The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1937-06-14


Blud vas built IN the days when cell
lars were designed for foundations OF
: house in which food and drink
might be incidentally stored. We
went down those stairs zt top speed
A my feet left the bottom step, I
heard tie deer above closing loudly.
Where's William" ! snapped at
Michael
Went back upstairs he women
are having q st about being left
alone
o. TIE spot. dismissed William
from my mind By the Light OF the dim
oulb over The stairs We could see
eood part Of the vast old cellar We
Were standing al the end Of long
passageway. Ganked on the left By
TIE van Of the house and on the right
b 4 room OF some description, the
door Of which was practically AZ my
elbow.
Under what mus. have been about
tie main hall upstairs. the passage
say seemed 10 open out into larger
ron The beam OF my daShlight
ricked cut a wooden structure rising
almost % the rafters and blocking OF
Al but > small entrance into the cen
tcr room.
stand here and keep your eyes
epen. I ordered. and pushed open the
door az my right
{ vas looking into what must have
heen the Harrington wine cellar.
large. ioW-ceilinged room. almost
square in shape. Ny light disclosed
tiers q bottle racks, mostly empty.
completely surrounding the room.
Here and there q barrel or keg.
Over the whole perfect curtain Of
cast and cobwebs. Cobwebs hung IN
long. lacy festoons from the ceiling
beasns. from the racks. from the bar
selS Dust lay in a thick. undisturbed
carpet on the fcor. OF any human
being. there was not q trace.
The Preserve Closet
LET the door swing softly to.
] ~Where does tbs passage take us?"
~Furnace room and fuel bins. Stor-
age room after that
Silently led the way along II. Our
footsteps echoed through the ghostly.
empty place. After we had taken
dozen PAGES, the dim light over the
stairs was Of little use
aren't there any more IightS?" I
Whispered There was no reason for
whispering. but the atmosphere Of
TIE place already had its grip on me.
~No. Aunt Martha's stubborn about
improvements" Unconsciously Nike
vas whispering. too. skipper was al
says telling her that Cook would
break her leg down here and sue US
Cor plenty"
flashed my light around the fur
nace room. Oblong in shape, running
across the entire center Of the house,
is left and right walls consisted OF
enormous coal and wood bins. respec-
lively. piled right to the ceiling. A
huge. fashioned furnace stood in
the exact center Of the room, its pipes
running overhead in all directions.
Some orderly hand han been at work,
Tor here was no dust and there were
no cobwebs. End no sign Of the
Skipper.
Apparently the wall nearest the
passage was also the wall of the wine
cellar which we had just left. In the
center OF the wall opposite il, was a
door for which made without fur
ther ado. But il was locked.
II I had fumbled with the keys up-
stairs. I nearly tore them apart now
ID my excitement.
What's stored here?s I grunted.
Vegetables = preserves = junk
AIichael's words were coming In spas
nnodie jerks. He may have been think
ing the same thing that was think
ing-that with the wine cellar left
unlocked. Il was odd to find the pre-
serve closet fastened
The door opened at last.
A room about the same size and
shape as the furnace room and neat
as a pin. lay ahead Of US. From floor
70 ceiling i was lined with high
ciosets-Wainscoted. In the center Of
the room stood a large kitchen table
with an antiquated tea wager beside
IL Otherwise. the room was empty.
-Skipperl" I shouted. fiinging n.y.
self against the nearest door.
Are you there2 Skipper. Skipper
The impact Of my shoulder on the
solid wood Of the closet sent steady
ing stab Of pain through me. turned
% look for a poker
The furnace room offered better
than a poker. however. Nike made
straight for the wood bin. There,
prOpped against the wall was an ak.
! SDached il tom him and rushed
back a the closets. y. l
The pen may be mightier than the
Ak, but my blows on that hard wood
would have been equally effective
with either. The AK glanced and twist
ed. and twisted and gIarced
use the butt OF the damn thing. I"
grunted Michael. The light was wav-
eTing in MS hand.
/ did Wood splintered and crashed
There was tinkle as of broken glass.
Something wet and sticky was in my
eyes. I was still trying to clear them
when Nike yelled. Try the next
one" | blinked at a closet full of
broken Jars. The mess drooling down
my face seemed to be strawberry pre-
serve.
Copyright. 1851. Esther TyIerJ