The children were delighted and Chicken Little started home comforted to tell the family that May's mother and Mr. Akers thought Victoria was the prettiest anyway.

The walk home proved almost as disastrous as the walk to the party. The streets seemed entirely dry by this time and the three little girls, chattering gaily about their good time, forgot to notice where they were going.

Just before they turned into Front Street they pa.s.sed a yard where men had been digging a well. A quant.i.ty of the yellow clay had been carelessly tossed over the fence upon the sidewalk to be hauled away.

This, alas, had been thoroughly soaked by the previous night's rain and when Chicken Little stepped upon it with her cherished white shoes, her small feet sank in up to her ankles. The white kid was sadly stained.

Katy and Gertie did their best to help her get it off, but the white shoes were destined never to be white again. Mrs. Morton gave them a new lease of life by having them bronzed a few days later.

Chicken Little long remembered the day of the doll party. It would seem that Pete did also, for he never attempted to follow Chicken Little outside the yard again.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE CHILDREN GO EXPLORING

One hot day soon after the party Dr. Morton handed his wife a letter from Alice.

Mrs. Morton glanced through it while Olga cleared the table for the dessert.

"Poor Alice--she is worried because Mr. Harding can't find either letters or papers to prove her claim to the bank stock. It does seem strange that all the letters from Mr. Ga.s.sett to her father should have completely disappeared."

"Well," said Dr. Morton drily, "if you want to know my opinion, I believe that Ga.s.sett got hold of them some way and destroyed them."

"It doesn't seem possible he would do anything so dishonest though I don't like the man--he was so very rude the day he came here. Alice wonders if it could be possible there are any of her father's papers hidden away under the roof. You remember almost all of the closets run off under the roof. It is a wonder we don't have rats with them all open that way."

"It would be an unpleasant task to explore. I suppose there's twenty years of dust and cobwebs stored up in those nooks and crannies. There are places where the roof slopes to form the gables where a man could hardly crawl through. I suppose I might hire some boy to go through and see if he can find anything."

Ernest and Chicken Little had been interested listeners to this conversation.

"Say, Father, let me and the boys explore. We could put on some old clothes--it would be loads of fun."

"That might not be a bad idea. You couldn't come to any harm other than a few scratches and splinters. I don't believe you will find anything, but Alice will be satisfied at any rate."

"Can't I go, too?" demanded Chicken Little.

"Oh, dear no," her mother replied, "it would be horribly dirty and cobwebby--no place for little ladies to climb round in."

Jane looked disappointed.

"Why not let the child go, Mother? Put an old dress on her and tie up her hair. She'd enjoy the fun as much as the boys."

"Oh, well, there is that old blue calico in the rag bag you could slip on, I suppose."

"Goody, goody!" Chicken Little didn't wait to hear the subject discussed further lest her mother should change her mind. She started off to don the dress immediately.

Ernest ran over to get Sherm and Carol.

The boys were eager for the hunt.

"You mustn't take matches in there. You might drop one and set the house afire. You can use the little lantern--that will be safe. Be careful you don't come through the plastering--there must be some sort of an open s.p.a.ce over the central part of the house though I don't know where there's any way to reach it. It will be stone dark if there is--there are no outside windows."

While the exploring party was trying to decide whether to start in with the front room closet or begin with the one in the maid's room at the back of the house, Katy and Gertie appeared on the scene. They promptly begged to go, too.

"Well, ask your mother and get some old clothes on," Mrs. Morton consented finally after Chicken Little had teased for several minutes.

They were off and back in no time, arrayed in outgrown dresses that gave them the appearance of being all arms and legs.

"Mother said she wished she could come, too. She said it would be almost as much fun as exploring a desert island," reported Katy.

It was finally agreed to try the front room closet first. This closet was a lofty, roomy looking affair for about six feet, then as the roof slanted sharply downward, faded away into darkness. It was floored and ceiled to within three feet of the point where roof and floor met, and it was only by getting down on hands and knees that the children could crawl, through the aperture left unboarded, into the narrow, unused s.p.a.ces next the eaves.

Sherm and Ernest made the first venture, but their progress was soon cut off short by a part.i.tion. So they wriggled back adorned with cobwebs and sneezing from the dust they had stirred up.

"Let's try the closet in Chicken Little's room next--that's one of the biggest."

This time Carol and Katy did the scouting with the same results except that they found an open s.p.a.ce between the roof and the uprights and lath and plaster of the part.i.tion, which _seemed_ to lead up to some sort of an attic over the main part of the house.

Carol hoisted Katy up on his shoulders to see if she could see anything but she lacked about a foot of reaching the top of the part.i.tion. Carol whistled to Ernest to come, but at this moment a voice called up from the foot of the stairs, "Ship ahoy!"

"It's d.i.c.k Harding, I do believe!" exclaimed Chicken Little, and she flew down to investigate, closely followed by Gertie.

It was d.i.c.k Harding, resplendent in blue overalls and an old cap.

"I met your father down street and he told me what the clan was up to.

This is a business I am mightily interested in, so I asked if I might come, too. How do you like my regimentals?"

Mr. Harding surveyed his blue overalls proudly. He followed the little girls upstairs and listened to Ernest's report of their progress.

"Suppose you and I try that. I am taller than Carol and I think I could boost you high enough to get a look round. Got a light?"

They called to Carol and Katy to come out. Carol was quite ready to yield the place of honor.

"Gee, it's hot and stuffy in there!" he groaned, fanning himself with an old shoe he had picked up from the floor of the closet.

"You're so awful fat, Carol. I didn't mind it," said Katy frankly.

"Fat nothing--a shadow would smother in there. Your face looks red where it ain't black, which is pretty much all over," retorted Carol nettled.

He didn't enjoy being called fat.

d.i.c.k Harding followed Ernest in. There was just about room enough for him to get to his feet. He gave Ernest a lift to his shoulder. This brought the boy's eyes about five inches above the part.i.tion. Ernest waved the tiny lantern about distractedly in an effort to pierce the gloom about him.

"Hold the lantern still and just look. Your eyes will grow accustomed to the dimness pretty soon and then you can see if there's anything there."

Ernest obeyed and in a few moments was able to see across to the slanting roof opposite.

"Not a thing but rafters and cobwebs," he reported at last in disgust.