all the arrangements had been made, Bob started down the ladder. He
had gone not more than four or five feet when he found that the ladder
extended no further. It appeared to have been broken off. He called to
the men to lower away. Finally his feet reached something soft. At first
the horrified thought came to him that it was the body of one of the
girls for whom he was in search. Instead, what he had found proved to be
a piece of an old mattress with a bundle of old clothes heaped on it.
This was something like seven feet from the opening through which he had
descended.

He heard a moan from beneath the heap of old garments. He tore them
feverishly aside. Mollie lay before him, pale and with eyes closed.
Stevens uttered a shout.

"I've got Miss Mollie. She is injured. Stand by to pull her up when I
give you the word," he directed in a tone of excitement. Quickly
securing the rope under her arms, he bade them haul away, he lifting the
girl as high as his arms would reach, then grasping her feet, lending
such assistance as possible in this way. She was quickly in the arms of
her friends, who bore her downstairs to her own room and set to work to
revive her.

Now came the next stage of Bob Stevens' work. He could not imagine where
Barbara could be. Just at this point he discovered a bend in the
supposed chimney. This he decided was in order to avoid some
obstruction on the second floor of the house. He found an opening in the
platform scarcely large enough to admit his own broad shoulders. There,
unmistakably was a ladder, made of thin strips of iron, bolted to the
chimney itself.

"I'm going further down," he shouted to those above. "Don't pull unless
I call upon you to do so. Are you down there, Miss Barbara?"

"Yes," came the answer. It sounded very far away. Bob knew that the
young woman must be a great distance below him, or else there was
another bend in the chimney that shut off the sound of her voice.
Perhaps, too, there was another landing. One might expect to meet with
anything in this house of mysteries.

"The other one is all right," yelled the young man to those above. "Keep
up your courage, Miss Barbara. I will be with you as soon as I can get
down. Can you climb up?"

"No." He did not catch what followed. Bob was climbing down the narrow
ladder, prudently keeping the rope about his waist in case the ladder
should give way. He carried the lantern with him on his descent, which
he made with conside