The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1941-01-14

the little room itself seemed so
remote from the rest of the house.
But I must go on if that bunch
about Plutarch was to be investi-
gated. / opened the door eau
tiously and began the descent to
the basement.
| And there on the landing, a line
from the jingle came back to me.
Steps up, steps down -"
| Steps? Steps could be stairs,
of course. Perhaps I had thought
of it because of the fact that I was
standing with stairs above and
below. But, of course. that was
true of so many places in the
house. All the way from the base
ment landing to the third floor by
way of these same back stairs.
Aunt Maggie had been killed in
the passage with steps leading up
and down. -.
In a fever of excitement I de-
cided that I would go and drag
Bill from Lieutenant Gregory's
clutches. Somewhere around some
of these stairs
Then it was that I seemed to
hear, ever so family, series of
muffied meows. But try as
might, could not decide which
direction they came from.
"Plutarch," l called. "Plutarch."
Family the answer came back,
but / was just as much at sea as
ever.
Here again is evidence of what
might be considered my great
great grandfather's eccentricity.
Straight in front of me-. as l stood
on the landing, was a door lead
ing down into the game room. To
/ the left is another, leading to the
furnace room. In my ancestors
day a part of the game room had
been wine cellar. The present
| furnace room had provided space
for provisions. 1t was because he
| wished them to be entirely sepa-
rate that he had individual stair
ways built down from the land
ing. 49,
I opened one door, then the
other, calling out to Plutarch as
did so, but no sign of any white
cat. I called again, and again
heard Plutarch's plaintive meow.
But where could he be? On my
right was only a wall which had
always thought stood flush against
wall of earth.
But as / looked at it now, saw
that it, too, was fashioned to look
like door. except that there was
no door handle. Of course, this
might have been simply to pro-
vide uniform effect.
But suddenly was certain that
Plutarch's cries had come from
behind this wall. Here, I knew.
was the secret room. The answer
to everything that had happened.
Caution whispered to go back
and wait for Bill. But, I thought,
no harm Just to see if it is the
door. Just to see if it will open.
banged on the paneling. Was
that hollow sound that came
back? In my excitement I could
net be sure. ! sought in vain for
some secret spring to press. ran
my hands up and down the out
side of the frame. Perhaps some
where -,
Then suddenly an abyss opened
under my feet and I was falling
"a. falling
Plutarch
A STEEP flight of steps broke
"A my fall somewhat. EXCEPT for
| this and the fact that | had
thrown out my arms and hap
pened to grasp the stair rail on
one side, there is little doubt that
I would have landed on the brick
floor with a broken neck.
Even so. | was sure that l was
! just a nice little bag of broken
bones, afraid to move lest find
that | could not AS lay there in
the dark, for the opening through
which | had fallen had closed be-
hind me. something soft and alive
rubbed against me and screamed
at the top of my voice. Also |
involuntarily drew away. and
this showed me that at least /
could move.
My scream was answered by a
| loud and petulant meow close at
hand, and / realized with hys-
terical relief that it was Plutarch
who had rubbed against me.
How did you get here?" l
asked him. as he rubbed against
me again. And although Plutarch
could not tell me, the answer, of
course, was that somebody had
opened that concealed trap door
on the landing and Plutarch either
had followed that someone down
the steps or had been brought
down.
The latter superstition did not
sound very plausible, for after all
there was no reason to conceal
the unlucky animal Nor was
there reason to think that Plu-
tarch had followed anyone in par
ticular, for he is fairly friendly
cat with the usual feline curiosity
and would have trailed anybody
who did not actually kick him
aside.
The presence of Plutarch. there
fore, was no clue to the discoverer
of this underground retreat, which
| knew must be the secret room.
Alone at last with the object OF
my frantic search-the secret
room-my one desire was 70 es-
cape. I had no wish to finger in
the dark or to be discovered there
by the murderer. But having
landed with my right foot doubled
under me, the ankle was giving
me various and assorted fits
Otherwise. / seemed to have no
injuries bcyend bruises. I tried 10
rise, but the ankle hurt 20 badly
that was forced 70 sink down