"Sounds like a baby squawking," observed Ephraim Gallup.
"Begobs! Oi thought it was some wan playing on bagpoipes," observed Barney Mulloy. "Oi wonder whativer it can be, Oi dunno?"
Frank listened.
"To me it sounds like a cross between a clarinet, a flute, and a piccolo," he smiled. "Some one is trying to furnish music for this festive occasion."
He called one of the servants and asked her to find out the origin of the peculiar doleful music.
In a few moments the girl returned and quietly explained that a wandering musician had halted on the lawn and was performing on some sort of a wind instrument.
"He's a bery funny-lookin' maan, Mr. Merriwell," grinned the girl. "He suttinly am wearin' de oddest clo'es Ah eber seen. An' he's round an' corperlous, wid de biggest fat cheeks when he blows, an' a yeller mustache dat keeps wigwaggin' all de time."
Frank thrust his hand into his pocket, brought out a silver half dollar and put it in the colored girl's palm.
"Give him this, Liza, and tell him to jog along," he said quietly.
But after Liza had performed the commission and returned to the dining room the doleful notes of the wind instrument continued to float in through the open windows.