The Dragon's Secret Read online

  CHAPTER VI

  LESLIE MAKES SOME DEDUCTIONS

  "Well, of all things!" ejaculated the astonished Phyllis. "And you neversaid a word! What was it?"

  "I didn't say anything," explained Leslie, "because there was hardly achance. It was just before we came out. And--"

  "But what was it? Never mind how it happened!" cried Phyllis impatiently.

  "Well, this is part of it. In that southwest bedroom (the one facing ourhouse), I saw a tiny string of beads lying under the bureau, just by thefront leg of it. The string was just a thread about three inches long,with some little green beads on it. A few of the beads had come off itand rolled farther away. I picked one of them up, and here it is." Sheheld out a little bead to Phyllis.

  "But what on earth is there to _this_?" exclaimed Phyllis, staring at itdisappointedly. "I don't see what an insignificant little object likethis proves. It was probably left by the Danforths, anyway."

  "No, I don't think it was," returned Leslie, quietly, "because theDanforths seem to have cleaned the place very thoroughly. The rest of thefloor was spick and span as could be. I think the string of beads waspart of a fringe, such as they wear so much nowadays to trim nicedresses. It probably caught in the leg of that bureau and was pulled offwithout its owner realizing it. Now did any of the Danforths, as far asyou know, have any bead-trimmed dresses that they wore down here?"

  Phyllis shook her head. "I begin to see what you're driving at, Leslie.No, there's only Mrs. Danforth to wear dresses--the rest of the familyconsists of her husband and the boys. I'm perfectly certain I never sawher in a beaded dress. And even if she had one, I'm sure she wouldn'tthink of wearing it down here, not even to travel home in. People don'tbring elaborate clothes to this place, and she's never been known to. Ibelieve you're right. If the beads had been there when the place wascleaned, they would have disappeared. They must have come there since.The mysterious 'she' of the footprint must have left them! But what elsewas there?"

  "Then I noticed another thing that was curious and very puzzling. Iconfess, I can't make much out of it, and yet it may mean a great deal.It was out by the fireplace in the living-room. Did you happen to noticethat one of the bricks in the floor of it looked as if an attempt hadbeen made to pry it loose, or something? The cement all along one sidehad been loosened and then packed down into place again. And 'way in thecorner, I picked up _this_!" She held up the blade of a penknife, brokenoff halfway.

  "No, I hadn't noticed it at all!" exclaimed Phyllis, ruefully. "The truthis, Leslie, I went into that place expecting to see it all torn up orupheaved or something of the kind--something very definite, anyway. Andwhen I didn't find anything of the sort, I was awfully disappointed andhardly stopped to notice any of these small things. But I believe whatyou've found may be very important, and I think you're awfully clever tohave noticed them, too. Why, it actually sounds like a regular detectivestory! And now that you've found these things, what do you make out ofthem? Have you any ideas?"

  Leslie wrinkled her brows for an interval in silent thought. At last shesaid, "Yes, I have a good many ideas, but I haven't had time to get theminto any order yet. They're all sort of--chaotic!"

  "Oh, never mind!" cried the ever-impatient Phyllis. "Tell me them,anyway. I don't care how chaotic they are!"

  "Well, to begin with,--has this occurred to you?--whoever comes hereselects only a stormy, rainy night for a visit. Now _why_, unless theythink it the best kind of time to escape observation. They just calculateon few people going out or even _looking_ out of their houses on thatkind of a night. Isn't that so?"

  "It certainly seems to be," agreed Phyllis, "but what do you prove bythat?"

  "I don't _prove_ anything, but I've drawn a conclusion from it that I'lltell you later. Then, there's the matter of this little bead. I know yourather scorned it when I first showed it to you, but do you realize onething? We may be able to identify the owner by means of it."

  Phyllis stared at her incredulously, but Leslie continued: "Yes, I reallythink so, and I'll tell you why. This isn't an ordinary bead. In thefirst place, it's a rather peculiar shade of green--one you don'tordinarily see. Then, though it's so small, it's cut in a different way,too, sort of melon-shaped, only with about six sides. Do you see?"

  On closer examination, Phyllis did see. And she had to acknowledge thatLeslie was right.

  "Then there's the broken penknife and the brick with one side pried out,"went on Leslie. "It's pretty plain that the person was trying to pry upthat brick with the penknife and found it hard work because the mortar orcement is solid. Then the blade of the knife broke and the attempt wasprobably given up. Now why did they want to pry up that brick?"

  "I know!--I know!" cried Phyllis, triumphantly. "They wanted to bury 'TheDragon's Secret' under it!"

  "Maybe they did and maybe they didn't," replied Leslie, more cautiously."They certainly tried to pry up the brick, but perhaps it was to _look_for something under it, rather than to hide anything. However, I ratherthink it was to hide it. And because they didn't succeed, they went outand buried it in the sand, instead. How about _that_?"

  Phyllis sprang up and hugged her impetuously. "You have a brain like aregulation sleuth-hound's!" she laughed. "What else?"

  "Well, this is what I can't understand. Suppose this person (we're surenow it must be a woman) came down here that first stormy night with 'TheDragon's Secret,' and tried to hide it somewhere, and finally buried itin the sand outside. The question is, what did she come for the _second_time?"

  "To get it again?" suggested Phyllis.

  "I'm almost absolutely certain not, because, if so, all she would havehad to do was to go outside and dig. (Of course, she wouldn't have foundit because we had it!) But she never went outside at all. I know thatpositively. I passed right by the place where Rags dug the hole, on myway up from your bungalow, and it was quite untouched, just as we left itafter we filled it up again that day. And when we came back again, Ilooked a second time, and still it was the same. And I watched half thenight and would certainly have seen if any one had gone there. No, I'msure it wasn't for that. But what was it for?"

  "Give it up," advised Phyllis, "at least for the present. Anything else?"

  "No, except the conclusion I drew about the person's coming on a stormynight. Do you realize this?--there's quite a big chance that they--orrather, _she_!--will come again on the _next_ stormy night--perhaps!"

  "Well, if that's the case," exclaimed Phyllis, "I've drawn a littleconclusion of my own. The next stormy night I'm going to spend at yourbungalow--and we're going to keep awake all night!"