American Fairy Tales | Page 4

by the Women's
Anti-Gambling League. Sister Nell's young man had called quite
unexpectedly to take her for a long drive. Papa was at the office, as
usual. It was Mary Ann's day out. As for Emeline, she certainly should
have stayed in the house and looked after the little girl; but Emeline
had a restless nature.
"Would you mind, miss, if I just crossed the alley to speak a word to

Mrs. Carleton's girl?" she asked Martha.
"'Course not," replied the child. "You'd better lock the back door,
though, and take the key, for I shall be upstairs."
"Oh, I'll do that, of course, miss," said the delighted maid, and ran away
to spend the afternoon with her friend, leaving Martha quite alone in
the big house, and locked in, into the bargain.
The little girl read a few pages in her new book, sewed a few stitches in
her embroidery and started to "play visiting" with her four favorite
dolls. Then she remembered that in the attic was a doll's playhouse that
hadn't been used for months, so she decided she would dust it and put it
in order.
Filled with this idea, the girl climbed the winding stairs to the big room
under the roof. It was well lighted by three dormer windows and was
warm and pleasant. Around the walls were rows of boxes and trunks,
piles of old carpeting, pieces of damaged furniture, bundles of
discarded clothing and other odds and ends of more or less value. Every
well-regulated house has an attic of this sort, so I need not describe it.
The doll's house had been moved, but after a search Martha found it
away over in a corner near the big chimney.
She drew it out and noticed that behind it was a black wooden chest
which Uncle Walter had sent over from Italy years and years
ago--before Martha was born, in fact. Mamma had told her about it one
day; how there was no key to it, because Uncle Walter wished it to
remain unopened until he returned home; and how this wandering uncle,
who was a mighty hunter, had gone into Africa to hunt elephants and
had never been heard from afterwards.
The little girl looked at the chest curiously, now that it had by accident
attracted her attention.
It was quite big--bigger even than mamma's traveling trunk--and was
studded all over with tarnished brassheaded nails. It was heavy, too, for

when Martha tried to lift one end of it she found she could not stir it a
bit. But there was a place in the side of the cover for a key. She stooped
to examine the lock, and saw that it would take a rather big key to open
it.
Then, as you may suspect, the little girl longed to open Uncle Walter's
big box and see what was in it. For we are all curious, and little girls
are just as curious as the rest of us.
"I don't b'lieve Uncle Walter'll ever come back," she thought. "Papa
said once that some elephant must have killed him. If I only had a
key--" She stopped and clapped her little hands together gayly as she
remembered a big basket of keys on the shelf in the linen closet. They
were of all sorts and sizes; perhaps one of them would unlock the
mysterious chest!
She flew down the stairs, found the basket and returned with it to the
attic. Then she sat down before the brass-studded box and began trying
one key after another in the curious old lock. Some were too large, but
most were too small. One would go into the lock but would not turn;
another stuck so fast that she feared for a time that she would never get
it out again. But at last, when the basket was almost empty, an
oddly-shaped, ancient brass key slipped easily into the lock. With a cry
of joy Martha turned the key with both hands; then she heard a sharp
"click," and the next moment the heavy lid flew up of its own accord!
The little girl leaned over the edge of the chest an instant, and the sight
that met her eyes caused her to start back in amazement.
Slowly and carefully a man unpacked himself from the chest, stepped
out upon the floor, stretched his limbs and then took off his hat and
bowed politely to the astonished child.
He was tall and thin and his face seemed badly tanned or sunburnt.
Then another man emerged from the chest, yawning and rubbing his
eyes like a sleepy schoolboy. He was of middle size and his skin
seemed as badly tanned as that of the first.

While Martha stared open-mouthed at the remarkable sight a third man
crawled from the