CHAPTER XIV

AN UNINVITED GUEST

Migwan ran into the house and burst breathlessly in upon the merrymakers.

"Nyoda!" she cried in a frightened voice, "Hercules is--" Then she

stopped as though she had seen a ghost, for there sat Hercules in his

monk's costume, just as he had been all evening!

"What's the matter?" asked Nyoda in alarm, seeing her pale face and

staring eyes.

Migwan clutched her convulsively. "There's a man outside," she panted,

"that looks just like Hercules, and when I spoke to him he fell down on

the ground!"

In an instant all was pandemonium. Everybody rushed for the kitchen door

and ran out into the yard, where the figure of a man lay dark upon the

snow. Sherry tore off his mask and flung it away, and bending over the

prostrate man turned his flashlight full on his face.

"It _is_ Hercules!" he exclaimed in astonishment.

"Is he dead?" faltered Migwan.

"No, he's breathing, but he's unconscious," said Sherry. "It's his heart,

I suppose. He's been having spells with it lately. Run into the house,

somebody, and get that leather covered flask in the medicine chest."

Justice raced in for the flask and Sherry raised Hercules' head from the

ground and poured some of the brandy between his lips. In a few minutes

the old man began to stir and mutter, and Nyoda, holding his wrist, felt

his pulse come up. They carried him to his room in the stable and laid

him down on his bed, and Nyoda found the heart drops which Hercules had

been taking for some time.

"But where is the one I thought was Hercules--the one with the monk's

suit on?" cried Migwan, after the first fright about Hercules had

subsided.

Sherry and the boys looked at one another dumfounded. None of them had

known, as Migwan did, that the brown robe and cowl presumably covered

Hercules. They looked about for the brown figure that had moved so

unobtrusively amongst them that evening. It had vanished.

"He's gone!" shouted Sherry excitedly. "There's something queer going on

here."

The monk was certainly not in the house any longer, and there were no

footprints in the snow outside the house.

"Did he fly away?" asked Sherry in perplexity.

Justice jumped up with a great exclamation. "The secret passage!" he

shouted, "he's gone down the secret passage!"

They flew back inside the house to the stair landing, half expecting to

find it standing open, but it was closed and looked perfectly natural.

Sherry grasped the post, the landing slid out and the four went down the

ladder. Justice gave a triumphant exclamation when he reached the bottom.

"The barricades are taken down! He did come this way!"

They hurried through the door into the passage, half expecting to see a

figure flying along ahead of them, but the passage was empty and no sound

of a footfall broke the silence. They searched the place thoroughly, but

nowhere did they find their man hidden. Behind the chest in the cave,

however, Justice pounced upon something with a shout. It was the long

brown costume that had been worn by the monk at the party.