CHAPTER IV
TWO BOYS GET A TUMBLE
"I'd give a cent to know just where we are!" Jule declared, as hestood on the deck of the _Rambler_, waiting for Case's call tobreakfast, the advance odors of which were creeping out of the cabin,where Mose and Teddy Bear lay on a rug together, evidently the verybest of friends!
"Give me the coin, then," Alex. exclaimed. "We are about ten orfifteen miles below Hickman, Kentucky, and we are on the Missouriside; and there's a loop of river which runs north a long way andcomes back again. Some day the Mississippi will cut through the neckof land, and then there'll be another large island, with houses setback from the river a long distance! Give me the cent!"
Jule gravely passed the coin over to Alex., who as gravely pocketedit, and drew Jule to a seat beside himself on the gunwale of the boat.Captain Joe came up to the boys as they sat there and wagged his tail,his nose pointing toward the deserted old house at the end of thebayou.
"Do you see what the bulldog wants?" Alex. asked, in a moment.
"He wants a run on shore," replied Jule. "He wants to get off the boatand do stunts on the grass. I'm with him in that, too!"
"He's pointing to the old house!" Alex. suggested, with a grin.
"Good idea!" winked Jule. "Suppose we go over to the ranch and seewhat sort of a place it is? We'll just sneak off after breakfast andbe back in an hour."
"Right," agreed Alex. "We may find a buried treasure! Or plunder fromthe Rock Island warehouse may be hidden in some dusty attic! What?That sounds like a story of John Paul Jones, out of a book!"
"I reckon all we'll find will be rats," the practical Jule replied."But I like to ramble over old houses. It evidently used to stand onthe bank of the river, but some washout left it back so far that itwas deserted. It looks like there might be ghosts hiding in it rightnow! Do you hear anything?" the boy added, as he bent his ear towardthe neglected mansion, sinking to decay now for many a long year. "Doyou hear anything that sounds uncanny? I thought I heard a ghostcall!"
"I half believe you mean it!" laughed Alex. "I believe you reallythink you hear something ghostly! If I were rich once for every ghostthere is in the world, I wouldn't have a cent to my name! What doesthis ghost call sound like?" added the boy.
"It sounded like a long, low call for help!" was the reply. "I believeall the calls from deserted houses are long and low, what?"
"Right you are!" Alex. answered. "Say, what's the matter of takingCaptain Joe with us when we go to the house? If there's a ghost behindthe casings, he'll be certain to find and bring it out to us!"
"Then I'm strong for Captain Joe!" cried Jule. "We'll bring theperturbed spirit on board and put it with our collection of animals!And there's the breakfast call, at last!" he continued, whereat bothboys rushed into the cabin.
Clay, who had been tinkering around the motors for half an hour,entered the cabin before breakfast was over, his face lookingtroubled, his clothing smeared with grease.
"I have an idea that we'll stop here a few days until some one goes toone of the towns hereabouts and brings back some bolts," he said. "Themotors are out of whack, and ought not to be operated in the shapethey are in."
"I'll go back to Hickman in the rowboat," declared Case. "I have anotion that I'd like to see the town."
"And row against that current?" asked Alex. "I see you doing it!"
"You couldn't do it in a thousand years!" Jule observed.
"Well," Case went on, looking at his map of the river, "there's NewMadrid, on the Missouri side. I might walk up there and back in aday."
"Up there?" laughed Alex., looking over Case's shoulder. "Why do yousay up there? New Madrid is north from here, all right, but it is downstream, for all that!"
"Well, walk down there, then!" Case replied. "I want to learnsomething about that robbery anyway, and there may be news of it;besides, a walk along the river will be a sort of a picnic. It isn'tmore than ten or twelve miles to the town."
"Then you'd better arrange to return to-morrow," Clay advised. "Youare not used to such long walks. We are in no hurry to go on, for wehave all the time there is until this time next year!"
So it was finally arranged that Case should walk down to New Madridand get the needed repairs for the motors, while the others lookedover the country which lay about them. When Alex. suggested the visitto the deserted house, Clay was anxious to become one of the party. Hesaid he had had the same idea in his mind ever since seeing the oldplace.
"After Case goes," Jule suggested, "that would leave only Mose andTeddy Bear on board the _Rambler_. I don't believe it is safe to leaveher alone."
"Of course it isn't," Clay admitted, "so I'll remain here to-day andvisit the old building to-morrow. Then you two boys can remain athome."
Everything being satisfactorily arranged, Alex. and Jule started awayup the bayou in the rowboat. The old basin was full of water, and sothere was little current, which made it easy rowing. In half an hourthey were at the foot of an old pier, slanting over on weak legs likea tipsy man. It was plain that the landing had not been used forcommercial purposes for a long time.
The boys fastened the boat and ran briskly up the rotting footwaywhich led to the enclosure in which the old house stood. There was awilderness of trees and shrubs in the enclosure, and the walks, whichhad evidently once been carefully tended, were now overgrown withweeds and long grass. Lizards darted out of unseen places and spedaway as the boys advanced along a broken walk which led to the frontdoor of the mansion.
At the very threshold the boys paused, listening. The ragged blindswere flapping in the breeze, and the trees which rimmed the enclosurerustled and creaked in a most uncanny way, but these sounds were notthe ones which brought the adventurous boys to a halt.
The noise they heard sounded like the tones of a violin, coming from agreat distance. The notes, faint, sweet, perplexing, rose and fell onthe wind, now lifting into a weird song, now dropping to the softestmelody!
"There's some one here, after all!" Jule suggested, though there was aquestion in the way the words were spoken. "Some one lives here? Whatdo you think?"
Alex. pointed to the broken door which opened into the disorderedhall, to the window blinds, beating the casings at the will of thewind, and at the long grass and weeds growing between the planks andstones of the walks.
"I don't believe any one lives here!" he insisted.
"Then what is it making the music?" demanded Jule. "If that isn't someone playing the violin you may eat my head for a cabbage!"
They listened again. The sounds stopped directly, then there came abanging of doors and a rustle, as if some one in trailing clothes wasbeing dragged through the hall. Then a shriek which appeared to comefrom directly under the feet of the boys cut the air, lifting into aterrifying yell at the end. The lads involuntarily started back downthe path, but both stopped and faced the house again.
"I'm not going away without knowing more about it!" Alex. declared.
"That's the way I look at it!" grinned Jule. "We can't turn tail andrun like a couple of cowards. I wish we had brought Captain Joe alongwith us!"
"Clay wanted him for company," Alex. explained. "Joe looked like hisheart was broken when we came off without him! I'll bet he runs awayand comes after us!"
Seeing that their automatic revolvers were in working order, the boyswalked back up the broken walk, mounted the steps, and passed into theancient hallway of the mansion. All was ruin and decay there. Thefloor was broken out in places, and there were marks of an axe on thecasings of the door and on the narrow windows beside it.
The stairway leading to the rooms above was broken, too, some of thesteps being gone entirely. The lads stopped at the foot of the stepsfor an instant to gaze upward and then turned into a lofty room on theleft. This must have been the parlor, and the apartment beyond it musthave been the library.
The furniture, which had once been valuable, was broken into bits, anda charred spot on the floor showed where a fire had been kindled. Therooms
on that floor were all desolate and dismantled, and the boyssoon turned their attention to those above the ruined staircase.
Scarcely had they gained the head of the stairs when the music beganagain. It seemed to come down the wide hallway which ran nearlythrough the house parallel with the front.
"We're getting nearer to the band!" Jule whispered.
There was such a hush over the place, such a weird, uncannyatmosphere, that, somehow, the boys did not feel like beingloud-voiced or boisterous.
"We'll be running into a reception committee next!" Alex. returned.
The music continued for a few seconds, then ended in a repetition ofthe dragging, rustling sound and the shriek which had been heardbefore. This time the noise indicating physical motion appeared tocome from the very hallway where the boys were standing!
Alex. and Jule continued on through the hall until they came to apartition which shut off the north end of it. There was a door in thispartition, but it was locked. At first all the efforts of the ladsfailed to budge it.
"There's one part of the ranch that hasn't rotted away," Alex.observed, as red-faced and perspiring, he paused in his attack on thedoor.
"That shows there's some one taking care of it," Jule decided."Suppose we try the door once more? It ought to give way before ourweight."
They both threw their shoulders against the upper panels and theydropped back, revealing a small room which had the appearance ofhaving recently been occupied. There was a wide fireplace at the backof the room, which was at the end of the house, and a chair standingnear the hearth was softly cushioned. There was a window on each sideof the fireplace, but the curtains were drawn so all the details ofthe apartment were not visible. The boys drew back for an instant.
"We're breaking into some one's house!" Jule whispered.
"I guess that's right!" Alex. returned. "What ought we to do now?"
"Keep right on until we get at the solution of the mystery," Juleanswered. "It may be that we shall find a maiden in distress, and----"
The boy stopped in the midst of his light-hearted speech and lookedagain through the broken panels of the door at the end of the hall.What he saw was a side door opening.
As the door swung back an old man, white haired and walking with astout cane, came into the room and sat down in the chair by thehearth. Then, without glancing toward the broken panels and the boysbeyond, he spoke:
"The door is not fastened, boys. You are welcome to enter."
The boys entered, feeling ashamed and half afraid, and the old manpointed to two chairs by the hearth which had not been seen throughthe broken door.
"Sit down!" he said, almost with an air of command, "and tell me whyyou are here."
The boys sank down into the chairs; then there came a sharp click, andthey felt themselves falling through the floor!