"And this must be a thorough and final inspection of the place，"he added."We must satisfy ourselves and Mildred Travers，without the shadow of a doubt，that we have inventoried every blessed thing in those rooms—even to the rats and beetlesb.""That's right，"approved Mr.Merrick."Let us do the jobonce and for all.We've plenty of time at our disposal and there are enough of us with sharp eyes to ferret outc every mystery of the place.In Mildred's interest we must be thorough."In the court they found old Miguel，sitting motionless andpatient.He was carefully dressed in his best clothes and worea red necktie，"just as if，"said Patsy，"he was going to a party instead of delvinga in dusty places."The ranchero arose and made his master and mistress one of his best bows.Then he waited silently for instructions.
Beth went to Mildred's room and brought the girl to join the searchers，for this undertaking had been planned on her account.Her face wore an anxious look，for although she was not very hopeful of results it was the last chance of her securing any of her father's personal possessions.Otherwise she greeted the party with modesty and with gentle dignity and had neverseemed to them more womanly or agreeable.
Together they left the court and proceeded to the nursery.There were no laggardsb and everyone except the servants was determined to have a part in the fascinating investigation.
Mildred explained to them the manner in which she had ？rst entered the wall，putting in action the secret method taught her as a girl by Cristoval and demonstrating the mechanism before their very eyes.They entered the lower chamber，one by one，and this time the adobe door was not closed behind them，although the light of broad day now ？ooded the place through the opening discovered by Runyon.This opening led into the garden and was half choked with rose vines.The series ofswinging blocks had been propped back against the outer wall to insure a ready exit in case of accident.
And now they eagerly set to work to pry into every crackand corner of the place.The main idea was to ？nd some secret cavity or cupboard in the wall which might contain the missing laces or other valuables.With this in view they had brought levers and pries and all sorts of tools that might be of service.
The girls were mainly useful in taking up and turning the matting，now somewhat decayed by age，and investigating those nooks and shelves already discovered.But they found little more than Mildred had done during her ？rst exploration，a n d t h e m e n w h o w e r e t e s t i n g t h e w a l l m e t w i t h n o encouragement at all.Aside from the two cleverly constructed openings—one into the nursery and one into the garden—the blocks which composed the wall seemed every one solid and immovable and resisted every attempt to wresta them from their places.
After more than two hours of industry，during whichevery man believed he had examined every block，they were forced to abandon the lower chamber and ascend the steep stairs to the upper one.
"This，"said Arthur，looking around him，"seems farmore promising.Let us give the floor our first attention，for it is not over the lower room but to one side of it.It strikes me that the builder would be quite likely to make a secret pocket in the ？oor."Following this advice they attacked the blocks of the ？oor with pry and crowbarb，but found nothing to reward them.
Old Miguel worked steadily and did whatever he was told，but displayed no particle of enthusiasm，or even of interest.
After the ？oor，the walls were examined，one by one，from ？oor to ceiling.The panel on the inner wall，which had baf？ed both Mildred and Runyon on that eventful night of their imprisonment，suddenly disclosed its secret when accidentally pressed on opposite corners at the same time.It slipped down and discovered a similar panel beyond it，which was operated by a spring placed in plain sight.Releasing this，they found they were looking into the vacant second story room which they had once before unsuccessfully searched.
So this was one way from the house into the upper chamber of the wall.Of course there was another way—that through which Runyon had been so abruptly precipitated.In order to ？nd this the more readily，they sent the big rancher into the blue room and asked him to take the same position in the window he had on the night of his disappearance.This he did，pushing against the planking that boxed the window，with both elbows and with his back and shoulders，but withoutresult.Finally，in his attempts，he inadvertently struck theopposite panel with his heel，and the response was startling.The panel，at his back，being released，fell backward without warning and for the second time Runyon tumbled unawares into the chamber of the wall.As soon as his body had fallen through，the panel slammed intoa place again，urgedby a very powerful steel spring，but the major，who had been in the blue room to watch Runyon，had caught the trick and the mystery was solved.
As for Mr.Runyon，he again fell upon the bed andrebounded，knocking over both Mr.Merrick and Miguel as he alighted in the narrow chamber，but fortunately not injuring either of them.
A little dazed by his second precipitationa，the bigrancher stared a moment and then slapped his thigh a mighty stroke.
"I have it—I have it！"he cried.
"It occurs to me，"said Uncle John，a little resentfully，"that you deserve all you've got，and more.It's a wonder you didn't break your neck.""What have you，Run？"asked Arthur.
"I've found the laces.""What？—where？"they exclaimed.
"In the blue room，or on the way down？"added Beth sarcastically.
"After I got down，"he answered."What fools we haveall been！""Will you kindly explain，Mr.Runyon？"asked Mildred，very earnestly.
"I will.It's simple enough.Just look at that bed.""The bed ！"And now every eye was turned upon thecouch.
"Of course，"said Runyon."There's something more than a mere mattress and springs.I've tumbled onto the thing twice，and I ought to know."
