"But how are we to leave this room? How did you enter?"
She silently pointed to a dark opening in the corner, and they saw that a small trapdoor was standing open.
"We kin git out that way," she said.
The boys wondered why they had not discovered the door when they examined the place, but there was no time for investigation.
Kate Kenyon flitted lightly toward the opening. Pausing beside it, she pointed downward, saying:
"Go ahead; I'll foller and close ther door."
The boys did not hesitate, for they placed perfect confidence in the girl now. Barney dropped down in advance, and his feet found some rude stone steps. In a moment he had disappeared, and then Frank followed.
As lightly as a fairy, Kate Kenyon dropped through the opening, closing the door behind her.
The boys found themselves in absolute darkness, in some sort of a narrow, underground place, and there they paused, awaiting their guide.
She came in a moment. Her hand touched Frank as she slipped past, and he caught the perfume of wild flowers. To him she was like a beautiful wild flower growing in a wilderness of weeds. The touch of their hands was electric.