“I have my flash,” said Walter. Paul, it developed, had his also. Both were powerful pocket electric torches, with dry storage batteries.
“We’ll all go,” suggested Paul.
“No you won’t!” cried his sister. “We’re not going to be left here alone, with that queer noise likely to happen at any time.”
“I guess there won’t be any more noise, now that we have discovered this,” said Jack, significantly. “This is where it came from all right.”
“But what caused it?” asked Bess.
“That’s what we’ve got to find out,” said Walter. “Come on, boys. Into the secret passage!”
“I’ll stay with you girls,” said Mr. Floyd. “Let the boys investigate all they like. But this sure does beat me! To think this bungalow had this concealed under the floor all the while, and I never knew it.”
“No wonder this was named Camp Surprise,” said Cora.
“I don’t believe even them folks that give it that name suspected anything like this,” Mrs. Floyd remarked.
“We’ll take all the surprise out of it before we’re through,” Jack said, as he started down the stone steps. Walter and Paul followed, their flashes switched on. The stone steps proved to be made of cement well moulded, and there were ten of them, which led to a flat place under the bungalow, the floor of which was now three feet above the boys’ heads. They found themselves standing in a rectangular space, with heavy planks on the sides.