in disarray, she faced Father Benedict who held a lighted lantern close
to her face.
Jay Highland had doffed his long robes and stood revealed in ordinary
gray business suit. In his coat pocket, within easy reach of his right
hand, was a revolver.
"Wake up!" he said, giving Rhoda a hard shake. "You're only pretending
now! The drug in the coffee was not strong enough to keep you asleep.
Wake up!"
Rhoda stared at him and her eyes widened in horror.
"You fiend!" she accused him. "Don't you dare touch me! I'll scream!"
"Scream at the top of your lungs, my dear. Only the dead will hear you."
"The dead! Oh!" A shudder wracked Rhoda's thin body as she became aware
of the tombs in the crypt. "Why did you bring me here?"
"For one purpose. I want the sapphire. Hand it over and you will not be
harmed."
"I haven't the gem."
"But you know where it is."
Rhoda remained silent.
"You'll tell," Highland rasped, losing all patience. "I haven't all day!
You tricked me with that cheap substitute, and you induced your
grandmother to hold out against me. Now we are through playing."
"You're nothing but a cheap crook!"
"A crook perhaps," said the man, "but hardly cheap. The sapphire should
be worth $50,000 at a conservative estimate. Now where is it?"
"You'll never learn from me!" Rhoda cried defiantly. "I'll die before
I'll tell!"
"My! My! Such heroics! However, I think you will change your mind. Let me
show you something, my dear."
Setting the lantern on the floor, Highland grasped Rhoda roughly by the
arm and led her to a small doorway at the far side of the crypt.
"Tell me what you see," he purred.
Rhoda drew in her breath sharply and recoiled from the sight. She was
speechless with fright.
"My dear, I was not thinking of mistreating you--certainly not," Highland
purred. "No, instead we will bring your aged grandmother down here."
"You wouldn't dare!" Rhoda gasped. "Why, she's sick."
"The damp and cold will be bad for her, no doubt," agreed the imposter.
"When I saw her tonight, she seemed to have developed a severe cough. The
onset of pneumonia perhaps."
"Oh!"
"You could so easily spare her suffering," continued the man wickedly.
"Merely by telling me where you hid the sapphire. I know your grandmother
had it when she came into this house. But you made off with it,
substituting a paste gem."
"It's true, I did hide the gem," Rhoda confessed. "Punish me--not
Grandmother."
"Unless you tell me where the sapphire is hidden she shall be brought
down here and treated as those others who defied me." The man jerked his
head toward the room beyond Penny's view. "What do you say?"
"Let me think about it for a few minutes."
"You're stalling for time, hoping that Parker girl will bring help!" the
man accused. From his pocket he took a stout cord with which he securely
bound Rhoda's hands and feet.
Bracing her back against the wall, he likewise whipped a handkerchief gag
from his clothing.
"This is your last chance," he warned. "Will you tell, or shall I go for
your grandmother?"
"I'll tell," Rhoda whispered. "The gem is a long ways from here."
"Where?"
"Down by the river docks."
"By the river docks! A likely story!"
"You remember I ran away?" Rhoda asked hurriedly. "I took my suitcase,
intending not to come back. Then for Grandmother's sake I returned. I was
afraid I might never get a chance to sneak my clothes out again, so I hid
the suitcase under a dock by the river."
"And the gem?"
"I took it with me when I ran away. It was sewed in the hem of a blue
skirt packed in the suitcase."
"Fool!" Highland exclaimed furiously. "Of all the stupid tricks! Where is
the suitcase now?"
"Still under the dock unless someone has found it. But it should be
there, because I pushed it up high out of sight beneath the
underpinning."
"Which dock?" the man rasped.
"It was just at the edge of Riverview. Dock Fourteen."
"At least you remember the number!" he snapped. "If I fail to find the
gem, I'll come back here and make you pay! You may be certain of that!"
"I hope you do come back and that the police are waiting at the gate!"
Rhoda retorted. "I hope they put you in prison for the rest of your
life!"
Picking up the lantern, Jay Highland started toward the stairway where
Penny crouched. She moved hurriedly behind the door which opened into the
crypt.
Slight as was the sound she made, Highland detected it.
"Who is there?" he called, holding his lantern high. "Answer or I'll
shoot!"
Penny did not doubt that the man would carry out his threat. Her hand
closed on a stone which lay on a ledge directly behind her.
"Don't shoot," she said, exposing herself to view.
"So it's you again!" hissed Highland. "I might have known!"
Penny let fly the stone. It struck the lantern. The light went out and
oil and flame splattered over the stone floor.
Knowing it was her only chance to escape, Penny made a wild dash up the
stairs. But she could not climb swiftly enough.
Jay Highland pounded hard after her. As she neared the top of the
circular steps, he seized her arm and pulled her backwards.
Penny fought like a tiger to free herself. Together they stumbled and
rolled down the wide stones to the floor of the crypt. There the man
pressed his revolver hard into the girl's ribs, and she knew the game was
up.
"Get in there!" he said, giving her a hard push. "This time you'll stay!"
As Penny reeled backwards into a wall, she heard the door of the crypt
close and lock. With despair she realized that she too was a prisoner in
the chamber of the dead.
CHAPTER
24
_CHAMBER OF THE DEAD_
Furious at herself because she had been so careless, Penny quickly tested
the door. Finding it securely fastened as she had known it would be, she
reached for her flashlight. It was missing from her pocket.
Though she groped about in the darkness, she could not find it. Giving
up, she next turned her attention to Rhoda Hawthorne.
Thongs about the girl's wrists and ankles had been loosely tied. In a
minute, Penny had set her free.
"Now to find a way out of here!" she exclaimed. "Highland and Winkey
probably are driving to the river dock by this time!"
"It's no use trying to get out," Rhoda said despairingly as she rubbed
her bruised wrists. "I'm sure this door is the only exit. Look in the
adjoining room and you'll see what I mean."
Even as Penny started for the inner doorway, she heard a low moan of pain
from someone imprisoned there.
"Who is it?" she asked tensely.
"I don't know," Rhoda admitted, huddling close beside Penny. "Two men,
one of them in frightful condition."
"Can't we set them free? Rhoda, try to find my flashlight. It fell
somewhere near the stairway."
While Rhoda groped for the flashlight, Penny entered the inner prison
room. Not until she was very close could she see two men who were chained
to a supporting pillar. Gags covered the mouths of both victims.
Penny untied the cloths. The first man she thus freed was someone she
never before had seen. But as she jerked the gag from the lips of the
second prisoner, she was startled to recognize Mr. Ayling.
"You!" she exclaimed.
"In the flesh, or what's left of it," the investigator attempted to
banter. "Nice fix for an investigator, eh? The company probably will give
me a merit award for this!"
"How were you enticed here?"
"It's a long story," sighed Mr. Ayling. "I've not been chained here long,
fortunately. My companion, Joseph Merkill, is in much worse shape. He's
been here a couple of days."
"I'll set him free first," Penny offered. She groped along the chains
which fastened the man to the stone column. "Handcuffs? How can I get
them off?"
"You can't, without a key," replied Mr. Ayling. "You'll have to go for
help, or if there's no escape, wait until someone finds us here."
"That may not be before morning! Even if police should come here tonight,
they might not see the stairway to the crypt."
"Any chance to break down the door?"
"I doubt it. Rhoda and I can try though."
"Rhoda Hawthorne! So it was her voice I heard! She and her grandmother
are imprisoned also?"
"Yes, Rhoda's with me. Her grandmother, seriously ill, is locked in a
bedroom upstairs. Who is Mr. Merkill?"
"His wife is an inmate here," the investigator explained. "Jay
Highland--I know now he's a notorious jewel thief--induced Mrs. Merkill
to come to the monastery. After he fleeced her of a diamond necklace, she
smuggled a note out, telling how she was being mistreated. Her husband,
from whom she had been estranged, decided to investigate. He came here
alone. Discovering what was going on, he threatened to expose Highland to
the police."
"Highland tricked me," Mr. Merkill added. "He promised I could take my
former wife away and he would close the monastery. To show there were no
hard feelings, he suggested we have coffee together. I drank it and
became so sleepy I had to go to bed. That's all I remember until I woke
up here, chained to a post!"
"I should have been more suspicious of Highland the first time I met
him," Mr. Ayling blamed himself.
"Why did you go to Chicago?" Penny asked as she worked at the chains.
"I know now it was Highland who sent me the fake telegram. He wanted to
get me away from here. While in Chicago, I contacted my home office and
obtained information which convinced me Highland was a gem thief. So I
came here, intending to demand a police investigation."
"I met one train," said Penny. "You weren't on it."
"I didn't arrive until early tonight. When the train came in, Winkey and
Mr. Highland were waiting at the station."
"For you, obviously?"
"Yes, they told me Mrs. Hawthorne was at the monastery, seriously sick
and wanted to see me at once. The story fitted with my own conclusion
that despite Highland's previous statements, Mrs. Hawthorne was here. So
I foolishly agreed to accompany them."
"Then what happened?"
"In the car, speeding out here, I realized I was being foolhardy to
return to the monastery without police escort. At an intersection I tried
to get out. Winkey slugged me. That's the last I knew until I found
myself in this crypt."
Rhoda now groped her way to the door of the inner prison room.
"I found the flashlight but it's broken," she reported.
"With or without a light, we must get out of here and bring the police!"
Penny exclaimed. "We haven't a chance to free Mr. Ayling and Mr. Merkill
ourselves."
"And you haven't a chance to get out of here either--not until someone
breaks into the house," Mr. Ayling added. "The only door is the one
Highland locked."
"There is another exit!" Penny recalled. "Mr. Eckenrod showed it to me on
the map of this old building. If only we can find it!"
Filled with hope, she began to grope about the walls of the inner room.
In the semi-darkness, she could find no break anywhere on the rough stone
surface.
"According to the map, the opening should be along this wall," she told
Rhoda who joined her in the search. "But there's nothing here."
"Maybe the opening was sealed up years ago."
Though half convinced Rhoda was right, Penny would not give up. Even
after her friend had abandoned the search, she kept tapping the walls.
One section, adjoining a large stone tomb, gave off a hollow sound. But
try as she would, Penny could not find a moveable section of wall.
"It's no use," she admitted, "unless--"
"Unless what?" Rhoda demanded as Penny's voice trailed off.
"What a dud I am! I remember now, Mr. Eckenrod said the hidden passage
comes out through a tomb in the churchyard! So the entrance to the tunnel
may be through this tomb which stands against the wall!"
"The wall did give off a hollow sound when you tapped it," Rhoda
declared, hope reviving.
"See if you can open the door of the tomb!" Mr. Ayling urged, becoming
excited. "I have a hunch you're on the right track!"
Thus urged, Penny overcame her own reluctance. The latch on the big stone
door appeared to be locked. She experimented with it for awhile, and was
rewarded to hear a sharp click. As she pulled on the door with all her
strength, it slowly swung backwards.
Peering in, she saw that the tomb was empty. Also, the back wall was
missing.
"The entrance to the passageway!" she cried. "We've found it!"
As Rhoda sprang to her feet, Penny hesitated. She felt it would be cruel
to abandon the two men who remained chained to the column.
"Go as fast as you can!" Mr. Ayling urged. "It's our only hope! If you
get out safely, send the police after Highland and Winkey! Then bring
help."
"We'll hurry!" Penny promised.
She grasped Rhoda's trembling hand and started through the opening into a
narrow, low passageway vaulted over with brick.
"You say we'll come out in the churchyard?" Rhoda gasped, huddling close
behind her friend.
"I imagine so. This passage can't be very long. I only hope it isn't
blocked by a cave-in."
Their anxiety increased as they inched their way along. Frequently they
were forced to climb over piles of brick which had fallen from the
ceiling.
Once they were certain the passage was completely blocked. However, Penny
pulled aside a mass of debris, enabling them to climb through and go on.
Then at last the tunnel began to ascend over wet, slippery ground.
"We're coming out!" Penny announced jubilantly. "I can see a crack of
light ahead!"
A few feet farther and the passageway was blocked by a small stone door.
However, dim light shone beneath it and the girls could feel cold night
air on their cheeks.
Penny tugged at the door and it opened readily. The pair emerged into
another empty tomb. Closing the stone door carefully behind them, they
made their way out into the night.
"We're still on the grounds!" Penny observed in a hushed voice as she
looked alertly about. "In the old graveyard."
"Any sign of Father Benedict or the dogs?" Rhoda whispered nervously.
"Nary a trace. The car at the rear of the monastery is gone! We must get
to a telephone as quickly as we can!"
Alternately stumbling over fragments of stone and mounds of earth, the
girls raced for the front gate. Even as they reached it, a car skidded to
a standstill close beside the fence.
"It's someone from the _Star_ office!" Penny cried, recognizing one of
the newspaper-owned automobiles.
As she struggled with the latch of the big gate, her father, Jerry
Livingston, and Salt Sommers leaped from the car.
"That you, Penny?" called Mr. Parker anxiously. "We were getting mighty
worried about you. What kept you here so long?"
"This and that," replied Penny, opening the gate. "It will take too long
to tell. We need help and need it fast!"
As rapidly as she could, she related the essential facts of Jay
Highland's flight, apparently to the river docks.
"Salt, streak for the nearest phone and turn in a police alarm!" Mr.
Parker ordered.
"It may be too late to overtake Highland," Penny said anxiously. "But if
we don't catch him, the Hawthorne sapphire will be lost!"
"Don't bother about the suitcase under the dock," Rhoda interposed. "Just
get Mr. Ayling, my grandmother and all those poor folks out of the
monastery. That's the important thing."
"Salt can come back here and wait until police open up the monastery,"
Mr. Parker said, thinking fast. "Jerry and I will try to pick up
Highland's trail!"
"I'll send another squad to the river," Salt promised, starting off at a
run toward Vernon Eckenrod's cabin across the fields.
"Highland and Winkey are heading for Dock Fourteen," Penny said. "Dad,
I'll go with you to point it out."
"The suitcase really doesn't matter," Rhoda interrupted again. "You see,
the sapphire--"
Jerry, Mr. Parker and Penny were not listening. Already they were running
to the press car. The publisher started the engine with a roar, and the
automobile raced off to make a quick turn and speed toward the city.
Disregarding the icy road, Mr. Parker drove at high speed. Once the car
skidded dangerously and barely missed a ditch.
Soon they approached the outskirts of the city. Penny watched the
riverfront intently. She was the first to glimpse the familiar long,
black automobile parked close to the dock where Rhoda had hidden her
suitcase.
"There's Highland's car!" she cried. "He and Winkey must be here!
Probably they're under the dock now! Highland is armed, Dad."
"Then our best bet is to try to keep the men in sight until police catch
up with us," Mr. Parker said, pulling up beside the other car. "We're
unarmed and can put up no fight."
"If those birds are under the dock on the ice, they're taking their lives
in hand," observed Jerry quietly. "All day, the river's been on the verge
of breaking up. When she goes, it will be with a bang!"
Penny opened the car door and leaped out. "I can't see anyone down
there," she said anxiously. "Do you suppose they abandoned the car after
getting the suitcase?"
Fearful that they had arrived too late, the trio ran down a boardwalk to
the docks.
Suddenly, Mr. Parker caught Penny by the arm, restraining her.
"There they are!" he whispered. "See! Just coming out from under the
dock!"
Two men, easily recognized as Jay Highland and Winkey, climbed from
beneath the long dock. The hunchback was burdened with a suitcase.
"What will we do?" Penny whispered. "We can't let them escape with the
sapphire!"
"Listen!" commanded Jerry. "I have a hunch we won't need to do anything
except wait!"
Even as he spoke, a loud crack not unlike the report of a gun, sounded
along the riverfront. The ice was breaking up!
Jay Highland and his companion, well aware of their danger, began to run.
Frantically, they sought a place at which to climb up over the high
docks. But too late. Already the river ice was clearing away. A great
crack appeared directly in front of the two men.
In panic, they started the other way, only to see water on all sides.
Then the block on which they stood, began to drift slowly off.
"Help!" shouted Winkey hoarsely. "Help!"
In panic, the hunchback turned his eyes shoreward. Seeing Penny, her
father and Jerry on the planking above, he realized that only arrest
faced him if he were rescued. Fear gave way to blind rage.
"You'll never get the sapphire!" he shouted. "I'll see it in the bottom
of the river first!"
Raising the case high over his head, he hurled it into the churning
water. The next instant the ice beneath his feet gave way, and both he
and his master plunged into the river!
CHAPTER
25
_THE STAR SAPPHIRE_
In a moment, the two men reappeared above the surface of the water,
struggling frantically for grips on the floating cakes of ice.
Coiled around a dock post lay an old rope which had not been taken in for
the winter. Jerry and Mr. Parker quickly obtained it and tossed it
squarely between the two men.
Both grasped it and were pulled slowly toward shore.
Just then a police car drove up at high speed, parking close by.
"Salt's telephone call went through!" Penny cried, signaling to the
officers who piled out of the car. "The police arrived just when we need
them!"
The shivering pair had no opportunity to attempt escape. As they were
pulled out of the water, officers placed them under arrest.
"All right! You've got us!" snarled Winkey. "But you'll never find the
suitcase! It's at the bottom of the river!"
"Quiet!" Jay Highland warned him. "Anything you say will be used against
us!"
Gazing gloomily at the churning water where the suitcase had been lost,
Penny asked if the river might not be dragged after the ice had gone out.
"We'll mark the place," an officer promised. "Don't count on the case
being found though. The current is fast here. Objects could be carried a
long distance."
Sullen and silent, the two prisoners were removed to the police car.
After consulting with Mr. Parker, officers agreed to take Highland and
Winkey to the monastery enroute to the lockup. By confronting them with
their victims, it was hoped Winkey at least, might make damaging
statements.
Penny, Jerry, and Mr. Parker followed close behind as the police car sped
to the monastery. Other policemen had arrived there, summoned by Salt.
The front door had been broken in, and a search was being made of the
building.
Spying Salt at the gate, Penny ran to ask if Mr. Ayling, Mr. Merkill, and
Rhoda's grandmother had been released.
"Rhoda's inside now, showing the officers the different rooms," the
photographer explained. "Why don't you go on in?"
"Guess I will," Penny agreed, starting up the driveway. "I certainly hate
to tell her the bad news though. The sapphire has been lost in the river!
It was in her suitcase."
Jerry and Mr. Parker overtook the girl as she entered the monastery.
Hearing voices in Mr. Highland's study, they all went there.
A fire had been rebuilt in the grate, and cult members, released from
their rooms, were being herded into the chamber. Mrs. Hawthorne, looking
very ill, lay on a couch, covered by coats. Beside her, Rhoda hovered
anxiously.
Seeing Penny, the girl crossed the room to whisper: "Grandmother is very
sick, but Captain Duveen of the police force says she will pull through
all right. We've sent for an ambulance to take her to the hospital."
"Have Mr. Ayling and Mr. Merkill been freed yet?"
"Police are down in the crypt now. Did you catch Winkey and that cruel
Jay Highland?"
"We did," Penny replied, "but the story is too long to tell now. I'm
afraid though, I have bad news."
"How do you mean?"
"The sapphire is gone. Winkey hurled your suitcase into the river."
Rhoda's tense face relaxed into a little smile. "Has that been worrying
you?" she asked.
"Naturally."
"But I tried to tell you--you were in such a hurry you wouldn't listen!"
"You tried to tell me what?"
"Why, the sapphire wasn't in the suitcase. It's here in the house."
"But I thought you said you took it with you when you ran away!"
"I did. Then when I decided to leave my suitcase under the dock for a
quick getaway should I try to escape from this place later on, I brought
the sapphire back with me. I was afraid to leave it, even sewed up in a
dress hem, for fear someone would find the suitcase."
"Yet you substituted a fake gem for the real one."
"I did," Rhoda agreed, "because I was certain Highland sooner or later
would attempt to steal the gem."
"Then what became of the real sapphire? Is it safe?"
"I hope so," Rhoda said earnestly. "Let's see if we can find it."
Taking Penny by the hand, she led her down the hall to the cloister. At a
niche in the wall, she abruptly paused.
"It should be here, beneath this broken statuette," she declared. "I
found a tiny crack in the stone, just large enough to insert the gem.
Lend me a hairpin, please."
Penny gave her a bobbypin. Rhoda pried beneath the statuette and
presently found the small object for which she searched.
"It's here!" she announced triumphantly. "See!"
Into Penny's hand she dropped a star-shaped gem which under artificial
light had taken on a violet hue.
"By daylight it's even more beautiful," Rhoda explained. "It looks sky
blue then."
"Never have I seen anything so gorgeous," Penny murmured in awe. "And to
think Jay Highland nearly made off with it! How clever of you to let him
believe it was hidden in the suitcase!"
"I was desperate," Rhoda chuckled. "Grandfather willed the sapphire to
me, and I intend to keep it always."
"Then you're not afraid of the old superstition, that harm will befall
the owner?"
"I should say not!" grinned Rhoda. "That was only Grandmother's idea. If
ordinary precautions are taken, the gem always will be safe. After all,
it's highly insured."
"As Mr. Ayling now realizes to his sorrow," added Penny. "Let's see if he
and Mr. Merkill are out of the crypt."
Before the girls could find the stairway leading down, policemen
appeared, assisting the two men to the first floor of the monastery. Mr.
Ayling, who had been imprisoned only a short time, was able to walk.
However, it was necessary for officers to carry Mr. Merkill.
"Save my wife," he pleaded. "She is here somewhere. That crook stole a
diamond necklace from her too!"
"Your wife is safe and in good health," the officer assured him. "We've
found no jewelry though. Describe the necklace."
While he was being carried outside on an improvised stretcher, Mr.
Merkill gave police a detailed description of the missing jewelry.
Other persons, members of the cult, also gathered around to press claims
for articles Mr. Highland had taken from them.
Under guard, the former master of the monastery and Winkey, were removed
from the patrol car to be confronted with victims they had fleeced. Jay
Highland arrogantly denied he had accepted or stolen any object of value.