“He thinks he’s talking to some capitalist!” whispered Migwan.
“We’ll talk over the plans first among ourselves and let you know our decision,” said Nyoda, not knowing what to say and wishing to appear politely interested. This speech would give them an opportunity to get away. But to her surprise Uncle Peter drew a sheet of paper from among those on the table and gravely handed it to her.
“Here are the plans,” he said. “Take them and look them over and let me know in a week.” Then he fell to work and forgot their presence. Holding the paper in her hands Nyoda walked out of the room, followed by Migwan. They left the house as they had entered it and returned by a roundabout way to Onoway House. Nyoda put the plans of the remarkable machine away in her room, intending to keep it as a curiosity. Soon afterward they saw the Smalleys driving into the yard of the Red House.
It took the girls most of the day to clear the garden of the rubbish which had been blown into it and tie up the prostrate plants on sticks. Calvin came back at night safe and relieved the slight anxiety they had felt about him. As they sat on the porch after supper comparing notes about the storm they heard the muffled sounds which told that the well digger’s ghost was at work again. It continued throughout the evening.
“I’ll be a wreck if this keeps up much longer,” said Migwan. A perpetual air of uneasiness had fallen on Onoway House and it was impossible to get anything accomplished. How could they settle down to work or play with that dreadful thud, thud pounding in their ears every little while? Dave Beeman had taken himself home after the storm to see what damage had been done and they were again without the protection of the law.
“Maybe it’s some animal under the ground,” suggested Calvin. “It certainly couldn’t be a person down there.” This seemed such an amazingly sensible solution of the mystery that the girls were inclined to accept it.
“I suppose imagination does help a lot,” said Migwan, “and if we hadn’t heard that story about the well digger we would never have thought of a man with a pickaxe. It’s undoubtedly the movements of an animal we hear.”
“But what animal lives underground without any air?” asked Sahwah.
“There’s probably a hole somewhere, only we haven’t found it,” said Migwan, who seemed determined to believe the animal theory.
“But what about the note on the door and the lime on the tomatoes and the burning of the tepee?” asked Sahwah. “You can’t blame that onto an animal, can you?”