Then at last the tunnel began to ascend over wet, slippery ground.
“We’re coming out!” Penny announced jubilantly. “I can see a crack of light ahead!”
A few feet farther and the passageway was blocked by a small stone door. However, dim light shone beneath it and the girls could feel cold night air on their cheeks.
Penny tugged at the door and it opened readily. The pair emerged into another empty tomb. Closing the stone door carefully behind them, they made their way out into the night.
“We’re still on the grounds!” Penny observed in a hushed voice as she looked alertly about. “In the old graveyard.”
“Any sign of Father Benedict or the dogs?” Rhoda whispered nervously.
“Nary a trace. The car at the rear of the monastery is gone! We must get to a telephone as quickly as we can!”
Alternately stumbling over fragments of stone and mounds of earth, the girls raced for the front gate. Even as they reached it, a car skidded to a standstill close beside the fence.
“It’s someone from the Star office!” Penny cried, recognizing one of the newspaper-owned automobiles.
As she struggled with the latch of the big gate, her father, Jerry Livingston, and Salt Sommers leaped from the car.