Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 299 by Maxwel l Grant

Author:Maxwel,l Grant
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf

CHAPTER XI

THE merry-go-round was some distance away, across a stretch of hard-baked ground and it proved to be a very dilapidated affair. Despite herself, Margo was intrigued by the fact that Cranston had discovered a forgotten carrousel, off here in Central Park.

"Why, it's terribly old!" exclaimed Margo. "Probably nobody has used it for years!"

"Better say hours," suggested Cranston. "The same applies to that old stable over there."

Looking among the trees, Margo saw the stable. It was a brick building oddly constructed. Up here they were on the level with the stable's second story, because the first floor - which might have been termed a basement - extended down into a stone wall flanking a deep transverse.

This was rather interesting, but Margo was more impressed by the merry-go-round. She knew that one was in operation in Central Park, but this wasn't it. This one had apparently been forgotten for years, but it was due for revival. The interior was freshly painted; so were the wooden animals, what there were of them.

Most of the carved animals were gone, but the dozen on display were spick-and-span, fresh from the paint shop where the rest were probably undergoing treatment. Lions, tigers, even a miniature giraffe gained Margo's fascinating stare, until Cranston interrupted:

"What would you say of a merry-go-round that had a boa constrictor, Margo?"

The very thought shuddered Margo. Apparently serious, Cranston gestured toward the stable and as they walked in that direction, Margo saw traces of the very creature suggested. Cleaving its way through the dusty topsoil was a broad streak that looked exactly like a snake's trail!

Small wonder that Margo's shudders increased as they neared the stable, but Cranston promptly reassured her.

"It wasn't a snake," he stated. "It was a rope. It came out through there."

By "there" Cranston referred to a space beneath a side door of the stable and the door itself was unusual.

It looked like a door for horses, except that it was so small a horse would have had to crawl through on its knees. The door was locked, but Cranston opened it with a skeleton key and bowed Margo inside.

Right near the little door were some old stalls of miniature size, which answered Margo's mental query.

"They must have kept ponies here, Lamont!"

"Wrong," replied Cranston. "They kept goats. It was quite fun, years ago, for children to go riding in little wagons drawn by goats. You should delve into the history of Central Park, Margo."

There were larger stalls on the other side of the stable, near the big door, while in a corner Cranston indicated a platform set in the stone floor.

"They kept horses in those big stalls," he explained, "and there were a lot more downstairs. That platform is an elevator that was used to haul hay up from below."

The wooden platform rattled when Cranston stepped upon it, but it bore his weight quite easily.

"This elevator was used last night," declared Cranston in a tone that seemed more than mere conjecture.

"A taxicab was hauled up from the floor below and sent out through the big door.

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