Stevens stepped forward and looked for the maul on the floor near the baseboard, but finally glanced up with a perplexed expression in his eyes.
"The maul has disappeared, too," he said.
There was a gasp following this announcement. But the young man was not disturbed.
"I understand a little of what all this means," he said. "The maul has gone. If someone will get me an axe I will chop down this partition near where I struck it with the maul."
"Is there some secret there?" whispered Mr. Presby over Bob's shoulder. The young man nodded.
"Yes. I have an idea what it is. However, we shall see."
When the axe was brought he chose his location with some care, then began chopping away, swinging the axe in a manner that showed him to be no novice at that sort of work. The axe went through the partition soon after that. Using the back of the tool, he began smashing in the boards, here and there employing the blade to cut through a scantling or a brace. Soon after he had laid open a dark recess behind the partition.
Tom pushed forward and was about to crawl in when the young man stopped him.
"Better be careful, young man! That may be a pitfall, and I suspect that it is."
The others were too amazed to speak. Still another secret in the old house had been revealed. But the sudden disappearance of the maul was still unexplained, though Stevens had his own idea about this. He began cutting further. A tremendous crash followed a moment of chopping. He sprang back to await developments. There were none.