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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59872 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: "THERE APPEARED THREE FIGURES, DRIPPING FROM HEAD TO
+FOOT." (p. 18.)]
+
+
+
+
+  OUR DEN
+
+
+  BY
+
+  E. M. WATERWORTH,
+
+  Author of "Master Lionel, That Tiresome Child," etc.
+
+
+
+  LONDON:
+  S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO.
+  9, Paternoster Row.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Contents headpiece]
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The Savages are Expected
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+They Arrive--Unexpectedly
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Our Den is Fortified
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Fish or Fowl for Supper
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Tied to the Bell Buoy
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Punishment and Escape
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+The Mysterious Visitor
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+The Oak Chest
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+The Mystery Deepens
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+How the Stranger Helped
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A Day of Surprises
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+The Lost Will
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Contents tailpiece]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter I headpiece]
+
+
+
+OUR DEN.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The Savages are Expected.
+
+
+"I think it is our duty, John."
+
+"Stuff and nonsense.  How can it be our duty to turn our house into a
+bear-garden for the sake of a lot of young savages?  Let them spend
+their holidays at school."
+
+I was reading, as I generally was in those days, but the word
+"savages" made me look up.  It was fun reading about such people, but
+I was not at all sure that I should care to see even one alive, and
+here was father talking about a lot of them.
+
+Mother laughed merrily.  Somehow, she generally did laugh when other
+people would have cried; and I know now that it was mother's merry
+laugh that made the sunshine of our home.
+
+"Why, John, how can you make savages into bears?  They would not even
+hug you if you looked as fierce as you do now."
+
+Then glancing towards my little sofa, mother's face became sweetly
+grave as she added in a low voice, "Besides, dear, we should like
+people to be good to Edric if we were not here; and, after all, they
+may do him good.  You know the London doctor said he would have more
+chance of getting strong if he had plenty of play with brothers and
+sisters, instead of always having a book in his hand."
+
+The colour came to my face, and I turned hot and cold all over, while
+I listened for father's answer.  It was about six months since they
+had taken me to London to see a famous physician, and I had never
+heard them mention what he had said about me.  I was the only child,
+and, owing to a fall downstairs when I was quite a tiny trot, there
+was a slight curvature in my spine.  I did not know what was the
+matter then, but I knew that I was not like other children.
+
+I dreaded the noise which my few friends made in the room when they
+came to see me.  I had lived in an iron frame for about two years;
+and when I was taken out of it, and was supposed to be allowed to
+walk a little, the desire to move had gone.  My parents did not like
+to urge me, and so six months passed away and I was still carried
+from room to room, still lay reading most of the day, and was quietly
+content.  It was only now and then that mother's anxious look at me
+told that she was not satisfied; father and I seemed to have made up
+our minds that I was to be an invalid for the rest of my life, so I
+listened anxiously for his answer to mother's remark about the doctor.
+
+"Do you really think it would do the boy good to be tormented by a
+lot of rough, strong children?  Then let them come, but keep them out
+of my sight.  I hate noise almost as much as Edric does."
+
+"I had settled all that, dear, before I ever spoke to you about it.
+There's the tower room--it is big and airy, and right at the top of
+the house--I thought they should have that for their playroom."
+
+"You'd better call it their den at once," said father, leaning over
+my shoulder to read the title of my book.  "There are about twenty
+panes of glass in it now.  I wonder how many whole ones there will be
+when the holidays are over.  How do you like the idea of the invasion
+of the savages, my boy?" he added, in the tender tone in which he
+always addressed me.
+
+"Who are they, father?" I asked, laying my thin white hand in his
+brown, strong one.
+
+"Your Uncle George's children, dear.  He sent them to school at Bath,
+and intended to be in England for their summer holidays, but he was
+prevented from leaving Sydney just at the last minute; and your Aunt
+Mary has written to ask if we will let them all spend the time here.
+There are four of them, three boys and a girl who is as big a boy as
+any of them, I believe.  What do you think of it, Edric?"
+
+"I think I shall like seeing Cousin Kathleen," I said, rather shyly;
+even with my parents it was rather difficult for me to speak my
+thoughts.  "She has often sent nice messages to me, and this is the
+book-marker she made for me.  Perhaps she will read to me, and show
+me how to play chess."
+
+"We will burn all those books, lad," said father, sweeping a little
+heap off my sofa to the floor.  "Let me carry you out to see the high
+tide."
+
+"Not just now, father, please," I said, cuddling the last remaining
+book in my arms.  "I want to see what becomes of Rupert in the
+Redskins' camp."
+
+"That's good," said father, laughing heartily.  "Your eldest cousin's
+name is Rupert, and we shall soon be wanting to know what becomes of
+Edric in Rupert's den."
+
+"When are they coming?" I asked, with a faint trembling at my heart.
+Mother had taught me to be kind in my thoughts of every one, but I
+began to be a little afraid of these stranger cousins.
+
+"They may be here next week; but I am not sure what day the school
+breaks up."
+
+"Well, I will go and see about getting the tower room ready," said
+mother, when father had gone out to look at a new horse which he had
+bought for the farm.  "Do you want anything before I go, darling?"
+
+"No, thank you, mother."
+
+As she bent down to kiss me before she left me, mother looked
+longingly into my face.
+
+"I believe you look better already, dear.  Don't you think that----
+Why, darling, what's the matter; there are tears in your eyes."
+
+Of course it was silly for a boy of twelve to begin to cry because
+his cousins were coming to stay with him, but I feel bound to let you
+know the whole truth about myself.  I couldn't possibly say what I
+was crying for, but I suppose that I was in a weak and morbid state.
+
+"You'll love me still, mother, won't you," I whispered, clinging to
+her neck; "and you won't let them make me do anything I don't want
+to?"
+
+Poor mother!  If I had only known, that was just the very reason she
+wanted my cousins to come; but she comforted me, and promised
+faithfully I should be left to myself as much as I liked.
+
+"They will have their den, as your father calls it, and you needn't
+go in it unless you like.  Now I will go and see about getting it
+ready.  It will want brightening up a bit.  Nobody has ever used it
+since I have lived here, and that is nearly fourteen years.
+Good-bye, dear; don't read too much."
+
+She had her hand on the door before I could summon courage to speak
+what was in my mind.
+
+"I've never been in the tower room, mother.  Do you think I might go
+with you, just to see it before they come?"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter II headpiece]
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+They Arrive--Unexpectedly.
+
+
+There was a joyous ring in my dear mother's voice as she called out
+of the window for father to carry me upstairs; and I noticed that
+they both looked at each other with a satisfied nod as I was
+deposited on a long Rattan chair, which, with the exception of a
+great oak chest, was the only piece of furniture in the den.
+
+It was a glorious day in July.  The tower room was almost walled with
+glass on three sides, and looking out I saw such a view as I had
+never imagined could be seen from our own house.  In front of me I
+could gaze across the field to the back-water of the river which made
+our farm into an island at high tide; beyond that, again, lay a
+narrow neck of land, then the main stream, which, running to the
+left, widened and widened till it entered into the sea.  Across the
+river were some few houses of a small seaside town, and beyond those
+houses I knew was the sea; the open sea on which I had never been but
+once.  I knew that summer after summer yachts sailed from the pier at
+Craigstown round the Eagle Point, and up the river to the old
+watermill, or from the mill to the pier.  Sometimes I would watch the
+tops of the sails from my bedroom window; but I could see little
+more, and never wished to be in the vessels.  Here in the tower room
+I could see the whole course of the river when mother dragged my
+chair to the different windows, and I exclaimed, "Oh!  I am glad I
+came, mother: doesn't the water look lovely?"
+
+"Yes, darling, it is a very high tide to-day.  If you look down there
+to the right of that large tree you will see that our road to
+Craigstown is quite covered up.  They may well call this Island Farm;
+you would have to swim across the little stream whichever way you
+wanted to go now.  Now, Edric, you can help me; tell me what I shall
+put in this room to make it nice for your cousins.  Remember, their
+parents are thousands of miles away, and we must try to make them
+happy.  Fancy how you would feel if you were in Australia without me."
+
+I didn't fancy it at all; but I know what mother meant, and suggested
+that first one thing and then another should be brought upstairs.
+There was my tool chest--of course I should never use it; it was such
+a funny thing for father to give me.  I did not realize that he had
+bought it hoping to rouse me to try to use some of the tools.  There
+was a box of lovely stone bricks.  I could play with them, and used
+to enjoy making designs out of my own head, which pleased my parents
+and made them prophesy that I should be an architect some day.  There
+were paint boxes and puzzles.  There was even a fishing rod and a
+landing net; I almost laughed when mother brought them up from a
+cupboard in my room.
+
+"It seems a pity that father should buy me such things, doesn't it,
+mother?" I said, and then I felt sorry.  Mother came across the room
+to me, and said softly, "You see, dear, the London doctor said he
+quite hoped that you would be able to get about like other children
+some day, though you would always have a little twist in your back,
+which would prevent you being as straight and strong as they are.
+Your father loves you so, that he cannot bear to think you ore
+different from others; and so he keeps giving you things just as if
+you were well and strong, hoping that some day you will be able to
+use them.  Now where shall I put this flag?"
+
+You would not believe what a change mother made in the room.  By
+dinner time it looked quite pretty; and I was actually so hungry that
+I was glad when the dinner bell sounded, and father came up the
+creaky stairs two at a time to carry me down.
+
+"I think the change of rooms has done you good, laddie," he said, as
+he took me in his arms.  "You had better have that Rattan chair
+moved, Mary," he added to my mother; "there won't be much of it left
+by September if you don't."
+
+"Oh, don't move it, please, father," I said.  "It will do so nicely
+for me to lie in when I go there."
+
+"So it's going to be your den as well as theirs, is it, young man?
+And, pray, what do you think we shall feel like when we come into
+this room and see your empty sofa?"
+
+Glancing at father, to see how much he meant, I fancied that there
+was a merry twinkle in his eye.  At all events, I am certain that we
+had a brighter dinner than we generally had, and I remember
+particularly that I asked for a second helping of meat.
+
+"What shall I bring you from Colchester?" said father, after dinner.
+"I am going to try the new mare, and I'll bring you back anything you
+like to name up to five shillings."
+
+"There's a new book of Kingston's, father--I forget the title--if you
+wouldn't mind getting that.  I have nearly finished _Rupert and the
+Redskins_."
+
+"Oh, no more books," said father, impatiently.  "I'd like to burn the
+lot of them.  I'd rather buy you a cricket bat.  There, don't look
+miserable, laddie.  You shall have the book, but I'd give a
+five-pound note to hear you say, 'Take me with you in the dog-cart.'
+Now, good-bye.  I shan't be starting for another hour, till the tide
+is down, but I don't suppose you will see me again before I go.
+Shall I send a telegram to Bath to say the youngsters can come?
+Perhaps they will like to look forward to it.  And is there anything
+else you want, to rig up their den?"
+
+We both laughed, and mother said something about believing father
+would be delighted to see the savages after all.
+
+"Oh!  I don't care, as long as you keep them out of my way.  I'll
+bring them a couple of boxes of soldiers; that's sure to keep them
+quiet for a time."
+
+"Girls don't like soldiers," I remarked.
+
+"Don't they, though, if they have half a dozen brothers and no
+sister.  I suppose you'd like me to buy Miss Kathleen a workbox, and
+she wouldn't know which finger to put the thimble on, I'll be bound.
+What on earth is that?"
+
+Well might he ask.  A succession of shouts and yells, interspersed
+with loud "C-o-o-e-e, c-o-o-e-e," disturbed the usual placid silence
+which reigned on a summer afternoon in our island farm, especially
+when the tide was up, and we were cut off from the mainland.
+
+Angry expostulations from some of the labourers followed; and then,
+to our utter amazement, there appeared on the lawn at our open window
+three figures, dripping from head to foot.
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter II tailpiece]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter III headpiece]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Our Den is Fortified
+
+
+"Stand back!  Stand back!" shouted father, as the boys made straight
+for our new carpet.  "Who in the world are you?"
+
+"Don't you know us, uncle?" said the eldest, shaking the water from
+him like a Newfoundland dog.  "The old fellow drove us from
+Colchester station, and actually wanted us to wait the other side of
+that stream till the tide went down.  It wasn't likely we should do
+that, was it?  So we just walked through.  Kathleen got her shoe
+stuck in the mud, but she's coming along presently.  Now, aren't you
+glad to see us, uncle?"
+
+There was something irresistible in the impudent, freckled face
+turned up to father's; and although my first thought was that Rupert
+was decidedly ugly, I soon came to see that there was the beauty of
+goodness in eyes and mouth and general expression.
+
+Mother was the first to regain her self-possession.
+
+"You naughty children," she said, stepping out on the lawn, "you will
+catch your death of cold, and I suppose you haven't even got any
+other clothes to put on.  Edric's won't fit any of you but Harold."
+
+"Don't you fret, auntie," said Jack, who had been capering about, and
+leaving little rivulets of water wherever he went.  "We don't think
+anything of wet clothes, we just run about till they are dry."
+
+"But where's your box?" said father.
+
+"It's the other side of the water," said Rupert, laughing; "I know
+now what King John felt like when he lost all his luggage in the
+Wash.  We lost half our things in the wash at school, and now we've
+lost the other half in your Wash.  My word, hasn't the tide gone down
+quick!  The old fellow was right after all.  Why, it's only up to
+Kathleen's ankles now.  Here she comes, shoes and all.  Ugh! go away,
+you horrid, wet girl."
+
+A well-aimed shoeful of water went over Jack's head, and then with a
+queer, uneven step, due to having one shoe off and one on, my Cousin
+Kathleen advanced to greet my father and mother.
+
+"What do you think of that, Uncle John?" she said, putting her dry
+arm round his neck.  "Those naughty boys left me to get on as well as
+I could with one foot stuck in the mud; but I'll pay them out.  Ah,
+there's Cousin Edric," and there was such a change in the merry face,
+that a glow of pleasure spread over mine.
+
+"We know each other already, don't we, dear?  Isn't it lovely to
+think that we are going to be here six whole weeks?  Can't you really
+walk, Edric?"
+
+There was something so very funny in the whole scene, the dripping
+boys outside, the girl with hat thrown back and tumbled, curly hair,
+with skirts wet to the waist, and one shoe in her hand, that I burst
+out laughing.  Of course, everyone joined, and it was thus that we
+received the savages into our home circle.  But mother now
+interposed, and marched them all off to their bedrooms, while father
+sent a man in one of the carts to fetch the boxes, which the
+Colchester fly-driver had so unceremoniously deposited on the other
+side of the stream.
+
+We found out in the course of time, that the boys' school had been
+suddenly closed, owing to the death of the master's wife.  My cousins
+had heard from their father that they would probably spend the summer
+holidays with us, and the master had thought it best to send them
+straight to us, taking their sister with them.  The telegram which
+should have prepared us for their arrival, came about half an hour
+after we were all sitting down to tea.
+
+What a tea that was!  Father was, of course, away, having merely
+looked in to say good-bye to me and whisper, "Don't let the young
+rogues tire you, laddie; they can go upstairs to their own room.  I
+shall be back in time to carry you to bed if you stop up a little
+later than usual."
+
+Kathleen took me under her wing at once.  Her chair must be next to
+my sofa, and she must hand me everything I wanted.  We were all
+ready; I had taken one or two bites of bread and butter, and saw to
+my surprise that none of my cousins had begun eating.
+
+"Why are you waiting?" asked mother.
+
+"For grace," said Jack, the second boy.
+
+We had always been accustomed to say grace before and after dinner,
+but it never seemed to have entered our heads to say it at any other
+meals.  I glanced at mother.
+
+"Say it then, dear," she said, kindly, and Rupert said it; then they
+fell to and made a hearty tea.  From that day forward we never forgot
+to give thanks for every meal which was put before us.
+
+I don't think I ate much, for I was laughing so heartily.  It was
+quite a new phase of life to me, and my cousins seemed so possessed
+with the spirit of fun that it was quite infectious.
+
+"Now, auntie, where's our den?" said Rupert, when tea was over.
+"Father had a den in Sydney.  He called it his den, but it was the
+jolliest place in the house, except----"
+
+"Except when Rupert went into a rage and hit Harold, then father told
+him to meet him in his study, and you should have seen Rupert's
+face," interposed Jack.
+
+"Rupert ran away and hid under the tank," continued Kathleen, with a
+broad smile on her face.  "The clergyman was staying with us, and he
+went to fish him out.  Rupert saw him coming, and cried out, 'I say,
+Mr. Wilson, is father after you, too?'  You should have heard them
+laugh.  Of course Rupert didn't get his caning, so father's den is
+still the jolliest place in the house."
+
+"And so will ours be," was the general shout as they filed upstairs
+behind mother.
+
+The sunshine seemed gone out of the room when they left it.  I tried
+to go on with my reading, but I found myself listening for any sound
+from the tower room.  It was too far away, however, for me to hear
+anything but the loud bang of the door at the bottom of the little
+staircase, so I was obliged to go back to my book with a sigh.  It
+was not likely strong, healthy, rackety children would want poor
+sickly little me.
+
+"Bo!  Twopence for your thoughts, Edric.  Oh, did I hurt you?  I
+didn't know you would be really frightened.  What's the matter?"
+
+"It's nothing," I said, hastily, trying to breathe quietly again, and
+smiling at Rupert.  "You see I am so used to being alone that a
+sudden noise makes me jump."
+
+"I'm sorry," said Rupert, sitting on the edge of my sofa, and
+swinging his legs so violently that he almost made my teeth chatter.
+
+"What pretty hair you've got, Edric.  It is all wavy like mother's,
+and just the same colour.  You'd have made a splendid girl.  There,
+now, I've hurt you again, and I didn't mean to either.  You'll be a
+big man and a clever one some day, I expect; anyway, no one can call
+you carrots as they do me.  Halloa, Kathleen, what do you want?"
+
+"Let's carry Edric upstairs," said Kathleen; "he can tell us where to
+find things;" and, before I could say yes or no, they had taken me in
+their arms, so carefully, so tenderly, that after the first moment I
+was quite happy.
+
+"There, captain," said Jack, as they pulled the long chair into the
+middle of the room.  "Now we want your orders.  This is our castle,
+but what is a castle without fortifications?  You might as well have
+a plum pudding without any plums!  We've got to barricade this place,
+so that the enemy can't get in unless we wish it."
+
+"But if they can't get in, we can't get out," I said, hastily.
+
+"Of course we can, you owl!  What's the good of lovely windows like
+those, with old ivy climbing outside?  I've been down to the garden
+already that way," said Harold.
+
+"But Edric can't go in and out of the window," said Kathleen; "and I
+don't think I should care to very often; it is rather awkward with
+petticoats.  Let us fortify the castle, but we must do it so that we
+can go in and out if we wish.  Now, captain, tell us where to find
+wood."
+
+There was plenty to be had in the outhouses, and they worked so hard
+that they had made several rough defences for door and window before
+it was dark, and mother came up anxiously to look for me.
+
+"How ever did you get up here, darling?" she asked.
+
+"By the same way that he's going back, auntie," and as Rupert spoke
+my two cousins raised me in their arms and carried me as carefully as
+if I were made of egg-shell china.
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter III tailpiece]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter IV headpiece]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Fish or Fowl for Supper.
+
+
+It would take too long to tell you of all the things which happened
+in our den.  Little bits of fun which would sound nothing to you,
+were great events in my life.  I had lived so long on my invalid
+couch that both griefs and joys were intensified to me.
+
+I was too young to think such things; but if I had been older I
+should have asked myself very often, "Is this the same _me_ that used
+to lie reading for hours, and never left his sofa if he could help
+it?"  Why, I actually had forgotten to see what became of Rupert
+among the Redskins.  My four cousins were all so busy making the most
+of their holidays that I didn't seem to have time to breathe.
+Whatever they did, Edric must at least look on--if he would help, so
+much the better; so it ended in my seeing very little of my parents.
+Father still persisted in refusing to let the young savages have
+meals with him, though I felt sure, from the look he gave them when
+he happened to peep in our room, that he was getting to like them;
+and I overheard him once say to mother: "Our laddie looks fatter and
+brighter; I suppose it's those young scamps' doings.  I wish they had
+come before."
+
+"I'm sure they have done him good," said mother, heartily; "and they
+have done no harm to anyone, in spite of all the mischief you
+prophesied."
+
+"Wait and see," said father, grimly.  "That young Jack reminds me of
+a volcano; it looks quiet enough one minute, but it may swallow you
+up the next.  If they get through the holidays without an eruption,
+I'll give them a sovereign between them when I drive them to
+Colchester."
+
+Sudden news from London took father away that very evening, and
+hastened the explosion which he had prophesied.
+
+"Now, what shall we do this afternoon?" said Rupert the next day,
+when dinner was over and I had been carried by my two faithful
+bearers into the den.
+
+"I vote we go fishing," said Jack, proceeding to inspect my fishing
+rod and line.  "We have been here a fortnight and haven't been
+fishing once.  What do you say, captain?  Shall we be like the monks
+who hid in the old water mill, and fish for our dinner?  What's the
+matter? you look quite glum."
+
+"Of course he does," said Kathleen; "he doesn't wish to be left
+alone.  I'll stay with you, Edric."
+
+"Why shouldn't he go, too?" suggested Harold.  "It's a regular tub of
+a boat, rather different from the one we had at Sydney."
+
+"Perhaps your river was rather different from ours," I said,
+colouring at the slight cast upon my father's boat.  "You forget that
+this is a tidal river; there's only a small part of it fit for a boat
+at all at low water, and if there's much wind it runs like a
+racehorse just past our back-water to the bay."
+
+"All right, captain, we beg your boat's pardon, and as it is so big
+we will make good use of it.  You shall come out fishing with us,"
+said Rupert, marching out of the room as if he considered that his
+word was law, instead of mine.
+
+I know I was very naughty, but I had perfect confidence in my two
+bearers; and when Kathleen had tried to find mother all over the
+house and failed, I let my wishes silence my conscience and said,
+"All right, I'll come if you will put me in carefully; but mind, I
+don't know anything about boating."
+
+"Oh, Rupert knows enough for all of us.  Father says he can manage a
+boat as well as he can.  Let's get some food out of our cupboard and
+start at once."
+
+Our den was always well provided with eatables, so there was no
+difficulty on that score, and the dread of being stopped at the last
+moment made me hurry them all as much as possible.  I was quite
+relieved when Rupert appeared with my hat and a plaid.
+
+"We'll take this in case it gets cool.  Now, then, Kathleen.  Heave
+ahoy!"
+
+I was carried down those stairs more rapidly than I had ever been
+before.  I shut my eyes and bit my lips to avoid showing how
+frightened I was.  When I looked up I was in the bottom of the boat.
+Harold, with loving thoughtfulness, had put in some cushions, and I
+felt as comfortable as on my sofa.
+
+"Push her off, Jack."  Jack did it skilfully, and sprang in just as
+my heart came into my mouth for fear he should fall into the water.
+
+"Hurrah!" they all cried, at the top of their voices, but my cheer
+was a feeble one; I had caught sight of something in the bows, and if
+there is one thing I have hated all my life it is a gun.
+
+"What have you got that for?" I said to Rupert.
+
+"Always best to have two strings to your bow, captain.  If Jack can't
+catch any fish, then I'll shoot something; we must have either fish
+or fowl for supper to-night."
+
+"Did mother say you might have it?"
+
+Jack made a grimace, and said something about Rupert not being half
+as stupid as he looked; but I soon forgot all about the gun in my
+enjoyment of the water.  Rupert and Harold rowed well together, and
+Kathleen steered till we came to the main stream, when Jack put out
+his line.
+
+If fish can hear and understand, they certainly must have thought
+that there never was a noisier crew come out to look for them.  We
+laughed till we couldn't laugh any more, and our rowers had to rest
+on their oars to recover strength to pull them.
+
+"Just look!" said Jack, suddenly.  "There's a tiny footmark.  I
+should think that fellow wears nineteens."
+
+"Hold hard a minute, and let us trace them," said Rupert, leaning
+over the side.  "Talk of footprints in the snow, they are not half as
+beautiful as footprints in the mud under the river."
+
+He guided the boat skilfully, so that we followed the steps, till
+they went up the bank on the side nearest Craigstown.
+
+"The old fellow comes from there, then; I wonder where he goes, and
+where he comes from.  It's a queer sort of place to choose for an
+afternoon walk.  Halloa, what's that?  Push off quick, Jack, or we
+shall stick, and on the wrong side, too."
+
+[Illustration: "HE WAS THROWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE BOAT."]
+
+Jack sprang up, and put the oar down with a force which sent the boat
+out into the current again, but the next instant he fell.  He had
+overreached himself, the oar stuck, and he was thrown to the bottom
+of the boat.  There was consternation in every face for a moment.
+Rupert was the first to recover himself.  "Take that stretcher, Jack,
+and see what you can do to help me.  You will pull stronger than
+Harold.  I'll just turn her round and go home."
+
+It was very easy to say, but impossible to do; pull as they would
+they could only get the boat half round, so that she was more than
+ever in the power of the stream.
+
+I looked at Kathleen anxiously.  She was as white as her frock.
+
+"The tide has turned," she cried, "and we are going out to sea."
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter IV tailpiece]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter V headpiece]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Tied to the Bell Buoy.
+
+
+I expect I fainted, for when I looked at Kathleen again she was
+bathing my face and hands with sea water, and the shores were ever so
+much farther off than they had been.
+
+"Oh, Edric, what shall we do?  What will uncle and aunt say?  Are you
+better now?  What is the time, Rupert?"
+
+"Half-past four," said Rupert.  "The tide runs out six hours, so we
+can't be back any way before midnight."
+
+"Then I vote we have something to eat," said Jack, as usual the first
+to recover himself.  "I say, Rupert, is it any good fagging away with
+that oar to keep her in the middle of the stream?  Don't you think we
+might as well let her run aground?"
+
+Rupert was standing in the bows, guiding the boat as they do the
+gondolas in Venice, and looked tired and anxious.
+
+"I think we ought to go on," he said, quietly.  "Edric has never been
+on the water but once, and I want to get him home.  If we get
+stranded we are bound to stay till the tide comes up and floats us,
+and then there's a doubt whether we can get this heavy tub home with
+one oar.  I think our best chance is to go down with the stream, till
+we get into the bay.  Perhaps a boat will pass, and take us round to
+Craigstown."
+
+"We could easily drive home from there at low water," said I, trying
+to speak cheerily, though I felt fearful.  What a different party we
+were then, as the boat went swiftly down the river, widening and
+widening every moment.
+
+"Now, captain, your eyes are good, whatever your legs and arms may
+be.  Just keep a sharp look out, and shout 'Ship, ahoy!' the instant
+you see anything."
+
+"What's that?" cried Harold, suddenly.  "I heard a bell.  I say,
+isn't it getting rough; don't pitch me overboard, please.  You'd
+better sit down, Rupert, or you'll take a header.  There's no one
+here to fish you out, and there isn't a towel on board.  Stewardess,
+you'll please to take a month's notice for forgetting them."
+
+With such little jokes we tried to hide the fear which sat heavily on
+every heart.
+
+"There it is again," said Kathleen, looking eagerly around.  "It
+sounds like a bell."
+
+I raised myself on my elbow.  "It must be the bell buoy," I
+exclaimed.  "I have heard father talk about it.  It is a great big
+buoy, painted red and white.  There's a bell on the top, and four
+hammers which swing up against it with the waves."
+
+"Is there danger there?" said Rupert, standing up again, and grasping
+his oar.
+
+"Not for us, I think.  I almost forget; but I think father said it
+was put to show the steamers their course when they are up the
+Chiswell to Barford."
+
+"What! is there another river up there?  No wonder we have such a
+tossing.  There's the bell again--we must be getting nearer to it.
+There it is.  Ship, ahoy!  Why didn't you shout, captain?"
+
+We were making straight for the bell buoy, but I saw that we were
+also making straight for the open sea.  In an instant a prayer came
+to my lips, and I said aloud: "Oh, God, show us what we ought to do."
+
+Like a direct answer from Heaven, which we all believed it was,
+Kathleen said, "Tie the boat to the buoy, Rupert."
+
+In the excitement, eager to help, eager to see, I raised myself to my
+knees, and then dropped back; I had never done so much in my life
+before.
+
+It was a terrible moment of suspense, and then Rupert almost fell
+into Kathleen's arms.
+
+"Bravo!" she cried; "you've done it, darling."
+
+He had tied the painter skilfully round the iron frame which
+supported the bell.
+
+"Yes, it's done, dear; the question is, how long will the rope last.
+It isn't like being moored to a tree at the side of a river.  Oh!
+I'm tired, I must rest a moment; you two look out, and signal if you
+see any vessel."
+
+As he spoke he kicked something.
+
+"What a set of idiots we are," said Jack, crawling carefully along
+the bottom of the boat, which was pitching in a manner fearful to
+describe.
+
+"Here's the gun; let's fire it till someone sees us."
+
+A bang, a flash, a sharp pain in my hand, and a cry of misery.  Shall
+I ever forget those few minutes?  I didn't know where I was hurt at
+first; but the marvel was we were not all turned into the sea as my
+cousins rushed to me.  If our boat had not been, as Jack said, a
+regular old tub, you would never have read this tale, for I should
+never have written it.
+
+The bullet had just grazed my left hand and carried away my little
+finger.  Of course, I have missed it very often since, and groaned
+over the pain then; but if I had to go through that afternoon's
+experience again, I would certainly still let that bullet work its
+mischief.  Care for me, staunching the blood, and tearing
+handkerchiefs into strips to stop the circulation at the wrist, which
+idea I had gathered from various books of war and bloodshed, all took
+time and distracted our thoughts for a while from the danger which
+threatened us all.
+
+"I see a boat!" said Harold, with a gasp of joy.
+
+"Give me the gun, quick," cried Rupert.  "Don't be frightened, Edric;
+I won't hurt you.  It is our only hope."  Bang, bang, bang--three
+shots in the air as quickly as possible.
+
+[Illustration: "DON'T BE FRIGHTENED, EDRIC.  IT IS OUR ONLY HOPE."]
+
+"She sees us, she's turning this way," we cried, with voices in which
+tears and joy struggled for the mastery.
+
+But we were not yet out of danger.  Even as we uttered that cry, we
+gave another.
+
+"Look! the rope is broken.  We are adrift!"
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter V tailpiece]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter VI headpiece]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Punishment and Escape.
+
+
+It was ten o'clock when we were driven through the gates of our home.
+Father had only just returned from London, so he had been spared the
+long hours of agony which mother had passed after missing us at the
+usual tea hour.
+
+What a miserable party we must have looked as one by one we got out
+of the cart.  Of course, I was last; and as father lifted me in his
+arms, he caught sight of my hand, which had been bandaged by the
+doctor at Craigstown, and was now in a sling.
+
+"It's only my little finger, father," I said; "I shan't miss it."
+Then I remembered that, of course, he knew nothing that had happened,
+and said no more.  No prisoners in the dock ever felt more wretched
+than we did, as we stood in the dining-room wondering what would be
+our fate.  My gentle mother came to the rescue.
+
+"I'm sure you must all be starved; eat your supper first, and then
+tell us what you have been doing."
+
+I tried to eat; but every mouthful seemed to choke me, and mother's
+sorrowful look at my maimed hand, and tenderly whispered words of
+love were almost too much for me to bear.  I felt how wicked I had
+been to give her such pain as she must have borne since she went
+upstairs and found our den empty, then heard from one of the farm
+labourers that he had seen us in the boat.
+
+My cousins were stronger in mind and body than I was; and although
+they looked conscience-stricken enough, they managed to eat a hearty
+supper.  When the things were cleared away, father put down his
+newspaper, and called us to account.
+
+"Now, what have you to say for yourselves?" he asked, in a stern
+voice.
+
+I looked up and began to speak, but Rupert stepped forward and
+silenced me.
+
+"I'm the eldest," he said, "and all the blame is mine.  I'll tell you
+about it, sir."
+
+Something in the honest face, now pale with fatigue and excitement,
+yet made noble by its fearless expression, seemed to touch us all.
+
+"You'd better sit down," said father, less sternly; but Rupert took
+no notice.  With eager words, which seemed to come rushing out, he
+described our adventures as far as you know them.
+
+"When the rope broke," he continued, "I thought it was all up with
+us.  Edric fainted for the second time, and I thought he was dead.  I
+knelt down then and prayed God to forgive me for what I had done, and
+let me die, too, and to take the others safe home; but the fishing
+smack came along almost directly, and one of the sailors caught hold
+of our boat.  They lifted us all into their boat; and we lay down
+amongst the fishes and nets and lines, and went to sleep, I believe,
+till they landed us at Craigstown pier.  One man, Philip they called
+him, took Edric to the doctor to have his hand done.  It had begun
+bleeding again almost directly we got in the boat; but Philip bound
+it up splendidly.  Then we got into that cart, and here we are.  I
+don't know what you mean to do to us, uncle; but I'd like to tell you
+we are all bitterly sorry, and will go back to school tomorrow if you
+wish it."
+
+"That won't put Edric's finger on again, or cure his back if you have
+hurt it by those hours of exposure.  Do you know he hardly ever goes
+out except in the long perambulator, which is pushed as gently as
+possible?"
+
+"Please, uncle," said Jack, who had been fretting at the long silence
+to which Rupert had condemned him, "I don't think we did him any
+harm, except about his finger.  He knelt up in the boat once."
+
+"Perhaps you'll try to make me believe that he can do better with
+nine fingers than ten.  Well, you can go to bed now.  I cannot send
+you back to school because Mr. Barton has gone abroad and there is no
+one there, so you will have to remain here for the rest of the
+holidays.  You have prepared means of barricading your tower-room; I
+shall use them on the outside instead of your using them on the
+inside.  You will be locked in there for two days.  Your meals will
+be brought to you, and you will be let out to go to bed; but until
+Thursday night you are my prisoners; and I expect you to be
+honourable ones."  Father glanced at Rupert as he spoke; but Rupert
+made no sign.
+
+"Will Edric come, too?" asked Kathleen.
+
+"Not exactly.  I think he has been punished enough.  You will not see
+Edric till you are released from prison.  You can all go now;
+good-night."
+
+With bent heads and dejected steps my cousins left the room, but
+mother went after them; and I heard afterwards that she did not say
+good-night to them till she had joined them in asking God's
+forgiveness, and in thanking Him for the great mercy shown to us all.
+
+What a wretched day the next one was for me.  I could not read, and I
+hardly felt inclined to talk even to mother.  I thought of the
+prisoners in the tower-room, and wondered what they were doing.  The
+day was so long, and my hand was rather painful, so that at last when
+tea-time came I felt quite cross and miserable.
+
+"Don't you think I might go upstairs for a few minutes," I said to
+mother when she came in with her bonnet on; "it's so dull."
+
+"I am sorry, darling, I must go out, but I shall not be gone more
+than half-an-hour.  Here's a book you have not read.  The time will
+soon pass, and you will be able to go upstairs again; but you must
+not disobey father."
+
+I did try to read, but I could not.  I was not quite happy, because I
+felt that there was something unfair in my cousins being punished and
+my being let off with only a finger less.  At last I turned round on
+my sofa and had what Jack called "a little weep."
+
+A light touch on my shoulder startled me--Jack stood by my side.
+
+"Oh Jack! how could you?" I whispered; "you have broken your word of
+honour."
+
+"That's what Rupert says, so he is sticking up in that room, fretting
+himself to fiddle strings.  I never promised anything, and so I'm not
+bound to stay there.  I nearly broke my neck corning down, my foot
+caught in the ivy.  But what do you think I found out?  There's a
+regular ladder up to one of the windows on the side that looks
+towards the water-mill."
+
+"A ladder!  Nonsense; how could a ladder be there without our seeing
+it?"
+
+"Oh! you matter-of-fact creature.  I don't mean a ladder of wood or a
+ladder of rope thirty yards long.  I found that there were little
+places cut in the bricks just to put your toes in.  I counted six of
+them; but there was a noise, and I didn't dare to count any more.
+How are you, old man?  They all want to know badly; they seem to
+think we had almost killed you, but I know better--I believe we did
+you good.  I must go now; if uncle found me here he'd eat me."
+
+"Wait a minute.  What did you say about those steps?  I wonder
+whether----  Do you know both our servants left last year because
+they said the place was haunted?  Of course it was all rubbish,
+because there are no such things as ghosts, but nothing that mother
+could say would make them happy; they said if it wasn't ghosts it was
+burglars or smugglers, and off they went."
+
+"What a joke!" said Jack, standing close to the window; "that's the
+way the ghost went up and down, then.  Hush! who in the world is
+that?  There's somebody in white creeping among the rhododendron
+bushes.  I'm off.  Cooee, cooee!"
+
+The Australian cry sounded weird enough, and I gasped for breath as I
+saw Jack's figure disappear at full speed among the rhododendrons.
+An instant afterwards there was a scream, and then dead silence.
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter VI tailpiece]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter VII headpiece]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+The Mysterious Visitor.
+
+
+If any one had told me I was a coward, I should have been very
+indignant, and I think rightly so; but I must confess that I lay and
+trembled, as I looked through the open window, and wondered who had
+screamed and what was the matter.  The steps in the wall, the white
+figure skulking among the bushes, and finally the scream; was that
+not enough material wherewith to make a very nice little chapter of
+horrors?  Never had I so much regretted my helplessness.  If I had
+only been able to walk, nothing would have prevented my going
+upstairs and telling Rupert that I thought Jack had got into trouble;
+as it was, I could only exercise my brains for some other way to let
+him know.
+
+Mother came in just then, and exclaimed at my white face.  That was
+the best thing that could have happened.  I made her promise not to
+get Jack into further trouble, and then I told her all about it.  She
+went into the garden at once, and found him lying on the ground
+writhing with pain, with his foot caught in a man-trap, which he had
+himself found in the loft the day before, and put in the path out of
+mischief, and then forgotten to remove it.
+
+Cautioning him not to struggle, for he would only make the pain
+greater and get more firmly fixed, she ran to find father, who came
+with some men to release the prisoner.
+
+[Illustration: "FATHER CAME WITH SOME MEN TO RELEASE THE PRISONER."]
+
+Father then carried him into the room where I was lying, and put him
+on a sofa near me.  "It has broken your ankle, I'm afraid," he said,
+examining Jack's foot carefully.  "Send George for the doctor at
+once, Mary."  Then poor father walked up and down the room as if he
+were worried almost out of his mind.
+
+"I was after the ghost," said Jack, presently, in a timid voice; "I
+was creeping behind him, and was just close up when my foot was
+gripped by that thing.  I believe I screamed once; if so, he heard
+me, and won't come again."
+
+"Don't talk such nonsense," said mother, who had returned by this
+time.  "There are no such things as ghosts."
+
+"Of course, I know that," said Jack, recovering a little of his usual
+spirit.  "The ghost I was after wore a white mackintosh coat and a
+pair of big sailor's boots.  I wonder--oh, Edric, do you remember the
+footmarks in the mud?"
+
+"What of them?" said father, sternly.  "Do you remember, young
+gentleman, that you are a prisoner, and have no business at all out
+of that room; and here you are with a broken ankle talking nonsense
+about ghosts and footmarks in the mud.  Why did you leave the tower
+when I told you not to do so?"
+
+"For two reasons, uncle.  First, I wanted to see Edric.  You see we
+all like Edric, and we felt----" a little pause, and Jack seemed to
+choke; "we felt sorry about yesterday.  I dreamt of fingers all
+night, uncle, indeed I did--covered with blood, too."
+
+"Go on," said father, gravely.
+
+"Well, we wanted to know how Edric was.  The servant who brought our
+meals was as dumb as any old monk who had promised never to speak, so
+we couldn't get anything out of her.  I was standing by the window at
+about eight o'clock, wondering whether I dared climb down the ivy and
+run round to the dining-room to see Edric, when all of a sudden I saw
+something moving in the bushes.  I put my head out without saying a
+word to the others, who were all busy writing to tell father and
+mother how naughty we have been; and what do you think I saw?  A man,
+in a white coat and sailor's slouch hat, beginning to climb up the
+ivy.  I waited till he had got half-way up, and then I sneezed; like
+this."  Jack sneezed so naturally that we all laughed.  "That's the
+way I get the windows shut at school if it's cold.  Mother told Mr.
+Barton to be particularly careful that we didn't catch cold; so when
+we want the windows shut I just keep on sneezing till he does it."
+
+"What happened next?" asked father, speaking in his natural manner
+for the first time since our escapade.
+
+Jack's sensitive nature felt the change at once.  "You should have
+seen him," he said, brightly.  "He dropped down like a cat, and
+bolted."
+
+"Did he look up?"
+
+"I don't know.  I took my head in quick, for fear he might owe me one
+if he should ever see me again.  I waited a minute, and then climbed
+down after him.  I couldn't see him anywhere, so I went to look at
+Edric."
+
+Now, although I have told you all that my cousin said without any
+breaks, you must remember he had a broken ankle, and many times he
+stopped in great pain in the middle of a sentence.  Father noticed
+this; and as soon as he had heard all that he required, he put his
+hand on Jack's head and told him to lie quietly till the doctor came.
+
+"You can't think of all the dreadful things I was going to do to
+you," he said.  "You will learn some day that everything we do wrong
+brings its own punishment.  It does not come perhaps directly, as
+Edric's lost finger and your broken ankle did; but it does come, my
+boy."
+
+"But he wanted to help you, father," I said, hastily, sorry that my
+hero should be looked upon as a culprit.
+
+"That was right enough, laddie; but he set to work the wrong way.  It
+is no use doing evil that good may come; good never does come in the
+end from such work.  He should have obeyed me first, and helped me
+afterwards."
+
+It was a bit of a puzzle to me then; but now that I am older, I know
+that father was right.  As it was, I am afraid that I was not as
+grieved about Jack's broken ankle as I should have been.  For the
+next few days, at all events, I knew he would be my constant
+companion, for he would lie on the sofa near me.
+
+Nothing more was said by my parents about our mysterious visitor,
+though, of course, Jack and I were never tired of talking about him.
+We made him out to be everything in turns, from a Russian nobleman to
+a London burglar in disguise.
+
+Thursday evening came, and brought welcome release to the other
+prisoners in the tower-room; and on Friday morning my two bearers
+came and carried me off to the den, where we talked till it was a
+wonder our tongues did not ache.
+
+They had heard nothing about the cause of Jack's accident, and great
+was their amazement when they were told of the stranger who knew so
+well the way to the tower-room.
+
+"How long is it since this room was used?" asked Rupert.
+
+"It has never been used that I can remember," I replied.  "Mother
+thought it would make a good playroom for you because it is so far
+away.  When I first came into it with her, it was thick with dust,
+and had nothing in it but that oak chest and this chair."
+
+"Then I'll be bound that man knows more about it than you do," said
+Rupert.  "You'll find out some day; I only hope it will be whilst we
+are here."
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter VII tailpiece]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter VIII headpiece]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+The Oak Chest.
+
+
+The mysterious visitor was forgotten, my hand had healed, and Jack's
+ankle was in a fair way to recovery, when a letter arrived from Mr.
+Barton to say that, owing to his wife's death, he felt he could not
+return to Bath.  He had taken a house at Brighton, but the necessary
+business of moving would make it impossible for him to receive his
+pupils at the time fixed.  He hoped, therefore, that my father would
+not object to keeping the boys a fortnight longer.
+
+With what a shout the letter was welcomed!  I glanced anxiously at
+father; he did not look half as displeased as I thought he would.
+"Can you make yourselves happy till the beginning of September?" he
+asked.
+
+"Just give us the chance, uncle.  We will let you see what we can do.
+But what about Kathleen?  We can't let her go before us?"  Rupert
+looked at me with a mysterious sign.
+
+"No, please father, don't send her away yet.  I want her
+particularly."
+
+"Mischief again?" said father, just catching my knowing look across
+at Kathleen.  "I should have thought you had enough of getting into
+trouble by this time."
+
+"It isn't mischief, father," I cried.  "It's good, it's a beautiful
+secret, it's----" then I broke down and burst into tears.
+
+It was only then, I think, that my parents realized that I had not
+done such a thing lately.
+
+"Why, laddie," said father, soothing me gently, "I haven't seen any
+tears since the invasion of the Goths and Vandals.  Here, young
+Alaric, carry him off, and bring back the smiles.  Of course,
+Kathleen shall stay as long as you do, but I warn you"--and here
+father's face became very grave--"you have risked my son's life once,
+you had better not do it twice."
+
+Harold was going to make some reply; but Rupert put his hand hastily
+over his mouth, and swung him out of the room before he and Kathleen
+came to lift me.
+
+Whether it was that his foot was much better, or that Jack was
+delighted at the thought of spending a fortnight more than he
+expected at the Island Farm, I do not know; but he seemed that day to
+be possessed of twice his usual spirits.  Of course, he was not
+allowed to put his foot to the ground; but it was cased in plaster of
+Paris, and he managed to hop with the help of a stick if he really
+wished to move.
+
+"Now, commodore," said I, at last--for we had pretended he had been
+wounded in battle--"I wish you would keep still, you give me the
+fidgets; I know you'll damage that foot again; and you do look so
+queer hopping about like a wounded stork.  I might as well try to get
+about--I believe I should do it as well."
+
+"So you will, old fellow, only not just yet.  Rub, rub, rub, scrub,
+scrub, scrub, Kathleen, and then he will go like a bird."
+
+"Do keep still," said Rupert, presently.  "I've tried three times to
+make a straight line on this piece of wood, and each time you've
+shaken the table.  What do you want?  Tell me, and I'll get it; but
+don't keep bobbing about like a lame duck."
+
+"That oak chest is bothering me," said Jack, coming to an anchor at
+last, with his bad foot on the chest itself.  "What's inside of it."
+
+"How should I know?  You heard Edric say it was here when he first
+came up.  I expect it has old clothes in it.  Curiosity killed a cat;
+and when you know that a cat has nine lives, you can see what a
+deadly poison curiosity must be.  It's a glorious bench to carpenter
+on; and it makes a good place to lie on, if you are fearfully tired
+and don't mind pretending you are on a stone bench."
+
+"And it would be a splendid place to----"
+
+"To what?" we all asked, looking up at Jack.
+
+"Never you mind; I know what I know, and I'm not going to tell
+anybody."
+
+But, unfortunately, he did tell somebody, and that was Harold, who
+was the very last person who should have been told.
+
+A few days afterwards Jack was not well--it was merely a passing
+indisposition, headache and cold; but as there was so much difficulty
+in keeping him quiet when he was up, mother thought it best to make
+him stay in bed.  My parents were both going to spend the afternoon
+and evening at a friend's house, and so my cousins were told that
+they need not keep only to their den; they might have the run of the
+house, if they would promise to do nothing which they knew was wrong,
+and not to go outside at all, in case they might be tempted to
+mischief.
+
+"We promise," said Rupert, gravely, and father knew he could trust
+him.
+
+They carried me into Jack's room directly we were left alone, and
+there a certain mysterious operation went on, which had occupied us
+for half an hour twice a day during the last few weeks.  A little
+reading, a good deal of talking, and then Jack said his head was
+worse; so we all retreated into the dining-room, and wondered what we
+should play at.
+
+"I know," said Kathleen.  "We have permission to go anywhere; let's
+have a game of hide-and-seek.  I believe you'd take half an hour to
+find me, there are so many ins and outs, and ups and downs."
+
+Of course, I could not join in that game, so I begged them to carry
+me back into Jack's room, where I lay reading, sometimes aloud,
+sometimes to myself, till, to my great delight, I saw him fall asleep.
+
+From time to time I could hear a merry peal of laughter in the
+distance, or the quiet footsteps of someone running past the door in
+search of a hiding-place.  The sounds pleased me, and then I began to
+wonder whether I should ever be able to join in such a game.  Four
+weeks ago I should have laughed at the bare idea of such a thing; but
+now, things had changed.  My cousins had brought fresh vigour to my
+mind; and if all were true that they told me, there seemed a hope
+that they might be the means of bringing new strength to my body.
+
+I lay building castles in the air after a fashion quite new to me.  I
+had got as far as walking to church with mother on my arm when I was
+a young man, when suddenly the door was pushed gently open, and
+Rupert whispered, "Have you seen Harold?"
+
+"No; he has not been here."
+
+"I told you he must have gone outside," said Kathleen, peeping over
+his shoulder.
+
+"Not he," replied Rupert.  "Don't you remember we all three promised
+we would not go out of the house?  He must be somewhere inside? let's
+hunt again."
+
+Half an hour passed, and then my cousins came back.  I signalled to
+them that Jack was still asleep, and they could take me out of the
+room.
+
+"We can't find him anywhere," said Rupert, as they carried me
+downstairs.
+
+"Don't be anxious," I replied.  "He must have gone outside; he will
+come back when he finds you do not go after him.  Or shall you go
+into the garden to look for him?"
+
+Rupert looked at me in amazement.
+
+"Didn't I tell you we all promised not to go out?" he said.  "I don't
+believe Harold is outside; if he is, I'll never speak to him again."
+
+Of course, we laughed at the hasty speech which had ended in a
+promise that the speaker would certainly never keep.  But by-and-by,
+as the light began to fade, and Harold made no appearance, we grew
+anxious about him.
+
+"Supper will bring him; he will be tired and hungry by that time," we
+said; but we had finished our supper when the door was pushed open,
+and Jack entered in dressing-gown and slippers.
+
+"Jane says you have been playing hide-and-seek, and have lost Harold.
+Have you looked in the oak chest for him?"
+
+"The oak chest?" we all repeated, with a terrified gasp.  "If he has
+been shut in there for a couple of hours he will be dead!"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter IX headpiece]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+The Mystery Deepens.
+
+
+Never had I longed so eagerly to walk, as I did that evening when all
+three cousins ran out of the room in pursuit of their missing
+brother.  I had not really been anxious before, for Harold, although
+only nine years old, was well able to take care of himself, and I had
+only regretted that he would probably get into trouble again with
+father for disobedience.  It never entered my head that he could
+possibly be hidden in the house, far less that he should be in the
+oak chest, which for all I knew was locked up.
+
+The housemaid coming in just then, I begged her to carry me up to the
+tower-room, putting aside for the moment the fear I had always had,
+before my cousins came, of trusting myself to any one but father.
+
+When we reached our den the children were standing by the chest,
+which was open, and was empty.
+
+"He has been here," said Rupert; "see how the things are pressed
+down."
+
+"I don't believe he could get in," said I; "it isn't long enough."
+
+But my doubts were silenced by Kathleen stooping and lifting from one
+corner a handkerchief stained with blood, which was still wet.
+
+"This is Harold's!" she cried.  "Whatever has happened to him!"
+
+"His nose has been bleeding," said Jack, promptly; "you know it often
+does.  It would be enough to make a mummy's nose bleed to be shut up
+in that old chest.  I wish I had never told him what a splendid place
+it would be to hide in.  It seems I'm always to be at the bottom of
+the mischief.  We shouldn't have gone in that boat if I had not
+suggested fishing, and Edric would still have had five fingers on
+each hand if I hadn't fired the gun.  Now poor old Harold will get
+into a scrape for hiding so long, just because I went and showed him
+how the spring of the chest worked, after I had ferreted it out
+myself.  Halloa, what are you about, Rupert?  Don't kill me; I didn't
+mean any harm."
+
+Rupert had suddenly sprung at Jack, and seizing him by the arm almost
+screamed out--
+
+"Spring, did you say?  Then it can't be opened from the inside."
+
+In another moment Rupert had flung out the few odds and ends of old
+clothing which were in the bottom of the chest, and sprang into it;
+as he did so, his heels made a strange, hollow sound, which caught my
+attention.  He was rather tall for his age, and had to double himself
+up in a way that would have delighted the heart of his gymnasium
+master before he could say--
+
+"Now shut it down, quick, and I'll see if I can open it; but mind you
+undo the spring directly I give three knocks."
+
+Of course, he could do nothing; the box could only be opened from the
+outside by pressing the springs.  We were glad enough to reply, to
+his signal, and release the prisoner.  Then we all stood with puzzled
+faces looking at the open chest.
+
+"What have you been up to?" said a cheery voice, and never were we
+more relieved to see my mother.  She listened gravely and quietly to
+our account.
+
+"If he has really been in that box, and the handkerchief certainly
+seems to prove it, then some one must have got him out.  Perhaps one
+of the servants did.  Let us go and inquire.  You had better all come
+downstairs; you look as white as the miller.  There's nothing much to
+be frightened at, after all.  If Harold were able to get out of the
+chest, he certainly was not smothered.  As to his nose bleeding, you
+know that won't hurt him.  Perhaps he is asleep in bed; have you
+looked?"
+
+"We've ransacked every room in the house, and the servants have not
+seen him since six o'clock."
+
+Ten o'clock came, and with his usual punctuality father sounded the
+gong for prayers.  He insisted on doing it with the outer doors wide
+open, so that if Harold were within earshot, he would be reminded
+that it was bedtime.  I had never been up to evening prayers before;
+and as I lay with my hands clasped, I looked out for a moment to the
+calm summer sky.  There was a glorious moon, which made a path of
+silver among the rhododendron bushes.  It all looked very beautiful,
+and my heart joined with delight in the words of thanksgiving which
+father was speaking.  Then he went on to pray that we might all be
+guarded through the night; I thought of Harold, and said, Amen.  I
+had said my prayers night and morning ever since I was old enough to
+know Who it was to whom I owed everything, but I am sure I had never
+really prayed before.  A change came over me that evening; God seemed
+nearer to me, I seemed nearer to Him, and I realised fully for the
+first time that He was my loving Father and King.
+
+My eyes were closed for a moment in earnest, silent prayer; when I
+opened them again--could it possibly be fancy?--I thought I saw a
+figure going swiftly down the rhododendron path.
+
+"The ghost!" I cried, not waiting till the family were off their
+knees; "there's Jack's ghost again!"
+
+Father ran out of the window; but, of course, as he had not seen the
+mysterious visitor when he came before, he did not know which way he
+went, and turned to the left.  That gave the man a start; and
+although I called out to father which way to go, he did not succeed
+in finding any one.
+
+We all waited in intense excitement till father came back; and then
+the finishing touch to our evening was given by our young coachman
+coming in with a broad grin on his face, without even waiting to
+knock at the door.
+
+"If you please, mum, Master Harold's sitting on my bed.  I think he's
+summat light-headed, for he keeps on asking how he got there, and
+declares that he was in the oak chest and couldn't get out.  Do you
+mind coming to see him, mum?"
+
+Robert had been out all the evening with my parents, and had only had
+time to attend to the horse and put the carriage away when the gong
+sounded for prayers, so he had not been in his room, which was above
+the coach-house, since he dressed at four o'clock.  Rupert and
+Kathleen did a dance of delight round the table; while Jack, who was
+still attired in his dressing-gown, had to content himself with
+playing the castanets with his fingers and whistling.
+
+"What a funny go," he cried, when his brother and sister had dropped
+breathless into the one big armchair.  "Listen!  What do you say to
+my ghost being the one who rescued him?  If so, he must have left
+Robert's room when you saw him, Edric.  Oh dear, what a thing it is
+to feel like a bottle of ginger beer, and yet have to behave as if
+you were as flat as ditch water, owing to your stupid foot."  Then,
+with his usual sensitiveness, Jack felt that he had said something
+which might hurt me, and hastened to mend it.
+
+"That's my own fault, isn't it, Edric?  And that's just why it's
+harder to bear.  Virtue is its own reward, they say, and so is
+wickedness.  Here he comes!  'I've waited long for you, my man; Oh,
+welcome safe to land,'" he sang, gently, as Harold came in, holding
+mother's hand and looking rather bewildered.
+
+"Now, young man," said father, "give an account of yourself.  What do
+you mean by disobeying me and going out of the house when you
+promised not, and harrowing the hearts of your brothers and sister
+and all your relations?"
+
+"Please, uncle, I didn't go out of the house," said Harold, earnestly.
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter IX tailpiece]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter X headpiece]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+How the Stranger Helped.
+
+
+"Curiouser and curiouser," quoted Jack, from Alice in Wonderland; but
+we were all too astonished to laugh at his droll face.  "I specs he
+walked in his sleep."
+
+Harold looked angrily at his elder brother.  "I promised I would not
+go out of the house, and I didn't."
+
+"Coach-house doesn't count, I suppose," remarked Rupert, who was, I
+fancy, a little annoyed by the uneasiness we had all felt.
+
+"Don't tease him, my boy," said father, kindly; "let him tell his
+story in his own fashion."
+
+Thus encouraged, Harold sat down, and told us that he had got into
+the oak chest to hide.
+
+"I thought, of course, that you would hear me when I called, but you
+didn't seem to come into that room at all."
+
+"We did go there," said Kathleen; "but you know there is no place to
+hide there but the cupboard, and that had been left wide open by
+Rupert when he hid there at the beginning of the game.  So we just
+ran up the stairs, put our heads in and saw that the room and
+cupboard were empty, and then ran off to what we thought were more
+likely places."
+
+"Then that's why I did not hear your footsteps.  The wood must be
+fearfully thick.  I lay still till I began to feel suffocated, and
+then I tried to get out.  I tried and tried, I pushed with my hands,
+then I lay on my back and pressed with my knees and kicked with my
+feet.  It wasn't a bit of good, I only hurt myself and got more
+choky.  Then my nose began to bleed, and I gave up trying, and lay
+with my face to the side of the chest.  Oh, it was horrible, auntie!
+I thought that I should die; and I wondered how long you would be
+before you found me, and what poor father and mother would say when
+they heard about it."
+
+"There, there, don't pile it on," said Jack, rubbing his hand across
+his eyes; "tell us how you got out, that's what we want to know.
+Anyone could get in and be choked; but it's a regular Maskelyne and
+Cooke's dodge to get out again instead."
+
+"I can't tell you, I don't remember anything till I woke up in bed in
+a strange room.  I know now it was Robert's.  Your new man gave me a
+sandwich and something out of a little bottle, and I----"
+
+"My new man?" repeated father, with his eyes wide open.  "Why, I
+haven't one in the place that has been here less than five years."
+
+"Oh! perhaps I made a mistake," said Harold, rather wearily; "I
+didn't know his face, so I thought he must be a stranger.  He had a
+white coat on like a coachman, and----"
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Jack, "my mysterious stranger went to the rescue.
+Could he talk English, Harold?  Was he very furious?"
+
+"He was very kind; but he didn't speak once, I remember.  He bathed
+my face with water out of Robert's basin, and I noticed that he kept
+looking out of the window.  Then I heard a noise like a bell; and he
+went to the window, stood there a minute, then he waved his hand to
+me, and unlocked the door and went."
+
+"Why had he locked the door?"
+
+"How can I tell?"
+
+"How did you see all this in the dark?"
+
+"The moon shone right in at the window.  I don't know who the man
+was, if uncle says he was not one of the servants; but I'm very
+tired, and don't want to talk any more."
+
+So we all were; but I am afraid if there had been any one sleeping in
+my little room I should have talked all night about our mysterious
+stranger.
+
+The next morning things went on much as usual, till Kathleen and
+Rupert came to carry me upstairs.  Then you would have laughed if you
+could have heard all the wild guesses we made as to the identity of
+our strange visitor.
+
+"Let's have a good look at that chest," said Rupert, when Kathleen
+had declared she had done with it for the present.
+
+"Your heels made a very queer sound in it last night, Rupert," I
+said.  "Only for pity's sake let somebody sit on the edge of it
+whilst it is open.  I don't want you to be guillotined or smothered."
+
+Harold perched himself in such a manner that the lid could not
+possibly fall, and dangled his legs against the side.  It was a
+wonderful old chest, and we have it still in our house.  It is made
+of black oak, is just five feet long, and about two feet wide.
+
+"I know," said Rupert, presently, springing out of the box.  "Where's
+the foot rule?"
+
+"What's the joke now?" said Harold.  "Are you going to measure it to
+see if there's room for the mysterious stranger to hide in?"
+
+"That's it," exclaimed Rupert, disdaining to answer his brother's
+remark.  "That's it.  There's a false bottom to it.  Look! it
+measures twenty inches inside and twenty-five outside.  Let's break
+it open; we shall find a treasure, perhaps.  No wonder my heels
+rattled when I got in last night."
+
+"If it rattles," said Jack, sagaciously, "there isn't much inside.
+But let's see if we can open it."
+
+They pushed and knocked in turns, but it was useless; they only grew
+tired and cross.
+
+For once my studious life gave me an advantage over them.  I
+remembered that in all the wonderful tales I had read of hidden
+chambers and secret drawers, there was no force required to open
+them.  I reminded my cousins of this.  "There's some little trick
+about it; some panel or hidden spring.  You will be more likely to
+find it just when you least expect."
+
+"Get along, you stupid old thing," said Harold, losing patience; "I'm
+sick of you."  As he spoke he sprang from his perch and administered
+a kick to the obstinate box.  Kathleen was holding the lid on the
+opposite side, and saw the bottom of the box move.
+
+"Look, look," she cried, "it is opening!"
+
+It did not spring up, it merely stood just enough away from the box
+for Rupert to put his fingers under it and lift it out bodily.  A low
+groan of disappointment escaped us all.  They had pulled my chair
+close to the chest, and I was able to look into it as well, and
+certainly shared in the groan.  I can't say what we had expected.  It
+may have been gold, it may have been treasures of another kind.  Most
+certainly we none of us had expected to see a few packets of papers,
+yellow with age, and covered with dust.
+
+So engrossed had we been that we had not noticed a step in the room;
+and when Rupert raised himself from the chest with a bundle of papers
+in his hand, declaring he would take them to uncle, my blood seemed
+to stand still and my heart almost to jump into my mouth when a
+voice, with a strong French accent, said--
+
+"Not too fast, young gentleman; those papers belong to me."
+
+[Illustration: "NOT TOO FAST, YOUNG GENTLEMAN; THOSE PAPERS BELONG TO
+ME."]
+
+By the side of my couch, almost touching me, stood the man whom we
+had named Jack's Ghost!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter XI headpiece]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A Day of Surprises.
+
+
+"Are you better, now?" said the stranger, laying his hand on Harold's
+shoulder.
+
+"Yes, thank you," replied Harold, jerking himself away, while Rupert
+gave expression to what we all felt and thought.
+
+"I wish you'd go about like other people, instead of sneaking up the
+sides of walls."  As he spoke he went to the window.  "Uncle George!"
+he shouted at the top of his voice.  An answer came from a distance.
+"Make haste up here, there's a man who wants to see you."
+
+"I pity him if he is in your den," father called out merrily, after
+about two minutes during which time we had all been perfectly silent,
+Kathleen and Harold keeping a strict guard over the chest by sitting
+on it.
+
+It seemed to me a fearful time before father's footstep sounded on
+the stairs.  I almost expected to see the stranger bolt out of the
+window, but he did not.  He stood as still as if he had been cut in
+marble, until the door opened, and father entered with some joke on
+his lips which was never uttered.
+
+The mysterious stranger took his hat from his head, and father gazed
+at him for one brief second, then held out both his hands.
+
+[Illustration: "FATHER GAZED AT HIM FOR ONE SECOND, THEN HELD OUT
+BOTH HIS HANDS."]
+
+"What! you, Joe?"
+
+"Yes, I, George."
+
+The words meant little enough, but the tone spoke volumes, and, to
+our terrible distress, the stranger dropped on the oak chest and was
+convulsed with sobs.
+
+"Right about face, quick march," whispered Jack, hopping off as well
+as he could.  "Look after the baggage."
+
+The baggage meaning me, Rupert and Kathleen seized me with a rapidity
+which would have terrified me a month back; and in less time than it
+takes to write, we had made our retreat in disorder, and the enemy
+were left in possession.
+
+"Never no more," said Jack, whom we found resting on one of the
+landings, "will I pass my days in that den.  I shan't have nerve
+enough to face a cricket-ball when I get back to school.  To think
+that the ghost, the mysterious stranger, the rescuer of my beloved
+brother, should be called Joe, and be on speaking terms with my
+uncle!  After that, no more mysteries for me.  I mean to live in the
+dining-room, and devote myself to bread and butter."
+
+"That's all providing that father will let you," I said.
+
+"No, it isn't.  He will have to let me.  I feel like the poultry in
+the farmer's yard, who declared 'twas hard that their nerves should
+be shaken, and their rest be marred by the visit of Mr. Ghost.  Oh,
+I'll go to Brighton, if uncle likes; but pass the rest of my days in
+the tower-room, I won't."
+
+A burst of laughter restored Jack's good temper, and then we all went
+into the dining-room and told mother about everything.  I'm a good
+deal older now than I was then, but I have not yet got out of the way
+of wanting to rush off to tell mother everything.  Happy are the
+youngsters who have such a mother as I have, and who try all their
+lives never to do or say anything that they would be afraid or
+ashamed to tell her.  Let me see, I said "rush off," did I not?  and
+I meant it; though at the time I am speaking about, I was dependent
+on other people's rushing instead of my own.
+
+Mother was nearly as excited as we were about the stranger, only she
+seemed to know a little more about him.
+
+"Your father had a half-brother named Joseph," she said; "his mother
+was a Frenchwoman, and when she died her little boy was sent by your
+grandfather to stay with her relations in France."
+
+"But why has father never mentioned him?" I asked.
+
+"There was some unhappiness about him, dear, and you know your father
+never speaks about anything like that.  He bears it all, and says
+nothing.  Take care, Edric! what are you going to do?"
+
+"Take hold of me, mother."
+
+Slowly and carefully I drew my legs round, and then, leaning on her
+arm, with Rupert on the other side of me I put them to the ground.
+Of course, it was but a poor attempt at walking, but still, it was an
+attempt, and mother seemed utterly amazed.  Nothing ever happens just
+as one has expected and planned it; I had so often gone through that
+little scene in my mind, and yet I had not the least intention of
+acting it that day.
+
+"Well done, my darling, well done!  How came you to think of trying
+that?  Why, you will walk as well as I do some day."
+
+"It is all Kathleen's doing," I said, still standing propped up by
+their arms, and wondering at the peculiar feeling in my feet.  "She
+had seen a child cured in Australia by doing a few exercises daily.
+She had watched very carefully, and was sure she could do me good if
+I would only persevere.  So she has made me do them twice every day,
+for half an hour, for five weeks."
+
+"But that was what the doctor ordered for you, darling; and you cried
+and said the woman hurt you, so we had to leave it off."
+
+"I know, mother," I said, colouring, for I was ashamed of myself now;
+"but in those days I did not really feel as if I cared to move about.
+I would rather not walk at all than be hurt as that woman hurt me.
+Now, Kathleen is different; she has not hurt me once, and yet she
+would not let me off a minute before the half-hour."
+
+"Mary!  Mary!" said father's voice, "I want you for a moment."  He
+pushed the door open and stood transfixed.
+
+"What!  Edric trying to walk?  This is a day of surprises.  Whose
+doing is that?"
+
+"Kathleen's," I said, making a sign to mother that I wanted to go
+back to my couch again.  Father came into the room and looked gravely
+at me.
+
+"Do you know, laddie," he said, seriously.  "I have found out that
+there is one thing in this world which always brings a reward, and
+that is unselfishness.  It's your mother that's unselfish, not I.  If
+it had not been for her, I should never have consented to have your
+cousins here.  I hated the thought of it, and only consented to
+please her.  Wow see the reward we have got, far beyond what I, at
+least, deserve; my little helpless laddie is going to try to be like
+other children, and my half-brother is restored to his inheritance.
+Come and see him, Mary; I'll tell you all about it presently,
+children."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Chapter XII headpiece]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+The Lost Will
+
+
+We spent the rest of that day in a state of effervescence.  No one
+seemed to be able to settle down to anything; and we were so excited
+that even dinner had little attraction, especially as we were told
+that father and mother and the strange gentleman had driven off to
+Colchester.
+
+"So we shall dine here, then," said Rupert, with a look at Jack, who
+had fixed himself in an armchair in a most determined attitude;
+"unless you prefer going up to the tower-room."
+
+"Never again," said Jack, gravely; "uncle says we've done him good,
+and when he comes back I mean to ask for our reward.  'Tis a very
+good den that we live in, to laugh, or to talk, or to play in; but to
+hide or to think, or to be quite alone, 'tis the very worst den that
+ever was known."
+
+"Bravo, Jack! poor old Hudibras wouldn't know his own lines if he
+were here.  Give us some more of that sort of thing to make the time
+pass till uncle comes home.  I'm just burning with curiosity."
+
+A glass of cold water down his back, under pretence of extinguishing
+him, ended in the aggressor being put out himself.
+
+It seemed a long day in spite of all the fun we managed to get in one
+way or another; but "be the day weary, be the day long, at length it
+ringeth to evensong," and about seven o'clock we heard the horse's
+feet in the yard, and my parents came in alone.  Even then we had, of
+course, to wait a short time before they were ready to tell us what
+we were longing to hear.
+
+"Now I'll tell you all about the mysterious stranger," said father,
+at last.  "But I am tired, and you must not interrupt me.  You will
+have plenty of time to ask questions another day.  It is just fifteen
+years since my half-brother Joe was in this room.  His mother died
+when he was about three years old, and at her request your
+grandfather sent the little fellow over to Normandy to be brought up
+by his mother's brother.  This brother was a very rich man, and when
+my father married again he offered to adopt Joe, bring him up as his
+own son, and leave him all he possessed, if my father would consent.
+He would not, however, do this, and insisted on Joe returning home at
+once, so one of my first recollections is being carried about by my
+big brother Joe.  As I got older I used to spend most of my days in
+the tower-room, where Joe was always busy with some carpentering, or
+work of one kind or another.  Your grandfather was a severe man, very
+harsh in his management of children, and Joe often resented what he
+considered his unkindness.  That oak chest, which was nearly the
+cause of your death the other night, Harold, was the cause of our
+separation.  One day the French count came to stay with our father,
+and Joe, who was really very fond of him, owing to having spent his
+early years with him, wanted to go back with him; but our father
+would not consent.  Joe tells me now that he distinctly heard the
+Frenchman say, 'Well, I've made my will in his favour, and I shall
+leave it with you.  I've made you executor, and when I am dead you
+will let the boy come over to Normandy.  It's a pity you won't let
+him go back with me, for there are people who would like to oust him
+out of his property if they could.'
+
+"Years passed away, and one day, when Joe had been imprisoned in the
+tower-room for some naughtiness, he ran away, climbing down by those
+very steps that he climbed up yesterday, and which he had made when
+quite a youngster, to be able to get in or out of his play-room as he
+liked.  I said your grandfather was a harsh man; and when he heard of
+Joe's flight, he knew of course he had gone to Normandy, and he made
+a solemn vow that Joe should never enter the house again.  I was
+about twelve then, and old enough to see that, however harsh my
+father might be, he really loved his elder son.  He was never the
+same again, and one morning we found him struck by paralysis.  He
+recovered consciousness before he died, and seemed anxious to tell us
+something, but he could neither write nor speak distinctly, though I
+fancy he wanted to say something about Joe.  My mother and I lived
+alone here, writing occasionally to Normandy, but never expecting to
+see Joe again.  One day, fifteen years ago, I was sitting writing,
+when a servant came to say that a stranger had called, and had pushed
+past her, saying he wanted to go to the tower-room.  Running upstairs
+quickly, I found your Uncle Joe kneeling at the oak chest, which
+stood open.  I was angry at his impertinence, and seizing him by the
+collar as he knelt, I shook him violently and reproached him with
+killing our father, and then coming into the house in that fashion.
+He was pale with anger; but he is a noble character, in spite of all
+his faults.  He remembered that we were brothers, and would not
+strike me.  'I came to see if I could find the Count D'Arcy's will,'
+he said; 'a cousin of his claims the estate, and I have nothing to
+prove that he made me his heir.  I know the Count gave it to our
+father.'  'And I know that our father forbade you to enter the house
+while he was alive.  I shall not allow it now he is dead.  Go!' I
+replied, pointing to the door.  He went, and I have never seen him
+till to-day."
+
+"What has he been doing all these years?" I asked, unable to restrain
+my curiosity any longer.
+
+"He has been working hard and making a name for himself at Rouen,
+while the Count's cousin has been squandering the estate.  From time
+to time, he tells me, he has come over to England, stayed at the
+Watermill, with the old woman who nursed him as a baby, and made
+occasional visits to the tower-room in search of the will which was
+to restore him to his rights, going and coming always by means of
+those steps."
+
+"Whatever made him think of that place?" said Jack, finding that my
+interruption was unreproved.
+
+"He says that he remembered your grandfather telling some one that
+there was a false bottom in the oak chest which made a splendid
+hiding-place.  He had tried several times to get it open, but he had
+never succeeded.  The last time he tried was on that evening when he
+heard from old Jane that we had gone to Colchester.  When he opened
+the lid of the chest he found Harold inside quite unconscious and
+almost suffocated.  Of course, he knew the ways of the house; so he
+carried him to the coachman's room, where he stayed with him till the
+gong sounded for prayers."
+
+"Then they were his footmarks we saw in the mud," cried Rupert.
+"What a joke.  Don't you tell him I said they were nineteens.  What
+is he like?  Is he very cross?"
+
+"Here he comes, so you can judge for yourselves," said mother,
+opening the door to admit our new-found uncle, who turned out to be
+just as jolly as any boys could wish.
+
+* * * * *
+
+Years passed by.  Uncle Joe, by means of the will, which was hidden
+in the oak chest, came into possession of a beautiful little estate
+in Normandy, where we all spent many happy days with our French
+cousins, for he had married a Frenchwoman.  I say _we_, because,
+thanks to my cousins' good influence on mind and body, I became as
+strong as any one could expect, and was able to enjoy school life in
+a quiet way, though never fit for rough games, and always rather
+sensitive about the slight hump on my back.
+
+Never shall I forget my grief when those first holidays were over,
+and father and mother and I stood at the door to wave our farewells.
+
+"God bless you, children," said father; "you've done us all good."
+
+"Then you don't wish the savages had never come, uncle," shouted
+Jack, with a merry smile.
+
+"No, no, no!" replied father; and then the carriage went out of
+sight, though the sounds of the Australian "cooee" reached us for
+some minutes afterwards.
+
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+LONDON: KNIGHT, PRINTER, MIDDLE STREET, ALDERSGATE, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Den, by E. M. Waterworth
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59872 ***