Show S Z BONY RS anno anna mcclure S holl P W N U SYNOPSIS janet mercer arthur fleming and mrs denver matron after being welcomed by gordon haskell proprietor as new teachers bachers at lystlund Loat Lost lund academy are truck struck by the air of mystery pervading the lonely place wilton payne com oletes the janet sees bees a meeting between haskell and an uncouth giant whom payne later learns is balder a valuable servant among janeas pupils is ber nice bracebridge daughter daught of the late owner of the academy whose guardian is haskell janet and fleming while visiting a nearby waterfall learn from payne that two sisters and two brothers of bernice had been drowned some years ago and the wax figures which the faculty had thought were scholars studying in the school room when they first saw V them had been modeled by mrs Brace bridges orders into othe likenesses of the four and that the late dr Brace bridges will provided that they must be preserved jerry moore a farmer I 1 tells payne the bracebridge chil dren had drowned when roped to gether in imitation of mountain climbers one had slipped into the water payne begins to take an inc in ceasing essing interest in berenice as aa fleming does in janet after talking to mrs wel welford ford a neighbor and to haskell he li confides to fleming that he believes he be is solving the mystery through balder a rumor is spread that bereniece is to marry haskell instead bereniece becomes engaged to payne haskell her guardian becomes jealous angwill and will not consent to the marriage he discharges payne who goes to live at the moore farm but payne arranges to exchange notes with bereniece CHAPTER vin VIII continued while this conversation was in progress arthur was at his desk la in his own room resigned at last to its if curious noises and cre akings the rustling of his papers sounded very loud in the silence of the room and he lit his black pipe poor old wilton he thought out there on the moors with jerry anil and psychology gone to glory if he takes my advice hell steal berenice and run with his prize to the rest of us after him wild arms out eyes popping 1 loftland lost land behind us like a night nightmare marel I 1 we might have known when we arrived at that station called blade that something was wrong hear that mouse I 1 wonder what mrs lira denver denter Is doing As if in answer to his question there came a knock at the door it WM was mrs denver with a lamp in bar hand band he and balder are quarreling again she ehe whispered 1 I beard their voices I 1 tell what they said I 1 felt afraid he took the lamp from her hand dont be frightened well move down the corridor a bit and if we wa hear bear anything violent we can go up to protect the girls it was cold and draughty in the halls and even the runner of carpet was lifted and moved by in intermittent ter gusts open doors on black bedrooms added to the gloom they paused and listened par far off they heard a peal of diabolic laughter like a man plunging into the night with a jest or into a cauldron cauldren caul dron with a quip what is that shadow on the wall mrs denver gasped breathlessly just the high backed charl listen 1 keep very still stall 11 again the laughter chich arthur thought tho the most unpleasant he had ever heard beard a black dancing ca dence of notes imps leaping up and down and pulling faces at appalled eyes another sound from another quarter of the building this time a pounding a wild beating of fists bats on a hard substance then the laughter died away a door slammed 1 I for all the riches in all the banks go down 1 stairs now suppose a hand band reached out and dragged you the pounding continued ma maybe ahe somebody Is locked out ahe ven aured or locked in go to your room mrs denver and lock the door i am going down to investigate ill go with you id feel safer arthur felt safer himself for her company and they went cantlo cautiously down the main staircase in the lower hall they paused that pounding comes from the basement her voice was faint listen Liste nl I 1 some ones calling as if tor for help muffled imploring sounds reached thern them once they thought they made out the word balder 11 oh ob well theres there nothing for it but to go down to the ahe ohp ate jeta m to soine locae from where the figures arel she grew white mr fleming you dont think hes her killed I 1 A dead man make 6 such a racket he moved toward the basement stairs and began to descend ill his 3 companion close beside him some one was pounding on the inside of the door which guarded the figures As they neared it a singular spectacle met their eyes gordon haskells face over which the blood was from a cut on his forehead was framed in the circular inset of glass his eyes wild with fright glared out at them for an instant then he shouted let me out of here whore where Is the key 11 he called directions arthur went on to the next room found the loose brick and the key mrs denver was close at his heels very pale but she said nothing arthur unlocked the door and haskell stepped out panting growling wiping the blood from hla his forehead that brue balder baider locked me in here for a practical joke I 1 suppose I 1 was looking for something I 1 dropped here yesterday and he slammed clammed the door to I 1 was helpless one can only open it from inside with the key in my haste baste I 1 fell cut myself fleming will you bring that candle arthur went into the schoolroom the candlestick stood on the old desk imparting to the old place the appearance of a school in which the pupils had been kept too late mrs denver glanced at the figures apprehensively the golden heads beads were bent how terrible if they should look up all of them I 1 haskell in slipping had evidently hit bit his head against the iron leg of a desk for there was blood on tho the floor close to the feet of the little waxen isabel he had disappeared when they came out and they heard his footsteps echoing ott off toward his own quarters arthur and mrs denver looked at each other with mutual inquiries as to the sIgni significance fleance of this so called practical joke did raider lock him up to pay him off for something I 1 suppose sup iose why Is he so afraid of the figures perhaps he treat the bracebridge children as ag he should they certainly hated him I 1 think the night will be quiet from now on mrs denver CHAPTER IX jc TON had not seen anyone WITTON efroin WIT from the academy for several days and he was all the more anxious because the notes in the old tree had ceased the end of a mornings impatience was the mile walk to the tree through the nipping air 1 I am on a fruitless errand he muttered if theres no note I 1 am going on to the academy he do more than shoot me mel ill but there was a note and ho he opened it greedily it had bad neither beginning nor ending only the few lines meet me thursday afternoon at three just above the whirl on the dangerous side were not likely to be followed there he went back to tell jerry that he would be gone all afternoon in case any of his pupils conceived the holiday to be at an end jerry half asleep over the ore fire raised himself viewed his lodger benevolently and nodded again wilton went into Ms his bedroom and made ready for a cold afternoon out of doors he had to make a long detour around the shores of the lake to reach the entrance to the ravine but a cart road opened between the pines and in the heavy silence of the winter landscape he trudged brushing by evergreen boughs Q and shaking olt off their weight of snow in a powdery cloud ile he saw the dark waters of the ravine creek between the white banks and found the path that skirted the dangerous side without much difficulty the wild lonely gorge was magnificent icicles hung from monstrous black boulders the dark water seemed to be churning up ice like cream the air stung as aa if full of invisible frost needles more than once he paused to see if she were in sight to see if she were following him up chedan cerous path which nt at times measured its ito width by inches above the ebony water here and there a fallen tree sent the foam high where the impetuous current broke against its ita bulk poor children ho he thought and then if there kad had been time tim to ant k a Ili mui ells to her I 1 would have baa forbidden dangerous Dan KerouS much iii u cli too dangerous he slipped on a bit of lee ice and caught himself just in time to save him him from going over the bank into the welter of hurrying water the path had become a mere thread at the bottom of a precipice the great tall fall hung just ahead of him at its ita foot the vortex was in full swing the whirl was dancing a mad de defiance flance of winter even zero cold could not harness it he did not care to gaze at it too long what a place 1 she must never never come here again turning too quickly he slipped but instantly regained his balance by a violent lurch backward in the tha same moment lie felt the heavy impact of something against hla his shoulder a glancing blow and wheeled around to find his hands violently and instinctively clutching at the square green base that he knew very well indeed the base basa to which was attached the old tree at the other end of the tree wax was balders dark and angry face watchful keen and sly wilton had it a cinema lash flash of events converging to and diverging from this encounter sieving moving across this screen were figures both familiar and strange berenice in her patient beauty rias Keit roaming me oia academy like some borne werewolf were wolf the th e immobile waxen children that glancing blow on his shoulder was waa it an accident he would soon eoon know and along the avenues of his mind approached pro ached another figure himself tragically snared see here balder he tried to speak with friendly indifference be a little more careful when youre youra throwing rubbish into the tha whirl you might hurt somebody what are you in the way for the words conveyed more than their obvious meaning and were accompanied by a sound half laugh half snarl over raiders balders broad blank countenance something passed like a cloud obliterating even his purpose but wilton instinctively felt that he be was vas in greater danger than he had bad ever been in his ufa life life it might be measured only in moments now then a terrible fear had this man been sent to kill them both had he already killed berenice Bere nicel he tried to think calmly and to decipher the black shadows on that huge face bolder balder sold said let go that end ill give it another throw you let go your end I 1 am nearest the stream for answer balders hand gripped the tree trunk tighter wilton noticed the bits of tinsel still wound about one dry stump of a limb its time that christmas tree Is thrown away he said realizing in the same came instant that such comments could not but make the situation worse its my business not yourl youri turn around now what forr for wilton asked trying to speak carelessly care leasly do as youre told balder roared waltons Wil tons thoughts raced on to make a sudden dart for liberty was impossible the fellow could overtake him with three swings ewings of his great legs only strategy availed now balder seated himself on a fallen limb and in this position so BO beep steep was the cliff he seemed almost hanging above miltonn Wll Wil tona tonn head th tb latter thought best to drop the or base and he be let it down gettly so BO as not to jerk the trunk out of balder dern hand band pleasant spot wilton remarked though it must have aate looked different the day the bracebridge Brace bridee children were drowned A grunting voice carne from above this aint an easy place to leave 11 1 1 I mean to leave it you Y ou do do youa you certainly I 1 must get back before dark suppose you never went back what do you mean suppose yon stayed here 1 I have no intention of staying here he spoke firmly but his inner terror revealed to him at last what connection lay between his bis own imminent danger and a long ago tragedy the withered tree was the link again to be an instrument ment of death deat b throw in your tree when you choose I 1 am going home balders laughter echoed even above the roar of the fall III 1 I weigh two hundred and ten pounds I 1 am six feet three in my socks my muscle Is iron and you you are just a schoolroom plant you dont deserve to live you dont and maybe I 1 dont deserve to die any more than P he paused then hurled his boomerang the bracebridge children am I 1 to have hav 0 the same execution ile he knew he had signed his own death warrant but tit at least he could bring for one instant into starlit stark daylight the hie suspected crime ghost shadow lay along the corridors of li Ls iland acad academy erny and haunted its decaying rooms the great face above him grew quite livid for an instant but no rebound of denial came from his lips how flow much is he going to give you for this bobr job the boldness of the question disturbed even balders poise hla his snarl came slowly uncertainly HF be dont make no bargains he cant aln open and square like that he hints hint 9 walks all around hla his design never cornea comes out bold and tree free with it but he i ays high for R atle moving t trunks or s ave uve diw dred for moving ills books after after you struck one of the bracebridge children with this weapon and cost the lives of the others wilton finished deliberately he knew he had taken inken away forever his chance for life but in this last grim hour it was a satisfaction to wring out the truth and it comforted him to add to the indictment your master haskell askell II never wanted to go with those these four young people to protect them but to steal up behind them as you did he urged them not to tie tic themselves together in this alpine game they were so fond of playing ho he urged them not for their safety he knew their aversion to him and knew do en exactly the opposite of what he told them balder regarded himwich him with round ugly eyes in which a tiny gleam of admiration flickered youre IL a psycho what debbe theres some thin in it debbe its gospel truth and maybe its gospel truth that when jerry found you in the vegetable garden you had beaten ham there by about twenty minutes I 1 calculate and maybe its gospel truth when he said all four drowned you knew right away it was children not cheep 1 you ask one question 1 you d d spy you youl I 1 I 1 knew youve been sayin on us ever since the first afternoon when you walked in the evergreen walk with your cloak alyin like ilke a great bat you talk as if the establishment down there set anybody spying the psychologist in him was uppermost now obliterating even his sense of danger in the effort to track down the curious states of mind of gordon haskell and his confederate and when I 1 find an old christmas tree in its stand carefully preserved behind a locked door I 1 knew that fear la is back of its abeln being g there you were afraid to burn somebody might be looking on and you were afraid they would see in your face that this tree Is a horrible tree trec a tree of death oh a murderer t Is 3 always seeing trifles as huge signposts the universe la Is one great eye and the eye Is on him you bring it down with its flag on because you dont daro not to notice it when jerry Is with you if youre careless toward that tree if you leave it up here its ita very look will tell some passerby passer by theres something wrong with it balder grunted you know a lot you do dol I 1 yes I 1 know that undiscovered murderers can polson poison the very tory air about them the infection of smallpox would be light in comparison people afraid of those figures they were afraid of what they stood for horror and a strange hidden killing and it a wrecking of all the joy and innocence of me life ya ahl ah I 1 youve talked too much 1 never talk again he rose slowly then with a spring like a jungle beast he leaped for his prey wilton had bad |