The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1941-01-15
Chapter 46
Sally's Find

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able to pull and drag myself up
ward, while waves of faintness
swept over me, caused by the
pain in my ankle.
Finally reaching the top step, |
CROPPED about trying to locate the
spring or handle or some means
to open the trap door. But so far
as / was able to discover, there
was nothing.
I called for help as loudly as |
could, but it seemed to me that
my voice fell backward as from
physical impact against the floor
above me. Even though had left
open the door from the passage,
knew the chances of being heard
were pretty slim, unless someone
happened to be going through
that little back hallway. | tried
beating my fists against the trap
door. 1t did no good, but kept on.
And / was grateful when Plu-
tarch came and sat on the step
beside me,
My hands were bruised from
the futile pounding and was all
out of breath from yelling, so we
Just sat there for a little while.
Horrible thoughts came to keep
me company along with Plutarch.
Suppose not even the murderer
returned to this underground lair?
Suppose was left there in the
dark 10 starve TO death. Perhaps
TO sliffocatt: Panic seized me and
] SCREAMED again for help.
But even this near approach to
hysteria wore itself out and rea-
son began to reassert itself. / no.
ticed that, although the place had
a cIose-in atmosphere and was
fairly, cold, the air did not seem
tainted. Naturally my ancestor,
God rest his quaint soul, had pro-
.vided some source of supply when
he had the place built.
, What made his plan so fiendish-
ly clever was the fact that secret
rooms always bring to mind the
thought of secret panels and hol-
low walls, Who would think of
looking for a trap door on that
unlikely landing? Nobody, l told
myself bitterly, visualizing my
own skeleton entombed centuries
hence.
Then remembered the lost
packet of matches / had reclaimed
on the stairway that morning. BY
some lucky chance they were still
in my pocket. / clawed at them as
a starving man might grab for
food. In this clumsy haste / broke
the first one. But / was able to
strike the second and from this
pin point of light the near dark
ness receded unwillingly.
The all-irnportant objective, of
course, was to locate the spring or
catch that controlled the opening
Of the trap door, but as | burned
one match after another in fruit
less effort / realized that the
supply would soon be consumed
and my situation unimproved.
Other basement rooms had been
wired for electricity long ago, but
before this was done the location
OF the secret room had been lost
or forgotten.
Finally / remembered to tell
myself that would be missed by
someone above stairs. Andrew, II
no one else, would soon be
spreading the alarm. The thing to
do was to wait quietly until
heard footsteps overhead and then
yell for all | was worth. Why
hadn't thought of it before?
All very well, of course, except
that the murderer might arrive
ahead of the searching party. But
/ sat down again and waited for
what seemed hours, Plutarch In
my lap purring contentedly, then
rousing himself to meow ques-
tioningly. Even he seemed to real
lie that there was something
wrong about the situation, or per-
haps he was only hungry and
thirsty 4 was pretty thirsty my
self, what with all my panic and
yelling.
So we waited. But nobody came.
e. ~ Fear
DANDORA LIKE, began to
i wonder about the secret room.
How big was it? What did II con-
tain? As / pondered these and
other questions, the room itself
seemed TO stretch away from me
into infinite space, full of I'M
known dangers, then to close in
on all sides, like the walls in d
horror movie.
IL was Plutarch who kept me
fairly calm. His even breathing.
The comfort of his warm body
against mine. There were six
matches left. My social sec6rity
against what need | could not
guess, l moved my ankle expert
mentally. Thank heaven, the pain
was considerably less.
Il could even stand II | did not
place my full weight on the right
foot. Plutarch complained as | set
him down, but he kept close to
my side and we moved slowly
down the steps together. Curiosity
had got the better of me as Ii had
OF Plutarch.
At the bottom OF the steps |
lighted one Of the precious mat ches
and found myself standing In what
appeared to be a narrow passage,
for brick walls came close on
either side. With my free hand
stretched out in front | followed
the passage for about six feet,
when il ended plump against an
other wall.
Hastily ! struck a fresh match
and In It's Light was revealed 4
NUMERALS WILL BE