CHAPTER IV.
THE HOUSE OF WONDER.
"Ferral!" cried Matt in trepidation.
"Aye, aye!" answered the voice of Ferral.
"Hurt?"
"Not a bit of it, matey. Strike me lucky, though, if I didn't have atight squeak of it. The lamp-chimney was smashed and the light put out.If the bullet had gone a few inches lower, the lamp itself would havebeen knocked into smithereens and I'd have been fair covered withblazing oil. That flare-up proves the skulkers are still aboard." Helifted his voice. "Ahoy, there, you pirates! What're you running afoulo' me like that for? I've a right here, being Dick Ferral, of the old_Billy Ruffian_. Mr. Lawton's my uncle."
Silence fell with the last word. There were no sounds in the house,apart from the quiet, sharp breathing of the three boys. Outside thefaint night wind soughed through the trees, making a sort of moan thatwas hard on the nerves.
Carl went groping for Matt, giving a grunt of satisfaction when hereached him and took a firm hold of his coat-tails.
"Ve pedder go py der vinder vonce again," suggested Carl, catching hisbreath, "make some shneaks py der pubble und ged apsent mit ourselufs.Ven pulleds come ad you from der tark it vas pedder dot you ain'daroundt. Somepody don'd vant us here."
"I'm here because it's my duty," said Ferral, still in the hall, "andby the same token I've got to stay here and overhaul the whole bloominglayout--but it ain't right to ring you in on such a rough deal. Youand the Dutchman can up anchor and bear away, Matt, and I'll still bemighty obliged for your bowsing me off that piece of wall, and sorry,too, you couldn't be treated better under my uncle's roof."
"You're not going to cut loose from us like that, Ferral," repliedMatt. "We'll stay with you till this queer affair straightens out moreto your liking."
"But the danger----"
"Well, we've faced music of that kind before."
"Bully for you, old ship!" cried Ferral heartily. "I'll never forgetit, either. Now, sink me, I'm going through this cabin from bulkhead tobulkhead, and if I can lay hands on that deacon-faced Sercomb, he'lltell me the why of this or I'll wring his neck for him."
Matt stepped resolutely into the hall and ranged himself at Ferral'sside. Ferral was drawing a match over the wall. The gleam of lightwould make targets of the boys for their unseen enemies, but therewould have to be light if the investigation was to be thorough.
No shot came.
"Either we've got the swabs on the run," muttered Ferral, "or I'm apoint off. The lamp's out of commission, so I'll leave it here on thefloor. We've got to find another."
"Be jeerful, be jeerful," mumbled Carl. "Efen dough ve ged shot fulleroof holes as some bepper-poxes it vas pedder dot ve be jeerful."
"Right-o," answered Ferral, moving off along the hall. "Only two roomson this floor," he added, looking around; "we'll go into the other andtry for a lamp we can use."
The door of the second room opened off the hall directly oppositethe door of the first. The boys stepped in and found themselves ina bedroom. There was a rack of books on the wall, a trunk--open andcontents scattered--carpet torn up and bed disarranged.
"Looks like a hurricane had bounced in here," remarked Ferral.
"Here's a candle," said Matt, and lifted the candlestick from the tableand held it for Ferral to touch the match to the wick.
When the candle was alight, Ferral stepped to the table and looked at aportrait swinging from the wall. It was the portrait of a gray-hairedman. A broad ribbon crossed his breast and the insignia of some orderhung against it. In spite of the surrounding perils, Ferral took offhis hat.
"Uncle Jack," he murmured, his voice vibrant with feeling. "The warmestcorner of my heart is set aside for his memory, mates. I wish I'd donemore for his comfort when he was alive."
He turned away abruptly.
"But we can't lose time here. What have you got there, Matt?"
Matt had seen a sword swinging from the wall. Drawing the blade fromits scabbard, he was holding it in his hand.
"I'd thought of borrowing this," said he, "until we see what's ahead."
"That's a regular jim-hickey of an idea!"
With one hand Ferral twitched at a lanyard about his neck and broughtout a dirk.
"I might as well carry this, too," he added.
"Und vat vill I do some fighding mit?" asked Carl anxiously. "I don'dgot anyt'ing more as a chack-knife."
"You stay behind and act as rear-guard, Carl," said Matt. "Dick and Iwill go ahead."
With sword and dirk in readiness for instant use, Matt and Ferralforged along the short hall to the stairs, peering carefully aroundthem as they went. They did not see anything of their enemies and couldnot hear a sound apart from the noise they made themselves.
The flickering gleams of the candle showed a number of rich furnishingsin the lower hall. The first story consisted of three rooms, parlor,library and kitchen. The parlor covered one side of the house, and wasdivided by a passage from the two rooms on the other side.
But in none of the rooms, nor the hall, was any of their lurking foesto be seen!
"Dis vas der plamedest t'ing vat efer habbened!" whispered Carl. "Arekular vonder-house! Noises, und lights, und pulleds, und nopodyaroundt."
"Wait," warned Ferral, making for an open door that evidently led intothe cellar, "we haven't looked through the hold yet. We'll go down andget closer to bilge-water! I warrant you we'll stir up the rats."
They descended a short flight of stairs into a rock-walled cellar. Thecellar covered the entire lower part of the house, and was so high asto leave plenty of head-room.
On a shelf were a number of cobwebbed bottles, and in one corner was abin of potatoes--but there were no enemies in the cellar.
"Shiver me!" muttered Ferral, peering dazedly at Matt through theflickering gleams of the candle. "How do you account for this?"
"The four people who were here," returned Matt, "must have got outwhile we were in your uncle's room. If they have gone to the barn andtampered with the Red Flier----"
This startling thought turned Motor Matt to the right about, and heraced back to the first floor. Carl and Ferral followed him swiftly.
There were only two outside doors to the house, one leading from thekitchen, and the other from the front hall.
Investigation showed that both of these doors were bolted on the inside.
All the lower windows were also securely fastened.
Ferral dropped down in a chair in the front hall and drew his handacross his forehead.
"I'll be box-hauled if I can twig this layout, at all!" he muttered."Those fellows couldn't get out and leave those doors and windowslocked on the inside."
"And they couldn't have got past us on the stairs and got out the waywe came in," added Matt, equally nonplused. "We looked carefully as wecame down from the upper floor, and the rascals must have been drivenahead of us. I'm knocked all of a heap, and that's a fact."
Carl cantered forward.
"Der shpooks vas blaying viggle-vaggle mit us," he averred in a stagewhisper. "Led us say goot-by, bards, und shkin oudt. It vas pedder so,yah, so helup me."
"Are you getting cold feet, matey?" queried Ferral.
"I peen colt all ofer," admitted Carl, "efer since dot shpook pubblevented off indo nodding righdt vile ve look. Den der man-shpook meldetoudt, und dese oder shpooks faded. Yah, you bed my life, ve vill go oopin shmoke ourselufs oof ve shtay here long."
"Carl does a lot of foolish talking, Dick," spoke up Matt, "but he's asgame as a hornet, for all that. Don't pay any attention to his spooktalk. I saw a lantern in the kitchen, and a padlock and key lying on ashelf. While you two are trying to solve this riddle, I'm going out tothe barn and get a lock and key on the Red Flier. I can't afford to letanything happen to that machine."
"I vill go mit you, Matt," said Carl.
"You stay here with Dick," Matt answered. "I'll not be gone more than aminute."
Hurrying into the kitchen he lighted the lantern; then, with thepadlock and
key in his pocket and the sword in his hand, he unboltedthe kitchen door and made his way to the barn.
He listened intently as he went, but there was no sound in the gloomygrove save the hooting of an owl.
He found the Red Flier just as he and Carl had left it, and anexamination of the barn proved that no one had taken refuge there.After putting the bolt upon the door and locking it--he already had thespark-plug in his pocket--he felt easier, and returned unmolested tothe house.
While he was gone, Ferral and Carl had lighted a large lamp inthe parlor and drawn the shades at the windows. They were seatedcomfortably in easy chairs, eating sandwiches of dried beef and bread.
"There's your snack, mate," cried Ferral, pointing to a plate on thetable. "Better get on the outside of it. We may have a lively time, andit's just as well to prepare ourselves for whatever is going to happen."
Carl, now that the tension had eased a trifle and food was in sight,was feeling better.
"I guess ve got der whole ranch py ourselufs," he beamed, his mouthhalf-full of sandwich. "Ve schared dem odder fellers avay. Oof deyshday avay undil ve clear oudt, dot's all vat I ask."
"Who were the lubbers, and how did they slip their cables?" queriedFerral. "That's the point that's got me hooked. Do you think that whitecar, and that man we saw in the road, had anything to do with the swabswho were in here?"
Before Matt could answer, a rap fell on the front door and its echoesran through the house. Carl jumped up in a panic.
"Blitzen and dunder!" he cried chokingly, struggling with his lastmouthful of sandwich and peering wildly at Matt and Dick, "dere'ssomet'ing else! Schust ven ve ged easy in our mindts, bang goes derfront door! Now vat?"
"We'll see what," returned Ferral grimly, getting to his feet andstarting for the hall.
Matt followed him, sword in hand, and ready for any emergency thatmight present itself.