t them and went down alone. It was nauseous with
age and the smell of damp earth, but it was cleaner there than above
stairs. The cellar was smaller than either of the living rooms, and was
to be reached only through the kitchen. There was no exit leading
directly to the exterior of the house, but there was one small window at
the south end. Bonner examined the room carefully and then rejoined the
party. For some reason the posse had retired to the open air as soon as
he left them to go below. No one knew exactly why, but when one started
to go forth the others followed with more or less alacrity.

"Did you see anything?" demanded the marshal.

"What did old Mrs. Rank look like when she was alive?" asked Bonner with
a beautifully mysterious air. No one answered; but there was a sudden
shifting of feet backward, while an expression of alarmed inquiry came
into every face. "Don't back into that open well," warned the amused
young man in the doorway. Anderson Crow looked sharply behind, and
flushed indignantly when he saw that the well was at least fifty feet
away. "I saw something down there that looked like a woman's toe," went
on Bonner very soberly.

"Good Lord! What did I tell you?" cried the marshal, turning to his
friends. To the best of their ability they could not remember that
Anderson had told them anything, but with one accord the whole party
nodded approval.

"I fancy it was the ghost of a toe, however, for when I tried to pick it
up it wriggled away, and I think it chuckled. It disappear--what's the
matter? Where are you going?"

It is only necessary to state that the marshal and his posse retreated
in good order to a distant spot where it was not quite so dark, there
to await the approach of Wicker Bonner, who leisurely but laughingly
inspected the exterior of the house and the grounds adjoining. Finding
nothing out of the ordinary, except as to dilapidation, he rejoined the
party with palpable displeasure in his face.

"Well, I think I'll go back to the ice," he said; "that place is as
quiet as the grave. You are a fine lot of jokers, and I'll admit that
the laugh is on me."

But Bonner was mystified, uncertain. He had searched the house
thoroughly from top to bottom, and he had seen nothing unusual, but
these men and boys were so positive that he could not believe the eyes
of all had been deceived.

"This interests me," he said at last. "I'll tell you what we'll do, Mr.
Crow. You and I will come