CHAPTER XIII
A Desperate Situation
Judy and Horace looked at each other in bewilderment. They both knewthey couldn’t tell the prisoner who they were without furtherantagonizing him. A newspaper reporter and the wife of an FBI agentwere hardly the right people to trust with whatever secret the fountainwas hiding. Suddenly an idea came to Judy.
“The main thing right now is that you need help,” she called out. “Ifyou’re hurt we can have Dr. Bolton here in no time. How far is it tothe nearest telephone?”
“Too far,” the man replied. “I know you now. You’re Dr. Bolton’sdaughter. Is that your husband with you?”
“N-no,” Judy stammered, really confused now. “It’s my brother.”
“The newspaper reporter? Well, why don’t you hurry back to your paperand tell them you’ve rounded up the last of Vine Thompson’s boyssingle-handed? Or didn’t you know the Brandts had leased their estateto a gang of jewel thieves? Go ahead, tell them—” Suddenly theexcitement died out of the man’s voice and he finished in despair. “Butit’s too late to tell them anything. There’s no help for it now.They’ll have to send me back to prison.”
“What is the story?” asked Horace. “Maybe we can help.”
“No, it’s no use.”
Judy pulled her brother aside where the man wouldn’t hear her whisper,“Horace, I know who he is now. He said Roger Banning was a falsefriend, and he’s been in prison, so he must be Dick Hartwell. Don’t yousee? If he knows us, then we must know him. That’s who he is. I’m sureof it. No wonder he’s afraid they’ll send him back to prison. But heforged some checks. He wasn’t a jewel thief. And what did he mean aboutthe last of Vine Thompson’s boys?”
“They were jewel thieves. Remember the stolen jewels I found in thehollow tree that used to lean over our house? But of course youremember! You were the one who took them to the police station and metChief Kelly and solved most of the mystery—”
“No, Horace,” Judy objected. “You solved most of it. You knew what washaunting our attic long before I did. I thought maybe it really wasVine Thompson’s ghost.”
“If her ghost is anywhere, it’s here with the gang her sons started. Ididn’t think Dick Hartwell was in it, though, and it’s news to hearthat Roger Banning is a jewel thief. Do you suppose that explains thediamond in the fountain?”
“Sh!” Judy cautioned him. In his excitement, Horace had spoken louderthan he intended. It was all very confusing. Judy had supposed theThompson gang was past history. The sons of the notorious fence, VineThompson, had all received long sentences in prison. But a gang likethat, as Peter had once pointed out to her, spread its evil influencefar and wide. Always there was a criminal on the fringe of it whodidn’t get caught. That criminal usually followed the pattern of hishero, the original gang leader. And so crime spread, like a bad weed ina garden. That was the way Peter explained it. How Judy wished he werehere to explain things now!
“Horace,” she said suddenly, “you can’t breathe a word of this storyuntil we’ve talked it over with Peter and his office has released it.If that man is Dick Hartwell, he was in a Federal penitentiary. Heforged his father’s signature to a government bond.”
“But he was out on parole,” Horace began.
“He’s right, though,” Judy interrupted. “They’ll put him right back inif they find him. A man is on parole only as long as he keeps out oftrouble, and this man is in trouble—way in. I still feel sorry forhim, but I know now what we have to do.”
“Name it and we’ll do it. Of course you’ll notify Peter—”
A rushing sound in the pipes overhead interrupted Horace in the middleof what he was saying. His face went suddenly white.
“He heard us!” cried Judy. “I think that man in there heard what wewere saying and turned on the fountain!”
“Come on,” Horace exclaimed. “We have to get out of here fast, beforethe fountain fills, and report what he told us. Come on, Judy! The exitmust be in this direction. There’s that drain cover you tripped onbefore.”
Judy beamed her flashlight toward it and saw that Horace had replacedit.
“Wait!” she called to him. “That drain is there to keep the tunnel frombeing flooded. If any water seeps in from the fountain it probably runsoff down that drain. You shouldn’t have put back the cover!”
“I was afraid someone would fall down the hole. Either way, it’s atrap!”
Horace’s voice sounded hollow, echoing back through the tunnel. Alreadyhe was way ahead of her. Judy soon caught up with him, but they weretoo late. The rushing sound in the pipes overhead continued as thewater flowed through them to spray out in all directions from thefountain. Judy couldn’t see out. But, remembering, she knew what itmust be like out there where she had felt the enchantment.
“Lift me up, Horace,” she begged. “You can do it. I want to see.”
He lifted her until she could step from his shoulder into the hidingplace behind the cupids. The spaces between them where they had enteredwere now covered with falling water, cutting off escape.
“How bad is it?” asked Horace from below.
“Real bad,” she replied. “I can’t see a thing through the water. I’mstanding right in back of it. There’s no way out.”
“There must be! We came in that way.”
“Not when the fountain was on, Horace. It’s like being under NiagaraFalls. The pressure is terrific.” Niagara Falls made Judy think of herhoneymoon there with Peter, and she added, “I wish Peter were here tohelp us. He would know what to do.”
“He can help us better where he is,” Horace told her when she haddropped back into the tunnel and stood on the wet floor beside him.
“But where is he?” wailed Judy. “We shouldn’t have come here withoutletting him know. Now we’re trapped, and no one knows it exceptBlackberry. If he were a dog he might go for help, but cats are tooindependent. Of course, if Peter sees him—but will he come back today?”
“He might,” Horace replied cheerfully. “Dad knows where we are. Youpromised to call, and if I know Dad he’ll suspect something’s wrongwhen you don’t keep your promise. If he tells Peter and if they findBlackberry—”
“More _ifs_!” Judy interrupted. “Don’t look so cheerful about it justbecause it’s news. If we drowned in here that would be news, too, butwe wouldn’t be around to read the paper. We’ll just have to find outhow to shut off the water. That man must be able to control thefountain from in there. There’s nothing out here that we can turn.”
“There may be,” Horace said. “We haven’t examined the pipes.”
“There isn’t time!” Judy was panicky now. “You’ll have to remove thatdrain cover before the tunnel is flooded. You should have left itopen—”
“I know. I made a mistake,” Horace admitted. “Now it’s stuck, and Ican’t budge it. There’s nothing to hold on to. Help me, Judy! We’ve_got_ to get it off!”
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The Haunted Fountain Page 14