Julie was the first to break the silence. “Poor Quang. He needs to know Jesus as His Savior,” she said softly more to herself than to anyone else.
Fred said, “Ha!”
Jan exploded, “Julie, must you always?!” She felt disgusted and perhaps a little guilty at the same time.
Only Susan was quiet. But in a minute she said in a small scared voice, “What do you suppose he’ll do?”
Jan had been thinking the same thing but hadn’t wanted to say so. It was Fred who answered with a shrug, “What can he do?”
“Hey, look,” Julie called, “the door to the barn’s cellar is open.”
“Yeah, that’s where I found Quang. He was tapping on some rocks with a little hammer. But he dropped it fast enough and jumped me when he saw me looking in the door.” Fred could only shake his head. “I didn’t want to fight him. After that ball game I felt kind of sorry for him. But not any more.”
Jan was curious. While Fred was talking she went in the cellar door.
It was dim and very cool inside. It took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the gloom after the glare of outside.
She guessed the cellar had been used to store fruits and vegetables at one time. There were a few wrinkled, dried-up apples lying in one corner.
The others had followed her inside. Now Julie said, “This must belong to Quang.” She was looking at a small pile of rocks, a funny shaped hammer with a pick on the other end, and a cloth bag all lying together on the floor.
“I’ll bet he’s a rock collector,” Fred said. “I have a friend at school and he has stuff just like this.”
Jan wasn’t really interested. She went over to the back wall of the cellar where something odd had caught her eye.
The walls of the cellar were made entirely of rock set in thick mortar. Jan remembered noticing that from the outside. But what had caught her attention was that one rock had fallen out of the back wall. It lay on the dirt floor in pieces. It looked as though Quang had broken it with that funny shaped hammer.
“Hey, everybody, come here,” Jan called. “What is this, do you think?” She pointed to the hole left by the rock.
The children crowded around to look. Fred was the first to see what was puzzling Jan. “There should be dirt behind this rock not a hole, is that what you mean?”
Jan nodded.
Fred explained to Julie and Susan. “This barn was built into a little hill. If you go outside you can see. This wall should be right against the dirt of the hill. But it must not be or there wouldn’t be a hole here.”
He fished in his pocket. “The only flashlight I have is this penlight. Not much help, probably.”
He held it to the hole. To Jan’s surprise the light reflected on something shiny.
Julie saw it too. “There’s something in there!” she said excitedly.
Fred put his hand in and tried to pull whatever it was out. But his fingers could not find a hold. Suddenly the object fell out-on the other side! The dull thud it made as it hit somewhere on the opposite side of the stone wall could be plainly heard.
For two full minutes all any of them could do was stare stupidly. It was so unexpected.
Finally Jan whispered, “There must be a room or at least a space over there.”
Unlikely as it seemed, there seemed to be no other explanation. A babble of excited talk broke out. But Jan for once was quiet. Her mind was buzzing with ideas. ‘The mystery! This must be the secret of the barn!’ she thought excitedly.
Fred had the same idea. “A door. Somewhere there has to be a way to get into that room. If it is a room. If this is the secret of Mr. Roberts and the barn Gramps told us about.”
Now excitement was at a high pitch. Everyone began feverishly to tap on the remaining rocks. Next to the opening another rock fell out into the other side. But no real door could be found. The wall was otherwise very solid.
At last, discouraged, they gave up and left the cellar.
Back in the main part of the barn Julie looked at her watch. “No wonder I’m so hungry. It’s one o’clock,” she said.
While they ate sandwiches and drank the rest of the lemonade, they tried to figure out where a door to that room could be.
“All right, FACT Club members,” Fred said in a stern voice, “let the ‘T’ in FACT be for ‘thinking’ today. Club Secretary, take notes.”
“On what, Mr. President?” Susan asked giggling.
No one had brought the club box. But as usual Fred found a piece of paper and a stub of pencil by fishing in his pockets.
“O.K., now what do we know?” he asked.
“There’s a space behind that stone wall and there has to be some way to get into it,” Jan answered.
Fred looked disgusted. “I know that, silly. I mean, where do we know the door is or isn’t?”
“Oh, I see,” Julie said, “you mean it isn’t in the stone wall. At least if it is, we couldn’t find it.”
Fred nodded. “What we need is ideas on where to look.”
Everyone was silent. ‘Where could a door be?’ Jan wondered. Aloud she said, “Outside along the front or side of the barn?”
No one thought so. The foundation was only about three stones high in the front of the barn. Only as the ground sloped down at the back was it gradually high enough to be the walls of the cellar.
Fred took a deep breath. “It has to be in here somewhere.”
“In here!” Susan squeaked.
The twins acted surprised too. But they quickly realized he had to be right.
Jan jumped up. “What are we waiting for? Let’s get looking.”
“Hold it, hold it,” Fred said, “let’s use our heads. It will be easier that way.”
He took the paper from Susan and drew a crude picture of the inside of the barn. Since the paper was so small, everyone had to crowd around to see. This is what he drew: “The way I see it, that cellar only goes about half-way under the barn. Agreed?” Fred asked.
Everyone nodded.
“That means the hidden room or space or whatever must be under the floor of the front half of the barn. So, let’s divide the front part of this room roughly into four sections. Each of us can look our part over very carefully for a hidden door, probably a trap door in the floor.”
No one had a better idea. They quickly did as he suggested. Soon all four children were crawling around on hands and knees looking for anything which could prove to be a door.
But look though they would, no one could find so much as a crack in the boards.
At last Jan said, “I give up. It is just too dark in here to see well.”
It was true. The dimness of the barn that made it so cool on hot days now was making it hard to see. With only the barn door and one small window, there was simply not enough light.
Julie looked at her watch, “Wow, Jan, it’s five o’clock. We’ll have to get home for dinner soon anyhow.”
“Dad has a couple of strong lanterns which we use when we go camping,”
Fred offered. “Maybe we’ll have time tomorrow after the carnival to come with good light and look. I’m sure that door must be in this room somewhere.” They walked home slowly, each busy with his own thoughts.
At home it was nearly time for dinner, and Mom wanted Jan and Julie’s help. So it was not until they were eating that the girls were able to tell the events of the day.
Mom and Dad seemed troubled when they heard that it was Quang who was the unknown visitor at the barn. But neither parent was inclined to be worried by Quang’s threats.
“All of us make rash remarks when we are really angry,” Dad said. “I feel sure he will be sorry for his behavior once he gets home and thinks it over.”
Mom was almost as excited as the twins about the hidden room. She wondered aloud what it could possibly mean. Both she and Dad agreed the girls should spend as much time as they needed to find the trap door.
Midway through dinner fire sirens could be heard close by. Jan and Julie and indeed the whole family went to the kitchen window to see what they could.
“The fire trucks are at Gramps’!” Jan yelled. “Dad, can Julie and I go see?” She was bouncing up and down in excitement.
But Dad said very firmly, “No, you can not. I don’t want you near a fire. And I don’t want you in the way of the firemen either.”
“Oh, Dad,” Jan cried, “please!”
Dad shook his head. “I’m sorry, but the answer is no. Go out in the backyard and see what you can.”
Jan stormed out and slammed the back door. She was so angry that tears stood in her eyes. “Why does Dad have to always say no?” she yelled at Julie.
They really could not see much from the yard, just a puff or two of smoke and some figures running around. Fred and Susan came on their way to the fire and promised to come over later and tell what they saw. They then dashed down the Davidson hill toward Gramps’ house.
Finally Jan and Julie gave up trying to see anything and went back inside to finish their dinner. Julie said, “I hope the fire doesn’t do much damage. It is so dry from no rain.”
When dinner and Bible reading were over, Dad had a suggestion. “Let’s leave the dishes until later and go for a ride. It is such a warm evening. I thought we might stop and buy ice cream cones.”
“Yippee!” shouted Candy, “ice cream cones!”
Everyone had to laugh. But they were glad enough to go for a ride. It really was hot.
First Dad drove past Gramps’ house. They could not see much from the road. The fire had not been in the house, Jan could tell. All the firemen were in the field near the barn.
For the next half hour or so, Dad drove slowly along back roads. At last he stopped the car at an ice cream stand and bought everyone a cone. The sweet, cold ice cream really hit the spot, Jan thought as she licked every drop of hers out of the cone.
But later in bed, the events of the day came back to trouble her. At least one mystery was solved: Quang was the unknown person who had been coming to the barn. Jan felt sorry for him and angry by turns. He certainly had threatened the FACT Club.
Then her restless mind turned to the problem of the hidden room. Would they be able to find a door? Or maybe there wasn’t a room there after all? No, there had to be. Something had fallen through.
She turned over and pounded her pillow which seemed lumpy and uncomfortable. The heat was not making sleep come any easier.
As she finally began to drift off to sleep, she remembered the fire at Gramp’s. Sleepily she realized that something about it bothered her. What was it?