X
Where Is Circe?
MICHAEL was waiting for us at The Corners at five that afternoon. Hehad left the horses tied there in order not to attract attention to ourvisit to Craven House. "Haven't seen anything more of Bangs, have you?"was his first question.
Eve shook her head.
"Well, he's left Trap's," Michael said. "I went in there just now andinquired for him. They said he departed the day after he came and theydon't know anything about him. Didn't leave any address or say where hewas going."
"Then he never got his letter back," I said. "It must be at the Innnow."
"No, it isn't, I've got it in my pocket. I just told old man Trap thata friend of mine had mailed a letter to him and that, as long as theydidn't know where he was, I thought this person would like to have itback. So he just handed it out without a word and here it is."
"Oh, I'm glad you got it," exclaimed Eve. "For after what Captain Trouttold us this afternoon, I can't help thinking maybe it is important."
"So you've been talking to the Captain?" Michael queried.
"Yes, you see it was Daisy June's doing," Eve began.
"The kitten you left on our doorstep this morning," I put in. "That wasa marvelous idea of yours, Michael!"
"Say, did it work?" he demanded eagerly. "Did your aunt really take toit?"
"Aunt Cal? Not on your life! It was Captain Trout. We left Daisy Juneasleep on his knee with every appearance of being settled for life. Andwhen Adam saw her, he just walked out--came back to us!"
Michael threw back his head and roared. We went on to tell him whatCaptain Trout had told about Judd Craven and the blue emerald. Henodded, "I guess everybody around here has heard of old Captain Judd,"he said.
"But Aunt Cal has never mentioned him to us," I said. "Though I didfancy she looked sort of funny the other day when we told her aboutbeing locked in the old house. I expect maybe she knows it well."
"Wills make a lot of trouble, don't they?" I went on. "Whether onemakes one or doesn't, it seems to be always the same. Bad feeling ofsome kind."
Michael grinned at this. "Well, what would you do about it?" heinquired.
"Oh, I don't know. I guess maybe it's better not to have anything toleave when you die. Then your relatives and friends will go on lovingyou."
"Yeah, or forget you entirely," he retorted cynically.
We had been climbing the hill as we talked and had come once more tothe tumbling stone wall which bordered the Craven property. We climbedover it and made our way through the tall grass and bushes to the spotwhere we had found Mr. Bangs and his measuring tape two weeks before.The grass was considerably trampled around the stone figure but, atfirst glance, that was the only sign that anybody had been near thespot.
Michael dropped on his knees and at once set to work examining theground. Presently he took a tape measure from his pocket and beganmeasuring. "You look," remarked Eve, "quite like Mr. Bangs himself,except that you've got more hair on your head."
Michael paid no attention. He measured thirteen feet and six inchessouth from the statue. Then, turning west at a right angle, counted offanother seven feet. "There," he exclaimed at last, "that ought to bethe spot, if any!"
We were kneeling beside him now, all three of us, bent eagerly over thematted grass. Suddenly Michael's finger dug into the earth and helifted bodily forth a big square of ragged turf. "Why!" I stammered,"how queer!"
"Golly!" cried Eve. "He's dug here already! We--we're too late!"
"You mean he fitted the turf back like that to cover his tracks?" Icried with rising indignation.
"Looks like it," returned Michael, gazing down at the newly disturbedearth. "Naturally he didn't want to leave traces of his operations foranyone to see. Especially after you two came spying on him."
"The old villain! What right has he got to Captain Judd's treasure, I'dlike to know!"
Michael looked up with his quizzical grin. "Did you really expect tofind treasure buried here?" he asked.
"W-well," I stammered, somewhat embarrassed by the amusement in hisgray eyes. "After what Captain Trout told us--I mean about the blueemerald and all----"
"Oh, that!" returned Michael scornfully. "That story sounds prettyfishy to me."
"But there must have been something here," put in Eve. "Or else Mr.Bangs wouldn't have been carrying around those measurements and all."
"If you didn't believe there was anything, why did you bother to comeup here and look?" I demanded a little hotly.
"Well," he returned slowly, "I was curious to know what the fellow wasup to for one thing. Then," he grinned again, "I knew you girlswouldn't sleep nights till you'd had a look."
"Oh, is that so!" I retorted haughtily. "Of course, we're just a coupleof weak, credulous females----"
Michael paid no heed to my ill temper. He had drawn the letter out ofhis pocket and was studying it. "I'd give a lot," he remarked, "to knowwho wrote this!"
"What I can't understand," mused Eve, "is this: why, if Mr. Bangs foundwhat he was after, was he so anxious to get the letter back? Anxiousenough, in fact, to break into Aunt Cal's house last night to look forit?"
Michael shot her an approving glance. "That's just the point that hasme guessing," he said. "It rather looks to me as if the fellow'sexcavations didn't prove successful after all."
"But he had the measurements right--we've proved that, haven't we?"
Michael nodded. He seemed to be thinking deeply.
Suddenly Eve got up and wandered over to the blackened stone figure.She stood with her back to us for several minutes, examining it. Atlast she turned around. "Suppose," she said slowly, looking down towhere Michael and I were sitting, our backs propped against the bowl ofthe fountain, "suppose this isn't the statue of Circe after all!"
"What!" Michael was on his feet like a flash. "I say," he cried,"that's an idea! Maybe the old fellow got the wrong statue!"
"You see," went on Eve, "Captain Trout told us there were severalstatues which Captain Judd brought home from his travels. He said therewas one of Diana and one of Mercury. And this statue, even though it isso dingy and weatherbeaten, looks to me a lot more like Mercury thananyone else. Look, you can see the places where the wings were brokenoff on his back."
"Gee, Eve, you're dead right!" Michael cried appreciatively. "Prettydumb of me not to notice that myself!" It was the first time thatMichael had addressed either of us directly by our first names. I feltthat it was a tribute to Eve's intelligence.
"We simply took it for granted that it was the right statue," Evecontinued. "And, of course, our friend Bangs couldn't be expected toknow a great deal about mythology. I suppose one statue looks prettymuch like another to a fellow like him."
"Then the thing to do," I burst in excitedly, "is to find the rightone--the missing Circe! She surely must be somewhere around."
The garden, as I have said, was so overgrown with weeds, tall grass,rambling rosebushes and every other variety of shrub that the spacearound the fountain where Mr. Bangs had made his measurements waspractically the only clear spot in sight. But we now set to work tomake a thorough search of the entire place. But though we combed itfrom one end to the other, startling toads from their lairs andstirring up swarms of mosquitoes, we found not the slightest trace ofany other statue.
We were so absorbed in our search that none of us had noticed theswiftly darkening sky till Eve exclaimed suddenly, "Goodness, it'sgoing to rain."
"Sure is," Michael agreed, emerging from a thicket of blackberrybushes, with a scratch across one cheek. "Guess Circe'll have to staywherever she's hiding for tonight. I'll run on ahead and get the wagonand meet you."
The drops were already beginning to fall before we reached him. "Betterget in behind," he ordered, "and put this blanket over your heads."
It was pouring by the time we reached Fishers Haven. Michael did notlet us out at the farmhouse as he had done before but drove on to AuntCal's gate. There
was no time for any further plans that night. We justcalled out our thanks and made a dash for the house. But I was surethat Michael would not be satisfied until he had fathomed the mysteryof the old garden, whatever it was. For my own part, I was determinedto go back and continue the search at the earliest possible moment.
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