et into the fireplace.

"There is enough dynamite in a cartridge to make a sharp detonation but
not enough to do any damage, unless, as happened here, there were two
of them in a small space that was enclosed on three sides--"

"The trash was blown out on the floor of the room," interrupted Mr.
Schuler.

"--by walls that were none too strong. With a wind such as last
night's knocking down the chimney at the top and bricks setting
dynamite cartridges into action below I only wonder that the old thing
is standing at all this morning."

They gazed at it as if they expected the whole affair to fall before
their eyes.

"I'll call up the brickmason and find out when he can come to examine
it; he may have to rebuild the entire chimney."

Mr. Emerson was moving toward the hall where the telephone was when his
eye fell on Elisabeth sitting contentedly on the floor close to the
wall turning over and over something that gleamed.

"What have you got there, small blessing?" he asked, stooping to make
sure that she was not intending to try the taste of whatever it might
be.

"Hullo!" he cried, straightening himself. "Hullo!" and he held up
his discovery before the astonished eyes of the group.

"It looks like a gold coin, Grandfather!" exclaimed Ethel Brown.

"That's just what it is. A guinea. Its date is 1762. Where did you
find it, Ayleesabet?" he asked the child, who was reaching up her tiny
hands for the return of her new plaything.

"Here, here," she answered, pointing to the floor where the casing of
the chimney yawned from the planks for half an inch. "Here," and she
pushed her fingers into the crack.

"I saw her pull something that was sticking out of there a little bit,"
said Dorothy, "but I was interested in what Mr. Emerson was saying and
I didn't pay much attention to what she was doing."

Miss Merriam took Elisabeth on her lap and peered between her lips to
make sure that no dirt from the floor was visible. Then she took a
small emergency kit from her pocket, extracted a bit of sterile gauze
and wiped out the little pink mouth.

"I live in hopes that the day will come when she'll outgrow her desire
to test everything with her mouth," she remarked amusedly.

"Is it guineas ye're speaking about?" asked Moya. "Perhaps 'twas a
guinea young Vladdy the Russian found this morning. He said he found a
'shiny thing.' I thought 'twas one of thim cartridges, like I found
myself."

"Another shiny th