by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER II THE SEARCH BEGINS
"This is the strangest thing I've ever heard of," declared Florence asthey hurried back to the house, eager to examine the rear wall from theinside.
"How long have you lived here, Florence?" asked Jo Ann. "I'm sure I'dhave seen that window long before this if I'd been in your place."
"We've lived here about eight years, but, as I told you, I've only beenin that church a few times, and I've never walked down that back street."
"Lived here eight years and never walked back of your own house!"exclaimed Jo Ann in surprise. "Who ever heard of such a thing?"
"But you don't understand," Florence replied. "It isn't exactly properfor me to wander down that back street."
Both girls opened their eyes wide in astonishment.
"Not proper to go back of your own house!" ejaculated Peggy. "The veryidea!"
"Yes, you see it's only a narrow street leading to one of the poorestsections of the city. Only the very lowest class of people live on it.Mother and I drive down on the next street sometimes, accompanied byFelipe, to carry food and clothes to the destitute families, but I'venever been down that narrow street."
"It must be something like it is on the street cars at home," Jo Ann saidthoughtfully, coming to Florence's assistance. "You know how they are,Peggy--one section marked 'Colored,' and you never sit there."
Up the long flight of stairs they ran to the Blackwells' apartment, eachgirl eager to be the first to solve the mystery. Jo Ann's long legscarried her ahead of Florence and Peggy, who arrived a moment later outof breath.
There stood Jo Ann staring blankly at the solid plastered wall at the endof the hall.
"I'm sure this is where that window ought to be," she said finally in aperplexed tone.
"There certainly isn't any sign of one that I can see," added Peggy,while Florence gazed silently at the spot where she thought the openingshould be.
Just then Juana ran in from the kitchen to see what had caused so muchcommotion in the silent old house. "Florencita! _Que es_ [What is it?]?"she asked in alarm.
"It's nothing," replied Florence in Spanish. Understanding thesuperstitious nature of the Indians, she thought it wiser not to tellJuana about this mysterious window for the present.
Juana stared in shocked surprise. Something was wrong, she was sure.Young ladies of the best families did not deport themselves in such amanner. Her Florencita had never acted this way before--racing into thehouse like mad. Finally, shaking her head and mumbling to herself, shereturned to the kitchen to finish her preparations for lunch.
The moment she disappeared through the kitchen door, Jo Ann hastenedthrough the one opposite and called to Florence and Peggy, "Come on,maybe we can see something from the window in this back room."
Much to their disappointment, the iron bars, set in the deep recess ofthe thick walls, prevented them from seeing anything except a part of theruins of the old church directly across the narrow street.
"And so the mystery deepens," laughed Jo Ann. "I've heard of bumping yourhead against a stone wall, but I've never understood what it meant tillnow."
"Do you know what I think it is?" remarked Florence as they wandered backto the hall. "At one time there probably was an opening here"--shemotioned toward the solid wall at the end of the hall--"then, sometimewhen they were fixing the house over, they closed it up. This house isvery, very old, you know."
"But why would they leave a hole on the outside?" Peggy asked.
"Oh, they probably didn't think it mattered on that back street, andmaybe the stones didn't fit or something. These walls are so thick, youknow, it wouldn't make any difference. It's too small to be a window,anyway."
"Maybe so," commented Peggy, "but it sounds funny to me."
Jo Ann was silent. She was thinking--thinking hard. She thoroughly agreedwith Florence that the house was old, but she was sure that the openinghad not been left by a careless mistake.
"There's a reason for it," she told herself, "and I'm going to find outwhat it is."
Just then Florence's father, Dr. Blackwell, a tall,distinguished-looking, gray-haired man, came up the stairs. "Goodmorning, young ladies," he greeted them pleasantly. "You look quite freshand rested after keeping such late hours."
"We're feeling the best ever," Jo Ann answered.
"Well, you certainly look it," he declared, glancing from one to theother. "Florence, you have more color in your cheeks than I've seen for along time. Miss Jo and Miss Peggy are having a good effect on youalready."
"Oh, Daddy, we're having a wonderful time! But did you know there's amystery about our house? We've just made the queerest discovery!"
Dr. Blackwell laughed. "What is it, may I ask--some mysterious writing onthe wall, or a pot of gold?"
"Neither. We've found a window that isn't a window. It opens on theoutside of the house but not on the inside."
"Well, now, that's strange, isn't it?" he replied smilingly, as thoughhumoring a small child.
"Really, Dr. Blackwell, there's a mysterious window that should open atthe end of this hall!" exclaimed Jo Ann, "but we can find no trace of anopening ever having been there."
At that moment Felipe, combination chauffeur and house boy, announcedlunch, and the subject was dropped as they all hastened into the diningroom.
Peggy and Jo Ann were surprised to find, after their late breakfast, thatthey were quite hungry. As Felipe and Juana passed back and forth waitingon the table, Jo Ann thought how convenient it was to have servants whocould not understand what you said. You didn't have to be nearly ascareful as you did at home with the Negro servants.
"I thought you girls might like to see something of our city," Dr.Blackwell remarked as they were eating their dessert. "I've arranged forFelipe to take you for a drive this afternoon. I'd thought I'd be able toaccompany you, but a doctor's time's never his own, so I'll have todepend on Florence and Felipe to show you the city."
"That'll be fine!" exclaimed Peggy. "But we're sorry you can't go withus. Aren't we, Jo?"
Jo Ann nodded an emphatic assent and then went on to remark to Dr.Blackwell, "We saw something very interesting this morning--the oldchurch back of your house. I've been reading early American history agood deal lately, and this church seems very much the same type as theold missions in California."
"Well, well!" smiled Dr. Blackwell in surprise. "I thought the modernyoung girl used her pretty head solely for thinking of frocks andfurbelows."
Peggy laughed. "Jo Ann hates dress-up clothes. She'd live in jodhpurs orknickers and shirts, if her mother didn't make her get out of themoccasionally. Jo's enthusiastic over horses and dogs and swimming, buther chief hobby is nosing around old buildings."
"There's so much mystery and romance connected with historic buildings,"Jo Ann put in, shining-eyed.
"If you're looking for mystery and romance," Dr. Blackwell remarked,"there's plenty of it to be found in this part of the country--that is,if you can only find the key to unlock it. I've been so busy studying theancient system of sanitation--or lack of it--that I've had no time foranything of that sort."
"If you get Jo started along that line she'll never stop," put in Peggywith a teasing glance at Jo Ann.
Dr. Blackwell smiled. "Then I'll turn her over to a friend of mine--aprominent lawyer, who'll be delighted to discuss the early history ofthis country with her. You know whom I mean, Florence--Senor Rodriguez."
Florence nodded.
"He has the best equipped library in the city," continued the doctor,"and you can dig into the past to your heart's content, Miss Jo."
"That'll be wonderful!" cried Jo Ann excitedly. "I know I'll enjoymeeting him and seeing his library. I adore books--especially about oldhistoric buildings."
As they rose from the table Peggy remarked, "Jo and I want to run acrossthe Plaza to buy some postcards to send home. Do you want to go with us,Florence?"
Florence and her father exchanged smiling gl
ances as she replied, "Youcan't buy postcards now--the stores close for an hour or two in themiddle of the day."
"Oh, I forgot I'm in Mexico," laughed Peggy.
"In tropical countries it's the custom to take a siesta after lunch," Dr.Blackwell explained. "People sleep in the hottest part of the day and dotheir work in the cool of the evening. It's a very good custom, too,since the sun has a tendency to cause fever if one is in it too much."
On hearing this the girls meekly followed Florence to their room, andwhen she removed her dress and shoes and dropped down on the bed, theyfollowed her example.
"How still it is!" thought Jo Ann. Not a sound floated up from the streetbelow; not a leaf stirred on the trees in the park across the way. Evennature seemed to be sleeping, so deep, so intense was the stillness.
Florence, from habit, was soon sound asleep. The other two girlswhispered quietly for a while; then Peggy's eyelids drooped, and she,too, succumbed to the restful quiet.
But Jo Ann could not sleep. There were too many things to think about. Avisit to the Senor's library--she'd love that. And that old church acrossthe street--there must be some very interesting facts connected with it.She'd find out more about that later from the Senor's books. But thatwindow! It still puzzled her. There was something curious about it. Whatwas that Dr. Blackwell had said about finding the key to unlock themystery?
"That's what I'll do--find the key and unlock the mystery of this strangewindow," she told herself. "Won't Dr. Blackwell be surprised when I tellhim I've solved it?"
Acting on a sudden impulse she slipped out of bed quietly so as not todisturb Peggy and Florence. What she was going to do, she wanted to doalone. She put on her dress and some rubber-soled shoes, then, picking upa large sun hat from a chair, softly opened the door.
There at the head of the stairs sat Felipe, sound asleep. She hesitatedonly a moment, then crept softly past him and on down the stairs.
"One good thing about these houses is there's no danger of a loose boardor a creaky step giving you away," she thought.
Not a soul was in sight outside--not even a dog. Quickly she ran down thestreet and around the corner, but drew back as the terrific heat struckher face. Heat waves radiated from the cobblestones, and the white stonewalls, acting as double reflectors, turned the narrow street into averitable furnace.
But nothing could stop her now. There was something she wanted to findout about the rear wall of the house. Pulling her hat down farther overher face, she squinted her eyes and gazed up at the glaring white wallsabove her. Quickly she scratched three marks on the wall, one directlybelow the kitchen window, one beneath the back room window, and the thirdbeneath the mysterious opening; then she paced off the distance betweenthe marks. She was positive now that she could mark the exact spot on theinner side of the wall where the opening should be.
Eager to escape from the intense heat, she hastened back to the house.
"Whew, it's hot!" she exclaimed to herself. "These Mexicans show goodjudgment in sleeping at this time of the day. I don't blame them in theleast."
Fanning herself with her hat, she dropped down on the lower step to cooloff a moment. How refreshing was the coolness of the great hall! Shewondered how it was possible to be so cool here and so hot outside.
She listened intently for a moment, but not a sound came from above.Apparently everyone was still asleep.
Softly she slipped up the stairs, step by step, till she caught a glimpseof the sleeping Felipe just as she had left him, his chair tipped backagainst the wall and his head dropped forward.
There was only one more step now. Holding her breath, she lifted herfoot; then suddenly there was a loud bumping noise. She was so startledshe almost lost her balance. Clutching at the wall, she stared beforeher. Felipe, roused by some strange instinct, had let his chair down witha bang.
"No--no--no! _Muy mal_ [Very bad]!" he exclaimed, pointing to her face.He patted himself on the head and talked rapidly in Spanish in an effortto make her understand that the sun was "bad for the head," as heexpressed it.
Much disgusted with herself for getting caught, and eager to escape, shecalled back "_Si, si_ [Yes, yes]," and hastened on to her room. Now thather plan to measure the hall had been interrupted, she would have to waittill a more opportune time for that. Searching for paper and pencil, shedecided to do the next best thing--put the outside measurements down sothere'd be no danger of forgetting them.
She was sitting by the window busily drawing a plan of the house whenFlorence called in a surprised voice, "Why, Jo Ann! Where have you been?Your face is as red as a beet."
"It's nothing," she replied. "I just went down and measured the positionof those windows on the back wall. And was it hot!"
"You mean you've been down there in the sun!" Florence could hardlybelieve her ears. "Jo, you shouldn't have done that."
At the sound of voices Peggy opened her eyes, then sat up in bed to stareat Jo Ann. "For goodness' sake, Jo, what've you been up to now?" sheasked.
"Oh, nothing," Jo Ann answered crisply. Why couldn't they leave heralone? She hadn't committed a crime.
"But, Jo, your face! You're so hot."
"Well, if you must know, I've been searching for the key with which tounlock the mystery--as Dr. Blackwell suggested."