The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1941-07-05

Il
Usage descending.
| He followed It gingerly, careful
not 10 catch his toe on the uneven
bricks with which it was paved.
Dank walls. as the path straight
ened out, told him that he was
far below the first terrace, pos
sibly in second cellar.
Here and there brick doorways
appeared IN the CLEAN Of his can
die, and remembering the stories
] IN the old book. he nodded his
head. Without a doubt this was
where the slaves had come to be
saved. and where some of them
had persisted.
Suddenly the narrow tunnel
made right-angle turn. Brett
paused, holding his candle higher.
There was a strong draft here; the
candle fiickered uncertainty. He
paused a moment, trying to get
his bearings. If his sense Of direc-
ton were right--this passage led
directly to the beach, at spot
somewhat removed from the
house, 1t came out possibly in a
concealed sand dune-or the boat
house. Of course! That explained
lot of things.
Family. he heard the echo of
cry--a wailing sound of distress.
For second, he thought the story
of the ghosts had excited even his
practical mind, and then, with
feeling of dismay, he recognized
! the voice 1t was Eve-ca1ling for
help! Frantic, he turned and ran
back the way he had come.
Exploring
lTWELVE-THIRTY
1 Eve blew out the candle and
lay back again, listening to jules
steady breathing. Who had this
watch downstairs? She tried to
remember. but she had been so
annoyed with Brett when the
council of war" was held, that
she had not listened too carefully.
Anyway, no matter who it was
Brett. or Ham, or Neil-prob-
ably he would appreciate little
company and perhaps o glass of
warm milk. Eve had not ven-
tuFed into the domain of Mrs.
Jackson before, but with the fear
of remaining wakeful all night,
she was resolved to risk anything.
She eased herself cautiously out
of bed, shivering a little as the
cold wind blew her himSy gown.
Luckily, she had brought a warm
house-coat; she shrugged into il
gro tefully and buttoned it up
snugly around her throat. With
her slippers in her hand, she tip
toed to the door. The quietness of
the circular hallway struck her as
she closed the bedroom door be-
hind her.
She thrust her feet into the slip
pers and went down the stairs as
quietly as possible. They did creak
little, but not too much. Then,
lust as she reached the third step
from the bottom, her slipper heel
caught. and she could not save
herself from sitting down with
sudden and awkward emphasis.
OUCH" The cry was wrung
from Eve as she bumped down the
last stairs, and finally came to a
stop by frantically clutching at
the newell post. There she re-
manned for half a minute longer,
gingerly feeling her anatomy and
trying to decide if she had
sprained her ankle. The necessity
for caution and quiet had gone
completely from her mind.
But when she had treasured
herself that no bones were broken,
and was standing once more IN
the main hallway, she found that
apparently no one was disturbed.
For a second, Eve thought she
heard muffied football, but even
that, she decided, must be only
her Imagination.
"A fine thing" she muttered,
resuming her interrupted journey
to the living room. We could be
all but murdered in our bedsi
must have made enough noise to
wake the dead, falling like that"
At the entrance to the living
room she paused, her eyes sud-
denly wide with fear as she
searched the shadowy corners and
peered again at the lone candle
standing on a small table before
the fireplace. Eve could scarcely
force herself to go into the room,
| yet she knew she must. There was
something about the place that
told aer even better than her
eyes, there was no one in the
room. But there might be some
one lying in the corner--deadl
| For some reason. she did not
think of anyone except Brett. She
knew now. with intuitive certain
ty, that this was his watch, and
the knowledge gave her strength
to cross the threshold and adj
vance to the fireplace Her first
thought had not been wrong As
Eve glanced around, she saw that
Brett indeed had vanished His
pipe, still family redolent, lay be-
side the candle. She tried to speak
his name and could not, but she
managed a few faltering steps
toward the bookshelves.
And there she saw where he
had gone. For a moment, an un.
reasoning anger for the fright he
had given her made her almost
decide to turn around and march
back to bed. But as she looked at
| the yawning narrow doorway
which was apparent when the
row of bookshelves swung out
ward, curiosity got the better of
her.
Eve went back and picked up
the candle, shading it with her
hand from the draft. and tried to
look into the Stygian blackness.
Steps led up to the left, she dis
covered, while the passage sloped