Harold Avery

“ The Pines was a rambling old house; the girls always slept with their window open; and just below was an outbuilding, part of which was used as a tool-house, in which stood the grindstone; and thus the sound had reached Elsie at a moment when perhaps her slumber was not as deep as usual. The noise continued, with pauses at regular intervals, when whatever was being sharpened was removed from the stone. Taking care not to disturb her elder sister, Ida, whose heavy breathing showed that she was sound asleep, the little girl slipped out of bed, and crept softly over to the window. ”

“ Ida leant over the banisters.
"Brian!" she cried in a whisper. "What are you doing?"
There was a scuffling noise, and a moment later, to the girl's astonishment, a black dog came jumping up the stairs as fast as it could go.
"Why, Bob, you rascal, whatever brings you in here?"
The dog capered about with a whining noise, which showed his delight.
"Hush! don't bark!" commanded the girl; "you ought to be in your kennel. Go downstairs, and lie on the mat."
The dog obeyed, and pattered off down the stairs, while Ida went on and tapped at the door of the room in which the two boys slept. ”

“ Elsie could hardly go to sleep that night for thinking of what was going to happen on the morrow. It would be nice, she imagined, to have a mysterious box like that to open every day of the year, and so ensure a constant succession of fresh surprises. Once more the chest was the subject of her dreams; and this time, instead of being found full of treasure, it simply would not open at all. Brian, Guy, and her father were all trying to force up the lid, but the iron bands held it firm. The only tool they had with which to work was the poultry-carver, and this bent up like a strip of paper. ”

“ How long it had been going on, or when it first began to mingle in a confused manner with her dreams, she could not say; but now she heard it plainly enough, and recognized what it was—the peculiar, grating hiss of a grindstone, punctuated every now and then with a subdued little squeak made by the treadle.
Who on earth should want to be grinding anything at that time of night? ”

“ He spoke to Brian in quite a deferential manner, calling him Seaton, and he was evidently shy of Elsie and Ida.
"Hullo, Nails, old chap!" cried Guy, seizing hold of his guest, rumpling his hair, and giving him a slap on the back which made him stagger. "Have you come prepared for a good feed?"
"Shut up, Ormond," murmured the unfortunate Naylor, glancing in the direction of the girls, and flushing crimson. "Why can't you leave a fellow alone?"
"You look so jolly tidy," laughed Guy.—"He's usually all over ink—isn't he Brian?—and goes about with only the lining of a cap on his head." ”

“ Brian felt sorry for his little cousin.
"Oh, nonsense, Elsie!" he said, taking her arm after the manner of a good comrade. "Don't go imagining that you've seen a ghost, because you haven't. It was all fancy. Look here; after you'd gone indoors I went myself and looked into the tool-house to see what had frightened you, and there was nothing there. You must buck up, and make up your mind you won't give way to your fears. Now come on with me, and we'll explore the tool-house together." ”

“ Ormond made a suggestion which was not at first received with unanimous approval.
"As all you children are anxious to see the box opened," she said, "I think instead of its being done at breakfast time to-morrow, it had better be postponed till after tea."
"O mother!" protested Guy and Elsie in the same breath. "What d'you want to do that for?"
"It's always a rush to get you started for school in the morning," was the answer. "If there's anything to hinder you, you're sure to be late. ”

“ Brian fired, and the little steel dart struck close to the bull's-eye.
"Now, then!" cried Guy, reloading the pistol. "I must take extra good aim this time and get a bull. Oh, bother!"
He had been standing looking at the target as he spoke, and holding the pistol with the muzzle pointing upwards. Incautiously his finger had tightened on the trigger, with the result that the little weapon suddenly went off.
"O Guy, you should be more careful!" exclaimed Ida. "You might have hurt somebody."
"Hang it all!" muttered her brother. "Now I've lost the dart." ”

“ Sarah goes and finds the bottle standing uncorked and empty, and I know myself that there was some spirit in it a few days ago."
"Perhaps if the cork wasn't in the bottle the spirit had evaporated," suggested Elsie.
"I don't think it would do that," replied her mother, laughing. "I'm rather inclined to think that it evaporated into the lamp of somebody's steam engine."
"No, it didn't!" cried Guy. "Look here, mother; you might as well believe a fellow when he tells you the truth."
"Well, if you tell me you didn't take it," replied Mrs. Ormond, "I must believe you. ”

“ The rake was found, and bound with stout cord to the clothes-prop, and the process of "salving" the wrecked steamer commenced.
"I must mind and not damage her with these iron spikes," said Brian, carefully thrusting out the head of the rake and lowering it into the water.
"Hullo! I've got something," he remarked an instant later, as he hauled in the drag. "But it isn't the boat. What can it be?"
The prongs of the rake grated on the bricks, and there, amid dead leaves, rotten twigs, and muddy sediment, lay something which at first glance might have been mistaken for a dead fish. ”

“ Old Uncle Roger certainly wasn't sparing of his wax."
"I've got an old chisel that'll do it!" cried Brian. "I'll fetch it, if you'll wait half a minute."
"Well, make haste!" cried Guy impatiently.
"It seems almost a shame to break the seals," said Ida, stooping to examine them. "The impression is so clear that I can read the words of the motto."
"Oh, bother the seals!" said her brother. "We can't see what's inside the box until they are broken."
A moment later Brian came bounding back with his chisel. Mr. Ormond took the tool, and soon chipped the wax away from the face of the locks. ”

“ William Cole has begun his first experience of being 'rocked in the cradle of the deep.'"
"Was the Arcadia the ship he was going out on?" asked Ida.
"Yes," replied her father; "that was the one in which he had booked his passage."
"'Old King Cole was a merry old soul,'" chanted Guy, with his mouth half full of toast and butter. "I wish he hadn't gone. I'm sure we shan't ever have such a nice man again."
"He was a civil, sharp young fellow," said Mr. Ormond. "I suppose he hopes to do better in the Colonies than by staying on in the old country. Well, it's very possible he may get on. ”

“ A sudden thought occurred to Elsie that it must be her cousin, Brian Seaton, who lived at the Pines, and went to school with her brother Guy. Brian was always boat-building; sometimes he sat up later than he ought to have done, and continued to work long after every one else was in bed. No doubt the rascal was doing so now, and had stolen down to put a fresh edge on his chisel. Elsie was a spirited young monkey, and she and Brian were great chums. ”

“ She longed to tell the others what was in her thoughts, but pride made her hold her tongue. She did not like being made fun of, and she felt sure that any reference to what Ida called her "dream" about the grindstone was certain to be received with nothing but ridicule by both brother and sister.
In one corner of the tool-house stood Uncle Roger's iron-bound box, which, since the eventful evening when it was opened, had been banished from the library in disgrace, Mr. Ormond wishing to put a small bookcase in the space which the box had hitherto occupied. ”

“ If you didn't see what it was, it might as well be a ghost as anything else."
"Come now," interrupted Mrs. Ormond; "I think we discussed this matter quite enough at breakfast, so now you'd better let it rest. Your father thinks that it was nothing but the wind whistling through some crack that Elsie mistook for the noise of the stone." ”

“ Master Naylor's mouth was full of cheesecake, but he nodded to show his consent.
"All right; I'll explain," continued Guy. "It's going to be just like 'I spy,' only it's played with bicycle lamps—that is, there will be two to seek, and the rest will hide, and the seekers will have a lamp each, so that they can find people in the dark. They'll shout out, 'I spy So-and-So,' and then run back to the den. If the person who's found can get home first, then he's safe; but if he doesn't, then he's got to be one of the seekers next time."
"Only one person seeks in 'I spy,'" said Ida. ”

“ How forgetful I'm getting!"
"Is it anything I can do for you, aunt?" asked Brian.
"Oh no, my dear; thank you," was the answer. "I wanted Henry to tell Mrs. Budd, the washer-woman, not to come on Monday."
"Shall I take the message for you?"
"Oh no, Brian; she lives in Bridge Lane—right on the other side of the town. If it had been nearer I would have asked you to go."
"Oh, it wouldn't take me long, aunt," answered the boy. "I'll ride on my bicycle; the lamp is trimmed; and I can have my tea when I come back."
"It's very kind of you to offer," answered Mrs. Ormond, hesitating. ”

“ He rushed about, and seemed in all parts of the garden at once. No one was safe when he was seeking, and where he managed to find such secure hiding-places was a thing only known to himself. Once only did he find himself in difficulties.
"I spy 'Nails'!" shouted Guy. "Why don't you run?" he added a moment later, as no one stirred.
"I can't!" was the plaintive reply heard in the darkness.
"Why not?" demanded the searcher, coming back a few paces, and directing his lamp towards his chum.
The redoubtable Naylor was seen crouching awkwardly in a gap in the hedge at the bottom of the garden. ”

“ Meeting in the road outside the Pines on their return, they passed together through the gate, and along the drive.
"Hooray!" exclaimed Guy, swinging his bundle of books round and round at the end of the strap. "No more work till Monday! I thought I should have been kept in for Cæsar to-day, but I just happened to get an easy bit with words I knew."
"It's a wonder you ever know anything," remarked Ida, who was rather fond of reproving other people. "You are always drawing, or cutting up pen-holders with your knife, or doing something of that kind, when you ought to be preparing your work. ”

“ Slowly and cautiously he turned the box on end, but its contents did not appear to move.
"I believe the blessed thing's empty!" cried the boy.
"I fancied I heard something sort of trickle about inside," said Elsie.
"Oh, you're always fancying something," said her brother. "You'll say the grindstone's in there next."
"I thought I heard something too," exclaimed Brian. "But it was only a very slight sound, such as a bit of loose wood might make—a chip, perhaps, from off the inside of the lid."
Guy lowered the box, and turned it up again. "I do hear something," he admitted. ”

“ Come on, Ida and Elsie; we'll all have a try."
The elder sister responded readily, but Elsie hung back, made some excuse, and went off in another direction.
"What a little noodle she's becoming!" remarked Ida to Brian, as Guy proceeded to hang up the target. "I believe, for some reason or other, she's taken it into her head to be afraid to go inside this tool-house. She won't go near it, not even in broad daylight."
"Let's go and bring her," suggested Guy.
"Oh, I shouldn't," answered Brian. "You'll never cure her that way. The best thing is to leave her alone, and take no notice. ”

“ You've been and taken it for that there model steam engine of yours. Why didn't you come and ask if you might have some?"
"I tell you I haven't had any," persisted the boy.
"Now, Master Guy, you're telling fibs. The bottle was half full, or nearly so, last week; and when I come to it this afternoon there wasn't a drop left, and too late to send down into town and get any."
"Look here, Sarah; you can say what you like, but I haven't touched your silly old bottle, so there! Jane must have taken the spirit, or else you used it yourself." ”

“ Sometimes things do slip away in the most unaccountable manner, and you never discover where they are gone until perhaps you come across them quite by accident—often when you are looking for something else. ”

“ Elsie tried to lift the lid, but the two padlocks had been refastened to prevent their being lost. She sat down on the chest, and began drumming her feet on the dark oak planks.
"What a disappointment that old box has proved!" thought the girl. "I wonder if there ever was anything in it. Father seems to think it couldn't possibly have been opened, but then how did that cork with Greenworthy's name on it come to be inside? I do wish it had been full of money. ”

“ Ormond; "we won't talk about it any more just now. There's nothing to be ashamed of in mistaking one sound for another, especially when you wake up in the middle of the night, and everything seems strange."
Elsie subsided, but she was far from satisfied, especially as Guy covertly pulled a face at her across the table. She ate her dinner in silence, and as soon as the meal was over left the room and went outside in a pet. As the tool-house had been uppermost in her mind lately, she naturally found her way there, and sat down on an old hamper to think. ”