They were the lost formulas!
"Mother! Mother! Mother!" With one bound Sheila was in the house confronting her mother who had come up from the cellar, panting with alarm.
"Paddy's found 'em! Paddy's found 'em!" And she threw her arms about her mother's neck in a hug that swept the two of them straight into the big rocker!
"Sheila Quinn, are you loony? What have you got? And do stop that dog's barking!"
"Oh, mumsey, it's the lost formulas--they were buried in the tulip bed! That's what Paddy's been digging for--all this time!"
The two spread the papers out on the table and read them over and over.
"Don't they sound dreadful! Just's if they'd explode all by themselves!" whispered Sheila, recalling what Mr. Everett had said about the formulas.
So giving Paddy a warm hug by way of tribute Sheila put the formulas back in the tin tube and started forth to find Mr. Everett, to tell him the whole story. All through the winter the loss of the formulas had worried Mr. Everett. His experts had been working over the experiments again and in time would, of course, have made new formulas; it was the fear, however, that some other government already possessed the secret that had troubled, not only the officials of the Everett Works, but the United States government as well. So that when Sheila, with Aunt Pen, Pat and Renée, burst into the office with the wonderful news, Mr. Everett felt as though a great load was rolling off his shoulders!
A curious gathering inspected the dirty tube and listened to the story; Mr. Everett and his staff, some secret service men, two chemists from the experimental laboratory, in their long white coats, some workmen who were passing the door and had been attracted by the exclamations--and the girls. Mr. Everett questioned Sheila closely. She recalled that Paddy had--all winter long--barked a great deal at night, so much so that after awhile the family grew accustomed to it and did not notice it.
"Marx buried it--intending to go later and dig it up! The man was smart enough to know that if they'd been found on his possession nothing could have saved him. It was a lucky thing they kept him locked up so long! Your dog has done good work, Miss Sheila!"