The Haunted Fountain
Page 12
CHAPTER XI
Under the Fountain
Judy reached the fountain ahead of Horace. It looked even more forsakenthan it had the day before. When they finally stood together beside thecircular wall that enclosed the dry pool, even Judy could feel noenchantment.
“It’s gone—whatever it was,” she said mournfully.
“The water’s gone. I can see that much. They must have a good drainagesystem,” Horace commented.
“For the big pool, yes.” Judy could not shake off the feeling ofdisappointment. “There may be a little water in the center fountain,”she added more hopefully. “Shall we go across?”
“Might as well,” Horace agreed, following her. Blackberry, who hadreappeared, remained at the edge of the pool watching. There were nofish. Thus the fountain held no charms for him.
“Come here, Horace!” Judy called presently to her brother. “You saidyou wanted to fish for diamonds. Well, this is the place.”
Horace found the little pool in the center of the fountain veryuninteresting and said so. There was nothing in the water but sticksand dead leaves. Furthermore, it was icy cold.
“Now I understand your frozen tear story a little better,” Horacecontinued. “I suspect Lorraine has more to cry about than she told you.If she doesn’t trust Arthur, she has a reason—”
“Perhaps an imagined one. She is jealous. You remember how hard shemade it for me in high school—and afterwards. Of course,” Judyadmitted, “Arthur did like me, and I thought I was in love with him. Heis romantic-looking and I was too young to realize that true love ismore than going places with someone who makes a nice impression. Petermakes a nice impression, too. But not a romantic one. You sort of feelhis strength. Oh, Horace! I wish I’d told him about this before wecame. I should have called him instead of going to that movie withHoney.”
“I’m afraid we won’t find out much, anyway. You say the fountain spoketo you—”
“Yes, but not until I’d made my wish. Yesterday it was only a moaningsound. I did think it said, ‘Go away!’ but maybe you were right,Horace. Maybe it was just a noise in the pipes. I’d feel a littlefoolish speaking to it now.”
“More foolish than usual?” Horace teased.
“Just for that I will! Oh, fountain!” Judy began. “Speak—”
A noise in the holly thicket interrupted her. A policeman poked hishead through the bushes and shouted, “Hey! What are you doing here?”
“We’re just exploring,” Judy replied calmly. “If we find anything we’lllet you know.”
“Oh, it’s you,” the policeman said and withdrew to go into conferencewith his companion. Judy heard something in a low voice about previousmysteries she had solved.
“Chief Kelly says he’ll never forget the day he met Judy Bolton,” sheheard. “After emptying a bag of jewels on his desk, she invited him toa ghost party. He tells me she’s been chasing ghosts ever since.”
“Think that’s what _we’re_ doing?”
“It looks that way. Let Judy and her brother explore the woods if theywant to. They’re better at finding jewels than we are. There were nonein the safe. Mrs. Cubberling was only too glad to have us look there.Who knows? Maybe they’ll turn up in a hollow tree.”
“Hey! What are you doing here?”]
“Did you hear that?” Judy whispered. “They’re looking for jewels. Theythink maybe we can find them because we did find the loot from thatother robbery. Listen!”
There was more conversation as the voices drifted away. Peter’s namewasn’t mentioned but, because the policemen seemed to approve of whatJudy was doing, she felt sure Peter would, too.
“We’re trespassing,” she told Horace a little later, “but the lawdoesn’t mind. I heard them say they’d made a mistake, but did they?They didn’t do much searching around this fountain.”
“If there’s a story here, we’ll just have to uncover it ourselves,”declared Horace. “I’d like to explore that tower over there. If thereare stairs inside, we could climb them. We’d have quite a view fromthose peepholes.”
Judy saw the peepholes he meant. They were about halfway up the tower.She suspected the police had already viewed the estate from up thereand found nothing suspicious. She had not told them about the diamondshe had found in the fountain, nor did she intend to tell them untilafter she had talked the whole matter over with Peter. Apparently onlyStanley, the butler, and Mrs. Cubberling had been at home when thehouse was searched.
“Cubby is probably her husband,” Judy decided. It had been a fairlyyoung voice that had called from upstairs. “But where does RogerBanning fit in?” she asked Horace. “Do you think he could be here as aplumber’s helper? His father is supposed to be a plumber.”
“There are plenty of pipes here. Someone must have to keep them inworking order. They’ve even got them in the lions’ mouths.”
Judy giggled. “Lois noticed them before. She said it gave Mr. and Mrs.Lion a startled expression, as if they were saying, ‘_Oh!_’”
“Maybe they’ve found the jewels those policemen are looking for,”Horace suggested with a laugh. “Apparently Cubby, as you call him, andRoger Banning made themselves scarce on purpose—”
“And that other man, whoever he was,” Judy put in. “He reallyfrightened Lorraine. Did I tell you she lost the ring Arthur gave her?I mean she lost it unless it was stolen. She didn’t want to tell usabout it, but when we found the diamond I looked to see if it came outof my ring, and then I noticed Lorraine wasn’t wearing hers. She actedguilty about it, too. Oh dear!” she suddenly exclaimed. “Is that thepolice car driving away?”
“Sounds like it,” agreed Horace. “I felt safer with them here, didn’tyou?”
“Oh, I feel safe enough,” Judy replied carelessly. “Blackberry willprotect us. He’s up there on the wall keeping watch—”
“Of what?” asked Horace. “Birds?”
“Of course not,” retorted Judy. “I trained him not to catch them.”
“What about fish?”
There was a twinkle in Horace’s eye as he asked this question. He hadnot forgotten the room with the fish tanks. How Blackberry happened tobe there was still a mystery. The house, as well as the grounds,puzzled Judy.
“Something is going on here. Something—fishy.” She laughed and thenshivered. There was a chill about the deserted fountain that made herwish she had worn warmer clothing. Her hands were especially cold.
“If it’s news,” Horace said, “it’s being well kept from us. Shall weexplore below?”
“Let’s,” agreed Judy. “It can’t be any colder down there than it is uphere, and I am curious. Come on, Blackberry!” she called to her cat.“Don’t you want to help us explore?”
“It’s too damp for him,” explained Horace when the cat refused to come.
Together Horace and Judy edged in between the cupids. Judy giggled atthe pipes running up their backs to the bowl of the fountain. Exploringunderneath, they found a dark opening which Horace bravely entered.
“No dragons,” he announced, peering about with the help of hisflashlight. “It’s wet and slippery down here, and there are holes wherea person could break a leg. Watch it, Judy!”
The warning came just too late. Judy tripped on something that turnedout to be a removable drain cover and fell into what seemed to be atunnel.
“This would make a good hideout for a gang of thieves,” commentedHorace when he had helped Judy to her feet. “I hope we’re not gettinginto something we can’t handle. Shall we proceed?”
“Of course.” Judy was determinedly cheerful in spite of a scrapedelbow. “There’s nothing dangerous down here.”
Horace was not so sure. Cautiously, he led the way along the tunnel,which seemed to be leading directly under the fountain. Suddenly, inthe circle of light from Horace’s flash, they saw a closed door.
“Maybe this is where Mr. Banning lives!” exclaimed Judy. “Wouldn’t itbe exciting to live
right under a fountain? He could really take careof the pipes—I mean if he is a plumber. It’s locked,” she added,trying the door. “Shall I knock?”
“What’s the use?” asked Horace. “Nobody would answer.”
“I’m not so sure of that,” declared Judy, rapping loudly on the door.
“I told you,” Horace began, but stopped suddenly as the same moaningvoice Judy had heard before called out, “Please, go away!”
------------------------------------------------------------------------