“My grandfather once told me that there was a secret way between Peep-Hole tower and the tower of the Old House,” she said. “It was often used by the old-time smugglers when they wanted to get unseen from one house to the other. If we could find it, we could reach the tower of the Old House easily, and fetch back the two boys without anyone knowing.”
“Oh, Dimmy!” cried the three children, their eyes shining brightly. “We must find it! We must, we must!”
“Well, we will hunt for it to-morrow,” said Dimmy. “And I think we must get George to help us, because it will mean using a good deal of strength to find a passage that has been unused and hidden for years. As far as I remember, my grandfather said that a great stone had to be swivelled round in the wall of our tower - and certainly none of us could do that. George is very strong, and he can keep a secret too.”
After talking for a little while longer the children were sent off to bed. Before they got into bed they were very much cheered by seeing Mike at the lighted window of the Old House tower, waving to them in the moonlight. He seemed quite cheerful, and Nora and Peggy were very glad to see him.
“Good old Mike.” said Jack, getting into bed. “I hope he won’t be too miserable.”
“So do I,” said Nora. “And, oh, I do hope we find the hidden way between our tower and the other tower. Won’t George be surprised when he hears all we’ve got to tell him! Oh, to-morrow, do come quickly!”
Where is the Secret Door?
The next morning when Jack rushed to the window to look at the tower of the Old House he found that Mr. Diaz had kept his word - the window was now boarded up! No messages could be given to the prisoners, and they could send no messages back.
Jack didn’t like it. He had hoped that perhaps Mr. Diaz might have forgotten to block up the window. It made everything seem very serious, when he looked at that blind window with the boards across it.
The children went down to breakfast looking solemn. Nora gave a little sob when she looked at Mike’s empty chair at the table. But Dimmy seemed very cheerful and patted her on the back.