The Magic Talisman

by John Blaine

  “Now that’s an interesting idea,” Rick said slowly. “Wouldn’t it mean the bad guys knew, somehow, when the old man would be in the passage so they could enter the house and trip him?”

  “I guess it would. Anyway, we’ve no way of knowing. Hello, here’s the guard and his pooch.”

  The dog was a handsome GermanShepherd who walked toward them stiff-legged while the guard held the leash. “Howdy. You’re the boss’ friends?”

  “That’s us,” Scotty said.

  The guard as eyeing Rick’s strange-looking helmet with interest.Having a huge bump of curiosity himself, Rick was sympathetic. “It’s an infrared radiometer,” he explained. “Lets you see in the dark.”

  “Honest?”

  “Sure. Tell your dog we’re friends and you can try it.” Rick helped him put it on. “Walk into the darkness in back of the gate house.”

  The guard did so and returned in a moment with a whistle. “Hey, that’s great. Wish I had one of those.

  My eyes in the dark have to be Kosciusko’s nose unless there’s moonlight.” He patted the dog.

  Rick stared. “You named your dog for the great Polish patriot?”

  The guard thrust out his hand. “Shake. Do you know how many people have never heard of Kosciusko?

  Most of them.Millions. And all he did was to save our revolution by turning all those Yankee farmers into real soldiers!Washington never could have won without him. I’m named for him.Thaddeus. Last name’s Palakowski .”

  “Glad to meet you. I’m Rick Brant and this is Don Scott. Do you know there’s a statue of Kosciusko right in front of the White House, inLafayettePark ?”

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  “You bet I do! I’ve been there with my lodge to put a wreath on that statue, and don’t forget Pulaski the other Polish hero. He helped, too.”

  “Good for you,” Scotty approved. “Some of us know the Poles were a warrior race. Those two Revolutionary heroes deserve a lot more credit than we give them. Listen, have you been hearing a thump-thumping?”

  “Sure. It’s going now. You can feel it in the gate house, but not outside. Come on in and you can see for yourself.”

  The boys went into the gate house for the first time. It was well equipped, with a tiny kitchen alcove, comfortable chairs, and a couch. Standing still and listening, the thump-THUMP was there, unheard but felt, although much less than in the house.

  “Any idea what it is?” Scotty asked.

  “Not a notion. Guy who had the job before me quit. It doesn’t bother me, though, and Kosciusko doesn’t seem to mind.” The guard laughed. “Maybe it’s Polish elves making kielbasa.”

  The boys laughed, too. “Stop it,” Rick said. “You’re making me hungry. I could use a foot of that great sausage right now in a submarine sandwich.”

  “Time for us to go,” Scotty told the guard. “Thanks for showing us the inside of the gate house.”

  “Sure. See you again.”

  As they reached the gas station and retrieved their car, Rick sighed. “Nothing great tonight, but at least we have a lead.”

  “Yep.Something starts in the office.A passage, probably. So at least we have a place to begin if we have to tear out walls.”

  “Can’t do that in a leased house.We’ll probably have to wait until the record office opens Monday and hope we can find a set of house plans filed with the permit application.”

  “Let’s hope for a break. Maybe tomorrow.”

  “Maybe. Let’s go home.”

  CHAPTER X

  Mirror on the Wall

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  On Sunday morning the day was unusually warm and bright for late November and the four young Spindrifters walked together along the seawall looking at the sea and occasionally investigating a bit of flotsam. They paused at Rick’s plane, the Sky Wagon. Scotty recited their experience of the night before, but had no useful answers to the girls’ questions seeking more detail.

  Jan spoke up suddenly after a few moments of silence. “You need me on the job. Maybe the feelings that I get from Mysto can help to locate the hidden rooms.”

  “If it is Mysto,” Scotty answered. “Maybe you could help find something. We certainly haven’t done a sensational job.”

  “Tonight’s the Camerons’ last performance until next Friday,” Rick remembered. “Wonder if it will make any difference, whether or not there’s a show.”

  “Are you going back tonight?” Barby asked.

  “Sure. We have to keep trying, and there’s nothing else we can do except some paper research when the records office opens tomorrow. We’ll try to find plans of the Mirella estate. There must have been some filed to get the construction permit.”

  “Then all you have to do to increase your chances of finding something is to take us with you,” Barby offered.

  Rick vetoed that idea in a hurry. “This is your mystery, and we won’t leave you out. But one thing we will not do is take you with us at night. We don’t know who these people are, and we’ll take no chances with you two.”

  Somewhat to Rick’s surprise, Jan agreed with him. “Rick and Scotty can take care of themselves,” she told Barby, “but if they got into trouble and had to protect us, too, it wouldn’t be so good. There’s trouble in that house.” She hesitated. “I felt that bad thing again last night.”

  “When?”Scotty asked quickly.

  “About one.I was lying awake in bed, waiting for the sound of the boat so I’d know you were home safe, and the feeling just flooded over me. It was faint, but it was there.”

  The boys looked at each other, and Rick put their thoughts into words. “That was just about the time of the fracas in the office. I’ll bet what Jan felt was the burst of anger from the big mug that passed us in the hallway.”

  “No bet. I think so, too.”

  They had reached Pirate’s Field on the south side of the island. Jan moved to Rick’s side and took his arm. “Why can’t we go right now? It doesn’t have to be at night.”

  Rick thought about it for a moment. “We can’t unless the Camerons are there. We need them to get in.

  And if they’re there we can’t expect any strange prowlers. But if you’re going to put your ESP talent to work, maybe you can pinpoint something without seeing the mystery people. Scotty, would the Camerons be there on Sunday morning?”

  “Let us honor the memory of Alexander Graham Bell,” Scotty proposed, “by using the telephone.”

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  Jan’s house was nearest, and a moment on the telephone told them that the twins were at work in the office. Karen was at home. The four arrived within a half hour and were greeted by David. They went upstairs to the office.

  The boys had phoned the twins at home before breakfast and reported on the previous night’s activities.

  Now Derek greeted them with, “We’ve sounded every wall and kicked everything in sight with no trace of hollowness or any sign of a secret door or passage.”

  “It’s there,” Rick assured him. “Did you try inside the closet?”

  “Sure. There’s not even an unsealed joint where wall and floor meet.”

  “Okay. Scotty and I will prowl around while Jan becomes the world’s most beautiful bird dog and tries to sniff out somebody.”

  Jan drew herself up to her full five feet, six inches and pointed imperiously at the two of them. “All right, hound dogs. Down on hands and knees and start prowling the baseboards. That’s where you’re most likely to find something. If you do, we may allow you an extra dog biscuit.”

  “Phooey,” Barby disagreed. “Table scraps only. New biscuits are too good for them.”

  “Anything,” Scotty pleaded, “if only you’ll feed us by hand.”

  “Down, boy.”Barby motioned them down on the floor.

  Jan was right, Rick thought. Best chance of seeing a fault in the joints where panel met panel or panel met base moulding was just above floor level. The walls were a series of panels painted a creamy white and set off by frames carved i
nto a series of fleur-de-lis. The frames were a darker cream than the panels.

  “The secret door has to be a panel,” Rick said. “But which panel, and where’s the latch?”

  “If I find it, you’ll be the first to know,” Scotty assured him.

  Rick went left and Scotty went right, both on hands and knees, taking time to study every panel, every connection, including closet and bathroom. They met by the fireplace, stood, and began to go around again, searching higher on the walls. Barby and Jan had taken seats on the couch, Jan sitting with her eyes closed, concentrating on trying to identify what she was feeling.

  The girl opened her eyes. She whispered, “He’s around, and I don’t think he’s far away.”

  Suddenly she stood up and moved to Rick’s side. “He’s close!” For a moment she stood very still, then took in a deep breath. She pointed to the mirror above the fireplace. “He was there!For just a few seconds.”

  “Are you sure?” Derek demanded.

  “I’ve never been so sure of anything.”

  Rick was first to the mirror. He examined it closely, but it looked ordinary enough, except for the ornate Page 61

  frame. Scotty brought a desk chair and climbed up for a closer look.

  “Let’s take the mirror down,” Scotty suggested.

  Rick searched for a sign of clips or screws, but found none on the first try. It was Barby who finally pointed out the mounts. They were ornamental clips that formed part of the frame, but where screws should have been there were little rounded projections.

  “I’ll bet those are caps over the screws,” Scotty guessed.

  Rick handed up his scout knife. “See if one comes off.”

  Scotty slipped the short blade under the edge of one and pried gently. There was paint around it and it took a sharp twist, but a cap came off exposing a screwhead .

  “I’ll get screwdrivers.” David hurried out and down the stairs.

  Rick turned to Jan. “Feel anything?”

  “He’s still in the house, but not as close. I can feel the bad thing again, but not as strong. Rick, he was right there! It was almost as though I could understand words. I couldn’t but the feeling was as intense as that.”

  “What was the feeling like, Jan?”

  “The warmth was there, and a sort of...I don’t know. A kind of longing, mixed with impatience and what seemed to be pain. That’s the best way I can put it.”

  “We’ll dig him out,” he said with more assurance than he felt.

  “Yes, but you’ll be careful doing it,” Barby said firmly. “That’s a perfectly beautiful mirror and you’re not to harm it.”

  “The frame will have to be repainted,” Scotty told her. “When we pry the caps off, we’ll chip paint. It can’t be helped.”

  “It’s not a problem,” Derek assured them. “Our painting contractors can fix it up in an hour.”

  David returned with screw drivers, a pry bar, and a hammer. Rick began on the lower screws while Scotty worked on the higher ones from the vantage of the chair. Getting the caps off was the only hard part because they had been painted over. The screws came out easily. When only two screws remained, Scotty gingerly pried the mirror away from the frame just enough for Rick to slip his hand in.

  “It’s hollow in back,” he exclaimed triumphantly.

  They removed the last screws and then called for help. With Derek and David assisting, they carefully lowered the mirror to the floor.

  Behind the opening was a space about four feet long and three feet high. Scotty, on the chair, leaned in and reported, “There’s a corridor behind this wall!”

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  “Got a flashlight?” Rick asked.

  David produced one from his desk drawer. “Are you going in there?”

  “Both of us are,” Scotty said.

  “Us, too,” Jan hastened to add. Then, as Rick shook his head, she subsided. “I guess we’ll have to wait.”

  “We always have to wait until theexcitement’s over,” Barby sniffed.

  “Hand me that pry bar,” Scotty asked Derek.

  “I’ll go in first, then Rick can follow.”

  Scotty used the mantel for a foot rest, then swung a leg over the bottom of the opening. Derek handed up the pry bar. Scotty went in the rest of the way and stood in the hidden passage.

  Rick passed the flashlight to him, then followed. He looked around for a moment, then told the others in the office, “There’s a little platform on which someone can stand and look into the room. The floor level is the same as the office.”

  David had been examining the mirror. “Look, kids! This mirror is one-way glass.”

  A watcher behind the mirror would have an excellent view of the room. “No wonder Karen felt someone watching her.” Jan exclaimed.

  Inside the passage, Scotty ran the flashlight beam over the walls. “It’s finished just like a room,” Rick said in surprise. The passageway was about four feet wide, and of room height. The walls were plaster-finished and painted white.“No wonder tapping didn’t produce a hollow sound. It would sound like knocking on any normal room wall.”

  When they stood with backs to the opening, they could see the end of the passage on their right. On the left, the passage made a sudden drop downward. Rick turned and looked up. The fireplace vent came out of the right rear of the fireplace at the edge of the mirror opening and vanished upward through the ceiling. It was a metal pipe about eight inches in diameter, with a fireproof flange at ceiling and fireplace wall.

  “Before we do any exploring, let’s find the entrance into the office.” Scotty was already running his hands over the wall. The plaster apparently was seamed with cracks, but a closer look with the flashlight showed that the cracks were a design, a diamond within a square. The design was cut deeply. Any of the vertical or horizontal lines might mark the doorway.

  They searched inch by inch until Scotty suddenly stopped and moved the light closer. “Here’s something. Sweat from hands must have made this spot darker.” He pushed, but nothing happened.

  “Doggone it,” he said, disappointed. “I was sure we had it.”

  “Don’t give up. It’s the only mark on the wall. This has to mean something.” Rick kept pushing, his hand moving across the wall section.

  Barby and Jan climbed up on chairs and put their heads through the opening, in time to hear the Page 63

  exchange of words. “There must be a latch,” Barby suggested. “The dirty spot must be the key to it.”

  Jan agreed. “Why not put one hand on the smudge and reach around with the other. I’ll bet the latch will be somewhere in the semi-circle the hand can reach.”

  Rick grinned at her. “No wonder she beats me at chess, kids.” He put his hand on the spot and slowly swung his other hand in an arc from shoulder height to the floor. If that didn’t work, he would swing the hand up as far as he could reach.

  “Here it is,” Scotty said. “At least it looks like it. Reach down a bit more and push.” He held the flashlight steady.

  Rick pushed on a spot that wobbled the slightest bit-and almost fell into the office as the hidden door swung wide.

  Jan and Barby hastened to prop the door open with a chair, then the girls and the twins crowded into the doorway for a look. The door was a panel with “blind hinges,” invisible from either direction, set into the wall.

  “The latch is a knot in the baseboard in here,” Scotty told them. “It’s right at the edge of the panel. Let’s see what it matches in the office, because there has to be a latch for getting in.”

  He pushed on the loose knot while the girls and twins watched from the outside. The latch turned out to be the eye of a cherub at the base of an ornamental strip at the side of the fireplace, easily tapped with a toe.

  “Close the panel with us inside and try it,” Scotty requested.

  Barby did so and the panel swung open silently and smoothly. “It works fine. Are you going to explore now?”

  “Want us with you?” Derek
added.

  “Might be a good idea for one of you to come,” Rick replied. “But one should stay here with the girls.”

  “We’re coming, too,” Barby announced.

  “You are not,” Rick stated emphatically. “The two of you are staying right here, with either David or Derek.”

  Barby knew when it was useless to argue with her brother. She took one look at his face and subsided, but not without a cool, direct look that told him she resented it.

  “I’ll come and Dave can stay with the girls,” Derek said.“Lead on, Scotty.”

  They examined the dead end of the passage first. There was no sign of a hand mark to show where an opening might be, and no loose knots in floor or wall. Apparently it was simply a dead end, as it appeared, but Rick wasn’t satisfied. There was no reason he could think of to build an extra ten feet of passage to lead nowhere.

  Going the opposite way, the downturn in the passage was a flight of stairs. It narrowed as they Page 64

  descended, and as Rick estimated they had reached ground level, the passage turned, the change in direction permitted by the narrowing. They had to negotiate the turn in single file. The stairs ended in a dead end. This one, however, was easily solved. The smudge was there, and a loose knot.

  Scotty handed Derek the flashlight and took a good grip on the pry bar. “I’m going through in a rush,”

  he said softly. “Keep close behind me and be ready for anything.”

  Rick tensed to spring as Scotty touched the loose knot, slammed open the door and rushed forward.

  Rick and Derek were close on his heels.

  They emerged into a recreation room, dimly lit from a window well at ground level. The room was panelled in Philippine mahogany and furnished with rattan chairs, tables and settees. Pictures framed in bamboo hung on the walls.

  “I know where we are,” Derek told them. “This room was left furnished. It’s under the extreme right of the house as you face the front door from the stairs.” He pointed to a flight of stairs. “Those go up to the entry hall.”