart drew up to chat
with the girls.
“How’s everything?” he inquired cheerfully. “Your ghost behaving
himself?”
Judy replied that the household had not been disturbed further by the
mysterious flute player. She added, however, that her aunt had slept
badly and that lights from a truck had bothered her.
“I guess it must have been a Forest Service truck that went down this
road last night,” Ardeth remarked. “See the tire tracks.”
Bart already had stepped out of the milk wagon to inspect them.
“Those weren’t made by a Forest Service truck,” he told the girls.
“Their vehicles are lighter. Anyway, I don’t know what a forest truck
would be doing here late at night. Seems sort of queer--”
“I thought so myself!” Judy said quickly.
“Let’s have a look-see,” Bart proposed. “Want to ride down the hill
with me? If you do, hop in!”
Judy and Ardeth scrambled into the cab, taking care not to step on
Pete who was asleep on the floor.
“Do you dare leave your milk route?” Ardeth asked the young driver.
“I’m ahead of schedule this morning,” Bart answered. “I can take a few
minutes. This is my last week on the route anyway.”
“You’re taking another job?” Ardeth inquired politely.
By this time the milk truck had turned and was moving slowly down the
narrow, rutty road.
“Not exactly,” Bart admitted. “I’ve saved enough money to see me
through a year of college. I’m laying off because I want to do a little
exploring before I start in at school this fall.”
“Exploring?” Judy repeated with interest. “Of the cavern?”
“That’s right.” Bart grinned, as he slowed down for a bad hole in the
road. “Folks hereabouts think I’m crazy to spend so much time in a
cave. It’s in my blood, I guess! I’m planning on becoming a scientist
if I make the grade.”
“Does Calico Cave have any bats or other interesting birds or animals?”
Ardeth questioned abruptly.
“Hundreds of bats. You can see them clustered in masses on the walls in
one section of the cave, near the entrance.”
“Ugh!” Judy shuddered.
“Why, they’re harmless,” Bart assured her. “I suppose you think of a
bat as a naked, winged creature with claws that would catch in your
hair?”
“I never came very close to one,” Judy admitted, “but I do feel that
way about them.”
“Like a great many folks, you do the bat an injustice,” Bart returned.
“Its little claws are used only to provide a means of clinging to a
rock wall. Bats are afraid of people. They fly at amazing speed, but
they can dodge any obstacle.”
“They sleep in the caves?” Ardeth questioned.
“Yes, the bat, you know, is descended from an animal that lived in a
warm, uniform climate. For some reason, the bat never has been able to
adapt itself to weather changes, so it hibernates in caves which have
an almost constant temperature.”
“I’d give anything if I had a bat!” Ardeth announced. “Just one!”
“A bat? What would you want with it?” Bart asked, rather amused by the
remark.
Ardeth told him about the nature treasure chest at Pine Cone Camp. “Our
unit hasn’t contributed anything, as yet,” she added. “If I could get
one of those bats, we’d really be the talk of the camp.”
“I think I can get you one,” Bart offered, glancing at his wristwatch.
“You’re serious about wanting it?”
“Oh, yes, but I don’t want to delay you on your run.”
“If the bats are where I think they’ll be, I can pick one off the wall
in a minute or two,” Bart promised. “Want to go into the cave with me?”
“I don’t think we should without permission from our leader,” Judy said
quickly.
“I can travel faster alone at any rate,” the young milkman replied.
As the milk truck rattled on down the winding road, he talked
enthusiastically about bats and their habits.
The creatures, he told the girls, had silky, translucent wings and flew
with astonishing precision.
“I’ve seen ’em fly between water and ceiling down deep in the cave
where there was barely clearance,” he related. “Now, if only I were a
bat, I’d explore that siphon!”
“You shouldn’t even think of such a thing!” Judy chided. “It would be
frightfully dangerous.”
Bart made no answer.
“You’re not considering it, are you?” Judy demanded, alarmed by his
silence.
“I’ve considered it for years,” Bart answered soberly. “I think about
it all the time, in fact. I’ve just about decided--” he deliberately
broke off, and finished: “Now to tell you more about bats--they hang
to the ceilings by their feet, head down. Their bodies are covered by
their long, folded wings when they sleep. One can pick them off the
wall, and they make no fuss.”
“Ardeth, must you have a bat?” Judy tried to discourage her.
“Oh, yes, if I can get one without causing too much trouble. But how
will I get it to camp?”
Bart had pulled up at the end of the private road. From the back end of
the truck, he brought out a cardboard box with a cover.
“We can use this,” he suggested. “I may not get a bat for you though. I
haven’t long to ramble through the cave this trip.”
Tucking the cardboard box under his arm, the cheerful young milkman
stepped from the truck. Alertly he gazed at a sizeable slick of oil on
the roadside, remarking that it evidently had leaked from the parked
truck.
“Apparently, it stayed here quite a while last night before turning
around and pulling out,” he added.
“What would a truck be doing down here late at night?” Judy speculated.
“I wouldn’t know,” Bart answered with a shrug. “Interesting question
though.”
He started off down the path which led to Calico Cave. Before vanishing
from view amid the bushes, he paused to fling over his shoulder: “Don’t
try to follow me, even if I’m not back in a few minutes. Wait in the
milk wagon.”
Ten minutes elapsed, then fifteen and twenty. Eagerly the girls began
to watch the path for their friend to reappear.
The rising sun beat down harder and harder on the milk wagon, causing
Judy and Ardeth increasing discomfort. They became restless.
“It’s taking Bart an awfully long time,” Ardeth remarked uneasily.
“Perhaps I shouldn’t have asked him to get a bat for me. If anything
should happen--”
“He’ll be along soon,” Judy said. “I think I hear him coming now.”
She was right, for a moment later, the young milkman emerged from the
tunnel of branches at the trail’s exit.
“Did you get one?” Ardeth cried eagerly.
“Sure did,” Bart responded.
Coming over to the milk truck, he opened the punctured lid of the
cardboard box, so that the girls could peep at the frightened creature
flopping inside.
“After you’ve displayed him at camp, better let him fly away,” the
milkman advised. “He’ll find his way back to the cave.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to keep him shut up,” Ardeth replied. “That would
be cruel. I promise to let him go by tonight.”
“Fine!” Bart approved, climbing into the milk wagon and starting the
motor. “Now I want you girls to make me another one.”
“Another promise?” asked Ardeth, carefully holding the box Bart had
placed in her hands.
“Yes, I want you to stay away from here unless you’re with a forest
ranger or some man.”
“Away from the cave, you mean?” Judy questioned, rather surprised by
the request.
“From the cave, and also away from this private road.”
“But why?”
“I’ll tell you,” Bart said soberly. By this time he had turned the milk
truck around in the narrow road and had headed it up the hill. “There’s
something going on here that will bear investigation.”
“The truck tire tracks, you mean?” interposed Ardeth, mystified by the
remark.
“At first, that didn’t seem very disturbing,” Bart said. “But I’ve
since made a discovery. That was why it took me so long.”
“You didn’t run into anyone in the cave?” Judy asked quickly.
“No, but someone has been there recently. Last night probably.”
“How do you know?”
“Someone had trampled the path to the cave. Boot tracks. Then inside
the entrance chamber, I found cigarette butts and long marks, showing
where heavy objects had been dragged across the floor. Boxes, I’d
judge.”
“All removed?” Judy questioned.
“Yes, no sign of anyone or anything in the cave now.”
“You think someone must have come here last night in that truck and
used the cave?”
“Obviously, Judy. But don’t quiz me, because I’ve told you everything
I learned. I’m not venturing any guesses as to who it was or why the
person or persons came here late at night. My advice is just to keep
clear of the place until we can learn what’s going on.”
“Judy and I are returning to camp this morning,” Ardeth informed the
young milkman. “So even if we wanted to prowl around, we wouldn’t have
an opportunity.”
“That’s all to the good then,” Bart grinned. “There may be no cause for
alarm, but it’s just as well not to take chances.”
At the turn-off onto the paved road, he said goodbye to the Scouts and
resumed his milk route.
Triumphantly, Ardeth and Judy bore their captured bat to Calico Cottage
where they displayed it to Miss Meadows. Though they related how they
had obtained the creature, they did not repeat Bart’s warning or
mention what they had learned about the big truck.
Miss Meadows seemed to have forgotten the disturbance of the previous
night completely. After making a show of admiring the imprisoned bat,
she chirped:
“While you girls were away, I cleaned the cupboards.”
“They’re very neat and tidy now,” Judy said, opening the double doors
to inspect the rows of china.
“At the back of the cupboard, I found a key,” Miss Meadows remarked
casually. She produced it from her apron pocket. “Apparently, it fits a
door. But which one I wouldn’t know.”
Judy rocked back on her heels and looked quickly at Ardeth. Neither
spoke for a moment.
Finally, Judy trusted her voice. Taking care to keep it steady, to give
no hint of her excitement and hope, she said quietly:
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that key fits the cellar door, Aunt Mattie.”
“Why, it might at that.”
Judy forced herself to speak casually, as if the matter were of no
great moment.
“The key looks about the right size,” she remarked. “Do you mind if I
try it?”
_Chapter 14_
A FAMILIAR FACE
Miss Meadows willingly relinquished the key which she had found in the
kitchen cupboard.
Judy fitted it in the door lock and was elated when it turned readily.
Her pose of indifference instantly dissolved.
“Now we can get into the cellar!” she exulted. “Whoopee!”
Miss Meadows could not understand her niece’s exuberance. The key was
only an ordinary one so far as she knew, and until that moment she
scarcely had noted that the basement was closed off.
The opening of the cellar door had brought a whiff of stale, cool air
into the kitchen.
Poised at the head of the long flight of stone stairs, Judy peered down
into the darkness. In vain she groped for a light switch.
“I guess the cellar never was equipped with electricity,” she remarked.
“I’ll get my flashlight.”
She ran to the bedroom, returning a moment later to find Miss Meadows
regarding the stairway with disapproval.
“Need we go down there, Judy?” she asked to discourage her. “Since the
door was locked, the cottage owner might prefer us to keep it so.”
“Oh, we can relock the door,” Judy answered, flashing her light over
the rough brick wall along the steep stairway. “First though, I want to
see what’s below.”
Focusing her light upon the uneven stone steps, she cautiously started
down.
“Watch your footing,” she advised Ardeth and her aunt, who followed
close behind. “These steps are narrow and worn.”
Miss Meadows remarked that the cellar seemed very old in contrast to
the new cottage.
“It is old,” Judy agreed. “When Mr. Krumm built the cottage, he tried
to save money by using the foundation of Captain Hager’s place.”
Judy negotiated the stairway safely and waited for the others at a
jagged doorway which opened into the main cellar chamber.
The basement was very still, except for the shuffle of the descending
feet.
“No musical chimes or the like?” Ardeth demanded with a suppressed
giggle as she reached the bottom of the stairway.
Moving through the stone archway, the three found themselves in a large
room. The chamber was dry, but nevertheless gave forth a musty odor.
The ancient brick walls were lined with shelves, all of which appeared
empty. In fact, the only visible objects in the room were a half dozen
old barrels. The casks lay helter-skelter, some on their sides, and
others up-ended.
Judy deliberately walked around the barrels, inspecting them closely
and kicking at them with her foot. All gave forth a hollow sound, which
echoed in the chamber room.
Satisfied that every cask was empty, Judy next turned her attention to
a smaller storage closet off to the left.
“This must have been the fruit and vegetable storage room,” she
declared. “It’s been cleaned out though.”
The shelves were completely bare, and the roving flashlight revealed
only an undisturbed layer of dust.
“We’ve seen everything,” Ardeth said, losing interest. “I think we
should be getting upstairs. The camp station wagon will be coming for
us any minute now.”
It was well that they had cut short their inspection of the basement,
for within five minutes the camp station wagon drove up.
In a flurry to be off, Judy and Ardeth hurriedly gathered their few
belongings and the precious bat from Calico Cave.
“Now have a good time in camp and don’t keep trying to look after
me,” Miss Meadows admonished as she bade the girls goodbye. “Drop by
whenever you feel like it, but don’t think you have to stay here over
night.”
“I don’t like you to remain alone,” Judy began only to have her aunt
interrupt.
“Nonsense! I’ll be all right. Now run along, and enjoy your friends.”