CHAPTER XXI looked at the key and then at the kid. What had the damn little Blue Jay been up to now, in the way of mischief? I asked him, but he scowled at me and wouldn’t speak.
“If you’ve been raising some kind of hell, kid, and messing up with this plan of mine,” I says to the Blue Jay, “I’ll give you such a hiding that you’ll never forget it. Y’understand?”
And I picked up my quirt and took a hard grip on it. He simply swallered hard, but he wouldn’t speak, and so I went down into the cellar, still dragging the kid along with me.
I opened the door with the key and looked inside. There was no sign of Sammy Dance!
Well, when I had finished lighting the little lamp that was down there, I closed the door and set down. I was so sick to find Dance gone that I was weak.
“Blue Jay,” says
