Anxious, the three girls waited at the head of the stairs. They could see a flickering light down in the blackness.
“Oh, if it should be those men or Hop Wong!” half sobbed Ruth.
But a moment later Luke’s cheery voice, most reassuring in its tone, came floating up.
“It’s all right,” he announced. “They just knocked down a shelf of glass preserve jars. Nobody hurt! Up you go, children!”
A moment later Luke reappeared, carrying Tess, covered with dirt and cobwebs, while Hal followed with Dot in a similar condition. Sammy, with his cigar-box lantern, trailed behind, a woeful figure.
“What in the world have you children been doing?” cried Ruth.
“Digging for buried treasure,” announced Tess, as though that were an everyday occupation. “We haven’t found any yet. And then the shelf fell down and——”
Her words were muffled in a terrific clap of thunder which shook the house. Agnes and Nalbro screamed and covered their ears with their hands while Mrs. MacCall murmured:
“What a terrible storm!”