Once above and he found that there was a long narrow, gloomy corridor, with numerous open doors on either side, all exactly alike. Other matches were used to show him what lay inside the rooms.
“Why!” he exclaimed, after he had investigated several of these apartments, “I declare if they don’t look like regular prison cells. But each has got an iron cot in it, and I’m bound to keel over right soon if I don’t find rest somewhere. So here goes.”
There was really little choice when it came to selecting one of the “cells” for sleeping purposes. Bumpus tried the cot, and found that while it was a bit hard he could easily accommodate himself to that.
The last the tired boy remembered was chuckling over the thought of Giraffe saying, “I knew he’d get lost.” Time passed away, and then suddenly Bumpus sat up on the cot, awakened by a strange, thrilling and most astonishing sound.
CHAPTER XIII
A THRILLING SPECTACLE
When Bumpus opened his eyes he saw a weird flickering light reflected on the wall of the small cell-like room in which he had lain down to sleep. Of course for the moment he did not know where he was. Then the recollection rushed over him like a wave, and it was all plain.
But had he been passing through a horrible dream to cause that creepy sensation which boys describe as “goose-flesh” to grip him? No, there came that strange sound again, causing another spasm of shivering. It monotonously rose and fell in the queerest way imaginable, and somehow made Bumpus remember a ghostly chant that he had once heard on the stage, when his folks visiting in New York City took him to the opera, and the grave-diggers were discovered at work throwing up the earth in preparation for a funeral.
Bumpus slid off his cot. The awe-inspiring sounds certainly came in at the narrow window, and although still trembling with excitement closely bordering on fear, he found himself creeping toward that opening.
When he reached it and looked out he saw a most amazing sight indeed, and one that riveted his attention. It seemed that the window opened on a garden that was enclosed on three sides by the walls of the long building. There were trees and shrubs in this enclosure, also winding walks that had been laid out for a purpose.
Half a dozen flickering lights could be seen trailing along, the glow rising and falling intermittently. These he immediately discovered were some sort of torches held in the hands of strangely garbed men, who walked slowly, and as they proceeded chanted that solemn requiem in deep, hoarse voices.