Portia made one of those peculiar sounds that signify sudden and total astonishment: something between a gasp and a squeal. "It's it!" "Mrs. Brace-Gideon's real live safe!" Lucy whispered in awe. "I don't believe it, though. I just simply can't believe it," Portia said. "But it's real! My goodness, Portia, look at all those numbers and little metal doorknobs. Why, it's the realest-looking thing I ever saw!" Portia gave a leap. "Come _on_, then, we must tell Mother.... _Mother_, oh, MOTHER!" shouted Portia, flinging the door open, storming along the hall and down the stairs. "Mo--_ther_!!" "Portia, for heaven's sake!" exclaimed Mrs. Blake, emerging from the kitchen. "You sound like a trumpeting elephant! What in the world is the matter!" "We've found the safe, Mother! We've finally found it!" "You've found the what?" said Mrs. Blake, utterly confused. "Oh _Mother_, the _safe_! Mrs. Brace-Gideon's wall safe! The thing she kept her money in; _you_ know." "Her safe? Really? Are you sure?" said Mrs. Blake. "Oh, _Mo_ther," Portia repeated impatiently. "Come and see for your own self!" She took her mother's hand and pulled her, hurried her, to the stairs. "It's really true, Mrs. Blake, it really is, it's really true," Lucy kept babbling, right at their heels as they ran up the steps. And right at her heels came the members of the Indian band, with their mouths full of cooky. "In the _bath_room?" expostulated Mrs. Blake. "How could it possibly be in the b--" But by then they had ushered her in, and she saw what they had seen: the medicine cabinet swung out from the wall, and in the wall the little metal door with its nickel knobs and dials, the little door that had been hidden all these years! "Why, I never--I absolutely never--" murmured Mrs. Blake, almost at a loss for words. Then she said: "How do you suppose we'll get it open?" Portia gave another of her leaps. "Julian!" she exclaimed. "Jule has the combination, Mother; he found it in the helmet!" "He found it _where_?" begged poor Mrs. Blake, but nobody was there to tell her; already they were tumbling and galumphing down the stairs. The big front door flew open and stayed open. The children, led by Portia, streamed across the lawn. "Jul--i--an! Oh, _Jule_!" roared Portia, marveling even as she did so at her own lung power. But the big boys were nowhere to be seen; nowhere within earshot, either, obviously. "They must have gone to Gone-Away; where else _would_ they go?" suggested Lucy. So off they all went, jog-trotting along the wooded drive; Portia first, her tooth braces blinking and her bangs standing straight up in the wind; Lucy next, with her curls bouncing; and chugging along behind them came the Indian braves, still eating as they ran. * * * * * As it happened, Julian and Tom and Joe had spent the afternoon at Gone-Away, helping Mr. Payton build a stronger goatpen for the vagrant Uncle Sam.