CHAPTER XIII Betty and the Books
Arden Blake, for a moment, did not know which to attend to first, thestrange old woman or the nervous and excited Betty Howe with her gaspingdeclaration of a dead man in the cellar.
Then, in a flash, Arden decided if there was a dead man there he must bethe missing Jim. And if he were dead he would remain there. Also Ardenknew Betty, but she did not know this strange woman who had so suddenly,and seemingly mysteriously, appeared on the scene.
"Don't be afraid, Betty!" Arden told the trembling girl. "We are herewith you--the other girls are around in front, and so is the contractorand his men. But who is this--lady?"
The strange woman was regarding Arden with malevolent eyes, and her mouthseemed to be muttering words. Betty, who, up to this moment, did notappear to have been aware of the other's presence, now turned and looked.She showed no surprise.
"Oh," she said in a low voice to Arden, "that is Granny's cousin, VineyTucker. She lives with us. I guess Granny didn't mention her before,because, well--she is a little----"
Betty did not need to add the word "queer," Arden could see that forherself. But there was nothing abnormal about Viney Tucker. She had oncebeen a handsome woman, Arden reasoned, perhaps even more so than GrannyHowe.
"Cousin Viney helps Granny with the work, as she used to do when we alllived in the Hall," Betty hurried to say. "But don't bother about her.She goes and comes as and when she pleases. But the man in thecellar--the dead man. Oh, I was so frightened! What shall we do?"
"This probably explains the whole mystery," said Arden.
"What mystery?"
"About the missing workman, Jim Danton. Didn't you hear all theexcitement about him, Betty?"
"No, I only just got here a few minutes ago. What do you mean about amissing man?"
"First tell me," suggested Arden, "what you were doing in the cellar."
"I was there looking for some old books that were stored down there whenwe moved out and over to the cottage. I happened to mention them to ourlibrarian the other day, and he suggested that I bring some in for him toexamine. He said there might be some valuable volumes among them. So Itook a little time off from my work, and I came directly here--with aflashlight." This was all said in breathless haste.
"Yes," said Arden, "I see you have a flashlight."
"It's the only way to find things in the cellar--it's so dark down therewith all the lights off now. And if it hadn't been for my light Iwouldn't have seen the dead man." She actually leaned against Arden andwas trembling still.
"Let's hope he isn't dead," suggested Arden. "Come! We must tell theothers quickly."
Up to this time Viney Tucker had neither moved nor spoken since herarrival on the scene. She stood at the corner of the house and fairlyglared at the girls. Now she exclaimed:
"Ha! So there's a dead man, is there? I knew murder would be done beforethey finished tearing down our house! I knew it!"
"It isn't murder, Cousin Viney," said Betty.
"Well, there will be murder before this business is finished," sniffedthe old woman. "And I don't like murder being done in our old house."
"And it isn't our house any more, Cousin Viney," said Betty. "That's justthe trouble--we can't prove it is ours."
"If we could only find the papers! If we could only find the papers!"muttered Viney Tucker as she hurried away in the direction of thecottage. Evidently the excited woman was suffering from the wrongs she,as well as her family, felt had been done them about the Hall.
"Now we must hurry!" cried Arden. "This man you think is dead--I'm surehe's the missing Jim, and he may not be dead at all; he must be lookedafter. If he's injured, he'll need a doctor. Come and tell the others allabout it! They're right out here."
"But I don't _know_ anything about him," Betty objected as Arden fairlydragged her around to the front of the house.
"You found him--that's enough!"
The conference between the contractor and his men was still on, but Simand the others seemed on the point of leaving. They had just become awareof the fact that Arden was not in sight when she came into view withBetty.
"We've found the missing man. Or, rather, Betty did when she went in thecellar after books!" cried Arden all in a breath. Quickly she introducedBetty to her chums.
"You mean Jim?" shouted Mr. Callahan.
"I think so," Arden answered.
"Come on, men!" cried the contractor leading a rush around to the sidecellar door. "But it'll be dark down there. We'll need some lanterns. Getone, some of you."
"Take my flashlight," offered Betty.
Mr. Callahan did, fairly snatching it away but begging her pardon amoment later.
"You can't know how upset I am," he explained. "So many things havehappened today and other days. Poor Jim! How in the world did he get downin the cellar? Is he badly hurt, do you think?"
"He seemed to be unconscious," Betty answered. "But I didn't give morethan a look, and I thought he was dead, so I screamed and rushed out."
"And I met her as I was wandering around that way trying to think up somereason for all this," Arden explained.
"Well, we must get help to him quickly if he's alive!" decided thecontractor, and he led his hurrying men while the girls followed.
"How long were you in the cellar, Betty?" asked Arden.
"Only a few minutes. I couldn't find the box of books at first. It musthave been moved. And then I saw--him!"
"And you didn't hear anything of the search we have been conducting forthe last half hour?" asked Sim.
"Not the least sound. But then I was away down cellar, and the floors arevery heavy."
"And we were searching the upper floors," said Terry. "Of course youcouldn't hear, Betty."
Up out of the cellar, sliding and slipping on the crumbling stone steps,came the men carrying an apparently lifeless form. They had found it bymeans of Betty's electric torch.
"Is it the missing man?" called Arden.
"Yes, it's Jim Danton," someone answered.
"Is he--dead?"
"We don't know yet," said Mr. Callahan. "We've got to get him to a doctorpretty quick."
"Well, at any rate," said Dorothy, "the mystery of the poor man'sdisappearance is solved, and I hope he isn't seriously injured."
One of the men who was standing near the girls turned to answer Dorothy.
"That doesn't explain it," he said. "Jim was working on the third floor,but _how_ did he get down in that cellar?"