“Yes,” said Tom. “It was in a niche, a sort of hiding-place in the chimney above the fireplace in an up-stairs room.”
“I know the room you mean. They say it was the Dominie’s study. He may have left the book there, or maybe his son or grandson did. But how in the world did you happen to hunt it out?”
Orkney hesitated. He was not a fellow of ready speech, and he was embarrassed by the attention he was attracting.
“I—well, I can’t explain exactly except that I had a—a hunch, you might call it—that, somehow, the Dominie Pike story might be more than a plain story. And when I heard about the lost diary—well, it happened I remembered it would be awfully good medicine for this crowd if we could find it. There’s a prize——”
“Oh!” said Poke sharply and suddenly.
“There’s a prize we’d like to win for—for a special reason——”
“Bully old Orkney!” cried Step.
Orkney raised a hand. “Better let me finish the best way I can—I’m not much of a chap at such things. Well, then, I couldn’t get the Dominie’s diary out of my head. So when we had nothing else to do in the old house, I kept nosing around. In that up-stairs room something made me suspect there might be a hiding-place in the masonry of the chimney. My grandfather’s house had a sort of safety-deposit box built into its chimney, and I got a hint from that. Of course, it was too dark to see much, but by feeling along and then digging with my knife—well, to make the story short, I found that book just as we had to beat it—go away, I mean. So I tucked the book where it would be safe, and when we were on shore, and there was a chance, I looked it over. And—and you think it’s the real thing, don’t you?” he added anxiously.
“Certainly!” cried Mrs. Grant. “I haven’t a doubt that it is.”
“And you won’t mind our taking it for a while?”