Roosevelt High School - Round Up Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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to be prepared for any emergency, but tonight I guess the penny will have to do the job. Five minutes later the house was flooded with light, and Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence and Nancy gathered in the living room to talk over the events of the evening. There was no doubt of it - the cigarette case, and with it the secret code, had disappeared. Do you know, mused Mr. Lawrence, 'CI think that telephone message about somebody intending to kill us was all a fake? It was a trick to frighten us so that we would confine ourselves in our bedrooms and leave the downstairs portion of the house open to invasion. Probably Von Burgen, or somebody working for him, saw that cigarette case on the table through the window, and determined to get it. He has possession of that code now, but he's not much better off than we are, unless he can decipher it. I have a feeling that the code tells where the key to the secret room is. Perhaps if we hunt in every nook and corner of the house we can locate the key without the code, and beat him at his own game. HOh, daddy! l' burst out Nancy, 'twhy canlt we have him arrested? HOTI what grounds?'! asked her father. t'You canlt arrest a man just because you suspect him. What could we prove? Nothing! Ulf we only had some idea what he's hunting for, murmured Mrs. Lawrence. f'Whatever it is must be pretty valuable, remarked Nancy, 'tor he wouldn't be taking so many chances of being caughtf' f'Dad! Dad! Oh, dad! came a shout from the hall in a boyish voice, and Stan came racing breathlessly up the stairs. 'fWhat's the matter?'! called Mr. Lawrence. f'Look! Look! cried Stan, I found this in the fuse box. And he held up a silver key. CHAPTER VII 'fWell, I declare, said Mr. Lawrence in a gasp. The others were so surprised they could not speak. Nancy finally stammered, 'tQuick! tLLet's try -,H but before she could finish, Stan, who was still holding the key, pushed her aside and darted through the house to the locked room. Nancy was a close second, with Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence bringing up at the rear. Stan reached the door out of breath, and sank, gasping, on his knees before it. Please, please hurry, begged Nancy, t'I'm so excited I just can't wait. Well, give me time to get my breath. I'm as excited as you are, retorted Stan. He slipped the key into the lock, and while the rest of the family waited motionless, the sound of the doorbell broke the spell. Startled, they listened while a second summons pealed through the house. 'LNow, who can it be at this hour?'l asked Mr. Lawrence. The family went downstairs together, Stan still gripping the precious key which he had removed from the lock. Mr. Lawrence opened the door-and there stood a policeman! CHAPTER VIII MWell, began the policeman, 'Las I was walking past on my beat, I saw a young boy dart out of your bushes and across the street. When I caught him, I frightened him into confessing what had happened. He said that he was passing your house a while ago when a well-dressed man stopped him and told him that he had just been paying a call at your house, and he had gone off without his cigarette case and did not want to disturb you, so he offered to give the boy a dollar if he would slip through the French windows and secure the case, which was lying on the table. The boy wanted the money and did as he was asked. I thought maybe something was wrong, so I came up here to see you about it. Mr. Lawrence, who didn't want the police to know the story of the secret room, l26l

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through the barred skylight, but nothing except one chair and the table with the golden key on it were visible. Disappointed, they climbed down again, and after puzzling in vain over the code, they gave the matter up as a bad job and went out to play a refreshing game of 'fone ol' cat with Ted, a neighbor boy. Ted knocked the ball into the thick shrubbery surrounding the house, when his turn came to bat, and all three started a search for the elusive ball. Suddenly Ted cried, 'fCome here, folks! See what I've found! 'l CHAPTER V They rushed over to where Stan was peering into the bushes. What is it? cried Nancy. Stan held up a silver cigarette case with the initials UH. V. B. engraved upon it. With tense and trembling fingers, Stan snapped open the case, and in it was lying the slip of paper that had been in the rag doll- the slip with the secret code on it. H, V. B., mused Nancy. HI believe this case belongs to Von Burgen, and somehow he has taken our code- maybe he took it from the desk yesterday when he was here. He probably was snooping around the house when he dropped the case. I don't like the looks of this at all. That night as the Lawrence family were sitting at dinner the telephone rang. Hello! called Mr. Lawrence into the receiver. In a faint, hoarse whisper came these words, Watch out! Stay in your rooms. Danger tonight. 'fIt's probably a silly practical joke of some kind,'l Mr. Lawrence soothed his frightened family. At eleven o'clock nothing unusual had happened, so the family went to their rooms. Mr. Lawrence was just taking his automatic from a table drawer when Nancy hurriedly entered. 'fMother, daddy, she softly called, UI heard some- body moving around down in the cellar. At this instant the lights went off, and in the complete darkness that followed, stealthy footsteps could be heard ascending the stairs to the second floor. CHAPTER VI Mr. Lawrence gripped the automatic tensely, and Mrs. Lawrence bent forward, her eyes straining to penetrate the thick pall of darkness. Nearer came those stealthy footsteps, now they were at the top of the stairs, another second and they would pass the door. Mr. Lawrence raised the automatic. Stop! he commanded in steelly tones, Nor I fire! f'Dad, it's Stan! came the cry. 'tDon't shoot!', ' 'tOh, Stan, almost sobbed Mrs. Lawrence, 'tyour father might have killed you. What do you mean by creeping around the house that way in the middle of the night? You should be in bed and asleep? Sh, mother, implored Ben, patting her hand. ttListen! I was asleep when some- thing awakened me. I don't know just what it was, but something seemed to brush my face. I sat bolt upright in bed and pressed the light switch, but it wouldn't work. Our lights must be out of order. Then, I don't know exactly why it was, I remem- bered that I had left that cigarette case with Von Burgen's initials on it down on the library table, and I crept downstairs and into the living room after it. Did you get it? inquired Mr. Lawrence. No, dad, I didn't,H answered Stan, because it wasn't there. I ran my fingers over every inch of that table, and it wasn't there. Oh, daddy, broke in Nancy, who up to this moment had been too startled and upset to say anything, I think I'll go crazy if we donit have some light in this house. 'tI'll fix the light, 0. K., volunteered Stan. I know how to do it with a penny. We were told in a talk on Fire Prevention to put a new fuse in and never to use a penny, but I'd like to know what's a fellow to do when he hasnit any fuse, and it's midnight, and the fifteen-cent store isn't open. Tomorrow, I'll buy a dozen fuses l25I

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replied that he did not wish to prosecute the boy, since the case had been recovered, and the policeman withdrew. It was now after one o'cl0ck, and Mrs. Lawrence insisted that everyone go to bed and try to get a little rest. The next morning, breakfast was scarcely over before the Lawrence family again stood before the locked room. Betty Lou was excited, too, because all the others were, and was hopping from one foot to another. Stan again slipped the key into the lock. 'tTurn it! 'I cried Nancy. CHAPTER IX He turned it, and the lock clicked. Stan slowly and cautiously pushed open the door, as if he were afraid something was going to jump out at him. Oh! Nancy let out a startled cry. 'KTherels nothing here but one table and a chair, both covered with dust. I'm so mad I could scream. The idea of Uncle getting us all excited over nothing. The whole thing is a joke, I bet. Now, Nancy,,' said her father, let's leave everything alone for a while, at least. I admit the puzzle is certainly hard to understand. Oh, dadf' broke in Stan, could there be secret panels or anything like that in this room? 'tThere must be somethingj remarked Mrs. Lawrence. 'fUncle was a queer man, but he was a kind one, and I don't think he would be so mean as to play a trick like that. Nancy, Stan, and Mr. Lawrence fell to work looking at and feeling every crack in the walls. Do you know what's missing? suddenly burst out Nancy. 'tIt's the golden key we saw on the table. Where is it? As she spoke, she swung suddenly on her heel to face her family, and as she did so, her knee hit a. little button on the table leg. Before the astonished group, there shot open a little drawer. There in the drawer lay a piece of paper. Stan opened it and read: Dear Children: By this time you must have decoded the message in the doll, and discov- ered that the key to this room was in the fuse box. This is only one of the secrets this small room contains. Remember, if you fail once, try again and again. You'll not be sorry. Love, UNCLE BEN. HI knew it, cried Mrs. Lawrence. 'tl knew he wouldn't fool us.'l CHAPTER X It was an excited family that sat down to dinner that night. Everyone was noisy except Mrs. Lawrence. She was busy thinking. Suddenly she said, Please be quiet a minute. I have something important to ask you. The family quieted down, for they knew their mother had something important to ask them. What I want to ask you, continued Mrs. Lawrence, is where is the golden key we saw when we looked through the pane of glass in the door? She had no sooner gotten these words out of her mouth than Nancy sprang to her feet with, Come on, everybody,'l and away they went up the stairs, Mrs. Law- rence and Betty Lou bringing up at the rear. Everybody got down on their knees and searched the floor for the lost key. 'Finally Stan spied it in a crack by the table. I suppose one of us knocked it off, remarked Nancy, but where is the lock to fit it? Well, we're here now, why don't we look for it?', asked Mr. Lawrence. I'm sure it must be in this room, he continued. You look for it while I put Betty Lou to bedf' answered Mrs. Lawrence. Please, mama, let me stay with daddy, begged Betty Lou. l27l