21-A COLUMN OF FIRE

A COLUMN OF FIRE Monkeyfur grinned. Then she pointed to the dusty stone covering the well. Trap wiped some of the dust off the stone. Then Thea took one of the torches off the wall and held it over the stone. "Well, I'll be a rodent's uncle!" Trap shouted. The stone sparkled in the light. We had found the RUBY OF FIRE! "This stone hides a secret," Monkeyfur said. She told us the stone worked like a faucet. When you turned it, precious drops of the Oil of Fire came out. The villagers had been using the oil to light their lamps for centuries. I turned the ruby slowly. A few drops of

DARK LIQUID dripped out. "Let me try that, Germeister," my cousin insisted. He pushed me aside. Then he yanked on the ruby full force. "Stop!" everyone screamed. But it was too late. A huge spray of oil gushed out.

A spark from Thea's torch made the oil burst into flames. The well became a column of fire! We didn't know what to do. We couldn't exactly call 911. But luckily Monkeyfur came to our rescue. She slammed the big stone over the fire. The flames died down all at once.