“That’s what I asked you. I know.”
“You know! How do you know?”
“Your mama told my mama and my mama told me!” Zizi’s mocking laughter so incensed the old man that he shook with fury.
“You don’t know!” he cried, “’cause there’s nothin’ to know! Land! All them folks up there has hunted the place for secret entrances, and I ruther think you have too,” and he nodded at Wise.
“I have,” said Wise, frankly, “and I’ve discovered none as yet. But, listen here, friend Stebbins, if there is one, I will find it,—and that’s all there is about that!”
Zizi said nothing, having returned to her taciturn rôle, but the glance she threw at Stebbins, he said afterward, made his blood run cold.
“She’s a witch-cat!” he declared to his cronies, when telling the tale, “she ain’t all human,—or I’m a sinner!”
On their way to see Dan Peterson, Wise inquired concerning Zizi’s knowledge of a secret way to get into the house.
“A small bluff,” she said, carelessly. “I dunno how he got in, I’m sure. But I don’t believe those people left a window conveniently open, unless—they did it on purpose. Who does the locking up, do you know?”
“Mr. Landon, I believe.”