The Daily Alaska empire., 1929-12-27
Chapter 33
THE PONDS SECRET

 slipped down the staircase and across the room. A jerk of the dangling cord of the bridge lamp and the room was darkened.
 The faint batter of the padded feet never reached Peggy and all unconscious, that she was not alone, she pursued her way along the sec ret passage.
 Around a curve was circular staircase, a narrow affair, just wide enough to permit a person to pass between the brick walls.
 With care Peggy picked her wind ing way, fearing fall, for some of the steps had tipped forward at a dangerous angle. When she came to the bottom, she had lost all sense of direction.
 Eighteen feet further on the pas sage curved again; third curve just beyond brought her to a door and there she hesitated.
 Observing not only that the key was in the lock, but that 1t was slightly ajsr, she stepped through the doorway into room of moder- ate size
 By standing on her tiptoes Peggy could almost touch the ceiling.
 She had no idea how far under ground she was, whether under the foupdatiofis of Few Lodge or nearer Mohawk Pond She thought for an instant that she caught the sound of water Tapping against the share and then concluded the noise was imaginary.
 / The walls of the chamber, unlike the bricked-in passageway she had just trayersed, were of great stones, except at one end; there, the doors of a. small vault were set in steel which completely filled the space between the ceiling and the uneven rocky floor.
 xAwed, Peggy looked around. Had her uncle, in excavating for the foundatiotis of Few Lodge, chanced upon 3 natural cavern and convert ed 1t to His own uses or had he had the place specially constructed9 ? That t housed the missing securi- ties And perhaps other valuable property. she never doubted, after gliinpsitk the vault.
 She stepped toward it. her heart bekting high with anticipation, and tried the lever locking, the device on the door, twisting 1t this way and that. Neither effort budged the lever.
 Pausir1e to recover her breath Peegy tucked the electric torch ut. der her arrnpit. and holding it thu strove with both hands to twist th' lever either to right or left.
 There was no dial on the doc that she could see; evidently nt combination lock barred her en trance-there must be some trick ii seesawing the steel bar; ah, sh, had it-the wards of the blocl clicked as they spun back in thei sockets. but that click was drowned in the louder noise made by tn metal of her torch striking agains the rocks as it slipped from unde her arm.
 The torch rolled this way an, that down the uneven surface, 1t light throwing zigzag course alonl the rocks and indentations: finall 1t caEne. to rest against an obstruc ton, .chtch side down, and the ligh promptly vent out. s.s'
 In cnnsternation Peggy release thk, leref-lotk and started for tn torch. She was almost Atsthe spo whSn alie caught sight of a man face, less than five feet away, it ghastly. distorted countenance fair ly distinct even in the darkness The girl shrank back against tn rock; it's touch was not more ic than her hand. No escape there and she had no weapon, not eve the torch. with which to strike tn man, advancing closer and closer Had he seen her?
 With knees shaking Peggy san down on the ground and crawled t her left. Her torch had rolled i that direction: she also recalle having seen broken box and it discarded rope lying near crevic across from the entrance to tn secret chamber. Her first sight C the, vault had distracted her at tention from all else in the room
 Peggy looked to the right. Tn man. his fig1re but an outline shadow fading into the darknes wos. . step closer; his eyes, set dee in<hia ashy face, peered in her di rccf1on and then swung toward tn vanIS in indecision.
 Gcarcely daring to breathe, sh crok further to the left. If sh co51d 1pc6t1 the torch. she coul 4lnd ths entrance and once in tn passaee vay would close and loc